Design and evaluation of a multi-sensory representation of scientific data

Modern sciences and astrophysics in particular study objects and phenomena not visible in physical terms, that is they cannot be investigated with the eyes or analogous optical systems. Nevertheless, they make intensive use of visual representations, showing data in a figurative way, using lights, colors, and shapes familiar to the user and aesthetically pleasant. Besides being inaccessible for Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) users, such figurative visual representation can lead to misunderstandings about the real nature of the represented object if the code of representation is not declared. We argue that multi-sensory representations clearly arbitrary, i.e., that do not aim to imitate reality, are a valid choice for an effective meaning-making process of astronomical science for all. In an equity perspective, multi-sensory representations also create an effective common ground for inclusion among people with diverse abilities, skills, and learning styles, in the framework of Universal Design for Learning. In order to investigate our hypothesis we designed two mono-sensory representation (one only haptic and the other only acoustic) and tested them in individual and group workshops with both sighted and BVI users. We then used our results to guide the design of a multi-sensory representation of non-visible astronomical data including visual, acoustic, and haptic stimuli. We tested this representation as well, in order to refine and propose it to the public. The result is the exhibit Sense the Universe, to be used for outreach and education. Sense the Universe was part of a museum exhibition attended both by sighted and BVI users. Our findings suggest the validity of multi-sensory representations for a truly and effective engagement in scientific learning, both in terms of intelligibility and persistence of scientific contents and of a more equal access to scientific culture.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Astronomy Festival "Colors of the Universe"

The first edition of the Astronomy Festival, titled “Colors of the Universe”, took place in Castellaro Lagusello, near Mantova (Italy), on June 19 and 20, 2021. Castellaro Lagusello, ranked as one of the “Most beautiful villages in Italy”, for decades hosted a Buskers Festival that attracted thousands of visitors from nearby regions. For the first time Castellaro Lagusello has framed a scientific event. The theme of the Festival has been the electromagnetic spectrum and its use in astronomy. The goals of the Festival are multifold: promoting the dissemination of scientific culture and knowledge by engaging the public, linking the research institutes and universities with schools and the population by means of the so-called peer-education (i.e. PhD students are prepared by INAF researchers to educate high-school students who in turn lead the activities during the Festival, bringing them to the general public), and valuing the beauty of the territory and its historical sites. The Festival has been organized by Comune di Monzambano and INAF (main organizers: A. Zanella and F. Di Giacomo), and had the partnership of the European Southern Observatory and the International Astronomical Union. It included exhibitions, hands-on workshops, wall-map projections, outreach conferences, and observations with telescopes. The Festival reached about 4000 visitors, coming from all over North Italy, and it has received an excellent evaluation from the participants (2.9/3 overall). Given the success of the first edition, we are now organizing a second edition title “Attractive Universe” with gravity as a theme

Dynamically cold disks in the early Universe: myth or reality?

Theoretical models struggle to reproduce dynamically cold disks with significant rotation-to-dispersion support($V_{\rm{rot}}/\sigma$) observed in star-forming galaxies in the early Universe, at redshift $z>4$. We aim to explore the possible emergence of dynamically cold disks in cosmological simulations and to understand if different kinematic tracers can help reconcile the tension between theory and observations. We use 3218 galaxies from the SERRA suite of zoom-in simulations, with $8<\log(M_*/M_{\odot})<10.3$ and SFR$<128\,M_{\odot}{yr}^{-1}$, within $4<z<9$ range. We generate hyper-spectral data cubes for 6436 synthetic observations of H$\alpha$ and [CII]. We find that the choice of kinematic tracer strongly influences gas velocity dispersion estimates. When using H$\alpha$ ([CII]) synthetic observations, we observe a strong (mild) correlation between $\sigma$ and $M_*$. Such a difference arises mostly for $M_*>10^9\,M_{\odot}$ galaxies, for which $\sigma_{H\alpha}>2\sigma_{CII}$ for a significant fraction of the sample. Regardless of the tracer, our predictions suggest the existence of massive ($M_*>10^{10}M_{\odot}$) galaxies with $V_{rot}/\sigma>10$ at $z>4$, maintaining cold disks for >10 orbital periods (200Myr). Furthermore, we do not find any significant redshift dependence for $V_{rot}/\sigma$ ratio in our sample. Our simulations predict the existence of dynamically cold disks in the early Universe. However, different tracers are sensitive to different kinematic properties. While [CII] effectively traces the thin, gaseous disk of galaxies, H$\alpha$ includes the contribution from ionized gas beyond the disk, characterized by prevalent vertical or radial motions that may be associated with outflows. The presence of H$\alpha$ halos could be a signature of such galactic outflows. This emphasizes the importance of combining ALMA and JWST/NIRspec studies of high-z galaxies.Comment: submitted to A&

Importance of nutritional counseling and dietary fiber content on glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients under intensive educational intervention

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the importance of nutritional counseling within a set of multidisciplinary interventions. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty-seven patients with type 2 diabetes and hyperglycemia (A1C > 8%), treated conventionally (n = 19, GC) or intensively in six weekly visits (n = 28, GI) were analyzed. We evaluated mean weekly blood glucose (MWG) at baseline and after 6 weeks in both groups. RESULTS: GI reduced caloric (p = 0.001), carbohydrate (p = 0.004), and fat (p = 0.001) intake, and increased fiber consumption, while GC reduced fiber intake (p = 0.018). Glycemic control (MWG < 150 mg/dL) occurred in 75% of GI patients and in 31.6% of CG patients (p = 0.003), with negative correlation between changes in fiber intake and MWG values (r =-0.309; P = 0.035). Results were maintained after 12 weeks. CONCLUSION: Educational short-term intensive intervention was more effective than conventional treatment to achieve glycemic control. Our results also indicate that a more appropriate fiber content in the diet contributes for better blood glucose control in these patients.OBJETIVO: Avaliar a orientação nutricional dentro de um conjunto de intervenções multidisciplinares. SUJEITOS E MÉTODOS: Quarenta e sete pacientes diabéticos tipo 2, hiperglicêmicos, tratados de forma convencional (n = 19) ou intensiva (n = 28) e avaliados pela glicemia média semanal (GMS) no início e após 6 semanas. RESULTADOS: GI reduziu o consumo de calorias (p = 0,001), carboidratos (p = 0,004), lipídios (p = 0,001) e aumentou o de fibras, enquanto o GC reduziu o consumo de fibras (p = 0,018). Controle glicêmico (GMS < 150 mg/dL) ocorreu em 75% do GI e, em 31,6% do GC (p = 0,003), houve correlação negativa entre as variações do consumo de fibras e a GMS (r =-0,309; p = 0,035). Os resultados mantiveram-se por 12 semanas. CONCLUSÃO: A intervenção educacional intensiva de curto prazo mostrou-se mais eficaz que o tratamento convencional para a obtenção do controle glicêmico. Nossos resultados ainda indicam que um consumo mais adequado de fibras na alimentação contribui para a obtenção de um melhor controle da glicemia.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de MedicinaUNIFESP-EPM Departamento de Medicina PreventivaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de MedicinaUNIFESP, EPM Depto. de Medicina PreventivaSciEL

Edukoi: developing an interactive sonification tool for astronomy between entertainment and education

Edukoi is a software that aims to make interactive sonification suitable to convey and extract information. The program design is a modification of the software Herakoi, which sonifies images in real time mapping pitch to colour using a motion-aware approach for allowing users to interact with images through sound. The pitch-colour association of Hearkoi, albeit pleasing from the entertainment side, is not efficient for communicating specific information regarding colours and hues to listeners. Hence we modified it to create an instrument to be used by visually impaired and sighted children to explore images through sound and extract accurate information. We aim at building a flexible software that can be used in middle-schools for both art and science teaching. We tested its effectiveness using astronomical images, given the great fascination that astronomy always has on kids of all ages and backgrounds. Astronomy is also considered a very visual science, a characteristic that prevents students from learning this subject and having a related career. With this project we aim to challenge this belief and give to students the possibility to explore astronomical data through sound. Here we discuss our experiment, the choices we made regarding sound mappings, and what psychophysiological aspects we aim to evaluate to validate and improve Edukoi.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the proceedings of "The 28th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2023) - Special Session on Astronomical Data Sonification

Galaxy Nurseries: Crowdsourced analysis of slitless spectroscopic data

We present the results of Galaxy Nurseries project, which was designed to enable crowdsourced analysis of slitless spectroscopic data by volunteer citizen scientists using the Zooniverse online interface. The dataset was obtained by the WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) Survey collaboration and comprises NIR grism (G102 and G141) and direct imaging. Volunteers were instructed to evaluate indicated spectral features and decide whether it was a genuine emission line or more likely an artifact. Galaxy Nurseries was completed in only 40 days, gathering 414,360 classifications from 3003 volunteers for 27,333 putative emission lines. The results of Galaxy Nurseries demonstrate the feasibility of identifying genuine emission lines in slitless spectra by citizen scientists. Volunteer responses for each subject were aggregated to compute $f_{\mathrm{Real}}$, the fraction of volunteers who classified the corresponding emission line as "Real". To evaluate the accuracy of volunteer classifications, their aggregated responses were compared with independent assessments provided by members of the WISP Survey Science Team (WSST). Overall, there is a broad agreement between the WSST and volunteers' classifications, although we recognize that robust scientific analyses typically require samples with higher purity and completeness than raw volunteer classifications provide. Nonetheless, choosing optimal threshold values for $f_{\mathrm{Real}}$ allows a large fraction of spurious lines to be vetoed, substantially reducing the timescale for subsequent professional analysis of the remaining potential lines.Comment: Accepted for publication in Research Notes of the AA

Os caminhos do curso de dança da UNICRUZ (1998-2010)

O presente texto tem por objetivo visibilizar analiticamente o percurso institucional do Curso de Dança – Licenciatura Plena da UNICRUZ (1998-2010), em Cruz Alta/RS. Para isto, apresenta o seu processo histórico, o pioneirismo, a inserção e relevância para Rio Grande do Sul, especialmente no que se refere à formação superior em dança, bem como suas repercussões na instalação de outros sete cursos de Dança no Estado. A pesquisa caracteriza-se como qualitativa e adota a metodologia da história oral, utilizando como principal instrumento entrevistas semiestruturadas com ex-professores, ex-alunos e pessoas envolvidas. Embora o Curso tenha se consolidado e contribuído para os avanços nos estudos de dança  no Rio Grande do Sul, em 2010 formou a última turma. Estes acontecimentos não o aniquilam, eles o tornam inteligível ao percebermos as relações de um Curso com seu tempo. A análise das memórias permitiu avaliar que o curso seguiu uma trajetória consoante às condições do contexto em que se desenvolveu. A história do curso de Dança da UNICRUZ representa um marco na história da educação superior em Dança no Rio Grande do Sul, pois, a partir dele, se instalaram sete outros cursos no Estado

Officina degli Errori: Un esperimento esteso di co-design con le scuole - Officina degli Errori: a co-design extended experiment with primary schools

We describe an extended experiment to carry on constructionist approaches at school with an attentive eye to social and gender inclusion for Astrophysics and STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) disciplines and with a co-design approach with teachers. The “Officina degli Errori” was originally born from the collaboration between the Astronomical Observatory and Space Science of Bologna (OAS), which is part of the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), the Museum of Industrial Heritage of Bologna and the “Istituto Comprensivo 12” of Bologna. This type of collaboration is expanding and enriching with various contributions both within INAF, with the creation of dedicated working groups and in schools with further co-design processe

MICADO Italian Contribution

Citato dalla notizia media inaf https://www.media.inaf.it/2020/01/21/micado-elt/The Webpages of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) contribution to the MICADO project for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The Webpages serve as white pages for easy access to information relative to the MICADO and in particular to the Point Spread Function (PSF) reconstruction working group