Effects of ayahuasca on mental health and quality of life in naïve users: A longitudinal and cross-sectional study combination

Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic decoction used as a traditional medicine in several Amazonian regions. The ritualistic use of ayahuasca has spread throughout many countries, making it necessary to study its risks and benefits. Two sub-studies were designed for this investigation. In sub-study 1, a psychiatric interview and a battery of questionnaires were administered to subjects (n = 40) before their first ayahuasca use. Two follow-ups were conducted at 1 and 6 months. In sub-study 2, the same interview and battery of questionnaires were administered to long-term ayahuasca users (n = 23) and their scores were compared with those of the ayahuasca-naïve group. In the first assessment, nearly half (45%) of the naïve users were found to meet the diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric disorder. After the ayahuasca use, more than 80% of those subjects showed clinical improvements that persisted at 6 months. The questionnaires showed significant reductions in depression and psychopathology. Regarding sub-study 2, long-term users showed lower depression scores, and higher scores for self-transcendence and quality of life, as compared to their peers in sub-study 1. Further controlled and observational naturalistic studies assessing the eventual risks and potential benefits of ayahuasca are warranted

Distribution of Energy-Momentum in a Schwarzschild-Quintessence Space-time Geometry

An analysis of the energy-momentum localization for a four-dimensional\break Schwarzschild black hole surrounded by quintessence is presented in order to provide expressions for the distributions of energy and momentum. The calculations are performed by using the Landau-Lifshitz and Weinberg energy-momentum complexes. It is shown that all the momenta vanish, while the expression for the energy depends on the mass $M$ of the black hole, the state parameter $w_{q}$ and the normalization factor $c$. The special case of $w_{q}=-2/3$ is also studied, and two limiting cases are examined.Comment: 9 page

Energy Distribution for Non-commutative Radiating Schwarzschild Black Holes

The aim of this article is the calculation of the energy-momentum for a non-commutative radiating Schwarzschild black hole in order to obtain the expressions for energy. We make the calculations with the Einstein and M\oller prescriptions. We show that the expressions for energy in both the prescriptions depend on the mass $M$, $\theta$ parameter and radial coordinate. We make some comparisons between the results. Our results show that the Einstein prescription is a more powerful concept than the M\oller prescription.Comment: 5 pages and 6 figures. Revised version submitted in Int.J.Theor.Phys. after minor revisio

Teaching precision farming and entrepreneurship for European students: Sparkle online course

Within the framework of the European project named ‘SPARKLE’, an online course was created after studying educational needs on precision agriculture (PA), state of the art of technologies and a prospective study of the commercial sector. Five educational and research institutions, high-tech farms and enterprises specializing in technology transfer created the syllabus of the course and the platform contents. The course was designed to provide 30 h of student dedication, via online presentations, documents and videos for each topic. A free pilot course started in April 2020 and 385 students from Italy, Portugal, Greece & Spain enrolled. To trace performance and acquisition of competences, questionnaires were completed by students for each topic and a final overall test. Students’ opinions about the course were also registered using anonymous polls, and results evaluated, to be able to enhance the Sparkle course for subsequent editions. Students also took part in a business model competition, to solve real challenges proposed by farms, related to the use of these technologies