Built Environment and Alzheimer. Quality Evaluation of Territorial Structures for Patients with Dementia

ustainable, inclusive and resilient cities and urban settlements are fundamental in enabling people to live long and healthy lives. Elderly population is growing all over the world and in Italy is among the largest. Within this scenario, epidemiological data show that Alzheimer disease, a dementia which manifest with ageing, is also forecast to rapidly increase, up to 150 million cases in 2050. Within urban settlements, the health and socio-sanitary structures for elderly patients represent a fundamental social infrastructure that collects important investments but must be suitable to host people with dementia. The paper describes the methodology adopted for the definition of an assessment tool able to evaluate the indoor and outdoor qualities and characteristics of socio-sanitary facilities for Alzheimer and elderly people. In the first phase the analysis of scientific literature, international case studies and sustainability assessment framework led to identification of 4 criteria, 19 indicators and 71 variables validated by experts in geriatry, psychiatry and architecture. In the second phase the tool has been operationalized and tested on a sample of three territorial structures in Lombardy Region, Italy. The outcomes of the evaluation can lead to the definition of sustainable project strategies

Sliding/Rolling Phobic Droplets along a Fiber: Measurement of Interfacial Forces

Phobic droplet–fiber systems possess complex geometries, which have made full characterization of such systems difficult. This work has used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure droplet–fiber forces for oil droplets on oleophobic fibers over a range of fiber diameters. The work adapted a previous method and a theoretical model developed by the authors for philic droplet–fiber systems. A Bayesian statistical model was also used to account for the influence of surface roughness on the droplet–fiber force. In general, it has been found that the force required to move a liquid droplet along an oleophobic filter fiber will be less than that required to move a droplet along an oleophilic fiber. However, because of the effects of pinning and/or wetting behavior, this difference may be less than would otherwise be expected. Droplets with a greater contact angle ( 110°) were observed to roll along the fiber, whereas droplets with a lesser contact angle (<90°) would slide

Monte Carlo Simulation for Tomlinson Models for Non-Sinusoidal Periodic Potencials

It is shown that the velocity dependence of a tungsten tip sliding against a mica surface cannot be fit to a semi-empirical analytical solution of the Tomlinson/Prandtl model using a simple sinusoidal sliding potential. This could be due to invalid assumptions in the model itself. However, if it is assumed that the periodic sliding potential is much sharper than a simple sinusoid, quantitative agreement between the experimental velocity dependence of the sliding force and theory is obtained using a single variable parameter, the height of the surface potential. Sliding is modeled in this case using Monte Carlo theory, and it is found that the height of the potential varies linearly with the normal load.Fil: Furlong, Octavio Javier. University Of Wisconsin; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Manzi, Sergio Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Pereyra, Victor Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Bustos, Victor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Tysoe, Wilfred T.. University Of Wisconsin; Estados Unido

Suppression of electronic friction on Nb films in the superconducting state

Investigations on the origins of friction are still scarce and controversial(1-4). In particular, the contributions of electronic and phononic excitations are poorly known(5-11). A direct way to distinguish between them is to work across the superconducting phase transition(7-12). Here, non-contact friction(13-16) on a Nb film is studied across the critical temperature T(C) using a highly sensitive cantilever oscillating in the pendulum geometry in ultrahigh vacuum. The friction coefficient Gamma is reduced by a factor of three when the sample enters the superconducting state. The temperature decay of Gamma is found to be in good agreement with the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory(12,17-19), meaning that friction has an electronic nature in the metallic state, whereas phononic friction dominates in the superconducting state. This is supported by the dependence of friction on the probe-sample distance d and on the bias voltage V. Gamma is found to be proportional to d(-1) and V(2) in the metallic state, whereas Gamma similar to d(-4) and Gamma similar to V(4) in the superconducting state. Therefore, phononic friction becomes the main dissipation channel below the critical temperature(16)