Threshold-based Naïve Bayes classifier

The Threshold-based Naive Bayes (Tb-NB) classifier is introduced as a (simple) improved version of the original Naive Bayes classifier. Tb-NB extracts the sentiment from a Natural Language text corpus and allows the user not only to predict how much a sentence is positive (negative) but also to quantify a sentiment with a numeric value. It is based on the estimation of a single threshold value that concurs to define a decision rule that classifies a text into a positive (negative) opinion based on its content. One of the main advantage deriving from Tb-NB is the possibility to utilize its results as the input of post-hoc analysis aimed at observing how the quality associated to the different dimensions of a product or a service or, in a mirrored fashion, the different dimensions of customer satisfaction evolve in time or change with respect to different locations. The effectiveness of Tb-NB is evaluated analyzing data concerning the tourism industry and, specifically, hotel guests' reviews from all hotels located in the Sardinian region and available on Booking.com. Moreover, Tb-NB is compared with other popular classifiers used in sentiment analysis in terms of model accuracy, resistance to noise and computational efficiency

Development of Sense of Coherence Stability in the AGORA Healthy Ageing Study

Sense of coherence (SOC) is a psycho-social trait formed in childhood or adolescence, allowing individuals to be more resilient to daily life stressors, stay well, and improve their personal health. Although SOC remains stable after the age of thirty, only a few studies investigated its stability in adulthood. The aim was to investigate the development of SOC over time in 489 participants and its association with age, gender, educational level, or negative life events. The study was performed as part of the Healthy Ageing project of the Academic Collaborative Centre AGORA, a longitudinal study involving four municipalities of Eastern Netherlands. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to monitor the SOC of the elderly in 2008, 2010, and 2013, using the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-13). The analysis included repeated-measures ANOVA analysis and bivariate analysis using Pearson’s chi square test. We found no statistically significant variation in SOC over time (F (2, 282) = 2.99, p = 0.052) and no significant association with age (F (2, 282) = 2.851, p = 0.06), gender (F (2, 282) = 0.845, p = 0.43), or educational level (F (2, 282) = 0.708, p = 0.49). SOC remained stable in the elderly population, even if they experienced negative events over their lifespan

Addressing the effect of concern with COVID-19 threat on prejudice towards immigrants: The sequential mediating role of need for cognitive closure and desire for cultural tightness

The link between threat and anti-immigrant prejudice is well-established. Relatedly, recent research has also shown that situational threats (such as concern with COVID-19 threat) increase anti-immigrant prejudice through the mediating role of desire for cultural tightness. This study aims to further our understanding of the psychological processes underlying the relation between concern with COVID-19 threat and increased negative attitudes towards immigrants by considering the mediational role of an individual epistemic motivation (i.e., the need for cognitive closure). A study was conducted on a large sample of Italian respondents covering all the Italian regions. Findings revealed that high concern with COVID-19 threat led to increased negative attitudes towards immigrants through the sequential mediating role of higher need for cognitive closure, leading in turn to higher desire for cultural tightness. Implications of these findings for a timely contextualized study of anti-immigrant prejudice will be highlighted

The Magnetic Distortion Calibration System of the LHCb RICH1 Detector

The LHCb RICH1 detector uses hybrid photon detectors (HPDs) as its optical sensors. A calibration system has been constructed to provide corrections for distortions that are primarily due to external magnetic fields. We describe here the system design, construction, operation and performance.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure

Association between burnout and sense of coherence among speech and language therapists: an exploratory study in Italy

Background and aim: Job burnout has been recognized as a serious occupational hazard among professionals, such as health care professionals. The sense of coherence (SoC) is deemed to be a personal resource capable of reducing the impact of job stressors and, consequently, the experience of job burnout. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between SoC and job burnout among speech and language therapists. Materials and methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional analysis was carried out through an online self-reported questionnaire. A total of 217 Italian speech and language therapists were involved in the study. The Anova test, T-test and logistic regression were performed to study the association between SoC and job burnout. Results: The Anova test showed that job tenure was not associated to job burnout. The T-test showed that speech and language therapists having a low SoC exhibited significantly higher emotional exhaustion, higher cynicism, and lower professional efficacy (t=-7.190 d.f.=215 p<.001) when compared to those having a high SoC. Finally, the odds ratio showed that low SoC was associated with high emotional exhaustion (OR=11.86; 95% CI=5.52-25.49; p<0.05), low SoC was associated with high cynicism (OR=4.41, CI=2.50-7.80; p<0.05), and low SoC was associated with low personal efficacy (OR=4.70; CI=2.59-8.52; p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results are in line with previous studies which showed that SoC is a fundamental personal resource which may activate workers’ reaction to various stressors, thus reducing the experience of burnout. (www.actabiomedica.it

Worries, Preparedness, and Perceived Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Nurses' Mental Health

Background: In times of global public health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses stand at the front line, working in close contact with infected individuals. Being actively engaged in fighting against COVID-19 exposes nurses to a high risk of being infected but can also have a serious impact on their mental health, as they are faced with excessive workload and emotional burden in many front-line operating contexts. Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyze how risk factors such as perceived impact, preparedness to the pandemic, and worries were associated with mental health outcomes (crying, rumination and stress) in nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was performed via an online questionnaire survey. Participants included 894 registered nurses from Italy. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Multiple binary logistic regression was carried out to analyze the relationship between risk factors and health outcomes. Results: Increased job stress was related to higher levels of rumination about the pandemic (OR = 4.04, p < 0.001), job demand (OR = 2.00, p < 0.001), impact on job role (OR = 2.56, p < 0.001), watching coworkers crying at work (OR = 1.50, p < 0.05), non-work-related concerns (OR = 2.28, p < 0.001), and fear of getting infected (OR = 2.05, p < 0.001). Job stress (OR = 2.52, p < 0.01), rumination (OR = 2.28, p < 0.001), and watching colleagues crying (OR = 7.92, p < 0.001) were associated with crying at work. Rumination was associated with caring for patients who died of COVID-19 (OR = 1.54, p < 0.05), job demand (OR = 1.70, p < 0.01), watching colleagues crying (OR = 1.81, p < 0.001), non-work-related worries (OR = 1.57, p < 0.05), and fear of getting infected (OR = 2.02, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The psychological impact that this pandemic may cause in the medium/long term could be greater than the economical one. This is the main challenge that health organizations will have to face in the future. This study highlights that the perceived impact and worries about the pandemic affect nurses' mental health and can impact on their overall effectiveness during the pandemic. Measures to enhance nurses' protection and to lessen the risk of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress should be planned promptly

Mediterranean diet and its benefits on health and mental health: A literature review

Mediterranean Diet (MD) is currently considered one of the most healthy dietary models worldwide. It is generally based on the daily intake of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, fish, white meats, and olive oil. It may also include moderate consumption of fermented dairy products, a low intake of red meat, and red/white wine during the main course. Even if the effect of MD on cancer prevention as well as on human metabolic and cardiovascular balance has been discussed, including the quality of life of the exposed population, the putative effects on mental health are still not properly investigated. This narrative review reports on some emerging pieces of evidence on the possible impact of MD on general health and the outcome of psychiatric disorders (e.g., major depression, anxiety) and encourages further studies to test the benefits of healthy food selection on the health of the general population

The Prediction of Long-Term Coating Performance from Short-Term Electrochemical Data

The pace of coatings development is limited by the time required to assess their corrosion protection properties. This study takes a step f orward from Part I in that it correlates the corrosion performance of organic coatings assessed by a series of short-term electrochemical measurement with 18-month beachside exposure results of duplicate pan els. A series of 19 coating systems on A36 steel substrates were test ed in a completely blind study using the damage tolerance test (DTT). In the DTT, a through-film pinhole defect is created, and the electro chemical characteristics of the defect are then monitored over the ne xt 4 to 7 days while immersed in 0.SM NaCl. The open circuit potentia l, anodic potentiostatic polarization tests and electrochemical imped ance spectroscopy were used to study the corrosion behavior of the co ating systems. The beachside exposure tests were conducted at the Ken nedy Space Center according to ASTM D610-01. It was found that for 79 % of the coatings systems examined, the 18 month beachside exposure r esults could be predicted by two independent laboratory tests obtained within 7 days