Search results for "assessment"
showing 10 items of 5125 documents
Analyzing Cascading Effects in Interdependent Critical Infrastructures
2018
International audience; Critical Infrastructures (CIs) are resources that are essential for the performance of society, including its economy and its security. Large-scale disasters, whether natural or man-made, can have devastating primary (direct) effects on some CI and significant indirect effects (cascading effects) on other CIs, because CIs are interconnected and depend on each other’s services. Recent work by Laugé et al. expressed the dependency values among CIs as dependency matrices for various durations of the primary CI failure. For better preparedness and mitigation of CI failures knowledge of the weak points in CI interdependencies is crucial. To this effect, we have developed …
The Role the Static Maximization Approach Plays in Neoclassical Analyses
1994
This is an article on the methodology of economic thought. The critical assessment of the neoclassical research programme contained here basically comes from the contributions of J.M. Buchanan, Nobel prize winner in Economics 1986. These comments are aimed at pointing out the role that the static maximization approach plays in neoclassical analyses since L. Robbins and P. Samuelson’s influential contributions came about after World War II. Just to complement this basic purpose, I present in section 4 the alternative methodological foundations J.M. Buchanan proposes and uses to replace the static maximization approach when building public choice analyses and I sketch in section 5 several pe…
A VR-based serious game to regulate joy in adolescents: A comparison of different devices
2016
Adolescence is a crucial period to learn Emotional Regulation (ER) strategies to prevent future psychological problems. This work is aimed to test the efficacy of GameTeen System (GT-System), a serious game that teaches ER strategies to regulate joy (VAS scale) and perceived arousal (FAS scale) in a non-clinical sample of adolescents. We conducted a between-participants experiment in which participants (N = 63) played a joy induction game, and then an ER game using one of three types of devices (computer, smartphone, and RGB-D camera). Results revealed that GT-System was only effective in increase perceived arousal after the joy induction game and decrease after the ER game. Statistically s…
Methodological Aspects of Infrared Thermography in Human Assessment
2016
Infrared thermography presents some important advantages in the determination of skin temperature, as it is a safe, non-invasive and non-contact technique with wide applications in the field of sports sciences. Like many others techniques, valid measurement in thermography requires following strict methodological steps from data acquisition to analyses and interpretation. In this chapter, we discuss the methodological aspects that must be taken into account when acquiring thermic images, along with some practical examples and recommendations based on the current literature.
La rétropulsion du sujet âgé: mise au point sur un symptôme grave et proposition d'une échelle pour une évaluation quantifiée
2007
Resume Propos Bien qu'il n'existe a l'heure actuelle aucune donnee epidemiologique sur la retropulsion, ce trouble postural semble relativement frequent chez le sujet âge fragile. Actualites et points forts La retropulsion se caracterise par un dejettement posterieur du tronc en position assise, une insuffisance d'avancee du tronc dont la projection du tronc au sol est situee en arriere de la base de sustentation lors du passage assis–debout et une tendance a la chute en arriere en position debout. Plusieurs situations pathologiques aussi bien somatiques (lesions cerebrales degeneratives, ischemiques, traumatiques), que psychosomatiques (syndrome de desadaptation psychomotrice, alitement pr…
Nutritional assessment of the school menus offered in Spain's Mediterranean area.
2019
Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to perform a nutritional assessment of the menus served in school canteens and to verify their effects on the nutrition of schoolchildren. Methods We selected three collective catering companies that offered ~53 500 menus/d in 369 schools in Spain's Mediterranean area (Valencian Community). The study included four public schools with different management models as well as different supply patterns. Considering the weight of the servings, the caloric contribution of the menus was estimated. Results Great diversity was seen both in the same school throughout the week and between the four schools (School 1: 298–946 kcal; School 2: 465–1185 kcal; Sc…
The Carnism Inventory: Measuring the ideology of eating animals.
2016
Beliefs surrounding the practice of eating animals are widely held, and have been argued to constitute an ideology named carnism (Joy, 2009). We developed and validated the novel Carnism Inventory to measure two positively related components of carnistic beliefs: carnistic defense and carnistic domination. We anticipated that carnistic defense would legitimate the practice of eating animals, while carnistic domination would support the killing of animals for their meat. The Carnism Inventory showed the hypothesized two-dimensional structure as well as good internal consistencies and stability (N = 302, Study 1). We also demonstrated the convergent and discriminant validity of the Carnism In…
Associations between neuropsychological performance and appetite-regulating hormones in anorexia nervosa and healthy controls: Ghrelin's putative rol…
2019
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe eating disorder accompanied by alterations in endocrinological circuits and deficits in neuropsychological performance. In this study, a series of appetite-regulating hormones (ghrelin, leptin, cholecystokinin, PYY, adiponectin, and visfatin) were measured under fasting conditions in female patients with AN and female healthy controls. All of the participants also underwent a battery of neuropsychological assessment [namely the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT)]. As the main finding, we found that higher ghrelin levels predict better performance in the IGT. Ghrelin may be a putative m…
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms as Predictors of Clinical Course in Neurodegeneration. A Longitudinal Study
2019
Background: To study the extent to which neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) influence the cognitive and functional decline in frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: We assessed the progression of NPS and their influence on cognitive and functional progression in a group of FTD (n = 36) and AD patients (n = 47) at two different stages of the disease (2.5 years). A standardized scale was used to assess NPS—the Columbia University Scale for Psychopathology in Alzheimer’s Disease (CUSPAD)—which tracks different symptoms including depression, psychotic symptoms, as well as sleep and conduct problems. In addition, in a subsample of patients (AD n = 14 and FTD n = 14…
The close link between the fetal programming imprinting and neurodegeneration in adulthood: The key role of “hemogenic endothelium” programming
2021
The research on neurodegenerative diseases (NeuroDegD) has been traditionally focused on later life stages. There is now an increasing evidence, that they may be programmed during early development. Here, we propose that NeuroDegD are the result of the complex process of imprinting on fetal hemogenic endothelium, from which the microglial cells make to origin. The central role of placenta and epigenetic mechanisms (methylation of DNA, histone modifications and regulation by non-coding RNAs) in mediating the short and long-term effects has been also described. Precisely, it reports their role in impacting plasticity and memory of microglial cells. In addition, we also underline the necessity…