An exploration of the differential effects of parents\u2019 authoritarianism dimensions on pre-school children\u2019s epistemic, existential, and relational needs.

Research on adult populations has widely investigated the deep differences that characterize individuals who embrace either conservative or liberal views of the world. More recently, research has started to investigate these differences at very early stages of life. One major goal is to explore how parental political ideology may influence children's characteristics that are known to be associated to different ideological positions. In the present work, we further investigate the relations between parents' ideology and children cognitive processing strategies within the framework of political ideology as motivated social cognition (Jost et al., 2003) and the dual process model of political ideology (Duckitt et al., 2002). Specifically, epistemic (implicit attitudes toward order vs. chaos), existential (negativity and threat bias), and relational needs (conformity measure) were assessed in pre-school children (N = 106; 4-6 years). For each child at least one parent completed both the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and the Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) measures. Interestingly, results indicated that mothers' and fathers' responses had unique associations with children's socio-cognitive motivations, and different findings emerged in relation to the two facets of parental authoritarianism, namely dominance (i.e., SDO) and submission (i.e., RWA). More specifically, children's existential needs appeared to be more related to mothers' RWA scores, whereas children's epistemic needs appeared to be more related to fathers' SDO. Finally, parents' RWA and SDO scores appeared to have opposite effects on children's relational needs: children's conformity increased at increasing levels of mothers' RWA and decreased at increasing levels of fathers' SDO. Overall, however, results were relatively weak and several links between the responses of parents and their children were not significant, suggesting caution in drawing strong conclusions about the impact of parents' ideology. Limitations and future developments will be discussed

Effectiveness evaluation of the ICE (Italian institute of foreing trade) promotional programme: case study

Evaluation and monitoring approaches and methodologies are spreading within the national and regional administrations directly involved in the management of the programmes co-financed by Structural Funds as well as within other institutional contexts where public policies are planned and implemented. The purpose of the present paper is to illustrate some results from a still ongoing training and consultancy project, on behalf of the ICE (Foreign Trade Institute), aiming at integrating ICE programming with evaluation and monitoring practices. Indeed, during the last year the ICE Programming Unit has been engaged in training and consultancy activities involving the application of evaluation and monitoring methodologies to the activities promoting ICE. The recipients of such initiative belong to the ICE Programming and Control Unit and they already gained experience in the evaluation area in the past within ad hoc working groups. More specifically, the purpose of this activity is to provide the opportunity to develop the means for a more effective management of the projects and start a broader process leading to organizational change and improvement.programme evaluation, effectiveness measure, customer satisfaction

Terraced Landscapes and Hydrological-Geological Hazards: Innovative Approaches and Future Perspectives

In the last few years, terraced landscapes have been receiving renovated interest all over the world (e [...

Space-based and object-centered gaze cuing of attention in right hemisphere-damaged patients

Gaze cuing of attention is a well established phenomenon consisting of the tendency to shift attention to the location signaled by the averted gaze of other individuals. Evidence suggests that such phenomenon might follow intrinsic object-centered features of the head containing the gaze cue. In the present exploratory study, we aimed to investigate whether such object-centered component is present in neuropsychological patients with a lesion involving the right hemisphere, which is known to play a critical role both in orienting of attention and in face processing. To this purpose, we used a modified gaze-cuing paradigm in which a centrally placed head with averted gaze was presented either in the standard upright position or rotated 90° clockwise or anti-clockwise. Afterward, a to-be-detected target was presented either in the right or in the left hemifield. The results showed that gaze cuing of attention was present only when the target appeared in the left visual hemifield and was not modulated by head orientation. This suggests that gaze cuing of attention in right hemisphere-damaged patients can operate within different frames of reference

Anticipation of cognitive conflict is reflected in microsaccades: Evidence from a cued-flanker task

Microsaccade frequency has recently been shown to be sensitive to high-level cognitive processes such as attention and memory. In the present study we explored the effects of anticipated cognitive conflict. Participants were administered a variant of the flanker task, which is known to elicit cognitive interference. At the beginning of each trial, participants received a colour cue providing information about the upcoming target frame. In two thirds of the trials, the cue reliably informed the participants that in the upcoming trial the flankers either matched the central target letter or not. Hence, participants could accurately anticipate whether cognitive conflict would arise or not. On neutral trials, the cue provided no useful information. The results showed that microsaccadic rate time-locked to cue onset was reduced on trials in which an upcoming cognitive conflict was expected. These findings provide new insights about top-down modulations of microsaccade dynamics

Effect on DNA relaxation of the single Thr718Ala mutation in human topoisomerase I: a functional and molecular dynamics study

The functional and dynamical properties of the human topoisomerase I Thr718Ala mutant have been compared to that of the wild-type enzyme using functional assays and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. At physiological ionic strength, the cleavage and religation rates, evaluated on oligonucleotides containing the preferred topoisomerase I DNA sequence, are almost identical for the wild-type and the mutated enzymes, as is the cleavage/religation equilibrium. On the other hand, the Thr718Ala mutant shows a decreased efficiency in a DNA plasmid relaxation assay. The MD simulation, carried out on the enzyme complexed with its preferred DNA substrate, indicates that the mutant has a different dynamic behavior compared to the wild-type enzyme. Interestingly, no changes are observed in the proximity of the mutation site, whilst a different flexibility is detected in regions contacting the DNA scissile strand, such as the linker and the V-shaped α helices. Taken together, the functional and simulation results indicate a direct communication between the mutation site and regions located relatively far away, such as the linker domain, that with their altered flexibility confer a reduced DNA relaxation efficiency. These results provide evidence that the comprehension of the topoisomerase I dynamical properties are an important element in the understanding of its complex catalytic cycle

The different cleavage DNA sequence specificity explains the camptothecin resistance of the human topoisomerase I Glu418Lys mutant

Yeast cells expressing the Glu418Lys human topoisomerase I mutant display a camptothecin resistance that slowly decreases as a function of time. Molecular characterization of the single steps of the catalytic cycle of the purified mutant indicates that it has a relaxation activity identical to the wild-type protein but a different DNA sequence specificity for the cleavage sites when compared to the wild-type enzyme, as assayed on several substrates. In particular the mutant has a low specificity for CPT sensitive cleavable sites. In fact, the mutant has, at variance of the wild-type enzyme, a reduced preference for cleavage sites having a thymine base in position −1 of the scissile strand. This preference, together with the strict requirement for a thymine base in position −1 for an efficient camptothecin binding, explains the temporary camptothecin resistance of the yeast cell expressing the mutant and points out the importance of the DNA sequence in the binding of the camptothecin drug