The use of clay models in amphibian field studies: a short review

Clay models are realistic replicas of live animals that are frequently used in ecological and ethological field studies. These kind of models, usually made from plasticine, are malleable, easy to shape, colour and relative inexpensive. In addition, plasticine models retain marks on their surface allowing the identification of the predator and of the body part of the prey that was attacked. In this short review we retrieved and analysed a preliminary list of studies published until December 2017, that used clay replicas of amphibians in ecological field studies. Overall 25 publications were analysed. The first scientific paper using amphibian clay models was published in 1994, but only after the year 2005 the use of clay replicas became frequent in herpetological field researches. The majority of studies were performed in tropical or subtropical ecosystems of Central and South America, and only a relative small number of studies were executed in temperate forests of North America and Europe. The most studied family was Dendrobatidae with nine species. In Urodela the Plethodontidae, with four species, was the most studied family. After the analysis of the main features concerning technical aspects, geographic distribution and temporal trend of these kind of studies, the pros and cons of the use of amphibian clay models are synthetically discussed

Deep learning nonlocal and scalable energy functionals for quantum Ising models

Density functional theory (DFT) is routinely employed in material science and in quantum chemistry to simulate weakly correlated electronic systems. Recently, deep learning (DL) techniques have been adopted to develop promising functionals for the strongly correlated regime. DFT can be applied to quantum spin models too, but functionals based on DL have not been developed yet. Here, we investigate DL-based DFTs for random quantum Ising chains, both with nearest-neighbor and up to next-nearest neighbor couplings. Our neural functionals are trained and tested on data produced via the Jordan-Wigner transformation, exact diagonalization, and tensor-network methods. An economical gradient-descent optimization is used to find the ground-state properties of previously unseen Hamiltonian instances. Notably, our non-local functionals drastically improve upon the common local density approximations, and they are designed to be scalable, allowing us to simulate chain sizes much larger than those used for training. The prediction accuracy is analyzed, paying attention to the spatial correlations of the learned functionals and to the role of quantum criticality. Our findings indicate a suitable strategy to extend the reach of other computational methods with a controllable accuracy.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure

Accelerating equilibrium spin-glass simulations using quantum annealers via generative deep learning

Adiabatic quantum computers, such as the quantum annealers commercialized by D-Wave Systems Inc., are routinely used to tackle combinatorial optimization problems. In this article, we show how to exploit them to accelerate equilibrium Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations of computationally challenging spin-glass models at low but finite temperatures. This is achieved by training generative neural networks on data produced by a D-Wave quantum annealer, and then using them to generate smart proposals for the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. In particular, we explore hybrid schemes by combining single spin-flip and neural proposals, as well as D-Wave and classical Monte Carlo training data. The hybrid algorithm outperforms the single spin-flip Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. It is competitive with parallel tempering in terms of correlation times, with the significant benefit of a much shorter equilibration time.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

Examining relationship between personality characteristics and exercise dependence

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relation between personality traits, based on the five factor model, and exercise dependence symptomatology. There were 423 voluntary participants (216 male and 201 female) who exercised regularly over a year selected for this study. By using Eating Disorder Inventory–2 questionnaire, participants who scored in the at-risk range were excluded from analysis. All athletes completed the Exercise Dependence Scale and the Big Five Questionnaire. The results seem to confirm the relation between exercise dependence and certain personality characteristics (Hausenblas & Giacobbi, 2004) suggesting that extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness may potentially be underlying factors in exercise dependence symptomatology. This finding aims to contribute to understanding the role that personality can play in the etiology of exercise dependence. This could be relevant for potentially identifying individuals who may be at risk for dysfunctional dependence behaviors

Psychometric examination and factorial validity of the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised in Italian exercisers

Background and aims: The purpose of this study was to verify the factorial structure, internal validity, reliability, and criterion validity of the 21-item Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised (EDS-R) in an Italian sample. Methods: Italian voluntary (N = 519) users of gyms who had a history of regular exercise for over a year completed the EDS-R and measures of exercise frequency. Results and conclusions: Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated a good fit to the hypothesized 7-factor model, and adequate internal consistency for the scale was evidenced. Criterion validity was evidenced by significant correlations among all the subscale of the EDS and exercise frequency. Finally, individuals at risk for exercise dependence reported more exercise behavior compared to the nondependent-symptomatic and nondependent-asymptomatic groups. These results suggest that the seven subscales of the Italian version of the EDS are measuring the construct of exercise dependence as defined by the DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence and also confirm previous research using the EDS-R in other languages. More research is needed to examine the psychometric properties of the EDS-R in diverse populations with various research designs

Motivational aspects and personality correlates of physical exercise behavior

Although exercise can have many advantages, there are still many people that tend to be less active. For this reason, try to understand factor related to physical activity and that encouraging exercise is an essential area of health promotion and a priority to prevent serious diseases. The aim of the study was to analyze psychological factors (personality traits and motivation) related to physical activity and that encouraging or reducing exercise. 474 voluntary regular exercisers were recruited for the study. Participants completed Big Five Questionnaire and Behavioural Regulation Exercise Questionnaire-2, and also their exercise frequency was recorded.  Results showed that personality traits and motivation are strongly related with exercise frequency and, both seem to play a significant predictive role in structuring exercise behavior

Predicting the brighter and darker sides of interpersonal relationships: Does psychological need thwarting matter?

Abstract Recent studies have indicated that assessments of need thwarting better predict diminished functioning and ill-being compared to low need satisfaction, which better predict optimal functioning and well-being. In this study we aimed to further explore the important theoretical distinction between psychological need thwarting and need satisfaction in the domain of interpersonal relationships. We examined whether the distinction between need satisfaction and thwarting is due to method effects resulting from positive and negative item wording, however, multitrait multi-method analyses indicated no substantial method effects. Further, we showed that a lack of need satisfaction (i.e., need dissatisfaction) is not equivalent to experiences of need thwarting. In fact, need thwarting better predicted compromised relational functioning compared to need dissatisfaction. Need satisfaction was a stronger predictor of interpersonal competence compared to need thwarting and need dissatisfaction. The current findings underline the importance of assessing need thwarting when examining compromised functioning in interpersonal relationships

Modelling the amphibian chytrid fungus spread by connectivity analysis: towards a national monitoring network in Italy

AbstractThe emerging amphibian disease, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is driving population declines worldwide and even species extinctions in Australia, South and Central America. In order to mitigate effects of Bd on amphibian populations, high-exposed areas should be identified at the local scale and effective conservation measures should be planned at the national level. This assessment is actually lacking in the Mediterranean basin, and in particular in Italy, one of the most relevant amphibian diversity hotspots in the entire region. In this study, we reviewed the available information on Bd in Italy, and conducted a 5-year molecular screening on 1274 individual skin swabs belonging to 18 species. Overall, we found presence of Bd in 13 species and in a total of 56 known occurrence locations for peninsular Italy and Sardinia. We used these occurrence locations and climate data to model habitat suitability of Bd for current and future climatic scenarios. We then employed electric circuit theory to model landscape permeability to the diffusion of Bd, using a resistance map. With this procedure, we were able to model, for the first time, the diffusion pathways of Bd at the landscape scale, characterising the main future pathways towards areas with a high probability of Bd occurrence. Thus, we identified six national protected areas that will become pivotal for a nationally-based strategic plan in order to monitor, mitigate and possibly contrast Bd diffusion in Italy

Parenting styles and Psychological control: similarities and differences between mothers and fathers of school-age children

Background: The first aim of the present study was to investigate differences and similarities in perceived parenting styles between fathers and mothers in the same family. Secondarily, this study wanted to verify the relation between parental anxiety and parenting dimensions, assuming differences according to the parental gender. Methods: The 80 parents of 40 school-age children independently completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ), the Parenting Instrument (PI) and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Results: revealed differences between fathers and mothers in almost all the variables considered, with mothers who reported the highest scores. Significant correlations between paternal and maternal perceptions were found in authoritarian style and in the practices of psychological control (disappointing and shaming). Finally, parental anxiety was associated positively with authoritarian style and inadequate parental practices, and negatively with authoritative style, expressive warmth and supportive involvement: the constructs however correlated in a different way according to parental gender.  Conclusions: Independent assessment of both mother’s and father’s parenting styles and, especially, parental practices of psychological control seem to be necessaries both in research and practical settings

Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Parents’ Educational Skills.

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to propose a self-report questionnaire designed to assess the ability of parents to use appropriate educational strategies to manage the behavior of children, based on the principles of analysis and behavior modification. Methods:180 subjects, divided into 3 groups of 60 subjects: parents of Italian nationality, Italian parents with a disabled child, parents with no Italian nationality (including 20 Filipinos, 20 Sinhalese and 20 Moroccans), were invited to fill the questionnaire. Results: The results showed that the instrument has the potential to be very suitable for the evaluation of behavioral educational skills, which are the basis of behavioral parent training programs, but also to have the possibility to check the effectiveness of the training in terms of more competent techniques learned, even after a long time. Conclusions: The results showed that the instrument has the potential to be very suitable for the evaluation of behavioral educational skills.  To improve the level of confidence it will need to make some corrections, related to the revision of some item. We consider that further studies should be conducted in this area, so to broaden the range of instruments used for the assessment of educational skills