Self-mention and uncertain communication in the British Medical Journal (1840\u20132007): The decrease of subjectivity uncertainty markers

The communication of a scientific finding as certain or uncertain largely determines whether that information will be translated into practice. In this study, a corpus of 80 articles published in the British Medical Journal for over 167 years (1840\u20132007) is analysed by focusing on three categories of uncertainty markers, which explicitly reveal a writer\u2019s subjectivity: (1) I/we epistemic verbs; (2) I/we modal verbs; and (3) epistemic non-verbs conveying personal opinions. The quantitative analysis shows their progressive decrease over time, which can be due to several variables, including the evolution of medical knowledge and practice, changes in medical research and within the scientific community, and more stringent guidelines for the scientific writing (regarding types of articles, their structure and rhetorical style)

Negotiating Narrative: Dialogic Dynamics of Known, Unknown and Believed in Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows

Abstract presentato al Convegno \u201cDialogue Analysis: Literature as Dialogue\u201d, 14th Conference of the International Association for Dialogue Analysis, 2nd - 4th April 2012, \uc5bo Akademi University, Turku, Finlan

Unveiling the biodiversity of deep-sea nematodes through metabarcoding: Are we ready to bypass the classical taxonomy?

Nematodes inhabiting benthic deep-sea ecosystems account for >90% of the total metazoan abundances and they have been hypothesised to be hyper-diverse, but their biodiversity is still largely unknown. Metabarcoding could facilitate the census of biodiversity, especially for those tiny metazoans for which morphological identification is difficult. We compared, for the first time, different DNA extraction procedures based on the use of two commercial kits and a previously published laboratory protocol and tested their suitability for sequencing analyses of 18S rDNA of marine nematodes. We also investigated the reliability of Roche 454 sequencing analyses for assessing the biodiversity of deep-sea nematode assemblages previously morphologically identified. Finally, intra-genomic variation in 18S rRNA gene repeats was investigated by Illumina MiSeq in different deep-sea nematode morphospecies to assess the influence of polymorphisms on nematode biodiversity estimates. Our results indicate that the two commercial kits should be preferred for the molecular analysis of biodiversity of deep-sea nematodes since they consistently provide amplifiable DNA suitable for sequencing. We report that the morphological identification of deep-sea nematodes matches the results obtained by metabarcoding analysis only at the order-family level and that a large portion of Operational Clustered Taxonomic Units (OCTUs) was not assigned. We also show that independently from the cut-off criteria and bioinformatic pipelines used, the number of OCTUs largely exceeds the number of individuals and that 18S rRNA gene of different morpho-species of nematodes displayed intragenomic polymorphisms. Our results indicate that metabarcoding is an important tool to explore the diversity of deep-sea nematodes, but still fails in identifying most of the species due to limited number of sequences deposited in the public databases, and in providing quantitative data on the species encountered. These aspects should be carefully taken into account before using metabarcoding in quantitative ecological research and monitoring programmes of marine biodiversity

D-Brane Wess-Zumino Terms and U-Duality

We construct gauge-invariant and U-duality covariant expressions for Wess-Zumino terms corresponding to general Dp-branes (for any p<D) in arbitrary 2<D<11 dimensions. A distinguishing feature of these Wess-Zumino terms is that they contain twice as many scalars as the 10-D compactified dimensions, in line with doubled geometry. We find that for D<10 the charges of the higher-dimensional branes can all be expressed as products of the 0-brane charges, which include the D0-brane and the NS-NS 0-brane charges. We give the general expressions for these charges and show how they determine the non-trivial conjugacy class to which some of the higher-dimensional D-branes belong.Comment: 42 pages. Typos corrected, an error in table 6 corrected, comments in the conclusions adde

The third transitional Identity of migrant adolescents. The case of Hotel House an Italian multi-ethnic skyscraper-ghetto

The adolescent\u2019s identity achievement is a complex task, even more so if they are migrants living in a particular context of ethnic ghettoization. Hotel House is an enormous, isolated condominium situated on the outskirts of Porto Recanati, a small Italian town. It is a unique reality poorly studied from a social psychological perspective. The present paper aims to measure the perceived levels of self-concept clarity, self-determination, ethnic group identification, relationship with parents, depression and life satisfaction in a group of 91 adolescents (11\u201319 years; 30% females; 1.5 immigrant\u2019s generation) living in this context. The analysis shows low levels of self-concept clarity and self-determination, especially in female adolescents, quite satisfactory relationships with their parents and medium levels of group identification and life satisfaction. The identification with their ethnic subgroups seems to provide a third transitional identity which works as a temporary link between native country values and host country values. The regression analysis shows significant associations: self-determination is negatively associated with depression and positively associated with the perception of life satisfaction; the father\u2019s closeness is a negative predictor for depression and a positive predictor for life satisfaction; mother\u2019s closeness is negatively associated with depression

\u201cOld Wine in a New Bottle\u201d. Depression and Romantic Relationships in Italian Emerging Adulthood: The Moderating Effect of Gender

Intimate partner violence is an important social issue all over the world, and human sciences, in particular, are working to reduce it. Despite this, the topic is a little recognized phenomenon. Understanding the origins and the variables that have an impact on manic-style romantic relationships, as defined by John Alan Lee, is of primary importance, in particular in Italy where the data reveal alarming statistics. Most studies have not controlled for earlier depressive symptoms as a cause of successive depression or as an antecedent of romantic styles. In our study, we investigate the association between depression and romantic style, trying to test the moderating role of the gender variable in 283 Italian emerging adults (139 women and 144 men). In order to achieve this aim, we performed a multigroup structural equation model analysis. The hypothesis that gender moderates the relationship between depression and romantic styles is still yet to be confirmed. Men with high levels of depression do not seem to be able to establish relationships based on commitment, as required by the eros style. Women with high levels of depression are more frequently involved in possessive and demanding relationships or in pragmatic ones, confirming their need for dependence

Metabarcoding protocol: Analysis of protists using the 18S rRNA gene and a DADA2 pipeline (Version 1)

This protocol has been prepared as part of the Interreg Alpine Space project Eco-AlpsWater (ASP569) - Innovative Ecological Assessment and Water Management Strategy for the Protection of Ecosystem Services in Alpine Lakes and Rivers, Activity A.T1.3, Deliverable D.T1.3.2 – 2, https://www.alpine-space.eu/projects/eco-alpswater/en/hom