Linguistic and content validation of the translated and culturally adapted patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA)

The Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) is an instrument to screen, assess and monitor malnutrition and risk factors, and to triage for interventions. After having translated and culturally adapted the original PG-SGA for the Italian setting, according to International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Principles, we tested linguistic validity, i.e., perceived comprehensibility and difficulty, and content validity (relevance) of the Italian version of the PG-SGA in patients with cancer and a multidisciplinary sample of healthcare professionals (HCPs). Methods: After the translation and cultural adaptation of the original PG-SGA for the Italian setting, the patient component (i.e., PG-SGA Short Form (SF) was tested for linguistic validity (i.e., comprehensibility ad difficulty) in 120 Italian patients with cancer and 81 Italian HCPs. The full PG-SGA, i.e., patient and professional component of the PG-SGA, was tested for content validity, i.e., relevance, in 81 Italian HCPs. The data were collected by a questionnaire and evaluations were operationalized by a 4-point scale. Through item and scale indices we evaluated the comprehensibility (I–CI, S–CI), difficulty (I-DI, S-DI) and content validity (I-CVI, S-CVI). Scale indices 0.80–0.89 were considered acceptable, and scale indices ≥0.90 were considered excellent. Results: Patients perceived comprehensibility and difficulty of the PG-SGA SF (Boxes) as excellent (S–CI = 0.98, S-DI = 0.96). Professionals perceived comprehensibility of the professional component (Worksheets) as excellent (S–CI = 0.92), difficulty as acceptable (S-DI = 0.85), and content validity of the full PG-SGA as excellent (S-CVI = 0.92). Dietitians gave higher scores (indicating better scores) on comprehensibility, difficulty, and content validity of Worksheet 4 (physical exam) than the other professions. In Worksheet 4, four items were considered most difficult to complete and were considered below acceptable range. Relevance was perceived as excellent by professionals for both the patient component (S-CVI = 0.93) and the professional component (S-CVI = 0.90), resulting in S-CVI = 0.92 for the full PG-SGA. Slight textual modifications were implemented resulting in the final version of the Italian PG-SGA. Conclusions: Translation and cultural adaptation of the original PG-SGA resulted in the Italian version of the PG-SGA that maintained its original purpose and meaning and can be completed adequately and easily by patients and professionals. The Italian PG-SGA is considered relevant for screening, assessing and monitoring malnutrition and risk factors, as well as triaging for interventions by Italian HCPs.</p

Optimization environment definition for beam steering reflectarray antenna design

Reflectarray antennas are low-profile high-gain systems widely applied in the aerospace industry. The increase in their application is leading to the problem of getting more advanced performance while keeping the system as simple as possible. In these cases, their design cannot be conducted via analytical methods, thus evolutionary optimization algorithms are often implemented. Indeed, the design is characterized by the presence of many local minima, by high number of design variables, and by the high computational burden required to evaluate the antenna performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop, implement, and test a complete Optimization Environment that can be applied to achieve high scanning capabilities with a reflectarray. The design of the optimization environment has been selected to be flexible enough to be applied also with other different algorithms

A new experimental approach to the investigation of contact forces at an interface

The piezoelectric films recently developed permit the design of very efficient thin sensors which are suited to interesting applications in contact problems, not only in industrial robotics but also in experimental research. After a brief introduction exemplifying the electrical principles, the primary aspects of the technique are presented and discussed with reference to possible structural engineering applications. A rather simple example regarding the interaction between a steel bar and a block of concrete is also presented. The bar is excited by dynamic cyclic loads having variable frequency. The reliability of forces detected via a PVDF sensor is evaluated by comparing the results with those obtained in parallel by means of a dynamometer strain-gauge. The comparison is promising, even if some technological problems must be resolved before this experimental technique may be applied extensively

A fast hybrid system for PD measurement

A fast partial discharge (PD) measuremcnt system is described, which employs analog as well as digital signal processing to achieve high sensitivity and discharge pulse resolution with low spectral distortion. Data on apparent charge, time of pulse occurrence and instantaneous applied voltage are stored in memory for subsequent infonnation retrieval and treatment. The PD measurement system is designed to provide an integrated response to rapid rise time pulses of 1 to 2 ns, with suitable filtering added to reject extraneous noise

Dual-Block Assembled Microelectronics Tactile Sensor

A recent evolution of MCM sensors, for robotics applications led to introduce a dual - block design for tactile sensors. This solution allow an optimization of the design by reducing the system complexity and improving the final performance of the system. The proposed arrangement does not need any specific calibration during the production process and provides an automatic cancellation of noises introduce by charge amplifiers, even. when system device. The complexity in using devices is so greatly reduced

Numerical assessment of the seismic performance of sliding pendulum isolators

The dynamic properties of sliding pendulum isolators employed for the seismic protection of building and structures are governed by the radius of curvature and the coefficient of friction of the sliding surfaces. A major issue concerns the heat generation occurring at the sliding interface during repeated cycles and the effects of the consequent temperature rise on the properties of the sliding materials. Typically, the coefficient of friction reduces with the increasing of temperature causing a deviation of the stiffness and damping characteristics of the isolation unit from their design value. A finite element model of sliding pendulum isolators is now presented; both its thermal and mechanical outputs have already been validated through comparison with experimental tests. The aim of this work is to show the potentialities of this design tool in predicting the isolator behaviour during qualification tests according to principal codes (EN 15129 and AASHTO)