Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

About: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia is a facility organization based out in Genoa, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Robot & Humanoid robot. The organization has 4561 authors who have published 14595 publications receiving 437558 citations. The organization is also known as: Italian Institute of Technology & IIT.

About the Use of Recycled or Biodegradable Filaments for Sustainability of 3D Printing

Abstract: Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing are drivers for material savings in manufacturing. Owing to the continuous diffusion of 3D printing driven by low-cost entry-level material extrusion printers, sustainability of a so popular AM technology is of paramount importance. Therefore, recycling 3D printed wastes and 3D parts again at the end of their life is an important issue to be addressed. Research efforts are directed towards the improvement of the biodegradability of 3D printing filaments and the replacement of oil based feedstock with bio-based compostable plastics. The aim of this work is to describe the state of the art about development and use of recycled or biodegradable filaments in 3D printing. Beyond a critical review of the literature, open issues and research opportunities are presented.

Kinetic-energy-density dependent semilocal exchange-correlation functionals

Abstract: We present the theory of semilocal exchange-correlation (XC) energy functionals which depend on the Kohn–Sham kinetic energy density (KED), including the relevant class of meta-generalized gradient approximation (meta-GGA) functionals. Thanks to the KED ingredient, meta-GGA functionals can satisfy different exact constraints for XC energy and can be made one-electron self-correlation free. This leads to a better accuracy over a wider range of properties with respect to GGAs, often reaching the accuracy of hybrid functionals, but at much reduced computational cost. An extensive survey of the relevant literature on existing KED dependent XC functionals is provided, considering nonempirical, semi-empirical, and fully empirical ones. A deeper analysis and a wide benchmark are presented for functionals derived considering only exact constraints and parameters obtained from model and/or atomic systems.

Increased Functional Connectivity in the Default Mode Network in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Maladaptive Compensatory Mechanism Associated with Poor Semantic Memory Performance

Abstract: Semantic memory decline and changes of default mode network (DMN) connectivity have been reported in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Only a few studies, however, have investigated the role of changes of activity in the DMN on semantic memory in this clinical condition. The present study aimed to investigate more extensively the relationship between semantic memory impairment and DMN intrinsic connectivity in MCI. Twenty-one MCI patients and 21 healthy elderly controls matched for demographic variables took part in this study. All participants underwent a comprehensive semantic battery including tasks of category fluency, visual naming and naming from definition for objects, actions and famous people, word-association for early and late acquired words and reading. A subgroup of the original sample (16 MCI patients and 20 healthy elderly controls) was also scanned with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and DMN connectivity was estimated using a seed-based approach. Compared with healthy elderly, patients showed an extensive semantic memory decline in category fluency, visual naming, naming from definition, words-association, and reading tasks. Patients presented increased DMN connectivity between the medial prefrontal regions and the posterior cingulate and between the posterior cingulate and the parahippocampus and anterior hippocampus. MCI patients also showed a significant negative correlation of medial prefrontal gyrus connectivity with parahippocampus and posterior hippocampus and visual naming performance. Our findings suggest that increasing DMN connectivity may contribute to semantic memory deficits in MCI, specifically in visual naming. Increased DMN connectivity with posterior cingulate and medio-temporal regions seems to represent a maladaptive reorganization of brain functions in MCI, which detrimentally contributes to cognitive impairment in this clinical population.