One of the mobile industry's favourite facets of openness is open source code. Since 2007, tens of mobile industry giants and consortia have embraced open source in some form or other: the Symbian Foundation, LiMo Foundation, Google's Android, Nokia's Qt, Apple's WebKit and Nokia+Intel's Meego are the initiatives that have hit the industry front pages. On the surface, these initiatives use open source licenses, but that only tells half the story. Behind the scenes, Google, Apple, Nokia and others use restrictive governance models and control points that effectively detract the very freedoms that open source licensing is meant to bestow. This article discusses the many forms that governance models can take, and how they are used in the mobile industry to tightly control the roadmap and application of open source projects.
Open source licensed software carries four basic freedoms that provide the right to access, modify, distribute and contribute to the software. These freedoms have been expanded into ten cardinal points that form the criteria that every open source license must adhere to, and which are defined by the Open Source Initiative.
A handful of different licenses are used in the vast majority of open source projects; namely the GPL, LGPL, APL, EPL, MPL, BSD and MIT. Interestingly, the GPL which is known as a strong copyleft license, is most often used in personal computer and Internet projects, but is rarely used in the mobile industry. Instead, the licenses used most often in mobile software are weak copyleft, such as the EPL, or permissive licenses, such as the APL, due to handset manufacturer concerns for downstream liabilities.
What's often missed in open source discussions is how open source licenses tell only half the story. The governance model, the implicit rules defining transparency and influence into an open source project, is the small print that determines the power dynamics around that project.
In practice, mobile open source initiatives use a variety of control points - such as trademarks, private lines, distribution of derivatives, ownership of reviewers, gravity of contributions and contributor agreements - to turn an egalitarian governance model into an authoritarian one. Such control points can detract the very freedoms that open source licenses are meant to bestow, examples of which are shown in Table 1.
In general, open source licenses pertain to the use of the source code in a purist sense, while governance models relate to the use of a product in a practical sense. Governance models are much more fundamental in determining the ecosystem dynamics around that product.
Governance models can be simplified to indicate the democracy of transparency and influence on an open source product. On one end of the spectrum are autonomous trust communities where opinion leaders influence the direction of the product through a chain of trusted reviewers. An example of this type of model is Linux. On the other end are single-sponsor communities where the product roadmap, private lines, contributions and trademarks are controlled by a single company. Based on this simplified governance model, we map the most popular mobile open source projects, as seen in Figure 1.
Is the latest source code publically available or are feature-packed private codelines available discriminately to selected parties?
Is the product roadmap publically available or to members only?
How is the roadmap formed and who has voting rights?
Is there a transparency of contributions in terms of the level and type of contributions by partipating companies?
Is the amount of contributors and reviewers/maintainers balanced among the community or does one company form the gravity centre of contributions?
Are derivatives available widely, or through a proprietary route to market, such as seen in the Android Market?
Can you fork the software and buy the service from somewhere else?
Is there a trademark applying to the use of the project name and embodiments of products?
Do contributions require copyright assignment or patent grants?
Are there any safe harbour provisions for contributors to the source code?
We believe that governance models are the key determinant of the ecosystem dynamics, and the level of innovation around open source projects.
What the mobile industry needs is not more marketing hype around the benefits of openness, but more education and clarity on governance models. The industry also needs a benchmark - a sort of openness index - for determining the true dynamics of an open source product, and for pushing the corporate sponsors to play fair. At VisionMobile we have been quietly working towards developing an openness index and are keen to hear from companies who want to make this happen.
Governance is one of the most understated topics in the open mobile industry today, yet one of the most fundamental in the direction the industry will be taking.
Andreas Constantinou is the Research Director at VisionMobile where he oversees the company's research, advisory and industry mapping projects. He has ten years experience in research, development and strategy in mobile, specialising in the handset ecosystem, software strategy and open source. Andreas has worked on several product and marketing strategy projects for clients including Sony Ericsson, RIM, Microsoft, France Telecom, T-Mobile, OMTP, Qualcomm, ST Ericsson, Gemalto and Trolltech and authored numerous research reports for analyst firms Informa, Ovum and ARCchart. Andreas also teaches the Mobile Open Source workshop, part of VisionMobile's 360 degree training courses on complex industry sectors. Prior to founding VisionMobile, Andreas spent 3 years at Orange's Research and Innovation division, including serving as a technology lead for the Orange-Microsoft relationship. His interests include uncovering under-the-radar industry trends and pursuing human-centric design. When not hopping on planes, Andreas spends his time in Athens, Greece. Andreas holds a Ph.D. in Image and Video Compression from the University of Bristol, UK.


Precisely Calibrated - This BBK 76mm mass air meter for 1994-1995 Mustang GT 5.0 is calibrated to work with larger 30 lb/hr injectors to support more power. Starting with an all new 356 aluminum casting each unit is powdercoated then fully CNC machined to exact specifications before being fitted with one of BBK's electronically calibrated mass air sensor modules to ensure an accurate air/fuel ratio for the best possible performance potential.
Gain Up To 15 RWHP in Minutes - Dyno testing has shown up to 15 RWHP gains while maintaining an accurate air/fuel ratio unlike some competitor's units that are not electronically calibrated and may fail to maintain the all important air/fuel ratio.
Installation - BBK Mustang mass air meters are designed to be a direct fit for a simple installation. All you have to do is swap the BBK MAF in place of the stock meter.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Gladys Boquet LeCompte, 89, a native of Bourg and resident of Minden, died at 9:10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 29, 2007.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to funeral time Wednesday at Falgout Funeral Home. Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home chapel, with burial in St. Ann Cemetery in Bourg.
She is survived by one son, Tim LeCompte of Prairieville; four daughters, Gay Ramia and husband, Bill, of Memphis, Tenn., Susie Johnson and husband, John, of Minden, Lana Martin and husband, Walter, of Lafayette and Paulette Malamud and husband, Ken, of Burnet, Texas; 10 grandchildren, Billy Ramia, Linda Berry, Amy Prenger, Eric Johnson, Kelli Person, Troy Martin, Kurt Theriot, Ryan Malamud, Kristin Fitt and Michael LeCompte; and 15 great-grandchildren, Nathan and Anna Ramia, Jonas, Brian, Kayla and Bryce Berry, Jeremy Prenger, Hanna Johnson, Erin and Melanie Neal, Conner, Jacob and Shaohanna Martin and Serenity and Kya Fitt.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 69 years, Alton LeCompte; her parents, Joseph and Marie Blanchard; one grandchild, Melanie Ramia; four brothers; and five sisters.
She worked in the library at South Terrebonne High School for 23 years and was a charter member and past president of the Bourg Lions Club Auxiliary. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and will be greatly missed.
She was a parishioner of St. Ann Catholic Church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to TARC, 1 McCord Road, Houma, LA 70363.
Pallbearers will be Billy Ramia, Eric Johnson, Troy Martin, Kurt Theriot, Ryan Malamud and Steve Person.


text:
Q: Solr - Boosting parent documents based on child document field I am trying to figure out how to boost my parent documents based on the values within a sub-document. I am currently using Solr 5.3 and everything is indexed correctly. Here is the document structure I'm working with:
{
  id : 1
  type_s : "Product",
  productId : 1,
  _children_ : [
    {
      id : 2,
      type_s : "Store",
      storeId : 100,
      price_p : 10.99,
      availability_s : "PICKUP"
    },
    {
      id : 3,
      type_s : "Store",
      storeId : 101,
      price_p : 11.99,
      availability_s : "DELIVERY"
    }
  ]
}

I have been able to do all the filtering and faceting on sub-documents, but I can't figure out the boosting. I've tried doing joins within bq like the following with no luck:
bq={!parent which='type_s:Product'} availability_s:DELIVERY^2.0
In addition, how would I boost based on the value of price_p?
I have not been able to find any documentation on this, so if anyone has boosted based on sub-documents, any help would be appreciated!

A: Provide score mode and try. Something like this:
bq={!parent which="type_s:Product" score=total}availability_s:DELIVERY^2.0
More information about score mode:http://www.solr-start.com/javadoc/solr-lucene/org/apache/lucene/search/join/ScoreMode.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
--The small town of Lafleche (pop 406) is hoping to be Kraft Hockeyville. The town, near Gravelbourg, in Saskatchewan's southwest is one of four finalists. Voting goes on March 31. Winning the distinction of Kraft Hockeyville would give Lafleche 100,000 dollars for arena upgrades and the opportunity to host an NHL pre-season game.
--The WHL regular season is over for the Regina Pats. Tyler Steenburgen's 47th goal of the year in overtime gave Swift Current a 3-2 win over Regina ending a seven-game win streak. Regina ends the year with a record of 40-25-6-1. They will be back in Swift Current Friday for Game 1 of their WHL Eastern Conference first round series. The Moose Jaw Warriors were beaten 5-4 in a shootout by Brandon. The Warriors will play Prince Albert in Round 1 with the Wheat Kings going to Medicine Hat
--The Leafs beat the Canadiens 4-0 in Saturday NHL play. Montreal has been shut out a league leading 11 times this season. The win was Toronto's 12th straight at home this year which is a league high this season.
--The New York Jets shook up the top of the NFL draft on Saturday morning, completing a blockbuster trade with the Indianapolis Colts that will put them in better position to select a potential franchise quarterback.
The Jets moved up three spots to No. 3, while sending the No. 6 overall pick, two second-round choices this year (Nos. 37 and 49) and their second-rounder in 2019 to the Colts.
--Jennifer Jones opened up the World Women's Curling Championship with a pair of wins. Jones and her rink consisting of Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen defeated the Czechs 11-5 and Switzerland 10-5
I watched curling yesterday. Kaitlyn Lawes didn't look near as contented as she did while playing Mixed Doubles at the Olympics. Hmmmmm. Way to go John Morris.
The Habs are SOOOOOOOOO bad. I love it!
Curling is not a sport! Its a lazy a** version of bowling. Bowling is truly athletic to play. Wonder when bowling will get Olympic games credited status? Hopefully soon. Its a very enduring game to play, you have to be world top athletic shape.


text:
We can't decide... do we really dither for two years of our lives? Dilemmas over what to wear, eat and watch on TV take up more than seven hours of a typical week
People spend the equivalent of two years and nine months of their lives dithering
Decisions include what to order at a restaurant and what to watch on Netflix
Six in ten UK adults admit they struggle to make decisions, taking more than seven hours each week
By Josh White For The Daily Mail
Published: 19:31 EST, 13 June 2017 | Updated: 19:31 EST, 13 June 2017
We spend the equivalent of two years and nine months of their lives dithering, according to research.
Daily dilemmas include what to have for dinner - which takes almost seven minutes to decide - and what to wear, which consumes another four.
What to watch on Netflix – at four minutes, 19 seconds - whether to be sociable - at seven minutes, 25 seconds - and what to order in a restaurant – at six minutes, 19 seconds - also prove tricky.
We spend the equivalent of two years and nine months of their lives dithering, according to research
What to order in a restaurant takes adults roughly at six minutes, 19 seconds to decide
Overall, six in ten UK adults admit they struggle to make decisions – spending an astonishing seven hours and 36 minutes making up their minds during a typical week.
The research of 2,000 UK adults was commissioned by ISA and financial services provider, Scottish Friendly.
It also emerged on average, those polled make 14 'small' decisions everyday - including what to have for lunch and what to watch on television.
Cut price doctor will see you now: 3,000 assistants with... Most couples blame in-laws for arguments: One in five say...
'Too much choice' is the top reason we find it hard to make up our minds - followed by wanting to be sure the right decision is made.
Some 60 per cent of adults said they have a tendency to make the wrong decision - although four in ten said indecisiveness has worked to their benefit at times.
While around half admit they often try to avoid making decisions altogether - with 48 per cent hoping someone else will make the decision on their behalf so they don't have to.
Among those polled, the peak age for indecisiveness is 35 years old with almost a quarter of respondents admitting to becoming less decisive as they have gotten older.
Overall, six in ten UK adults admit they struggle to make decisions – spending an astonishing seven hours and 36 minutes making up their minds during a typical week
However, Britons find it easier to make decisions about personal finance - just one in ten struggle to decide which utility provider to use.
And only 5 per cent agonise over which bank account to go for, while 85 percent have no qualms dipping into their savings if they need to.
Calum Bennie of Scottish Friendly said: 'It is remarkable that many Brits find making important financial decisions a relative breeze.
'Considering the current economic uncertainty following the election and Brexit, it is more important than ever that people do take the time to consider all the options available to them when it comes to money.
'It is crucial Brits make informed and considered financial choices or they risk running into problems in the future.'
Brits spend two years of their lives dithering


The room was silent but for a few clicks of a keyboard and the occasional swish of clothing. No spoken words, but full of life.
It had been a while since I had been to Deaf church. Too long for me actually. My lack of exposure to ASL has lead my already struggling vocabulary to decrease. The people at Connecting Deaf church were more than gracious with my struggle to communicate.
The lack of spoken words didn't decrease the Spirit of God that was in that place.
I am not sure if you have experienced "knowing" someone was a Christian before they told you? My lack of ASL didn't decrease the fact that God was in that place today. It was wonderful to fellowship with other believers, to be encouraged in our journey back to Belize, and to work at my ASL.
Connecting Deaf is one of our sending churches, and a support in the Deaf community.
as a PS thanks to Greg Stemler for taking our younger two children to Hopewell for us :) I am sure it was an exciting day for him as well!
"I'm going to really miss Mrs Hughes when when we leave."
We walk out of time with her tutor and my daughter discusses how she is going to say goodbye. Goodbyes are an often brought up topic in our household. Spending a year internship in Belize then returning home for fundraising was in some ways a good idea.
We got our feet wet. We were able to have a tangible answers to what we will do in our next term.
Our children also grasp the concept of saying goodbye. They know what it means to really miss someone. We have multiple conversations centering on what we miss, and who we miss (or will miss).


Behind the creations of Quatorze is the inspiration of art, music, and the things that stir our souls.
Invoking the beauty inherent in the materials we use, we provide accessories that bring excitement to daily wear: more smoothly adaptable to everyday looks than costume jewelry, yet more powerful than jewelry.
The simple joy of coordinating an outfit with a favorite accessory and the elation felt in the moment of adding that extra touch can truly make each day something even more wonderful.


Racjit Josh, managing director of the closed Matsiloje Portland Cement (MPC) plant, has said that it would be difficult to reopen the plant without government support to restrict cement imports.
The Botswana factory, which is owned by Nortex Textiles, closed in January 2018 due to competition from South African imports and 150 people lost their jobs.
In June last year, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment said that it was in the process of introducing restrictions on the importation of cement, but the country still has not implemented the proposals.
"Zimbabwe, Nambia and SA have measures (import restrictions) in place to protect their market while Botswana does not have," said Mr Josh. "When we were in operation we constantly reduced prices until we reached a point where we felt that it was not sustainable to continue running the business. We had hoped that the business environment will change for the bette, but things did go not as we had anticipated."
MPC had an annual turnover of around BWP20m (US$1.89m) and produced 30,000tpa of cement, according to Mr Josh. The company also produced the lime it used for its cement. It sourced other raw materials from Morupule (fly ash) and South Africa. Last year, government said the proposed cement import restrictions would require that 70 per cent of the product be sourced from local manufacturing companies.
Botswana now just has a single running grinding plant, Gaborone Mill, which is operated by South Africa's PPC and produces 0.55Mta of cement.


text:
Home Soccer Ancelotti does not forget Dalot
Ancelotti does not forget Dalot
The coach recommended the young Portuguese right-back for Everton. Now at United, he has had minutes in the Eurocup.
Diogo Dalot, 22, is one of the players that Ancelotti has had satelliteized in recent months. The Portuguese side, currently owned by Manchester United, has been one of the revelations of the U21 European Championship played in Hungary and Slovenia. For now, the right-back is a position that is well covered by the club with two footballers: Carvajal and Odriozola. But he is a player to be followed closely.
Dalot has played for Manchester United since the 2018-19 season, when he was signed for 22 million euros from Porto. At the English club, however, the full-back has not achieved all the minutes he would have liked: he has participated in a total of 35 games in which at no time has he been the team's starting right-back. This lack of minutes caused Dalot to go on loan to Milan last season. In the rossonero team the winger has achieved his best figures: he has participated in 33 games in which he has scored two goals and has given two assists. He liked his performance in Italy so much that Milan tried his purchase at the end of the season. However, United have not wanted to part with their player for another season and Solskjaer has informed them that they are counting on him for this year. A United that, on the other hand, has tried to sign Atlético Trippier since the summer market began.
Promotion with Portugal
Dalot's last season at Milan has helped him to be called up by his national team. In the European Under-21s held this summer in Hungary and Slovenia, Dalot was the starting right-back of a team that reached the final of the tournament, eliminating Spain in the semifinals (0-1). On the contrary, they could not with a German National Team that defeated them 1-0. However, his good performances in the tournament meant that, after Joao Cancelo's injury, Fernando Santos called him to play for the Eurocup with the senior team. A tournament in which he did not play minutes until the third match of the group stage against France (2-2) in which Dalot came off the bench. His good performance in those minutes made Santos give him the opportunity in the second round against Belgium: he started ahead of former Barcelona player Nelson Semedo. However, Portugal was eliminated in that match by losing 1-0.
Even so, the last campaign of the Portuguese footballer has been marked in several greats of Europe that already follow the track. When Ancelotti was at Everton he already recommended his signing.


SLS subwoofers feature enhancements like the addition of the Sonance Laminated Core Transformer with an adjustable tap and a Laminar Flow Port making each component of the series powerful and flexible for system design and application.
Sonance Landscape LS12T SUB 12" In-ground SLS Subwoofer.
Woofer: 12" (305mm) polypropylene cone with a SantopreneTM rubber surround.
Frequency Response: 22Hz – 100Hz ±3dB.
Recommended Amp Power: 50W min, 375W max.
Sensitivity: 91dB @ 1m, 2.83 V (8-ohms).
Tranformer Tabs: 70V: 300W, 150W, 75W; 100V: 300W, 150W; 8 Ohms.
Enclosure Materials: Low density polyethylene (LDPE).
Finish: Dark brown textured canopy.
Shipping Weight: 70.55 lbs (32.0kg).
Overall Dimensions (L x Dia.): 16.97" x 29.13" (431mm x 740mm).
Woofer Enclosure Dims (H x Dia.): 20.70" x 13.78" (526mm x 350mm).
Canopy Dims (H x Dia.): 8.43" x 16.97" (214mm x 431mm).
Sonance Landscape LS15T SUB 15" In-ground SLS Subwoofer.
Woofer: 15" (381mm) polypropylene cone with a SantopreneTM rubber surround.
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 100Hz ±3dB.
Recommended Amp Power: 50W min, 500W max.
Sensitivity: 94dB @ 1m, 2.83 V (8-ohms).
Shipping Weight: 83.77 lbs (38.0kg).
Overall Dimensions (L x Dia.): 21.26" x 33.58" (540mm x 853mm).
Woofer Enclosure Dims (H x Dia.): 23.01" x 16.73" (584mm x 425mm).
Canopy Dims (H x Dia.): 10.57" x 21.26" (268mm x 540mm).
Sonance Landscape HS12T SUB 12" Hardscape SLS Subwoofer.
Enclosure Materials: UV-resistant, low density polyethylene enclosure.
Shipping Weight: 64.14 lbs (30.0kg).
Overall Dimensions (L x H x D): 16.14" x 16.14" x 16.14".


It has no source of supply either in the fat (the white of the eye) or in the coating (retina); (but) the Beloved made (these) a veil (for Himself) when bringing (the light) into existence.
The attracting air in the cavity of the ear apprehends that which is spoken, (whether) true or false.
What is that air within that little bone, (that air) which receives the words and sounds uttered by the story-teller?
The bone and the air are only a veil: in the two worlds there is none except God.
He is the hearer, He is the speaker, (whom mystics behold) unveiled; for the ears belong to the head, O you who have merited the Divine recompense.
He (the Jew) said, "If thou art feeling pity for him, give (me) gold and take him (in exchange), O man of generous disposition.
So that the Jew was dumbfounded: at once his stony heart inclined (towards him).
This is what happens to form-worshippers: their stone is (made) waxen by a (beauteous) form.
He offered him in addition a nisáb (two hundred dirhems) of silver, so that the Jew's cupidity was satisfied.
How the Jew laughed and imagined that the Siddíq had been swindled in this bargain.
The stony-hearted Jew guffawed jeeringly and mockingly in malice and spite.
For in my opinion he is worth the two worlds: I am regarding his spirit, thou his colour.
He is red gold that has been made (like) black polished iron on account of the enviousness of this abode of fools.


Thank you to everyone who showed up to help serve at the annual Red Oak White & Blue festival! We had a great time partnering with the city of Red Oak and serving and loving families in the community. We couldn't have done it without you!
Quisque non neque ullamcorper, cursus felis sed, pulvinar arcu. Sed fermentum nulla vitae risus aliquet, vel pharetra enim tristique. In ut varius enim. Vivamus id dolor quis velit dignissim pellentesque. Sed euismod, mauris sed finibus ullamcorper, lacus ex consequat elit, id blandit augue neque non arcu. Sed sed quam venenatis, vulputate purus in, congue purus. Maecenas venenatis nibh sit amet placerat suscipit. Duis ut convallis diam, ut bibendum massa.


text:
How do I call the Help Desk if I want to speak with someone? Where is the "contact us" information?
The Department of Technology Help Desk telephone number is 415-241-6476. Support for SFUSD-owned devices or systems is available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
The Help Desk auto-attendant phone tree options are as follows:
Press 1 - passwords & usernames/accounts
Press 2 - software-related issues
Press 3 - desktop computer hardware-related issues including printers.
Press 4 - networking, Internet access issues including wireless (wi-fi)
Press 5 - telephones, voicemail, mobile phones, and faxes
Press 6 - all other issues
Press * - repeat the menu
How do I report lost or stolen SFUSD-owned equipment?
How do I get a Laptop for Educators (L4E) device? I am a new teacher.
How do I access BASIS?
My MacBookAir is freezing. How can I get it working?


text:
Q: Using JNA to access a struct containing a vector I have a C++ library that uses a struct which contains a vector. I am having some difficulty determining the correct way to access this from Java via JNA.
My C++ structure:
#include <vector>

struct topic {
    char* src_id;
    char* dest_id;
    int32_t num;
    std::vector<char*> names;
};

My Java class:
public final class Topic extends Structure {

    public String src_id;
    public String dest_id;
    public int num;
    public String[] names; // This doesn't work

    public Topic() {

    }

    @Override
    protected List<String> getFieldOrder() {
        return Arrays.asList(new String[] { "src_id", "dest_id", "num", "names" });
    }

}

A: This solution worked for me:
package com.example;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import com.sun.jna.Library;
import com.sun.jna.Native;
import com.sun.jna.Pointer;
import com.sun.jna.StringArray;
import com.sun.jna.Structure;

public class Example {

    public interface CLibrary extends Library {

        public static class Topic extends Structure {
            public static class ByReference extends Topic implements Structure.ByReference {
            }

            public String src_id;
            public String dest_id;
            public int num;

            public int numVals;
            public Pointer names; // char**

            @Override
            protected List<String> getFieldOrder() {
                return Arrays.asList(new String[] { "src_id", "dest_id", "num", "numVals", "names" });
            }
        }

        public void sendTopic(Topic.ByReference pVal);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        final CLibrary clib = Native.loadLibrary("example.dll", CLibrary.class);

        final String[] myArray = new String[5];
        myArray[0] = "one";
        myArray[1] = "two";
        myArray[2] = "three";
        myArray[3] = "four";
        myArray[4] = "five";

        CLibrary.Topic.ByReference ref = new CLibrary.Topic.ByReference();
        ref.numVals = 5;
        ref.names = new StringArray(myArray);

        clib.sendTopic(ref);
    }
}

A: You can use Pointer and pass StringArray using public StringArray(String[] strings) as mentioned here
public String src_id;
public String dest_id;
public int num;
public Pointer names;

String[] namesArray= new String[2];
//Assign two names to namesArray

//Construct StringArray with namesArray and pass it to Pointer
names = new StringArray(namesArray);


Another young American is on the verge of breaking the WTA's Top 100 for the first time after Sachia Vickery had the best week of her career in Auckland, New Zealand this past week, not just reaching the first WTA semifinal of her career, but setting a brand new career-high of No.105 in the world.
Before this year, Vickery's best showings at the WTA level were four quarterfinals, one per year the last four years - Stanford in 2014, Nottingham in 2015, Bogota in 2016 and Quebec City in 2017.
But in the very first week of the 2018 season the 22-year-old Hollywood, Florida native surpassed all of those at the International-level ASB Classic, not dropping a set through three rounds of qualifying and another three rounds in the main draw - including upsets over No.5 seed Lauren Davis and No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. She'd fall to No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals, 6-4 6-4.
Vickery's win over the No.28-ranked Radwanska was the best victory of her career - her previous-best win in terms of ranking came against a No.30-ranked Zhang Shuai at Stanford back in 2014.
"I think I played really well," Vickery told wtatennis.com after her a 6-2 6-2 win over the former No.2.
The run pushed Vickery from No.122 to No.105 on the new rankings, leap-frogging over her previous career-high of No.108 in the world, which she had originally set the week of July 20, 2015.
Vickery, whose father was a professional soccer player and whose mother ran track in high school, is on the verge of becoming the 15th American woman in the Top 100 - the 14 that are currently in the elite are led by Top 10 players Venus Williams (ranked No.5) and CoCo Vandeweghe (ranked No.10).
And this week Vickery is one to watch in the Australian Open qualifying. She reached the main draw there once before in 2014, falling first round to Davis after having won a wildcard play-off event.


text:
Emotional symptoms and their related factors in adolescents during the acute phase of Covid-19 outbreak in South Italy
Simone Pisano ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5704-44831,2 na1,
Gennaro Catone3 na1,
Antonella Gritti3,
Luisa Almerico4,
Anna Pezzella4,
Pia Santangelo1,
Carmela Bravaccio2,
Raffaella Iuliano5 &
Vincenzo Paolo Senese4
Several studies have shown that during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, emotional symptoms increased in the general population. Less is known about youths.
We surveyed a sample of Italian adolescents during the strictest quarantine period and assessed the effects of socio-demographic and psychological factors on current emotional symptoms. A convenient sample of 326 adolescents (age range 14–19 years) participated in a web-based survey. We collected data on several socio-demographic and psychological variables (summarized into three indexes: environmental context, changes in lifestyle, and worries about infection) and psychopathological symptoms (previous psychopathological status, current anxiety and depressive symptoms).
Descriptive analysis showed that adolescents have experienced quarantine under very different conditions; they reported 47.5 and 14.1% of anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. Regression analyses indicated that previous psychopathological status and worries about infection are linked to anxiety and that female gender, previous psychopathological status (moderated by change in lifestyle), worse environmental context are linked to depression.
This study indicates that, facing the COVID-19 pandemic and its related safety measures, adolescents show relevant emotional symptoms and therefore should be monitored, assessed and supported.
Since March 2020, Italy has been facing the COVID-19 outbreak, soon after the outbreak in China, slightly before other world countries. The Italian government had enacted a strict quarantine in the attempt to reduce the contagion. Fear of personal and relatives' contagion, and worries for physical health prompted social distancing and isolation. The resulting economic difficulties presented a wealth of highly distressing factors [1]. For example, it is well known that quarantine itself may produce negative psychological effects including post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger [2]. It is likely that suicide and other dangerous behaviours may increase [1, 3]. A recent review revealed a high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in general population during COVID-19 pandemic and pointed out that we all are still unaware of long-term outcomes [4]. There is a clear consensus among experts that mental health status during pandemic outbreaks should be assessed and mental health problems addressed [1, 5]. This is particularly true regarding fragile populations such as health workers, psychiatric patients and youths [1, 2, 6]. We here focus on the latter. Adolescents may face stressors such as fears of infection, frustration and boredom, inadequate information, lack of in-person contact with classmates, friends, and teachers, lack of personal space at home, and family financial loss to a greater degree than adults [7]. The routes to psychiatric disorders usually pass through adverse events and traumas. Thus, it is imperative to empirically study the psychopathological effects of a pandemic outbreak, such as COVID-19, and the consequences of its related safety measures, such as social distancing and quarantine. This, in fact, would allow planning of possible interventions to prevent negative psychological consequences in the event of future pandemics. In a recent study focusing the adolescent Chinese population, Zhou et al. [8] revealed a prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and a combination of depressive and anxiety symptoms during COVID-19 outbreak of 43.7, 37.4, and 31.3%, respectively, much higher than estimates usually reported in China in pre-COVID era. Another study, not limited to adolescents, but including young adults, reported that nearly 40% of youths are prone to psychological problems [9]. In Italy, a study on adults reported a high prevalence of those suffering from high or very high levels of distress, with females being more susceptible [10]. Another study on adults reported that about 38% displayed mild to severe likelihood of psychological distress, with cyclothymic, anxious and depressive temperaments being risk factors [11]. Here, we aimed at expanding these findings by providing more evidence related to adolescents, and by contextually and thoroughly assessing environmental and psychological factors that may be linked to the raise of emotional symptoms (state anxiety and depressive symptoms). We collected the data between April 25th and May 13th 2020, which strictly corresponds to the highest level of social restrictions imposed by Italian Government (full lockdown; see also [12]), in order to catch the putative psychological impact of both the strictest quarantine measures and the greatest exposure to the pandemic outbreak. We hypothesize a higher prevalence of emotional symptoms during this period compared to previously reported results. Also, based on previous studies [13, 14], we hypothesize that a previous general tendency to psychopathology, unfavourable environment, such as an uncomfortable and "not connected" quarantine living context, and acute psychological changes, such as lifestyle changes and higher worries about COVID-19, could be factors related to emotional symptoms.
The recruitment of participants was initiated through schools. Schools were chosen based on previous contact between them and the research team, their previous experience on epidemiological surveying, on their known compliance to mental health research and their availability in organize and expedite dissemination of the survey. Among the four schools contacted, three agreed to participate; they are placed in the metropolitan area of Naples, in Campania region, south of Italy; they all were professional institutes that, culturally, in Italy, are more frequented by males and by low/mid income families.
Before the data collection, participants' parents and each adolescent had the opportunity to carefully read an informative sheet about the research that the schools had provided and to ask for any questions to teachers and researchers; then, parents and youths were requested to agree to participate in the study through an online informed consent form. A total of 472 subjects responded to their school's invitation. Of these, 412 (87.3%) gave their consent to the study, and 326 (79.1%) completed the whole survey and were included in the analyses. We present data from the final sample, that included 247 males (75.8%, age range 14–19 years, M age = 15.8, SD = 1.3) and 79 females (24.2%, age range 14–19 years, M age = 16.0, SD = 1.4), excluding those who did not filled the whole survey. Males and females did not differ on age, t (324) = 1.20, p = 231. We lack data on those who did not gave their consent. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the "A.O.R.N. Antonio Cardarelli - A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon" Hospital of Naples (Italy).
The study was conducted through the Qualtrics online survey platform between April 25th and May 13th 2020. During this period, schools disseminated to their students a link to the online platform that presented the survey. The data described here are those collected cross-sectionally. The whole study is expected to be longitudinal with data collection within a 6 month period that will include longitudinal outcomes. To this end, each participant was assigned an anonymous alpha-numeric code that allow the researchers to link the answers to the follow-up data collection.
In regard to the cross-sectional data presented here, the survey included two sections: (a) a sociodemographic questionnaire (SQ) devised ad hoc and investigating the living context and quarantine conditions of participants, everyday lifestyle habits and worries about COVID-19 (see supplementary file); and (b) a section including mental health standardized measures: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Mood and Feelings Questionnaire-short form (MFQ-SF) and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
Socio-demographic questionnaire (SQ)
A socio-demographic questionnaire asking gender, age, the characteristics of the dwelling (i.e., number of rooms, presence of private room, open spaces, web-connection availability etc.), the changes in everyday lifestyle habits related to the quarantine (e.g., sleep, feeding, etc.), and worries about COVID-19 (e.g. afraid of possible own and relative's infection), was administered. It was created in order to capture a wide range of enviromental and psychological domains, based on the purpose of exploring protective and risk factors for short and long term psychopathology, as similarly done by other groups [14]. In particular, questions related to the characteristics of the living space and its potential comfort, the technological equipment available, the changes in lifestyle and the presence of worries for the self or the relatives linked to the infection were included. These are all potential sources of psychological distress and maladjustment that may influence how the quarantine had been lived [13, 14]. The answers collected in this section have been used to create three indexes able to measure the living context and psychological changes of the participants during the quarantine and investigate the relationship of these indexes with the supposed psychopathological effects of the pandemic: specifically, (1) environmental context (EC), is an index that summarize the responses related to the participants' living space and its potential comfort; higher scores on this measure indicate that participants had more space available in their homes, open, accessible spaces, the availability of a good and fast web-connection as well as a good device to do so; (2) changes in lifestyle (CL), is an index that summarize the responses related to the participants' changes in everyday lifestyle habits; higher scores on this measure indicate higher changes in the quality and quantity of feeding and sleeping habits; (3) worries about infection (WI), is an index that summarize participants' responses related to worries about themselves and their close family members of being exposed to the COVID-19 infection; higher scores on this measure indicate that participants had higher worries and tendency to collect information about the contagion.
State-trait anxiety inventory (STAI)
The Italian version of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI, form Y) [15, 16] is a commonly used measure of anxiety, with good psychometric properties. The STAI form Y has 40 items, 20 items developed to measure the state anxiety (S-A) and 20 items developed to measure the trait anxiety (T-A). Items of the S-A scale assess intensity of current feelings ("at this moment") and are rated on a 4-point scale: 1 = "not at all", 2 = "somewhat", 3 = "moderately", and 4 = "very much". Items of the T-A scale assess frequency of feelings "in general" and are rated on a 4-point scale: 1 "almost never", 2 = "sometimes", 3 = "often", and 4 = "almost always". For both scales, higher scores indicate greater anxiety, state or trait respectively. In the present paper, only the S-A was administered as a measure of current anxiety symptoms. Observed Cronbach's alphas was .912. A value of 40 can be considered a clinical threshold value (cut-off) predictive of anxiety symptoms, distinguishing three levels of severity: mild (from 40 to 50), moderate (from 51 to 60) and severe (scores greater than 61) [17].
Mood and feelings questionnaire-short form (MFQ-SF)
The self-report child short form of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire [18, 19] was used to assess current depressive symptoms. The MFQ-SF includes 13 items that cover depressive symptoms over the past 2 weeks. It is a widely used instrument for the screening of depressive symptoms in the general population of adolescents, with good psychometric properties. In the present study, the original 13-item MFQ-SF was translated into Italian by bilingual psychologists and then back-translated by two independent translators to verify the equivalence of the translated scale to the original one [20]. An exploratory factorial analysis (Principal Factor Analysis) carried out on the scale confirmed the unidimensional structure; eigenvalues (and percentage of explained variance) of the first three factors were respectively 5.76 (44.3%), 1.19 (9.2%) and 0.96 (7.4%). For the purpose of the present study, a total score was computed. Higher scores indicate greater depression. In this study, Cronbach's alpha was .887. Angold and colleagues pointed out that, in the short version of the scale, the value of 12 can be considered as a clinical threshold value (cut-off) predictive of depressive symptomatology [18].
Strength and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ)
The Italian self-report version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) [21] was administered to assess the general psychopathology. The SDQ includes 25 items, related to five domains: (1) emotional symptoms (5 items), (2) conduct problems (5 items), (3) hyperactivity-inattention problems (5 items), (4) peer problems (5 items), and (5) prosocial behaviour (5 items). Individual items are scored on a 3-point scale, 0 = "not true"; 1 = "somewhat true"; and 2 = "certainly true", with a score range 0–10 for each subscale. The psychometric properties of the self-report version of the SDQ are generally acceptable to good across studies [22]. For the purpose of the present study, we used the total score (excluding the prosocial behaviour scale) as a measure of general psychopathology referring to the last 6 months. Higher scores indicate greater psychopathological symptoms. In this study, Cronbach's alpha was .738. A four-band categorization of the total score was suggested: "close to the average" (from 0 to 14), "slightly raised" (from 15 to 17), "high" (from 18 to 19) and "very high" (from 20 to 40) [23].
Descriptive statistics were firstly used to describe demographics and data related to the living context during the quarantine, the lifestyle changes and worries about COVID-19, the state anxiety (STAI S-A), the depressive symptoms (MFQ-SF) and the general psychopathology symptoms (SDQ). The frequency distribution of responses and/or means and standard deviation of variables were reported. Then, responses to items within each of the three considered domains, environmental context (EC), changes in lifestyle (CL) and worries about infection (WI), were analysed to extract a single indicator useful to summarize the several questions of the sections. Once extracted, the association between the three indicators and emotional symptoms controlling for previous general psychopathological status was investigated. To this aim, two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were carried out on the state anxiety scores (STAI S-A) and the depression scores (MFQ-SF) respectively. In both models, in the first step, the gender (dummy coded: male = 1, female = 0) and age (z-score) were included as control variables, in the second step, the SDQ score (z-score) was included as the independent variable, in the third step the three indicators (z-scores) were included as the independent variables, whereas in the final fourth step, the two-way interaction effects were considered to test the moderation effect of the three stress indicators on the relation between the SDQ and the considered dependent variables.
Socio-demographic section
Environmental context (EC)
Analyses of responses collected in this section of the protocol showed that, with regard to the place of residence (item 1), 73.6% of the participants experienced quarantine in a dwelling with four or more rooms (excluding bathrooms and closets, M = 4.3, SD = 1.3). Most of the adolescents did not have a room for themselves (item 2), but shared their own room with a brother/sister (53.4%), while 32.5% had their own room to study and sleep in. With regard to open spaces (item 3), 3.7% had no outdoor space available in the house (only windows) or in a condominium, 5% had only a condominium space available (courtyard or green area), 46.3% had a balcony, while 45.1% had a terrace or garden. Regarding the possibility to access the Internet (item 4), the data showed that 3.1% did not have access to the Internet, 9.5% accessed the Internet with their mobile phone or for a limited time, 3.1% accessed the Internet via Wi-Fi but for a limited time, 58.6% accessed the Internet via unlimited time Wi-Fi, while 25.8% accessed the Internet via fast and unlimited time Wi-Fi. With regard to the availability of devices to connect to the Internet (item 5), the data showed that 33.7% had a mobile phone only, 3.1% had a tablet, 36.2% a shared PC and 27.0% a PC for exclusive use. To get a single measure of environmental context (variable named EC), each of the five items of the section were recorded into three levels of comfort (low, medium and high) and a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out by extracting one single component and computing the factor score. The PCA showed that the unidimensional solution explained 30.7% of the variance, with each item showing a saturation > .497. The higher was the score on this index, the better was the living context during the lockdown.
Changes in lifestyle (CL)
Analyses of responses collected in this section of the protocol showed that there were changes in both eating habits and sleep-wake rhythms during the quarantine. In particular, with regard to eating habits, the data showed that 82% of adolescents stated that they had modified their diet from a quantitative point of view (item 1, 54.0% "a little", 28.2% "a lot"). 57.9% stated that they had modified their diet from a qualitative point of view (item 2, 42.9% "a little", 15.0% "a lot"). 68.4% declared to have modified the times (hours and frequency) of alimentation (item 3, 43.2% "a little", 25.2% "a lot"). With regard to the analysis of changes in biological rhythms and sleep quality, more generalized changes emerged. In fact, 65.0% of adolescents declared that they had modified "a lot" the sleep-wake rhythms (item 4), 29.4% "a little", while only 5.5% "not at all". With regard to the quality of sleep (item 5), 40.5% of adolescents reported that they had modified the quality of sleep "very much", 37.7% "a little", while only 21.8% "not at all". To get a single measure of changes in lifestyle (variable named CL), a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out on the five items of this section by extracting one single component and computing the factor score. The PCA showed that the unidimensional solution explained 44.2% of the variance, with each item showing a saturation > .594. The higher was the score on this index, the higher were the changes in the lifestyle during the lockdown.
Worries about infection (WI)
Analyses of responses collected in this section of the protocol showed that, during the quarantine, adolescents were more worried about their families getting infected (item 1), M = 7.2, SD = 3.1, than they were worried about themselves (item 2), M = 4.3, SD = 3.6; the comparison between these two scores is significant, t (325) = 14.71, p < .001. In particular, 38.0% declared they were not worried about contracting the virus themselves, while only 10% reported they were not worried about a family member contracting the virus. In the latter case, 31% declared a maximum level of concern, i.e. "10". Finally, with regard to the time spent reading or listening to information related to contagion (item 3), the majority of adolescents (50%) reported they spent about 1 h, 13.2% spent two or more hours, while 12.9% do not know anything at all. To get a single measure of worries about infection (variable named WI), a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out on the three items of the sections by extracting one single component and computing the factor score. The PCA showed that the unidimensional solution explained 53.1% of the variance, with each item showing a saturation > .589. The higher the score on this index, the higher were the worries about the infection during the lockdown.
Psychopathology section
State anxiety
The assessment of state anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 revealed that the adolescents had a mean score of 41.6 (SD = 10.8); considering the cut-off of 40 as predictive of clinically relevant symptoms [17], data showed that the 47.5% of the sample exceeded it; specifically, 27.0% showed "mild anxiety", 14.1% showed "moderate anxiety" and 6.4 "severe anxiety". A significant gender difference was observed, t (324) = 5.74, p < .001, with females showing higher state-anxiety (S-A) than males (see Table 1).
Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the main variables as a function of the gender
The assessment of depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 revealed that adolescents had a mean score of 6.5 (SD = 5.6); considering the cut-off of 12 as predictive of clinically relevant symptoms [18], data showed that 14.1% of the sample exceeded it. A significant gender difference was observed, t (324) = 6.89, p < .001, with females showing higher depression (MFQ-SF) than males (see Table 1).
General psychopathology
The assessment of the presence of general psychopathology symptoms referred to the 6 months (thus before the onset of pandemic) showed that adolescents had a mean total score of 11.4 (SD = 5.9); considering a cut-off score of 14, data indicate that 26.7% of the sample exceeded it; specifically, 9.2% showed a "slightly raised" score, 6.1% showed a "high" score, 11.3% showed a "very high" score. A significant gender difference was observed, t (324) = 5.80, p < .001, with females showing more symptoms (SDQ) than males (see Table 1).
Relationship between extracted indicators (EC, CL and WI) and emotional symptoms
Data from the hierarchical regression analysis are reported in Table 2. Results showed a similar pattern of effects for the two considered dependent variables. In regard to state anxiety, data showed that over and above the control variables (gender and age), the general psychopathology symptoms (SDQ) were uniquely associated with the anxiety scores, R2diff = .294, p < .001. As expected, the model-fit increased when the three indicators were entered into the model, R2diff = .019, p = .017, whereas the last step did not show significant two-way interaction effects. The parameters of the final model revealed that general psychopathology symptoms (SDQ), β = .556, p < .001 and worries about infection (WI), β = .110, p = .013 were both uniquely independent predictors of anxiety, R2 = .425, p < .001. No other significant effects were observed. That is, over and above the other variables in the model, the higher the general psychopathology symptoms before the COVID-19 and the worries about the infection, the higher the state anxiety during the quarantine was.
Table 2 Results of the regression analysis (final models) exploring the impact of hypothesized explanatory variables on emotional symptoms
In regard to depression, data showed that over and above the control variables (gender and age), the general psychopathology symptoms (SDQ) were uniquely associated with the depression scores, R2diff = .390, p < .001. As expected, the model-fit increased when the three stress indicators were entered into the model, R2diff = .020, p = .003, whereas in this model, also the last step showed significant two-way interaction effects between indicators and the general psychopathology, R2diff = .023, p < .001. The parameters of the final model revealed that gender, β = −.103, p = .012, general psychopathology symptoms (SDQ), β = .625, p < .001, environmental context (EC), β = −.106, p = .005, and changes in lifestyle (CL), β = .108, p = .006 were all uniquely independent predictors of depression, R2 = .569, p < .001, and that the amount of changes in lifestyle (CL) moderated the relation between the general psychopathology and the depression scores (see Fig. 1). No other two-way interaction effects were observed. That is, over and above the other variables in the model, females showed a higher level of depression than males, the more were the general psychopathology symptoms before the COVID-19 the higher was the depression during the quarantine; also, the better the living context the lower the depressive symptoms were, the higher the changes in lifestyle the more the depressive symptoms were; finally, the combination of the general psychopathology and changes in lifestyle increased the depressive symptoms. Indeed, the relationship between general psychopathology and depression was stronger for those who reported having changed their lifestyle habits a lot than for those who report having changed their lifestyle habits a little or not at all.
Example of moderation effect of the CL index on the association between SDQ and the MFQ-SF. To depict the figure, the other consider variables of the model (Male, Age, EC and WI) were fixed to their zero value
We here assessed emotional symptoms and their related factors in adolescents during the strict quarantine period due to COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. We found a prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms of respectively 47.5 and 14.1% of the sample. These estimates frankly exceeded the previously reported ones in Italy, assessed in a context without any pandemic, via two previous epidemiological studies; in fact, Frigerio et al. [24] found a prevalence of internalizing disorders of 6.5% and Gritti et al. [25] found a prevalence of internalizing symptoms (in clinical range) of 10.5%. Compared to other studies performed during quarantine period in China, estimates are closer, although with some notable differences. Regarding anxiety, Zhou et al. [8] found very similar percentages (43.7%), whereas regarding depression their values were higher (37.4%). Cultural aspects or differences in measurement instruments and/or sample sizes may account for this discrepancy. Compared to studies on the general population, using as reference estimates reported in Xiong et al. [4] who summarize the most reliable ones (using those reported by better appraised studies, e.g. those with the most representative samples), as well as a recent large survey on Italian general adult population [26], ours are higher for anxiety and similar for depression (in their review anxiety symptoms range from 6.3 to 18.7% and depressive symptoms range from 14.6 to 32.8% [4]; similarly, Fiorillo reported 12.4% of depressive symptoms and 17.6% of anxiety symptoms [26]). Globally, our findings add evidence of the enhanced need of psychological and psychiatric care for adolescents during the health emergency; more specifically, although in need of replication with further data, the notion that adolescents are a fragile population, more prone to anxiety symptoms than adults, is confirmed. Efforts to mitigate psychological burden should be a priority for policymakers and health organizers.
We extend our investigations to factors related to emotional symptoms. We wanted to be as inclusive as possible extracting several empirical factors that maybe be theoretically linked to anxiety and depression [13] and assessing previous psychopathological status with a standardized measure (SDQ). The results of our regression analysis showed that more general psychopathological symptoms and higher worries for infection predict heightened anxiety; whereas that female gender, more general psychopathological symptoms, worse environmental quarantine context and changes in lifestyle habits (moderated by psychopathological symptoms) predict heightened depression. Thus, we confirm that subjects suffering from previous psychopathological symptoms are more prone to suffer from an increase of emotional symptoms during the pandemic [26]; more in depth, worries for infection (own and relative's infection) are linked to anxiety symptoms, whereas subjects, especially females, living in unfavourable environmental context and who experienced changes in lifestyle habits are more prone to suffer from depression. Highlighting these characteristics seems important to direct more intensive and more tailored prevention and treatment strategies to the right targets. Social, socio-economic and health support should be firstly directed to people who meet these characteristics.
The study presents some limitations that should be highlighted. First of all, the sample is relatively small, skewed towards males and we lack a rigorous epidemiological sampling methodology. This because we wanted to gather data, with adequately powered sample size, during the acute phase of pandemic outbreak and when the quarantine was strictest, thus the short window of available time prevented a wider dissemination of the online survey. The study then lacked a proper epidemiological sampling of the schools. Those that accepted to participate in the study were all professional institutes, that, as already said, in our region, are mostly representative of low-medium socio-economic conditions, with a higher male prevalence. This is reflected by the low number of females in our sample and the lack of objective data on socio economic status; accordingly, firm conclusions on gender differences cannot be drawn and the generalizability to the general population is limited. Our socio demographic questionnaire was designed to summarize data on living context, but not on the overall socio-economic status, which may, but also may not, correspond. Other studies need to cross evaluate these two factors to draw a finest picture of the impact of socio economic and environmental factors on pandemic-related psychopathology. Also, as all the data were self-reported and rely on an online survey, our study may suffer from social desirability bias or other sampling biases. Ideally, multi informant surveys and/or cross check with personal assessment should be performed to gather data less prone to such bias, but this was impossible during a quarantine period. Of course, our study is cross sectional in nature and thus conclusion on causality should be confirmed with longitudinal ones. Based on previous studies, we focused our study on internalizing symptoms, but it is likely that externalizing ones increase as well; future studies should assess both and their interplay.
Notwithstanding these relevant limitations, although in need of replication and expansion, we can provide useful data to be translated for a better services organization and more targeted policy decisions. Adolescents need to be supported and protected with any efforts during the sanitary emergency due to COVID-19; emotional symptoms are substantially higher compared to a "normal" period and have to be monitored, assessed and detected; those with previous psychopathological symptoms are even more fragile and in need of social and health support.
SQ:
Socio demographic questionnaire
STAI:
MFQ-SF:
Mood and Feelings Questionnaire-short form
SDQ:
Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire
EC:
Environmental context
CL:
Changes in lifestyle
WI:
Worries about infection
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Gritti A, Salvati T, Russo K, Catone G. COVID-19 pandemic: a note for psychiatrists and psychologists. JPSJournal. 2020;4(1):63–77 [citato 16 novembre 2020]. Available at: https://jpsjournal.org/new/ojs/index.php/JPS/article/view/70.
Iasevoli F, Fornaro M, D'Urso G, et al. Psychological distress in serious mental illness patients during the COVID-19 outbreak and one-month mass quarantine in Italy. Psychol Med. 2020:1–3. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720001841.
Wang G, Zhang Y, Zhao J, Zhang J, Jiang F. Mitigate the effects of home confinement on children during the COVID-19 outbreak. Lancet. 2020;395(10228):945–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30547-X.
Zhou SJ, Zhang LG, Wang LL, Guo ZC, Wang JQ, Chen JC, et al. Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of psychological health problems in Chinese adolescents during the outbreak of COVID-19. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020;29(6):749–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01541-4.
Liang L, Ren H, Cao R, Hu Y, Qin Z, Li C, et al. The effect of COVID-19 on youth mental health. Psychiatr Q. 2020;91(3):841–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09744-3.
Mazza C, Ricci E, Biondi S, Colasanti M, Ferracuti S, Napoli C, et al. A Nationwide survey of psychological distress among Italian people during the COVID-19 pandemic: immediate psychological responses and associated factors. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):e3165. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093165.
Moccia L, Janiri D, Pepe M, Dattoli L, Molinaro M, de Martin V, et al. Affective temperament, attachment style, and the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak: an early report on the Italian general population. Brain Behav Immun. 2020;87:75–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.048.
Iafusco M, Ciampa C, De Maddi F, et al. PediaVirus chatline: all together against COVID-19 [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 20]. Arch Dis Child. 2020; archdischild-2020-319551. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-319551.
Singh S, Roy D, Sinha K, Parveen S, Sharma G, Joshi G. Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on mental health of children and adolescents: a narrative review with recommendations. Psychiatry Res. 2020;293:113429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113429.
Nikolaidis A, Paksarian D, Alexander L, et al. The coronavirus health and impact survey (CRISIS) reveals reproducible correlates of pandemic-related mood states across the Atlantic. MedRxiv. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.24.20181123.
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Fiorillo A, Sampogna G, Giallonardo V, del Vecchio V, Luciano M, Albert U, et al. Effects of the lockdown on the mental health of the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: results from the COMET collaborative network. Eur Psychiatry. 2020;63(1):e87. https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2020.89.
Authors would like to thank the staff, the families and the students of the following schools: Istituto Tecnico Statale Settore Tecnologico "Eugenio Barsanti", Pomigliano d'Arco; Istituto Secondario Istruzione Superiore "Alfonso Casanova", Napoli; Istituto d'Istruzione Secondaria Superiore "Giancarlo Siani", Casalnuovo di Napoli. Authors would also like to thank "Fondazione Santobono-Pausilipon" for the support to the study.
Simone Pisano and Gennaro Catone contributed equally to this work.
Department of Neuroscience, Santobono-Pausilipon Children Hospital, via Mario Fiore 6, 80129, Naples, Italy
Simone Pisano & Pia Santangelo
Department of Translational Medical Sciences, Federico II University, Naples, Italy
Simone Pisano & Carmela Bravaccio
Department of Educational, Psychological and Communication Sciences, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy
Gennaro Catone & Antonella Gritti
Department of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy
Luisa Almerico, Anna Pezzella & Vincenzo Paolo Senese
Neonatology Unit, "Ospedale del Mare", Naples, Italy
Raffaella Iuliano
Simone Pisano
Gennaro Catone
Antonella Gritti
Luisa Almerico
Anna Pezzella
Pia Santangelo
Carmela Bravaccio
Vincenzo Paolo Senese
SP, GC: conception and design of the study; draft part of the manuscript. AP, LA, VPS: acquisition and analysis of data, critically revised the manuscript. AG, CB, PS, RI: draft part of the manuscript, critically revised the manuscript. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Simone Pisano.
The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the "A.O.R.N. Antonio Cardarelli - A.O.R.N. Santobono-Pausilipon" Hospital of Naples (Italy).
Parents and youths consented their participation to the study through an online consent form.
Socio-demographic questionnaire (SQ).
Pisano, S., Catone, G., Gritti, A. et al. Emotional symptoms and their related factors in adolescents during the acute phase of Covid-19 outbreak in South Italy. Ital J Pediatr 47, 86 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13052-021-01036-1
Anxiety symptoms
Depressive symptoms
Neurology, Behaviour and Development


At the beginning of 2009 Yogi Tea's European chief executive, Keith Bearden, told The Grocer about the brand's big ambitions for the UK tea market.
"There are a raft of minor players, but as a global brand that's part of a $120m company, we're more ready than most to step up and make an impact," he told the grocery trade weekly, adding the first phase of its push in the sector would be supported by "£1 million of in-store activity".
Yogi Teas was 40 years old last year, the brand's origins stretching back to southern California in 1969 where followers of Yogi Bhajan began creating a specially spiced tea from a recipe containing five Ayurvedic spices. Today, still inspired by the holistic teachings of Ayurveda and principles of healthy living, Yogi is a global brand with nearly 60 tea blends.
Authenticity was the key test for Yogi Tea's biggest product launch in five years — its Tao Teas range, based on the five elements of Taoism 'Earth, Wood, Metal, Water and Fire'. The Tao Teas range represents a significant departure from from Yogi's Ayurvedic origins, but Bearden says the company saw many similarities between the two ancient wisdoms.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, echoed now by strong sales. Comments Bearden: "The Tao Teas have been amazingly well received, contributing 40% of the sales growth we've seen this year. Tao Rose is already in our 15 top sellers. I think a lot of the appeal is in the uniqueness of the flavours — they're wonderfully complex.
Great taste, says Bearden, is one of the key factors behind Yogi's success and longevity. "Our teas absolutely have to taste great. And great taste is one of the two factors in Yogi dual function teas — the other, of course, being their purposeful formulation. Right from the beginning, the functional properties of the teas have been central to what marks Yogi Teas out as different. It's summed up in our tag line — balance for body, mind and spirit. We tread lightly when it comes to claims, but we strongly believe it's in or brand DNA that our teas have something more than just a great taste.
Bearden says there is a very good understanding of what Yogi Teas stand for among UK natural food consumers. "Their buying priorities are 'purposefulness', number one, taste, number two and price number three. Mainstream consumers are much less well informed, so we've been working hard to win them over.
"We've invested very heavily this year on promoting the brand, with tastings a big priority. As well as increasing tastings in the independent trade, we've made a huge step up in targeting mainstream consumers. For example, on a single day we did tastings at 100 Sainsbury's stores.
Yogi Teas is 40 years old this year, the brand's origins stretching back to southern California in 1969 where the followers of Yogi Bhajan began creating a specially spiced tea from a recipe containing five Ayurvedic spices. The tea quickly became affectionately known as 'Yogi Tea' and by 1984 this grassroots endeavour had blossomed into the Yogi Tea Company.
Today, still inspired by the holistic teachings of Ayurveda and principles of healthy living, Yogi is a global brand with nearly 60 tea blends. Yogi Tea's European operation is headquarted in Hamburg, Germany.


Bruce Springsteen will be the subject of a tribute concert at New York's Carnegie Hall on April 5. Among the many artists who will perform Springsteen's songs at the all-star gala are Jewel, Chris Isaak, Bruce Hornsby and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Music For Youth, which supports music education for underprivileged youth.
The lineup for the fourth season of ABC-TV's celebrity dance competition Dancing With the Stars has been announced. They include former 'N Sync member Joey Fatone, boxer Laila Ali (daughter of boxing legend Muhammed Ali), Country singer/actor Billy Ray Cyrus, professional basketball player Clyde Drexler, Entertainment Tonight host Leeza Gibbons, Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno, supermodel Paulina Porizkova, 2004 Miss USA Shandi Finnessey, actors Vincent Pastore and Ian Ziering, and Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills. Mills will be the show's first amputee performer. The 38-year-old lost part of her left leg in 1993 after being struck by a police motorcycle while crossing a London street. The new season of Dancing With the Stars begins on March 19. The finale is scheduled to air on May 22.
As expected, more shows are being added to the Police reunion tour. Initial dates sold out in minutes, including the group's May 28 tour opener in Vancouver, its July 25 concert in Montreal, and two shows each in Toronto, Boston and New York.
Just weeks after David Lee Roth reunited with Van Halen for a reunion tour, the group has announced a postponement of the 40-date outing. No reason was given, but the Van Halen News Desk web site says contrary to reports of a cancellation, it's only a postponement. Tickets for some shows are expected to go on sale in March.
The first four of American Idol's sixth season finalists were sent home on February 22. Viewers, who cast nearly 32 million votes the night before, took 22-year-old Amy Krebs, 20-year-old Nicole Tranquillo, 28-year-old Rudy Cardenas and 25-year-old Paul Kim out of the singing competition. During the results show, host Ryan Seacrest announced some of the celebrities who will make guest appearances this season. They include Diana Ross, Jon Bon Jovi, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Tony Bennett, Martina McBride, Barry Gibb and Peter Noone.
New albums scheduled for release on February 27 include: Straight From the Heart by Daryle Singletary and We Got This by B.G. & The Chopper City Boyz.
On February 25, Elton John and his partner David Furnish will host a special Oscar night event to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The 15th annual Academy Awards Viewing Party, which takes place in West Hollywood, California, includes a dinner, live auction and musical performances. The past 14 viewing parties have collectively raised more than $125 million for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The 3rd annual Music City Jam will be held on February 28 in the Nashville Convention Center. The show kicks off Nashville's Country Radio Seminar, which runs through March 2. Toby Keith will headline this year's Music City Jam.
The 79th annual Academy Awards will be presented on February 25 in Los Angeles. Dreamgirls leads the contenders with eight nominations, but, surprisingly not Best Picture. A complete list of nominees can be found at http://www.oscar.com. Here are the nominees in the two music categories: Original Score - Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel, Thomas Newman for The Good German, Philip Glass for Notes on a Scandal,"Javier Navarrete for Pan's Labyrinth and Alexandre Desplat for "The Queen." Original Song - Melissa Etheridge for "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth, Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven for "Listen" from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett for "Love You I Do" from Dreamgirls, Randy Newman for "Our Town" from Cars and Henry Krieger and Willie Reale for "Patience" from Dreamgirls.
The NAACP will hold its 38th annual Image Awards on March 2 in Los Angeles. Mary J. Blige and Beyonce Knowles lead this year's nominees with four mentions each. Both are nominated in the Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Song categories. Following close behind with three nominations apiece are John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and India.Arie. The awards honor "projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts in television, recording, literature and motion pictures."
On February 26, Country star Kenny Chesney will kick off his 4th annual "Keg In The Closet Tour." Kenny and his band make last minute announcements about their concert stops at various college bars. They'll open the tour at the Jupiter Bar & Grille in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Also announced are shows in Tallahassee, Florida on February 27 and Gainesville, Florida on February 28. In other news, Kenny's "Flip Flop" summer stadium tour begins on April 12 in Omaha, Nebraska.


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Unclaimed Heart
Rain: A Murder Mystery
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Reading Dark Tower 4.5: Wind Through the Keyhole
"The Wind through the Keyhole" was released in 2012, several years after King had published what was assumed to be his final "Dark Tower" book. This book was intended to be volume '4.5' in the series, providing a thematic bridge between the first four books in the series and the three books that followed. "The Wolves of the Calla" contained considerable reference to fiction works such as "The Magnificent Seven," Harry Potter, Marvel Comics' Doctor Doom, and King's own "'Salem's Lot" and King felt that future series readers needed to be better prepared for how the overall story shifted gears into that fifth book.
As Roland and his party (his 'ka-tet') continued their journey to the Dark Tower, they sat out a storm in a protected shelter building. The group members passed the time by listening as Roland told another story of his youth.
A flashback picked up young Roland where he left off in the aftermath of the Mejis storyline and the death of his mother. Roland and a companion named Jamie De Curry were sent by Roland's father to the town of Debaria to find a 'Skin Man' that has caused violence in that area. En route, they happened into the Serenity 'women's community' that Roland's mother had visited in the time after she was caught having an affair with the villainous Marten. This brush with the community was notable but its relevance would not pay off until later in the story.
Once in Debaria, Roland and Jamie met with the local Sheriff. They also met with the survivor of a recent Skin Man attack named Bill. Bill eventually helped Roland to identify the Skin Man via a tattoo and scar that the man had on him. Once identified amid a number of local miners, the Skin Man turned into a snake that the young Roland shot dead with a special silver bullet.
Roland's story concluded with him and Jamie taking the orphaned Bill to the Serenity women's community for care. While re-visiting Serenity, Roland was given a letter that his mother had written during her stay in the community. The content foreshadowed her later demise in that she forgave her son for her eventual death at his hands.
Roland's flashback story concluded at this point and, with the storm having cleared, his Ka-tet continued their journey toward the Dark Tower.
That flashback to Roland's youth was not all that was embedded in the novel though. Making up nearly half of its content was a story that had been related within Roland's flashback. In that story, a boy named Tim Ross went on a journey along one of the Dark Tower's beams after encountering an evil tax collector known as The Covenant Man. The Covenant Man was another alias for the Man in Black. Tim ended up journeying more than fifty miles on his own and he ultimately freed a 'tyger' that transformed and revealed itself as the magician Maerlyn. Maerlyn rewarded Tim by curing his mother's blindness and Tim's evil stepfather was then killed by his mother via use of his late-father's ax.
"The Wind through the Keyhole" felt like a direct sequel to "Wizard and Glass" in that it continued the flashback story from that novel. That adventure and the embedded story about Tim were not as compelling as the tales in "Wizard and Glass" but both stories were still entertaining in their own ways. The story of Tim offered a glimpse at some of the legends in Roland's world and the Maerlyn character provided the nugget of information that the Crimson King was trapped on a balcony outside the Dark Tower. Fittingly, the novel's strongest moment came at the very end with the reader offered a satisfying closure in regards to the relationship between Roland and his mother.
Dark TowerStephen King
⟵Meeting John Carpenter – A Concert Review
Pacific Rim (2013) – A Look Back⟶
D. S. Christensen has been an author and reviewer across various forms of media since he was a teenager. In his professional life, he has focused on blending creativity and technology. He has written numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, on a wide variety of topics.
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Reading Dark Tower 2: Drawing of Three
Stephen King Interview


Another great DJ Swindle presentation. Bob Marley and Mobb Deep dun. Who would've thought of this mix? I think its a great juxtaposition (art nerd word) of the music styles and messages. It works almost on strictly curiosity about the apparent irony of "Thug meets Dub" i just made that up. you cant use it in life. anyway check this banger out.


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Tuesday, 1 November 2022, 18:05 HKT/SGT
Source: Legend Capital
Led by Legend Capital, ClinBrain Completes Nearly CNY200 million Series C Round
HONG KONG, Nov 1, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Recently, the healthcare big data leader ClinBrain completed the Series C round of financing of nearly CNY200 million, led by Legend Capital. This round of financing will facilitate ClinBrain to continuously deepen its expertise in the field of healthcare big data, explore the deep integration of big data and AI in the healthcare industry, promote the R&D of underlying technologies and scenario-based applications, and accelerate the promotion of industrial digital and intelligent upgrading.
As a high-tech enterprise focusing on the healthcare big data intelligence platform, digitalized and intelligent application services, ClinBrain was shortlisted as the SDRI (specialized, refined, differential and innovative) "little giant" enterprise by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this year.
At the beginning of its establishment in 2013, ClinBrain realized that healthcare, as a data-intensive and knowledge-intensive industry, is inseparable from the support of data, no matter in clinical services, operations management or medical research. ClinBrain has been committed to the direction of data governance and intelligent application of hospitals. By leveraging years of its industry experience and technical capabilities, the company has made breakthroughs in many fields, such as collecting data from hospital business systems without an interface, effectively identifying the data structure of complex business systems, effectively cleaning the business data of different versions and different manufacturers, forming effective and practical data quality rules to improve the data quality of hospitals, and conducting structured processing of unstructured data such as medical records and pathology. Moreover, with its powerful natural language processing (NLP) capabilities and robust rule and knowledge base, including more than 3900 data cleaning and quality rules embedded and tens of millions of medical concept term relationships accumulated, ClinBrain is also capable of automatically identifying the data structure of each version of more than 500 business manufacturers and realizing high-quality data cleaning and structured processing of unstructured data.
LIU Huanchun, Chairman of ClinBrain, said, "Under the complex and volatile economic background and the ongoing pandemic situation, the recognition by many investors has reflected the market position, technological level and value of ClinBrain. After this round of financing, ClinBrain will promote the company's development to a new level by making further efforts in scientific and technological innovation and talent introduction."
Raymond CHEN, Co-chief Investment Officer of Legend Capital, said, "Healthcare big data is a key driver of the digital and intelligent transformation of the pharmaceutical industry, which is in line with the long-term megatrend of new healthcare infrastructure. As a leading healthcare big data enterprise in China, ClinBrain provides full-link solutions from data governance to medical scenario applications based on its rich industrial theoretical knowledge and practical experience. We are optimistic that ClinBrain will create a new development form in healthcare big data by continuously expanding more products and customer application scenarios."
About Legend Capital
Founded in 2001, Legend Capital is a leading VC&PE investor focusing on the early-stage and growth-stage opportunities in China, with offices across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Seoul, Korea.
It currently manages USD and RMB funds of over US$10 billion in commitments, and has invested in around 600 companies, covering technology, healthcare, consumer, enterprise service and intelligent manufacturing sectors. Rooted in China, Legend Capital participated in the rise of many world-leading companies by solid investment coverage and systematic post-investment value-add. Over the years, Legend Capital has also become a widely recognized name in bridging key resources in China and overseas through cross-border activities, and a valuable partner to Chinese and overseas investors.
Legend Capital values long-term sustainable investment and incorporates ESG into its long-term development strategy. As a UNPRI signatory since November 2019, Legend Capital is among the first group of top VC/PE firms in China to join the initiative.
For more information, please visit www.legendcapital.com.cn/index_en.aspx and follow us on LinkedIn @Legend Capital (https://www.linkedin.com/company/legend-capital).
Sectors: Healthcare & Pharm, PE, VC & Alternatives
Legend Capital Related News
Dec 15, 2022 12:30 HKT/SGT
Legend Capital Portfolio Company Bespin Global Completes USD100m Series D Financing
Led by Legend Capital, GS Biotech Completes Nearly CNY100 million Pre-A Round Financing
Legend Capital Portfolio Company Atour Successfully Lists on Nasdaq
Led by Legend Capital, PureFDA Secures Over CNY100 million in the Series B Round
Nov 9, 2022 08:46 HKT/SGT
君联资本所投企业巨子生物在港交所成功上市


The 27th day of Ramadan is the holiest day of Ramadan - the Night of Power or Destiny. Muslims believe that the Qu'ran was first revealed to Mohammad during the last week of Ramadan. Many have chosen the 27th day as a special day to commemorate this event. Therefore, millions of Muslims around the world will be praying in mosques all night long for Allah's special favor. They pray extra prayers. They recite more of the Qu'ran. They make special requests. They believe that their sins can be forgiven on this night.
O Lord of all power and might, on this night of power, would you reveal yourself in dreams and visions to the millions who will be praying and seeking Allah. They want to experience your power but are looking in the wrong places. As you have for thousands of Muslims, give them dreams and visions of Jesus. And then lead them to Christian believers and the Bible that can explain what they see. We ask for many conversions on this night! May we hear testimonies later of Muslims who first encountered you on this night. Show yourself as the resurrection power who raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:20). Amen.
Another important event in the Islamic calendar is the Hajj pilgrimage which is done every year in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Over 2 million Muslims go to fulfill this religious requirement, one of the five pillars of Islam. This year, the Hajj will take place from roughly August 19 - 21, 2018. Pray the same prayers over the Hajj as with the Night of Power.


An election was not necessary since the number of nominations did not exceed the available places.
The membership of the Executive Committee for 2017-2018 is required to be elected at the 2017 Annual General Meeting which is to be held during the Society's Conference on 9th November 2017. Read details and timetable, and how to participate.
AICA no longer providing an adjudicator nomination service as of 1 March 2017.
Full details about the timetable and process for this year's Committee elections are to be found in this PDF document.


Wolseley is nestled in the picturesque Breede River Valley. Situated 14 km from Tulbagh, 15 km from Ceres. Wolseley is surrounded by the majestic Waaihoek, Witzen and Waterval mountains which are often covered by a blanket of snow in the winter. All kinds of farming are present such as fruit, vegetable, wine, olives, wheat, dairy and cattle. There are two blockhouses dating from the Anglo-Boer War (1901) which can be seen along the railway line to the South of the town. These Blockhouses are in a remarkable condition and can be visited by means of appointment.