The psychosocial impact of assistive device scale: Italian validation in a cohort of nonambulant people with neuromotor disorders

The importance of adaptive seating system on body structure and function is widely accepted, but its impact on psychosocial aspects needs more consideration by health professionals. This article describes the Italian validation of the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Device Scale (IT-PIADS) for non-ambulant people with neuromotor disorders. Once agreement has been given by the original authors, the scale was translated and adapted to the Italian culture. The IT-PIADS was administered to different wheelchairs users with heterogeneous diagnosis. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were examined. Its concurrent validity was evaluated with the Italian version of the WheelCon-M-SF. The IT-PIADS was administered to 87 subjects. Cronbach's α was 0.92 (p < 0.05), and the testretest reliability (ICC) for competence, adaptability and self-esteem subscales were 0.96, 0.90, 0.93 respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient of the IT-PIADS with the WheelCon-M-I-SF scores showed significant data for competence and adaptability subscales. Psychosocial perception on assistive devices can be reliably measure. The IT-PIADS showed good psychometric properties and it is possible to confirm its validity for clinical and research purposes. Nevertheless, before using this measure with greater confidence, further psychometric properties tests of the IT-PIADS are recommended

Integrated Light 2MASS IR Photometry of Galactic Globular Clusters

We have mosaiced 2MASS images to derive surface brightness profiles in JHK for 104 Galactic globular clusters. We fit these with King profiles, and show that the core radii are identical to within the errors for each of these IR colors, and are identical to the core radii at V in essentially all cases. We derive integrated light colors V-J, V-H, V-K_s, J-H and J-K_s for these globular clusters. Each color shows a reasonably tight relation between the dereddened colors and metallicity. Fits to these are given for each color. The IR--IR colors have very small errors due largely to the all-sky photometric calibration of the 2MASS survey, while the V-IR colors have substantially larger uncertainties. We find fairly good agreement with measurements of integrated light colors for a smaller sample of Galactic globular clusters by Aaronson, Malkan & Kleinmann from 1977. Our results provide a calibration for the integrated light of distant single burst old stellar populations from very low to Solar metallicities. A comparison of our dereddened measured colors with predictions from several models of the integrated light of single burst old populations shows good agreement in the low metallicity domain for V-K_s colors, but an offset at a fixed [Fe/H] of ~0.1 mag in J-K_s, which we ascribe to photometric system transformation issues. Some of the models fail to reproduce the behavior of the integrated light colors of the Galactic globular clusters near Solar metallicity.Comment: Accepted for publication in the A

The role of block shape and slenderness in the preliminary estimation of rockfall propagation

Among the wide range of variables that influence the falling process of blocks during a rockfall event, the shape of the block often plays a crucial role. Spherical-like blocks typically reach longer runout distances while elongated and plate volumes stop earlier. Nevertheless, with reference to runout modelling and hazard analyses, the shape of the block was disregarded for very long time until the last two decades when more rigorous rockfall models were developed. Nowadays fully 3D rigid body models and particle-based ones can take into account different and complex aspects related to block geometry and size (e.g. shape, change of shape, slenderness, fragmentation, etc.) when in site-specific applications are addressed. On the other hand, when the rockfall analysis is extended over large areas, simplified runout models can be used for preliminary, quick analyses, aimed at highlighting the most critical zones of the area. In this case, the variables that influence the rockfall process should be included in the analysis in equivalent terms. Among these simplified models, the Cone Method allows to reduce the runout phase to an equivalent sliding motion of the block along an inclined plane. The inclination of this plane with respect to the horizontal plane (i.e. the energy angle ) can be related to both block and slope properties of the real rockfall case. The authors of this paper developed a methodology for the estimation of the energy angle as a function of the condition of the site under analysis (characteristics of the blocks and the slope), to be used for preliminary forecasting analyses at medium-small scales. To this aim, a series of parametric analyses have been carried out to quantify the role of each variable on the energy angle. In this paper, the role of block shape and slenderness (i.e. the ratio between the height and the width of the rock block) is analysed via several propagation analyses carried out on simplified synthetic slopes by using the fully 3D RAMMS::ROCKFALL model. The results were finally statistically treated in terms of energy angles in order to take into account the variability of rockfall trajectories and provide a contribution for the estimation of the parameters within preliminary analyses based on the Cone Method

Analysis of thermomechanical fatigue of unidirectional titanium metal matrix composites

Thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) data was generated for a Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn (Ti-15-3) material reinforced with SCS-6 silicon carbide fibers for both in-phase and out-of-phase thermomechanical cycling. Significant differences in failure mechanisms and fatigue life were noted for in-phase and out-of-phase testing. The purpose of the research is to apply a micromechanical model to the analysis of the data. The analysis predicts the stresses in the fiber and the matrix during the thermal and mechanical cycling by calculating both the thermal and mechanical stresses and their rate-dependent behavior. The rate-dependent behavior of the matrix was characterized and was used to calculate the constituent stresses in the composite. The predicted 0 degree fiber stress range was used to explain the composite failure. It was found that for a given condition, temperature, loading frequency, and time at temperature, the 0 degree fiber stress range may control the fatigue life of the unidirectional composite

Hydrogeological model and hydraulic behaviour of a large landslide in the Italian Western Alps

Abstract. A study of the large, deep-seated Rosone landslide (Italian Western Alps) is presented. A large amount of geological and geomechanical data has been collected in this area, due to the presence of various villages and man-made structures, and an automatic monitoring system was installed in December 2000. Since its installation, this system has been showing a continuous slow movement with periodical accelerations that can be correlated to heavy rainfall events. A hydrogeological model has been developed to study the influence of rainfall events on the pore pressure variations inside the rock slope. The structural characteristics, inclinometric and piezometric measurements, statigraphic and seismic profiles, geomorphologic information, water balance and chemical analyses of the main springs in the slope have been taken into account to consider this problem. A numerical hydraulic investigation, based on a continuum equivalent model of the landslide, has then been carried out using the FLAC3D computer code. Some preliminary results, which highlight the role of permeability and the porosity values of the rock mass on the pore pressure variations during heavy rainfall, are shown in the paper

Are eyes special? Gaze, but not pointing gestures, elicits a reversed congruency effect in a spatial Stroop task

Gaze stimuli can shape attention in a peculiar way as compared to non-social stimuli. For instance, in a spatial Stroop task, gaze stimuli elicit a reversed congruency effect (i.e., faster responses on incongruent than on congruent trials) as compared to arrows, for which a standard congruency effect emerges. Here, we tested whether the reversed congruency effect observed for gaze can emerge for other social signals such as pointing gestures. Participants discriminated the direction (left or right) indicated by gaze and pointing finger stimuli that appeared leftwards or rightwards with respect to a central fixation spot. Arrows were also employed as control non-social stimuli. A reversed congruency effect emerged for the gaze, whereas a standard congruency effect emerged for both the pointing finger and the arrows. This suggests that the reversed congruency effect is specific to gaze stimuli and does not embrace all social signals conveying spatial information

Time-Dependent Reversible-Irreversible Deformation Threshold Determined Explicitly by Experimental Technique

Structural materials for the design of advanced aeropropulsion components are usually subject to loading under elevated temperatures, where a material's viscosity (resistance to flow) is greatly reduced in comparison to its viscosity under low-temperature conditions. As a result, the propensity for the material to exhibit time-dependent deformation is significantly enhanced, even when loading is limited to a quasi-linear stress-strain regime as an effort to avoid permanent (irreversible) nonlinear deformation. An understanding and assessment of such time-dependent effects in the context of combined reversible and irreversible deformation is critical to the development of constitutive models that can accurately predict the general hereditary behavior of material deformation. To this end, researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field developed a unique experimental technique that identifies the existence of and explicitly determines a threshold stress k, below which the time-dependent material deformation is wholly reversible, and above which irreversible deformation is incurred. This technique is unique in the sense that it allows, for the first time, an objective, explicit, experimental measurement of k. The underlying concept for the experiment is based on the assumption that the material s time-dependent reversible response is invariable, even in the presence of irreversible deformation

The shape of the Red Giant Branch Bump as a diagnostic of partial mixing processes in low-mass stars

We suggest to use the shape of the Red Giant Branch (RGB) Bump in metal-rich globular clusters as a diagnostic of partial mixing processes between the base of the convective envelope and the H-burning shell. The Bump located along the differential luminosity function of cluster RGB stars is a key observable to constrain the H-profile inside these structures. In fact, standard evolutionary models that account for complete mixing in the convective unstable layers and radiative equilibrium in the innermost regions do predict that the first dredge-up lefts over a very sharp H-discontinuity at the bottom of the convective region. Interestingly enough we found that both atomic diffusion and a moderate convective overshooting at the base of the convective region marginally affects the shape of the RGB Bump in the differential Luminosity Function (LF). As a consequence, we performed several numerical experiments to estimate whether plausible assumptions concerning the smoothing of the H-discontinuity, due to the possible occurrence of extra-mixing below the convective boundary, affects the shape of the RGB Bump. We found that the difference between the shape of RGB Bump predicted by standard and by smoothed models can be detected if the H-discontinuity is smoothed over an envelope region whose thickness is equal or larger than 0.5 pressure scale heights. Finally, we briefly discuss the comparison between theoretical predictions and empirical data in metal-rich, reddening free Galactic Globular Clusters (GGCs) to constrain the sharpness of the H-profile inside RGB stars.Comment: 15 pages, 8 postscript figures, ApJ in pres

Theoretical models for classical Cepheids. VIII. Effects of helium and heavy elements abundance on the Cepheid distance scale

Previous nonlinear fundamental pulsation models for classical Cepheids with metal content Z <= 0.02 are implemented with new computations at super-solar metallicity (Z=0.03, 0.04) and selected choices of the helium-to-metal enrichment ratio DeltaY/Delta Z. On this basis, we show that the location into the HR diagram of the Cepheid instability strip is dependent on both metal and helium abundance, moving towards higher effective temperatures with decreasing the metal content (at fixed Y) or with increasing the helium content (at fixed Z). The contributions of helium and metals to the predicted Period-Luminosity and Period-Luminosity-Color relations are discussed, as well as the implications on the Cepheid distance scale. Based on these new results, we finally show that the empirical metallicity correction suggested by Cepheid observations in two fields of the galaxy M101 may be accounted for, provided that the adopted helium-to-metal enrichment ratio is reasonably high (Delta Y/Delta Z ~ 3.5).Comment: 23 pages, including 6 postscript figures, accepted for publication on Ap

A Self-Adaptive Approach to Exploit Topological Properties of Different GAs’ Crossover Operators

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are a family of optimization algorithms inspired by the Darwinian theory of evolution, and Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a popular technique among EAs. Similar to other EAs, common limitations of GAs have geometrical origins, like premature convergence, where the final population’s convex hull might not include the global optimum. Population diversity maintenance is a central idea to tackle this problem but is often performed through methods that constantly diminish the search space’s area. This work presents a self- adaptive approach, where the non-geometric crossover is strategically employed with geometric crossover to maintain diversity from a geometrical/topological perspective. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, the experimental phase compares it against well-known diversity maintenance methods over well-known benchmarks. Experimental results clearly demonstrate the suitability of the proposed self-adaptive approach and the possibility of applying it to different types of crossover and EAs