Self-Reported Route Familiarity and Road Safety Negative Outcomes: First Results from a Transnational Survey-Based Study

Previous research has shown the influence of drivers' route familiarity on road safety. The drivers' familiarity was possibly related to some negative safety outcomes such as speeding, violations, inattention. On the other hand, drivers unfamiliar with the route (especially if foreigners) were related to over-involvement in specific types or at-fault crashes. Drivers' route familiarity is mainly identifiable from frequency-based self-reported scales and distance from residence scales. In this study, another perspective was used, by relying on surveys. The familiarity with given routes and the behavioral differences with respect to generic routes was self-reported by drivers, who have answered to a specifically designed survey. Other questions were related to other safety issues and negative outcomes, such as accidents and sanctions/violations. The survey was submitted to both Italian and Norwegian young drivers, to explore also possible cultural/geographic differences of the phenomenon. The first results from the study are presented here, by focusing on the relevant aspects emerged from both the Italian and Norwegian surveys. In particular, the representation of the habitual routes is different between Italy and Norway. Some stated behavioral differences emerge from the comparison between answers related to the generic routes travelled and those specifically related to the habitual routes. Most accidents occur on routes frequently traveled, while there is a relevant part of fines which occur on roads rarely/never travelled. Those tendencies should be confirmed and other possible relationships should be explored after having enlarged the sample of respondents

COVID-19 Vaccination Status among Adults Admitted to Intensive Care Units in Veneto, Italy

: This cohort study examines admissions to intensive care units for COVID-19–associated acute respiratory distress syndrome by COVID-19 vaccination status among adults in the Veneto region of Italy from May to December 2021

The GBT-SCA, a radiation tolerant ASIC for detector control applications in SLHC experiments

This work describes the architecture of the GigaBit Transceiver – Slow Control Adapter (GBT–SCA) ASIC suitable for the control and monitoring applications of the embedded front-end electronics in the future SLHC experiments. The GBT–SCA is part the GBT chipset currently under development for the SLHC detector upgrades. It is designed for radiation tolerance and it will be fabricated in a commercial 130 nm CMOS technology. The paper discusses the GBT-SCA architecture, the data transfer protocol, the ASIC interfaces, and its integration with the GBT optical link. The GBT–SCA is one the components of the GBT system chipset. It is proposed for the future SLHC experiments and is designed to be configurable matching different front-end system requirements. The GBT-SCA is intended for the slow control and monitoring of the embedded front end electronics and implements a point-to-multi point connection between one GBT optical link ASIC and several front end ASICs. The GBT-SCA connects to a dedicated electrical port on the GBT ASIC that provides 80 Mbps of bidirectional data traffic. If needed, more than one GBT-SCA ASIC can be connected to a GBT ASIC thus increasing the control and monitoring capabilities in the system. The GBT-SCA ASIC features several I/O ports to interface with the embedded front-end ASICs. There are 16 I2C buses, 1 JTAG controller port, 4 8- bit wide parallel-ports, a memory bus controller and an ADC to monitor up to 8 external analog signals. All these ports are accessible from the counting room electronics, via the GBT optical link system. Special design techniques are being employed to protect the operation of the GBT-SCA against radiation induced Single-Event-Upsets to a level that is compatible for the SLHC experiments. The paper will present the overall architecture of the GBTSCA ASIC describing in detail the design of the peripheral controllers for the individual I/O ports, the network controller that implements the connectivity with the GBT ASIC and will discuss the operation modes and the flow of information between the control electronics and the embedded front end ASICs

Finite dimensional corrections to mean field in a short-range p-spin glassy model

In this work we discuss a short range version of the $p$-spin model. The model is provided with a parameter that allows to control the crossover with the mean field behaviour. We detect a discrepancy between the perturbative approach and numerical simulation. We attribute it to non-perturbative effects due to the finite probability that each particular realization of the disorder allows for the formation of regions where the system is less frustrated and locally freezes at a higher temperature.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys Rev

Status of the Cylindical-GEM project for the KLOE-2 Inner Tracker

The status of the R&D on the Cylindrical-GEM (CGEM) detector foreseen as Inner Tracker for KLOE-2, the upgrade of the KLOE experiment at the DAFNE phi-factory, will be presented. The R&D includes several activities: i) the construction and complete characterization of the full-size CGEM prototype, equipped with 650 microns pitch 1-D longitudinal strips; ii) the study of the 2-D readout with XV patterned strips and operation in magnetic field (up to 1.5T), performed with small planar prototypes in a dedicated test at the H4-SPS beam facility; iii) the characterization of the single-mask GEM technology for the realization of large-area GEM foils.Comment: 4 pages, 10 figures, Presented at Vienna Conference on Instrumentation (Feb 15-20, 2010, Vienna, Austria). Submitted to the Proceeding

Candidemia after cardiac surgery in the intensive care unit: an observational study

Candidemia is a well-recognized complication of hospital stay, especially in critically ill patients. There is not a general consensus that predictors for candidemia in cardiosurgical intensive care unit (cICU) are different from a general ICU and it has been reported that cardiopulmonary bypass time is a specific risk factor in the cICU. We performed a prospective study to evaluate the main predictors for candidemia in patients admitted to the cICU. Included patients were adults admitted between July 2005 and December 2007 with an ICU-length of stay (ICU-LOS) ≥48 hours after cardiac surgery. Exclusion criteria were solid organ or bone marrow transplants, previous diagnosis of candidemia or other invasive infections and ICU stay before surgery. A multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors. Among 1955 patients admitted to the cICU, 345 were enrolled. Only 26 patients (1.3%) had candidemia after an ICU-LOS of 20 days (inter-quartile range, IQR 8-49 days). Total parenteral nutrition [odds ratio (OR) = 9.56; confidence interval (CI) = 1.741-52.534], severe sepsis (OR = 4.20; CI = 1.292-13.667), simplified acute physiology score II (OR = 1.16; CI = 1.052-1.278) and ICU-LOS >20 days (OR=6.38; CI = 1.971-20.660) were independent predictors of candidemia. Patients undergoing cardiac surgery developed candidemia late after cICU admission and the independent predictors were similar to the general ICU. © 2011 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery

Parp inhibitors and epithelial ovarian cancer: Molecular mechanisms, clinical development and future prospective (Review)

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has a poor prog- nosis. Since the introduction of paclitaxel as antineoplastic agent >20 years ago, only a few phase III randomized trials have shown challenging data regarding different therapeutic options for facing its aggressive clinical course and granting active therapies to patients. Different studies have shown the utility of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in women with EOC with or without BRCA mutations, both germ- line and somatic. Three PARP inhibitors, olaparib, rucaparib and niraparib, have been recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for clinical use in EOC patients, though with different clinical indications and profiles of toxicity, while two other molecules, veliparib and talazoparib, are still under clinical investigation. The aim of the present paper is to evaluate the current status of PARP inhibitors in terms of molecular activity, pharmacodynamic properties and clinical applications

A new limit on the CP violating decay KS -> 3pi0 with the KLOE experiment

We have carried out a new direct search for the CP violating decay KS -> 3pi0 with 1.7 fb^-1 of e+e- collisions collected by the KLOE detector at the phi-factory DAFNE. We have searched for this decay in a sample of about 5.9 x 10^8 KS KL events tagging the KS by means of the KL interaction in the calorimeter and requiring six prompt photons. With respect to our previous search, the analysis has been improved by increasing of a factor four the tagged sample and by a more effective background rejection of fake KS tags and spurious clusters. We find no candidates in data and simulated background samples, while we expect 0.12 standard model events. Normalizing to the number of KS -> 2pi0 events in the same sample, we set the upper limit on BR(KS -> 3pi0 < 2.6 x 10^-8 at 90% C.L., five times lower than the previous limit. We also set the upper limit on the eta_000 parameter, |eta_000 | < 0.0088 at 90% C.L., improving by a factor two the latest direct measurement.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Letters B (15 pages, 13 figures

Search for dark Higgsstrahlung in e+ e- -> mu+ mu- and missing energy events with the KLOE experiment

We searched for evidence of a Higgsstrahlung process in a secluded sector, leading to a final state with a dark photon U and a dark Higgs boson h', with the KLOE detector at DAFNE. We investigated the case of h' lighter than U, with U decaying into a muon pair and h' producing a missing energy signature. We found no evidence of the process and set upper limits to its parameters in the range 2m_mu<m_U<1000 MeV, m_h'<m_U.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physics Letters

Preliminary investigation on the effect of insect-based chitosan on preservation of coated fresh cherry tomatoes

: Chitosan was produced from Hermetia illucens pupal exuviae by heterogeneous and homogeneous deacetylation. Tomato fruits (Solanum lycopersicum), that are one of the most grown and consumed food throughout the world, were coated with 0.5 and 1% chitosan, applied by dipping or spraying, and stored at room temperature or 4&nbsp;°C, for a storage period of 30&nbsp;days. Statistical analysis give different results depending on the analysed parameters: heterogeneous chitosan, indeed, had a better effect than the homogenous one in maintaining more stable physico-chemical parameters, while the homogenous chitosan improved the total phenols, flavonoids and antioxidant activity. Chitosan coatings applied by spraying were more effective in all the analyses. Chitosan derived from H. illucens always performed similarly to the commercial chitosan. However, a general better performance of insect-derived chitosan on the concentration of phenolics and flavonoids, and the antioxidant activity was observed as compared to the commercial one. Chitosan coating has already been successfully used for preservation of fresh fruits, as alternative to synthetic polymers, but this is the first investigation of chitosan produced from an insect for this application. These preliminary results are encouraging regarding the validation of the insect H. illucens as a source of chitosan