The client-oriented model of cultural competence in healthcare organizations

The paper aims to propose a new model of cultural competence in health organizations based on the paradigm of client orientation. Starting from a literature review, this study takes inspiration from dimensions that characterize the cultural competence of health organizations, and re-articulates them in more detail by applying a client orientation view. The resulting framework is articulated into six dimensions (formal references; procedures and practices; cultural competences of human resources; cultural orientation toward client; partnership with community; and self-assessment) that define the ability of a health organization to achieve its mission, acknowledging, understanding, and valorizing cultural differences of internal clients (staff) and external clients (consumers). This study makes an effort to address the paucity of studies linking approaches to managing cultural diversity in health organizations with cultural competence within the framework of client orientation

Cinema, fumetto e videogioco: per un\u2019estetica del divertimento

Il saggio mette in evidenza i rapporti tra cinema, fumetto e videogioco, generi che hanno spesso tratto ispirazione l'uno dall'altro, e che presentano un comune stile grafico, in cui la forma prevale sui contenuti, a conferma dell\u2019affermarsi di una nuova estetica figurativa. Tuttavia la relazione tra cinema, fumetto e videogioco, seppur fondata sulla fascinazione visiva della nuova grafica digitale, investe problematiche estetiche pi\uf9 profonde, relative ai rapporti tra cultura alta e cultura popolare. Sulla scia del pragmatismo di John Dewey e di Richard Shusterman, si tenta di dimostrare la dignit\ue0 della cultura popolare e il valore estetico delle nozioni di \u201cgioco\u201d e di \u201centertainment\u201d, nozioni che, come dimostrano le recenti tendenze dell\u2019arte interattiva, tendono sempre pi\uf9 a sconfinare dall\u2019ambito del mero divertissement verso la sfera dell\u2019esperienza estetica

L\u2019aura degli oggetti/ The Aura of Objects

L\u2019aura, nozione che Walter Benjamin collegava all\u2019irripetibilit\ue0 e autenticit\ue0 dell\u2019opera d\u2019arte, diviene ora connotativa di quei prodotti commerciali che la popolarit\ue0 del brand trasforma in \u201cmerci di culto\u201d. Nascono cos\uec nuovi orizzonti della creativit\ue0, come la Designart. Di conseguenza l\u2019Estetica, in quanto disciplina filosofica, oggi deve riconfigurare il suo orizzonte epistemologico ed estendere il suo campo di indagine oltre la sfera tradizionale dell\u2019arte, non pi\uf9 (o non solo) bella, verso i nuovi e variegati territori della vita quotidiana

Shedding Light on Diatom Photonics by means of Digital Holography

Diatoms are among the dominant phytoplankters in the worl's ocean, and their external silica investments, resembling artificial photonics crystal, are expected to play an active role in light manipulation. Digital holography allowed studying the interaction with light of Coscinodiscus wailesii cell wall reconstructing the light confinement inside the cell cytoplasm, condition that is hardly accessible via standard microscopy. The full characterization of the propagated beam, in terms of quantitative phase and intensity, removed a long-standing ambiguity about the origin of the light. The data were discussed in the light of living cell behavior in response to their environment

Towards Drift Correction in Chemical Sensors Using an Evolutionary Strategy

Gas chemical sensors are strongly affected by the so-called drift, i.e., changes in sensors' response caused by poisoning and aging that may significantly spoil the measures gathered. The paper presents a mechanism able to correct drift, that is: delivering a correct unbiased fingerprint to the end user. The proposed system exploits a state-of-the-art evolutionary strategy to iteratively tweak the coefficients of a linear transformation. The system operates continuously. The optimal correction strategy is learnt without a-priori models or other hypothesis on the behavior of physical-chemical sensors. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the approach on a real problem

Recognition of intrinsic quality properties for automatic geometric inspection

none3In the last few years the need for methodologies capable of performing an automated geometric inspection has increased. These methodologies often use 3D high-resolution optical digitisers to acquire points from the surface of the object to be inspected. It is expected that, in the near future, geometric inspection will be requiring more and more the use of these instruments. At present geometric inspection is not profiting from all the opportunities attainable by 3D high-resolution optical scanners or from the numerous tools which can be used for processing the point cloud acquired from the inspected product. For some years now, these authors have been working on a new methodology for automatic tolerance inspection working from a 3D model acquired by optical digitisers. In this paper all the information recognisable in a scanned object is organised into a new data structure, called Recognised Geometric Model (RGM). The final aim is to define a representation of the inspected object for the automatic evaluation of the non-idealities pertaining to the form, orientation and location of the non-ideal features of the acquired object. The key concept of the proposed approach is the capability to recognise some intrinsic nominal properties of the acquired model. These properties are assumed as references to evaluate the non-idealities of the inspected object. With this approach the references of geometric inspection are searched for in the inspected object independently of a tolerance specification and of the availability of a 3D nominal representation. The high-level geometric information within RGM depends on the rules used for its identification. The capability to recognise specific categories of nominal references offers the possibility of introducing new tolerances to be specified. The proposed approach has been implemented in original software by means of which a specific test case has been analysed.openP. Di Stefano; L. Di Angelo; A.E. MorabitoP., Di Stefano; L., Di Angelo; Morabito, Ann

On the On-line Functional Test of the Reorder Buffer Memory in Superscalar Processors

The Reorder Buffer (ROB) is a key component in superscalar processors. It enables both in-order commitment of instructions and precise exception management even in those architectures that support out-of-order execution. The ROB architecture typically includes a memory array whose size may reach several thousands of bits. Testing this array may be important to guarantee the correct behavior of the processor. Proprietary BIST solutions typically adopted by manufacturers for end-of-production test are not always suitable for on-line test. In fact, they require the usage of test infrastructures that may be expensive, or may not be accessible and/or documented. This paper proposes an alternative solution, based on a functional approach, which has been validated resorting to both an architectural and a memory fault simulato