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Driving Ability Index: an instrument for assessing elderly people’s performance
Get PDFAging causes the decline of driving related skills, so accident rates are higher for older drivers. However, being able to use the car motivates older people to maintain an active life and participate in social activities. When deprived of their driving licence, the elderly often suffer from isolation and depression so this phenomenon also has social implications. For these reasons it is necessary to recognize drivers who are potentially risky, because they no longer have the skills required to drive, from those who are still able to drive and be independent.
The aim of this study is to develop an easy to manage tool for objectively evaluating the driving ability of elderly drivers, for identifying the premature signs of any decline in physical ability and cognitive skills and for identifying devices best suited to help them to overcome their deficits and to improve their driving abilities and stay safe behind the wheel for longer.
Driving Ability Index (DAI) questionnaire has been proposed (Meloni, 2014) in order to evaluate ability to drive into four quality levels: excellent, good, moderate and poor.
With the aim to verify the effectiveness of the Driving Ability Index, road tests and simulator tests were conducted, and the driving performances have been evaluated.
In the study 31 drivers have been involved in the on road study and 12 drivers have been involved in the simulator tests.
The performances obtained in both tests (on-road test and simulator) have been compared with the scores obtained in the questionnaire, through Kendall’s tau c test.
This analysis shows that only for women the level of driving ability estimated by the questionnaire reflects their real driving ability.
This result may be due to the greater capacity to self-evaluate that women have, they sometimes tend to underestimate their abilities, in fact they do not renew their licence when they are still able to drive safely, and in the questionnaire there are many questions that require self-evaluation, both in general and in relation to their physical and cognitive abilities.
So in order to predict driving ability in elderly people and to identify the most significant variables in the DAI questionnaire, a factorial analysis and a linear regression have been performed.
The relation proposed is simple to apply and requires a limited amount of input information (five variables), so it may be used when renewing driving licences to identify elderly people with poor driving skills, who may put others and themselves at risk every time they get behind the wheel.
And it also identifies drivers with moderate driving ability and therefore still able to drive, though with some difficulty. These drivers could benefit from in-vehicle assistance systems, which are suitable for the compensating for the deficits (indicated in section 3 of the questionnaire)
Il Δ9-THC, componente principale della cannabis sativa, attenua la neurotossicità indotta dalla meth
Get PDFMethamphetamine (METH) is a lipofilic molecule widely abused for its psychostimulant effects. Its long term use can result in neurotoxic and adverse consequences like activation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), production of peroxynitrite, microglia stimulation, astrogliosis and hyperthermia [Maxwell JC and Brecht ML, 2011]. Notably, METH abusers also consume Cannabis [UNODC, 2013]. Several line of research have demonstrated that natural (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, Δ9-THC) and synthetic cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonists exert neuroprotective effects in different models of cerebral damage, including excitotoxic injury [Deng X and Cadet JL, 2009; La Voie MJ, et al. 2004]. In this study we evaluated the neuroprotective effect of Δ9-THC on an animal model of neurotoxicity induced by METH. Rats treated with a binge administation of METH (4 x 10 mg/Kg s.c. 2h apart), were pre-treated or post-treated with 1 mg/Kg or 3 mg/Kg of Δ9-THC (i.p) and sacrificed 3 days after the last METH administration. METH-induced nNOS overexpression and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP)-immunoreactivity, markers of brain damage, were attenuated by treatment with Δ9-THC. In order to verify the role of CB1 receptor in the mechanism of Δ9-THC-neuroprotection, rats post-treated with Δ9-THC (1 mg/Kg) were pre-treated with the CB1 rceptor antagonist SR141716A (SR). SR partially blocked METH-induced nNOS-overexpression but failed to revert the decreasing effect of Δ9-THC on METH-induced GFAP-immunostaining. These results indicate that Δ9-THC reduces METH-induced brain damage by CB1-dependent and independent mechanisms.
In order to identify other neuroprotective mechanisms, we evaluated as markers of neurotoxicity: i) tyrosine hydroxilase (TH), marker of terminal loss; ii) ionized calcium binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA-1), marker of microglial activation; iii) brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and iiii) CB2 receptor. Post-treatment with Δ9-THC 1mg/Kg increase the METH-induced down-regulation of TH and counteract the IBA-1 over-expression induced by METH. On the contrary, it fails to revert the METH-induced BDNF-increase and CB2-increase. Further studies will be carried out to support the involvement of CB2 receptor on Δ9-THC-mediated mechanism of neuroprotection. References Deng X and Cadet JL (2000) Methamphetamine-induced apoptosis is attenuated in the striata of copper-zinc superoxide dismutase transgenic mice. Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 83: 121-124. LaVoie MJ, Card JP, Hasting TG (2004) Microglial activation precedes dopamine terminal pathology in methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity. Exp Neurol. 187: 47-57. Maxwell JC and Brecht ML (2011) Methamphetamine: here we go again? Addict Behav. 36: 1168–1173. United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) (2013) World Drug Report 2013 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.13.XI.6)
Costruzione di modelli di scelta discreta ibridi per misurare gli effetti delle strategie informative sulla scelta del modo di viaggio contestualmente agli aspetti latenti
Get PDFRoad traffic is now the main culprit of air pollution in urban areas, due to the emissions of the combustion products of fuels and their subsequent chemical transformation, as well as to the evaporation of unburned hydrocarbons. Transport accounts for 25% of CO2 emitted globally, and is also one of the few sectors where emissions have continued to grow, oil consumption between 1973 and 2010 increasing by 110% (IEA, 2011) and CO2 by 44 %. (IEA, 2009; Banister et al., 2012). Several actions and measures have been developed to try to mitigate the harmful emissions produced by the transport sector and in particular by road traffic. These largely concern vehicle technology, type of fuel, economic tools and institutional controls. Although powerful, these measures have not been proved to be sufficient to solve the problem (Schwanen et al., 2011).
In recent years, research has consequently increasingly focused the attention on measures and policies that affect individuals’ behaviour and in particular what motivates their decisions. Providing information is the measure most used to promote behaviour change (Abrahamse and Matthies, 2012): "A person who has an attitude that suggests that it would be consistent for him or her to use the car less cannot bring about behaviour change if that person does not know how to change" (Ampt, 2003). It has been observed that measures that increase individual’s awareness can produce enduring changes, being the result of mindful decisions. This is at the basis of the concept of "Soft Measures", also referred to as "Voluntary Travel Behaviour Change" (VTBC) programmes (Ampt, 2003) or "Smarter Choices" (Cairns et al., 2004), i.e. programmes aimed at motivating the voluntary reduction of car use. VTBC programmes provide information typically on: a) the negative (mainly environmental) effects of current behaviour and b) how individuals can change their current behaviour to mitigate the negative effects.
The types of information provided in these studies are mostly: travel time, mileage travelled, travel cost, time spent in non-working activities, CO2 emitted, calories burned. These studies assess the overall effectiveness of the programme, comparing the number of trips by car before and after the implementation of a soft measure. None of them have however examined which of the information provided actually leverages behaviour change. Understanding to what extent specific soft measures contribute to shape individuals’ preferences, is crucial for defining the best policy for fostering changes toward sustainable modes.
Of the environmental effects, the information about the impact on the CO2 emitted is probably the most effective measure (and more understandable than other measures like for example PM10). The information on CO2 has often been used in VTBC programmes, and it is widely recognised that individuals are less likely to adopt environmentally friendly behaviour if this information is not provided. However research to date has not yet made it possible to disentangle its efficacy as a soft measure.
As far as the information on health effects is concerned, the typical measure tested is the number of calories burned. This is a relatively easy measure to test, because it is easy to quantify and for the individuals easy to associate with the effects on their health. However, from the health literature it seems that rather than the calories burned, stress represents the real plague of modern society. Wener et al. (2010) found also that car commuters showed significantly higher levels of reported stress and more negative moods compared to train
commuters. None of the studies however assess the effect of the information, i.e. to what extent being aware of the stress caused by driving has an impact on individuals’ decision to change transport mode.
Therefore the objective of this thesis work is to contribute to the development of a programme for voluntary travel behaviour change, and to study the extent to which each single element of the soft measure contributes to the overall awareness. The study focuses in particular on the effect that information on pollution and individual stress has on the choice to shift from private car to Park and Ride (P&R). To try and disentangle the effect of these two components a Stated Preference (SP) experiment was built where the reduction of CO2 and the reduction of stress are attributes included in the experimental design.
The ability to perceive, or to be conscious of something and to react to it (i.e. awareness) can differ from one person to another depending on their psychological stance toward environment and stress. Many studies have accounted for the effect of environmental attitude mainly in mode choice or type of fuel-vehicle choice. However, other latent effects other than attitude are relevant. In particular, in terms of environmental awareness and the information provided, personal norm measures a very interesting aspect as they evaluate the moral rule (and obligation) that lead individuals to act rightly or wrongly towards the environment. As for stress, the way individuals perceive stress caused by traffic and the way they perceive the information about stress are particularly relevant for the study.
In particular the contribution of this thesis work is to define the methodology to use within a VTBC programme to account for all the above-mentioned aspects. The methodology used thus comprises a SP survey where soft measures information is directly included as attributes in the SP tasks presented to the individuals, a survey that follows the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) to specifically measure psychological aspects that could influence the impact of the information provided and/or mode choice.
The use of information attributes in the SP is not common and deserves further consideration. The major challenges in including the information about CO2 and stress as attributes concern how they should be presented to respondents in order to be clearly understood. We devoted special attention to studying the best way to present the soft measures in the SP survey. In particular we tested the following aspects: 1) whether to use images alone, only text or both; 2) the type of information that should be included in the text. The major difficulty lies in explaining to people what the information provided means; 3) the type of context to be included in the images; 4) whether to use abstract or real images i.e. cartoons or real people.
Lastly, to analyse the data collected, several hybrid choice models (HCM) have been estimated so as to assess the effect of awareness and psychological aspects in the discrete choice between car and P&R.
The results show that 1) the utility to P&R increases with the level of awareness attained thanks to the information about the light rail alternative, 2) the more individuals consider receiving information about stress useful, the more they tend to behave sustainably, choosing P&R, 3) those aspects associated with stress would appear to have a greater influence on travel choice than environmental aspects.The thesis work highlighted the importance of being able to completely evaluate the behavioural process so as to enhance the effectiveness of VTBC programme implementation. An incorrect evaluation of the definition and implementation of measures, as well as of all those attributes influencing travel behaviour, could impair the effectiveness of those measures, and in terms of modelling, result in inaccuracy in travel demand forecasting
Valutazione degli effetti dell'esercizio fisico adattato sulla capacità fisica e sulla regolazione cardiocircolatoria in pazienti con sclerosi multipla
Get PDFMultiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex neurodegenerative and auto-immune disease
that can affect several parts of the central nervous system (CNS). Fatigue, motor
disorders, muscle weakness and balance problems are very common consequences in MS
patients. There are many suggestions that indicate impairments, resulting not only from
disease’s progression per se, but also from sedentary lifestyle secondary to the MS
(Dalgas et al. 2008). Moreover it has been demonstrated that patients show impaired
autonomic functions and cardiovascular regulation during exercise.
The aim of the present investigation was to assess the effectiveness of a six months
combined training (CT) - in terms of aerobic capacity, walk and speed ability, balance,
fatigue and cardiovascular regulation in response to the muscle metaboreflex recruitment
- on subjects with relapsing - remitting MS (RR-MS).
Eleven subjects (5 females; age 47.09±10.8; BMI 23.94±4.8) with RR-MS (EDSS
2.5-6.0) participated to a 6 months supervised CT, 1 h/session, 3 days/week of adapted
physical activity (APA). Ten subjects (4 females; age 47.7±10.9; BMI 24.3±4.3) with
RR-MS (EDSS 2.5-6.0) were enrolled as sedentary control group (CTL). CT program
consisted of endurance training, resistance training, and exercises for balance,
coordination, joint mobility and stretching. Cardiopulmonary testing on a
electromagnetically braked cycle-ergometer was used to assess maximum workload
(Wmax), oxygen uptake (VO2max), carbon dioxide output (VCO2max), pulmonary
ventilation (Vemax) and heart rate (HRmax). These parameters were measured by means of
a metabolic measurement cart (MedGraphics Ultima CPX, St. Paul, USA). Patients were
also evaluated with the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS), the Berg Balance Scale
(BBS), the Timed Up and Go (TUG), and the 6 Minute Walking Test (6MWT).
Hemodynamic parameters: stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), the pre-ejection
period/left ejection time ratio (PEP/VET), systemic vascular resistance (SVR) during
post-exercise muscle ischemia (PEMI) and control exercise recovery (CER) tests were
measured by means of impedance cardiography (NCCOM 3, BoMed Inc., Irvine, CA).
Also the difference between the PEMI and the CER tests was calculated to allow for
metaboreflex response to be assessed. Evaluations were performed before training (T0),
at the third (T3) and at the sixth month (T6).
The study described so far showed that the 6 months training could effectively
improve physical capacity of MS patients. There was a remarkable increase in strength
and speed of lower limbs, moreover perception of fatigue drastically decreased and
balance enhanced. On the contrary, no difference for hemodynamic parameters between
groups was highlighted. It can be speculated that MS patients need more time (1 or 2
years training) to obtain necessary metabolic and structural changes to modify
cardiovascular regulation during exercise
Il lessico in corsi universitari di italiano l2
Get PDFThis thesis is about vocabulary and especially its role in teaching and learning Italian as a foreign
language. In recent decades, in fact, the crucial importance of vocabulary has been repeatedly
reaffirmed within the disciplines that deal with the learning of second languages as well as in
language teaching, although in the past has not always received the attention it deserved.
The first chapter gives an account of some terminological and theoretical issues.
The second chapter explains the role that vocabulary has played and currently plays in second
language acquisition research and also in the different methods used in language teaching.
The third chapter is focused on two case studies, namely the analysis of the place specifically
dedicated to teaching vocabulary during university classes of Italian language for foreign students
observed by the writer in two different contexts: the University of Leeds and the University of
Cagliari. In the same chapter, we also analyse the lexical activities found in the different teaching
materials adopted in the two aforementioned universities.
In the fourth chapter, on the one hand we analyse those moments when teachers intervene to clarify
the meaning of words during activities not necessarily dedicated to vocabulary. On the other, we
analyse an activity practiced in Leeds which is the preparation of a glossary accompanying the oral
presentation of a report by each student.
The analyses point out some details of two specific contexts at specific times. What has been
observed cannot be generalized to contexts of teaching and learning other than those in which the
material was collected and, in view of this, the conclusion proposes some reflections on what was
found
Analysis and implementation of methods for the text categorization
Get PDFText Categorization (TC) is the automatic classification of text documents under pre-defined categories, or classes. Popular TC approaches map categories into symbolic labels and use a training set of documents, previously labeled by human experts, to build a classifier which enables the automatic TC of unlabeled documents. Suitable TC methods come from the field of data mining and information retrieval, however the following issues remain unsolved. First, the classifier performance depends heavily on hand-labeled documents that are the only source of knowledge for learning the classifier. Being a labor-intensive and time consuming activity, the manual attribution of documents to categories is extremely costly. This creates a serious limitations when a set of manual labeled data is not available, as it happens in most cases. Second, even a moderately sized text collection often has tens of thousands of terms in that making the classification cost prohibitive for learning algorithms that do not scale well to large problem sizes. Most important, TC should be based on the text content rather than on a set of hand-labeled documents whose categorization depends on the subjective judgment of a human classifier. This thesis aims at facing the above issues by proposing innovative approaches which leverage techniques from data mining and information retrieval.
To face problems about both the high dimensionality of the text collection and the large number of terms in a single text, the thesis proposes a hybrid model for term selection which combines and takes advantage of both filter and wrapper approaches. In detail, the proposed model uses a filter to rank the list of terms present in documents to ensure that useful terms are unlikely to be screened out. Next, to limit classification problems due to the correlation among terms, this ranked list is refined by a wrapper that uses a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to retaining the most informative and discriminative terms. Experimental results compare well with some of the top-performing learning algorithms for TC and seems to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed model. To face the issues about the lack and the subjectivity of manually labeled datasets, the basic idea is to use an ontology-based approach which does not depend on the existence of a training set and relies solely on a set of concepts within a given domain and the relationships between concepts. In this regard, the thesis proposes a text categorization approach that applies WordNet for selecting the correct sense of words in a document, and utilizes domain names in WordNet Domains for classification purposes. Experiments show that the proposed approach performs well in classifying a large corpus of documents. This thesis contributes to the area of data mining and information retrieval. Specifically, it introduces and evaluates novel techniques to the field of text categorization. The primary objective of this thesis is to test the hypothesis that: text categorization requires and benefits from techniques designed to exploit document content. hybrid methods from data mining and information retrieval can better support problems about high dimensionality that is the main aspect of large document collections. in absence of manually annotated documents, WordNet domain abstraction can be used that is both useful and general enough to categorize any documents collection.
As a final remark, it is important to acknowledge that much of the inspiration and motivation for this work derived from the vision of the future of text categorization processes which are related to specific application domains such as the business area and the industrial sectors, just to cite a few.
In the end, it is this vision that provided the guiding framework. However, it is equally important to understand that many of the results and techniques developed in this thesis are not limited to text categorization. For example, the evaluation of disambiguation methods is interesting in its own right and is likely to be relevant to other application fields
L'utilizzo delle rivalutazioni da leggi speciali e l'impatto sui bilanci delle imprese italiane
Get PDFIn an institutional framework traditionally based on the historical cost accounting system, the
revaluation permitted by special laws allow the recognition of fixed assets at fair value in order to
mitigate the distorting effects of inflation. These laws are expected to help companies improve the
depiction of a true and fair view of their financial position. This accounting practice generates an
increase of both total assets and shareholders’ equity, thus strengthening the perception of a
company’s financial solidity. In addition when the amount of the revaluation is fiscally recognised
it will generate future tax saving. Under these circumstances it is relevant to understand whether
companies’ choices depend on fiscal convenience rather than on accounting reasoning. The
objective of this study is twofold. First, it aims to understand the real use that firms make of the
opportunity to revaluate their fixed assets and how this impacts the quality of financial reporting.
To this end, the analyses adopts a probit model to identify the main characteristics of firms that
revaluate assets in order to detect their ultimate motives and goals. Second, based on the assumption
that the value of an asset depends on the income flows that it will be able to generate (Zanda,
Lacchini, Onesti 2001), this study also examines how firms’ profitability changes after revaluation.
If asset revaluations reflect real values a positive relation between revaluations and future
performance can be predicted in line with shareholders’ expectations. For this purpose, several
linear regression tests have been carried out to model the relationship between asset revaluations
and future performance as measured by operating income. Based on a sample of more than 19.000
Italian firms in the period 2002-2012, the empirical results show that smaller firms, with weaker
solvency and liquidity conditions and a higher level of financial debts are more likely to revaluate
their fixed assets when permitted by special laws. The relation between profitability and the
accounting choice of revaluating appears changeable according to the specific fiscal conditions
prescribed by each special law. These findings suggest that private Italian firms opportunistically
revaluate their assets in order to show an increase in the firm’s wealth and/or exploit the related
fiscal advantages. The empirical evidence documented in this study accords with the institutional
context in which private Italian firms operate and with the features that characterise this revaluation
practice. The more or less emphasised fiscal attractiveness and the strengthening of net assets of
this accounting treatment appear particularly suitable to balance the potentially conflicting
expectations of lenders and fiscal authorities
La nuova disciplina dell'occupazione acquisitiva: l'atto di acquisizione e giusto procedimento acquisitivo
Get PDFThis thesis has as objective the study of the new discipline employment acquisitive, introduced
into Italian law by article 42 bis of Presidential Decree 8 June 2001, No. 327.
The institute aims to regulate the phenomenon of illegal occupation of government on private
property, so widespread anomaly in our system over the years to become a full-blown pathology in
the relationship between public power and private property.
With the examination of the law we will try of to understand as operate the new acquisition
procedure and if this is compatible with the Italian Constitution and the principles developed by the
Court of Human Rights on expropriation.
The doubt that the act of acquisition, article 42 bis, may not be considered compatible whit
these standards can be deducted from some peculiarities of the institute; as the fact that the rule is
applicable even when missing or was canceled the declaration of public utility, and when it was
canceled the preordained constraint expropriation; and because did not provide a procedure for the
adoption of the act of acquisition. This sacrifice of private participation
L'emigrazione sarda nel secondo dopoguerra (1944-2000)
Get PDFThe present research aims to give a contribution to the Sardinian history of migration in the post-war when, the economic plight, the high level of unemployment and the political instability leaded the Italian government to encourage mass emigration.
The first chapter analyses studies on Sardinian migration within the Italian and international historiography, to highlight the relevance to the paradigms resulted during that time.
The second chapter examines in depth the immediate post-war period, when Sardinia was facing a new political and administrative balance, and it analyses the national politics on migration into the island, as it was perceived by locals, moreover the operation of peripheral structures of the Ministry of labour in the management of internal and external labour employment.
The third chapter outlines the main feature of the Sardinian migration flow, the development of migrants associations and their relation with the regional politic
Archaeological seeds and local varieties of edible fruits: morphology through time
Get PDFThis research is divided in five chapters:
[CHAPTER 1] describes the research carried out on waterlogged plant remains from a Late Bronze Age well
found near Cabras, in Sa Osa area (Central-West Sardinia). The combination of macro-remain and pollen
analyses in this unique context provided important information for exploring not only local subsistence systems
but also human impact on the surrounding environment. Grapes and figs were the most abundant remains
together with other fruits and edible vascular plants. Remains of melon and mulberry were identified being the
earliest remains of these two species for Western Europe.
[CHAPTER 2] concerns the plant remains contained in some Phoenician-Punic amphorae dated to the 6th-5th and
the 3rd-2nd century BC century BC found at the bottom of Santa Giusta lagoon (Central-West Sardinia). Many of
these amphorae contained ovine/caprine bones with butchery marks associated with grapes and other fruits, as
plums, sloes, and junipers, which may have played a role in meat preservation. Other fruits and nuts found in the
same contexts, such as watermelon, bottle gourd, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, almonds and olives were
probably related to food trade.
[CHAPTER 3] describes the phenotypic characterization achieved by seed features compared with molecular
analysis on modern Cucumis melo genotypes. A set of 124 accessions of Cucumis melo has been selected for
molecular and morpho-colourimetric analyses plus an additional selection of accessions of C. sativus, Citrullus
lanatus and C. colocynthis used to highlight seed morphology distances among genus and species. A strong
correlation has been found between the two characters. Both molecular and seed morpho-colorimetrical analyses
confirm the existence of two melon subspecies while an intermediate group has also found.
[CHAPTER 4] describes the comparison of molecular and morphological seed features of Late Bronze Age
melon seeds found in Sa Osa (Chapter 1) with a set of 172 accessions of melon landraces. Both molecular and
morphological analyses confirmed that these archaeological seeds did not belong to a wild species, but to a
cultivated melon, likely to be an intermediate form between the two melon subspecies. Reasonably, this
primitive melon could be attributed to an ancestral non-sweet or low sugar form of chate, flexuosus or ameri
varieties.
[CHAPTER 5] describes de comparison of molecular and morphological seed features of Medieval melon and
watermelon seeds discovered in a well in via Satta, in the centre of Sassari. Molecular characterization has been
carried out on the same reference set described in Chapter 4 while the morphological comparison of watermelon
seeds was based on 36 Citrullus lanatus and C. colocynthis landraces. Molecular and morphological analyses
matched with both sweet and non-sweet melon accessions. Data suggests that several types of melon were
already cultivated in Medieval Age. Morphological characterization of watermelon seeds evidenced a close
relation with Sardinian, Spanish and Asian landraces, suggesting that watermelons were already close to modern
varieties