Insomnia and emotion regulation. Recent findings and suggestions for treatment

Recent findings suggest that insomnia and emotion regulation are closely connected. Insomnia is widely associated with medical and psychiatric conditions as well as with impaired quality of life and emotional functioning. Additionally empirical evidence suggests that emotional dysregulation plays a crucial role in the onset and maintenance of psychopathological disorders. Although these seem to interact, very few studies investigated the relationship between disturbed sleep and problems in emotion regulation. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) has been demonstrated to be effective in comorbid insomnia. However, emotion regulation skills are not included in this intervention. After reviewing the recent findings of the literature, we aim to discuss future directions for the inclusion of emotion regulation training in the treatment of insomnia disorde

Fatherhood and sperm DNA damage in testicular cancer patients

Testicular cancer (TC) is one of the most treatable of all malignancies and the management of the quality of life of these patients is increasingly important, especially with regard to their sexuality and fertility. Survivors must overcome anxiety and fears about reduced fertility and possible pregnancy-related risks as well as health effects in offspring. There is thus a growing awareness of the need for reproductive counseling of cancer survivors. Studies found a high level of sperm DNA damage in TC patients in comparison with healthy, fertile controls, but no significant difference between these patients and infertile patients. Sperm DNA alterations due to cancer treatment persist from 2 to 5 years after the end of the treatment and may be influenced by both the type of therapy and the stage of the disease. Population studies reported a slightly reduced overall fertility of TC survivors and a more frequent use of ART than the general population, with a success rate of around 50%. Paternity after a diagnosis of cancer is an important issue and reproductive potential is becoming a major quality of life factor. Sperm chromatin instability associated with genome instability is the most important reproductive side effect related to the malignancy or its treatment. Studies investigating the magnitude of this damage could have a considerable translational importance in the management of cancer patients, as they could identify the time needed for the germ cell line to repair nuclear damage and thus produce gametes with a reduced risk for the offspring

Heterogeneity and self-referentiality in "Things Fall Apart’s" proverbs

This article aims to provide a revisiting of the novel "Things Fall Apart" (1958) by the Nigerian essayist and writer Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) as regards the established notion in postcolonial studies which claims that African literature solely writes back to the western paradigm. The central thesis of this paper is that Achebe’s seminal first novel exhibits self-referential moments as do metafictional texts of the 1990s (Mwangi, 2009) to particularly focus on local nuances as well as colonial criticism. This self-reflexive technique foregrounds aspects of content and form that are especially evident in the use of proverbs. In this sense, we attempt to assess the significance of the internal heteroglossia staged in proverbs which venture unexplored thresholds between the “self” and the “other” and enact a new aesthetics characterized by the umbrella of minor literatures (Deleuze and Guattari [1975] 1986; Bensmaïa, 2017). Proverbs as locus of such hybridization (Bhabha, 1994) and heterogeneity grant a space for the “other” in the Anglophone narrative and also allow the deconstruction of the notion of “other” for African purposes. In a complementary fashion, our concern will be to explore how this heterogeneity is reproduced in the three Spanish translations done by Jorge Sarrió (1966), Fernando Santos (1986) and José Manuel Álvarez Flórez (1997), all of them published in Spain. Accordingly, we approach the analysis of interlingual heterogeneity (Spoturno, 2010) founded on an operation of deterritorialization (Deleuze and Guattari, [1975] 1986) by comparing how the Spanish translators have rendered these configurations of heterogeneity and hybridity present in the original proverbs into the translated texts and, at the same time, by accounting for the strategies used for their recreation (Bandia, 2006; Tymoczko, 1999; Murphy, 2010).Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Other subjectivities and a parable of African literature in “Jumping Monkey Hill”

In this article, we intend to examine the discursive-enunciative configuration of subjectivity, in particular, the materialization of cultural and gender identities in the story “Jumping Monkey Hill” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and its re-enunciation in the translated text into Spanish. In this sense, we use the contributions of feminist translation studies in its gender perspective, discourse analysis regarding the sociological analysis of ethos and queer theory with the purpose of evaluating the (a)symmetries of linguistic power, stereotypical representations and sexist vocabulary that represent women and the (in)visibility of gay and lesbian identities both in the original discourse and in the translation. In this theoretical-methodological framework and based on an analysis of cases, we will reflect on the way in which other subjectivities and identities that (re)interpret otherness and (de)stabilize the hegemonic categories of sexuality are translated and/or negotiated. On the other hand, we ponder on the ethics of translation that is displayed in the translated text from the re-enunciation of the ethos by the translator figure.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

The Translator’s Discourse and Voice in Chimamanda N. Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

En este trabajo nos proponemos explorar la presencia discursiva del Traductor (Hermans, 1996; Schiavi, 1996; Suchet, 2013) en la novela Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) de la escritora nigeriana Chimamanda N. Adichie (1977—). En este sentido y siguiendo la definición de estereotipo que plantea Amossy (1999, 2009, 2012) para dar cuenta de la perspectiva argumentativa del ethos, nuestro análisis intentará dar cuenta de las características híbridas, interlingües e interculturales que se manifiestan en el texto “original” a partir de las marcas de la heterogeneidad como expresión de la estrategia enunciativa-discursiva del ethos del Autor. De manera complementaria, analizamos los procesos de (auto) traducción (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, [1989] 2002; Tymoczko, 1999; Spoturno, [2010] 2014) que intervienen en la versión en inglés y en la traducción española de la obra realizada por Laura Rins Calahorra (2014). Más específicamente, nos interesa establecer la naturaleza de la presencia discursiva del Traductor como estrategia textual en relación con la (re) configuración del ethos del Autor. Finalmente, con el propósito de analizar las formas de la heterogeneidad (principalmente en la alternancia de lenguas inglés-igbo, en el uso de los proverbios y el cambio de código, entre otras variables) y evaluar la manera en que la traductora traslada estas marcas al español, examinamos si las elecciones traductológicas del Traductor tienden a la homogeneización o a la heterogeneidad del texto original (Berman, 1985; van Leuven-Zwart, 1989; 1990; Bandia, 2006; Rodríguez Murphy, 2010) tanto en el nivel de la microestructura como de la macroestructura

Machine learning and simulation for the optimisation and characterisation of electrodes in batterie

The performance of electrochemical energy storage (EES) and energy conversion (EC) technologies is closely related to their electrode microstrcuture. Thus, this work focuses on the development of two novel computational models for the characterisation and optimisation of electrodes for three devices: Redox Flow batteries (RFBs), Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs), and Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The first method introduces a Pore Network Model (PNM) for simulating the coupled charge and mass transport processes within electrodes. This approach is implemented for a vanadium RFB using different commercially available carbon-based electrodes. The results from the PNM show non-uniformity in the concentration and current density distributions within the electrode, which leads to a fast discharge due to regions where mass-transport limitations are predominant. The second approach is based on the stochastic reconstruction of synthetic electrode microstructures. For this purpose, a deep convolutional generative adversarial network (DC-GAN) is implemented for generating three-dimensional n-phase microstructures of a LIB cathode and a SOFC anode. The results show that the generated data is able to represent the morphological properties and two-point correlation function of the real dataset. As a subsequent process, a generation-optimisation closed-loop algorithm is developed using Gaussian Process Regression and Bayesian optimisation for the design of microstructures with customised properties. The results show the ability to perform simultaneous maximisation of correlated properties (specific surface area and relative diffusivity), as well as an optimisation of these properties constrained by constant values of volume fraction. Overall, this work presents a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the electrode microstructure in the performance of different energy storage devices. The introduction of a PNM bridges the gap between volume-averaged continuum models and detailed the pore-scale models. The main advantage of this model is the ability to visually show the concentration and current distributions inside the electrode within a reasonably low computational time. Based on this, this work represents the first visual showcase of how regions limited by low convective flow affect the rate of discharge in an electrode, which is essential for the design of optimum electrode microstructures. The implementation of DC-GANs allows for the first time the fast generation of arbitrarily large synthetic microstructural volumes of n-phases with realistic properties and with periodic boundaries. The fact that the generator constitutes a virtual representation of the real microstructure allows the inclusion of the generator as a function of the input latent space in a closed-loop optimisation process. For the first time, a set of visually realistic microstructures of a LIB cathode with user-specified morphological properties were designed based on the optimisation of the generator’s latent space. The introduction of a closed-loop generation-optimisation approach represents a breakthrough in the design of optimised electrodes since it constitutes a first approach for evaluating the microstructure-performance correlation in a continuous forward and backward process.Open Acces

Passive forward scatter radar based on satellite TV broadcast for air target detection: preliminary experimental results

The focus of this paper is on the detection of airborne targets and on the estimation of their velocity by means of passive forward scatter radar systems based on the DVB-S as transmitter of opportunity. Results related to an experimental campaign carried out near “Leonardo Da Vinci” airport (Rome, Italy) are shown. Particularly the Doppler signature spectrogram is analyzed for a single node FSR configuration and time delay techniques are analyzed for a multi-static configuration suitable for velocity estimation. Obtained results clearly show the feasibility of the DVB-S based FSR configuration to reliably detect aircrafts and the effectiveness of the proposed velocity estimation techniques even in the near field area

New findings of Nudipleura (Mollusca: Gastropoda) along the central-eastern coast of Sicily (Ionian Sea)

The present short note reports the finding of five Nudipleura species: one (Taringa cf. telopia) new for the Mediterranean, two (Doto maculata and Okenia longiductis) new for Sicily, one (Berthella stellata) new for the central-eastern coast of Sicily and, finally, a new record of Taringa tritorquis for the same area. For each species, information on date and site of finding, external morphology, taxonomic history, previous reports and remarks, are discussed. The finding of these species could depend on two different reasons: 1) the examined areas are transit zones for several ships which could transport the veligers or/and juvenile stages through fouling or ballast water; 2) since in these areas the marine Heterobranchia fauna has been poorly studied, many of the found species could have been overlooked until now. This work highlights the importance of a continuous monitoring to expand and deepen the knowledge of marine Heterobranchia fauna

GABANELLIA AGILIS GEN. N. SP. N., (ACTINOPTERYGII, PERLEIDIFORMES) FROM THE CALCARE DI ZORZINO OF LOMBARDY (NORTH ITALY)

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