Aesthetic benchmarks supporting the design of domestic safety products: a socket cover protector

In developed countries, the growing number of domestic accidents has pushed firms to find new devices (and to improve the current ones) in order to increase the level of domestic safety, especially for children, that are among the most affected. In order to prevent some of the " electrical risk " accidents, they have made various kinds of devices to cover the sockets (outlets) present in a normal house. These devices are called " socket cover protectors " , and, for the removable ones, their design has always been focused on the making of an object hard to be pulled out from the socket by children but easy to be managed by parents (so, easy to put in and to pull out for them). For all we know, it's never been considered the possibility that the aesthetic appearance of a device like that could be useful to dissuade a child from handling or trying to play with it. In this paper, we claim that a particular aesthetic analysis could be a useful tool if it would be introduced into the lifecycle design of a home safety product – like a socket cover protector -in order to make a more effective device. In fact, our aesthetic analysis is structured in order to make an object that doesn't stimulate the curiosity of children (so, an object not aesthetically appealing), so that the likelihood of a contact between child and device is reduced (and so the likelihood for him to pull out the device)

Theatre teaches

[EN] Theatre teaches is a new experiment carried out at the University of Brescia. The growing importance of transversal competences i.e. those skills that essentially concern attitudes in the workplace and interpersonal relationships such as team work, language and communication skills, gave us the idea to develop an educational innovation to help students bring out these skills. We asked students to wrote a play using topics seen in class. So, they tried to wrap their mind around it and worked in team to write a script and get him to scene. Not to be confused to business theatre, this method is applicable in any framework. The assessment results reveal that students appreciate this method because this work helps them to express theirself better and, in general terms, they could improve their non techniocal skills. In conclusion, we can say that this experiment has been a success and gave the students the opportunity to show transversal competences. The ability to communicate, to teamworking, to manage conflicts, to speak in public, to problem solving, creativity, imagination, the ability to manage unforeseen situations and tolerate pressure and stress, leadership skills, negotiation skills and the ability to motivate are just few of the emergent competences.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Banno, M.; Albertini, A.; Bendar, A.; Bodini, I.; Trento, S.; Villa, V. (2018). Theatre teaches. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8098OCS1855986

Recurrence of Congenital Heart Disease in Cases with Familial Risk Screened Prenatally by Echocardiography

Objectives. To evaluate the recurrence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in pregnant women with familial risk who had been referred for fetal echocardiography. Material and Methods. 1634 pregnancies from 1483 women with familial history of CHD in one or more relatives were studied. Fetal cardiologic diagnosis was compared with postnatal findings at 6 months or at autopsy. Results. Total recurrence rate of CHD was 3.98%, 4.06% in single familial risk, 2.9% in double, and 5% in multiple risk. It was 3.5% in case of one previously affected child; 4.5% with 2 children; 5.2% with the mother alone affected and 7,5% with father alone affected and 3.5% with a single distant relative. Exact concordance of CHD was found in 21.5% and a partial concordance in 20% of cases. Conclusions. Our data show a higher recurrence rate of CHD than previously published data and high relative risk ratios compared to normal population

High School Graphics Experience Influencing the Self-Efficacy of First-Year Engineering Students in an Introductory Engineering Graphics Course

Today's students enter engineering colleges with different technical backgrounds and prior graphics experience. This may due to their high school of provenience, which can be technical or non-technical. The prior experience affects students’ ability in learning and hence their motivation and self-efficacy beliefs. This study intended to evaluate the role of prior high school graphics experience in first-year engineering students' self-efficacy beliefs in an introductory engineering graphics course. It also intended to evaluate the relationship between such freshmen's self-efficacy beliefs and their performance. Two assessment instruments were used in this study. The first is the eight-item Course Interest Survey (CIS) Confidence subscale, which was used to assess self-efficacy beliefs. The second is a multiple choice questionnaire designed on the course topics, which was used to assess performance. Ninety-nine students of the University of Brescia (Italy) participated in the experiment. Significant differences in self-efficacy were found between engineering freshmen from the technical high school versus engineering freshmen from the non-technical high school. A significant relationship between self-efficacy and performance was found only for engineering freshmen from the technical high school

Proof of Concept Experience in the SPES Experiment: First Solutions for Potentiometers Replacement in System Maintenance

AbstractSPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is a large facility, currently under advanced construction at the INFN-LNL (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro) for the production of Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs). Coordinated efforts are being dedicated to the development and upgrading of both the accelerator complex and the up-to-date experimental set-ups. This paper describes a work of upgrading as far as the inspection and maintenance of the system is concerned, and it deals with human-centered design methods to reduce the time spent in the radioactive environment of the facility during ordinary maintenance operations and to simplify them, also considering stress conditions of the operator and the mandatory wearable radiation protection devices (such as tracksuit, gloves, oxygen tank mask) which make simple operations difficult

Dental trauma and bicycle safety: A report in Italian children and adolescents

OBJECTIVE:This retrospective study aims to analyze the pattern of oro-facial trauma from bicycle accidents in Italian children and adolescents, focusing on the safety devices used. METHODS: The medical records of 1405 patients of the Dental Clinic of the University of Brescia, between the age of 0 to 18, who experienced a dento-facial trauma from the use of a bicycle, were analyzed. Data regarding age, gender, weight, height, dominant hand, type of bicycle, use of safety devices, location and type of dental trauma, teeth involved, bone fractures and soft tissue lesions were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: The majority of the traumatic events occurred in children within the 8-10 years of age-range; 1085 teeth were injured, of which 975 permanent teeth (89.9%) and 110 primary teeth (10.1%). The most common dental lesions were the coronal fractures (complicated and not complicated) while the most frequently involved teeth were the upper central incisors; 11% of patients were also treated for maxillo-facial fractures. A protective helmet was worn only in 3% of the cases; not one patient wore a mouth-guard. The use of helmets was more frequent in children and adolescents riding racing-bikes competitively, compared to those who were mountain bikers (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Bicycle accidents can have serious oro-facial consequences. Therefore, national and regional efforts should be made in Italy to promote head and mouth protection in cycling

Multiplicity of blaKPC genes and pKpQIL plasmid plasticity in the development of ceftazidime-avibactam and Meropenem coresistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 307

In 2021, Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 307 (ST307) strains causing pulmonary and bloodstream infections identified in a hospital in Rome, Italy, reached high levels of resistance to ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA). One of these strains reached high levels of resistance to both CZA and carbapenems and carried two copies of bla(KPC-3) and one copy of bla(KPC-31) located on plasmid pKpQIL. The genomes and plasmids of CZA-resistant ST307 strains were analyzed to identify the molecular mechanisms leading to the evolution of resistance and compared with ST307 genomes at local and global levels. A complex pattern of multiple plasmids in rearranged configurations, coresident within the CZA-carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae strain, was observed. Characterization of these plasmids revealed recombination and segregation events explaining why K. pneumoniae isolates from the same patient had different antibiotic resistance profiles. This study illustrates the intense genetic plasticity occurring in ST307, one of the most worldwide-diffused K. pneumoniae high-risk clones.In 2021, Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 307 (ST307) strains causing pulmonary and bloodstream infections identified in a hospital in Rome, Italy, reached high levels of resistance to ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA). One of these strains reached high levels of resistance to both CZA and carbapenems and carried two copies of bla(KPC-3) and one copy of bla(KPC-31) located on plasmid pKpQIL

Advanced stabilization methods of plasma devices for plasma-based acceleration

Towards the next generation of compact plasma-based accelerators, useful in several fields, such as basic research, medicine and industrial applications, a great effort is required to control the plasma creation, the necessity of producing a time-jitter free channel, and its stability namely uniformity and reproducibility. In this Letter, we describe an experimental campaign adopting a gas-filled discharge-capillary where the plasma and its generation are stabilized by triggering its ignition with an external laser pulse or an innovative technique based on the primary dark current (DC) in the accelerating structure of a linear accelerator (LINAC). The results show an efficient stabilization of the discharge pulse and plasma density with both pre-ionizing methods turning the plasma device into a symmetrical stable accelerating environment, especially when the external voltage is lowered near the breakdown value of the gas. The development of tens of centimeter long capillaries is enabled and, in turn, longer acceleration lengths can be adopted in a wide range of plasma-based acceleration experiments

The European Research Infrastructures of the ESFRI Roadmap in Biological and Medical Sciences: status and perspectives

Introduction. Since 2002, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures  identified  the  needs  for  Research  Infrastructures  (RIs)  in  Europe  in  priority  fields  of  scientific research and drafted a strategic document, the ESFRI Roadmap, defining the  specific RIs essential to foster European research and economy. The Biological and Medical Sciences RIs (BMS RIs) were developed thanks to the active participation of many  institutions  in  different  European  member  states  associated  to  address  the  emerging  needs in biomedicine and, among these, the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS),  in virtue of its role in public health and research, has been specifically involved in the  national development and implementation of three RIs: the Biobanking and Biomolecu-lar Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI), the European Advanced Translational  Research Infrastructure in Medicine (EATRIS) and the European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN). Aim.  This  article  outlines  the  design  and  development  of  these  RIs  up  to  the  recent  achievement of the ERIC status, their importance in the Horizon 2020 programme and  their societal and economic potential impact, with special attention to their development  and significance in Italy. Conclusions.  The  ISS  plays  a  unique  role  in  fostering  a  coordinated  participation  of  excellence Italian institutes/facilities to different European biomedical RIs, thus contributing to health innovation, healthcare optimization, and healthcare cost containment.