cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Early adopters of geospatial technologies for teaching geography in Australian secondary schools
Creators: name: Coleman, Bianca
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: This research examined the use of geospatial technologies in secondary geography education in Australian secondary schools (students aged 13-18 years). Geospatial technologies (GST) are hardware and software used to collect and analyse geospatial (geographical) data and include geographical information systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and remote sensing. The use of these technologies for geography education has been incorporated into the recently developed Australian Curriculum: Geography (Years 7-10) curriculum framework. Despite their inclusion in the curriculum, however, existing research continues to report low levels of GST adoption by teachers. This research investigated the experiences of 'early adopters' of geospatial technologies teaching in Australian schools. As teachers who have adopted the technologies prior to most of their peers, early adopters are well placed to identify challenges and opportunities that stem from the use of GST in geography teaching. Accordingly, this study examined the characteristics of early adopters of GST (such as their knowledge, confidence and experience for teaching with GST), the influence of context on their use of GST, and the ways in which they employ GST to enhance their geography teaching. Furthermore, this study identified the mechanisms through which these early adopters support and encourage their peers to also adopt the technology within their own practices. A quantitatively-driven mixed-methods research design was employed to collect and analyse data. An initial survey collected data from 53 Australian secondary geography teachers about their technological, pedagogical and content knowledge for teaching with GST. Follow-up semi-structured interviews with eight of these early adopters were also conducted and 'teaching artefacts' (such as lesson and unit plans, worksheets and de-identified student work samples) were collected. Statistical analyses (t-tests and descriptive statistics) and thematic interview analysis revealed that early adopters are highly knowledgeable in their geographical knowledge, their capacity to teach geography and their understanding of how geospatial technologies can be embedded within geography teaching. These teachers identified a range of micro-, meso- and macro-level context conditions that influence (both constrain and enable) their GST teaching practices. Analysis of the teachers' lesson plans and student work samples revealed how the skilful and purposeful application of GST in teaching can engage students in higher-order thinking and develop their geography knowledge. Finally, this study also concluded that early adopters encourage the widespread diffusion of geospatial technologies amongst other geography teachers by experimenting with and sharing resources, providing for professional learning opportunities and exercising curriculum leadership in schools.
The applicability of the inclusion/exclusion phenomenon to organ donor registration
Creators: name: Schokman, PM
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: Organ donor rates in Australia consistently fail to meet demand. Organ donor registration can be made either by a blanket, cover-all question or by having the citizen select organs from a list. The inclusion/exclusion phenomenon has shown in other domains that when a person is in a situation where they are excluding items from a list, their resulting list is longer than if they are including items to a list (Kogut, 2011). We investigated whether this classic phenomenon could be exploited to increase organ donation rates. Using a 2 (opt-in, opt-out) x 3 (blanket, inclusion, exclusion) between-subjects design, we tested whether different registration conditions influenced (a) absolute donation (i.e., willingness to donate something), and (b) the number of organs donated. 141 participants (age M = 27.7 years, range: 18 - 73, female = 108, nonbinary = 1) were randomly allocated to one of the six registration conditions. The exclusion approach, involving having the list pre-ticked, elicited more organs donated than the inclusion approach currently used in Australia. Individual difference measures indicated that participants' feelings of attachment to organs and fear of having the body damaged after death also influenced the number of organs donated. The inclusion/exclusion phenomenon relies on items with a low evidentiary threshold being left in under exclusion and left out under inclusion. We suggest that feelings of attachment form this evidentiary threshold.
Annular shear of cohesionless granular materials: from inertial to quasistatic regime
Creators: name: Koval, Georg
name: Roux, Jean-Noël
name: Corfdir, Alain
name: Chevoir, François
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Using discrete simulations, we investigate the behavior of a model granular material within an annular shear cell. Specifically, two-dimensional assemblies of disks are placed between two circular walls, the inner one rotating with prescribed angular velocity, while the outer one may expand or shrink and maintains a constant radial pressure. Focusing on steady state flows, we delineate in parameter space the range of applicability of the recently introduced constitutive laws for sheared granular materials (based on the inertial number). We discuss the two origins of the stronger strain rates observed near the inner boundary, the vicinity of the wall and the heteregeneous stress field in a Couette cell. Above a certain velocity, an inertial region develops near the inner wall, to which the known constitutive laws apply, with suitable corrections due to wall slip, for small enough stress gradients. Away from the inner wall, slow, apparently unbounded creep takes place in the nominally solid material, although its density and shear to normal stress ratio are on the jammed side of the critical values. In addition to rheological characterizations, our simulations provide microscopic information on the contact network and velocity fluctuations that is potentially useful to assess theoretical approaches.
Continuous-time quantum walks on star graphs
Creators: name: Salimi, S.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this paper, we investigate continuous-time quantum walk on star graphs. It is shown that quantum central limit theorem for a continuous-time quantum walk on star graphs for $N$-fold star power graph, which are invariant under the quantum component of adjacency matrix, converges to continuous-time quantum walk on $K_2$ graphs (Complete graph with two vertices) and the probability of observing walk tends to the uniform distribution.
description: 17, page; 4 figure
Characterization and limits of a cold atom Sagnac interferometer
Creators: name: Gauguet, A.
name: Canuel, Benjamin
name: Lévèque, Thomas
name: Chaibi, Walid
name: Landragin, Arnaud
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present the full evaluation of a cold atom gyroscope based on atom interferometry. We have performed extensive studies to determine the systematic errors, scale factor and sensitivity. We demonstrate that the acceleration noise can be efficiently removed from the rotation signal allowing to reach the fundamental limit of the quantum projection noise for short term measurements. The technical limits to the long term sensitivity and accuracy have been identified, clearing the way for the next generations of ultra-sensitive atom gyroscopes.
Additional file 1 of Plastome phylogenomic study of Gentianeae (Gentianaceae): widespread gene tree discordance and its association with evolutionary rate heterogeneity of plastid genes
Creators: name: Zhang, Xu
name: Sun, Yanxia
name: Landis, Jacob B.
name: Lv, Zhenyu
name: Shen, Jun
name: Zhang, Huajie
name: Lin, Nan
name: Li, Lijuan
name: Sun, Jiao
name: Deng, Tao
name: Sun, Hang
name: Wang, Hengchang
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Additional file 1: Figure S1. Loss of rpl33 coding region in plastomes of Comastoma pulmonarium and Swertia hispidicalyx. There is a stop codon in coding region of rpl33 in Comastoma pulmonarium due to the change of cytosine (C) to thymine (T) at 22 bp, and a small deletion containing the coding region of rpl33 between the psaJ and rps18 gene in the plastome of Swertia hispidicalyx. Figure S2. Maximum likelihood phylogram of Gentianeae from unpartitioned concatenated matrix of 76 plastid protein-encoding genes using RAxML. Maximum likelihood bootstrap (BS) values and the PP calculated from MrBayes are shown at nodes, except nodes with 100% BS and 1.0 PP. Figure S3. Phylogenetic informativeness profile estimated in PhyDesign. (A) The ultramteric tree of Gentianeae. (B) Net phylogenetic informativeness profile for 76 plastid protein-coding genes. Ten genes with the greatest informativeness are color-coded and indicated at the right. X- and Y-axes represent relative-time and net phylogenetic informativeness, respectively. Table S1. Taxa included in present study. Table S2. Genetic characteristics of 76 protein-coding genes.
Cooperation with an Untrusted Relay: A Secrecy Perspective
Creators: name: He, Xiang
name: Yener, Aylin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Information Theory (cs.IT)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: We consider the communication scenario where a source-destination pair wishes to keep the information secret from a relay node despite wanting to enlist its help. For this scenario, an interesting question is whether the relay node should be deployed at all. That is, whether cooperation with an untrusted relay node can ever be beneficial. We first provide an achievable secrecy rate for the general untrusted relay channel, and proceed to investigate this question for two types of relay networks with orthogonal components. For the first model, there is an orthogonal link from the source to the relay. For the second model, there is an orthogonal link from the relay to the destination. For the first model, we find the equivocation capacity region and show that answer is negative. In contrast, for the second model, we find that the answer is positive. Specifically, we show by means of the achievable secrecy rate based on compress-and-forward, that, by asking the untrusted relay node to relay information, we can achieve a higher secrecy rate than just treating the relay as an eavesdropper. For a special class of the second model, where the relay is not interfering itself, we derive an upper bound for the secrecy rate using an argument whose net effect is to separate the eavesdropper from the relay. The merit of the new upper bound is demonstrated on two channels that belong to this special class. The Gaussian case of the second model mentioned above benefits from this approach in that the new upper bound improves the previously known bounds. For the Cover-Kim deterministic relay channel, the new upper bound finds the secrecy capacity when the source-destination link is not worse than the source-relay link, by matching with the achievable rate we present.
description: IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, submitted October 2008, revised October 2009. This is the revised version
Design of a stable 150 kw 23 mhz amplifier for the triumf crm.
Creators: name: Brackhaus, Karl Heinz
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: This thesis discusses the design of a stable 150 KW 23MHz RF system for the TRIUMF CRM cyclotron. The required characteristics of this system are presented with emphasis on the amplitude and phase modulation constraints. The composition of an amplifier system satisfying the power, bandwidth and noise requirements is discussed. Both the initial and present PA designs are presented, as is the design of the driver amplifier. Also included is a discussion of the choice of tubes and RF circuits. The usefulness of feedback control in satisfying the RF stability requirements is shown. The conditions a stable feedback system must satisfy are also given. Two amplitude control systems (drive control and screen control) are designed using Bode techniques. A digital simulation of these systems using an electrical analogue is presented. Implementation and results are discussed.
Beryllium abundances in metal-poor stars
Creators: name: Tan, K. F.
name: Shi, J. R.
name: Zhao, G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We have determined beryllium abundances for 25 metal-poor stars based on the high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra from the VLT/UVES database. Our results confirm that Be abundances increase with Fe, supporting the global enrichment of Be in the Galaxy. Oxygen abundances based on [O I] forbidden line implies a linear relation with a slope close to one for the Be vs. O trend, which indicates that Be is probably produced in a primary process. Some strong evidences are found for the intrinsic dispersion of Be abundances at a given metallicity. The deviation of HD132475 and HD126681 from the general Be vs. Fe and Be vs. O trend favours the predictions of the superbubble model, though the possibility that such dispersion originates from the inhomogeneous enrichment in Fe and O of the protogalactic gas cannot be excluded.
description: 12 pages with 9 figures, to be published in MNRAS
A Narrative Investigation into the Meaning and Experience of Career Destabilization in Italian NEET
Creators: name: Parola, Anna
name: Felaco, Cristiano
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: University-Work Transition; Young Adult; NEET; Textual Analysis; Blog.

description: In the last few years, changes in the work market have produced effects on the transition school-to-work and, more specifically, on the ability to plan for the future, in particular in the Italian context. This study aims to explore the experiences of young people who have encountered difficulties in transition-to-work, and how unsuccessful experience are re-elaborated on the level of autobiographical narration. Using an Italian blog, the authors obtained narrative data from 461 NEET, young people not engaged in education, employment, or training. Textual Analysis was carried out to identify the thematic clusters and obtain the network pattern of lemmas to understand the process of meaning construction of NEET. The analysis shows three clusters: “Ideals: from training to professional life”, “Necessity: the job’s function”, and “Reality: the doing”. The potential of the narrative and the possible interventions are discussed.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Response to Letter to the Editor: The application of transcranial direct current stimulation on phantom phenomena
Creators: name: Settineri, Salvatore
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Phantom limb; Phantom limb pain; Phantom limb phenomena; Transcranial direct current stimulation; tDCS- Amputation.

description: I thank you for your letter concerning the pathology linked to the phantom limbs and for the related relationship with the pain that this mental representation arouses (Orrù et al., 2020). The issue adequately falls within the intentions of the MJCP letters to the Editor such as those summarized by Peh Ng (2010).
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Review of planning and evaluation models as a basis for the simulation of a forest firm
Creators: name: Birchmore, Michael John
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: Forest planning is characterised by the necessity to satisfy a series of long term objectives and yet still to meet a series of short term objectives. This problem of conflicts is particularly pertinent to the Province of British Columbia where the forest ownership and the forest operator are each, primarily concerned with different time spectra. Further, the demands that are being made on the forest resource are becoming ever more stringent and demanding as the political and environmental awareness of the public increases. The need to consider multiple objectives in the planning process causes the inadequacies of many of the earlier models to be highlighted. A new series of models for forest planning is called for. The development of operations research, techniques and improved computers has facilitated the introduction of a new series of planning models. Many models have been developed using the optimising techniques of linear and dynamic programming for example, but the technique that, through its flexibility and latitude for variation in the basic assumptions, holds the most promise is simulation. Under the conditions of British Columbia, the forest firm, which is the main influence on the forest resource and links the natural environment with the socio-economic environment, is the natural planning unit. The firm is constrained by the superior environments and it is the responses of the firm to changes in either that affects the flow of goods and services from the forest. An analysis of the firm shows that if a systems approach is adopted the planning and productive stages of the firm may be defined in a suitable manner for the construction of a computer simulation model. The model may have several stages of operational development and may be used for different purposes as it is developed towards full operational use. The ultimate stage of development will only be known when the detailed construction of the model is undertaken. This thesis outlines the need for the model and develops it to a pre-construction stage. The major steps and processes that must be described for construction of the model to the first development stage are outlined. The first development stage is that of a forest management game. The sources of the data and the initial limitations of the model and the output are given and the subsequent development stages described.
Defensive profile of parents of children with externalizing problems receiving Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C): A pilot study
Creators: name: Di Giuseppe, Mariagrazia
name: Prout, Tracy A.
name: Fabiani, Matilde
name: Kui, Thomas
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Emotion regulation; Defense mechanisms; Oppositional defiant disorder; Externalizing behavior; Child psychotherapy; Clinical psychology.

description: Background:Implicit emotion regulation, operationalized as psychological defense mechanisms, plays an important role in parenting, especially for parents of children with externalizing behavior problems. Research has highlighted the efficacy of the Regulation Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C) in reducing psychological distress in children with oppositional defiant disorder (Prout et al., 2019; Prout, 2020). The current, mixed-methods study analyzed the characteristic defensive functioning of parents whose children were treated with RFP-C. Methods:We analyzed 14 video-recorded parent sessions randomly selected from the RFP-C randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of a novel manualized psychotherapy for children with externalizing behaviors. Defensive functioning was quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed using the Q-sort version of the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales (DMRS-Q; Di Giuseppe et al., 2014) for parents in the clinical sample and community controls. Results:Adaptive, obsessional, and neurotic defenses were most prevalent, with 10 to 30 defense mechanisms accounting for more than 5% of the overall defensive functioning score. Significantly higher use of affiliation, humor, suppression, and devaluation of other’s image were found among parents of children with oppositional defiant disorder as compared to community controls. Defensive Profile Narratives added a qualitative understanding of the strength and limitations of the caregivers’ emotion regulation. Discussion:Studying parents’ defense mechanisms may provide a better understanding of the parental experience of childhood distress and how parental defensive style may impact children’s externalizing behaviors. Addressing defensive functioning in a clinical setting could enhance psychological adjustment among children with oppositional defiant disorder and improve therapeutic outcomes.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Lacanian Perverse Structure and Disavowal Mechanism: A Clinical Examination
Creators: name: Kahraman Erkuş, Özlem
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Perversion; Disavowal; Defence mechanism; Lacanian perverse structure.

description: Perversion is one of the three fundamental diagnostic categories that Lacan has proposed. In perversion, the first paternal function is achieved so that the alienation takes place, however, the secondary father function, “The name of the father” is not recognized, thus the person cannot be separated from their mother. This subject is included in the symbolic system with alienation, but the subject’s position is the mother’s object of enjoyment due to not being separated. Disavowal is seen as the mechanism in the formation of perversion, while defence mechanisms are defined as one’s reactions to castre. In the disavowal mechanism, the person both knows and rejects castration. Hence, one can accept two opposing ideas at the same time. The main purpose of this study is to exemplify the disavowal mechanism in the therapy process by compiling information about Lacanian perverse structure and disavowal mechanism, while sharing information for therapy process by summarizing a case using the disavowal mechanism. Therefore, in this article, Lacanian perverse structure and the mechanism of disavowal will be explained. Then, a case that was formulated in this framework will be introduced and the mechanism of disavowal will be exemplified. In the last part of the article, recommendations for the therapy process will be given.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Frontier of space, frontier of mind: the British invasion of Loonwonnylowe
Creators: name: Ranson, DM
Publisher: name: University Of Tasmania
Year: 2023

description: Frontiers involve competition for space and conflict between mentalites. This thesis examines a single, small frontier in detail, using as an exemplar, Loonwonnylowe, now known as Bruny Island ‚ÄövÑvÆ describing the impact the invading British had on its people. Departing from a conventional historical narrative, I view the available ethnographic evidence through a lens influenced by landscape. I first describe the land before the advent of the British in terms of the food resources it provided for human consumption and employ human ecology to understand how those resources influenced Aboriginal behaviour. The Bruny Islanders were foragers. To survive, they needed to live in small family groups that moved across the land on a daily basis. So central was the land to their existence that it was revered by the Aborigines. A reconstruction is made for the first time of this sacred landscape of Loonwonnylowe. The complex interrelationship between the Tasmanian foragers and their land was destroyed in less than thirty years through the rapacious dispossession of resource hungry British agricultural settlers. I describe this invasion and its impact on the island and its people. In the last stage of dispossession, British officialdom attempted to ameliorate their impact by seeking to civilise the Aborigines through conversion to Christianity and training as agricultural labourers. To effect this, the colonial government set up an Aboriginal Establishment, a type of mission, and George Augustus Robinson was appointed superintendent. Robinson, a builder-cum-missionary, had emigrated from London. An examination of Robinson's early life reveals the tools and cultural prejudices he brought to his job, a mindset contrasting starkly with that of the indigenous landowners. The Establishment is described from the perspective of the Aborigines, the surrounding settlers, Robinson, and his convict servants. The Establishment failed after nine months. This thesis explains various factors contributing to that failure. Many Aborigines died during that time. For Robinson however, it was a watershed period. His long-term and personal interest in Aborigines and their culture was first stimulated at Bruny Island. His legacy, consisting of thousands of pages of manuscript, Australia's largest body of nineteenth-century ethnographic material, uniquely illuminating a people on the cusp of change, is used in this thesis.
Impact of Masculinity and Normative Male Alexithymia on Interpersonal Difficulties in Young Adult Males
Creators: name: Liaqat, Hira
name: Malik, Tamkeen Ashraf
name: Bilal, Ahmed
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Masculinity; Normative male alexithymia; Interpersonal difficulties.

description: The study of psychology of men and masculinity received scientific attention recently focusing on gender differences and its impact in communicating and expressing emotions. It has been proposed that men, who had been discouraged as boys in expressing and talking about their emotions showed difficulty in identifying and expressing emotions throughout their lives which has been termed as normative male alexithymia (Levant, 2011). Emotions are related to many vital functions, and its awareness leads to healthy intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning. The present study aimed to explore the impact of masculinity and normative male alexithymia on interpersonal difficulties in young adult males. Assessment measures included a demographic form, sex role attitude scale, normative male alexithymia scale, and interpersonal difficulties scale. Sample of the study (N=232) included young adult males (Age = 18 to 24) who were approached through the universities of Lahore. Results suggested that with the increase in traditional masculinity, normative male alexithymia and interpersonal difficulties also increases. Further it was found that traditional masculinity predicted interpersonal difficulties and normative male alexithymia aggravate the relationship. Moreover, normative male alexithymia mediates the relationship between traditional masculinity and interpersonal difficulties. Findings of the study were explained and future implications were discussed.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Bioactive furanocoumarins from the stems and leaves of Clausena hainanensis
Creators: name: Ma, Yan-Lei
name: Zhang, Chao
name: Zhao, Wan-Hui
name: Shi, Shi
name: He, Dan-Nv
name: Zhang, Pan
name: Liu, Xiao-Hong
name: Han, Ting-Ting
name: Fu, Yan-Hui
name: Liu, Yan-Ping
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Cancer

description: A new furanocoumarin, clauhainanin A (1), together with seven known furanocoumarins (2–8), were isolated from the stems and leaves of Clausena hainanensis. The structure of 1 was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic methods and the known compounds were identified by comparisons with data reported in the literature. All known compounds (2–8) were isolated from C. hainanensis for the first time. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicities against five human cancer cell lines: HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7 and SW480 in vitro. Compounds 1–8 exhibited significant inhibitory effects with IC50 values ranging from 1.36 to 18.96 μM.
Depression, Anxiety and Stress in Medical Students: An Early Observation Analysis
Creators: name: Ramlan, Hajira
name: Shafri, Norrul Izuhan
name: Wahab, Suzaily
name: Kamarudin, Mohammad Arif
name: Rajikan, Roslee
name: Abdul Wahab, Noor Alaudin
name: Damanhuri, Hanafi Ahmad
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Depression; Anxiety; Stress; Medical program; University students.

description: Studying a medical degree can create a stressful environment for students who are in the pre-clinical or clinical phase of their course. This study aims to determine both the effect of a medical programme on levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) medical students before and during the course. A study was conducted with 133 first-year medical students enrolled in the 2018/2019 academic session in UKM. Levels of depression, anxiety and stress were measured using a validated questionnaire—the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)—at two different time intervals: during orientation week (time 0) and early in the second semester (time 1). The collected data undergo statistical assessment with Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis H Test using SPSS v25.0. The medical students comprised 25.6% (n = 34) males and 74.4% (n = 99) females. More than half were Malay (60.9%, n = 81), followed by Indian (18%, n = 24), Chinese (12%, n = 16) and other races (9%, n = 12). There was a significant increase in depression (Z = -4.263, p 0.001), anxiety (Z = -2.235, p = 0.025) and stress (Z = -4.783, p 0.001) symptoms among UKM medical students after starting the medical programme. Unhealthy level of anxiety was found to be highly prevalent compared with depression and stress, at both time intervals. The association between anxiety and race during the medical programme appeared to be significant (Z = 11.694, p = 0.009). The medical students experienced higher depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms as early as 6 months during the medical programme. Preventive measures should be taken at an early stage to maintain medical students’ good psychological health.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Resilience and Trauma in the Southern Border Conflict Region of Saudi Arabia
Creators: name: Alghamdi, Mohammed
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: PTSD; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Resilience; War zone; Saudi Arabia.

description: Objective: People living in and near war zones are relatively likely to experience trauma, with increased exposure to war being associated with increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as depression, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders. However, resilience has been found to be a protective factor against both trauma and depression. This study examined the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and symptoms, depression, anxiety and resilience in a sample of Saudi residents living at the southern border. Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was used to collect data online from 367 Saudis (92% male). The DSM-5 Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were used to measure the key psychological variables. The relationships among the psychological measures were examined using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. To test group differences, Chi-square for contingency, independent samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance were used (146 respondents with scores indicating post-traumatic stress disorder versus otherwise). Results: The majority of respondents (72%) reported at least one traumatic event at some point in their lives. Almost 40% fully met the PTSD DSM-5 symptom criteria for PTSD diagnosis; 45% and 60% reported anxiety and depression respectively, and a significant correlation was found between post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety (r= .52; p 0.001) and depression (r= .49; p 0.001) respectively. The mean resilience score was 19.84 (range: 0–40), and it was negatively associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, with educational attainment appearing to enhance resilience. Conclusion: Future research using mixed methods should be conducted to find ways to protect Saudis in conflict regions from negative mental health outcomes, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
An investigation into social support networks of parents of children with intellectual disability in Bangladesh
Creators: name: Islam, Md. Aminul
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Social Network; Social Support; Intellectual Disability; Bangladesh.

description: Drawing upon the theories of social cognition, social networks and social capital, this article investigates the structure and function of social support networks of parent of children with intellectual disability in Bangladesh, a developing country in South Asia. The primary data for the study were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Snowball sampling method was used to reach to participants. It also used psychometric tools such as the Lubben Social Network Scale – Revised (LSNS-R) and the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB) to measure the social network and support among the participants. The results show that parents of children with intellectual disability have smaller social network than parents of children without intellectual disabilities. The parents of intellectual disability have relatively a smaller number of close friends and relatives for seeking help, sharing private matters and consulting while making any important decisions. Multiple factors influence their possibility of getting social support. The factors include the number of relatives who see or hear at least once a month; number of relatives to share private matters; availability of relatives for making a decision; number of close friends and the number of close friends who live within five miles of their residence. This article concludes that the social network interventions can be a mechanism for individualized supports and services for the parents.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activity of tannic acid against Staphylococcus aureus
Creators: name: Dong, Guofeng
name: Liu, Haiyang
name: Yu, Xiao
name: Zhang, Xiaoxiao
name: Lu, Hong
name: Zhou, Tieli
name: Cao, Jianming
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Cancer
subject: Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: Virology

description: Tannic acid, a rich of natural and process-derived phenolic compound, has been shown to be an effective antagonist against viruses and bacteria. In this study, we determined the antimicrobial activity and mechanisms of tannic acid against Staphylococcus aureus with emphasis on inhibiting effect on biofilm formation. Based on the results of time-kill assay, binding ability assay, lysozyme susceptibility assay and the transmission electron microscope, we tentatively speculated that peptidoglycan might be the target of the process that tannic acid destroy the integrity of cell wall, moreover, tannic acid could reduce the biofilm formation at sub-MIC concentrations. These results manifested that natural product tannic acid could serve as a potentially effective candidate for development of novel strategies to treat methicillin-resistant S. aureus infections.
Hikikomori: contemporary forms of suffering in the transition from adolescence to adulthood
Creators: name: De Luca, Manuella
name: Louët, Estelle
name: Thompson, Caroline
name: Verdon, Benoît
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Hikikomori; Adolescent; Inhibition; Passivity; Ideal.

description: Introduction: Since the emergence of Hikikomori syndrome in Japanese literature, special attention has been given to this phenomenon all over the world concerning adolescents and young adults. Several questions have risen: the novelty or not of such syndrome, its psychopathological and nosographical status, but also its social and cultural implications. Material and method: We have first realized an analysis of studies published in French in order to confront them with the reference studies of international literature. As soon as 1950, a description of a “claustration syndrome” occurred with its psychological implications and transnosographical, mainly based on adult subjects. During the 2000’s, the interest for these adolescent behaviours increase, stressing the complexity both of its functioning and the treatment modalities, but also the access to these young secluded. Then we present two forms of Hikikomori, built after a clinical study of a cohorte of 30 adolescents, and illustrated them by to two clinical vignettes Results and discussion: The predominance of Hikikomori among boy teenagers and young adults has led us to explore the functions of this behaviour during adolescence and its specific stakes: excitement treatment, passivity treatment, confrontation with loss and with ideal’s demand. We make the hypothesis of a double figure of Hikikomori. The first concerns temporary and defensive adjustments of conflicts, the other stresses the impossibility to treat the adolescence process. Therefore, the therapeutically propositions have to take into account these two figures of Hikikomori.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Additional file 1 of Network-based identification of biomarkers for colon adenocarcinoma
Creators: name: Hu, Fuyan
name: Wang, Qing
name: Yang, Zhiyuan
name: Zhang, Zeng
name: Liu, Xiaoping
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Genetics
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Additional file 1 Figure S1. The summary of the mutation drawn by maftools, with six plots that represent descriptive features of the mutations and their annotations. Figure S2. A histogram plot showing the distribution of node degrees in the functional network. Figure S3. The classification of cancer samples (454 samples, the red bar) and normal samples (41 samples, the green bar) by hierarchical clustering the expression of 1063 functional genes. The columns represent individual tissue samples covering tumor and normal samples and the rows represent individual genes. The heat map indicates up-regulation (burgundy) and down-regulation (sky blue). Figure S4. Comparison of GO enrichment of representative DEGs for different subtypes. Figure S5. The survival plots for 13 functional interactions. Figure S6. Enrichment analysis for 1063 functional genes. (A) The top 5 significant enriched GO for 1063 functional genes. (B) The top 5 significant enriched KEGG pathways for 1063 functional genes. Figure S7. The pair-wise correlations between the 12 functional genes. Figure S8. LASSO regression results. The plot of partial likelihood deviance for the 12 functional genes in TCGA cohort.
Quality of Life in Patients with Hyperthyroidism: Where do we stand?
Creators: name: Vita, Roberto
name: Caputo, Andrea
name: Quattropani, Maria Catena
name: Watt, Torquil
name: Feldt-Rasmussen, Ulla
name: Puleio, Paola
name: Benvenga, Salvatore
name: Martino, Gabriella
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Graves’ disease; Graves’ orbitopathy; Hyperthyroidism; Quality of life; Patient-reported outcome measures; SF-36; Subclinical hyperthyroidism; ThyPRO; GO-QOL.

description: Introduction. Increasing interest exists concerning the physical and mental wellbeing of patients with hyperthyroidism. Aim. This review aims at gathering the most updated literature on the quality of life (QoL) in patients with hyperthyroidism. Method: We searched PubMed from inception to May 20, 2020 for English language studies using the following entries: “hyperthyroidism AND quality of life”, “Graves’ disease AND quality of life”, “diffuse toxic goiter AND quality of life”, “toxic nodular goiter AND quality of life”, “subclinical hyperthyroidism AND quality of life”. Thirty-nine papers were finally reviewed. Results: Patients with hyperthyroidism have worse QoL than euthyroid subjects, especially if they have Graves’ disease and Graves’ orbitopathy. Treatment of hyperthyroidism with restoration of euthyroidism may not fully restore QoL even after many years, indicating that such patients have difficulties adapting to and coping with their illness, thus experiencing marked and longstanding limitations in physical, mental and psychosocial functioning. Conclusion. As differences exist on long-term outcomes between therapeutic options for hyperthyroidism, it is logical to hypothesize related differences in long-term changes in QoL. Future clinical and psychological studies could monitor QoL and its related domains across different stages of disease and deepen patients’ trajectories of illness experience and the use of coping strategies to face their condition.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Quasi-Likelihood Estimation of a Censored Autoregressive Model With Exogenous Variables
Creators: name: Wang, Chao
name: Chan, Kung-Sik
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Neuroscience
subject: Physiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Evolutionary Biology
subject: Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Cancer
subject: Inorganic Chemistry
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Science Policy
subject: Plant Biology
subject: Computational Biology

description: Maximum likelihood estimation of a censored autoregressive model with exogenous variables (CARX) requires computing the conditional likelihood of blocks of data of variable dimensions. As the random block dimension generally increases with the censoring rate, maximum likelihood estimation becomes quickly numerically intractable with increasing censoring. We introduce a new estimation approach using the complete-incomplete data framework with the complete data comprising the observations were there no censoring. We introduce a system of unbiased estimating equations motivated by the complete-data score vector, for estimating a CARX model. The proposed quasi-likelihood method reduces to maximum likelihood estimation when there is no censoring, and it is computationally efficient. We derive the consistency and asymptotic normality of the quasi-likelihood estimator, under mild regularity conditions. We illustrate the efficacy of the proposed method by simulations and a real application on phosphorus concentration in river water.
Mentalizing the University experience: an exploratory study on the relationship between university students' reflective functioning, psychological well-being and academic performance
Creators: name: Esposito, Giovanna
name: Passeggia, Raffaella
name: Pepicelli, Giuliana
name: Cannata, Anna
name: Parlato, Federica
name: Freda, Maria Francesca
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Mentalization; Group counselling; Clinical health psychology; Psychological well-being; University students.

description: In a Clinical Health Psychology perspective, which focuses on the promotion and maintenance of mental and physical health of the individuals, mentalization (operationalized as reflective functioning; RF) may be conceived as a psycho-social competence associated with psychological well-being and good outcome treatment. In the university contexts, some studies demonstrated that the students' academic achievements may be related, on one hand, to RF improvements, on the other, to psychological well-being. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies exploring RF in relationship with both academic achievement and psychological well-being regarding university students. This study aims at assessing the effectiveness, in terms of RF, psychological well-being and academic performance, of ten counselling groups addressed to 63 underachieving university students lagging behind in their studies. The counselling adopted an innovative narrative methodology, the Narrative Mediation Path (NMP), which aims to improve mentalization and psychological well-being in order to produce an impact on the students' academic performance. The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ), the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI), and the Academic Performance Inventory (API) were administered at the beginning and at the end of the counselling. Results showed an overall improvement of students in genuine mentalization, especially of the hypomentalizing dimension of RF, an increase of the psychological well-being index and its sub-dimensions (except for the General Health dimension) and an improvement of the academic performance. This study highlighted the effectiveness of the NMP methodology for students' success and suggests the utility of planning clinical psychology interventions aimed at enhancing mentalization in the university contexts.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)
Relationship between Periodontitis and Psychosocial Impact in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: A Clinical Study
Creators: name: Polizzi, Alessandro
name: Santonocito, Simona
name: Vaccaro, Manuel
name: Fichera, Grazia
name: Torrisi, Salvatore
name: Ronsivalle, Vincenzo
name: Palazzo, Giuseppe
name: Sicari, Federica
name: Indelicato, Francesco
Publisher: name: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
Year: 2020
Subjects: Systemic Sclerosis; Oral Health; Periodontal disease; Psychological well-being.

description: Background: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a multi-system disorder that can have significant adverse effects upon the oral health. The aim of this study was to analyze the associations between SSc, periodontal disease (PD) and tooth loss and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Methods: For the study were enrolled 70 patients affected by SSc and 75 non-diseased controls matched for age and gender. SSc was characterized in subtypes and with the mean duration of disease and the Modified Rodnan Skin Score [mRSS]. Patients were surveyed and examined through the evaluation of the periodontal parameters and the number of teeth and OHRQoL scores. Results: A logistic regression analysis showed that patients with SSc presented a higher number of missing teeth (p=0.001) and a 6.89-fold (95% CI 2.04 to 18.36) increased odds of CAL compared to the control group. Moreover, the less values of PPD was correlated with mRSS in the total SSc group and with the mean duration of disease in patients with limited SSc, even after adjusting this correlation with the presence of the major organ involvement. The OHIP sub-scale psychosocial impact differed significantly between groups (p= 0.002). The OHIP sum score was also significantly different between groups (p 0.001). Conclusions : This study showed that patients with SSc presented an increased odds of PD and tooth loss compared to non-diseased controls. In SSc patients, the magnitude of PD was strongly associated with the mRSS and with the mean duration of the disease.
description: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol 8, No 2 (2020)