On the evolution of the entropy and pressure profiles in X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at z > 0.4

Galaxy clusters are the most recent products of hierarchical accretion over cosmological scales. The gas accreted from the cosmic field is thermalized inside the cluster halo. Gas entropy and pressure are expected to have a self-similar behaviour with their radial distribution following a power law and a generalized Navarro-Frenk-White profile, respectively. This has been shown also in many different hydrodynamical simulations. We derive the spatially-resolved thermodynamical properties of 47 X-ray galaxy clusters observed with Chandra in the redshift range 0.4 < z < 1.2, the largest sample investigated so far in this redshift range with X-rays spectroscopy, with a particular care in reconstructing the gas entropy and pressure radial profiles. We search for deviation from the self-similar behaviour and look for possible evolution with redshift. The entropy and pressure profiles lie very close to the baseline prediction from gravitational structure formation. We show that these profiles deviate from the baseline prediction as function of redshift, in particular at z > 0.75, where, in the central regions, we observe higher values of the entropy (by a factor of 2.2) and systematically lower estimates (by a factor of 2.5) of the pressure. The effective polytropic index, which retains informations about the thermal distribution of the gas, shows a slight linear positive evolution with the redshift and the concentration of the dark matter distribution. A prevalence of non-cool-core, disturbed systems, as we observe at higher redshifts, can explain such behaviours.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication by A&

EARLINET: towards an advanced sustainable European aerosol lidar network

The European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, EARLINET, was founded in 2000 as a research project for establishing a quantitative, comprehensive, and statistically significant database for the horizontal, vertical, and temporal distribution of aerosols on a continental scale. Since then EARLINET has continued to provide the most extensive collection of ground-based data for the aerosol vertical distribution over Europe. This paper gives an overview of the network's main developments since 2000 and introduces the dedicated EARLINET special issue, which reports on the present innovative and comprehensive technical solutions and scientific results related to the use of advanced lidar remote sensing techniques for the study of aerosol properties as developed within the network in the last 13 years. Since 2000, EARLINET has developed greatly in terms of number of stations and spatial distribution: from 17 stations in 10 countries in 2000 to 27 stations in 16 countries in 2013. EARLINET has developed greatly also in terms of technological advances with the spread of advanced multiwavelength Raman lidar stations in Europe. The developments for the quality assurance strategy, the optimization of instruments and data processing, and the dissemination of data have contributed to a significant improvement of the network towards a more sustainable observing system, with an increase in the observing capability and a reduction of operational costs. Consequently, EARLINET data have already been extensively used for many climatological studies, long-range transport events, Saharan dust outbreaks, plumes from volcanic eruptions, and for model evaluation and satellite data validation and integration. Future plans are aimed at continuous measurements and near-real-time data delivery in close cooperation with other ground-based networks, such as in the ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network) www.actris.net, and with the modeling and satellite community, linking the research community with the operational world, with the aim of establishing of the atmospheric part of the European component of the integrated global observing system.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Intermittent dislocation flow in viscoplastic deformation

The viscoplastic deformation (creep) of crystalline materials under constant stress involves the motion of a large number of interacting dislocations. Analytical methods and sophisticated `dislocation-dynamics' simulations have proved very effective in the study of dislocation patterning, and have led to macroscopic constitutive laws of plastic deformation. Yet, a statistical analysis of the dynamics of an assembly of interacting dislocations has not hitherto been performed. Here we report acoustic emission measurements on stressed ice single crystals, the results of which indicate that dislocations move in a scale-free intermittent fashion. This result is confirmed by numerical simulations of a model of interacting dislocations that successfully reproduces the main features of the experiment. We find that dislocations generate a slowly evolving configuration landscape which coexists with rapid collective rearrangements. These rearrangements involve a comparatively small fraction of the dislocations and lead to an intermittent behavior of the net plastic response. This basic dynamical picture appears to be a generic feature in the deformation of many other materials. Moreover, it should provide a framework for discussing fundamental aspects of plasticity, that goes beyond standard mean-field approaches that see plastic deformation as a smooth laminar flow

Minority Stress, Resilience, and Mental Health: A Study of Italian Transgender People

Transgender people often experience oppression because of gender nonconformity. They represent an extremely stigmatized population at high risk of developing mental health problems. The minority stress model is a theoretical model used to understand social stigma as a potential cause of mental health disparities faced by the transgender population. In Italy, studies applying this model to the transgender population are limited. The current study applied the minority stress model to a sample of Italian transgender people (n = 149), analyzing effects of prejudice events, expectations of rejection, and internalized transphobia, and their interaction with protective factors (resilience and social support), on mental health. The results suggest that exposure to everyday discrimination and internalized transphobia are associated with increased mental health problems, while perceived social support from family and resilience significantly reduced the strength of association between everyday discrimination and mental health. Findings have important implications for both social issues and policies

Low-Velocity Impacts on a Polymeric Foam for the Passive Safety Improvement of Sports Fields: Meshless Approach and Experimental Validation

Over the past few years, foam materials have been increasingly used in the passive safety of sport fields, to mitigate the risk of crash injury. Currently, the passive safety certification process of these materials represents an expensive and time-consuming task, since a considerable number of impact tests on material samples have to be carried out by an ad hoc testing apparatus. To overcome this difficulty and speed up the design process of new protective devices, a virtual model for the low-velocity impact behaviour of foam protective mats is needed. In this study a modelling approach based on the mesh-free Element Galerkin method was developed to investigate the impact behaviour of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam protective mats. The main advantage of this novel technique is that the difficulties related to the computational mesh distortion and caused by the large deformation of the foam material are avoided and a good accuracy is achieved at a relatively low computational cost. The numerical model was validated statistically by comparing numerical and experimental acceleration data acquired during a series of impact events on EVA foam mats of various thicknesses. The findings of this study are useful for the design and improvement of foam protective devices and allow for optimizing sports fields’ facilities by reducing head injury risk by a reliable computational method

Contributions of implicit memory strategies to the rehabilitation of an amnesic patient: case report

Even severe amnesic patients usually are able to learn new information using implicit memory strategies. In the present study we describe our experience in the rehabilitation of an amnesic patient who had suffered cerebral anoxia. He was taught to use a computer text editor, enabling him to sheltered work. The training program lasted 14 weeks and was based on errorless learning and drilling practice techniques. The patient succeeded in all tasks, even though he could not remember accurately the training sessions. These results meet previous studies which point out that interaction between implicit and residual explicit memory can provide a basis new learning in amnesic patients. The domain-specific knowledge acquisition is demonstrating effectiveness in neuropsychological rehabilitation of brain injured patients.Mesmo pacientes severamente amnésticos são capazes de aprender informações novas, apoiados em estratégias de memória implícita. No presente estudo descrevemos uma experiência de reabilitação neuropsicológica, em que um paciente amnéstico, portador de lesão cerebral por anóxia, foi submetido a treino para uso de computador, visando sua capacitação semi-profissional. O treinamento teve duração de 14 semanas, e as técnicas de ensino utilizadas foram a prática repetitiva e a aprendizagem sem erros. O paciente obteve sucesso na realização das tarefas propostas, aprendendo a operar um editor de textos e mantendo o aprendizado após a passagem do tempo. Apesar disso, lembrava-se apenas vagamente da situação de aprendizagem. O presente estudo corrobora trabalhos anteriores que observam a interação entre mecanismos de memória implícita e resíduos de memória explícita operando na aquisição de conhecimentos em pacientes amnésticos. A aprendizagem de conhecimentos específicos vem se mostrando eficiente para a reabilitação de pacientes que sofreram lesões cerebrais.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de PsicobiologiaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de PsicobiologiaSciEL

Circulating miR-22, miR-24 and miR-34a as Novel Predictive Biomarkers to Pemetrexed-Based Chemotherapy in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Pemetrexed has been widely used in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The clinical relevance of polymorphisms of folate pathway genes for pemetrexed metabolism have not been fully elucidated yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression levels of circulating miR-22, miR-24, and miR-34a, possibly involved in folate pathway, in NSCLC patients treated with pemetrexed compared with healthy controls and to investigate their impact on patient clinical outcomes. A total of 22 consecutive patients with advanced NSCLC, treated with pemetrexed-based chemotherapy and 27 age and sex matched healthy controls were included in this preliminary analysis. miR-22, miR-24, and miR-34a targets were identified by TargetScan 6.2 algorithm, validating the involvement of these microRNAs in folate pathway. MicroRNAs were isolated from whole blood and extracted with miRNAeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). miRNA profiling was performed using Real-Time PCR. SPSS 17 was used to data analysis. miR-22, miR-24, and miR-34a were found upregulated (P<0.05) in NSCLC patients versus healthy controls. Higher expression levels were recorded for miR-34a. Nevertheless, significantly higher miR-22 expression was observed in patients developing progressive disease (P=0.03). No significant associations with clinical outcome were recorded for miR-24 and miR-34a. Albeit preliminary, these data support the involvement of miR-22, miR-24, and miR-34a in advanced NSCLC. The correlation between high expression of miR-22 in whole blood and the lack of response in pemetrexed treated NSCLC patients indicates that miR-22 could represent a novel predictive biomarker for pemetrexed-based treatment

The analysis of bridging constructs with hierarchical clustering methods: An application to identity

When analyzing psychometric surveys, some design and sample size limitations challenge existing approaches. Hierarchical clustering, with its graphics (heat maps, dendrograms, means plots), provides a nonparametric method for analyzing factorially-designed survey data, and small samples data. In the present study, we demonstrated the advantages of using hierarchical clustering (HC) for the analysis of non-higher-order measures, comparing the results of HC against those of exploratory factor analysis. As a factorially-designed survey, we used the Identity Labels and Life Contexts Questionnaire (ILLCQ), a novel measure to assess identity as a bridging construct for the intersection of identity domains and life contexts. Results suggest that, when used to validate factorially-designed measures, HC and its graphics are more stable and consistent compared to EFA

Internalized Transphobia, Resilience, and Mental Health: Applying the Psychological Mediation Framework to Italian Transgender Individuals

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people are a highly-stigmatized population. For this reason, they might internalize society’s normative gender attitudes and develop negative mental health outcomes. As an extension of the minority stress model, the psychological mediation framework sheds light on psychological processes through which anti-transgender discrimination might affect mental health. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing in 149 TGNC Italian individuals the role of internalized transphobia as a mediator between anti-transgender discrimination and mental health, considering resilience as the individual-level coping mechanism buffering this relationship. The results suggest that both indicators of internalized transphobia (i.e., shame and alienation) mediate the relationship between anti-transgender discrimination and depression, while only alienation mediates the relationship between anti-transgender discrimination and anxiety. Furthermore, the results suggest that the indirect relation between anti-transgender discrimination and anxiety through alienation is conditional on low and moderate levels of resilience. Findings have important implications for clinical practice and psycho-social interventions to reduce stigma and stress caused by interpersonal and individual stigma