Adaptive learning to speed-up control of prosthetic hands: A few things everybody should know

Domain adaptation methods have been proposed to reduce the training efforts needed to control an upper-limb prosthesis by adapting well performing models from previous subjects to the new subject. These studies generally reported impressive reductions in the required number of training samples to achieve a certain level of accuracy for intact subjects. We further investigate two popular methods in this field to verify whether this result also applies to amputees. Our findings show instead that this improvement can largely be attributed to a suboptimal hyperparameter configuration. When hyperparameters are appropriately tuned, the standard approach that does not exploit prior information performs on par with the more complicated transfer learning algorithms. Additionally, earlier studies erroneously assumed that the number of training samples relates proportionally to the efforts required from the subject. However, a repetition of a movement is the atomic unit for subjects and the total number of repetitions should therefore be used as reliable measure for training efforts. Also when correcting for this mistake, we do not find any performance increase due to the use of prior models

TRASPORTO ATTIVO E SALUTE: MISURAZIONE DELL’INCREMENTO PREVISIONALE DI CICLABILITA’ NELLA CITTA’ DI MILANO E VALUTAZIONE DELLE RICADUTE POSITIVE SULLO STATO DI SALUTE DELLA POPOLAZIONE

INTRODUZIONE: È scientificamente noto come l’inattività fisica sia tra i principali fattori di rischio per l’incremento delle malattie cronico-degenerative. L’emergenza è particolarmente rilevante nei contesti urbani, dove, tuttavia, la maggior parte degli spostamenti copre una distanza inferiore ai 5km, facilmente percorribile a piedi o in bicicletta. Questi spostamenti garantirebbero una sufficiente attività fisica giornaliera. Risulta pertanto necessario indagare quali caratteristiche delle infrastrutture ciclopedonali incentivino o scoraggino l’adozione di corretti stili di vita. METODI: Dopo un confronto con lo stato dell’arte relativo alle correlazione tra trasporto attivo, Physical Activity e salute, è stato redatto un questionario per raccogliere dati sul livello attuale della ciclabilità urbana e quantificare l’incremento previsionale in caso di miglioramento ed implementazione della rete ciclabile. Il questionario è stato somministrato digitalmente e in forma cartacea, per un periodo di 3 mesi nella città di Milano. RISULTATI: I dati raccolti (1675 compilazioni) dimostrano che la scelta della bicicletta come mezzo di trasporto aumenterebbe: nella situazione previsionale il 76,5% del campione (oltre il 21% in più rispetto alla situazione attuale) raggiungerebbe i 150 minuti settimanali di attività fisica raccomandata dall’OMS. È stata condotta inoltre una valutazione dei benefici sulla salute, in termini di riduzione della mortalità causata da malattie cronico-degenerative tramite l’applicazione dello strumento HEAT dell’OMS ha individuato un incremento dei benefici protettivi pari al 5%. CONCLUSIONI: L’indagine condotta ha perseguito lo scopo di individuare gli aspetti da migliorare dal punto di vista del progetto urbano. Scopo principale è quello di sensibilizzare i Policy Makers, evidenziando come gli interventi urbani, soprattutto quelli a piccola scala, potrebbero avere un ruolo chiave nella riduzione dell’inattività fisica e quindi di una maggior salute

Scylax of Caryanda, Pseudo-Scylax, and the Paris Periplus: Reconsidering the Ancient Tradition of a Geographical Text

The Periplus preserved in the manuscript Parisinus suppl. gr. 443, and erroneously ascribed to Scylax of Caryanda (sixth century BC), is the oldest extant specimen of ancient Greek periplography: it belongs to the second half of the fourth century. In the present article, all the testimonies on the ancient tradition of both Scylax and the Paris Periplus are carefully evaluated. The aim is to determine when and why the Paris Periplus was mistakenly ascribed to Scylax and to clear any doubts on the alleged authorship of this ancient geographic work. The confusion, or the wilful falsification, is evident in Strabo: he knew of Scylax’s voyage in the East and at the same time was acquainted with the text of the Paris Periplus, which he ascribed to this famous ancient seafarer. Greek and Latin authors of the Roman Imperial age knew the Paris Periplus, but many followed slavishly the erroneous ascription to Scylax of Caryanda. When Marcianus of Heraclea in the early Byzantine age collected his corpus of ancient Greek geographers he also ascribed the Paris Periplus to Scylax, thus handing down the error to the copyist of the Paris. suppl. gr. 443

Collecting Use Cases Information: Method and Template for Physical Science for the OpenPOWER Foundation

The main purpose of this Note is to define a method and a template to collect Physical Science use cases from scientists and research engineers working on Physical Science projects in the context and within the scope of the OpenPOWER Foundation for Physical Science Workgroup. An effective method (shared between all stakeholders) could contribute to • understand the workflow, starting with user expectations; • help Physical Science projects maintain costs within a chosen envelope; • map the functionalities to the scientific requirements; • remove possible misunderstanding between the scientific community and ICT stakeholders

Management accounting of agricultural production: improving planning and standardization of costs in the management information system

The problems of organizing effective management accounting of agricultural production through the widespread use of economic methods, both production management and accounting and management methods and the development of their information functions, are very relevant and necessary. Management accounting in modern times is a universal integrated mechanism for the accounting and management activities of an agricultural organization. The management accounting information system should be oriented towards solving complex issues and making managerial decisions quickly. The purpose of the study is the rationale for rationing, planning and management accounting of costs, their control and analysis of production results in the agricultural management information system. The subject of the study is management accounting, while principles are formulated and new methods for rationing labor, material and biological costs of agricultural production are proposed. A unified nomenclature of cost items has been developed for planning, managerial accounting, analysis and control, both for individual production, accounting and planning objects, as well as for self-supporting units (responsibility centers) and the organization as a whole. For the organization of rationing, planning and management accounting of production costs, the sequence of implementation of special procedures is defined, a unified nomenclature of cost items is developed based on the basic conditions of requirements, which include classification attributes, degree of cost participation in the creation of new products, cost control by hierarchical levels of management. It is concluded that by comparing the actual and planned costs for the production of a particular object of planning and accounting, it is possible to analyze their cause and effect deviations, deviations of the actual marginal income and operating profit of the production of these products from their normative values ​​by changing each specific cost item

Personal values in mental disorders: an exploratory analysis

AbstractPersonal values have increasingly become central in socio-psychological research. However, the relationships between values and psychopathological variables have been scarcely investigated, with mixed results. This study aimed to explore potential differences in value orientation in a sample of people with psychotic disorders and mood disorders compared to a non-clinical sample using the Schwarz's values framework. A clinical sample of 162 subjects (92 subjects with psychotic disorders and 70 with mood disorders) and a non-clinical sample of 217 subjects completed the self-report measures of affective states (PANAS) and personal values (PVQ). Irrespective of the diagnostic group, the clinical sample showed higher expression of Conservation values (i.e., Tradition, Conformity, Security). Conservation and Self-enhancement values positively correlated with PANAS-positive affectivity in the clinical sample; in the non-clinical sample, Self-enhancement values only correlated with PANAS-positive affectivity. The expression of Conservation values in individuals with a mental disorder could reflect an orientation toward Conformity underlying fundamental affiliative goals. The complex relationship between personal values and clinical constructs should be further investigated, with important theoretical and clinical implications in mental health

Logistic regression of attitudes and coverage for influenza vaccination among Italian Public Health medical residents

Introduction. A few number of literature specifically addresses vaccination uptake among Public Health Residents (PHRs). Influ- enza vaccine attitudes and risk perceptions of PHRs across Italy were studied, contributing to literature on influenza vaccination uptake predictors, in particular among young physicians. Methods. An online survey was conducted in 25 Schools of Public Health in Italy in 2011-2012. Results were analysed using preva- lence and logistic regression methods. Results. A total of 365 Italian public health residents were included in the study. Vaccination uptake was confirmed by 22.2 and 33.2% of PHRs in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, respectively. For the 2010-2011 influenza season, vaccination was associated with male sex (adj-OR 3.43; 95%CI = 1.5-7.84) and vaccination history (adj-OR 29.44; 95%CI = 6.4-135.04). For the 2011-2012 season, vaccination was significantly associated with having had between one and three influenza vaccinations in the previ- ous five years (adj-OR 11.56; 95%CI = 6.44-20.75) or more than three (adj-OR 136.43; 95%CI = 30.8-604.7) and with individual participation in general population vaccination campaigns (adj- OR 1.85; 95%CI = 1.01-3.41). Discussion. Italian residents in public health have no confidence and a low personal risk perception about vaccinations therefore taking no measures to protect patients, general population and themselves. Annual influenza vaccination acceptance is associ- ated with influenza vaccine uptake in the previous years and per- sonal involvement in general population vaccination campaigns. These factors should be considered for the design of future cam- paigns targeting public health residents

Dietary Supplementation of Hericium erinaceus

Hericium erinaceus (Bull.) Pers. is a medicinal mushroom capable of inducing a large number of modulatory effects on human physiology ranging from the strengthening of the immune system to the improvement of cognitive functions. In mice, dietary supplementation with H. erinaceus prevents the impairment of spatial short-term and visual recognition memory in an Alzheimer model. Intriguingly other neurobiological effects have recently been reported like the effect on neurite outgrowth and differentiation in PC12 cells. Until now no investigations have been conducted to assess the impact of this dietary supplementation on brain function in healthy subjects. Therefore, we have faced the problem by considering the effect on cognitive skills and on hippocampal neurotransmission in wild-type mice. In wild-type mice the oral supplementation with H. erinaceus induces, in behaviour test, a significant improvement in the recognition memory and, in hippocampal slices, an increase in spontaneous and evoked excitatory synaptic current in mossy fiber-CA3 synapse. In conclusion, we have produced a series of findings in support of the concept that H. erinaceus induces a boost effect onto neuronal functions also in nonpathological conditions