Stories of courage in a group of adults with Substance Use Disorder

The treatment for drug addiction is considered a difficult path for the most of patients. As matter of fact, individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) experience numerous challenges before, during and after the treatment (e.g. tackling an unpredictable, uncertain and paradoxically negative future, tackling the anxiety and anticipatory fear of physical pain associated with abstinence; decide to go beyond self-justification and self-deception). Courage could be considered a positive and functional resource to help people with SUD to face challenges and difficulties related to treatment. In connection therewith, the aim of this study was to examine, using an embedded mix method analysis, the personal stories of courage of 80 individuals with SUD in order to identify the themes and types of courage used in their life. The analysis carried out showed that individuals with SUD reported more frequently stories of courage related to their SUD condition respect to other life situation. Moreover, the quantitative analysis showed that participants used more frequently psychological courage respect to moral and physical courage when these stories were referred to their SUD condition then other life situations

Photospheric and coronal abundances in solar-type stars: the peculiar case of Tau Bootis

Chemical abundances in solar-type stars are a much debated topic. Planet-hosting stars are known to be metal-rich, but whether or not this peculiarity applies also to the chemical composition of the outer stellar atmospheres is still to be clarified. More in general, coronal and photospheric abundances in late-type stars appear to be different in many cases, but understanding how chemical stratification effects work in stellar atmospheres requires an observational base larger than currently available. We obtained XMM-Newton high-resolution X-ray spectra of Tau Bootis, a well known nearby star with a Jovian-mass close-in planet. We analyzed these data with the aim to perform a detailed line-based emission measure analysis and derive the abundances of individual elements in the corona with two different methods applied independently. We compared the coronal abundances of Tau Bootis with published photospheric abundances based on high-resolution optical spectra and with those of other late-type stars with different magnetic activity levels, including the Sun. We find that the two methods provide consistent results within the statistical uncertainties for both the emission measure distribution of the hot plasma and for the coronal abundances, with discrepancies at the 2-sigma level limited to the amount of plasma at temperatures of 3-4 MK and to the O and Ni abundances. In both cases, the elements for which both coronal and photospheric measurements are available (C, N, O, Si, Fe, and Ni) result systematically less abundant in the corona by a factor 3 or more, with the exception of the coronal Ni abundance, which is similar to the photospheric value. Comparison with other late-type stars of similar activity level shows that these coronal/photospheric abundance ratios are peculiar to Tau Bootis and possibly related to the characteristic over-metallicity of this planet-hosting star.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. A&A, in press. Language-edited version, one reference update

Coronal properties of active G-type stars in different evolutionary phases

We report on the analysis of XMM-Newton observations of three G-type stars in very different evolutionary phases: the "weak-line" T Tauri star HD 283572, the Zero Age Main Sequence star EK Dra and the Hertzsprung-gap giant star 31 Corn. The X-ray luminosities of the three stars are all in the range 10(30) - 10(31) erg/s. We compare the Emission Measure Distributions of these bright sources, derived from high-resolution X-ray spectra, as well as the pattern of elemental abundances vs. First Ionization Potential (FIP). The results of our analysis suggest that the coronae of these stars are very similar in terms of dominant coronal magnetic structures, in spite of differences in their evolutionary phases, surface gravities and metallicities

Deep transfer learning for machine diagnosis: From sound and music recognition to bearing fault detection

Today’s deep learning strategies require ever‐increasing computational efforts and demand for very large amounts of labelled data. Providing such expensive resources for machine diagnosis is highly challenging. Transfer learning recently emerged as a valuable approach to address these issues. Thus, the knowledge learned by deep architectures in different scenarios can be reused for the purpose of machine diagnosis, minimizing data collecting efforts. Existing research provides evidence that networks pre‐trained for image recognition can classify machine vibrations in the time‐frequency domain by means of transfer learning. So far, however, there has been little discussion about the potentials included in networks pre‐trained for sound recognition, which are inherently suited for time‐frequency tasks. This work argues that deep architectures trained for music recognition and sound detection can perform machine diagnosis. The YAMNet convolutional network was designed to serve extremely efficient mobile applications for sound detection, and it was originally trained on millions of data extracted from YouTube clips. That framework is employed to detect bearing faults for the CWRU dataset. It is shown that transferring knowledge from sound and music recognition to bearing fault detection is successful. The maximum accuracy is achieved using a few hundred data for fine‐tuning the fault diagnosis model

Effects of heat stress on reproductive activity in dairy cows bred in the Potenza district

The effect of heat stress on the reproductive performance in dairy cows reared in Apennines areas of Southern Italy was evaluated. Reproductive parameters obtained from three farms during the period 2007-2012 were related to either season variations or the temperature-humidity index (THI), i.e., a complex climate parameter obtained by the maximum temperature and minimum relative humidity. The THI was able to assess the HS effects on parameters as conception rate on an annual basis (CRY) (R=-0.437; P <0.01) but was less efficient for parameters as the conception rate (CR). Whereas (i) CRY is influenced by both heat detection rate (HDR) and CR; (ii) an indirect analysis detected a significant (P< 0.001) reduction in the HDR along with THI increase; and (iii) CR was only partially affected by either THI or season, it follows that the main cause of reduced fertility in the farms surveyed was the HDR. The number of days open was significantly larger in the animals calved from January to July than in those calved between August and December (163±33 vs 123±36; P< 0.001); this increase may be because of the rescue of reproduction activity in the cows calved during the former period coincides with heat stress occurrence

Relationship between comprehensive geriatric assessment and amyloid PET in older persons with MCI

Background: The association between amyloid deposition and cognitive, behavioral and physical performance in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been poorly investigated, especially in older persons. Methods: We studied the in vivo correlation between the amyloid deposition at Positron Emission Tomography (amyloid-PET) and the presence of memory loss, reduced executive function, neuropsychiatric symptoms and physical performance in older persons with MCI. Amyloid-PET was performed with 18F-flutemetamol and quantitatively analyzed. Results: We evaluated 48 subjects, 21 men and 27 women. We performed in each patient a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) including Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), Activity Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL), Neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) questionnaire, 15 Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and Hand Grip strength. Then, each patient underwent amyloid-PET. Mean age of the enrolled subjects was 74.6 ± 7.8 years. All of these subjects showed preserved cognitive function at MMSE &gt; 24, while 29 of 48 subjects (61.0%) had altered CDT. Mean NPI score was 6.9 ± 5.9. The mean value of SPPB score was 9.0 ± 2.6, while the average muscle strength of the upper extremities measured by hand grip was 25.6 ± 7.7 Kg. CT/MRI images showed cortical atrophic changes in 26 of the 48 examined subjects (54.0%), while cerebrovascular modifications were present in 31 subjects (64.5%). Pathological burden of amyloid deposits was detected in 25 of 48 (52.0%) patients with a mean value of global z-score of 2.8 (subjects defined as MCI due to AD). After stratifying subjects in subclasses of clinical alterations, more probability of pathological amyloid deposition was found in subjects with impaired CDT and higher NPI score (O.R. = 3.45 [1.01–11.2], p = 0.04), with both impaired CDT and low physical performance (O.R. = 5.80 [1.04–32.2], p = 0.04), with altered CDT and high NPI score (O.R. = 7.98 [1.38–46.0], p = 0.02), and finally in those subjects with altered CDT, high NPI and low physical performance (O.R. = 5.80 [1.05–32.2], p = 0.04). Conclusion: Our findings support the recent hypothesis that amyloid deposition could be associated with multiple cerebral dysfunction, mainly affecting executive, behavioral and motor abilities

Libraries in Medical Education (LIME): A Special Interest Group of NEGEA

Purpose: Health science librarians play key roles in medical education by providing curriculum-integrated information skills instruction; by assisting faculty with research; by purchasing and maintaining collections of information resources; by participating in the development of standards and guidelines for educational outcomes; and by creating and managing libraries conducive to education. A group of medical librarians from northeastern medical schools proposed Libraries in Medical Education (LIME) Special Interest Group (SIG) to benefit all NEGEA (Northeast Group on Educational Affairs) members. The SIG will promote communication and collaboration between librarians and NEGEA members on research and curricular initiatives; enhance librarians knowledge and skills of current trends and issues of interest to the medical education community; recognize librarians as valued components of the medical education team; and increase the professional knowledge and skills of NEGEA members through programming delivered at annual meetings by librarians. Methods: In 2006, medical librarians drafted and submitted a proposal to become an official LIME SIG. Librarians have successfully implemented special interest groups within professional organizations. The Libraries in Medical Education SIG instituted within the Central Group on Education Affairs and the active Libraries/Educational Resources Section of American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) served as models. Results: In 2007, the LIME was officially accepted by NEGEA as a special interest group. Conclusion: An enthusiastic LIME-SIG group looks forward to an exciting future of collaboration. Presented at the Northeast Group for Educational Affairs Annual Educational Retreat held in Stony Brook, NY, on June 8, 2007

Optical spectroscopy of X-ray sources in the Taurus molecular cloud: discovery of ten new pre-main sequence stars

We have analyzed optical spectra of 25 X-ray sources identified as potential new members of the Taurus molecular cloud (TMC), in order to confirm their membership in this SFR. Fifty-seven candidates were previously selected among the X-ray sources in the XEST survey, having a 2MASS counterpart compatible with a PMS star based on color-magnitude and color-color diagrams. We obtained high-resolution optical spectra for 7 of these candidates with the SARG spectrograph at the TNG telescope, which were used to search for Li absorption and to measure the Ha line and the radial and rotational velocities; 18 low-resolution optical spectra obtained with DOLORES for other candidate members were used for spectral classification, for Ha measurements, and to assess membership together with IR color-color and color-magnitude diagrams and additional information from the X-ray data. We found that 3 sources show Li absorption, with equivalent widths of ~500 mA, broad spectral line profiles, indicating v sin i ~20-40 km/s, radial velocities consistent with those for known members, and Ha emission. Two of them are classified as new WTTSs, while the EW (~ -9 Ang) of the Ha line and its broad asymmetric profile clearly indicate that the third star (XEST-26-062) is a CTTS. Fourteen sources observed with DOLORES are M-type stars. Fifteen sources show Ha emission; 6 of them have spectra that indicate surface gravity lower than in MS stars, and their de-reddened positions in IR color-magnitude diagrams are consistent with their derived spectral type and with PMS models at the distance of the TMC. The K-type star XEST-11-078 is confirmed as a new member from the strength of its Ha emission line. Overall, we confirm membership to the TMC for 10 out of 25 X-ray sources observed in the optical. Three sources remain uncertain.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic

Schoolyard Microclimate

The natural world exhibits substantial variation in climate, which influences the distribution, reproductive success, and survival of plants and animals. Although students are aware of weather, their understanding of climate is typically less clear, especially the concept of microclimate-the climate of a specific place within an area as contrasted with the climate of the entire area. Microclimate can influence where birds place their nests (Lloyd and Martin 2004), where insects reside (Lorenzo and Lazzari 1999), and where plants successfully germinate (Tomimatsu and Ohara 2004). Therefore, microclimate can have a profound effect on local community structure and biodiversity, particularly on plants, which are unable to move and thus often limited by local environmental conditions

Envelope analysis applied to non-Hertzian contact simulations in damaged roller bearings

In the latest years many researcher focused on the possibility to foresee the failure of a mechanical system in the early stages in order to allow quick response times. Monitoring and diagnostics are at the base of those methodologies of predictive maintenance, which represents the standard for companies. Data acquired by monitoring systems are sometimes not sufficient to perform an effective diagnosis and to detect failures. In the present work the possibility of a defining a relation between the response of a system and the dimension of a defect causing the vibration is explored. Through a non-Hertzian contact model a roller bearing is studied and a correlation is sought between the size of the defect and the frequency content of the contact pressure time history. Resorting to a non-Hertzian approach enables the determination with good accuracy of the overpressures due to edge effects caused by the sudden change in curvature in presence of a defect. The estimation of the pressure variation can be used to estimate the amplitude of the harmonic content exciting the bearing during operation. Using algorithms for the signal analysis already assessed in the literature, in particular the envelope method, an in-depth analysis of the harmonic content of the signal to consider is possible. The possibility of building a correlation between the load and the size of the defect which might help to identify the dimension of a damage from the estimated frequency content. It is then possible to identify the presence and nature of the defect, allowing an early diagnosis of the failure