La manipolazione mentale nei gruppi distruttivi

Scopo di questo lavoro è descrivere i meccanismi di manipolazione mentale utilizzati dai leader di gruppi distruttivi per sottomettere gli adepti e creare in loro uno stato permanente di dipendenza dal leader del gruppo. La motivazione che spinge i manipolatori è principalmente il potere e, attraverso il dominio, vengono soddisfatti anche obiettivi economici o sessuali. I manipolatori mentali si avvalgono di tecniche quali la persuasione, la suggestione e l’ipnosi per creare un canale di comunicazione privilegiato, all’interno di una relazione fortemente asimmetrica, che consenta al pensiero ed alle idee del leader di penetrare ed essere accolte con facilità nella mente degli adepti. In questo lavoro sono descritte le caratteristiche del leader, la personalità degli adepti, le tattiche di adescamento, le strategie per agire sugli stati di coscienza e sull’identità dei membri e gli indicatori rilevabili in persone manipolate. Al termine saranno effettuate alcune considerazioni su possibili azioni di prevenzione e cura. L’objectif de cet article est de décrire les mécanismes de manipulation mentale utilisés par les leaders des groupes destructifs pour soumettre les adeptes et pour créer chez eux un état permanent de dépendance. La motivation qui pousse les manipulateurs à agir est principalement le pouvoir et, par la domination, ils veulent réaliser des objectifs économiques et sexuels. Les manipulateurs mentaux se servent des techniques telles que la persuasion, la suggestion et l’hypnose pour créer un canal de communication privilégié, dans une relation fortement asymétrique, qui permet aux pensées du leader de pénétrer dans l’esprit des adeptes. Cet article décrit les caractéristiques du leader, la personnalité des adeptes, les stratégies de séduction, les tactiques pour agir sur les états de conscience et sur l’identité des membres ainsi que les indicateurs qu’on peut observer chez les personnes manipulées. Pour conclure, uméquelques considérations sont faites sur les actions de prévention et de traitement possibles des victimes. The aim of this paper is to describe the mechanisms of psychological manipulation used by leaders of destructive groups in order to submit adepts and create a permanent state of dependence from them. When members are captured in a destructive group, satanic or pseudo-religious sect, or psycho sects or similar groups, leaders will work on their minds in order to reduce their autonomy and their willing, so they can be totally subdued. The main motivation is power and, by power, leaders can also reach sexual and economic goals. Mental manipulators use techniques as persuasion, suggestion and hypnosis in order to create a facilitated channel of communication, in an asymmetric relation, that allows leader’s ideas to easily be accepted into adepts’ minds. This paper will describe leaders’ characteristics, adepts’ personality, enticement’s tactics, strategies to influence consciousness and identity of members, and indicators that can be observed in someone who are be manipulated. Finally, some consideration on operative implications and prevention strategies will be discussed

The 'petite negative' yeast Kluyveromyces lactis has a single gene expressing pyruvate decarboxylase activity

We cloned and sequenced the pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC; EC 4.1.1.1) structural gene KlPDCA in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis and found it to be allelic to the previously isolated rag6 mutation. The putative amino acid sequence of the KlPdcAp appeared to be highly homologous to those of the yeast Pdc proteins identified so far. The disruption of KIPDCA indicated that it is the only PDC structural gene in K. lactis, as evidenced by the lack of PDC activity and ethanol production in the pdcAdelta strains and by the absence of growth on glucose in the presence of respiratory inhibitors. It was observed that expression of the KlPDCA gene is induced by glucose at the transcriptional level. Transcription of the gene was reduced in the ragl, rag2, rag5 and rag8 mutants, which are defective for the low-affinity glucose permease, phosphoglucose isomerase, hexokinase, and a positive regulator of RAG1 expression, respectively

Tecniche di rilievo 3D in territori complessi con zone ad elevato rischio idrogeologico. Condivisione in rete di dataset ad alta risoluzione (derivati da dati LiDAR)

Uno dei principali effetti indotti dai cambiamenti climatici osservabili nel territorio nazionale è la localizzazione di fenomeni meteorologici di eccezionale intensità in aree ristrette. Accade che disastri naturali (quali alluvioni e inondazioni) stiano assumendo in molte zone d’Italia – ma non solo – una periodicità assai più elevata rispetto al passato. Il contributo descrive una prima applicazione di condivisione in rete di dataset ad alta risoluzione (derivati da dati LiDAR) impiegata in aree di studio della Regione Veneto caratterizzate da un significativo rischio idrogeologico, nonché dai conseguenti dissesti territoriali. Nello specifico la ricerca propone una nuova modalità di gestione di dati 3D (nuvole di punti, mesh …), di trasmissione e di visualizzazione degli stessi via internet. Si ritiene che tale tecnologia possa essere considerata uno strumento di rapido supporto alle decisioni e al tempo stesso di archiviazione e consultazione ex post dei dati raccolti in fase critica. Il valore aggiunto desumibile dal primo caso test delle provincie di Verona e Vicenza (cfr. esondazioni dei Torrenti Tramigna, Alpone, Aldegà e Chiampo del 2010) risiede nella rapidità di integrazione tra il rilievo 3D dell’area oggetto dell’evento calamitoso e i diversi livelli informativi disponibili.One of the main consequences of climate changes in Italy is the occurrence of meteorological phenomena of outstanding intensity in small areas. In many of them natural disasters (floods and flash floods, for instance) are becoming more frequent. The paper aims at describing a first attempt to apply a high resolution dataset web sharing tool (using LiDAR data) to case study areas located in the Veneto region. Such areas are characterized by a high hydrogeological risk and by territorial instability. Our research suggests a new way of managing 3D data (point clouds, mesh..) as well as of transmitting and visualizing them via internet. Such a technology represents a flexible tool allowing to rapidly support decisions and store/consult ex-post data obtained in crucial phases of the phenomena studied. Our research provides a general and enabling methodology for a rapid integration of 3D surveys of areas involved in disasters (in our case the one hit by the autumn 2010 floods caused by the Torrenti Tramigna, Alpone, Aldegà and Chiampo) and different available layers. The added value of our proposal, gathered from the first tests carried out on the Provinces of Verona and Vicenza, lies in this and in the quick interrogation of data and interactions

L’identikit: come si aiuta un testimone a ricordare

The identification of the author of a crime is a major objective of the Criminal Police. Amongst tools and procedures to achieve this result, identikit has entered the collective imagination as the police practice that allows a designer to draw the facial features of an offender basing on a witness’s memories. The purpose of this paper is to describe the psychological processes involved in collecting testimony during the construction of an identikit, in order to suggest an interview procedure that allows operators to put at ease the witness (or victim) and to facilitate the memories, avoiding interrogative suggestion. The functioning of some processes such as memory, attention, perception, face perception, indeed, affect the formation and recollection of memory, in every phase of face composition, from the moment when the track is formed during the crime, till this trace needs to be recovered from the memory, during the identikit realization. The procedure to be proposed is based on Karen Taylor’s interview protocol for faces composition, elaborated by the authors in order to adapt it to the reality of Italian culture. The interview, applicable if dedicated software is utilized as well as if images are realized by the freehand drawing, was constructed by linking the practice with scientific data, which are the foundation of procedural suggestions.L’identificazione dell’autore di un reato è uno dei principali obiettivi della Polizia Giudiziaria. Nel panorama degli strumenti e delle procedure per giungere a tale risultato, l’identikit è entrato nell’immaginario collettivo come quella pratica di Polizia che, sulla base del ricordo di un testimone, consente a un disegnatore di tracciare le caratteristiche del volto dell’autore di un reato. Scopo di questo lavoro è descrivere i processi psicologici implicati nella raccolta testimoniale durante la realizzazione di un identikit, al fine di suggerire una procedura d’intervista che consenta agli operatori di mettere a proprio agio il testimone o la vittima e facilitarne il ricordo senza introdurre elementi suggestivi.Il funzionamento di alcuni processi quali memoria, attenzione, percezione, percezione dei volti, infatti, influisce sulla formazione e rievocazione del ricordo, nei vari momenti del percorso di composizione del volto, dall’attimo in cui si forma la traccia, durante il crimine, a quando questa traccia deve essere recuperata dalla memoria, durante la realizzazione dell’identikit. La procedura che si intende proporre si basa sul protocollo di intervista per la composizione dei volti di Karen Taylor, artista forense che ha collaborato con diverse Polizie Statunitensi, rielaborata dagli Autori al fine di adattarla alla realtà culturale italiana. L’intervista, applicabile sia qualora ci si avvalga di software dedicati, sia che si realizzi l’immagine con il disegno a mano libera, è stata costruita mettendo in relazione la prassi operativa con i dati scientifici, che rappresentano il fondamento dei suggerimenti procedurali

Ground deformation and source geometry of the 30 October 2016 Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake (Central Italy) investigated through seismological data, DInSAR measurements, and numerical modelling

We investigate the Mw 6.5 Norcia (Central Italy) earthquake by exploiting seismological data, DInSAR measurements, and a numerical modelling approach. In particular, we first retrieve the vertical component (uplift and subsidence) of the displacements affecting the hangingwall and the footwall blocks of the seismogenic faults identified, at depth, through the hypocenters distribution analysis. To do this, we combine the DInSAR measurements obtained from coseismic SAR data pairs collected by the ALOS-2 sensor from ascending and descending orbits. The achieved vertical deformation map displays three main deformation patterns: (i) a major subsidence that reaches the maximum value of about 98 cm near the epicentral zones nearby the town of Norcia; (ii) two smaller uplift lobes that affect both the hangingwall (reaching maximum values of about 14 cm) and the footwall blocks (reaching maximum values of about 10 cm). Starting from this evidence, we compute the rock volumes affected by uplift and subsidence phenomena, highlighting that those involved by the retrieved subsidence are characterized by significantly higher deformation values than those affected by uplift (about 14 times). In order to provide a possible interpretation of this volumetric asymmetry, we extend our analysis by applying a 2D numerical modelling approach based on the finite element method, implemented in a structural-mechanic framework, and exploiting the available geological and seismological data, and the ground deformation measurements retrieved from the multi-orbit ALOS-2 DInSAR analysis. In this case, we consider two different scenarios: the first one based on a single SW-dipping fault, the latter on a main SW-dipping fault and an antithetic zone. In this context, the model characterized by the occurrence of an antithetic zone presents the retrieved best fit coseismic surface deformation pattern. This result allows us to interpret the subsidence and uplift phenomena caused by the Mw 6.5 Norcia earthquake as the result of the gravitational sliding of the hangingwall along the main fault plane and the frictional force acting in the opposite direction, consistently with the double couple fault plane mechanism

Personality Traits and Coping Strategies for Contrasting the Occurrence of Traumatic Reactions in Emergency Rescuers

We investigated personality traits, coping strategies, and social factors among emergency rescuers of three different catastrophic events that occurred in 2009 and 2013. These events were natural disasters, two of which were caused by human negligence. We used the cognitive interview (CI) protocol to interview witnesses and investigate their memory of the event. A qualitative analysis using the ATLAS.ti software was performed to subdivide the type of verbal production in the number of scenes recollected, negative emotions, vivid mental images, and self-experience of the event. All participants were also assessed using the Trauma Symptom Inventory for the presence of traumatic reactions at the time of the interview and tests (from December 2015 until January 2016) and 6 months before the interview to exclude the presence of further Traumatic job-related events. Personality traits (Big Five Questionnaire), coping strategies (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Adult), and other social factors (the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory) have been assessed. The aim of the study is to identify individual factors contributing to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in emergency rescuers. We found that some personality traits, social factors, and specific cognitive strategies may act as protective factors to traumatic reactions

Cardiovascular Hypertension-Mediated Organ Damage in Hypertensive Urgencies and Hypertensive Outpatients

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of hypertension mediated organ damage (HMOD) in patients attending the Emergency Department (ED) with symptomatic blood pressure (BP) rise is unknown, and whether HMOD varies between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients with grade 3 hypertension is unclear. AIM: This study aimed to investigate cardiac and vascular HMOD in hypertensive urgencies (HU) and asymptomatic outpatients with grade 1–3 hypertension. METHODS: Patients attending the ED with a symptomatic BP rise ≥180/110 mmHg were prospectively enrolled (HU group), after the exclusion of acute organ damage. HMOD and BP were assessed after 72 h from ED discharge in an office setting. These patients were matched by age and sex to outpatients with grade 3 hypertension (Grade 3 group), and by age, sex, and 72 h office BP values to outpatients with any grade hypertension (Control group). RESULTS: A total of 304 patients were enrolled (76 patients in the HU group, 76 in the Grade 3 group, and 152 in the Control group). Grade 3 patients had increased left ventricular mass (LVMi) compared to patients with HU (106.9 ± 31.5 vs. 96.1 ± 30.7 g/m(2), p = 0.035). Severe left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was more frequent in grade 3 (21.1 vs. 5.3%, p = 0.004), and pulse wave velocity (PWV) was similar in the two groups. There was no difference in LVMi between ED and Control patients (96.1 ± 30.7 vs. 95.2 ± 26.6 g/m(2), p = 0.807). LVH prevalence was similar (43.4 vs. 35.5%, p = 0.209, respectively), but patients with HU had thicker interventricular septum (11.9 ± 2.2 vs. 11.1 ± 2.2 mm, p = 0.007). PWV was similar between these two groups. Patients with HU needed more antihypertensive drugs than Control patients (2 vs. 1, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HU had a better cardiac HMOD profile than outpatients with grade 3 hypertension. Their cardiac and vascular HMOD is more comparable to an outpatient with similar in-office BP, although they need more antihypertensive medications