How fertility and union stability interact in shaping new family patterns in Italy and Spain

In this paper we investigate the interrelationships between fertility decisions and union dissolution in Italy and Spain. We argue that there might exist a spurious relationship between these two life trajectories. The analysis is based on the 1996 Fertility and Family Survey data for Italy and Spain. Results show that there is a spurious relationship between fertility and union dissolution in Italy but not in Spain. Nevertheless, in both countries, there is an evident direct effect of each process on the other: union dissolution decreases the risk of further childbearing, while childbirths decrease the risk of union dissolution

Can maternal education sustain or enhance the benefits of early life interventions? Evidence from the Young Lives longitudinal study

This paper provides evidence on the predicted benefits of maternal education, in terms of reduced child malnutrition at age 1 and age 5, focusing specifically on the complementarities of maternal education with early life interventions across contexts. Using data from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study for Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, results show the expected strong association of maternal education with a reduced likelihood of malnutrition both at ages 1 and 5. However, the benefits of maternal education via access to early life interventions, in this case antenatal care, are found only in some countries and for some levels of maternal education. Inequalities in the risk of malnutrition between those with the highest endowments of maternal education and access to antenatal services, and those without these, are significant within countries. We conclude that programmes which aim to reduce the risks of malnutrition should consider local knowledge and realities in order to understand more fully the expected benefits

Total thyroidectomy associated to chemotherapy in primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid (PSCCT) is a rare malignant disease with rapid fatal prognosis. The onset is generally characterized by sudden bilateral latero-cervical lymphadenopathy. The Authors report patient of 58-year-old who referred for evaluation of rapidly aggravating bilateral latero-cervical lymphadenopathy. The US highlighted the presence of a hypoechoic nodular lesion characterized by peri and intra-nodular vascularization. Multilayer CT showed diffused involvement of mediastinal and bilateral latero-cervical lymph nodes, with no evidence of primary pulmonary neoplasia or elsewhere. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy. The peri-isthmic tissue was removed due to the presence of a small roundish formation, that was due to lymph node metastasis at histological examination. Histological diagnosis: PSCCT. The immunohistochemical panel of the thyroid lesion was indispensable for the differential diagnosis between PSCCT, medullary carcinoma, anaplastic carcinoma, and thyroid metastasis of neoplasia with unknown primitiveness. The patient underwent chemotherapeutic treatment with Carboplatin and Paclitaxel with modest improvement of dysphagia symptoms and reduction of 10-15% of the target lesions. The clinical course was characterized by loco-regional progression of the disease with exitus in 10 months after diagnosis. Survival and quality of life after surgical therapy and chemotherapy were like that of patients undergoing only chemotherapy. Due to the extreme rarity of the neoplasia, 60 cases described in Literature, no exclusive guidelines are reported for PSCCT. More extensive case studies are needed to evaluate the effects of total thyroidectomy with intent R0/R1 on improving survival and quality of life of patients with PSCCT

Integrating Green-Infrastructures Design in Strategic Spatial Planning with Geodesign

In the last decades green infrastructure planning, design, and management have been widely recognized as a way to contribute to reach higher levels of sustainability of development. However, often green infrastructures are considered in a sectoral way, while their design should be more integrated within comprehensive planning and design. The paper proposes the use of geodesign methods and technology to support the early phases of integrated strategic territorial planning, in order to enrich the relationships between the design of green infrastructure and of the other relevant systems via more comprehensive planning and design, and by applying systems thinking. A case study developed with architecture and engineering students under the umbrella of the International Geodesign Collaboration is used, to demonstrate how with intensive geodesign workshops it is possible to create spatially explicit design scenarios which take into account the relationships between green infrastructure and other territorial systems and dynamics. A set of analyses on the case study results of the two scales is used to demonstrate the assumption. It is also argued that geodesign intensive workshops can, in a very short time, contribute to raising the awareness among the participants of collaborative design to the importance of green infrastructure in strategic territorial planning

A new hybrid PSO algorithm based on a stochastic Markov chain model

International audienceBased on the recent research concerning the PageRank Algorithm used in the famous search engine Google, a new Inverse-PageRank-Particle Swarm Optimizer (I-PR-PSO) is presented in order to improve the performances of classic PSO. The resulted algorithm uses a stochastic Markov chain model to define an intelligent topological structure of the swarm's population, in which the better particles have an important influence on the others. In the presented experiments, calculations on some benchmark functions classically used to test optimization methods are performed, and the results are compared to different versions of the standard PSO, that is using different topological structures of the population. The experimental results show that I-PR-PSO can converge quicker on the tested functions, and can find better results in the solution domain than its tested peers

Student-generated pre-exam questions is an effective tool for participatory learning: a case study from Ecology of Waterborne Pathogens course

This multi-year study helps elucidate how the instructional practice of student-generated questions support learning in a blended classroom in STEM subjects. Students designed multiple-choice pre-exam questions aimed at higher levels of learning, according to Bloom's taxonomy. Student-generated questions were edited by the instructor and then discussed by the students in the classroom and in an online forum. We tested the hypothesis that this intervention improves student learning, measured as student achievement on the exam following the intervention, and compared to student achievement on the traditional exam (prior to which a review session focused on instructor-led recitation of the key concepts). Following the intervention in all years, average grade on the post-intervention exam increased by 7.44%. It is important to point out that not all students benefited equally from this activity. Students who were in the 4th quintile (60-80%) based on the results of the first exam demonstrated the highest achievement improving their performance on average by 12.37% percentage points (measured as a score on the second exam). Gains were not observed in the semesters when the intervention was not implemented. In this study we provided students detailed instructions on how to design questions that focus on testing higher levels of learning

The neural bases of vitality forms

Unlike emotions, which are short-lasting events accompanied by viscero-motor responses, vitality forms are continuous internal states that modulate the motor behaviors of individuals and are devoid of the autonomic modifications that characterize real emotions. Despite the importance of vitality forms in social life, only recently have neurophysiological studies been devoted to this issue. The first part of this review describes fMRI experiments, showing that the dorso-central insula is activated during the execution, the perception and the imagination of arm actions endowed with different vitality forms as well as during the hearing and the production of speech conveying vitality forms. In the second part, we address the means by which the dorso-central insula modulates the networks for controlling action execution and how the sensory and interoceptive information is conveyed to this insular sector. Finally, we present behavioral data showing the importance of vitality forms in social interactions