Pedestrian behaviour in urban area

The pedestrian behavior is influenced by several factors, including: characteristics of the user, numerousness of group, road infrastructures and environmental factors. These factors were studied by means the collection of data carried out in the city of Oristano (Sardinia-Italy) on eleven sidewalks and five crosswalks. The objective was to study the pedestrians behavior, researching the link between independent variables and the dependent variables that, for sidewalks was only the pedestrian speed while for crosswalks were the speed of crossing, the crossing time, the waiting time and the total time. The regression models were constructed by using ten sidewalks and four crosswalks so ignoring one for each. In the construction, were considered more variables that gradually were excluded on the basis of the p-value. The models thus detected were deemed significant according to their coefficient of determination and were validated with data from the sidewalk or crosswalk excluded from the construction of the same. Both for sidewalks that crosswalks were found some reliable models. The models construction is useful to improve the understanding of the pedestrians behavior and then obtain useful indications to design pedestrian infrastructures with characteristics closer to the real pedestrians behavior. The present study aims to give greater importance to pedestrians, analyzing how they relate with the urban context in which they live and how it conditions their behavior, so as to design infrastructure in which they feel an integral part and main actors of the urban scene, giving them the respect they deserve and a new sense of belonging to the city in which they live

Dependencies and Simultaneity in Membrane Systems

Membrane system computations proceed in a synchronous fashion: at each step all the applicable rules are actually applied. Hence each step depends on the previous one. This coarse view can be refined by looking at the dependencies among rule occurrences, by recording, for an object, which was the a rule that produced it and subsequently (in a later step), which was the a rule that consumed it. In this paper we propose a way to look also at the other main ingredient in membrane system computations, namely the simultaneity in the rule applications. This is achieved using zero-safe nets that allows to synchronize transitions, i.e., rule occurrences. Zero-safe nets can be unfolded into occurrence nets in a classical way, and to this unfolding an event structure can be associated. The capability of capturing simultaneity of zero-safe nets is transferred on the level of event structure by adding a way to express which events occur simultaneously

Student’s Co-Creation Behavior in a Business and Economic Bachelor’s Degree in Italy: Influence of Perceived Service Quality, Institutional Image, and Loyalty

Universities play a significant role in the economic development of society as they pro- vide knowledge and skills that are essential for social sustainability. In recent years, universities shifted their focus towards student-centered education and need to reconsider their sustainable strategies to become more competitive by encouraging student co-creation behaviors. To create a unique experience, universities aim to involve students in creating and delivering their educational experiences. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the perceived quality of educational service and the institutional image of a university influence students’ value co-creation behavior, and the role of loyalty in this process. The study is based on two complementary studies conducted in an Italian public university. The first study involved 720 undergraduate students with one business management bachelor’s degree who completed a questionnaire to collect primary data. The second study used six focus groups to identify which specific students’ experiences and university activities stimulated co-creation behaviors. The results show that student loyalty plays an important mediating role between university image, students’ quality perception, and co-creation behavior. Additionally, only three dimensions of quality, namely quality non-academy aspects, quality reputation, and quality access have an impact on students’ loyalty. Therefore, only two dimensions of brand image, university brand knowledge (UK), and university brand prestige (UPR) have a direct effect on value co-creation behavior. These findings have important implications for higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop managerial strategies that increase students’ co-creation behavior. The co-creation process should be considered as part of HEIs’ image-building and quality policy-enhancing strategy. Despite the value co-creation approach being overlooked in studies on HEIs governance, this study highlights its potential as a strategic approach for improving service quality and university image

Leave-one-out prediction error of systolic arterial pressure time series under paced breathing

In this paper we show that different physiological states and pathological conditions may be characterized in terms of predictability of time series signals from the underlying biological system. In particular we consider systolic arterial pressure time series from healthy subjects and Chronic Heart Failure patients, undergoing paced respiration. We model time series by the regularized least squares approach and quantify predictability by the leave-one-out error. We find that the entrainment mechanism connected to paced breath, that renders the arterial blood pressure signal more regular, thus more predictable, is less effective in patients, and this effect correlates with the seriousness of the heart failure. The leave-one-out error separates controls from patients and, when all orders of nonlinearity are taken into account, alive patients from patients for which cardiac death occurred

Romanesque and territory. The construction materials of Sardinian medieval churches: new approaches to the valorization, conservation and restoration

This paper is intended to illustrate a multidisciplinary research project devoted to the study of the constructive materials of the Romanesque churches in Sardinia during the “Giudicati” period (11th -13th centuries). The project focuses on the relationship between a selection of monuments and their territory, both from a historical-architectural perspective and from a more modern perspective addressing future restoration works. The methodologies of the traditional art-historical research (study of bibliographic, epigraphic and archival sources, formal reading of artifacts) are flanked by new technologies: digital surveys executed with a 3D laser-scanner, analyses of the materials (stones, mortars, bricks) with different instrumental methods: X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for chemical composition, X-ray diffractometer (XRD) to determine the alteration phases (e.g., soluble salts), optical microscopy and electronic (SEM) to study textures, mineral assemblages and microstructures, termogravimetric/differential scanning, calorimetric analysis (TG/DTA) for the composition of the binder mortars. This multidisciplinary approach allows the achieving of important results in an archaeometric context: 1) from a historical point of view, with the possible identification of ancient traffics, trade routes, sources of raw materials, construction phases, wall textures; 2) from a conservative point of view, by studying chemical and physical weathering processes of stone materials compatible for replacement in case of future restoration works. Sardinian Romanesque architectural heritage is particularly remarkable: about 200 churches of different types and sizes, with the almost exclusive use of cut stones. Bi- or poly-chromy, deriving from the use of different building materials, characterizes many of these monuments, becoming also a vehicle for political and cultural meanings. The paper will present some case studies aimed to illustrate the progress of the project and the results achieved

Controlling the Er content of porous silicon using the doping current intensity

The results of an investigation on the Er doping of porous silicon are presented. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, optical reflectivity, and spatially resolved energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) coupled to scanning electron microscopy measurements were used to investigate on the transient during the first stages of constant current Er doping. Depending on the applied current intensity, the voltage transient displays two very different behaviors, signature of two different chemical processes. The measurements show that, for equal transferred charge and identical porous silicon (PSi) layers, the applied current intensity also influences the final Er content. An interpretative model is proposed in order to describe the two distinct chemical processes. The results can be useful for a better control over the doping process

Genetic diversity of the Ruditapes decussatus and evidence of its hybridization with the alien R. philippinarum in the Western Mediterranean Sea

The introduction of alien species in marine ecosystems is often driven by the increasing demand of fishery resources. This is the case of the Manila clam (R. R. philippinarum), ), imported in Europe from Japan since the 1970s, to meet the growing demand for clams that the native species, the grooved carpet shell clam ( Ruditapes decussatus), ), could not satisfy. Alien species introduction could threaten the genetic diversity and integrity of the native clam, also causing hybridization (i.e., gene flow from one species into the gene pool of another). Since R. philippinarum recently spread in a few important Mediterranean coastal areas, a combined approach based on morphological characteristics, length differences of two nuclear species-specific markers (ITS2, 5SrDNA) and the sequence of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), was used to investigate the presence of hybrids in six Mediterranean wetlands (Sardinia, Italy). Eight individuals morphologically identified as R. decussatus were hybrids, having sequences specific to both R. decussatus and R. philippinarum in their nuclear DNA (ITS2 and 5SrDNA). Most of these individuals were found to be post-first generation (F1) hybrids indicating that F1-hybrids may be fertile. Secondly, to study the genetic diversity of R. decussatus in the Sardinian wetlands as well as in its whole distribution area, >380 new COI sequences from the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea were analysed along with those available from public databases. Mitochondrial COI data revealed variable haplotype and nucleotide diversities in different areas, which were not dependent on sample sizes. The aquaculture breeding activities and clam transplantation between different countries, along with the long pelagic larval dispersal and the commercial import of other bivalve species might have promoted gene exchange between different sites and thus higher diversity levels in a few wild populations. Our research, evaluating the genetic makeup of wild and hatchery stocks and clarifying the degree of hybridization, can contribute to develop further recommendations for conserving the genetic integrity of R. decussatus.

Hemothorax caused by rupture of a primitive thoracic leiomyosarcoma of the thoracic aorta: Description of a case and literature review

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