Interpreter Mediated Medical Encounters in North Italy: Expectations, Perceptions and Practice

This paper aims to investigate expectations and perceptions regarding the figures who mediate between healthcare personnel and foreign patients in Italy. The objective is to explore the distinction – seemingly unique to Italy – between the two terms “interpreter” and “mediator” and the reasons behind this separation. Healthcare providers and interpreters/mediators were questioned about their respective opinions through questionnaires and interviews. Both categories worked in local health units of a Northern Italian region, predominantly in the Emergency Departments. Special attention was paid to the following aspects: interpreter/mediator’s roles and tasks, invisibility versus active participation and the use of personal pronouns and indirect speech. In order to examine the level of consistency between perceptions and practice on these topics, 26 mediated encounters were observed according to prearranged parameters. These consultations involved the same subjects who had previously participated in the questionnaires. Four sessions, which proved to be particularly relevant for the purposes of this research, were subsequently transcribed and examined from a qualitative point of view. Themethod of the case study, herein adopted, allowed for the analysis of the subjects’ behaviour fromdifferent points of view, in linewith the overall objective of providing a holistic view of the themes investigated. Drawing on Inghilleri’s suggestion of “interpreting” as a “zone of uncertainty” (2005), the paper also refers, in particular, to Leanza’s newtypology of roles (2007), to Davies & Harré’s theory of positioning (1990) and to Bot’s description of reported speech (2007)

La traduzione in ambito pubblicitario austriaco e italiano: strategie diverse di approccio al messaggio

pp.39-62This paper aims to look at the extraordinary potentials of advertising as a way of investigating the deep influences that culture exerts on language. In particular, the paper examines to what extent a simple transposition of advertisements from one language into a new linguistic code is to be deemed adequate or whether the observance of linguistic structures should yield ground to other factors to maintain the same persuasive effect of the original. The analysis is supported by an example of the different approaches Austria and Italy have adopted in advertising shoes, and illustrates how several elements combine together to convey subtle references. Consequently, the paper argues, attention should be paid not only to the linguistic environment, but also to the economic, political, social and psychological setting of each advertisement, which all reflect the intricate frame sustaining every culture. After a detailed description of the strategies used to adapt an Italian advertising campaign to the Austrian public, a brief overview of the principal advertising styles in the two countries is presented, enriched through linguistic comment. The paper then turns to an analysis of the strategies employed in the interaction between sales assistants and customers, highlighting the importance of the communicative and persuasive tool, where every word is weighed and formulated in such a way as to modify the tone of the message

Individual claims reserving using the Aalen--Johansen estimator

We propose an individual claims reserving model based on the conditional Aalen--Johansen estimator, as developed in Bladt and Furrer (2023b). In our approach, we formulate a multi-state problem, where the underlying variable is the individual claim size, rather than time. The states in this model represent development periods, and we estimate the cumulative density function of individual claim costs using the conditional Aalen--Johansen method as transition probabilities to an absorbing state. Our methodology reinterprets the concept of multi-state models and offers a strategy for modeling the complete curve of individual claim costs. To illustrate our approach, we apply our model to both simulated and real datasets. Having access to the entire dataset enables us to support the use of our approach by comparing the predicted total final cost with the actual amount, as well as evaluating it in terms of the continuously ranked probability score, as discussed in Gneiting and A. E. Raftery (2007

Dissolved humic substances supplied as potential enhancers of Cu, Cd, and Pb adsorption by two different mangrove sediments

Purpose The external supply of humic substances has been recently suggested for the remediation of metal-polluted sediments; however, little is known about how to supply them and their effects on metal mobility. The study sought to investigate the sediment\u2014metals\u2014humic substance interaction in mangrove forest sediments. We aimed to evaluate the sediment adsorption potential in the case of large and rapid metal loads, as recently occurred in the Doce River (Brazil). Materials and methods In each mangrove forest sampling point of the Benevente River (RB) and Vitoria bay (MO), sediments were collected randomly along the river banks at a depth of 0\u201310 cm. Samples were characterized in terms of pH, CEC, organic carbon, texture, specific surface area, and elemental composition. The heavy metal content was measured by mass absorption spectrophotometry. Humic substances were extracted from the sediments according to the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) method, avoiding separation of fulvic and humic acids. Original sediments were supplemented with humic substances and six Cu, Cd, or Pb concentrations. Freundlich and Langmuir equations were employed to create adsorption isotherms. Results and discussion The two sediments are significantly different, specifically with regard to organic carbon and Fe content, texture, and specific surface area. External humic substances increased the Cu adsorption capacity in both sediments but without an important change in Cu adsorption dynamics. Humic substances slightly increased the sediment adsorption capacity of Pb in RB sediment while they decreased in MO sediment, characterized by lower specific surface area, probably due to coverage of the active adsorption sites. Cd isotherms showed that the different characteristics of sediments alone do not affect Cd adsorption, but coupled with humic substances; Cd affinity for the soil surface increased five times in RB sediments confirming sediment-metal- humic substance interactions. Conclusions Humic substances affect soil metal retention mainly by altering the ion affinity for sediment surface, leading to contrasting results. The Fe concentration could be important depending on specific surface area and humic substance percentage, due to its capacity to form spheroids linked to molecules of humic substances on the clay surface. Several works have been carried out on this research area, but due to the many variables and different metal ions, we recommend further studies

Effect of hot-dip galvanization on the fatigue behaviour of welded structural steel

Abstract This paper investigates the effect of a galvanizing coating on the fatigue strength of S355 structural steel. While in the literature some results from fatigue tests made on unnotched specimens can be found, very few results are available dealing with notched components and, at the best of authors' knowledge, no results are available dealing with welded joints. The aim of the present paper is to partially fill this lack of knowledge. A comparison is carried out, between hot dip galvanized fillet welded cruciform joints made by S355 structural steel and not treated welded joints characterized by the same geometry, subjected to a load cycle R = 0. 34 new experimental data are summarized in the present contribution, in terms of stress range Δσ and averaged strain energy density range ΔW in a control volume of radius R0 = 0.28 mm

A machine learning approach based on survival analysis for IBNR frequencies in non-life reserving

We introduce new approaches for forecasting IBNR (Incurred But Not Reported) frequencies by leveraging individual claims data, which includes accident date, reporting delay, and possibly additional features for every reported claim. A key element of our proposal involves computing development factors, which may be influenced by both the accident date and other features. These development factors serve as the basis for predictions. While we assume close to continuous observations of accident date and reporting delay, the development factors can be expressed at any level of granularity, such as months, quarters, or year and predictions across different granularity levels exhibit coherence. The calculation of development factors relies on the estimation of a hazard function in reverse development time, and we present three distinct methods for estimating this function: the Cox proportional hazard model, a feed-forward neural network, and xgboost (eXtreme gradient boosting). In all three cases, estimation is based on the same partial likelihood that accommodates left truncation and ties in the data. While the first case is a semi-parametric model that assumes in parts a log linear structure, the two machine learning approaches only assume that the baseline and the other factors are multiplicatively separable. Through an extensive simulation study and real-world data application, our approach demonstrates promising results. This paper comes with an accompanying R-package, $\texttt{ReSurv}$, which can be accessed at \url{https://github.com/edhofman/ReSurv

Study of fusion crust in ureilite and H-chondrites

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OA] 南極隕石11月16日（月）　国立国語研究所 2階 講

Visual saliency influences ethical blind spots and (dis)honesty

Recent work suggests that dishonesty results from ethical blind spots: people’s lack of attention to ethical information. In two experiments (one pre-registered) we used eye tracking to investigate when ethical blind spots emerge, and whether they can be reduced through a simple, non-invasive intervention. Participants reported a Target Digit indicated by a jittery cue that was slightly biased in the direction of another digit (the Second-Cued Digit), which could be either higher or lower than the Target Digit. Participants were paid more for reporting higher digits, and were not penalized for making mistakes, thus providing an incentive to cheat. Results showed that participants frequently made self-serving (and rarely self-hurting) mistakes by reporting the Second-Cued Digit when it was more valuable than the target. Importantly, they rapidly gazed at the digit that they would later report, regardless of whether this report was correct or a self-serving mistake. Finally, we were able to reduce or increase the number of self-serving mistakes by respectively increasing or reducing the visual saliency of the Target Digit. We suggest that increasing the visual saliency of morally desirable options is a promising cost-effective tool to curb dishonesty