Landolfi’s Phobias: Fear and the Fantastic in the Stories of Tommaso Landolfi

La paura ha sempre giocato un ruolo importante nella letteratura fantastica. Nel Gotico ottocentesco e nei film d'orrore contemporanei è un elemento necessario alla catarsi finale e alla sconfitta del Male. L’opera di Tommaso Landolfi (1908-1979) è difficile da categorizzare; raccogliendo in sé qualità sia moderniste che postmoderniste, viene ad assumere un carattere che è essenzialmente sui generis. Nei suoi racconti esplora un ulteriore aspetto della paura, come angoscia esistenziale o fobia di una realtà non più conoscibile. Questo articolo esamina i meccanismi della paura come tema fondamentale nelle opere di Landolfi, innanzitutto come parte inevitabile della tragedia dellacondizione umana ma anche, paradossalmente, come forza  creatrice che gli permette di scrivere

Implementation and perceived benefits of an after-school soccer program designed to promote social and emotional learning: A multiple case study

Social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies such as self-awareness and relationship skills are predictors of academic success, overall well-being, and avoidance of problematic behaviors. Among school-aged children, research has demonstrated that well-implemented programs teach SEL competencies and life skills (e.g., leadership, responsible decision making) that can transfer to other settings. Similar claims have been made in the field of sport-based youth development (SBYD), however, the SEL framework has not been widely applied in sport programming. Implementation, student learning, and transfer of learning in SBYD programs designed to promote SEL require further exploration. Therefore, the current study examined the implementation and perceived benefits of an after-school soccer program designed to promote SEL. Participants were six coaches and 51 students from three different sites where this program is offered. A multiple case study design was used, integrating data from customized feedback surveys, interviews, systematic observation, and field notes. Results indicated the program reflects many SBYD best practices. Although implementation varied between sites, program culture and core values were consistent. Evidence indicated students learned and applied SEL lessons in the soccer program and that transfer beyond the program was promoted. Participants were most likely to report transfer to the school setting, therefore, future studies should examine this topic more directly. Other implications for research and program implementation are discussed

Eradicating the “Fear Environment” in Education That Threatens Free Speech and Emboldens Sexual Discrimination

This Article proposes a new conception of sexual harassment that melds the insight of social science with the parameters of sexual harassment established through the Dueling Title IX Conceptions of sexual harassment. This Fear Environment Conception of sexual harassment defines sexual harassing speech as: Speech that creates an environment of fear that interferes with the educational experience of students by causing a reasonable student to believe that (1) they will face similar threats in the future that (2) they cannot avoid, based on the (3) perceived harmful intent of the speaker. This Fear Environment Conception focuses on the education interference that Dueling Title IX Conceptions of sexual harassment identify as the root harm of sexual harassment while utilizing social science to target the fear that creates this education interference. It also uses the critical features of both Dueling Title IX Conceptions of sexual harassment. As with the Hostile Environment Conception, the Fear Environment Conception also assesses speech based on the environment it creates to target speech that produces a harmful educational environment. As with the Objectively Offensive Conception, the Fear Environment Conception creates an objective standard by assessing speech from a reasonable person’s perspective. However, the Fear Environment Conception eliminates the ambiguity that plagues both Dueling Title IX Conceptions by utilizing social science to identify the specific features of speech that cause the fear that leads to education interference and, therefore, the harm associated with sexual harassment. To establish the Fear Environment Conception of sexual harassment, Part II of this Article provides a detailed analysis of the various definitions of sexual harassment offered by Title IX. Part III of this Article discusses the social science research regarding sexual harassment, which demonstrates that fear is the key feature that distinguishes harmful sexual harassment from provocative speech that educational institutions must protect. Finally, Part IV establishes the Fear Environment Conception of sexual harassment that utilizes social science to define sexual harassment based on the fear that creates education interference. Through this Fear Environment Conception, educational institutions will be able to eliminate the culture of fear created when the line between free speech and sexual harassment is blurred. Specifically, it will avoid the overbroad definition of sexual harassment that creates a culture of fear in which students are afraid to express their beliefs. At the same time, it will protect against the culture of fear that arises when educational institutions fail to eliminate the nefarious forms of sexual harassment. Instead, this Fear Environment Conception will enable educational institutions to create a culture of interaction where students are free to express their beliefs and opinions without fear of sexual harassment or speech limits

EXAMINING GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH OUTCOMES OF SEXUAL MINORITY YOUTH

Sexual minority youth (SMY) are a population vulnerable to behavioral health challenges. While behavioral health disparities between SMY and heterosexual youth are well documented, less attention has been given to how such disparities vary geographically. The aim of this study is to begin to fill this gap by using a national dataset to examine how behavioral health disparities between SMY and heterosexual youth vary by geography. Understanding how SMY’s experiences vary by location will allow social workers to better allocate resources. Secondary data analysis of cross-sectional data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study was conducted to examine the relationship between sexual identity, mental and behavioral health outcomes, and geographic region among youth. The survey data, collected between 2018 and 2019, comes from youth ages 14-17 (N=8,886). Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis was conducted. Results showed SMY were significantly more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, and trauma, and to rate their mental health as worse compared to a year ago than non-SMY. SMY were also significantly more likely struggle with substance use than non-SMY. Geographic region had no relationship with the mental health outcomes of youth who identified as a sexual minority, and little relationship with their behavioral health outcomes. Future research with more precise measures of geographic factors may better capture the influence of geographic location on SMY’s mental and behavioral health outcomes

Parvovirus B19 infection in pediatric transplant patients

Evidence of recent parvovirus virus infection (as determined by the presence of a positive IgM antibody titer) without other identified causes of anemia was found in 5 of 26 pediatric solid-organ transplant recipients evaluated for moderate-to-severe anemia between June 1990 and July 1991. Anemia tended to be chronic (median duration of anemia at the time of diagnosis was 12 weeks) and was associated with normal red blood cell indices in the absence of reticulocytes. The median age of the children at the time of presentation with anemia due to parvovirus was 1.8 years at a median time of 8 months after transplantation. Four of the 5 children were treated with i.v. immunoglobulin because of persistance of anemia requiring blood transfusions. A response characterized by an increase in reticulocyte count and normalization of hemoglobin was seen in each of these patients 2-4 weeks after treatment. The remaining patient experienced a spontaneous recovery from her anemia. Parvovirus infection should be included in the differential diagnosis of solid-organ transplant recipients presenting with severe anemia associated with low or absent reticulocytes

Born too soon: preterm birth in Europe trends, causes and prevention

It is estimated that 15 million babies annually are born too soon, which is before 37 completed weeks of gestation and that this number is rising (1). Complications of preterm birth are the leading cause of death among children less than 5 years of age and this accounted for nearly one million preventable deaths in 2013 (1). The United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 targeted a two-thirds’ reduction of under five deaths by 2015 and recommended interventions to prevent preterm birth and to improve survival for preterm newborns (2). While infant and maternal mortality rates have witnessed some improvements, the burden of mortality and morbidity in the perinatal period remains a major concern (3). This is due in part to the high number of births per year, the young age of the maternal and infant population harmed by adverse perinatal events and the long-term sequelae of adverse pregnancy events such as very preterm birth or severe hypoxia (4)

Worldsheet Form Factors in AdS/CFT

We formulate a set of consistency conditions appropriate to worldsheet form factors in the massive, integrable but non-relativistic, light-cone gauge fixed AdS(5) x S**5 string theory. We then perturbatively verify that these conditions hold, at tree level in the near-plane-wave limit and to one loop in the near-flat (Maldacena-Swanson) limit, for a number of specific cases. We further study the form factors in the weakly coupled dual description, verifying that the relevant conditions naturally hold for the one-loop Heisenberg spin-chain. Finally, we note that the near-plane-wave expressions for the form factors, when further expanded in small momentum or, equivalently, large charge density, reproduce the thermodynamic limit of the spin-chain results at leading order.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, v3: typos fixed, improved discussion of bound states and bound state axio

EEG Source Imaging Indices of Cognitive Control Show Associations with Dopamine System Genes.

Cognitive or executive control is a critical mental ability, an important marker of mental illness, and among the most heritable of neurocognitive traits. Two candidate genes, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and DRD4, which both have a roles in the regulation of cortical dopamine, have been consistently associated with cognitive control. Here, we predicted that individuals with the COMT Met/Met allele would show improved response execution and inhibition as indexed by event-related potentials in a Go/NoGo task, while individuals with the DRD4 7-repeat allele would show impaired brain activity. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to separate brain source processes contributing to high-density EEG scalp signals recorded during the task. As expected, individuals with the DRD4 7-repeat polymorphism had reduced parietal P3 source and scalp responses to response (Go) compared to those without the 7-repeat. Contrary to our expectation, the COMT homozygous Met allele was associated with a smaller frontal P3 source and scalp response to response-inhibition (NoGo) stimuli, suggesting that while more dopamine in frontal cortical areas has advantages in some tasks, it may also compromise response inhibition function. An interaction effect emerged for P3 source responses to Go stimuli. These were reduced in those with both the 7-repeat DRD4 allele and either the COMT Val/Val or the Met/Met homozygous polymorphisms but not in those with the heterozygous Val/Met polymorphism. This epistatic interaction between DRD4 and COMT replicates findings that too little or too much dopamine impairs cognitive control. The anatomic and functional separated maximally independent cortical EEG sources proved more informative than scalp channel measures for genetic studies of brain function and thus better elucidate the complex mechanisms in psychiatric illness

Limitations of web-based rubric resources: Addressing the challenges

As a wider variety of meaningful assessment strategies come into more prominent classroom use, teachers are called upon to craft scoring rubrics which validly and reliably assess students\u27 knowledge and abilities. The creation of instructionally sound rubrics can be time consuming, and many teachers feeling the pinch of time pressures are turning to rubric resources from the World Wide Web for assistance. The purposes of this paper are to review the issues surrounding the creation of instructionally sound rubrics, to examine how those issues apply to online rubric banks and rubric generators, and to offer guidelines for how educators can use online resources to best support the creation of meaningful and effective rubrics. Accessed 19,599 times on https://pareonline.net from March 07, 2006 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Eliminating ambiguities for quantum corrections to strings moving in AdS4×CP3AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3

We apply a physical principle, previously used to eliminate ambiguities in quantum corrections to the 2 dimensional kink, to the case of spinning strings moving in $AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$, thought of as another kind of two dimensional soliton. We find that this eliminates the ambiguities and selects the result compatible with AdS/CFT, providing a solid foundation for one of the previous calculations, which found agreement. The method can be applied to other classical string "solitons".Comment: 18 pages, latex; references added, comments added at end of section 4, a few words changed; footnote added on page 1