Papers by Andrea Di Carlo
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2002
To determine if microwave exposure could elicit a biological effect in the absence of thermal str... more To determine if microwave exposure could elicit a biological effect in the absence of thermal stress, studies were designed in which chick embryos were exposed to athermal microwave radiation (915 MHz) to look for induction of Hsp70, a protein produced during times of cellular stress that aids in the protection of cellular components. Levels of Hsp70 were found to increase within 2 h, with maximum expression (∼30% higher than controls) typically occurring by 3 h from the start of exposure. Other embryos were exposed to microwave radiation prior to being subjected to hypoxic stress, and were found to have significantly higher survival (P < 0.05) following re-oxygenation than non-exposed controls. The results of these studies indicate that not only can athermal microwave exposures activate the stress protein response pathway; they can also enhance survivability following exposure to a subsequent, potentially lethal stress. From a public health standpoint, it is important that more studies be performed to determine if repeated exposures, a condition likely to be found in cell phone use, are still beneficial. J. Cell. Biochem. 86: 490–496, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2002
Electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures have been shown to induce heat shock proteins (HSPs), which... more Electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures have been shown to induce heat shock proteins (HSPs), which help to maintain the conformation of cellular proteins during periods of stress. We have previously reported that short-term exposure of chick embryos to either 60 Hz (extremely low frequency: ELF), or radio-frequency (RF: 915 MHz) EMFs induce protection against hypoxia. Experiments presented in the current report are based on a study in which long-term (4 days), continuous exposure to ELF-EMFs decreased protection against ultraviolet radiation. Based on this result, it was hypothesized that de-protection against hypoxia should also occur following long-term, continuous, or daily, repeated exposures to EMFs. To test this hypothesis, chick embryos were exposed to ELF-EMFs (8 μT) continuously for 4 days, or to ELF or RF (3.5 mW incident power)-EMFs repeated daily (20, 30, or 60 min once or twice daily for 4 days). Several of the exposure protocols yielded embryos that had statistically significant decreases in protection against hypoxic stress (continuous and 30 or 60 min ELF twice daily; or 30 or 60 min once daily RF). This is consistent with our finding that following 4 days of ELF-EMF exposure, HSP70 levels decline by 27% as compared to controls. In addition, the superposition of ELF-EM noise, previously shown to minimize ELF-EMF induced hypoxia protection, inhibited hypoxia de-protection caused by long term, continuous ELF or daily, repeated RF exposures. This EMF-induced decrease in HSP70 levels and resulting decline in cytoprotection suggests a mechanism by which daily exposure (such as might be experienced by mobile phone users) could enhance the probability of cancer and other diseases. J. Cell. Biochem. 84: 447–454, 2002. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2002
Electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures have been shown to induce heat shock proteins (HSPs), which... more Electromagnetic field (EMF) exposures have been shown to induce heat shock proteins (HSPs), which help to maintain the conformation of cellular proteins during periods of stress. We have previously reported that short-term exposure of chick embryos to either 60 Hz (extremely low frequency: ELF), or radio-frequency (RF: 915 MHz) EMFs induce protection against hypoxia. Experiments presented in the current report are based on a study in which long-term (4 days), continuous exposure to ELF-EMFs decreased protection against ultraviolet radiation. Based on this result, it was hypothesized that de-protection against hypoxia should also occur following long-term, continuous, or daily, repeated exposures to EMFs. To test this hypothesis, chick embryos were exposed to ELF-EMFs (8 μT) continuously for 4 days, or to ELF or RF (3.5 mW incident power)-EMFs repeated daily (20, 30, or 60 min once or twice daily for 4 days). Several of the exposure protocols yielded embryos that had statistically significant decreases in protection against hypoxic stress (continuous and 30 or 60 min ELF twice daily; or 30 or 60 min once daily RF). This is consistent with our finding that following 4 days of ELF-EMF exposure, HSP70 levels decline by 27% as compared to controls. In addition, the superposition of ELF-EM noise, previously shown to minimize ELF-EMF induced hypoxia protection, inhibited hypoxia de-protection caused by long term, continuous ELF or daily, repeated RF exposures. This EMF-induced decrease in HSP70 levels and resulting decline in cytoprotection suggests a mechanism by which daily exposure (such as might be experienced by mobile phone users) could enhance the probability of cancer and other diseases. J. Cell. Biochem. 84: 447–454, 2002. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Summary form only given. In high-finesse semiconductor microcavities, the dominant excitations ar... more Summary form only given. In high-finesse semiconductor microcavities, the dominant excitations are mixtures of light and matter called exciton-polaritons. Due to the distorted shape of the dispersion relation for polaritons, a relaxation bottleneck prevents the realization of low threshold lasing. Here we show that the introduction of a cold electron gas into such structures induces extremely efficient electron-polariton scattering. This process allows the condensation of polaritons into a single low energy state within a few picoseconds, opening the way to a new generation of low-threshold light-emitting devices.
Summary form only given. In high-finesse semiconductor microcavities, the dominant excitations ar... more Summary form only given. In high-finesse semiconductor microcavities, the dominant excitations are mixtures of light and matter called exciton-polaritons. Due to the distorted shape of the dispersion relation for polaritons, a relaxation bottleneck prevents the realization of low threshold lasing. Here we show that the introduction of a cold electron gas into such structures induces extremely efficient electron-polariton scattering. This process allows the condensation of polaritons into a single low energy state within a few picoseconds, opening the way to a new generation of low-threshold light-emitting devices.
In this paper we report on the ongoing activity for the project ESPRIT LTR EuTrans during the fir... more In this paper we report on the ongoing activity for the project ESPRIT LTR EuTrans during the first year. Issues for the Fondazione Ugo Bordoni (FUB) have been the prototype implementation, the text and speech data collection and the usability assessment. The corpus has two main objectives: to provide training material for recognition and translation training; to contain speech material for acoustic modelling, and textual material for language modelling and translation modelling. The main aim of the project is to show the potentialities of an Example Based approach to the Machine Translation for a speech-to-speech application in the domain of hotel reservation. The speech application envisaged is a telephone communication media between two human beings (the customer and the receptionist) with translation abilities: the customer call, from inside or outside, a special number of the hotel, speak in his/her own language in order to make a reservation, to cancel a reservation, to ask information for services, to claim for services; the receptionist will receive the customer request in his/her own language and will answer in his/her language through the same media. The application has been simulated through the technique of Wizard of Oz; the current prototype is based on a two-machine architecture: a recognition/translation server and client supporting the telephone interface towards the user and the GUI towards the receptionist. The WoZ plays the role of the receptionist.
The paper presents an usability evaluation of 4 different prototypes of the same IVR application:... more The paper presents an usability evaluation of 4 different prototypes of the same IVR application: three of them are automatic speech recognition (ASR) based and the other is Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) based. Our work consists of the automation of a ...
In this paper we report on the first phase of the speech corpus collection for purposes of the ES... more In this paper we report on the first phase of the speech corpus collection for purposes of the ESPRIT LTR project n. 30268, EuTrans. The corpus is intended to provide training material for speaker independent continuous speech recognition and translation over the telephone line, based on a vocabulary of few thousands words. Due to its application the corpus is structured so to contain speech material for acoustic modelling, and textual material for language modelling and translation modelling. The speech material which is being collected, and which we will describe in this paper, has been produced in a natural way. The corpus will be described with the aid of some statistic results obtained to better illustrate the characteristics of the acquired material. We will finally present our future plan for the collection of other parts of the corpus and in particular we will introduce a new "dialogue oriented" collection paradigm.
This paper reports an experiment for evaluating human-machine spoken language interaction. A phon... more This paper reports an experiment for evaluating human-machine spoken language interaction. A phone-directory with information on Fondazione Bordoni employees were accessed by 54 users. The system was composed of a telephone interface; a simulated ...
A very important issue for the Natural Language Processing (NLP) in the Speech Understanding pers... more A very important issue for the Natural Language Processing (NLP) in the Speech Understanding perspective is the processing of input utterances that deviate from their correct expectations. It is possible to find the Ill-Formedness problem at every level of the ...
In this work we propose a framework for speech understanding in Natural Language DB accessing bas... more In this work we propose a framework for speech understanding in Natural Language DB accessing based on the cooperative behaviour of the system which identifies its goals with user&amp;#x27;s goals and executes its own plans for satisfying these goals. The purpose of this ...
Uploads
Papers by Andrea Di Carlo