7,251 research outputs found
Improving spatial-simultaneous working memory in Down syndrome: effect of a training program led by parents instead of an expert
Recent studies have suggested that the visuospatial component of working memory (WM) is selectively impaired in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), the deficit relating specifically to the spatial-simultaneous component, which is involved when stimuli are presented simultaneously. The present study aimed to analyze the effects of a computer-based program for training the spatial-simultaneous component of WM in terms of: specific effects (on spatial-simultaneous WM tasks); near and far transfer effects (on spatial-sequential and visuospatial abilities, and everyday memory tasks); and maintenance effects (1 month after the training). A comparison was drawn between the results obtained when the training was led by parents at home as opposed to an expert in psychology. Thirty-nine children and adolescents with DS were allocated to one of two groups: the training was administered by an expert in one, and by appropriately instructed parents in the other. The training was administered individually twice a week for a month, in eight sessions lasting approximately 30 min each. Our participants' performance improved after the training, and these results were maintained a month later in both groups. Overall, our findings suggest that spatial-simultaneous WM performance can be improved, obtaining specific and transfer gains; above all, it seems that, with adequate support, parents could effectively administer a WM training to their child
Municipal expected annual loss as an indicator to develop seismic risk maps in Italy
This work presents a risk-targeted indicator called Municipal Expected Annual Loss (MEAL) for a quantitative estimation of the seismic risk at territorial level. With MEAL, it is possible to calculate the impact of earthquakes in terms of direct losses, taking account of a wide set of earthquake scenarios on the built environment at municipal level. MEAL is, therefore, able to summarize scenario loss values of each municipality, and define in such a way a risk-targeted metric that can clearly be understood also by different stakeholders dealing with seismic risk management, mitigation, and transfer. The use of MEAL to map seismic risk for the Italian residential building stock is herein presented as a case-study, leading to the development of several maps able to depict seismic risk at different territorial scale levels
Housework and couple satisfaction: Satisfaction with housework division and gender ideology among Italian dual-earner couples
This article reports on a study that examined the division of housework in 105 Italian dual-earner couples and the relationships between this division, the participants\u2019 satisfaction with it, gender ideology, and couple satisfaction. The findings show that women devoted much more time to housework than men, performed a greater number of routine female tasks, and reported lower levels of satisfaction with housework arrangements. However, women and men did not differ in levels of couple satisfaction. Satisfaction with housework distribution was found to mediate the relationship between actual housework performance and couple satisfaction in different ways for women and men: Women\u2019s couple satisfaction was explained by satisfaction with the distribution of traditionally female (routine) tasks and men\u2019s couple satisfaction was linked to satisfaction with the distribution of hours devoted to housework. Gender ideology directly influenced couple satisfaction: Women and men with less traditional gender ideologies were more satisfied with their relationships
Stochastic modeling of soil salinity
A minimalist stochastic model of primary soil salinity is proposed, in which the rate of soil salinization is determined by the balance between dry and wet salt deposition and the intermittent leaching events caused by rainfall events. The long term probability density functions of salt mass and concentration are found by reducing the coupled soil moisture and salt mass balance equation to a single stochastic differential equation driven by multiplicative Poisson noise. The novel analytical solutions provide insight on the interplay of the main soil, plant and climate parameters responsible for long-term soil salinization. In particular, they show the existence of two distinct regimes, one where the mean salt mass remains nearly constant (or decreases) with increasing rainfall frequency, and another where mean salt content increases markedly with increasing rainfall frequency. As a result, relatively small reductions of rainfall in drier climates may entail dramatic shifts in long-term soil salinization trends, with significant consequences e.g. for climate change impacts on rain-fed agricultur
Genetic Features of Metachronous Esophageal Cancer Developed in Hodgkin's Lymphoma or Breast Cancer Long-Term Survivors: An Exploratory Study.
Background
Development of novel therapeutic drugs and regimens for cancer treatment has led to improvements in patient long-term survival. This success has, however, been accompanied by the increased occurrence of second primary cancers. Indeed, patients who received regional radiotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL) or breast cancer may develop, many years later, a solid metachronous tumor in the irradiated field. Despite extensive epidemiological studies, little information is available on the genetic changes involved in the pathogenesis of these solid therapy-related neoplasms.
Methods
Using microsatellite markers located in 7 chromosomal regions frequently deleted in sporadic esophageal cancer, we investigated loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) in 46 paired (normal and tumor) samples. Twenty samples were of esophageal carcinoma developed in HL or breast cancer long-term survivors: 14 squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) and 6 adenocarcinomas (EADC), while 26 samples, used as control, were of sporadic esophageal cancer (15 ESCC and 11 EADC).
Results
We found that, though the overall LOH frequency at the studied chromosomal regions was similar among metachronous and sporadic tumors, the latter exhibited a statistically different higher LOH frequency at 17q21.31 (p = 0.018). By stratifying for tumor histotype we observed that LOH at 3p24.1, 5q11.2 and 9p21.3 were more frequent in ESCC than in EADC suggesting a different role of the genetic determinants located nearby these regions in the development of the two esophageal cancer histotypes.
Conclusions
Altogether, our results strengthen the genetic diversity among ESCC and EADC whether they occurred spontaneously or after therapeutic treatments. The presence of histotype-specific alterations in esophageal carcinoma arisen in HL or breast cancer long-term survivors suggests that their transformation process, though the putative different etiological origin, may retrace sporadic ESCC and EADC carcinogenesis
A Cross-correlation method to search for gravitational wave bursts with AURIGA and Virgo
We present a method to search for transient GWs using a network of detectors
with different spectral and directional sensitivities: the interferometer Virgo
and the bar detector AURIGA. The data analysis method is based on the
measurements of the correlated energy in the network by means of a weighted
cross-correlation. To limit the computational load, this coherent analysis step
is performed around time-frequency coincident triggers selected by an excess
power event trigger generator tuned at low thresholds. The final selection of
GW candidates is performed by a combined cut on the correlated energy and on
the significance as measured by the event trigger generator. The method has
been tested on one day of data of AURIGA and Virgo during September 2005. The
outcomes are compared to the results of a stand-alone time-frequency
coincidence search. We discuss the advantages and the limits of this approach,
in view of a possible future joint search between AURIGA and one
interferometric detector.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to CQG special issue for Amaldi 7
Proceeding
Field migration rates of tidal meanders recapitulate fluvial morphodynamics
The majority of tidal channels display marked meandering features.
Despite their importance in oil-reservoir formation and
tidal landscape morphology, questions remain on whether tidalmeander
dynamics could be understood in terms of fluvial processes
and theory. Key differences suggest otherwise, like the
periodic reversal of landscape-forming tidal flows and the widely
accepted empirical notion that tidal meanders are stable landscape
features, in stark contrast with their migrating fluvial counterparts.
On the contrary, here we show that, once properly
normalized, observed migration rates of tidal and fluvial meanders
are remarkably similar. Key to normalization is the role of
tidal channel width that responds to the strong spatial gradients
of landscape-forming flow rates and tidal prisms. We find that
migration dynamics of tidal meanders agree with nonlinear theories
for river meander evolution. Our results challenge the conventional
view of tidal channels as stable landscape features and
suggest that meandering tidal channels recapitulate many fluvial
counterparts owing to large gradients of tidal prisms across meander
wavelengths
Local transformations of units in Scalar-Tensor Cosmology
The physical equivalence of Einstein and Jordan frame in Scalar Tensor
theories has been explained by Dicke in 1962: they are related by a local
transformation of units. We discuss this point in a cosmological framework. Our
main result is the construction of a formalism in which all the physical
observables are frame-invariant. The application of this approach to CMB codes
is at present under analysis.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of IRGAC 2006, 2nd International
Conference on Quantum Theories and Renormalization Group in Gravity and
Cosmology, Barcelona, July 11-15 200
Effect of stocking density of fish on water quality and growth performance of European Carp and leafy vegetables in a low-tech aquaponic system
Aquaponics (AP) is a semi-closed system of food production that combines aquaculture and hydroponics and represents a new agricultural system integrating producers and consumers. The aim of this study was to test the effect of stocking densities (APL, 2.5 kg m-3; APH, 4.6 kg m-3) on water quality, growth performance of the European Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.), and yield of leafy vegetables (catalogna, lettuce, and Swiss Chard) in a low-technology AP pilot system compared to a hydroponic cultivation. The AP daily consumption of
water due to evapotranspiration was not different among treatments with an average value of 8.2 L d-1, equal to 1.37% of the total water content of the system. Dissolved oxygen was
significantly (p < 0.05) different among treatments with the lowest median value recorded with the highest stocking density of fish (5.6 mg L-1) and the highest median value in the
hydroponic control (8.7 mg L-1). Marketable yield of the vegetables was significantly different among treatments with the highest production in the hydroponic control for catalogna
(1.2 kg m-2) and in the APL treatment for Swiss Chard (5.3 kg m-2). The yield of lettuce did not differ significantly between hydroponic control and APL system (4.0 kg m-2 on average).
The lowest production of vegetables was obtained in the APH system. The final weight (515 g vs. 413 g for APL and APH, respectively), specific growth rate (0.79% d-1 vs. 0.68% d-1),
and feed conversion (1.55 vs. 1.86) of European Carp decreased when stocking density increased, whereas total yield of biomass was higher in the APH system (4.45 kg m-3 vs.
6.88 kg m-3). A low mortality (3% on average) was observed in both AP treatments. Overall, the results showed that a low initial stocking density at 2.5 kg m-3 improved the production
of European Carp and of leafy vegetables by maintaining a better water quality in the tested AP system
A possibly inflated planet around the bright, young star DS Tuc A
The origin of the observed diversity of planetary system architectures is one
of the main topic of the exoplanetary research. The detection of a
statistically significant sample of planets around young stars allows us to
study the early stages of planet formation and evolution, but only a handful of
them is known so far. In this regard, a considerable contribution is expected
from the NASA TESS satellite, which is now performing a survey of
of the sky to search for short-period transiting planets In its first month of
operations, TESS found a planet candidate with an orbital period of 8.14 days
around a member of the Tuc-Hor young association ( 40 Myr), the G6V main
component of the binary system DS\,Tuc. If confirmed, it would be the first
transiting planet around a young star suitable for radial velocity and/or
atmospheric characterization. We aim to validate the planetary nature of this
companion and to measure its orbital and physical parameters. We obtain
accurate planet parameters by coupling an independent reprocessing of the TESS
light curve with improved stellar parameters and the dilution caused by the
binary companion; we analyse high precision archival radial velocities to
impose an upper limit of about 0.1 M on the planet mass; we finally
rule out the presence of external companions beyond 40 au with adaptive optics
images. We confirm the presence of a young, giant ( R) planet having a not negligible possibility to be inflated (theoretical
mass M) around DS\,Tuc~A. We discuss the feasibility
of mass determination, Rossiter-McLaughlin analysis and atmosphere
characterization, allowed by the brightness of the star.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
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