Search results for "Experimental"
showing 10 items of 18236 documents
Roots Characteristics of a flexible and mature vegetation: Preliminary results of experimental investigation in a meandering laboratory flume
2018
Vegetation controls sediment dynamics and affects the kinematic characteristics of flow in rivers. The uprooting mechanism is strongly affected by mechanical properties, morphology and branching of the roots system. This work presents preliminary results of experimental work conducted in a laboratory meandering flume. The work aims to investigate how the geometrical and mechanical characteristics of the roots of a real, flexible and mature vegetation could vary along the bend. Results show that both the geometrical and the mechanical characteristics of the roots assume higher/lower values in peculiar sections of the bend suggesting that they could be affected by the kinematic characteristic…
Experimental test on the use of MS-222 for ostracod anaesthesia: concentration, immersion period and recovery time
2010
Anaesthesia of animals may be useful for different purposes, particularly for veterinary reasons or in experimental research, for manipulation or treatment of immobilized but alive animals. Its use in crustaceans is not uncommon, but it has never been described for Ostracoda. We provide brief and preliminary guidelines on the use of the tricaine mesylate (MS-222) on the widespread freshwater ostracod Eucypris virens and we show that this compound is an effective anaesthetic used as a bath treatment at minimum concentrations of 500 mg L-1. This value is considerably higher than that recommended for other aquatic animals like fish. Recovery time, ranging from 5 to 15 minutes, is mostly determ…
Neuro-endocrine networks controlling immune system in health and disease
2014
The nervous and immune systems have long been considered as compartments that perform separate and different functions. However, recent clinical, epidemiological, and experimental data have suggested that the pathogenesis of several immune-mediated disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), might involve factors, hormones, and neural mediators that link the immune and nervous system. These molecules are members of the same superfamily, which allow the mutual and bi-directional neural–immune interaction. More recently, the discovery of leptin, one of the most abundant adipocyte-derived hormones that control food intake and metabolism, has suggested that nutritional/metabolic status, acting …
Emerging Constructions in the L2 Italian Spoken by Low Literate Migrants
2019
The emergence of autonomous interlanguage constructions is widely recognised in the literature on L2 Italian. These constructions involve the overgeneralisation of functional forms learners are in the process of acquiring, e.g., siamo in siamo mangiare &lsquo
Is Embodiment All That We Need? Insights from the Acquisition of Negation
2012
Simulation of propositional content does not sufficiently explain real-life linguistic activity, even for action-related language. In addition, how we get from propositional content to implicit and inferential meaning needs to be explained. Indeed, simulative understanding is immediate, automatic and reflex-like while an explicit interpretative act, even if not always needed, is still a part of many linguistic activities. The aim of this paper is to present the hypothesis that speaking is a complex ability realized by means of at least two different mechanisms that are likely developed at different and consecutive steps of cognitive and linguistic development. The first mechanism has a neur…
Measuring Aksak Rhythm and Synchronization in Transylvanian Village Music by Using Motion Capture
2015
<p>Techniques based on motion capture can be useful in <span><span style="font-size: x-small;">analyzing a wide range of musical styles and practices</span></span>: in this case, Transylvanian village music. We focused on a repertoire known as “Gypsy songs of sorrow”, played by professional Gypsy musicians during parties and celebrations of their own community. Two parameters were the object of study: rhythmic duration, and synchronization between musicians (a violinist and a viola player). Results show that rhythm is a local variant of <em>aksak</em> and is based on two duration units (S=short, L=long) which respect the formula 2:3 &lt; S:L &am…
Is it me or the music? : Stress reduction and the role of regulation strategies and music
2019
Music is a common resource for the regulation of emotions, moods, and stress. This study aimed at determining the individual and relative impact on stress reduction of two of the main factors involved in musical affect regulation: regulation strategies and music itself. The current study took place in an experimental setting and followed a factorial within-subjects design. First, the participants ( n = 34) filled in an online survey where they identified their self-perceived “adequate”/“inadequate” music examples for the purpose of reducing stress and self-perceived “adequate”/“inadequate” strategies for the same purpose. In the lab they went through a stress induction procedure and then w…
Access-Awareness-Agency (AAA) Model of Music-Based Social-Emotional Competence (MuSEC)
2019
Social–emotional competence (SEC) is a set of psychological resources, highly relevant for adaptive growth and wellbeing. Music has been argued to support social–emotional skills, yet there is little theoretical consensus about the underlying impact mechanisms and the special nature of music as a medium for SEC. This article presents a theoretical model of music-based SEC that combines research from general SEC models with music-specific literature from music psychology, music education, music therapy, and music for health and wellbeing. The proposed access-awareness-agency (AAA) model defines music-based social–emotional competence (MuSEC) as interplay of embodied access, reflective awaren…
Music May Reduce Loneliness and Act as Social Surrogate for a Friend: Evidence from an Experimental Listening Study
2020
After losing a close other, individuals usually confide in an empathic friend to receive comfort and they seem to have a heightened desire for mood-congruent, consoling music. Hence, it has been proposed that affect-congruent music acts as a social surrogate for an empathic friend. Thus, we hypothesized that listening to comforting music, as a response to a social loss experience, provides a sense of empathic company as indicated by reduced loneliness and heightened empathy. We further predicted that distracting music would have a stronger impact on the listeners’ mood in comparison to comforting pieces. To test these assumptions, an experiment with two factors was designed: (1) Sadness wa…
All-Possible-Couplings Approach to Measuring Probabilistic Context.
2013
From behavioral sciences to biology to quantum mechanics, one encounters situations where (i) a system outputs several random variables in response to several inputs, (ii) for each of these responses only some of the inputs may "directly" influence them, but (iii) other inputs provide a "context" for this response by influencing its probabilistic relations to other responses. These contextual influences are very different, say, in classical kinetic theory and in the entanglement paradigm of quantum mechanics, which are traditionally interpreted as representing different forms of physical determinism. One can mathematically construct systems with other types of contextuality, whether or not …