A mathematically assisted reconstruction of the initial focus of the yellow fever outbreak in Buenos Aires (1871)

We discuss the historic mortality record corresponding to the initial focus of the yellow fever epidemic outbreak registered in Buenos Aires during the year 1871 as compared to simulations of a stochastic population dynamics model. This model incorporates the biology of the urban vector of yellow fever, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the stages of the disease in the human being as well as the spatial extension of the epidemic outbreak. After introducing the historical context and the restrictions it puts on initial conditions and ecological parameters, we discuss the general features of the simulation and the dependence on initial conditions and available sites for breeding the vector. We discuss the sensitivity, to the free parameters, of statistical estimators such as: final death toll, day of the year when the outbreak reached half the total mortality and the normalized daily mortality, showing some striking regularities. The model is precise and accurate enough to discuss the truthfulness of the presently accepted historic discussions of the epidemic causes, showing that there are more likely scenarios for the historic facts.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure

Help-seeking in emerging adults with and without a history of mental health referral: a qualitative study

Background: Young people are generally reluctant to seek professional help when experiencing problems. However, past experience of services is often cited as increasing the intention to seek help, therefore those with a history of mental health referral may adopt more adaptive help seeking strategies. The current study investigated whether the pattern of different help seeking strategies and barriers to help seeking differed as a function of previous referral history. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 emerging adults (12 males, 17 females); 17 with a history of mental health referral and 12 without and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Overall, those with a referral to services were more likely than those without to rely on avoidant coping, especially techniques that depended upon suppression. This could help account for the increased use of strategies involving self-harm and substances in those with past referral. An exploration of barriers to help seeking showed those with a history of mental health referral were much more likely to self-stigmatise and this became attached to their sense of identity. Conclusions: Emerging adults with a history of referral are more likely to adopt avoidant coping strategies when dealing with problems and self-stigmatise to a greater degree than those without a history of referral. This suggests that current approaches to mental health in emerging adults are not decreasing the sense of stigma with potentially far-reaching consequences for the developing sense of self and choice of help seeking strategie

Advances in human-computer interactions: methods, algorithms, and applications

Editoria

Visual working memory in immersive visualization: a change detection experiment and an image-computable model

Visual working memory (VWM) is a cognitive mechanism essential for interacting with the environment and accomplishing ongoing tasks, as it allows fast processing of visual inputs at the expense of the amount of information that can be stored. A better understanding of its functioning would be beneficial to research fields such as simulation and training in immersive Virtual Reality or information visualization and computer graphics. The current work focuses on the design and implementation of a paradigm for evaluating VWM in immersive visualization and of a novel image-based computational model for mimicking the human behavioral data of VWM. We evaluated the VWM at the variation of four conditions: set size, spatial layout, visual angle (VA) subtending stimuli presentation space, and observation time. We adopted a full factorial design and analysed participants' performances in the change detection experiment. The analysis of hit rates and false alarm rates confirms the existence of a limit of VWM capacity of around 7 & PLUSMN; 2 items, as found in the literature based on the use of 2D videos and images. Only VA and observation time influence performances (p<0.0001). Indeed, with VA enlargement, participants need more time to have a complete overview of the presented stimuli. Moreover, we show that our model has a high level of agreement with the human data, r>0.88 (p<0.05)

Advancements in the Investigation of Vertical Profiles of Thunderstorm Outflows

The dynamic complexity and unpredictability of the occurrence of thunderstorms make it difficult to collect reliable and systematic measurements of this atmospheric phenomenon, which are definitely needed to evaluate its action on structures. The area of the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea is a \u201chot-spot\u201d for the genesis of severe potentially damaging wind phenomena, such as downbursts, whose occurrence in this geographical region is not well documented. In the context of the two European projects \u201cWind and Ports\u201d and \u201cWind, Ports and Sea\u201d, a large and complex wind monitoring network has been installed in this area. Since the years 2014-2015, this network is equipped with three LiDAR profilers which provide vertical scanning of the atmosphere up to 250 m above the ground level. All the wind profiles have been systematically analysed in order to detect the ones that can be referred to thunderstorm events. The aim of this study is to extend a first set of analyses up to mid-2018 to provide a preliminary investigation of the main parameters describing the non-synoptic events and a first classification of thunderstorm events into different subsets

Visualization and Interaction Technologies in Serious and Exergames for Cognitive Assessment and Training: A Survey on Available Solutions and Their Validation

Exergames and serious games, based on standard personal computers, mobile devices and gaming consoles or on novel immersive Virtual and Augmented Reality techniques, have become popular in the last few years and are now applied in various research fields, among which cognitive assessment and training of heterogeneous target populations. Moreover, the adoption of Web based solutions together with the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms could bring countless advantages, both for the patients and the clinical personnel, as allowing the early detection of some pathological conditions, improving the efficacy and adherence to rehabilitation processes, through the personalisation of training sessions, and optimizing the allocation of resources by the healthcare system. The current work proposes a systematic survey of existing solutions in the field of cognitive assessment and training. We evaluate the visualization and interaction technologies commonly adopted and the measures taken to fulfil the need of the pathological target populations. Moreover, we analyze how implemented solutions are validated, i.e. The chosen experimental designs, data collection and analysis. Finally, we consider the availability of the applications and raw data to the large community of researchers and medical professionals and the actual application of proposed solutions in the standard clinical practice. Despite the potential of these technologies, research is still at an early stage. Although the recent release of accessible immersive virtual reality headsets and the increasing interest on vision-based techniques for tracking body and hands movements, many studies still rely on non-immersive virtual reality (67.2%), mainly mobile and personal computers, and standard gaming tools for interactions (41.5%). Finally, we highlight that although the interest of research community in this field is increasingly higher, the sharing of dataset (10.6%) and implemented applications (3.8%) should be promoted and the number of healthcare structures which have successfully introduced the new technological approaches in the treatment of their host patients is limited (10.2%)