Group Support Systems and the Speech Act Theory

The Speech Act Theory and Language/Action Model provide a useful perspective for understanding how people use communication to coordinate group activities. This paper presents an overview of the Speech Act Theory and the Language/Action model. The limitations of the Language/Action model as a Group Support System (GSS) model are highlighted. Possible modifications and directions for future researchare suggeste

Search for a Signal on QCD Critical Point in Central Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

We discuss that the QCD critical point could appear in central collisions in percolation cluster. We suggest using the nuclear transparency effect and the one of the light nuclear production to identify the critical point.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (QM2008), Jaipur, India, February 4-10, 200

Some Properties of the Central pi--Meson Carbon Interactions at 40 Gev/C

We discuss some properties of the central pi--meson carbon reactions at 40 GeV/c. While these results were obtained many years ago they have not been explained completely. We attempt to interpret following: results regime change on the behavior of some characteristics of the events as a function of the centrality; anomaly peak on the angular distributions of the slow protons emitted in these reactions; charge asymmetry on the pi--mesons production in the back hemisphere in lcs. Understanding of the results could help to explain the new ones coming from the modern central experiments at high and ultrarelativistic energies.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 10th nternational Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction (MESON 2008), Krakow, Poland, 6 - 10 June 2008. 4 pages and 4 figure

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on perinatal mental health (Riseup-PPD-COVID-19): protocol for an international prospective cohort study

Background: Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) is a new pandemic, declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization, which could have negative consequences for pregnant and postpartum women. The scarce evidence published to date suggests that perinatal mental health has deteriorated since the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the few studies published so far have some limitations, such as a cross-sectional design and the omission of important factors for the understanding of perinatal mental health, including governmental restriction measures and healthcare practices implemented at the maternity hospitals. Within the Riseup-PPD COST Action, a study is underway to assess the impact of COVID-19 in perinatal mental health. The primary objectives are to (1) evaluate changes in perinatal mental health outcomes; and (2) determine the risk and protective factors for perinatal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we will compare the results between the countries participating in the study. Methods: This is an international prospective cohort study, with a baseline and three follow-up assessments over a six-month period. It is being carried out in 11 European countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom), Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The sample consists of adult pregnant and postpartum women (with infants up to 6 months of age). The assessment includes measures on COVID-19 epidemiology and public health measures (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker dataset), Coronavirus Perinatal Experiences (COPE questionnaires), psychological distress (BSI-18), depression (EPDS), anxiety (GAD-7) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSD checklist for DSM-V). Discussion: This study will provide important information for understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perinatal mental health and well-being, including the identification of potential risk and protective factors by implementing predictive models using machine learning techniques. The findings will help policymakers develop suitable guidelines and prevention strategies for perinatal mental health and contribute to designing tailored mental health interventions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04595123.The project is part of the COST Action Riseup-PPD CA 18138 and was supported by COST under COST Action Riseup-PPD CA18138; also, by the Spanish Ministry of Health, the Institute of Health Carlos III, and the European Regional Development Fund «Una manera de hacer Europa» by the Prevention and Health Promotion Research Network ‘redIAPP’ (RD16/0007). Raquel Costa is supported by the FSE and FCT under an individual Post-Doctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/117597/2016. Rena Bina and Drorit Levy received funding from the Bar-Ilan Dangoor Centre for Personalized Medicine, Israel. Ana Mesquita is supported from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and from EU through the European Social Fund and from the Human Potential Operational Program - IF/00750/2015. Ana Osório received financial support from CAPES/Proex no. 0653/2018 and CAPES/PrInt grant no. 88887.310343/2018-00.The funders of the study had no role in the study design or the writing the protocol. The corresponding author had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication

Development and evaluation of an agricultural drought index by harnessing soil moisture and weather data

A new agricultural drought index was developed for monitoring drought impacts on agriculture in Oklahoma. This new index, called the Soil Moisture Evapotranspiration Index (SMEI), estimates the departure of aggregated root zone moisture from reference evapotranspiration. The SMEI was estimated at five locations across Oklahoma representing different climates. The results showed good agreement with existing soil moisture-based (SM) and meteorological drought indices. In addition, the SMEI had improved performance compared to other indices in capturing the effects of temporal and spatial variations in drought. The relationship with crop production is a key characteristic of any agricultural drought index. The correlations between winter wheat production and studied drought indices estimated during the growing period were investigated. The correlation coefficients were largest for SMEI (r > 0.9) during the critical crop growth stages when compared to other drought indices, and r decreased by moving from semi-arid to more humid regions across Oklahoma. Overall, the results suggest that the SMEI can be used effectively for monitoring the effects of drought on agriculture in Oklahoma.Peer reviewedBiosystems and Agricultural Engineerin