Prospective Memory, User Experience (UX), and Online Product Configurators

n recent years, the emergence of the mass customization paradigm has led to the development of online configurators as tools to increase the involvement of possible clients in the productive process. The study here presented involved 50 users which interacted with an online configurator for interior design products. Participants were also administered two tests aimed at measuring their prospective memory abilities. When they completed the interaction with the configurator, they were asked to provide ratings of aspects such as their level of satisfaction with the configurator and their willingness to buy the product they created. The results show that prospective memory is relevant in allowing the successful completion of the configuration task. Moreover, the willingness to buy the product is related to the ability to remember events in the distant future, while the degree of satisfaction with the interaction experience is related to the ability to remember what is going to happen in the near future

Shopping online and online design

Many steps have been taken in recent years to bring production processes closer to customer needs. This trend of mass customisation is best characterised by the emergence of online configurators which help to eliminate barriers between production and market needs. This study involved 82 participants who interacted with an online configurator for interior design products. Participants were administered two tests to measure their prospective memory abilities. After interacting with the product configurator, the participants were asked to rate aspects of the configurator - level of satisfaction, extent to which they had been able to satisfactorily conclude the configuration process, as well as their willingness to buy the product they created. The results show that prospective memory is relevant in relation to the degree of satisfaction with the interaction experience. The results also seem to suggest that prospective memory is involved in the successful completion of the configuration process and in the level of willingness to purchase the configured product

Combined PIXE and XPS analysis on republican and imperial roman coins

Abstract A combined PIXE and XPS analysis has been performed on a few Roman coins of the republican and imperial age. The purpose was to investigate via XPS the nature and extent of patina in order to be capable of extracting PIXE data relative to the coins bulk. The inclusion of elements from the surface layer, altered by oxidation and inclusion, is a known source of uncertainty in PIXE analyses of coins, performed to assess the composition and the provenance

No-Dose Photodynamic Therapy Against Half-Dose Photodynamic Therapy for Treatment of Central Serous Chorioretinopathy

Abstract Introduction This study aimed to describe the effects of no-dose full-fluence photodynamic therapy without verteporfin (no-dose PDT) and to compare no-dose PDT with half-dose verteporfin full-fluence photodynamic therapy (HDFF PDT) for managing chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (cCSC). Methods This retrospective study evaluated 11 patients with chronic recurrent CSC treated with no-dose PDT between January 2019 and March 2022. Most of these patients were also treated with HDFF PDT a minimum of 3 months before and were considered as the control group. We described the changes of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), maximum subretinal fluid (mSRF), foveal subretinal fluid (fSRF), and choroidal thickness (CT) 8 ± 2 weeks after no-dose PDT, and we compared BVCA, mSRF, fSRF, and CT of no-dose PDT with those of the of same patients previously treated with HDFF PDT. Results Fifteen eyes of 11 patients (10 male, mean age 54 ± 12 years) received no-dose PDT; among these, 10 eyes of 8 patients (7 male, mean age 53 ± 12 years) also received HDFF PDT. Three eyes showed complete resolution of fSRF after no-dose PDT. No significant differences were disclosed between treatment with and without verteporfin comparing BCVA, mSRF, fSRF, and CT at baseline and 8 ± 2 weeks from the treatment (p > 0.05 in all analyses). Conclusion BVCA and CT significantly improved after no-dose PDT. Short-term functional and anatomical treatment outcomes for cCSC were similar for HDFF PDT and no-dose PDT. We hypothesize that the potential benefits of no-dose PDT may arise from thermal elevation that triggers and enhances photochemical activities by endogenous fluorophores, activating a biochemical cascade response that rescues/replaces sick, dysfunctional retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Results of this study suggest the potential value of a prospective clinical trial to evaluate no-dose PDT for managing cCSC, especially when verteporfin is contraindicated or unavailable

Probing the nature of particle-core couplings in 49Ca with gamma spectroscopy and heavy-ion transfer reactions

Neutron rich nuclei around 48Ca have been measured with the CLARA–PRISMA setup, making use of 48Ca on 64Ni binary reactions, at 5.9 MeV/A. Angular distributions of γ rays give evidence, in several transfer channels, for a large spin alignment (≈70%) perpendicular to the reaction plane, making it possible to firmly establish spin and parities of the excited states. In the case of 49Ca, states arising from different types of particle–core couplings are, for the first time, unambiguously identified on basis of angular distribution, polarization and lifetime measurements. Shell model and particle–vibration coupling calculations are used to pin down the nature of the states. Evidence is found for the presence, in the same excitation energy region, of two types of coupled states, i.e. single particle coupled to either 48Ca or 50Ca simple configurations, and particle–vibration coupled states based on the 3− phonon of 48Ca

Probing the nature of particle-core couplings in 49Ca with gamma spectroscopy and heavy-ion transfer reactions

Neutron rich nuclei around 48Ca have been measured with the CLARA\u2013PRISMA setup, making use of 48Ca on 64Ni binary reactions, at 5.9 MeV/A. Angular distributions of \u3b3 rays give evidence, in several transfer channels, for a large spin alignment ( 4870%) perpendicular to the reaction plane, making it possible to firmly establish spin and parities of the excited states. In the case of 49Ca, states arising from different types of particle\u2013core couplings are, for the first time, unambiguously identified on basis of angular distribution, polarization and lifetime measurements. Shell model and particle\u2013vibration coupling calculations are used to pin down the nature of the states. Evidence is found for the presence, in the same excitation energy region, of two types of coupled states, i.e. single particle coupled to either 48Ca or 50Ca simple configurations, and particle\u2013vibration coupled states based on the 3 12 phonon of 48Ca