University of Trento

About: University of Trento is a education organization based out in Trento, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 10527 authors who have published 30978 publications receiving 896614 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitá degli Studi di Trento & Universita degli Studi di Trento.

iSAX 2.0: Indexing and Mining One Billion Time Series

Abstract: There is an increasingly pressing need, by several applications in diverse domains, for developing techniques able to index and mine very large collections of time series. Examples of such applications come from astronomy, biology, the web, and other domains. It is not unusual for these applications to involve numbers of time series in the order of hundreds of millions to billions. However, all relevant techniques that have been proposed in the literature so far have not considered any data collections much larger than one-million time series. In this paper, we describe iSAX 2.0, a data structure designed for indexing and mining truly massive collections of time series. We show that the main bottleneck in mining such massive datasets is the time taken to build the index, and we thus introduce a novel bulk loading mechanism, the first of this kind specifically tailored to a time series index. We show how our method allows mining on datasets that would otherwise be completely untenable, including the first published experiments to index one billion time series, and experiments in mining massive data from domains as diverse as entomology, DNA and web-scale image collections.

Emotional Valence and the Free-Energy Principle

Abstract: The free-energy principle has recently been proposed as a unified Bayesian account of perception, learning and action. Despite the inextricable link between emotion and cognition, emotion has not yet been formulated under this framework. A core concept that permeates many perspectives on emotion is valence, which broadly refers to the positive and negative character of emotion or some of its aspects. In the present paper, we propose a definition of emotional valence in terms of the negative rate of change of free-energy over time. If the second time-derivative of free-energy is taken into account, the dynamics of basic forms of emotion such as happiness, unhappiness, hope, fear, disappointment and relief can be explained. In this formulation, an important function of emotional valence turns out to regulate the learning rate of the causes of sensory inputs. When sensations increasingly violate the agent's expectations, valence is negative and increases the learning rate. Conversely, when sensations increasingly fulfil the agent's expectations, valence is positive and decreases the learning rate. This dynamic interaction between emotional valence and learning rate highlights the crucial role played by emotions in biological agents' adaptation to unexpected changes in their world.

Coupling of hydraulic and mechanical behaviour in unsaturated compacted clay

Abstract: An experimental study was carried out to investigate the shear strength of a compacted non-active clay (Speswhite kaolin). A total of 33 statically compacted specimens were prepared, at vertical stresses of 300, 600 and 1200 kPa and water contents ranging from 0·24 to 0·34. This made it possible to explore a broad range of initial compaction-induced conditions and hence to examine whether differences in water retention characteristics and shear strength are due to differences in initial compaction-induced state or are to be attributed to fundamentally different microfabrics. A shearbox was modified to allow the direct measurement of negative pore water pressure using Trento high-suction tensiometers. Tests were carried out at constant water content by monitoring suction changes. In these tests, it was possible to investigate the transition from unsaturated to saturated states. In the first stage of the test, the specimen was compressed at constant water content. The specimen was therefore wetted, in the s...

Brain asymmetry (animal)

Abstract: Once considered a uniquely human attribute, brain asymmetry has been proved to be ubiquitous among non-human animals. A synthetic review of evidence of animal lateralization in the motor, sensory, cognitive, and affective domains is provided, together with a discussion of its development and possible biological functions. It is argued that investigation of brain asymmetry in a comparative perspective may favor the link between classical neuropsychological studies and modern developmental and evolutionary biology approaches. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 146-157 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.100 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Endogenous murine microbiota member Faecalibaculum rodentium and its human homologue protect from intestinal tumour growth.

Abstract: The microbiota has been shown to promote intestinal tumourigenesis, but a possible anti-tumourigenic effect has also been postulated. Here, we demonstrate that changes in the microbiota and mucus composition are concomitant with tumourigenesis. We identified two anti-tumourigenic strains of the microbiota-Faecalibaculum rodentium and its human homologue, Holdemanella biformis-that are strongly under-represented during tumourigenesis. Reconstitution of ApcMin/+ or azoxymethane- and dextran sulfate sodium-treated mice with an isolate of F. rodentium (F. PB1) or its metabolic products reduced tumour growth. Both F. PB1 and H. biformis produced short-chain fatty acids that contributed to control protein acetylation and tumour cell proliferation by inhibiting calcineurin and NFATc3 activation in mouse and human settings. We have thus identified endogenous anti-tumourigenic bacterial strains with strong diagnostic, therapeutic and translational potential.