1,721,705 research outputs found

    Violence in the Family of Origin, Mentalization, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

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    Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social issue that has impact on the physical and psychological well-being of victims. Exploring the mechanisms that intervene in the intergenerational transmission of violence from family of origin (VFO) to couple relationships can provide theoretical and clinical data. Drawing on the attachment theory and Fonagy’s mentalizing model, this article aims to explore the relationship between VFO and IPV perpetration and the mediating role of mentalization. A total of 531 Italian participants who were in a relationship (68.7% females; mean age = 28.1, standard deviation = 9.0) participated anonymously in the study by completing an online questionnaire. A direct association emerged between VFO and mentalization and between VFO and IPV. Furthermore, mentalization demonstrated a direct association with IPV. An indirect effect was also found between VFO and IPV with the mediation of mentalization. However, the indirect effect of VFO on IPV through mentalization was significant only in relation to psychological IPV, whereas it was not supported in relation to physical and sexual IPV. Although further research is needed across different populations, forms, and typologies of IPV, the preliminary results found the role of mentalization in psychological IPV, providing theoretical and clinical insights

    Preliminary Steps Towards a Low Power Integrated Circuit for AgriTech: a Relaxation Oscillator for Stem Impedance Monitoring

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    The main challenges in modern agriculture involve addressing the disruptive environmental effects caused by crop and livestock production, which are essential for human survival. Emerging trends point towards a world of pervasive IoT (Internet of Things) nodes, where low-cost, low-power, and in-vivo plant sensors can detect abiotic and biotic stresses at the earliest stages. This paper presents a preliminary study of an integrable, low-power relaxation oscillator, consisting of a Schmitt trigger in a feedback loop with the plant’s stem to evaluate its health status. Simulations have been conducted to compare the energy consumption of this circuit with state-of-the-art electronic sensors, focusing on energy usage per measurement. The results indicate that this new solution can sense the plant’s health status with an energy consumption below 10 μJ per measurement, which is at least an order of magnitude lower than existing electronic systems found in the literature

    Sensor system for water stress detection using in-plant transmitted signal amplitude evaluation

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    Environmental sustainability has become a significant topic, especially in recent years. Extreme natural phenomena and food insecurity related to the rising world population have highlighted the need for a new approach to agriculture. Smart Agriculture solutions may represent a viable answer to boost productivity, reduce emissions, and optimize human labor through the utilization of several new technologies and techniques in the climate-change scenario. From this perspective, the following paper proposes a sensor system capable of evaluating the plant’s health status based on stem electrical impedance from a local and global point of view. In particular, the receiving system is able to sense the global stem impedance, monitoring the amplitude of a signal transmitted inside the plant itself. The system injects a square wave into the plant, and thanks to the proposed sensor, it is possible to read a frequency proportional to the amplitude of this signal collected from another point of the stem. The developed system has been tested on a tobacco plant, showing correlations of 0.94 and -0.97, respectively, for the local sensor and global sensor with respect to the soil water potential

    Experimental characterization and numerical modeling of the compressive mechanical behavior of hazelnut kernels

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    The evaluation of mechanical properties of hazelnuts has been developed over the past years mainly to optimize industrial processes. The aim of this study is to reproduce the compressive behavior of hazelnut kernel obtained by experimental and numerical activities; the contribution of pellicle influence to the mechanical behavior is also analyzed. The experimental activity is aimed to measure the mechanical properties of hazelnut kernel and to obtain a model calibration based on experimental data analyzed by statistical approach. The finite element models of hazelnut kernels are implemented and a set of numerical compression tests are simulated; the comparison of experimental and numerical responses is shown

    Impact of Increasing Levels of Oxygen Consumption on the Evolution of Color, Phenolic, and Volatile Compounds of Nebbiolo Wines

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    Since the end of the last century, many works have been carried out to verify the effect of controlled oxygen intake on the chemical and organoleptic characteristics of red wines. In spite of the large number of studies on this subject, oxygen remains a cutting-edge research topic in oenology. Oxygen consumption leads to complex and not univocal changes in wine composition, sometimes positive such as color stabilization, softening of mouthfeel, increase of aroma complexity. However, the variability of these effects, which depend both on the oxygenation conditions and the composition of the wine, require more efforts in this research field to effectively manage wine oxygen exposure. The present study is focused on the evolution of the chemical composition of four different Nebbiolo wines, each of them added with 4 different doses of oxygen (7, 14, 21, and 28 mg/L total intake) during the first month of storage. In this perspective, the evolution over time of wine color and polyphenols was studied. Acetaldehyde, glyceraldehyde and glyoxylic acid were quantified by HPLC. These compounds can play a role in wine aging creating condensed colored and stable products involving anthocyanins with or without tannins. Moreover, some volatile aldehydes correlated with oxidized olfactory notes, including methional and (E)-2-alkenals, have been quantified by GC-MS. Overall, during storage a decrease of color intensity, total and free anthocyanins and an increase in polymeric pigments (in particular the contribution to the red color of pigments not-bleachable by SO2 or dTAT%) and some minor aldehydes was observed. Nevertheless, the differences in color parameters between the samples with different doses of oxygen were modest. These evidences were in contrast with an evident and detectable increase of free acetaldehyde content at increasing doses of oxygen measured after 60 days of storage. The effect of oxygen on color and production of SO2 non-bleachable pigments during aging varies with wine composition, with Nebbiolo wines appearing not very reactive in this respect, probably due to their low content in anthocyanins and high content in tannins

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

    Changes in stilbene composition during postharvest ozone treatment of ‘Moscato bianco’ winegrapes

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    Stilbenes, including trans-resveratrol and its derivatives, are compounds naturally present in grapes and have gained a growing interest due to reported health-promoting properties. The production of resveratrol-enriched table grapes has promoted recent research on stress-induced synthesis of stilbenes. The oxidizing properties of ozone have been successfully exploited to its use as sanitizing agent and stilbene elicitor during table grapes storage. In winegrapes, this study represents the first research focused on the effect of postharvest ozone treatments on the accumulation of stilbene compounds. The study was carried out on Moscato bianco winegrapes (Vitis vinifera L.) and several gaseous ozone treatments were investigated differing in ozone dose (30 and 60 μL/L), exposure time (24 h, 48 h, and several days until 30% of weight loss), and delay time until processing (just after and several days after treatment). The stilbene production induced by ozone exposure was assessed in fresh and partially dehydrated winegrapes up to 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30% of weight loss aiming to evaluate the single and combined effect of oxidative and osmotic stresses. The results obtained showed that short-term exposure of fresh winegrapes at 60 μL/L of ozone for 48 h was not effective in inducing resveratrol accumulation just after treatment, but it had an elicitor effect on total stilbenes (+36%) in grapes subsequently dehydrated up to 20% of weight loss with a significant overproduction of trans-resveratrol and trans-piaceatannol. In addition, long-term and continuous treatments under ozone-enriched atmosphere can be also used during dehydration to sanitize winegrapes without affecting negatively the concentration of stilbenes. Therefore, the use of gaseous ozone during storage and dehydration could be indicated to reduce the use of sulfur dioxide and, depending on ozone dose and exposure time, the synthesis of stilbene compounds could increase
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