Approximation Methods for High Dimensional Simulation Results - Parameter Sensitivity Analysis and Propagation of variations for Process Chains

This work addresses the analysis of a sequential chain of processing steps, which is particularly important for the manufacture of robust product components. In each processing step, the material properties may have changed and distributions of related characteristics, for example, strains, may become inhomogeneous. For this reason, the history of the process including design-parameter uncertainties becomes relevant for subsequent processing steps. Therefore, we have developed a methodology, called PRO-CHAIN, which enables an efficient analysis, quantification, and propagation of uncertainties for complex process chains locally on the entire mesh. This innovative methodology has the objective to improve the overall forecast quality, specifically, in local regions of interest, while minimizing the computational effort of subsequent analysis steps. We have demonstrated the benefits and efficiency of the methodology proposed by means of real applications from the automotive industry

Role of state and trait attachment dimensions on involvement in a close relationship

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between trait and state attachment features and involvement in a couple-relationship. Eighty-four participants of different nationalities completed Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R), State Adult Attachment Measure (SAAM) and a personal questionnaire focused on involvement and amount of time spent in a couple-relationship. Results of the study showed that trait attachment features predicted involvement in a close relationship and the presence of a couple relationship predicted attachment state dimensions. Correlation analyses showed that the involvement in couple relationship was associated to CTQ Physical Neglect and SAAM Anxiety while participants without a partner had higher scores on CTQ Emotional Abuse, ECR- R Avoidance and SAAM Avoidance. Regression analyses showed that trait attachment features predicted time spent in a close relationship, while time spent in relationship predicted state attachment dimensions. Moreover, regression analysis showed that SAAM Security was predicted by ECR-R scales only in the sample of participants involved in a couple relationship

Neural correlates of outcome of the psychotherapy compared to antidepressant therapy in anxiety and depression disorders: a meta-analysis

The most prevalent mental disorders, anxiety and depression, are commonly associated with structural and functional changes in the fronto-limbic brain areas. The clinical trials investigating patients with affective disorders showed different outcome to different treatments such as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy. It is, however, still unexplored how these interventions approach affect the functional brain. This meta-analysis aims to compare the effects of psychotherapy compared to antidepressant therapy on functional brain activity in anxiety and depression disorders. Twenty-one samples with psychotherapy and seventeen samples with antidepressant therapy were included. The main finding showed an inverse effect of the two treatments on the right paracingulate activity. The patients undergoing psychotherapy showed an increase in the right paracingulate activity while pharmacological treatment led to a decrease of activation of this area. This finding seems to support the recent studies that hypothesize how psychotherapy, through the self-knowledge and the meaning processing, involves a top-down emotional regulation

Immigration as a Divisive Topic: Clusters and Content Diffusion in the Italian Twitter Debate

In this work, we apply network science to analyse almost 6 M tweets about the debate around immigration in Italy, collected between 2018 and 2019, when many related events captured media outlets’ attention. Our aim was to better understand the dynamics underlying the interactions on social media on such a delicate and divisive topic, which are the actors that are leading the discussion, and whose messages have the highest chance to reach out the majority of the accounts that are following the debate. The debate on Twitter is represented with networks; we provide a characterisation of the main clusters by looking at the highest in-degree nodes in each one and by analysing the text of the tweets of all the users. We find a strongly segregated network which shows an explicit interplay with the Italian political and social landscape, that however seems to be disconnected from the actual geographical distribution and relocation of migrants. In addition, quite surprisingly, the influencers and political leaders that apparently lead the debate, do not necessarily belong to the clusters that include the majority of nodes: we find evidence of the existence of a `silent majority’ that is more connected to accounts who expose a more positive stance toward migrants, while leaders whose stance is negative attract apparently more attention. Finally, we see that the community structure clearly affects the diffusion of content (URLs) by identifying the presence of both local and global trends of diffusion, and that communities tend to display segregation regardless of their political and cultural background. In particular, we observe that messages that spread widely in the two largest clusters, whose most popular members are also notoriously at the opposite sides of the political spectrum, have a very low chance to get visibility into other clusters

Neisseria meningitidis: pathogenetic mechanisms to overcome the human immune defences

Neisseria meningitidis is hosted only by humans and colonizes the nasopharynx; it survives in the human body by reaching an equilibrium with its exclusive host. Indeed, while cases of invasive disease are rare, the number of asymptomatic Neisseria menin- gitides carriers is far higher. The aim of this paper is to sum- marize the current knowledge of survival strategies of Neisseria meningitides against the human immune defences. Neisseria meningitidis possesses a variety of adaptive character- istics which enable it to avoid being killed by the immune system, such as the capsule, the lipopolysaccharide, groups of proteins that block the action of the antimicrobial proteins (AMP), pro- teins that inhibit the complement system, and components that prevent both the maturation and the perfect functioning of phago- cytes. The main means of adhesion of Neisseria meningitides to the host cells are Pili, constituted by several proteins of whom the most important is Pilin E. Opacity-associated proteins (Opa) and (Opc) are two proteins that make an important contribution to the process of adhesion to the cell. Porins A and B contribute to neisserial adhesion and penetration into the cells, and also inhibit the complement system. Factor H binding protein (fhbp) binds factor H, allowing the bac- teria to survive in the blood. Neisserial adhesin A (NadA) is a minor adhesin that is expressed by 50% of the pathogenic strains. NadA is known to be involved in cell adhesion and invasion and in the induction of proinflam- matory cytokines. Neisserial heparin binding antigen (NHBA) binds heparin, thus increasing the resistance of the bacterium in the serum. The full article is free available on www.jpmh.or