Vibrational Strong Coupling in THz Plasmonic Nanocavities

Vibrational Strong Coupling in THz Plasmonic Nanocavitie

La clase inversa en entornos de aprendizaje universitario: estudio de caso de la asignatura Periodismo y redes sociales

Este trabajo aborda las características y aspectos fundamentales de un nuevo modelo pedagógico conocido como clase inversa (en inglés, flipped classroom), con aplicación en la docencia de los contenidos de la asignatura de Periodismo ciudadano y redes sociales del grado en Periodismo de la Universidad de Málaga. El interés en metodologías activas surge con el objetivo de mejorar la disposición del alumnado al proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, por lo que se pretende intervenir y mejorar la motivación de los estudiantes para que estos alcancen su mejor desempeño en la adquisición de los contenidos de la materia. Los resultados de su implementación en uno de los tres grupos sugieren una mejora no solo en la adquisición de los contenidos, sino en el mismo proceso de aprendizaje, al incrementarse la motivación del alumnado

The meaning of beauty: when the problem is with body image. Prevalence, clinical features, and at risk populations of Body Dysmorphic Disorder in the Italian context

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a psychological disorder characterized by the persistent preoccupation with one or more perceived defects in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), which is currently included into the “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders” category of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5; APA, 2013). Although any body part can be the focus of concerns, the most common areas of concern in people with BDD are the skin (presence of acne or scars), the hair (hair loss, thinning, or excessive facial or body hair), and the nose (shape or size; Phillips 2006; Phillips & Diaz 1997; Phillips, McElroy, Keck, Pope, & Hudson, 1993; Veale et al., 1996), and individuals with BDD may be concerned with multiple body parts at the same time (Phillips et al., 1993; 2005). In response to the appearance concerns, individuals with BDD engage in repetitive and time-consuming behaviors and mental actions focused on examining, being reassured about, and hiding perceived defects (Phillips & Diaz, 1997; Phillips, Menard, Fay, & Weisberg, 2005). The most common are: camouflaging (e.g., with hair, makeup, body position, or sunglasses), checking the perceived defect in mirrors or other reflecting surfaces (e.g., windows), excessively grooming (e.g., applying makeup or styling hair), seeking reassurance from family and friends about the defect, repeatedly touching the disliked areas, and comparing one’s appearance with that of other people (Phillips, 2009; Phillips & Diaz, 1997; Phillips et al., 2005; Veale & Riley, 2001). Behaviors are unlimited (Phillips, 1998) and can include seeking plastic surgery or cosmetic medical treatments in order to reduce the perceived defects (Crerand, Phillips, Menard, & Fay, 2005; Phillips, Grant, Siniscalchi, & Albertini, 2001); these procedures, however, are not beneficial (Crerand et al., 2005; Phillips et al., 2001) and do not typically result in a decrease of BDD symptoms severity (Crerand et al., 2005; Phillips et al., 1993; Phillips et al., 2001). Rather, some patients with BDD experience symptoms exacerbation and development of new appearance concerns (Crerand et al., 2005; Phillips et al., 2001; Veale, 2000; Veale et al., 1996). In addition to core concerns about appearance, BDD is characterized by low self-esteem, high perfectionism, and high comorbidity rate (Phillips, 2006; Phillips et al., 1993; Phillips et al., 2005). The most common associated disorders are: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Anorexia Nervosa (AN; Dingemans, van Rood, de Groot, & van Furth, 2012; Grant, Kim, & Eckert, 2002; Gunstad & Phillips, 2003). Despite increased awareness of BDD in recent years, it continues to be an under-studied disorder (Buhlmann & Winter, 2011; Buhlmann et al., 2010), particularly in the Italian context. Indeed, little is known about BDD prevalence and phenomenology in Italy, and no data are available on BDD prevalence rates using DSM-5 criteria (APA, 2013) in the Italian general population. Therefore, the current dissertation aimed at assessing BDD prevalence, phenomenology, associated clinical features, and at risk populations through three studies. The first study aimed at exploring the prevalence and the phenomenology of BDD in an Italian community sample and its associated clinical features such as self-esteem, perfectionistic traits, social anxiety, depressive, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Six hundred and fifteen community individuals completed a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing the above-mentioned clinical features. Results showed that 10 (1.63%) individuals met DSM-5 criteria (APA, 2013) for BDD. Hair (n = 4; 4%), nose (n = 4; 4%), and teeth (n = 4; 4%) were the most common areas of concern. With respect to the associated clinical features, individuals who satisfied BDD diagnostic criteria reported lower levels of self-esteem, more severe social anxiety symptomatology, general distress, depression, and obsessive-compulsive features than people without BDD. These findings outlined that, within the Italian context, BDD is a relatively common psychological disorder associated with significant morbidity. The second study of the current dissertation focused on the shared clinical features between BDD and AN. Indeed, both the psychopathologies are severe body image disorders (Rosen, Reiter, & Orosan, 1995) characterized by body image disturbance and dissatisfaction, intrusive thoughts about appearance, and by an overemphasis on appearance in the evaluation of self-worth (Rosen & Ramirez, 1998). Furthermore, both BDD and AN are characterized by low self-esteem (Phillips, Pinto, & Jain, 2004; Rosen & Ramirez, 1998) and high levels of perfectionism (Bardone-Cone et al., 2007; Buhlmann, Etcoff, & Wilhelm, 2008; Bulik et al., 2003; Veale, 2004). Many studies underlined the high comorbidity between BDD and AN (Dingemans et al., 2012; Fenwick & Sullivan, 2011; Grant et al., 2002; Kollei, Schieber, Zwaan, Svitak, & Martin, 2013; Ruffolo, Phillips, Menard, Fay, & Weisberg, 2006), and patients with AN frequently report nonweight-related body image concerns (Dingemans et al., 2012; Grant et al., 2002; Kollei et al., 2013). Furthermore, patients with AN and comorbid BDD report greater body image dissatisfaction and clinical symptomatology than those without comorbid BDD (Dingemans et al., 2012; Grant et al., 2002). Therefore, the first aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of BDD and the presence of nonweight- related body image concerns in patients with AN. Secondly, the study aimed at comparing patients with AN and nonweight-related body image concerns, patients with weight-related body image concerns only and a healthy control group with respect to body image and psychological and psychopathological features. For these purposes, 61 patients with AN were divided in two groups: 39 with nonweight-related body image concerns and 22 with weight-related body image concerns only. Furthermore, a group of 61 healthy controls was recruited. Main results of this study showed that 16 (26.23%) patients with AN had probable comorbid BDD. The most common nonweight-related body image concerns were: hair (41.02%), nose (30.77%), skin (30.77%), teeth (25.64%), and height (20.51%). Moreover, patients with AN and nonweight-related body image concerns reported greater levels of psychopathology not related to eating disorder than patients with weight-related body image concerns only, in accordance with previous studies (Dingemans et al., 2012; Grant et al., 2002). In conclusion, patients with AN and nonweight-related body image concerns showed a more severe body image disturbance unrelated to a more severe eating disorder. Lastly, the third study of the current dissertation aimed at assessing the prevalence of Muscle Dysmorphia (MD), its associated psychological features and possible predictors among 3 groups (N = 125) of Italian recreational athletes. MD is a subtype of BDD characterized by the preoccupation with the idea that one’s body is not sufficiently lean and muscular (APA, 2013; Pope, Gruber, Choi, Olivardia, & Phillips, 1997); however, individuals with MD have a normal-looking body or are even very muscular, much more than the average of people (Pope et al., 1997). The first aim of this study was to explore the prevalence and the phenomenology of MD in 3 groups of Italian participants who trained regularly for recreational purposes: 42 bodybuilders, 61 strength trainers, and 22 fitness wellness trainers. Secondly, we aimed at investigating MD related behaviours and psychological features such as self-esteem, perfectionistic traits, social anxiety and orthorexia nervosa symptoms, and general distress among groups. Lastly, we aimed at assessing the presence of associations between MD and related psychological features among the 3 groups and, with exploratory purposes, possible MD predictors among groups. Results revealed a MD prevalence of 6.4%: 4 participants (9.52%) in the bodybuilding group, 2 participants (3.28%) in the strength group, and 2 participants (9.09%) in the fitness/wellness group satisfied Pope et al. (1997) diagnostic criteria for MD. With respect to MD associated cognitive and behavioural symptoms, the bodybuilding group reported more frequently to think about taking anabolic- androgenic steroids (AAS), to assume more than 2 daily grams of proteins, and to experience more beliefs about being smaller and weaker than desired or wishes to be more muscular than the other groups, whereas this group reported more MD general symptomatology only with respect to the fitness/wellness group. Moreover, the strength group reported to set higher standards for themselves than the other two groups. Finally, different correlational patterns among group emerged, as well as different MD predictors. Specifically, social anxiety symptoms resulted significant predictors of MD symptomatology for both the bodybuilding and the strength group, whereas no predictors emerged for the fitness/wellness group. In conclusion, results of this study underlined that the pursuit of a lean and muscular physique in bodybuilding is not always associated with MD and related psychological features. To conclude, this dissertation provides clinical hints as far as concern both preventive strategies and psychological treatment implications for BDD across at risk populations

Preparation and characterization of a powder manufactured by spray drying milk based formulations for the delivery of theophylline for pediatric use

The study considered different fat content cow milks to deliver theophylline orally. Powders were obtained by spray drying theophylline dispersed in fresh milk according to a full factorial design of experiments. The correlation of the independent (milk fat content, skimmed to whole milk, theophylline fraction, and drying temperature) with the dependent (yield of the process and residual moisture content of the powder, particle size and distribution, density, surface polarity and theophylline content) variables enabled the construction of a mathematical model and a desirability function to predict the optimized levels of the variables. Good predictability was achieved for density, fairly good for yield, moisture content, surface polarity and yield whereas theophylline content and particle size were poorly predicted. Powders with up to 60% theophylline presented spherical (3.7 \ub5m) and narrow sized distribution particles, with high density (1.6 g/cm 123) in high yields (>70%), stable for 6 month (25 \ub0C/65%RH) in a closed container and for no longer than 2 day, after reconstitution in water due to bacteria growth (no pathogens) without signs of crystallinity. Preparations obtained with low fat milk were less stable than high fat content milk. Therefore, fresh milk can be transformed into stable powder compositions to prepare oral solid/liquid dosage forms to deliver individualized doses of theophylline

Beyond Ethnopsychiatry. Georges Devereux between science and epistemology

Questo lavoro verte sulla ricostruzione del pensiero dell’antropologo e psicoanalista Georges Devereux (1908-1985), attraverso un approccio storico-biografico e all’interno di una prospettiva che si discosta da quella tradizionale in cui Devereux è considerato il “padre dell’etnopsichiatria”. Intento principale della tesi è presentare un inedito Devereux epistemologo delle scienze dell’uomo, ricostruendo le tappe del suo percorso scientifico e rintracciando radici e storia dei principali concetti del suo sistema teorico nel contesto storico-culturale nonché nel quadro epistemologico in cui hanno preso forma. Le fonti principali di questa ricostruzione sono i materiali d’archivio del cospicuo Fondo Devereux, custodito all’Institut Mémoires de l’Édition Contemporaine (IMEC), nonché i dossier conservati all’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Seguendo la ricerca di Devereux in fieri, attraverso le carte d’archivio, scritti inediti e scritti più o meno celebri, questo lavoro propone, in sostanza, di leggere dietro la nascita di questa “nuova scienza” (l’etnopsicoanalisi), il tentativo di fondare una nuova epistemologia e un nuovo metodo di osservazione per i saperi sull’uomo. Instaurando un dialogo tra fisica quantistica, antropologia e psicoanalisi – a partire dai concetti di complementarità e controtransfert – Devereux suggerisce, infatti, un nuovo approccio allo studio dell’uomo che, rifuggendo da riduzionismi o determinismi, sia il più possibile esaustivo e, prendendo in carico la soggettività del ricercatore, sia più efficace e realistico. La complessità e l’importanza del suo contributo teorico senza dubbio travalicano i confini dell’etnopsichiatria, perlomeno come oggi la intendiamo, e il percorso di Devereux, nella sua pluridisciplinarità e internazionalità, offre uno sguardo sul panorama intellettuale del ventesimo secolo che ha visto la nascita delle principali branche delle scienze umane, il loro sviluppo in tradizioni differenti, la progressiva specializzazione e frammentazione, ma anche tentativi, tenaci e difficili, di un dialogo.This work focuses on the reconstruction of the thought of the anthropologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereux (1908-1985), through a historical-biographical approach and within a perspective that differs from the traditional one according to which Devereux is considered the “father of Ethnopsychiatry”. The main aim of the thesis is to present an unprecedented Devereux “epistemologist of the human sciences”, by reconstructing the steps of his scientific path, the roots and the history of the main concepts of his theoretical system within both the historical-cultural context and the epistemological framework where they took shape. The main sources for this work are the archive material of the Devereux Fund, held by the Institut Mémoires de l’Édition Contemporaine (IMEC), and the dossiers held by the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Following the Devereux’s research in fieri – through archive material, unpublished writings, famous works and less known ones – this work basically proposes to read, behind the origin of this “new science” (Ethnopsychoanalysis), the attempt to found a new epistemology and a new method of observation for human sciences. By establishing a dialogue between Quantum Physics, Anthropology and Psychoanalysis – starting from the concepts of complementarity and countertransference – Devereux suggests, indeed, a new approach for human studies which can be as comprehensive as possible, more effective and realistic. With no doubt, the complexity and the importance of his theoretical contribution go beyond the boundaries of Ethnopsychiatry, at least as we intend it today, and his multidisciplinary and international path offers an insight on the intellectual background of the 20th century, which witnessed the birth of the main branches of human sciences, their development in different traditions, their progressive specialization and fragmentation, but also constant and serious efforts for a dialogu

Magnetic hot-spot generation at optical frequencies: from plasmonic metamolecules to all-dielectric nanoclusters

AbstractThe weakness of magnetic effects at optical frequencies is directly related to the lack of symmetry between electric and magnetic charges. Natural materials cease to exhibit appreciable magnetic phenomena at rather low frequencies and become unemployable for practical applications in optics. For this reason, historically important efforts were spent in the development of artificial materials. The first evidence in this direction was provided by split-ring resonators in the microwave range. However, the efficient scaling of these devices towards the optical frequencies has been prevented by the strong ohmic losses suffered by circulating currents. With all of these considerations, artificial optical magnetism has become an active topic of research, and particular attention has been devoted to tailor plasmonic metamolecules generating magnetic hot spots. Several routes have been proposed in these directions, leading, for example, to plasmon hybridization in 3D complex structures or Fano-like magnetic resonances. Concurrently, with the aim of electromagnetic manipulation at the nanoscale and in order to overcome the critical issue of heat dissipation, alternative strategies have been introduced and investigated. All-dielectric nanoparticles made of high-index semiconducting materials have been proposed, as they can support both magnetic and electric Mie resonances. Aside from their important role in fundamental physics, magnetic resonances also provide a new degree of freedom for nanostructured systems, which can trigger unconventional nanophotonic processes, such as nonlinear effects or electromagnetic field localization for enhanced spectroscopy and optical trapping

Interactive activities for families and kids

Treball desenvolupat en el marc del programa "European Project Semester".Museums are generally considered to be essential for our current society and to play a very important role in today’s world. They are a great source of knowledge, since they preserve our heritage and educate their visitors. In addition, museums tend to create a sense of community and unite people with the same interests. For these reasons, such an important museum as the Railway Museum of Catalonia is believed to add a lot of value to the community and always wants to offer a great service offering innovative activities. This report details the project “Interactive Activities for the Railway Museum of Catalonia” developed in 2021 by five international students of the EPS. This project was elaborated at the EPSEVG (Escola Politècnica Superior d’Enginyeria de Vilanova i la Geltrú) located in Vilanova i la Geltrú. The Railway Museum of Catalonia wanted to create a set of interactive activities for families, so children could discover the museum and learn important concepts related to trains in an entertaining way. This, added to the fact that the museum was being renovated, and that other museums also offer “games” for children and families, made them decide to contact the UPC to organize this project with the goal of creating an entertaining set of activities for boys and girls. First of all, extensive research was done. Many museums offer activities, so it is important to know what exactly they offer, and if their activities are effective to educate and entertain or not. Moreover, research about the psychology related to children and interactive activities was essential to understand how to attract children and catch their attention to educate them in an effective manner while they are entertained. The following step was to think about the activities that could fit the museum in Vilanova i la Geltrú. Taking into account the results obtained in the research, different possibilities were thought. Since we had several options, we evaluated them considering the advantages and disadvantages of each of them, and we came up with a final idea. Thirdly, the activity was entirely developed. We created a set of activities implemented on a booklet, and we created a little reward for children that participate in the game. In addition, we developed an online game. This online game has two functions: firstly, it offers a free activity to users that visit the Railway Museum webpage, so people that cannot come to the museum due to different reasons can enjoy it, and secondly, it serves as an appetizer, if someone plays and likes it, there is a greater probability that this person will come to the museum to enjoy the on-site activities. While we developed the face-to-face activity, we realized that people that wanted to complete the activities would need some materials to be able to play. These materials are not free. So, a budget was prepared, and together with our company supervisor, it was decided to look for a sponsor to fund the activities, so the museum could offer them for free. In addition, a test was done. A group of children was taken to the museum and they were asked to complete the activities. When they finished the game, they were asked some questions. Thanks to the results, we were able to incorporate their feedback. Taking into account the feedback received from the families that participated in the test, we adapted the questions that were either not clear enough or too difficult. Lastly, we have added to the report a section of conclusions, where there is an explanation of the results obtained and how the activity is going to be completely implemented at the museum.Incomin

Eating disorder symptom dimensions and protective factors: A structural network analysis study

Eating Disorders (EDs) and related symptoms pose a substantial public health concern due to their widespread prevalence among both genders and associated negative outcomes, underscoring the need for effective preventive interventions. In this context, deepening our understanding of the interplay between ED symptoms and related protective factors appears crucial. Therefore, this study employed a structural network analysis approach considering both ED symptom dimensions (i.e., drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms, and body dissatisfaction) and related protective factors (i.e., body and functionality appreciation, intuitive eating, and self-esteem) to shed light on how these factors are interrelated. A community sample of 1391 individuals (34.4% men; Mage = 26.4 years) completed a socio-demographic schedule and self-report questionnaires. The network showed that the nodes with the highest positive expected influence were body and functionality appreciation, while those with the highest negative expected influence were eating for physical rather than emotional reasons and unconditional permission to eat (i.e., two components of intuitive eating). Crucially, the most relevant bridges between the conceptual communities “ED symptom dimensions” and “Protective factors” were the negative relations between (a) eating for physical rather than emotional reasons and bulimic symptoms, (b) unconditional permission to eat and drive for thinness, and (c) body appreciation and body dissatisfaction. Finally, age, gender, and body mass index did not moderate any edge in the network. The practical implications of these findings are discussed, especially in terms of preventive interventions for ED symptoms