Come comincia la storia (in Italia): "Roma sentimentale" di Diego Angeli, 1900

Nell’ambito della ricca e complessa ricezione di Bruges-la-Morte, atto di nascita del fototesto europeo pubblicato da Georges Rodenbach nel 1892, un episodio in apparenza minore, ma curioso, è Roma sentimentale di Diego Angeli, poligrafo sodale di d’Annunzio ma vicino anche alla couche “crepuscolare”, testo uscito nel 1900 presso lo stesso editore che pubblicherà nel 1907 la prima traduzione italiana del romanzo di Rodenbach. A differenza di altri spin-off di quegli anni, il testo di Angeli è corredato da un apparato di immagini (fotografie riprodotte su incisioni) e si può forse considerare, allora, il primo fototesto italiano. Keywords: fototesto, Georges Rodenbach, crepuscolarismo, Marino Moretti, Fausto Maria Martini, Diego Angeli, immagine di Roma, Baedeker, plagio

Long-Term Evaluation of a Telepresence Robot for the Elderly: Methodology and Ecological Case Study

Telepresence robotic systems are proposed in different contexts and specifically in the area of social robotics for assisting older adults at home. Similarly to other robotic systems, such robots are often designed and then evaluated in laboratory settings for a limited period of time. Lab-based evaluations present limitations because they do not take into account the different challenges imposed by the fielding of robotic solutions into real contexts for longer periods. In order to perform long-term experiments in real ecological settings it is very important to define a structured approach to assess the impact of a prolonged and constant use of the telepresence robot. This paper proposes a methodology in the area of elderly people support, called MARTA, for M ultidimensional A ssessment of telepresence R obo T for older A dults. It introduces the main variables of interest as well as the instruments and administration timeline for assessing relevant changes that may occur over time. MARTA is also validated in a one year-long case study during which a telepresence robot, called Giraff, has been deployed and iteratively assessed. The paper also provides remarks on the technology readiness and suggestions for its improvements

Into the Wild: Pushing a Telepresence Robot Outside the Lab

Most robotic systems are usually used and evaluated in laboratory setting for a limited period of time. The limitation of lab evaluation is that it does not take into account the different challenges imposed by the fielding of robotic solutions into real contexts. Our current work evaluates a robotic telepresence platform to be used with elderly people. This paper describes our progressive effort toward a comprehensive, ecological and longitudinal evaluation of such robots outside the lab. It first discusses some results from a twofold short term evaluation performed in Italy. Specifically we report results from both a usability assessment in laboratory and a subsequent study obtained by interviewing 44 healthcare workers as possible secondary users (people connecting to the robot) and 10 older adults as possible primary users (people receiving visits through the robot). It then describes a complete evaluation plan designed for a long term assessment to be applied "outside the lab" dwelling on the initial application of such methodology to test sites in Italy

AI and robotics to help older adults: Revisiting projects in search of lessons learned

Abstract This article is a retrospective overview of work performed in the domain of Active Assisted Living over a span of almost 18 years. The authors have been creating and refining artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics solutions to support older adults in maintaining their independence and improving their quality of life. The goal of this article is to identify strong features and general lessons learned from those experiences and conceive guidelines and new research directions for future deployment, also relying on an analysis of similar research efforts. The work considers key points that have contributed to increase the success of the innovative solutions grounding them on known technology acceptance models. The analysis is presented with a threefold perspective: A Technological vision illustrates the characteristics of the support systems to operate in a real environment with continuity, robustness, and safety; a Socio-Health perspective highlights the role of experts in the socio-assistance domain to provide contextualized and personalized help based on actual people's needs; finally, a Human dimension takes into account the personal aspects that influence the interaction with technology in the long term experience. The article promotes the crucial role of AI and robotics in ensuring intelligent and situated assistive behaviours. Finally, considering that the produced solutions are socio-technical systems, the article suggests a transdisciplinary approach in which different relevant disciplines merge together to have a complete, coordinated, and more informed vision of the problem

Steps Toward End-to-End Personalized AAL Services

In Ambient Assisted Living research and development, a significant effort has been dedicated to issues like gathering continuous information at home, standardizing formats in order to create environments more easily, extracting further information from raw data using different techniques to reconstruct context. An aspect relatively less developed but also important is the design of personalized end-to-end services for technology users being them either primary (older people) or secondary (medical doctors, caregiver, relatives). This paper explores an effort, internal to the EU project GIRAFFPLUS, for designing such services starting from a state-of-the-art continuous data gathering infrastructure. The paper presents the general project idea, the current choices for the middleware infrastructure and the pursued direction for a set of services personalized to different classes of users

End-to-End Personalized AAL Services for Elderly with Chronic Conditions

In the recent years, the number of the elderly living with chronic diseases (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) is continuously growing, potentially affecting their independence. Therefore, many efforts have been given in AAL applications for supporting the monitoring activities and, particularly, focusing to the issue of gathering continuous information at home, standardizing formats, extracting further information from raw sensors data using different techniques to reconstruct a context. One aspect that is rather important but less developed in current investigation is the design of personalized end-to-end services for classes of users of such technology being them either primary user (old people) or secondary users (medical doctors, caregiver, relatives)

Coaching through technology: a systematic review into efficacy and effectiveness for the ageing population

Background: Despite the evidence on the positive role of self-management, the adoption ofhealth coaching strategies for older people is still limited. To address these gaps, recent efforts havebeen made in the ICT sector in order to develop systems for delivering coaching and overcomingbarriers relating to scarcity of resources. The aim of this review is to examine the efficacy of personalhealth coaching systems for older adults using digital virtual agents.Methods: A systematic reviewof the literature was conducted in December 2019 analyzing manuscripts from four databases overthe last 10 years. Nine papers were included.Results: Despite the low number of studies, there wasevidence that technology-integrated interventions can deliver benefits for health over usual care.However, the review raises important questions about how to maintain benefits and permanence ofbehavior change produced by short-term interventions.Conclusion: These systems offer a potentialtool to reduce costs, minimize therapist burden and training, and expand the range of clients who canbenefit from them. It is desirable that in the future the number of studies will grow, considering otheraspects such as the role of the virtual coaches’ characteristics, social-presence, empathy, usability,and health literac

A deep phenotyping experience: up to date in management and diagnosis of Malan syndrome in a single center surveillance report

Background Malan syndrome (MALNS) is a recently described ultrarare syndrome lacking guidelines for diagnosis, management and monitoring of evolutive complications. Less than 90 patients are reported in the literature and limited clinical information are available to assure a proper health surveillance. Results A multidisciplinary team with high expertise in MALNS has been launched at the "Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu", Rome, Italy. Sixteen Italian MALNS individuals with molecular confirmed clinical diagnosis of MALNS were enrolled in the program. For all patients, 1-year surveillance in a dedicated outpatient Clinic was attained. The expert panel group enrolled 16 patients and performed a deep phenotyping analysis directed to clinically profiling the disorder and performing critical revision of previously reported individuals. Some evolutive complications were also assessed. Previously unappreciated features (e.g., high risk of bone fractures in childhood, neurological/neurovegetative symptoms, noise sensitivity and Chiari malformation type 1) requiring active surveillance were identified. A second case of neoplasm was recorded. No major cardiovascular anomalies were noticed. An accurate clinical description of 9 new MALNS cases was provided. Conclusions Deep phenotyping has provided a more accurate characterization of the main clinical features of MALNS and allows broadening the spectrum of disease. A minimal dataset of clinical evaluations and follow-up timeline has been proposed for proper management of patients affected by this ultrarare disorder

Towards improved humidity measurements at high temperatures and transient conditions

Humidity is a key parameter in controlling drying processes and ambient conditions in many industrial manufacturing, storage and test applications. Air humidity is routinely measured at temperatures above 100 °C and at conditions that are often challenging due to temporal and local variations. Calibrations of humidity sensors do not provide appropriate representativeness of measurement conditions because they are limited to temperatures below 100 °C and static conditions. A European metrology research project HIT (“Metrology for Humidity at High Temperatures and Transient conditions”) is developing improved humidity measurement and calibration techniques to temperatures up to 180 °C and non-static conditions. This paper summaries developments of the project: calibration and test facilities for industrial hygrometers, studies on humidity control in specific microbial transient processes and a new measurement approach for water activity measurements