Social robots for older users: a possibility to support assessment and social interventions

In the last decades, various researches in the field of robotics have created numerous opportunities for innovative support of the older population. The goal of this work was to review and highlight how social robots can help the daily life of older people, and be useful also as assessment tools. We will underline the aspects of usability and acceptability of robotic supports in the psychosocial work with older persons. The actual usability of the system influences the perception of the ease of use only when the user has no or low experience, while expert users’ perception is related to their attitude towards the robot. This finding should be more deeply analysed because it may have a strong influence on the design of future interfaces for elderly-robot interaction. Robots can play an important role to tackle the societal challenge of the growing older population. The authors report some recent studies with older users, where it was demonstrated that the acceptability of robotics during daily life activities, and also in cognitive evaluation, could be supported by social robot

A microscopic mechanism for self-organized quasi periodicity in random networks of non linear oscillators

Self-organized quasi periodicity is one of the most puzzling dynamical phases observed in systems of non linear coupled oscillators. The single dynamical units are not locked to the periodic mean field they produce, but they still feature a coherent behavior, through an unexplained complex form of correlation. We consider a class of leaky integrate-and-fire oscillators on random sparse and massive networks with dynamical synapses, featuring self-organized quasi periodicity, and we show how complex collective oscillations arise from constructive interference of microscopic dynamics. In particular, we find a simple quantitative relationship between two relevant microscopic dynamical time scales and the macroscopic time scale of the global signal. We show that the proposed relation is a general property of collective oscillations, common to all the partially synchronous dynamical phases analyzed. We argue that an analogous mechanism could be at the origin of similar network dynamics.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.

Affect Recognition in Autism: a single case study on integrating a humanoid robot in a standard therapy.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a multifaceted developmental disorder that comprises a mixture of social impairments, with deficits in many areas including the theory of mind, imitation, and communication. Moreover, people with autism have difficulty in recognising and understanding emotional expressions. We are currently working on integrating a humanoid robot within the standard clinical treatment offered to children with ASD to support the therapists. In this article, using the A-B-A' single case design, we propose a robot-assisted affect recognition training and to present the results on the child’s progress during the five months of clinical experimentation. In the investigation, we tested the generalization of learning and the long-term maintenance of new skills via the NEPSY-II affection recognition sub-test. The results of this single case study suggest the feasibility and effectiveness of using a humanoid robot to assist with emotion recognition training in children with ASD

Rhyme: figurality, memory, intertextuality

Inscribed in a general theory of rhyme, the present article deals with the question of the relation between rhyme and intertextuality. As a premise, I briefly anticipate the main assumptions of my theory, with particular regard to what I have called the figural function of rhyme. Then, the close link between rhyme and memory is investigated, in light of both the coeval art of memory and modern psychology studies. Its mnemotechnical power is also the basis of its intertextual potential, in a shift from what is simply memorizable to what is memorable obtained through aestheic enhancement, mainly due to the so-called figural function. A brief comparison with Homeric formularity shows how verse-making devices may influence the text far beyond the mere scope of metrics, involving in particular literary memory phenomena. Finally, a selection of examples are provided to give an account of the many and varied types of intertextual relations the borrowing of rhymes may carry. It is a well-known fact that rhymes, when borrowed from previous texts, may become a privileged vehicle of intertextual allusion or reminiscence. Nonetheless, in the infrequent studies on rhyme, this issue has only recently begun to be addressed in a specific way and with not completely satisfactory results. What in particular is still lacking is a general theoretical framework concerning rhyme, with which we may connect the question of its intertextual potential. Indeed, this device has been much less studied than would be expected considering its historical relevance. Moreover a general theory regarding rhyme, going beyond the traditional typological distinctions proposed by metrical treatises, is still to be completed

Italia-América Latina: una nueva política exterior desde 2006

Por lo que respecta a las relaciones con Latinoamérica, Italia ha elegido continuar con la política de Estado inaugurada con la III Conferencia Italia-América Latina de 2007. Tanto Gobierno como Estado iniciaban en el año 2006 una atención renovada hacia América Latina, en la que se han visto implicadas todas las altas instituciones italianas. Esta nueva atención ha abierto numerosas ocasiones de interés recíproco entre Italia y los países latinoamericanos. Con “todos” los países, no sólo con aquéllos que cuentan con una fuerte presencia de emigración italiana, ni sólo con aquéllos considerados cercanos al anterior Gobierno de centroizquierda: el único factor discriminatorio ha sido el respeto por los derechos humanos y civiles. A nivel europeo ha resultado decisiva la colaboración y la complementariedad con España, aspectos que podrían reforzarse con ocasión de la Presidencia española de la UE. Son numerosos los organismos políticos, institucionales, sociales y económicos (con la excepción de los bancos) implicados en este redescubrimiento. Indudablemente entre los más reactivos y dinámicos se encuentra el sector empresarial, que ve pragmáticamente en Latinoamérica un terreno interesante de actividades y desarrollo. De igual manera, el actual responsable de las relaciones con Latinoamérica en la Farnesina, Enzo Scotti, ha confirmado y relanzado esta misma línea. La IV Conferencia Italia-América Latina, prevista para el próximo octubre en Milán, será un importante banco de pruebas

Inibitori della gelatinasi A nel trattamento del glioblastoma multiforme

Il mio lavoro di tesi, condotto presso il laboratorio di Biochimica della Facoltà di Farmacia dell’Università di Pisa, ha avuto come scopo la valutazione dell’attività di due inibitori selettivi di MMP-2, appartenenti alla classe degli N-O-isopropil sulfonamide idrossammati, in relazione all’invasività e alla vitalità cellulare, in cellule di glioma IV umano U87MG. I composti sono stati utilizzati a concentrazione nanomolare (selettività per la MMP-2) per il trattamento delle cellule. L’invasività è stata valutata utilizzando il saggio di invasività su matrigel (membrana basale ricostuita), mentre la vitalità con il saggio di vitalità cellulare MTS assay e la conta cellulare con il colorante Trypan Blue . I risultati hanno dimostrato che questi composti sono potenti inibitori dell’invasività (p<0.0001), e non hanno effetto sulla vitalità cellulare. In un secondo momento è stata valutata l’azione combinata della temozolomide con l’inibitore selettivo di MMP-2 CC27, sia su invasività che vitalità cellulare. I risultati dei trattamenti combinati hanno evidenziato un blocco sia di invasività che di vitalità cellulare

Ecophysiological responses of fishes to increasing ocean acidification and warming

A major goal in conservation biology is to understand the effects of short and long term environmental change on organisms. Fishes are the most valuable marine resource, however very little is known about the synergistic effect of current ocean warming and acidification, and the role of body size and local adaptation on their resilience. There is growing evidence that increased environmental temperature correlates with a reduction in ectotherm body size, suggesting a universal response to warming. To investigate the potential advantage of small body size in fish resilience, I made intra- and inter-specific comparisons of dwarf- and normal-size cleaner gobies of the genus Elacatinus. I first tested the hypothesis that smaller body size would correlate with a wider thermal tolerance by using same-age but different-size gobies reared at 'common garden' conditions. By employing critical thermal methodology, I provided empirical evidence supporting thermal biology theories that predict wider thermal tolerance windows as body size shrinks. These results provided the motivation to examine the effect of body mass on digestive performance, an indicator of fitness. Only smaller fish increased digestive metabolic scope at higher temperatures, thus suggesting that temperature increase caused by global warming will favor smaller individuals. To investigate the role of local adaptation on resilience in climate change, I compared the responses to warming and acidification between latitudinally- and morphologically-distinct populations of the little skate Leucoraja erinacea, by focusing on the most vulnerable life stages, embryos and juveniles. Embryos maintained at common garden conditions showed countergradient variation in performance curves. In juvenile skates, post-exercise metabolic curves shifted performance optima, exhibiting thermal adaptation in the two populations examined. This suggests that as skates hatch and are able to thermoregulate, they can change their temperature optima to exploit local thermal environments. Lastly, temperature and acidification levels predicted by the end of the century may reduce fitness of the northern population of skates, thus increasing vulnerability to local extinction

Alien Registration- Di Santo, Concetta (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/31422/thumbnail.jp