Internal alignments of red versus blue discs in dark matter haloes

Large surveys have shown that red galaxies are preferentially aligned with their haloes, while blue galaxies have a more isotropic distribution. Since haloes generally align with their filaments, this introduces a bias in the measurement of the cosmic shear from weak lensing. It is therefore vitally important to understand why this difference arises. We explore the stability of different disc orientations within triaxial haloes. We show that, in the absence of gas, the disc orientation is most stable when its spin is along the minor axis of the halo. Instead when gas cools on to a disc, it is able to form in almost arbitrary orientation, including off the main planes of the halo (but avoiding an orientation perpendicular to the halo's intermediate axis). Substructure helps gasless galaxies reach alignment with the halo faster, but has less effect on galaxies when gas is cooling on to the disc. Our results provide a novel and natural interpretation for why red, gas poor galaxies are preferentially aligned with their halo, while blue, star-forming, galaxies have nearly random orientations, without requiring a connection between galaxies' current star formation rate and their merger history

Cardiovascular responses during rest-exercise and exercise-exercise transients

If indeed vagal withdrawal determines the rapid response to exercise (phase I), the a large reduction, if not complete suppression, of phase I should be found, when an exercise transient starts from a previous lower steady state exercise rather than from rest. On 15 healthy young subjects we measured beat-by-beat cardiac output (Q̇, Modelflow from Portapres data) and heart rate (fH, ECG) during these cycle ergometer exercise transients: 0–50 W (transient from rest, RT) and 50–100W (transient from exercise, ET). A double exponential was used to compute amplitudes and time constants of phase I and II (A1 and A2; T1 and T2). At steady state, fH was 87.510.4, 109.312.0, and 139.617.1bpm, and Q̇ was 7.31.5, 12.61.6, and 16,11,9L/min, at rest, 50W and 100W, respectively. In RT, A1 and A2 for fH were 11.78.6 and 11.34.7bpm; the corresponding T1 and T2 were 1.61.9 and 14.421.3s. For Q̇, we had: A1=4.01.8L/min, A2=1.51.4L/min, T1=3.21.8s, T2=11.312.2s. In ET, the double exponential model provided preposterous A1 and T1 values and extremely high T2 values (>100s). Subsequent use of a mono exponential model provided, for fH, A=29.78.9bpm and T=7.74.9s, and for Q̇, A=3.58.6L/min, and T=7.05.7s. The A and T in ET did not differ from the A2 and T2 of RT. We conclude that a single exponential model is more adequate to describe ET and this single exponential corresponds to the second exponential of RT. Our results are compatible with the vagal withdrawal hypothesis

LIFESTYLE ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT WITH FOCUS ON LEISURE TIME PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: THE #STUDIOXLAVITA PROJECT

INTRODUCTION: Sedentariness, smoking, alcohol abuse and unbalanced feeding are harmful for health, leading to chronic diseases and increasing mortality rate. For young adults, University is a new social and cultural context: parents’ imprinting could be easily altered, new lifestyles take shape and personal choices emerge. Intervention programmes to advance awareness on harmful lifestyle and promote healthy habits are essential. The #studioxlavita project, launched in 2016 by the University of Brescia with these purposes, investigated students’ lifestyle, with special emphasis on physical activity . METHODS: We developed two consecutive facultative surveys, of 15 <1st level> and 52 items <2nd level>, addressed to all the University’s students. Questions were about leisure time physical activity , use of fitness technology, relationship with friends, classmates and parents, feed, physical appearance, body self-perception, physical and mental health, use of certain substances or products , night-time rest and beliefs concerning healthy behaviours. In the 2nd level survey we also adopted the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire to estimate the amount of PA carried out in the last 7 days. Students who filled in both questionnaires received a personal report including the aggregate data analysis, a comparison with other investigations and indications about healthy habits, according to recommendations and guidelines. RESULTS: 3,436 out of 15,688 students filled in the1st level survey. Of them, 778 accepted to participate in the 2nd level survey, and 456 completed it. 1st level survey revealed that 72% of the students practised LTPA <45% regularly and 27% occasionally>. LTPA is largely performed <44% of the student> in non-competitive form, with recreational and/or health purposes. According to IPAQ-SF categorical score, 24%, 34% and 42% of the students performed low, moderate and high levels of PA, respectively. In 2st level survey, 76% of the students wished to practise more PA; 42% would participate in practical sport courses. CONCLUSION: University is an ideal setting for promoting lifestyle change among a captive audience. Intervention programs to increment PA are acclaimed by students. The students from University of Brescia reported higher LTPA practice than the national average people between 18 and 34 years <47%, data from Italian National Institute of Statistics, 2015>, although this parameter was assessed with different methods

EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PROMOTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: THE #STUDIOXLAVITA PROJECT

INTRODUCTION: Sedentariness is a major health problem in our time and physical activity promotion is an imperative commitment for healthcare systems. Recommendations from WHO indicate a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise as weekly standard for adults. Strategies to increment PA practice are implemented in different settings, such as house care, school, University and workplace. The project #studioxlavita <#SXLV> was launched by the University of Brescia in 2016 with the aim of collecting data about undergraduates lifestyle and encourage healthy behaviours. In particular we focused on PA assessment and promotion in a Universitybased setting. METHODS: Two consecutive surveys were sent to all students . Q0 included the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire , the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and additional questions on several lifestyle aspects. Among responders, we selected 40 students who agreed to take part in one of the following 15-week practical sport courses: ultimate frisbee, muscle strengthening and dance fitness. Before and after being engaged in practical sport courses, students underwent cardiopulmonary exercise test and skinfold thickness measurements, in order to assess peak oxygen consumption and percent body fat . Finally, to assess possible lifestyle changes, we sent them additional surveys at the end of the practical sport courses and 30 days after . Paired t-test was used to analyse significant differences. RESULTS: 27 students <16 female, 11 male; age: 22.7±3.7> concluded sport activity courses and filled in Q1. Of them, 20 completed also Q2. Overall courses attendance was 57%. At T1 , normalized Q̇O2peak increased with respect to T0 <37.0±6.9 vs 35.2±7.4 ml/min/Kg, p=0.03>. Conversely, percent body fat decreased <16.5±6.4 vs 18.3±7.5, p=0.01>. In Q1, 20 students declared to have a more active lifestyle since the beginning of the courses. In Q2, IPAQ-SF-derived total weekly energy expenditure was higher than in Q0, although not significant <5,839 ±7,035 MET*min vs 2,770±2,457 MET*min, p=0.1>. Q2 showed a reduced K6 scale score with respect to Q0 <13.8±4.6 vs 15.8±4.9, p=0.03>. CONCLUSION: With the sport activity courses established in #SXLV we gave students the opportunity to comply with WHO recommendations. After courses, they appeared to practice more PA, have a higher maximal aerobic capacity, a lower percent body fat and a lower grade of psychological distress than before courses. Simple activities as those proposed by #SXLV are sufficient to reduce sedentariness and improve the quality of life of student

Positioning variation modeling for aircraft panels assembly based on elastic deformation theory

Dimensional variation in aircraft panel assembly is one of the most critical issues that affects the aerodynamic performance of aircraft, due to elastic deformation of parts during the positioning and clamping process. This paper proposes an assembly deformation prediction model and a variation propagation model to predict the assembly variation of aircraft panels, and derives consecutive 3-D deformation expressions which explicitly describe the nonlinear behavior of physical interaction occurring in compliant components assembly. An assembly deformation prediction model is derived from equations of statics of elastic beam to calculate the elastic deformation of panel component resulted from positioning error and clamping force. A variation propagation model is used to describe the relationship between local variations and overall assembly variations. Assembly variations of aircraft panels due to positioning error are obtained by solving differential equations of statics and operating spatial transformations of the coordinate. The calculated results show a good prediction of variation in the experiment. The proposed method provides a better understanding of the panel assembly process and creates an analytical foundation for further work on variation control and tolerance optimization

Gravitational waves from single neutron stars: an advanced detector era survey

With the doors beginning to swing open on the new gravitational wave astronomy, this review provides an up-to-date survey of the most important physical mechanisms that could lead to emission of potentially detectable gravitational radiation from isolated and accreting neutron stars. In particular we discuss the gravitational wave-driven instability and asteroseismology formalism of the f- and r-modes, the different ways that a neutron star could form and sustain a non-axisymmetric quadrupolar "mountain" deformation, the excitation of oscillations during magnetar flares and the possible gravitational wave signature of pulsar glitches. We focus on progress made in the recent years in each topic, make a fresh assessment of the gravitational wave detectability of each mechanism and, finally, highlight key problems and desiderata for future work.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Chapter of the book "Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action 1304. Minor corrections to match published versio

Alexithymia, somatization and distress in a chronic pain sample

Objective: To investigate whether chronic pain (CP) patients with somatization have higher alexithymic features; to examine whether pain and distress symptoms mediate the relationship between alexithymia and somatization in CP patients. Method: One hundred thirty-five CP patients were evaluated for alexithymia, somatization, distress, quality of life and pain. Alexithymia was measured with the TAS‐20; somatization was assessed using the PHQ-15; depression and anxiety symptoms were evaluated with the HADS; quality of life was assessed using SF-12; and pain was measured using the BPI. Results: Patients with somatization (37.04%) reported significantly higher TAS‐20 total scores (p < .001) and difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF) (p < .001) than those without somatization. The somatizer group had also a significantly higher disease duration, severity and interference of pain, distress, and a lower quality of life than the non-somatizer group. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to select predictors of somatization. The results showed that the model explained 55% of somatization when the TAS‐20 components, specifically DIF (β = .31; p = .001), were included as predictors. The mediation analysis showed that DIF affected somatization along different pathways. DIF was found as a major factor influencing somatization both directly (p < .001) and above all through the mediation of interference of pain (p < .001) and distress (p < .001). Conclusions: Our study suggests that alexithymia, specifically DIF, may be considered a major psychological factor for somatization risk in CP patients. Longitudinal studies are needed for investigating the role of alexithymia in clinical outcomes

Value flow characterization during product lifecycle to assist in recovery decisions

The value of a product at the end of its useful life determines whether it is disposed, recycled, remanufactured or is handled some other way within the recovery infrastructure. This value changes over time, and depends on factors such as the quality of the product and its perception by business entities within the recovery infrastructure. Under the assumption that the last user wants to maximize economic gain, these factors can be considered as uncertainties that affect the decision of the last user with regard to product disposition. Since the choice made by the last user has a significant effect on the environmental impact of a product, it is important to understand the value of the product over its lifecycle and thus its end-of-life value. A model is proposed in this paper to characterize the value flow during the product lifecycle. The model considers three product lifecycle stages: (i) manufacturing (the value creation stage); (ii) usage (value consumption stage); (iii) recovery/post-use (value reclamation stage). The role of product attributes and product usage history on the value flow across the product lifecycle is investigated. In addition, the perception-dependent nature of product value is explored and related to utility theory. The model has application in decisions related to product use and recovery; an example is presented to demonstrate the use of the value model in selecting the best product recovery option