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The present study investigated how information about situational characteristics typically encountered by backcountry recreationists influenced their perceived likelihood of skiing backcountry slopes exposed to avalanche danger. Sensation seeking and previous direct and indirect experiences with avalanche accidents were evaluated as relevant individual predictors. Data was collected by implementing randomized textual scenarios, using a sample of 376 backcountry recreationists from North-Italy (84% male; age: M = 39.68, SD = 9.72). Results of multilevel analyses indicated that forecasted avalanche danger level and slope inclination were associated with lower self-reported likelihood of skiing the slopes, while sensation-seeking, familiarity with the slope area, the availability of safety equipment and the presence of tracks on the slope were positively related with selfreported likelihood of skiing. Previous direct involvement in avalanche accidents was also positively associated with perceived likelihood of skiing, suggesting the existence of confidence-enhancing effects related to avalanche survival experiences.

Empirical auto-tuning and machine learning techniques have been showing high potential to improve execution time, power consumption, code size, reliability and other important metrics of various applications for more than two decades. However, they are still far from widespread production use due to lack of native support for auto-tuning in an ever changing and complex software and hardware stack, large and multi-dimensional optimization spaces, excessively long exploration times, and lack of unified mechanisms for preserving and sharing of optimization knowledge and research material. We present a possible collaborative approach to solve above problems using Collective Mind knowledge management system. In contrast with previous cTuning framework, this modular infrastructure allows to preserve and share through the Internet the whole auto-tuning setups with all related artifacts and their software and hardware dependencies besides just performance data. It also allows to gradually structure, systematize and describe all available research material including tools, benchmarks, data sets, search strategies and machine learning models. Researchers can take advantage of shared components and data with extensible meta-description to quickly and collaboratively validate and improve existing auto-tuning and benchmarking techniques or prototype new ones. The community can now gradually learn and improve complex behavior of all existing computer systems while exposing behavior anomalies or model mispredictions to an interdisciplinary community in a reproducible way for further analysis. We present several practical, collaborative and model-driven auto-tuning scenarios. We also decided to release all material atc-mind.org/repoto set up an example for a collaborative and reproducible research as well as our new publication model in computer engineering where experimental results are continuously shared and validated by the community.

Tramite un questionario strutturato e stata rilevata la preparazione ai disastri, la preoccupazione e la probabilitŕ di accadimento per un evento alluvionale, intervistando un campione di 407 persone residenti in 9 comuni della Valle del Lys (Valle d'Aosta). Le analisi descrittive mostrano una relazione diretta fra la valutazione della probabilitŕ di accadimento e la preoccupazione; fra quest'ultima e l'adozione di comportamenti preventivi e ulteriori relazioni con alcune caratteristiche socio-demografiche ed esperienziali degli intervistati. Le analisi multivariate, inoltre, evidenziano come la preparazione ai disastri sia positivamente associata alla preoccupazione, ma non alla valutazione della probabilitŕ di accadimento.

There is still limited knowledge about the interrelations among the age of initiation of different substances and the diverse aspects of adolescent functioning. The present cross-national study aimed at exploring the presence of a time-order pattern of age of initiation of different substances and the relationships with personal and relational resources and vulnerabilities, drawn from the problem behaviour theory by Jessor et al. (1991). The sample consisted of 970 adolescents from Italy and The Netherlands, of whom 198 were fully initiated in alcohol, first tobacco use, regular tobacco smoking and marijuana. In both countries, cumulative scale analyses showed the presence of a pattern of age of initiation in the different types of substances. The earlier the age of onset of one substance, the earlier the age of onset of the other substances. Furthermore, the higher the personal resources and the healthy, conventional parents and friend models, the older the age of initiation of different substances by both Dutch and Italian adolescents. With respect to the use of alcohol, the higher the relational resources, the older the age of initiation. Conversely, the higher the adolescents perceived relational vulnerabilities, the younger their age of initiation in drugs. These findings suggest that preventive interventions might be more successful when they are precocious, enhance personal capabilities, and produce changes in the adolescent life context.

English This study aims to investigate how affective states are described in the Old Testament. Three psychology researchers were asked to read the first five books of the first Italian version (from the 18th century) of the Old Testament (Pentateuch, or Torah) and to select all the terms that referred to an emotion or a feeling. For each selected term, they also had to pinpoint its position in the text (i.e. book, chapter) and the various characteristics of the affective episode in which it appeared (i.e. experiencing subject, situational antecedent, intentional object, instrumental behaviors). The textual analysis showed that the affective terms most frequently cited referred to four categories: “fear, awe”, “anger, hate”, “affliction, pain, sadness” and “love, joy, happiness”. These categories were significantly associated with specific instrumental behaviors and characters of the narration. Multivariate analysis also indicated that the frequency of citation of the affective categories varied significantly as a function of the book in which they appeared. In the conclusions, the authors discuss the conception of emotions and feelings issuing from the Pentateuch analysis. French L'article se propose d'analyser de quelle manière les expériences affectives sont décrites et évaluées dans la Bible. On a demandé à trois chercheurs psychologues de lire les cinq premiers livres de la première version italienne (du 18ème siècle) de la Bible (le Pentateuque, ou Torah) et d'y sélectionner tous les termes se référant à des expériences affectives (émotions et sentiments). Pour chaque terme sélectionné, ils devaient aussi indiquer sa position dans le texte (livre, chapitre) et les différentes composantes de l'épisode au cours duquel l'émotion ou le sentiment étaient expérimentés (le sujet qui expérimentait l'expérience affective, la situation qui la causait, l'objet intentionnel auquel elle se référait, le comportement réactif du sujet, l'évaluation morale de l'expérience). Les résultats de la sélection ont mis en évidence que les termes affectifs les plus fréquents se réfèrent à quatre catégories d'émotions, à savoir, dans l'ordre, la peur, la colère, la tristesse, la joie. Ces émotions sont expérimentées à des fréquences différentes par les principaux personnages de la narration (Dieu, les hommes, le Peuple d'Israël). L'émotion le plus souvent expérimentée par Dieu est la colère et par les différents personnages humains, la peur. Aucune évaluation morale négative quant aux expériences affectives n'émerge de l'analyse du texte. L'analyse multivariée met en évidence le fait que la fréquence des citations des catégories émotionnelles change sensiblement en fonction des cinq livres du Pentateuque. Dans leurs conclusions, les auteurs examinent la conception implicite des émotions et des sentiments qui semble émerger du Pentateuque.

Adolescent substance use is constantly high or increasing in Western countries. There is still limited knowledge about the interrelations between the different substances and the diverse aspects of adolescent functioning that may affect this phenomenon. The present cross-national study is aimed to explore the presence of a constellation of different substances and the relationships between substance use and personal and relational resources and vulner-abilities drawn from the problem behaviour theory by Jessor, Donovan, and Costa (1991). The sample consisted of 970 Italian and Dutch adolescents. In both countries, cumulative scale analyses showed the presence of a constellation among the different types of substances. Furthermore, the higher the personal resources and the more positive the models the lower the use of different substances by both Dutch and Italian adolescents. Conversely, the higher the relational vulnerabilities the higher also was the involvement in drugs. However, the explained variance...

We investigate the facial expression of emotions in very young congenitally blind children to ” nd out whether these are objectively and subjectively recognisable. We also try to see whether the adequacy of the facial expression of emotions changes as the children get older. We video recorded the facial expressions of 10 congenitally blind children and 10 sighted children (as a control group) in seven everyday situations considered as emotion elicitors. The recorded sequences were analysed according to the Maximally Discriminative Facial Movement Coding System (Max; Izard, 1979) and then judged by 280 decoders who used four scales (two dimensional and two categorical) for their answers. The results showed that all the subjects (both the blind and the sighted) were able to express their emotions facially, though not always according to the theoretically expected pattern. Recognition of the various expressions was fairly accurate, but some emotions were systematically confused with others. The decoders’ answers to the dimensional and categorical scales were similar for both blind and sighted subjects. Our ” ndings on objective and subjective judgements show that there was no decrease in the facial expressiveness of the blind children in the period of development considered.

Previous work produced a parallel and moderately scalable wavefront sensor model as part of a larger integrated telescope model. This relied on traditional high performance computing (HPC) techniques using optimised C and MPI based parallelism to marry maximum performance with the productive high-level modelling environment of MATLAB. In the intervening period the computational power and flexibility offered by graphics processors (GPUs) has increased dramatically. This presents both new options in terms of the level of hardware required to perform simulations and also new capabilities in terms of the scope of such simulations. We present a discussion of the currently available approaches and test case performance results based on a port to a GPU platform.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) desktop grids have been proposed as an economical way to increase the processing capabilities of information technology (IT) infrastructures. In a P2P grid, a peer donates its idle resources to the other peers in the system, and, in exchange, can use the idle resources of other peers when its processing demand surpasses its local computing capacity. Despite their cost-effectiveness, scheduling of processing demands on IT infrastructures that encompass P2P desktop grids is more difficult. At the root of this difficulty is the fact that the quality of the service provided by P2P desktop grids varies significantly over time. The research we report in this paper tackles the problem of estimating the quality of service of P2P desktop grids. We base our study on the OurGrid system, which implements an autonomous incentive mechanism based on reciprocity, called the Network of Favours (NoF). In this paper we propose a model for predicting the quality of service of a P2P desktop grid that uses the NoF incentive mechanism. The model proposed is able to estimate the amount of resources that is available for a peer in the system at future instants of time. We also evaluate the accuracy of the model by running simulation experiments fed with field data. Our results show that in the worst scenario the proposed model is able to predict how much of a given demand for resources a peer is going to obtain from the grid with a mean prediction error of only 7.2%.

The implementation of training programs often requires a complex design if effectiveness is to be accurately evaluated. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that trainees must be presented with a series of ever-changing tasks in order to avoid biases due to learning or carryover effects. The aim of the present study is to experiment and illustrate a simple procedure, based on a special case of the linear logistic test model (LLTM), used to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program. The procedure is empirically applied to a dataset derived from a moped riding skills training program. The sample is composed of 207 high school students who took part in three training sessions using a riding simulator. A different task presentation order was assigned to each subject and the whole design was completely balanced. The procedure applied allowed us to obtain estimates of the overall change in ability that occurred over the course of the training process. Furthermore, we were able to obtain estimates of item and subject parameters unbiased by the influence of change in ability due to training. Implications of the results are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.

Italy is a country highly vulnerable to floods and landslides. The present study aims to investigate disaster preparedness and perception of flood risk in a group of people living in an alpine valley in the north of Italy. Four hundred seven adult residents in nine communities exposed to hydrogeological risk were interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. Participants were asked about the adoption of a set of protective behaviors that can prevent negative consequences of floods. Perception of flood risk was assessed by means of a one-dimensional scale that was developed and validated by the authors. Items included in this scale asked participants to estimate likelihood of occurrence of different flood consequences and to express feelings of worry associated to them. Socio-demographic and experiential information on respondents were also collected. Overall, results showed that most of respondents were fairly well prepared to deal with a future flood disaster. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that disaster preparedness was positively associated with risk perception. In accordance with literature, there was not a significant relation between likelihood judgments and adoption of protective behaviors, while feelings of worry were associated with disaster preparedness. Authors interpret their results in relation to the socio-environmental characteristics of the studied communities. Theoretical, empirical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

Associations among dating, sexual activity, gender, and adjustment were investigated in 2,273 Italian adolescents (54% female, ages 14 to 19 years) attending public high schools. After controlling for age and type of school attended, both being in a dating relationship and being male were associated with less alienation, more positive views of the self, and higher general expectations for success. Sexual activity interacted with both gender and dating status in predicting feelings of depression. For boys, there were no differences between youth who were sexually active and youth who were not; however, sexually active girls had higher levels of depressive symptoms than girls who were not sexually active. Among youth who were not sexually active, there were small differences between daters and nondaters; among sexually active youth, daters had lower levels of depression than nondaters. Gender differences in adolescents' experience of dating and sexual relationships and implications for adjustment are discussed.

The aim of this study is to examine the spread and determinants of fear of crime in Italy. A secondary analysis was performed on the 1995 Italian National Statistics Institute data (Italian representative sample: 19,785 participants). In addition, data from official judicial statistics were analyzed. Main results are as follows: (a) fear of crime correlates with crime spread; (b) fear of crime is more widespread than crime itself; (c) the best predictors of fear of crime are urbanization, degradation of residential areas, and residence in Northeastern Italy; (d) criminal victimization exerts a minor influence on fear of crime; and (e) sociodemographic variables under investigation exert little influence on fear of crime. These results are discussed in reference to international literature, and possible subsequent lines of research are suggested.