Promoting and assessing statistical literacy among university students. The case of Tuscany

One of the strategic goals of Istat, Italian NSI, is to promote statistical literacy (SL) both at central and at local level. In this context, for the first time in Italy, territorial Office of Istat in Tuscany developed a new line of research, addressed to the measurement of SL. The activity was held thanks to the cooperation with the statistical departments of the three Universities located in Tuscany (Pisa, Florence and Siena). Core of the project was the implementation of an on line questionnaire (named QValStatM) with a twofold objective. The first aim is to promote SL: the form is presented in a charming way and is associated with various statistical messages. The second aim is to measure SL in terms of number of corrected answers: each compiler immediately received his statistical profile according to the positioning of the “statistical dashboard”. Over 10,000 first-year undergraduate students were given the questionnaire. Results are of a certain interest: in the range between 0 and 12 the mean score was of 7.64 which states for a hardly sufficient level of SL. As expected, results are significantly different according to various individual covariates (course attended, gender, school curricula).  The present paper intends to illustrate in detail the project, the questionnaire, the method of administering, the results and implications for future strategies to promote SL

Temporal Planning with Intermediate Conditions and Effects

Automated temporal planning is the technology of choice when controlling systems that can execute more actions in parallel and when temporal constraints, such as deadlines, are needed in the model. One limitation of several action-based planning systems is that actions are modeled as intervals having conditions and effects only at the extremes and as invariants, but no conditions nor effects can be specified at arbitrary points or sub-intervals. In this paper, we address this limitation by providing an effective heuristic-search technique for temporal planning, allowing the definition of actions with conditions and effects at any arbitrary time within the action duration. We experimentally demonstrate that our approach is far better than standard encodings in PDDL 2.1 and is competitive with other approaches that can (directly or indirectly) represent intermediate action conditions or effects

Italian NSI for the school. A new project to promote statistical literacy in Italian regions

A key activity of Istat, Italian NSI, is that of promoting statistical literacy. In recent years this goal was further strengthened through the constitution of a network of around 80 experts of the territorial offices and the activation of proper synergies with the former School of Statistics and Socio-Economic Analysis (SAES). The most part of the network activities are devoted to promoting initiatives for the education system (teachers and students). One of the latest releases of the network is the “community of sharing experiences between Istat operators and teachers”, a place through which to discuss, share experiences and identify new approaches to the teaching of statistics across a process of cooperative intelligence. A particularly promising area of action is related to the use of virtual reality for the transfer of educational content. The Territorial Office for Apulia, maintaining and further developing the main goals of the network, acts synergistic actions of disseminations in many schools of the region. Tools adopted are mainly those of the educational packages. Methods of administration are quite innovative. There is a specific attention to find instruments of linkage between teachers in order to share educational technology and skills to develop students' abilities in the area of calculation, interpretation and graphical representation of data. A further instrument introduced to guide students towards critical thinking is that of laboratory. By means of laboratories students of secondary school are able to follow all the entire process of data production, from microdata to methods of synthesis

Prismatic to asbestiform offretite from Northern Italy. Occurrence, morphology and crystal-chemistry of a new potentially hazardous zeolite

A multi-methodological approach, based upon field investigation, morphological characterization, chemical analysis and structure refinement was applied to different samples of fibrous offretite, a new potentially hazardous zeolite recently discovered in northern Italy. Their morphology ranges from stocky-prismatic to asbestiform. All the investigated fibers may be considered as "inhalable", and they are well within the range of the "more carcinogenic fibers" regarding diameter. As regards the length, the main mode observed in the asbestiform samples is 20-25 mu m, and similar to 93% of the measured fibers are >5 mu m and may be significantly associated with carcinogenesis also in terms of lengths. The chemical-structural features of the investigated fibers are comparable: the extra-framework cations K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ are present in all samples in similar proportions, and refined cell parameters are similar among the samples. Offretite occurs in 60% of the investigated sites, with an estimated amount up to 75 vol % of the associated minerals. The presence of this mineral could be of concern for risk to human health, especially if one considers the vast number of quarries and mining-related activities that are operating in the zeolite host rocks

Selection Models for the Internal Quality of Fruit, based on Time Domain Laser Reflectance Spectroscopy

Time domain laser reflectance spectroscopy (TRS) was applied for the first time to evaluate internal fruit quality. This technique, known in medicine-related knowledge areas, has not been used before in agricultural or food research. It allows the simultaneous measurement of two optical characteristics of the sample: light scattering inside the tissues and light absorption. Models to estimate non-destructively firmness, soluble solids and acid contents in tomato, apple, peach and nectarine were developed using sequential statistical techniques: principal component analysis, multiple stepwise linear regression, clustering and discriminant analysis. Consistent correlations were established between the two parameters measured with TRS, i.e. absorption and transport scattering coefficients, with chemical constituents (soluble solids and acids) and firmness, respectively. Classification models were created to sort fruits into three quality grades (‘low’, ‘medium’ and ‘high’), according to their firmness, soluble solids and acidity

Detection of internal quality in kiwi with time-domain diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

Time-domain diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (TRS), a medical sensing technique, was used to evaluate internal kiwi fruit quality. The application of this pulsed laser spectroscopic technique was studied as a new, possible non-destructive, method to detect optically different quality parameters: firmness, sugar content, and acidity. The main difference with other spectroscopic techniques is that TRS estimates separately and at the same time absorbed light and scattering inside the sample, at each wavelength, allowing simultaneous estimations of firmness and chemical contents. Standard tests (flesh puncture, compression with ball, .Brix, total acidity, skin color) have been used as references to build estimative models, using a multivariate statistical approach. Classification functions of the fruits into three groups achieved a performance of 75% correctly classified fruits for firmness, 60% for sugar content, and 97% for acidity. Results demonstrate good potential for this technique to be used in the development of new sensors for non-destructive quality assessment

Exploiting remote imagery in an embayed sandy beach for the validation of a runup model framework

International audienceStorm surge and wave runup are key determinants of the potential for beach overwashing during storm events. However, the prediction and quantification of wave runup on embayed beaches is strongly influenced by particular characteristics (e.g., irregular morphology, low tides, absence of swell, etc.) which differ from those on open beaches, and have rarely been investigated in literature. In the present paper, a model framework aimed at predicting wave-induced runup on an embayed sandy beach is validated by means of measurements derived from a video-monitoring station, recently installed in South Italy, during two storm events in 2016. The numerical approach employs MeteOcean forecasted waves within SWAN and SWASH models (in both 2-d and 1-d mode). The combination of multibeam and d-RTK surveys with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery provides high resolution depth grid (m 0.015), particularly required in shallow waters, where wave hydrodynamics is highly influenced by the bottom. The results show and discuss the agreement between video measurements and 2-d predictions of runup. A sensitivity analysis of the Manningfls roughness factor is needed in 1-d simulations. The accuracy of the empirical formulas in predicting wave runup in an embayed beach is also investigated , showing mainly an overestimation of the observations

Atypical Bilateral Femur Fractures in a Long-Term Bisphosphonate Therapy: A Case Report

Atypical Femur Fractures (AFF) are associated with Bisphosphonate Osteoporosis Therapy. Bisphosphonate therapy is widely used as the Gold-Standard Therapy for Osteoporosis: it increases bone density and reduce the risk of vertebral, non-vertebral and hip fractures. However, long-term alendronic acid administration can causes severely suppressed bone turnover and finally non-traumatic stress fractures. Here we present a case of Non-Traumatic stress fractures of bilateral femoral shafts in a Long-Term Alendronic Acid Therapy

Chemical evolution of disc galaxies from cosmological simulations

We perform a suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxies, with zoomedin initial conditions leading to the formation of a halo of mass M-halo, DM similar or equal to 2 x 10(12) M-circle dot at redshift z = 0. These simulations aim at investigating the chemical evolution and the distribution of metals in a disc galaxy, and at quantifying the effect of (i) the assumed IMF, (ii) the adopted stellar yields, and (iii) the impact of binary systems originating SNe Ia on the process of chemical enrichment. We consider either a Kroupa, Tout & Gilmore (1993) or a more top-heavy Kroupa (2001) IMF, two sets of stellar yields and different values for the fraction of binary systems suitable to give rise to SNe Ia. We investigate stellar ages, SN rates, stellar and gas metallicity gradients, and stellar alpha-enhancement in simulations, and compare predictions with observations. We find that a Kroupa et al. (1993) IMF has to be preferred when modelling late-type galaxies in the local Universe. On the other hand, the comparison of stellar metallicity profiles and alpha-enhancement trends with observations of Milky Way stars shows a better agreement when a Kroupa (2001) IMF is assumed. Comparing the predicted SN rates and stellar alpha-enhancement with observations supports a value for the fraction of binary systems producing SNe Ia of 0.03, at least for late-type galaxies and for the considered IMFs. Adopted stellar yields are crucial in regulating cooling and star formation, and in determining patterns of chemical enrichment for stars, especially for those located in the galaxy bulge