Comparative nanostructure analysis of gasoline turbocharged direct injection and diesel soot-in-oil with carbon black

Two gasoline turbocharged direct injection (GTDI) and two diesel soot-in-oil samples were compared with one flame-generated soot sample. High resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging was employed for the initial qualitative assessment of the soot morphology. Carbon black and diesel soot both exhibit core-shell structures, comprising an amorphous core surrounded by graphene layers; only diesel soot has particles with multiple cores. In addition to such particles, GTDI soot also exhibits entirely amorphous structures, of which some contain crystalline particles only a few nanometers in diameter. Subsequent quantification of the nanostructure by fringe analysis indicates differences between the samples in terms of length, tortuosity, and separation of the graphitic fringes. The shortest fringes are exhibited by the GTDI samples, whilst the diesel soot and carbon black fringes are 9.7% and 15.1% longer, respectively. Fringe tortuosity is similar across the internal combustion engine samples, but lower for the carbon black sample. In contrast, fringe separation varies continuously among the samples. Raman spectroscopy further confirms the observed differences. The GTDI soot samples contain the highest fraction of amorphous carbon and defective graphitic structures, followed by diesel soot and carbon black respectively. The AD1:AG ratios correlate linearly with both the fringe length and fringe separation

A confirmatory factorial analysis of the Chatbot Usability Scale: a multilanguage validation

The Bot Usability Scale (BUS) is a standardised tool to assess and compare the satisfaction of users after interacting with chatbots to support the development of usable conversational systems. The English version of the 15-item BUS scale (BUS-15) was the result of an exploratory factorial analysis; a confirmatory factorial analysis tests the replicability of the initial model and further explores the properties of the scale aiming to optimise this tool seeking for the stability of the original model, the potential reduction of items, and testing multiple language versions of the scale. BUS-15 and the usability metrics for user experience (UMUX-LITE), used here for convergent validity purposes, were translated from English to Spanish, German, and Dutch. A total of 1292 questionnaires were completed in multiple languages; these were collected from 209 participants interacting with an overall pool of 26 chatbots. BUS-15 was acceptably reliable; however, a shorter and more reliable solution with 11 items (BUS-11) emerged from the data. The satisfaction ratings obtained with the translated version of BUS-11 were not significantly different from the original version in English, suggesting that the BUS-11 could be used in multiple languages. The results also suggested that the age of participants seems to affect the evaluation when using the scale, with older participants significantly rating the chatbots as less satisfactory, when compared to younger participants. In line with the expectations, based on reliability, BUS-11 positively correlates with UMUX-LITE scale. The new version of the scale (BUS-11) aims to facilitate the evaluation with chatbots, and its diffusion could help practitioners to compare the performances and benchmark chatbots during the product assessment stage. This tool could be a way to harmonise and enable comparability in the field of human and conversational agent interaction

The Chatbot Usability Scale: the Design and Pilot of a Usability Scale for Interaction with AI-Based Conversational Agents

Standardised tools to assess a user's satisfaction with the experience of using chatbots and conversational agents are currently unavailable. This work describes four studies; including a systematic literature review, with an overall sample of 141 participants in the survey (experts and novices), focus group sessions and testing of chatbots to i) define attributes to assess the quality of interaction with chatbots, and ii) the designing and piloting a new scale to measure satisfaction after the experience with chatbots. Two instruments were developed: i) A diagnostic tool in the form of a checklist (BOT-Check). This tool is a development of previous works which can be used reliably to check the quality of a chatbots experience in line with commonplace principles. ii) A 15-item questionnaire (BOT Usability Scale, BUS-15) with estimated reliability between .76 and .87 distributed in five factors. BUS-15 strongly correlates with UMUX-LITE by enabling designers to consider a broader range of aspects usually not considered in satisfaction tools for non-conversational agents, e.g., conversational efficiency and accessibility, quality of the chatbot's functionality and so on. Despite the convincing psychometric properties, BUS-15 requires further testing and validation. Designers can use it as a tool to assess products, thus building independent databases for future evaluation of its reliability, validity, and sensitivity

Programa Práticas Educativas em Segurança dos Alimentos na Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira (CUASO-USP)

In 2008 the University of São Paulo (USP) hosted the Public Space Permanent Forumfirst edition that brought the topic ‘safety of food sold on campus’ as one of the USP community interest topics. In 2010 the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of USP structured the Educational Practices in Food Safety Program, an integrated work with the USP Capital Campus Hall. Until the half of 2012 the Program has identified and registered 53 food sale points on campus, which sell approximately 40,250 meals, 11,580 sandwiches and 23,000 snacks and pastries each month. These establishments have gone through an initial assessment of good practice by the end of 2011 and are on the second phase of evaluation and technical guidance to correct noncompliance. In addition to technical visits for evaluation of good practices, the Program promotes technical meetings with the campus food traders and Technical Training Meetings of the Task Force. The program is a totally new initiative proposed in the University City Armando de Salles Oliveira, absent from other campi and other Brazilian universities and represents to undergraduates and graduate students an innovative space for direct contact with concrete realities, skills development and application of knowledge on the interaction of academic and popular knowledge.Em 2008 a Universidade de São Paulo (USP) sediou a primeira edição do Fórum Permanentesobre Espaço Público que trouxe como um dos temas de interesse da comunidadeUSP a “segurança dos alimentos comercializados no campus”. Em 2010 a Faculdade de MedicinaVeterinária e Zootecnia da USP estruturou o Programa Práticas Educativas em Segurançados Alimentos (PESA), trabalho integrado à Prefeitura do Campus da Universidadede São Paulo, na capital. Até o primeiro semestre de 2012, o Programa PESA identificou ecadastrou 53 pontos de venda de alimentos no campus, os quais comercializam, a cada mês,cerca de 40250 refeições, 11580 lanches e 23 mil salgados e pastéis. Esses estabelecimentosjá passaram por uma primeira avaliação de boas práticas até o final de 2011 e se encontramna segunda fase de avaliação e orientação técnica para a correção de não conformidades.Além de visitas técnicas de avaliação de boas práticas, o Programa PESA promove ReuniõesTécnicas com os comerciantes de alimentos do campus e Encontros Técnicos de Formaçãoda Equipe de Trabalho. O programa é uma iniciativa com proposta totalmente inovadorana Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira, inexistente em outros campi e em outrasuniversidades brasileiras e representa para graduandos e pós-graduandos um inovadorespaço de contato direto com realidades concretas, de desenvolvimento de habilidades ede aplicação de conhecimentos numa interação de saberes acadêmicos e populares

Impact of gastrointestinal side effects on patients’ reported quality of life trajectories after radiotherapy for prostate cancer: Data from the prospective, observational pros-it CNR study

Radiotherapy (RT) represents an important therapeutic option for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. The aim of the current study is to examine trajectories in patients’ reported quality of life (QoL) aspects related to bowel function and bother, considering data from the PROState cancer monitoring in ITaly from the National Research Council (Pros-IT CNR) study, analyzed with growth mixture models. Data for patients who underwent RT, either associated or not associated with androgen deprivation therapy, were considered. QoL outcomes were assessed over a 2-year period from the diagnosis, using the Italian version of the University of California Los Angeles-Prostate Cancer Index (Italian-UCLA-PCI). Three trajectories were identified for the bowel function; having three or more comorbidities and the use of 3D-CRT technique for RT were associated with the worst trajectory (OR = 3.80, 95% CI 2.04–7.08; OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.22–3.87, respectively). Two trajectories were identified for the bowel bother scores; diabetes and the non-Image guided RT method were associated with being in the worst bowel bother trajectory group (OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.06–2.67; OR = 2.57, 95% CI 1.70–3.86, respectively). The findings from this study suggest that the absence of comorbidities and the use of intensity modulated RT techniques with image guidance are related with a better tolerance to RT in terms of bowel side effects

Disease-specific and general health-related quality of life in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients: The Pros-IT CNR study

Background: The National Research Council (CNR) prostate cancer monitoring project in Italy (Pros-IT CNR) is an observational, prospective, ongoing, multicentre study aiming to monitor a sample of Italian males diagnosed as new cases of prostate cancer. The present study aims to present data on the quality of life at time prostate cancer is diagnosed. Methods: One thousand seven hundred five patients were enrolled. Quality of life is evaluated at the time cancer was diagnosed and at subsequent assessments via the Italian version of the University of California Los Angeles-Prostate Cancer Index (UCLA-PCI) and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). Results: At diagnosis, lower scores on the physical component of the SF-12 were associated to older ages, obesity and the presence of 3+ moderate/severe comorbidities. Lower scores on the mental component were associated to younger ages, the presence of 3+ moderate/severe comorbidities and a T-score higher than one. Urinary and bowel functions according to UCLA-PCI were generally good. Almost 5% of the sample reported using at least one safety pad daily to control urinary loss; less than 3% reported moderate/severe problems attributable to bowel functions, and sexual function was a moderate/severe problem for 26.7%. Diabetes, 3+ moderate/severe comorbidities, T2 or T3-T4 categories and a Gleason score of eight or more were significantly associated with lower sexual function scores at diagnosis. Conclusions: Data collected by the Pros-IT CNR study have clarified the baseline status of newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients. A comprehensive assessment of quality of life will allow to objectively evaluate outcomes of different profile of care

“Ciao AI”: The Italian adaptation and validation of the Chatbot Usability Scale

Chatbot-based tools becoming pervasive in multiple domains from commercial websites to rehabilitation applications. Only recently an eleven-item satisfaction inventory was developed (the chatBot Usbaliy Scale, BUS-11) to help designers in the assessment process of their systems. The BUS-11 has been validated in multiple contexts and languages i.e., English, German, Dutch, and Spanish. This scale forms a solid platform enabling designers to rapidly assess chatbots both during and after the design process. The present work aims to adapt and validate the BUS-11 inventory in Italian. A total of 1360 questionnaires were collected which related to a total of 10 Italian chatbot-based systems using the BUS-11 inventory and also using the lite version of the Usability Metrics for User eXperience for convergent validity purposes. The Italian version of the BUS-11 was adapted in terms of the wording of one item, and a Multi-Group Confirmatory Factorial Analysis was performed to establish the factorial structure of the scale and compare the effects of the wording adaptation. Results indicate that the adapted Italian version of the scale matches the expected factorial structure of the original scale. The Italian BUS-11 is highly reliable (Cronbach alpha: 0.921), and it correlates to other measures of satisfaction (e.g., UMUX-Lite, τb=0.67; p< .001 ) by also offering specific insights regarding the chatbots’ characteristics. The Italian BUS-11 can be confidently used by chatbot designers to assess the satisfaction of their users during formative or summative tests

Low Power Fall Detection System

A low power Freescale board with a three-axis capacitive accelerometer and a with Bluetooth connection has been programmed and used in connection with a smartphone for fall detection in Ambient Assisted Living applications. An algorithm for fall detection has been developed using the in-formation of the accelerometers of the board and of the smartphone. The algorithm is part of a user friendly applica-tion for the smartphone developed for signaling the falling event