The scale of personal conceptions of intelligence: A comparison of the Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian versions

Background: The aim of this research project was to conduct studies of confirmatory factor analyses of ECPI (Scale of Personal Conceptions of Intelligence) in three different cultural contexts - Italy, Portugal and Romania. We hypothesized a bi-factor structure of the instrument constructed in Portugal by Faria (1990; 2006). Method: 617 subjects, 222 Italian, 200 Portuguese, and 195 Romanian students participated in the study, attending high school, equally distributed according to their gender and socioeconomic status. We administered the ECPI composed of 26 items, of which 15 static and 11 dynamic. Results: In the three cultural contexts the results revealed the existence of 7 items, one measuring the incremental and 6 the static theory, with low factor loadings - inferior to .30. These results convinced us to test a new model eliminating these 7 items. Therefore, even if the fit of the model improved, this could not be considered a satisfactory result. Conclusions: Future research could include more in depth analyses of linguistic properties of items which compose the static sub-scale, in order to find better operationalizations of the static personal conceptions of intelligence. © 2011 Associazione Oasi Maria SS

Tradeoffs and Synergies in Tropical Forest Root Traits and Dynamics for Nutrient and Water Acquisition: Field and Modeling Advances

Vegetation processes are fundamentally limited by nutrient and water availability, the uptake of which is mediated by plant roots in terrestrial ecosystems. While tropical forests play a central role in global water, carbon, and nutrient cycling, we know very little about tradeoffs and synergies in root traits that respond to resource scarcity. Tropical trees face a unique set of resource limitations, with rock-derived nutrients and moisture seasonality governing many ecosystem functions, and nutrient versus water availability often separated spatially and temporally. Root traits that characterize biomass, depth distributions, production and phenology, morphology, physiology, chemistry, and symbiotic relationships can be predictive of plants’ capacities to access and acquire nutrients and water, with links to aboveground processes like transpiration, wood productivity, and leaf phenology. In this review, we identify an emerging trend in the literature that tropical fine root biomass and production in surface soils are greatest in infertile or sufficiently moist soils. We also identify interesting paradoxes in tropical forest root responses to changing resources that merit further exploration. For example, specific root length, which typically increases under resource scarcity to expand the volume of soil explored, instead can increase with greater base cation availability, both across natural tropical forest gradients and in fertilization experiments. Also, nutrient additions, rather than reducing mycorrhizal colonization of fine roots as might be expected, increased colonization rates under scenarios of water scarcity in some forests. Efforts to include fine root traits and functions in vegetation models have grown more sophisticated over time, yet there is a disconnect between the emphasis in models characterizing nutrient and water uptake rates and carbon costs versus the emphasis in field experiments on measuring root biomass, production, and morphology in response to changes in resource availability. Closer integration of field and modeling efforts could connect mechanistic investigation of fine-root dynamics to ecosystem-scale understanding of nutrient and water cycling, allowing us to better predict tropical forest-climate feedbacks

Measuring Collectivism and Individualism in the Third Millenium

The aim in this study was to validate the Auckland Individualism-Collectivism Scale (AICS) across populations from 5 different countries and identify better ways to interpret the scores. Data were collected from New Zealand, Portugal, China, Italy, and Romania. The results indicate that the AICS is not only valid but also highly reliable (α &gt; .70). Cluster analysis identified 4 clusters: low collectivism – high individualism; high collectivism – midlevel individualism; high collectivism – high individualism; and low collectivism – low individualism. Each group included individuals from all 4 clusters. The advantages of the AICS, the use of cluster analysis in cross-cultural measures, and the importance of these measures within the psychoeducational context are discussed.</jats:p

D6.3.2: Developing and testing new core messages (ALIGN-CCUS)

Horizon 2020(H2020)691712Social decision makin

Digestive perforations related to endoscopy procedures: a local management charter based on local evidence and experts' opinion

International audienceBackground and study aims  Perforations are a known adverse event of endoscopy procedures; a proposal for appropriate management should be available in each center as recommended by the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. The objective of this study was to establish a charter for the management of endoscopic perforations, based on local evidence. Patients and methods  Patients were included if they experienced partial or complete perforation during an endoscopic procedure between 2008 and 2018 (retrospectively until 2016, then prospectively). Perforations (size, location, closure) and management (imagery, antibiotics, surgery) were analyzed. Using these results, a panel of experts was asked to propose a consensual management charter. Results  A total of 105 patients were included. Perforations occurred mainly during therapeutic procedures (91, 86.7%). Of the perforations, 78 (74.3 %) were diagnosed immediately and managed during the procedure; 69 of 78 (88.5 %) were successfully closed. Closures were more effective during therapeutic procedures (60 of 66, 90.9 %) than during diagnostic procedures (9 of 12, 75.0 %, P  = 0.06). Endoscopic closure was effective for 37 of 38 perforations (97.4 %) \textless 0.5 cm, and for 26 of 34 perforations (76.5 %) ≥ 0.5 cm ( P  \textless 0.05). For perforations \textless 0.5 cm, systematic computed tomography (CT) scan, antibiotics, or surgical evaluation did not improve the outcome. Four of 105 deaths (3.8 %) occurred after perforation, one of which was attributable to the perforation itself. Conclusions  Detection and closure of perforations during endoscopic procedure had a better outcome compared to delayed perforations; perforations \textless 0.5 cm had a very good prognosis and CT scan, surgeon evaluation, or antibiotics are probably not necessary when the endoscopic closure is confidently performed. This work led to proposal of a local management charter