The first five responses in the method of constant stimuli.

Examined whether the method of constant stimuli with the standard presented first produces a constant error that depends on adaptation level. 120 university students were shown 5 series of 5 pairs of standard and variable lines. They had to decide whether the standard or the variable was longer or shorter than the preceding variable, or standard, respectively. In order to establish when the constant error occurred, the point of subjective equality was determined for each response. It was found that the 1st response was nearly random. The constant error was present from the 2nd response, and its magnitude did not change in succeeding series, contrary to expectations from adaptation-level theory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information Sharing Among Disaster Responders - An Interactive Spreadsheet-Based Collaboration Approach

Recent natural disasters have led crisis management organizations to revise their protocols so as to rely on the contribution of a wider range of actors, including simple citizens as well as expert operators, to support decision making activities. Reliable and timely information sharing among members of distributed teams of disaster responders has become paramount for the success of the overall crisis management process. In this paper we propose a crisis management system based on spreadsheet-mediated collaboration among on-site responders and decision makers. To share data a common spreadsheet artifact has been developed by using a participatory design approach which is accessed through mobile user interfaces. The evaluation results showed that the use of the spreadsheet artifact has resulted in more effective decision making relating to set of earthquake management scenarios in high-risk areas located in Italy.     

Vapor barrier properties of polycaprolactone montmorillonite nanocomposites: effect of clay dispersion

Different compositions of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and (organo-modified) montmorillonite were prepared by melt blending or catalyzed ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone. Microphase composites were obtained by direct melt blending of PCL and sodium montmorillonite (MMT-Na⁺). Exfoliated nanocomposites were obtained by in situ ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone with an organo-modified montmorillonite (MMT-(OH)₂) by using dibutyltin dimethoxide as an initiator/catalyst. Intercalated nanocomposites were formed either by melt blending with organo-modified montmorillonite or in situ polymerization within sodium montmorillonite. The barrier properties were studied for water vapor and dichloromethane as an organic solvent. The sorption (S) and the zero concentration diffusion coefficient (D₀) were evaluated for both vapors. The water sorption increases with increasing the MMT content, particularly for the microcomposites containing the unmodified MMT-Na⁺. The thermodynamic diffusion parameters, D₀, were compared to the value of the parent PCL: both microcomposites and intercalated nanocomposites show diffusion parameters very near to PCL. At variance exfoliated nanocomposites show much lower values, even for small montmorillonite content. In the case of the organic vapor, the value of sorption at low relative pressure is mainly dominated by the amorphous fraction present in the samples, not showing any preferential adsorption on the inorganic component. At high relative pressure the isotherms showed an exponential increase of sorption, due to plasticization of the polyester matrix. The D₀ parameters were also compared to those of the unfilled PCL; in this case, both the exfoliated and the intercalated samples showed lower values, due to a more tortuous path for the penetrant molecules.     

1H nuclear magnetic resonance study of polyurethane prepolymers from toluene diisocyanate and polypropylene glycol

Polyurethane prepolymers prepared from toluene 2,4‐diisocyanate, toluene 2,6‐diisocyanate, and polypropylene glycol with a ratio between the isocyanate and hydroxyl groups equal to 2 were analyzed by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in acetone‐d₆. Different temperatures and concentrations were used. Toluene 2,4‐dimethylurethane and toluene 2,6‐dimethylurethane were synthesized and used as model compounds to assign prepolymers signals. Measurements of spin–lattice relaxation time T₁ by “inversion recovery” experiments were carried out on toluene 2,4‐diisocyanate, toluene 2,6‐diisocyanate, toluene 2,4‐dimethylurethane, toluene 2,6‐dimethylurethane, and polyurethane prepolymers. Differences in T₁ times were used to interpret prepolymers spectra, by means of the strong observed effect on protons due to the presence of adjacent isocyanate groups. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 347–357, 2003     

A framework for home energy management and its experimental validation

With the Smart Grid revolution and the increasing interest in renewable energy sources, the management of the electricity consumption and production of individual households and small residential communities is becoming an essential element of new power systems. The electric energy chain can greatly benefit from a flexible interaction with end-users based on the optimization of load profiles and the exploitation of local generation and energy storage. This paper proposes a framework for the development of a complete energy management system for individual residential units and small communities of domestic users, taking into account both the power system and the final users’ perspectives. All the main elements of the framework are considered, and contributions are provided on the users’ habits profiling, electricity generation forecast, energy load, and storage optimization. Specifically, we propose a linear regression model to predict the photovoltaic panels production, a stochastic method to forecast the home appliances usage, and two optimization models to optimize the electricity management of residential users with the goal of minimizing their bills. The study shows that it is possible to reduce the energy bill of residential users through the electricity optimization driven by dynamic energy prices. Moreover, remarkable improvements of the electric grid efficiency can be achieved with the cooperation among users, confirming that services for the coordination of the demand of groups of users allow huge benefits on the power system performance.     

Rapid and direct determination of fructose in food: A new osmium-polymer mediated biosensor

This paper describes the development and performance of a new rapid amperometric biosensor for fructose monitoring in food analysis. The biosensor is based on the activity of fructose dehydrogenase (FDH) immobilised into a carbon nanotube paste electrode according to two different procedures. The direct wiring of the FDH in a highly original osmium-polymer hydrogel was found to offer a better enzyme entrapment compared to the immobilisation of the enzyme in an albumin hydrogel. The optimised biosensor required only 5 U of FDH and kept the 80% of its initial sensitivity after 4 months. During this time, the biosensor showed a detection limit for fructose of 1 μM, a large linear range between 0.1 and 5 mM, a high sensitivity (1.95 μA cm⁻² mM), good reproducibility (RSD = 2.1%) and a fast response time (4 s).     

Distribution of morphology and transport properties of water vapor in injection‐molded biodegradable aliphatic polyester

A biodegradable polyester, poly(tetramethylene dodecanedioate), was injection molded in a rectangular cavity. Thin sections were sliced from molded samples starting from the skin. The morphology distribution inside the molded samples was studied by X‐ray analysis. The diffusion and solubility coefficient of water vapor were then measured using the microgravimetric method at the temperature of 30°C. Results show that morphology developed during the process influences the diffusion of water molecules through the polymer matrix. In particular, a direct influence of crystalline degree on the sorption and diffusion parameters was identified. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Preserved monitoring and control processes in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess an aspect of metamemory never examined before in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE): the ability to upgrade the accuracy of one's memory predictions after study. Method: Four lists of different levels of difficulty and relatedness were presented to 15 TLE patients and 15 control participants, who were asked to predict their subsequent recall both before and after studying each list. Results: The results showed clear impairment in recall in TLE patients. However, both TLE patients and controls showed an improvement in accuracy in their poststudy predictions compared with their prestudy predictions, showing that both groups were able to upgrade their metamemory predictions. Unexpectedly, prediction accuracy was overall higher in TLE patients than in controls. Moreover, study time was allocated in both groups taking into account the characteristics of the list. Conclusion: These results confirm and extend findings of Howard et al. (2010) of intact metamemory in TLE patients, and provide further support to the dissociation between memory and metamemory in this clinical population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nanoscale Plasmon‐Enhanced Spectroscopy in Memristive Switches

Resistive switching memories are nonvolatile memory cells based on nano‐ionic redox processes and offer prospects for high scalability, ultrafast write and read access, and low power consumption. In two‐terminal cation based devices a nanoscale filament is formed in a switching material by metal ion migration from the anode to the cathode. However, the filament growth and dissolution mechanisms and the dynamics involved are still open questions, restricting device optimization. Here, a spectroscopic technique to optically characterize in situ the resistive switching effect is presented. Resistive switches arranged in a nanoparticle‐on‐mirror geometry are developed, exploiting the high sensitivity to morphological changes occurring in the tightly confined plasmonic hotspot within the switching material. The focus is on electrochemical metallization and the optical signatures detected over many cycles indicate incomplete removal of metal particles from the filament upon RESET and suggest that the filament can nucleate from different positions from cycle to cycle. The technique here is nondestructive and the measurements can be easily performed in tunable ambient conditions and with realistic cell geometries.