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La pervasività dei sistemi di intelligenza artificiale e il relativo impatto in termini di protezione dei dati personali impongono una profonda riflessione sulle recenti scelte normative del legislatore europeo e, in prospettiva, di quello nazionale. In questo senso, il contributo delinea, in primo luogo, l’attuale quadro legislativo europeo in materia di dati e IA, sullo scenario della complessa dimensione geopolitica in materia. Muovendo da queste premesse, il lavoro traccia un’analisi in chiave sistemica del Regolamento europeo sull’intelligenza artificiale (c.d. “AI Act”), evidenziando luci ed ombre del complesso rapporto con il Reg. (UE) n. 2016/679 (“GDPR”) e identificando analogie e differenze tra i due atti normativi. Il contributo analizza, quindi, in ottica comparata, il sistema sanzionatorio e l’apparato di governance definiti dall’AI Act, focalizzandosi sulla delicata scelta di un’autorità di controllo nazionale per regolare l’intelligenza artificiale in Italia. Infine, gli autori formulano alcune riflessioni conclusive sui principali nodi tematici emersi nel corso della trattazione e propongono una prospettiva de iure condendo alla luce dell’analisi svolta.

Social validity refers to the extent to which applied behavior analytic (ABA) treatment goals, methods, and/or outcomes are acceptable and meaningful to stakeholders. The aim of this conceptual paper is to suggest how social validity may be promoted during behavioral consultation in school systems and how the assessment of various aspects of social validity contributes to this throughout the consultation process. Literature pertaining to the concept of social validity, rapport-building, collaboration with stakeholders in behavioral school consultation, and the assessment of social validity are reviewed and synthesized. Social validity may be promoted in several domains: communication with consultees, collaborative selection of treatment methods and student objectives, consultee training, and measurement of outcomes meaningful to stakeholders. Social validity assessment can occur in all of these domains and is ideally a continuous process that informs all phases of consultation. There is a particular need for direct measurement of the social significance of behavioral consultation services. Social validity is integral to all aspects of the behavioral school consultation process, and it may be facilitated by incorporating valid social validity assessments into every stage of the consultation process.

This paper describes a study that used end-use-based stock modelling to develop water, energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) savings forecasts for policy options. These options were alternative mechanisms for imposing minimum water efficiency standards on the fixtures and appliances within buildings. The study demonstrates how both residential and non-residential sub-sectors can be modelled, using demographic and industry forecasts and other available data sources, using an end-use/stock modelling approach. Specifically, the study modelled the expected water, energy and GHG savings from potential minimum water efficiency standards for plumbing products and appliances in homes and business in Australia. It discusses the relative merits of mechanisms for implementing the proposed minimum standards via: a sustainable building planning measure – such as the Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) in New South Wales; the Australian Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme; or via plumbing regulations within the National Construction Code (NCC). The paper concludes that as well as being a useful mechanism for imposing minimum standards in itself, a star-rating system such as WELS offers advantages in developing and modelling water efficiency policy options. The approach described can support decision-making on policies that improve water efficiency across building types. HIGHLIGHTS Using plumbing product water efficiency ratings in demand forecasting.; End-use-based stock modelling for residential and non-residential sectors.; Comparing policies for fixture and appliance minimum efficiency standards.; Estimating water, energy and GHG savings from alternative policy options.;

The Infinite Monkeys Theorem has long-established the eventual certainty of the complete works of William Shakespeare being reproduced by a monkey randomly pressing keys on a typewriter. This only considers the infinite limit, with either an infinite number of monkeys and/or an infinite time period of monkey labour. Here, we consider the Finite Monkeys Theorem and look at the probability of a given string being typed by one of a finite number of monkeys within a finite time allocation consistent with estimates for the lifespan of our universe. We also calculate the expected number of keystrokes until a target string would first be produced. Given the expected time until the heat death of the universe, we demonstrate that the widely-accepted conclusion from the Infinite Monkeys Theorem is, in fact, misleading in our finite universe. As such, this places the theorem in a class of probabilistic problems or paradoxes, including the St. Petersburg paradox, Zeno's dichotomy paradox and the Ross–Littlewood paradox wherein the infinite-resource conclusions directly contradict those obtained when considering limited resources, however sizeable.

IntroductionReal-life experience with imipenem/cilastatin/relebactam (IMI/REL) for the treatment of KPC-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae complex (KPC-Kp) and difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (DTR-PA) infections is herein described.MethodsAdult patients with KPC-Kp or DTR-PA infections who received ≥48 h of IMI/REL were included. Clinical and microbiological outcomes were retrieved through the medical records. Primary outcome was clinical cure. Secondary outcomes included mortality from infection onset and adverse effects attributable to IMI/REL.ResultsWe included 10 patients with different infections caused by DTR-PA (n = 4), KPC-Kp [n = 5, of which 3 ceftazidime/avibactam-resistant (CTV-R KPC-Kp), 2 CTV susceptible (CTV-S KPC-Kp)] or both DTR-PA/KPC-Kp (n = 1) successfully treated with IMI/REL: 3 hospital-acquired pneumonia, 1 ventilator-associated pneumonia, 2 skin and soft tissue infections, 1 osteomyelitis, 2 bloodstream infections, 1 complicated urinary tract infection. Clinical cure was achieved in all cases. No patients died and no side effect were reported.DiscussionWe reported the preliminary real-life experience on the successful and safe use of IMI/REL for the treatment of KPC-Kp or DTR-PA complicated infections, including pneumonia and bone infections.

Strontium titanate (STO) and its variants have emerged as leading materials in photocatalysis, particularly for degrading nitrogen oxides (NOx), due to their non-toxic nature, structural adaptability, and exceptional thermal stability. Although the one-pot sol-gel method leads to high-quality photocatalysts, areas remain for improvement. This study examines the impact of ethanol as a cosolvent in STO synthesis, focusing on optimizing the water-to-ethanol volume ratio. The findings reveal that a 1:3 ratio significantly enhances macropore formation and photocatalytic efficiency, achieving 42% NOx degradation under LED within three hours. Furthermore, incorporating 8.0 wt.% Ag into STO substantially improves visible light absorption and enables complete NOx elimination, thanks to enhanced charge separation and localized surface plasmon resonance. Even at high temperatures (1100 °C), the Ag-STO photocatalyst maintains partial activity, despite exceeding silver’s melting point. These results highlight the potential of STO-based materials for industrial applications, positioning them as a promising solution for effective NOx mitigation.

Liquid-based computing media are massively parallel computing devices with high fault-tolerance and self-healing capabilities. They can compute by propagating and interacting phase waves or by changing their internal coordination. Colloidal suspensions of conductive polymer nanorods are expected to be interesting candidates for developing the computing subsystem in such applications, because of their anisometry which makes them particularly susceptible to electrical fields. In this work, we investigated a suspension of polyaniline nanorods (NRs) to explore the potential of generating learning mechanisms in the colloid and applying them in the computing system of future cybernetic systems. We demonstrated that learning, as expressed in the formation of programmable conductive pathways leading to distinct states, can be implemented using Alternated Current (AC) electrical stimulation. We achieved repeatable programming of colloid resistance anisotropy that can be easily mapped into binary logic, demonstrating that this is due to the AC field effects on the hydrogen bonds that stabilise the dispersoids in the solvent as well as the charges' orientation inside the polymeric chains. We also influenced the conductivity of polyaniline (PANI) NRs by changing their molecular conformation. The findings establish robust protocols for programming future liquid robots.

Abstract Nuclear factors rapidly scan the genome for their targets, but the role of nuclear organization in such search is uncharted. Here we analyzed how multiple factors explore chromatin, combining live-cell single-molecule tracking with multifocal structured illumination of DNA density. We find that factors displaying higher bound fractions sample DNA-dense regions more exhaustively. Focusing on the tumor-suppressor p53, we demonstrate that it searches for targets by alternating between rapid diffusion in the interchromatin compartment and compact sampling of chromatin dense regions. Efficient targeting requires balanced interactions with chromatin: fusing p53 with an exogenous intrinsically disordered region potentiates p53-mediated target gene activation at low concentrations, but leads to condensates at higher levels, derailing its search and downregulating transcription. Our findings highlight the role of disordered regions on factors search and showcase a powerful method to generate traffic maps of the eukaryotic nucleus to dissect how its organization guides nuclear factors action.

Introduction The THRIVE (Toward Health Resiliency and Infant Vitality & Equity) program aims to reduce racial disparities in birth outcomes by addressing individual risks and social determinants of health using the Pathways Community HUB model. This study examines (1) racial disparities among THRIVE participants and propensity score matched (PSM) comparisons in adequacy of prenatal care, and whether THRIVE participation (2) attenuates such disparities, and (3) improves odds of having adequate prenatal care. Methods Birth certificate and Care Coordination Systems client data were merged for analysis. PSM was employed for 1:1 matching per birth year (2017-2020) and race for participating and non-participating first-time births in Stark County, Ohio. Additional matching variables were age, marital status, education attainment, birth quarter, census tract poverty rate, and Women Infant & Children (WIC) enrollment. Logistic regression assessed racial differences in adequate prenatal care utilization (APNCU) and examined differences between the intervention and comparison groups on APNCU. Results THRIVE participants averaged more prenatal care visits and had a higher percentage of adequate care utilization than the comparison group. THRIVE program participation, educational attainment, and WIC enrollment were associated with higher odds of adequate prenatal care utilization (OR 4.74; 95% CI 2.62, 8.57). Race was not significant for APNCU. Discussion Although accessing and maintaining prenatal care is only one aspect of improving birth outcomes, the findings contribute to the understanding of the effects of the program of interest and other similar programs on factors which may promote desired birth outcomes in high-risk populations., Author(s): Bethany G. Lanese [sup.1] , Stephanie A. G. Abbruzzese [sup.1] , Abbey Eng [sup.1] , Lynn Falletta [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.258518.3, 0000 0001 0656 9343, College of Public [...]

Through the use of the piecewise-linearity condition of the total energy, we correct the self-interaction for the study of polarons by constructing nonempirical functionals at the semilocal level of theory. We consider two functionals, the γ DFT and μ DFT functionals, both of which are based on the addition of a weak local potential to the semilocal Hamiltonian to enforce the piecewise-linearity condition. We show that the resulting polaron properties are in good agreement with reference hybrid functional calculations. This supports the use of semilocal functionals for calculating polaron properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work, we systematically evaluate the accuracy in band gap prediction of range-separated hybrid functionals on a large set of semiconducting and insulating materials and carry out comparisons with the performance of their global counterparts. We observe that all the range-separated hybrid functionals that correctly describe the long-range dielectric screening significantly improve upon standard hybrid functionals such as PBE0 and HSE06. The choice of the short-range Fock exchange fraction and the screening length can further reduce the predicted error. We then propose a universal expression for the selection of the inverse screening parameter as a function of the short-range and long-range Fock exchange fractions, which results in a mean absolute error as small as 0.15 eV for band gap prediction.

Perovskite oxides have garnered immense interest across diverse fields owing to their exceptional properties. Among these, SrTiO3 is an excellent photocatalyst under UV light and boasts remarkable thermal stability, rendering it ideal for high-temperature applications. While various synthesis methods exist for SrTiO3, prioritizing environmentally friendly processes, even at the laboratory scale, remains crucial.This study introduces a pioneering life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing six SrTiO3 synthesis techniques (solid-state reaction, sonochemical, sol–gel, hydrothermal, solvothermal, and molten-salt) to gauge their environmental impacts, pinpoint potential concerns, and offer insights for the future. Interestingly, methods like molten salt and sol–gel display higher pollution tendencies due to significant energy usage, particularly during drying and calcination stages. Conversely, the solid-state reaction and ultrasound-assisted methods emerge as sustainable pathways for crafting environmentally conscious SrTiO3 materials. Significantly, electricity emerges as a pivotal factor influencing environmental impact, urging the exploration of alternatives and the need for strategic decisions. This investigation not only sheds light on the ecological footprint of SrTiO3 synthesis but also underscores the urgency for adopting greener approaches in materials manufacturing.

Abstract Since the preliminary work of Anisimov and co-workers, the Hubbard corrected DFT+U functional has been used for predicting properties of correlated materials by applying on-site effective Coulomb interactions to specific orbitals. However, the determination of the Hubbard U parameter has remained under intense discussion despite the multitude of approaches proposed. Here, we define a selection criterion based on the use of polaronic defect states for the enforcement of the piecewise linearity of the total energy upon electron occupation. A good agreement with results from piecewise linear hybrid functionals is found for the electronic and structural properties of polarons, including the formation energies. The values of U determined in this way are found to give a robust description of the polaron energetics upon variation of the considered state. In particular, we also address a polaron hopping pathway, finding that the determined value of U leads to accurate energetics without requiring a configurational-dependent U. It is emphasized that the selection of U should be based on physical properties directly associated with the orbitals to which U is applied, rather than on more global properties such as band gaps and band widths. For comparison, we also determine U through a well-established linear-response scheme finding noticeably different values of U and consequently different formation energies. Possible origins of these discrepancies are discussed. As case studies, we consider the self-trapped electron in BiVO4, the self-trapped hole in MgO, the Li-trapped hole in MgO, and the Al-trapped hole in α-SiO2.