1,720,959 research outputs found
San Patrignano. Lessons from the Italian experience
No full textThis chapter focuses on a retention in treatment study carried out in San Patrignano (SanPa), Italy’s largest therapeutic community (TC) working with drug addiction. Study outcomes are connected to some of this TC’s characteristics which are also to be found in other Italian contexts. In the first part, after presenting some data on public and private services dealing with addictions, the authors outline an Italian TC model and its main characteristics. The second and third parts focus on SanPa’s history and organization. The fourth and fifth parts introduce two independent follow-up studies promoted by SanPa as well as the aforementioned retention factor study, Community Outcome. Important results emerge on the ability of this TC to retain users and contribute to their complete recovery, as drug-free people reintegrated into society and the labor market
Population surveys compared with wastewater analysis for monitoring illicit drug consumption in Italy in 2010–2014
No full textBackground: Monitoring consumption by population surveys (PS) is an important way to challenge the spread of illicit drugs (ID). To improve the information, we explored a complementary method, particularly wastewater analysis (WWA).
Methods: We estimated the prevalence of use by PS, and the consumption by WWA, of cocaine, opioids, cannabis, methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy) from 2010 to 2014 in Italy and compared the results.
Results: According to PS, cannabis and cocaine were the ID most used in Italy (last month prevalence 3.0% and 0.43% respectively in 2010) followed by opioids (0.17%) and amphetamines (0.14%). WWA gave similar findings, with cannabis consumption (4.35 g THC/day/1000 inhabitants) exceeding cocaine (0.78 g), heroin (0.092 g), methamphetamine and MDMA (0.103 g). The time trend investigated by PS showed significant decreases for all ID from 2010 to 2012. WWA also indicated a reduction of consumption for methamphetamine (p < 0.0001) and heroin (p < 0.01). Both methods showed an increase for cannabis in 2014 (p < 0.001) with the other ID unchanged. Spatial investigations by WWA showed that cannabis and cocaine were consumed significantly more in central Italy than in the north and south. PS indicated the same but only for cannabis. WWA was helpful to study weekly patterns of consumption, showing increases in cocaine and MDMA at weekends.
Conclusions: PS and WWA were confirmed as complementary methods and when used together improved the information on ID use in Italy. We suggest that the combined use of the two approaches can give better information on ID use in the population
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
SPSD - A new rating scale for psychological distress in adolescence: a validation study on a nationwide Italian cohort of 31,661 adolescents
No full textIn this paper we present a new rating scale for adolescent psychological distress
based on an Italian population study carried out in a cohort of 31,661 adolescents, and
analyzed with Rasch Analysis in addition to the traditional tests.
The Italian epidemiological survey on drug use in the school population was
conducted by the Department of Anti Drug Policies in the first six months of 2014. It was
based on a methodology of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and the Drug
Addiction (EMCDDA - European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs -
ESPAD). The questionnaire and the survey procedures were taken from ESPAD and
adjusted modified in order to address the specific characteristics of to the Italian school
system.
The total population sample consisted on 31,661 15-19 years old students who
attended Italian public high schools.
Among the items in the source scale we have selected nine items belonging to three
dominions (Energy, Emotional Stability, Impulsivity and Risk-Taking) from which we
expected the maximal indirect relation to wellbeing state and therefore as complement, to
distress. To evaluate the psychometric properties of distress scale we carried out the
homogeneity analysis or internal consistency of the scale, using the Cronbach's alpha
coefficient, and analysis of the validity of the scale, using the Gamma coefficient of Goodman and Kruskal - index rank correlation. The data dimensionality was explored
using Rasch Analysis and factor analysis.
The Cronbach's alpha obtained considering all items was to 0.694, making it quite
satisfactory and meeting the standards criteria of acceptability. Rasch analysis confirmed
the items validity and that the items distribution remains in the area of the tolerance
defined.
A very good distribution emerges with a complete absorption of possible values
along the scale range; neither ceiling or floor effect is observed.
Whereas the level of distress measured by the scale is higher the lower the score
detected, it is observed a significantly higher level of distress in females than in males
(52.59 vs 59.61).
For all psychotropic substances analyzed,significantly higher levels of distress in
consumers than non-consumers have been found. In addition,the level of distress as
measured by the scale appears to increase going from users of “soft” drugs to users of
“hard” drugs: - 57.18 is the mean value obtained in the distress scale from the group of
students who say they have never used any illegal drug; - 53.00 is the mean value
obtained in the distress scale from the group of students who report use of cannabis at
least once in their life; - 50.18 is the mean value obtained in the distress scale from the
group of students who report use of cocaine at least once in their life; - 47.95 is the mean
value obtained in the distress scale from the group of students who report use of heroin at
least once in their life. This survey has detected several factors/conditions associated to
the use of substances, which can be considered a reliable proxy of psychological distress:
family background seems to be very important as well as the relationship with parents;
this emerged as regards the presence of rules on behavior outside the home, the quality of
relationships with prominent adult figures (particularly the father), their leadership role,
and the family harmony
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