Maternal Drug Addiction: Influences on mother-child relationship and on early child development.

Much literature has pointed out parental drug addiction as a risk factor at multiple levels for the dyad, affecting parenting quality, child development and more globally the adult-child relationship. Drug addicted mothers are often reported as less sensitive, more intrusive and less able to regulate negative affects during early adult-child interactions. On the other hand, children of addicted mothers are often described as more irritable or more passive. The aim of this research was to investigate longitudinally the quality of adult-child relationship and of child interactive and emotional development in a group of drug addicted mothers and their children prenatally exposed to substances. The study involved 25 mother-child pairs (with children aged between 2 and 24 months) with drug addicted mothers. The dyads were followed for a 15 months-period and assessed regularly (every 3 months) through the application of the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS \u2013 Biringen, 2008) to videotaped free play interactions. In this way it has been possible to consider both the mothers\u2019 and the children\u2019s contribution to the development of their relationship. The results were controversial, showing on one hand changes related only to specific EA dimensions and on the other hand patterns of changes that seemed characteristics of specific patterns of emotional availability. Dyads that initially showed interactions of better quality tended to improve their relationship during time, whereas dyads that exhibited more difficulties at the beginning of the study did not show improvements. Moreover, children of dyads which experienced interactions of better quality showed better interactive and emotional features than children of dyads characterized by more dysfunctional patterns of interaction. Dyads characterized by maternal drug addiction are often reported to be at higher risk for experiencing difficulties during everyday interactions and more likely to be associated to less optimal developmental outcomes. Anyway the results of our study highlight that, despite the condition of drug addiction, experiencing a relationship of good quality could be associated to better mother-child interactions and to more functional interactive and emotional development for children

Chatbots as a novel access method for government open data

IIn this discussion paper, we propose to employ chatbots as a user-friendly interface for open data published by organizations, specifically focusing on public administrations. Open data are especially useful in e-Government initiatives but their exploitation is currently hampered to end users by the lack of user-friendly access methods. On the other hand, current UX in social networks have made people used to chatting. Building on cognitive technologies, we prototyped a chatbot on top of the OpenCantieri dataset published by the Italian Ministero delle Infrastrutture e Trasporti, and we argue that such a model can be extended as a generally available access method to open data

Attachment representations and early interactions in drug addicted mothers: a case study of four women with distinct Adult Attachment Interview classifications

open4Drug addiction is considered a major risk factor that can influence maternal functioning at multiple levels, leading to less optimal parental qualities and less positive interactive exchanges in mother-child dyads. Moreover, drug abusers often report negative or traumatic attachment representations regarding their own childhood. These representations might affect, to some extent, later relational and developmental outcomes of their children. This study explored whether the development of dyadic interactions in addicted women differed based on attachment status. The longitudinal ongoing of mother-child emotional exchanges was assessed among four mothers with four different attachment statuses (F-autonomous, E-preoccupied, Ds-dismissing, and U-unresolved/with losses). Attachment representations were assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview ( George et al., 1985), while mother-child interactions were evaluated longitudinally during videotaped play sessions, through the Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, 2008). As expected, the dyad with the autonomous mother showed better interactive functioning during play despite the condition of drug-abuse; the mother proved to be more affectively positive, sensitive, and responsive, while her baby showed a better organization of affects and behaviors. On the other side,insecure mothers seemed to experience more difficulties when interacting with their children showing inconsistency in the ability to perceive and respond to their babies’ signals. Finally, children of insecure mothers showed less clear affects and signals. While differences between secure and insecure dyads appeared clear, differences between insecure patterns where less linear, suggesting a possible mediating role played by other factors. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.openPorreca, A.; De Palo, F.; Simonelli, A.; Capra, N.Porreca, Alessio; DE PALO, Francesca; Simonelli, Alessandra; Capra, N

Infant massage and quality of early mother-infant interactions: Are there associations with maternal psychological wellbeing, marital quality, and social support?

Infant massage programs have proved to be effective in enhancing post-natal development of highly risk infants, such as preterm newborns and drug or HIV exposed children. Less studies have focused on the role of infant massage in supporting the co-construction of early adult–child relationships. In line with this lack of literature, the present paper reports on a pilot study aimed at investigating longitudinally the quality of mother–child interactions, with specific reference to emotional availability (EA), in a group of mother–child pairs involved in infant massage classes. Moreover, associations between mother–child EA, maternal wellbeing, marital adjustment, and social support were also investigated, with the hypothesis to find a link between low maternal distress, high couple satisfaction and high perceived support and interactions of better quality in the dyads. The study involved 20 mothers and their children, aged between 2 and 7 months, who participated to infant massage classes. The assessment took place at three stages: at the beginning of massage course, at the end of it and at 1-month follow-up. At the first stage of assessment self-report questionnaires were administered to examine the presence of maternal psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90-R), perceived social support (MSPSS), and marital adjustment (Dyadic Adjustment Scale); dyadic interactions were observed and rated with the Emotional Availability Scales (Biringen, 2008) at each stage of data collection. The results showed a significant improvement in the quality of mother–child interactions, between the first and the last evaluation, parallel to the unfolding of the massage program, highlighting a general increase in maternal and child’s EA. The presence of maternal psychological distress resulted associated with less optimal mother–child emotional exchanges, while the hypothesis regarding couple satisfaction and social support influence were not confirmed. These preliminary results, if replicated, seem to sustain the usefulness of infant massage and the importance of focusing on early mother–infant interactions

Annotations to MS Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale 877: A Brief Commentary on the Hermetic Asclepius

This paper provides an edition of the marginal notes contained in a manuscript of the Asclepius attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. The majority of the notes are synonyms and alternate readings, but the lengthier ones show that the annotator belongs to a group of scholars interested in Neoplatonic philosophy during the mid-to-late twelfth century. The format and content of the notes demonstrate that they can be considered an integral part of a body of commentaries on the Hermetic Asclepius dating to the second half of the twelfth century, including the Glosae super Trismegistum

Influence of Inter-Coolers Technologies on yhe Performance of Isotherm Centrifugal Compressors

LecturesIt is well known that gas compressor work can be greatly reduced by inter-stage cooling. Since decades, isotherm compressors are commonly used where very large volume of gases is needed and low power consumption is necessary, so that the efficiency of the industrial process is greatly improved. The use of large amount of compressed air, oxygen or other gases is very common in different industrial sectors like air separation, petrochemical plants, mining, steel industries as well as preparation of synthetic natural gas. The main optimization goals in compressors technology are focused either on rotating components (mainly stage aerodynamics) as well as on intercooling (or heat exchange) process. In particular, current development is aiming either on improvement of cooling efficiency or (keeping the same efficiency) on size reduction, which is directly related also to overall cost reduction. Such improvements can derive from the use of different materials, coolers type/methods, geometries, manufacturing technologies, fouling modelisation and prevention etc. In this paper, a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the influence of different intercoolers aspects is carried out with the aim to isolate the most critical factors to achieve an optimal combination between capital and operative costs of isothermal compressors

Characterizing PSPACE with Shallow Non-Confluent P Systems

In P systems with active membranes, the question of understanding the power of non-confluence within a polynomial time bound is still an open problem. It is known that, for shallow P systems, that is, with only one level of nesting, non-con uence allows them to solve conjecturally harder problems than con uent P systems, thus reaching PSPACE. Here we show that PSPACE is not only a bound, but actually an exact characterization. Therefore, the power endowed by non-con uence to shallow P systems is equal to the power gained by con uent P systems when non-elementary membrane division and polynomial depth are allowed, thus suggesting a connection between the roles of non-confluence and nesting depth

Essays on the Economics of Law and Crime

The first chapter examines the connection between gentrification and urban violence. I demonstrate a positive and plausibly causal relationship between urban redevelopment and gun violence in Philadelphia. As the underlying mechanism, I focus on gentrification\u27s displacement effect on local drug markets. Treating the city as a spatial network of city blocks and using two-way fixed effects differences-in-differences estimators, I show the gentrification of one block increases violence across the surrounding neighborhood. I find that some 2,400 (8%) of Philadelphia\u27s shootings between the years 2011 and 2020 can be attributed to spillover effects from the gentrification of drug blocks. This effect is nearly ten times stronger than that observed on blocks without high levels of drug crime. This study also contributes a new empirical measurement of gentrification drawn primarily from property sales, along with building, zoning, and alteration permit issuance and utilizes a novel nearest-neighbor network approach to identify spatial spillover effects. The second chapter formalizes the synthetic difference-in-differences estimator for staggered treatment adoption settings, as briefly described in Arkhangelsky et al. (2021). To illustrate the importance of this estimator, I use replication data from Abrams (2012). I compare the estimators obtained using SynthDiD, TWFE, the group time average treatment effect estimator of Callaway and Sant\u27Anna (2021), and the partially pooled synthetic control method estimator of Ben-Michael et al. (2021) in a staggered treatment adoption setting. I find that in this staggered treatment setting, SynthDiD provides a numerically different estimate of the average treatment effect. Simulation results show that these differences may be attributable to the underlying data generating process more closely mirroring that of the latent factor model assumed for SynthDiD than that of additive fixed effects assumed under traditional difference-in-differences frameworks. The third chapter is joint work with Dr. Bryan McCannon. In it, we exploit a novel data set of criminal trials in 19th century London to evaluate the impact of an accused’s right to counsel on convictions. While lower-level crimes had an established history of professional representation prior to 1836, individuals accused of committing a felony did not, even though the prosecution was conducted by professional attorneys. The Prisoners’ Counsel At of 1836 remedied this imbalance and first introduced the right to counsel in common law systems. Using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy we identify the causal effect of defense counsel. We find the surprising result that the professionalization of the courtroom led to an increase in the conviction rate, which we interpret as a consequence of jurors perceiving the trial as being fairer. We go further and employ a topic modeling approach to the text of the transcripts to provide suggestive evidence on how the trials changed when defense counsel was fully introduced

Emotional availability, neuropsychological functioning, and psychopathology. The context of parental substance use disorder

Parental Substance Use Disorder (SUD) constitutes a high-risk condition for parent-child interactions and child development. Empirical evidence indicates high rates of psychopathology and neuropsychological impairments in individuals with SUD. Despite research indicating that parenting skills are related to psychological well-being and cognitive/neuropsychological functioning, prior studies have not examined the associations between these areas of parental functioning and the quality of parent-child interactions in the context of SUD. Aim(s). The present study adopts an integrated perspective to investigate the way in which maternal neuropsychological functioning and psychopathology are associated with mother-child emotional availability (EA), in the context of parental Substance Use Disorder. Methods. Twenty-nine mothers with SUD were assessed in interaction with their children, as well as with respect to their neuropsychological functioning and psychopathology. Results. In this group, high rates of maternal neuropsychological impairments and psychopathology, as well as generally low levels of EA, were uncovered. Regression analyses showed that maternal neuropsychological functioning was significantly associated with mother-child EA, specifically sensitivity; the role of maternal psychopathology, however, was only marginally significant. Conclusion. In the context of SUD, maternal neuropsychological impairments are significantly associated with mother-child EA. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed