Memory and correlation effects in the exciton-phonon kinetics

Memory and correlation effects in the interband absorption from quantum wells due to exciton-phonon dynamics are investigated. They are traced back to the frequency dependence and matrix character of the self energy arising in a 2nd Born theory. It is found that interpeak absorption increases with respect to the case in which this memory and correlation effects are neglected.Comment: NOEKS8 Proceeding

Making sense of ourselves and others: a contribution to the community-diversity debate

In recent years, a debate has played out concerning the relationship between two of Community Psychology's core values: promoting diversity and promoting a sense of community. To elaborate on this dialectical relationship, we propose to inscribe it within the broader framework of the identity-otherness dynamics, which currently underpins a variety of disruptive socio-political processes across Europe (e.g., the decrease of solidarity in dealing with the refugee crisis, the spreading of eurosceptic attitudes, and the waves of xenophobia and populism). All these phenomena entail, either as a premise or as a consequence, the negation of otherness and diversity. Some theories in cultural and semiotic psychology suggest that a deeper understanding of the community-diversity dialectics would benefit from taking into account not only the traditional socio-cognitive processes, but also the symbolic and meaning-making processes that envelop the experience of self and the experience of otherness. This perspective would also help in developing community interventions that acknowledge both the need for belonging and identity, and the need for diversity

Parent\u2019s perception of children\u2019s fear: from FSSC-IT to FSSC-PP

Studies involving parents' reports about children's fears and multiple informant comparisons are less extended than investigations on children's self-reporting fear schedules. Starting with the Italian version of FSSC-R, the FSSC-IT, the main aims of this study were to adapt a schedule for parents' perception of their children's fear: the FSSC-Parent Perception. Its psychometric properties were examined in a large sample of parents (N = 2970) of children aged 8-10 years. Exploratory and confirmatory factorial structures were examined and compared with the Italian children's ones. Mother vs. father, children's gender and school age group effects were analyzed. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a four correlated factors solution model (Fear of Danger and Death; Fear of Injury and Animals; Fear of Failure and Criticism; Fear of the unknown and Phobic aspects). Some effects related to child gender, age group, mother vs. father, were found. The FSSC-PP properties supported its use by parents to assess their children's fears. A qualitative analysis of the top 10 fears most endorsed by parents will be presented and compared with children's fears. Clinical implications about the quality of parent-child relationships where discussed, comparing mothers and fathers, and parents' perception about daughters' and sons' most endorsed fears

Emotion Regulation and Parental Bonding in Families of Adolescents With Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Parental bonding and emotional regulation, while important to explain difficulties that may arise in child development, have mainly been studied at an individual level. The present study aims to examine alexithymia and parental bonding in families of adolescents with psychiatric disorders through different generations. The sample included a total of 102 adolescent patients with psychiatric disorders and their parents. In order to take a family level approach, a Latent Class Analysis was used to identify the latent relationships among alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale), perceived parental bonding (Parental Bonding Instrument) and the presence of adolescent internalizing or externalizing psychiatric symptoms (Youth Self-Report). Families of internalizing and externalizing adolescents present different and specific patterns of emotional regulation and parenting. High levels of adolescent alexithymia, along with a neglectful parenting style perceived by the adolescent and the father as well, characterized the families of patients with internalizing symptoms. On the other hand, in the families with externalizing adolescents, it was mainly the mother to remember an affectionless control parental style. These results suggest the existence of an intergenerational transmission of specific parental bonding, which may influence the emotional regulation and therefore the manifestation of psychiatric symptoms

Rorschach assessment in suicide survivors: Focus on suicidal ideation

Background: The study of Suicidal ideation (SI) in people bereaved through suicide (Suicide Survivors, SSs) could be hampered by the person's willingness to admit it, or by their limited awareness of it. Our main hypothesis is that SI is common in these people, especially if they are parents or children of the victim. For its potential in shedding light on specific unconscious processes, Rorschach test was chosen for our investigation, for the first time in SSs literature. Rorschach suicide ideation and selected variables were further analyzed to better delineate their psychological profile. Method: Rorschach according to Exner's Comprehensive System was administered to 21 people bereaved through suicide presenting as outpatients at SOPROXI Project Service-Padova Mental Health Center- and 23 healthy controls. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was routinely administered to SSs and considered in the study. Results: T-tests showed significantly higher mean SI score (S-Con) as it emerged from the Rorschach test S-Con scores in SSs compared to control participants. SI found only weak correlation with the BDI item in which SSs can explicitly state the desire for their death. Within-group analysis revealed higher S-Con mean scores in bereaved children and parents of the victim compared to other kind of kinships. Morbid content (MOR) has been fund as the most characterizing variable in SSs' S-Con in terms of effect size, followed by a low number of responses with an ordinary form (X +%). Human movements (M), Special Scores related to thought slippage (ALOG, FABCOM2, INCOM2, and CONTAM) and poor human representations (PHR) have been shown to be more significantly present in SSs compared controls. Discussion: Psychodynamic interpretations of our results are provided. Clinical practice should consider Rorschach as one of eligible tools of investigation on this field

Near-field spectra of quantum well excitons with non-Markovian phonon scattering

The excitonic absorption spectrum for a disordered quantum well in presence of exciton-acoustic phonon interaction is treated beyond the Markov approximation. Realistic disorder exciton states are taken from a microscopic simulation, and the deformation potential interaction is implemented. The exciton Green's function is solved with a self energy in second order Born quality. The calculated spectra differ from a superposition of Lorentzian lineshapes by enhanced inter-peak absorption. This is a manifestation of pure dephasing which should be possible to measure in near-field experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Culture and Community Interactions: Essentials for understanding in a globalised world

"Introduction to the issue

Drunkorexia: investigación empírica y análisis de las características del fenómeno en una muestra italiana de adolescentes y adultos jóvenes

Introduction: the term drunkorexia refers to the act of self-imposed utilization of extreme weight control methods to compensate for alcohol consumption typically observed among university students. Despite its diffusion, there is a lack of research investigating the presence of this new alarming trend in Italy. Aim: this study estimates the frequency of drunkorexia behaviours in a sample of Italian youth aged 14-24, explores the motivations for alcohol consumption among those presenting drunkorexia-type behaviours, and examines the relationship between drunkorexia and disordered eating. Methods: drunkorexia behaviors, eating habits and motives for alcohol use were investigated in 403 subjects (F=301, M=102) aged 14-24 through self-report questionnaires. A series of analyses, including descriptive statistics, univariate analysis of the variance and multiple regressions were run. Results: 62.5% of the sample showed drunkorexia-type behaviours. Drunkorexia was related to disordered eating, especially among females older than eighteen. Discussion and Conclusions: this the first study investigating the incidence of drunkorexia behaviors in a sample of youth living in Northern Italy. Evidence-based interventions for eating disorders and drinking problems should inspire the development of ad hoc preventive and treatment actions for drunkorexia.

Confined optical phonon modes in polar tetrapod nanocrystals detected by resonant inelastic light scattering

We investigated CdTe nanocrystal tetrapods of different sizes by resonant inelastic light scattering at room temperature and under cryogenic conditions. We observe a strongly resonant behavior of the phonon scattering with the excitonic structure of the tetrapods. Under resonant conditions we detect a set of phonon modes that can be understood as confined longitudinal-optical phonons, surface-optical phonons, and transverse-optical phonons in a nanowire picture.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

TA treatment of depression : a hermeneutic single-case efficacy design study - ‘Caterina’

This study is the second of a series of seven, and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from two previous series (Widdowson 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013; Benelli, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c) that investigated the effectiveness of a manualised transactional analysis treatment for depression through Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design. The therapist was a white Italian woman with 10 years of clinical experience and the client, Caterina, was a 28-year old white Italian woman who attended 16 sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. Caterina satisfied DSM-5 criteria for major depressive disorder with generalized anxiety disorder. The conclusion of the judges was that this was an outstanding good-outcome case: the depressive symptoms showed an early clinical and reliable improvement, maintained till the 6 months follow-up, accompanied by reductions in anxiety symptoms, global distress and severity of personal problems. Adherence to the manualised treatment for depression appears good to excellent. In this case study, transactional analysis treatment for depression has proven its efficacy in treating major depressive disorder in comorbidity with anxiety disorder