Libera!

About: Libera! is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Bellman equation & European union. The organization has 501 authors who have published 571 publications receiving 7962 citations.

The effect of verbalization strategy on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in schizophrenic patients receiving classical or atypical antipsychotics.

Abstract: A number of reports showed en encouraging remediation in some patients' executive deficits thanks to the use of 'information processing strategies'. Moreover the impact of antipsychotics on cognitive functions of the schizophrenics is an important issue, especially if an integrated psychosocial treatment is needed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate different executive performance and response to verbalization, a strategy of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) remediation, in subjects on classical vs atypical antipsychotic (AP) treatment. Sixty-three schizophrenic subjects undertook the WCST under standard and modified (verbalization) administration. Subjects were stratified by the kind of WCST response (i.e. good, poor and remediable) and AP treatment (i.e. atypical vs. classical). Subjects on atypical APs showed a better performance than those on classical ones. More poor performers who did not remediate were seen in the sample with classical Aps while subjects who remediated the performance were seen in the subgroup with atypical APs only. An increase of perseverative and total errors was seen in poor performers subjects on classical APs. Subjects on atypicals showed a better cognitive pattern in terms of WCST performance. Since the naturalistic assignment of medication we cannot draw conclusions about its effect on cognitive performance and its interaction with cognitive remediation potential. However the data lead us to hypothesize that subjects with potential room for remediation did so with the atypical APs.

Crowdfunding as 'Donations': Theory & Evidence

Abstract: For a wide class of crowdfunding approaches, we argue that the reward structure (for funders) is closer to that of charitable donations to public goods than it is to traditional entrepreneurial finance. Many features of the design of crowdfunding platforms can therefore be understood as attempts to deal with attendant “free-rider” problems in motivating contributions. Reviewing institutional features of today’s crowdfunding, we clarify that there are often limits in the extent to which tangible rewards can be used to motivate contributions. Drawing on analogies with charitable donations, we theorize that intangible sources of motivation — (i) direct psychological rewards, (ii) reciprocity and (iii) social interactions — can play a role in entrepreneurial crowdfunding. In our detailed empirical analysis of a representative project we find abundant evidence consistent with this characterization and we proceed to discuss implications for platform design and entrepreneurial funding and unique and defining characteristics of crowdfunding.

What factors influence parents’ perception of the quality of life of children and adolescents with neurocardiogenic syncope?

Abstract: Health-related quality of life, which can be investigated using self-reports or parental reports, could help healthcare providers understand the subjective perception of well-being of children suffering from recurrent syncopal episodes Quality of life is not only a measure of health but is also a reflection of patients’ and parents’ perceptions and expectations of health This study assessed: 1) the consistency and agreement between pediatric patients’ self-reports and parents’ proxy-reports of their child’s quality of life; 2) whether this patient-parent agreement is dependent on additional demographic and clinical or distress factors; 3) whether the parents’ psychological distress influences children’s and parents’ responses to questionnaires on quality of life One hundred and twenty-five Italian children aged 6-18 years old (Mean age 1275, SD 273, 48 % female) and their parents completed the Pediatric Quality of Life inventory with self-reports and parent-proxy reports, the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist for ages 6-18 Patients’ and parents’ scores on quality of life were analyzed via an intra-class correlation coefficient, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Bland-Altman plot Child-rated quality of life was lower than parent-rated quality of life However, there were no statistically significant differences between pediatric patients’ self-reports and their parents’ proxy-reports of on quality of life Clinically significant patient-parent variation in pediatric health-related quality of life was observed Differences in patient-parent proxy Pediatric Quality of Life inventory Total Scale Score scores were significantly associated with patient age Concerning parents’ proxy-ratings of their children’s quality of life on the Pediatric Quality of Life inventory, parental stress was found to be negatively associated with their perceptions of their child’s psychological quality of life Indeed, childhood illness is a source of stress for the whole family, and exposes family members to a greater risk of developing psychosocial difficulties In conclusion, this study invites reflection on the use of cross-informants in investigating the quality of life of young patients with neurocardiogenic syncope and the psychological factors that influence how quality of life is perceived

Method of integrating text retrieval to enhance software stem searching

Abstract: A technique for incorporating text retrieval into the logic associated with current stem search technologies. The software stem search system positions a highlight bar even if the entered text is not the first word of the highlighted item. The highlight bar is positioned without reducing the numbers of records in the stem search display. The invention utilizes a stem search engine and a database search engine to search a list of entries for a match to a stem inputted by the user for a desired entry. Since the stem search engine can only find a stem starting with the left-most characters, the database search engine is used to locate the stem in other portions of the entries in the list. The match found by the database search engine is then translated to the list of entries by highlighting the desired entry in the list such that the position of the desired entry in the list of entries may be determined from the display by the user.