Experiences with OpenMP in tmLQCD

An overview is given of the lessons learned from the introduction of multi-threading using OpenMP in tmLQCD. In particular, programming style, performance measurements, cache misses, scaling, thread distribution for hybrid codes, race conditions, the overlapping of communication and computation and the measurement and reduction of certain overheads are discussed. Performance measurements and sampling profiles are given for different implementations of the hopping matrix computational kernel.

Self-reported attenuated psychotic-like experiences in help-seeking adolescents and their association with age, functioning and psychopathology

OBJECTIVE Self-rated attenuated psychotic-like experiences (APLEs) are increasingly used to screen for ultra-high-risk (UHR) across all ages. However, self-rated psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), in particular perception-related ones, were more frequent in children and adolescents, in which they possessed less clinical significance. We therefore explored the prevalence of different factors of APLEs in help-seeking adolescents, and their relationship with age, functioning and psychopathology METHOD As a part of the "Liberiamo il Futuro" project, help-seeking adolescents (N=171; 11-18years, 53% male) were screened with the 92-item Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-92). A factor analysis was performed on the PQ-92 positive items (i.e., APLEs) to identify different APLE-factors. These were assessed for their association with age, functioning and psychopathology using regression analyses. RESULTS APLEs were very common in help-seeking adolescents, and formed four factors: "Conceptual Disorganization and Suspiciousness", "Perceptual Abnormalities", "Bizarre Experiences", and "Magical Ideation". Associations with age and functioning but not psychopathology were found for "Perceptual Abnormalities" that was significantly more severe in 11-12-year-olds, while "Conceptual Disorganization and Suspiciousness" was significantly related to psychopathology. CONCLUSION In line with findings on PLEs, prevalence and clinical significance of APLEs, especially perception-related ones, might depend on age and thus neurodevelopmental stage, and may fall within the normal spectrum of experience during childhood. This should be considered when screening for UHR status in younger age groups

Die umfassende Erfassung von Achtsamkeit zur Erforschung achtsamkeitsbasierter Interventionen bei psychischen Störungen – Das Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences (CHIME)

Einleitung: Achtsamkeitsbasierte psychotherapeutische Interventionen haben sich in den letzten Jahren als wirksame Methoden bei der Behandlung unterschiedlichen psychischen Störungen etabliert. So konnte z.B. die Achtsamkeitsbasierte Kognitive Therapie der Depression (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, MBCT) in kontrollierten Studien eine Halbierung der Rückfallraten bei rezidivierenden Depressionen erreichen. Auch die Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) erwies sich in einem weiteren Bereich von Störungen als wirksam. Zur Evaluation und weiteren Entwicklung achtsamkeitsbasierter Interventionen ist eine umfassende und differenzierte Erfassung der Trait-Achtsamkeit und ihrer Veränderung im Rahmen der Behandlung von vorrangiger Bedeutung. Die bisher vorliegenden Instrumente konnte diese Anforderungen nur teilwiese erfüllen. Methode: Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden Entwicklung und Validierung eines Fragebogens zur umfassenden Erfassung der Achtsamkeit, des Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences (CHIME, Bergomi, Tschacher & Kupper, 2014), beschrieben. An einer Allgemeinbevölkerungs-Stichprobe (N=298) und einer Stichprobe von TeilnehmerInnen an MBSR-Gruppen (N=161) wurde die Faktorenstruktur des CHIME ermittelt und seine Reliabilität und Validität geprüft. Ergebnisse: Faktorenanalytische Verfahren ergaben eine achtfaktorielle Struktur. Der Fragebogen sowie seine Unterskalen weisen gute Reliabilitätswerte auf (interne Konsistenz und Retest-Reliabilität). Analysen zur Messinvarianz der einzelnen Items über Gruppen, die sich bezüglich Meditationserfahrung, Alter, Geschlecht und Symptombelastung unterschieden, zeigten keine systematischen Unterschiede im Verständnis der Items. Die Kennwerte zur Konstrukt-, Kriterium-, und inkrementellen Validität sowie zurVeränderungssensitivität waren alle mindestens zufriedenstellend. Mit dem CHIME steht somit ein Fragebogen mit guten psychometrischen Eigenschaften zur Selbsteinschätzung der Achtsamkeit zur Verfügung. Der CHIME basiert auf alle in den aktuellen Instrumenten enthaltenen Aspekte des Achtsamkeitskonstrukts und kann die Evaluation und weitere Entwicklung von achtsamkeitsbasierten Interventionen bei psychischen Störungen unterstützen. Referenz: Bergomi, C., Tschacher, W. & Kupper, Z. (2014). Konstruktion und erste Validierung eines Fragebogens zur umfassenden Erfassung von Achtsamkeit: Das Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences. Diagnostica. 60 (3) 111-125.

Paediatric thyroid surgery is safe - experiences at a tertiary surgical centre.

PRINCIPLES Thyroidectomy in children is rare and mostly performed because of thyroid neoplasms. The aim of this study based on prospective data acquisition was to evaluate whether thyroid surgery in children can be performed as safely as in adults when undertaken by a team of adult endocrine surgeons and paediatric surgeons. METHODS Between 2002 and 2012, 36 patients younger than 18 years underwent surgery for thyroid gland pathologies. All surgical procedures were performed by an experienced endocrine surgeon and a paediatric surgeon. Baseline demographic data, surgical procedure, duration of operation, length of hospital stay, and postoperative morbidity and mortality were analysed. RESULTS The median age of all patients was 13 years (range 2-17 years), with predominantly female gender (n = 30, 83%). The majority of operations were performed because of benign thyroid disease (n = 27, 75%) and only a minority because of malignancy or genetic abnormality with predisposition for malignant transformation (MEN) (n = 9, 25%). Total thyroidectomy was performed in the majority of the patients (n = 24, 67%). The median duration of the surgical procedure was 153 minutes (range 90-310 minutes). The median hospital stay was 5 days (3-1 days). One patient developed persistent hypoparathyroidism after neck dissection due to cancer. One persistent and two temporary recurrent nerve palsies occurred. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that paediatric thyroidectomy is safe as performed by this team of endocrine and paediatric surgeons, with acceptable morbidity even when total thyroidectomy was performed in the case of benign disease.

What is self-control depleting in sports? Effects of vicarious experiences on performance

In the present study, we investigated the influence of sport specific vicarious depletion of self-control strength on performance in a Stroop task. In a betweensubject design N = 40 participants were randomly assigned to either a depletion condition in which they read a story about a soccer player who had to strongly regulate himself, or a non-depletion condition in which they read a story about a soccer player who did not have to regulate himself. Participants in both conditions were instructed to relive the soccer players' thoughts and feelings and we hypothesized that in the depletion condition participants would perform worse in a subsequent self-control task. The results were as expected as depleted participants showed longer latencies on the Stroop task. This study delivers a first indication that athletes are confronted with self-control demanding situations during sporting competitions which can lead to a depletion of self-control strength and impaired performance.

Modeling corrective experiences as motivational mountain pass

Aim: The landscape metaphor allows viewing corrective experiences (CE) as pathway to a state with relatively lower 'tension' (local minimum). However, such local minima are not easily accessible but obstructed by states with relatively high tension (local maxima) according to the landscape metaphor (Caspar & Berger, 2012). For example, an individual with spider phobia has to transiently tolerate high levels of tension during an exposure therapy to access the local minimum of habituation. To allow for more specific therapeutic guidelines and empirically testable hypotheses, we advance the landscape metaphor to a scientific model which bases on motivational processes. Specifically, we conceptualize CEs as available but unusual trajectories (=pathways) through a motivational space. The dimensions of the motivational state are set up by basic motives such as need for agency or attachment. Methods: Dynamic system theory is used to model motivational states and trajectories using mathematical equations. Fortunately, these equations have easy-to-comprehend and intuitive visual representations similar to the landscape metaphor. Thus, trajectories that represent CEs are informative and action guiding for both therapists and patients without knowledge on dynamic systems. However, the mathematical underpinnings of the model allow researchers to deduct hypotheses for empirical testing. Results: First, the results of simulations of CEs during exposure therapy in anxiety disorders are presented and compared to empirical findings. Second, hypothetical CEs in an autonomy-attachment conflict are reported from a simulation study. Discussion: Preliminary clinical implications for the evocation of CEs are drawn after a critical discussion of the proposed model.

Ein Vergleich verschiedener Kurzversionen des Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) zur Erhebung von Selbstkritik und Abhängigkeit

Der Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) ist ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Persönlichkeitsmerkmale Selbstkritik und Abhängigkeit, die als Vulnerabilitätsfaktoren für Depression gelten. Aufgrund seiner Länge und seiner komplexen Auswertungsprozedur wurden im englischsprachigen Raum verschiedene Kurzversionen des DEQ entwickelt. Das Ziel dieser Studie war die psychometrische Überprüfung der verschiedenen DEQ-Versionen in deutscher Sprache sowie die Validierung einer geeigneten Kurzversion. An insgesamt 708 Personen (404 Patienten und 304 nicht-klinische Personen) wurden die psychometrischen Eigenschaften der verschiedenen Versionen verglichen. Es zeigte sich, dass der Theoretische Depressive Experiences Questionnaire–12 Item Version (TDEQ-12) insbesondere aufgrund seiner faktoriellen Validität die besten psychometrischen Eigenschaften aufwies. Zusätzliche Hinweise für die Validität und Reliabilität des TDEQ-12 konnten in vier weiteren Stichproben (436 nicht-klinische Personen, 23 nicht-depressive Personen, 64 depressive Patienten, 74 Studierende) gewonnen werden. Die vorliegende Studie legt nahe, dass der TDEQ-12 eine reliable, valide und ökonomische Alternative zum DEQ für die Erfassung von Selbstkritik und Abhängigkeit darstellt.

Facilitating Corrective Experiences

That corrective experiences are a central aspect of change in psychotherapy, is well established. As part of the Penn State discussion group under the guidance of Hill & Castonguay, Caspar & Berger have proposed a neural network/connectionist model as a basis for conceptualizing corrective experiences. The study to be presented here examines the conditions under which corrective experiences occur, with a particular focus on the therapeutic relationship. The findings show that in line with the models often a combination of relaxing factors (primarily the therapeutic relationship) and triggers increasing tension are required to make a corrective experience happen.

Adapting agricultural water governance to climate change: Experiences from Germany, Spain and California

This study describes and discusses initiatives taken by public (water) agencies in the state of Brandenburg in Germany, the state of California in the USA and the Ebro River Basin in Spain in response to the challenges which climate change poses for the agricultural water sector. The drivers and actors and the process of changing agricultural water governance are its particular focus. The assumptions discussed are: (i) the degree of planned and anticipatory top-down implementation processes decreases if actions are more decentralized and are introduced at the regional and local level; (ii) the degree of autonomous and responsive adaptation approaches seems to grow with actions at a lower administrative level. Looking at processes of institutional change, a variety of drivers and actors are at work such as changing perceptions of predicted climate impacts; international obligations which force politicians to take action; socio-economic concerns such as the cost of not taking action; the economic interests of the private sector. Drivers are manifold and often interact and, in many cases, reforms in the sector are driven by and associated with larger reform agendas. The results of the study may serve as a starting point in assisting water agencies in developing countries with the elaboration of coping strategies for tackling climate change-induced risks related to agricultural water management.

Enhancing Food Sovereignty and Food Security through the Revitalization of Indigenous Knowledge: Experiences from the Bolivian Andes

Endogenous development is defined as development that values primarily locally available resources and the way people organized themselves for that purpose. It is a dynamic and evolving concept that also embraces innovations and complementation from other than endogenous sources of knowledge; however, only as far as they are based on mutual respect and the recognition of cultural and socioeconomic self-determination of each of the parties involved. Experiences that have been systematized in the context of the BioAndes Program are demonstrating that enhancing food security and food sovereignty on the basis of endogenous development can be best achieved by applying a ‘biocultural’ perspective: This means to promote and support actions that are simultaneously valuing biological (fauna, flora, soils, or agrobiodiversity) and sociocultural resources (forms of social organization, local knowledge and skills, norms, and the related worldviews). In Bolivia, that is one of the Latin-American countries with the highest levels of poverty (79% of the rural population) and undernourishment (22% of the total population), the Program BioAndes promotes food sovereignty and food security by revitalizing the knowledge of Andean indigenous people and strengthening their livelihood strategies. This starts by recognizing that Andean people have developed complex strategies to constantly adapt to highly diverse and changing socioenvironmental conditions. These strategies are characterized by organizing the communities, land use and livelihoods along a vertical gradient of the available eco-climatic zones; the resulting agricultural systems are evolving around the own sociocultural values of reciprocity and mutual cooperation, giving thus access to an extensive variety of food, fiber and energy sources. As the influences of markets, competition or individualization are increasingly affecting the life in the communities, people became aware of the need to find a new balance between endogenous and exogenous forms of knowledge. In this context, BioAndes starts by recognizing the wealth and potentials of local practices and aims to integrate its actions into the ongoing endogenous processes of innovation and adaptation. In order to avoid external impositions and biases, the program intervenes on the basis of a dialogue between exogenous, mainly scientific, and indigenous forms of knowledge. The paper presents an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of enhancing endogenous development through a dialogue between scientific and indigenous knowledge by specifically focusing on its effects on food sovereignty and food security in three ‘biocultural’ rural areas of the Bolivian highlands. The paper shows how the dialogue between different forms of knowledge evolved alongside the following project activities: 1) recuperation and renovation of local seeds and crop varieties (potato – Solanum spp., quinoa – Chenopodium quinoa, cañahua – Chenopodium pallidicaule); 2) support for the elaboration of community-based norms and regulations for governing access and distribution of non-timber forest products, such as medicinal, fodder, and construction plants; 3) revitalization of ethnoveterinary knowledge for sheep and llama breeding; 4) improvement of local knowledge about the transformation of food products (sheep-cheese, lacayote – Cucurbita sp. - jam, dried llama meat, fours of cañahua and other Andean crops). The implementation of these activities fostered the community-based livelihoods of indigenous people by complementing them with carefully and jointly designed innovations based on internal and external sources of knowledge and resources. Through this process, the epistemological and ontological basis that underlies local practices was made visible. On this basis, local and external actors started to jointly define a renewed concept of food security and food sovereignty that, while oriented in the notions of well being according to a collectively re-crafted world view, was incorporating external contributions as well. Enabling and hindering factors, actors and conditions of these processes are discussed in the paper.

Fragmentation of Natural Resources Management: Experiences from Lake Kariba

This book is an output of the Defragmenting African Resources Management (DARMA) Project. Lake Kariba and its environs are a complex transboundary ecosystem with multiple, competing and often contested resource uses. The individual chapters in the book describe the current sectoral approach to natural resource management, the interconnections, and the need to adopt an ecosystem approach. The book is an essential reading for students, researchers, academics and managers in the environmental and natural resources sectors interested in advancing the ecosystems approach in management of commons in general and Southern Africa in particular. - See more at: http://www.plaas.org.za/plaas-publication/DARMA-Kariba-LV#sthash.7giSiWiB.dpuf

Epstein-barr virus in gastro-esophageal adenocarcinomas - single center experiences in the context of current literature.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric carcinomas (GC) represent a distinct and well-recognized subtype of gastric cancer with a prevalence of around 10% of all GC. In contrast, EBV has not been reported to play a major role in esophageal adenocarcinomas (EAC) and adenocarcinomas of the gastro-esophageal junction (GEJ). We report our experiences on EBV in collections of gastro-esophageal adenocarcinomas from two surgical centers and discuss the current state of research in this field. Tumor samples from 465 primary resected gastro-esophageal adenocarcinomas (118 EAC, 73 GEJ, and 274 GC) were investigated. Presence of EBV was determined by EBV-encoded small RNAs (EBER) in situ hybridization. Results were correlated with pathologic parameters (UICC pTNM category, Her2 status, tumor grading) and survival. EBER positivity was observed in 14 cases. None of the EAC were positive for EBER. In contrast, we observed EBER positivity in 2/73 adenocarcinomas of the GEJ (2.7%) and 12/274 GC (4.4%). These were of intestinal type (seven cases) or unclassifiable (six cases), while only one case was of diffuse type according to the Lauren classification. No association between EBV and pT, pN, or tumor grading was found, neither was there a correlation with clinical outcome. None of the EBER positive cases were Her2 positive. In conclusion, EBV does not seem to play a role in the carcinogenesis of EAC. Moreover, adenocarcinomas of the GEJ show lower rates of EBV positivity compared to GC. Our data only partially correlate with previous reports from the literature. This highlights the need for further research on this distinct entity. Recent reports, however, have identified specific epigenetic and genetic alterations in EBV-associated GC, which might lead to a distinct treatment approach for this specific subtype of GC in the future.

Desertification and Global Change: Innovative Management of Scarce Resources in Semi-Arid Areas. Experiences from development and research: Challenges for a better future

While most events related to the International Year of Deserts and Desertification 2006 took mainly a problem-oriented perspective and approach, the Bern Symposium held in May 2006 tried to adopt a more positive attitude by attempting to take stock of experience as well as best and worst practices in the past, both in development practice and in research. Through this deliberate focus on potentials, positive experiences, solutions and pathways, predominant passive and reactive attitudes and hopelessness might be better overcome. The Symposium was organized by CDE, NCCR North-South and Forum SLM.