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Distress tolerance represents the capacity to bear and manage negative psychological states associated with distress. Low distress tolerance is a transdiagnostic construct implicated in many psychopathological conditions. The Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) is a 15-item self-report instrument specifically designed to assess this construct. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the DTS. Factor structure, internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity were investigated in 477 participants from the general population. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the one-factor structure of the DTS. The scale also showed good internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity. These findings suggest that the Italian version of the DTS retains the adequate psychometric properties of the original and suggest that it can be confidently used as an assessment tool of distress tolerance in both clinical and research settings.

Luminescence thermometry, an alternative to thermal imaging using the thermovision technique, requires the development of new approaches and a thorough understanding of the physical phenomena involved, in order to improve the temperature readout parameters. A phenomenon that has recently been shown to cause an extremely strong increase in the emission intensity for the temperature elevation is the thermally induced excited state absorption. This work demonstrates that taking advantage of the strong thermal dependence of the thermally induced excited state absorption process, the limitation associated with the two thermally coupled excited levels usually involved in the ratiometric temperature readout can be overcome, improving the thermometric properties of the luminescent thermometer. The same excitation wavelength was used to induce the emission resulting from the thermally induced excited state absorption of the Tb3+ ions and ground-state absorption of the other type of co-dopant ions causing the opposite nature of the thermal dependence of their emission intensities. Moreover, thanks to the strong color changes exhibited by the phosphors, it was possible to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach for through-object 2D thermal imaging of a microelectronic printed circuit board covered with a glass plate using an ordinary commercial digital camera, where the thermovision camera fails.

The description of luminescent processes and their thermally induced changes, that may be also influenced by the optically active ions concentration, and thus by the various inter-ionic processes, is the key to the improved development of luminescence thermometry. A phosphor doped with only trivalent terbium ions was described, which, by using two excitation lines fitted to the 7F6 → 5D3 and 7F5 → 5D3 transitions, shows a luminescent signals with the opposite characteristics of intensity changes as a function of temperature. By modifying the concentration of Tb3+ ions, the probability of {5D3, 7F6} ↔ {5D4, 7F0} cross-relaxation was being altered, which turned out to have a beneficial effect on the properties of the described nanothermometers. The ratio of intensities for both excitations was found to be temperature dependent, which resulted in high relative sensitivities of temperature readout reaching 3.2%/°C for 190 °C and not reaching values below 2%/°C in the broad range of the temperature. Extensive decay time measurements for 5D3 and 5D4 emissive levels were presented and the variability of both rise- and decay times as a function of terbium concentration and temperature was investigated. Thanks to this, conclusions were drawn regarding thermally dependent optical processes occurring in a given and similar systems.

Although current cognitive conceptualizations of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) emphasize that rituals are performed in order to avoid overtly threatening outcomes, it has also been noted that there are individuals for whom the attempt to correct "not just right experiences" (NJREs) rather than dangerous outcomes per se appear important. This article examines the idea that individuals have differing tolerances for-or sensitivity to-NJREs, in a similar manner as occurs regarding for other experience such as the distinction between disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity. In Study 1, using a nonclinical Italian sample, the NJRE-Sensitivity Scale (NJRE-SS) was created and refined. Its final version consisted of eight items loading on two subscales-an intolerance of NJREs due to their perceived interference with cognitive tasks and due to their interference with enjoyment of life. In Study 2, the factor structured was confirmed in a separate sample. The measure was found to have convergent validity with related measures including a separate measure assessing the severity and frequency of NJREs themselves. However, the NJRE-SS predicted OCD symptoms over-and-above the general NJRE measure, with particularly the interference with cognitive tasks subscale being of importance. Clinical implications are discussed.

The influence of Eu3+ co-dopant on the luminescent properties of an yttrium aluminum garnet co-doped with titanium and europium ions (YAG: Ti, Eu) nanocrystals has been investigated. This is a continuation of the search for novel materials suitable for luminescence thermometry using an approach based on inorganic nanocrystals co-doped with transition metal ions and lanthanides. The optical response of Ti3+, Ti4+ and Eu3+ ions present in the examined structures was analyzed in a wide range of temperatures. A model of distribution of energy levels of these ions explaining the observed spectra and their dependence on the Eu concentration was proposed. Moreover, the possibility of energy transfers between these ions and their dependence on the concentration of Eu ions and on the temperature was indicated. On this basis, a model was proposed, allowing for the optimization of the maximum sensitivity and the corresponding temperature.

Phosphor-assisted luminescent thermometry relies on studying, often subtle, temperature-dependent spectral properties, such as luminescence spectra, bands shifts, or luminescence lifetimes. Although this is feasible with high-resolution spectrometers or time-resolved detectors, technical implementation of such temperature mapping or wide-field imaging is complex and cumbersome. Therefore, a new approach for noncontact ratiometric temperature detection has been proposed based on comparison of emission properties of bright Cr3+-doped phosphors at single emission band upon two, resonant and nonresonant, optical excitation bands. The proposed method of temperature readout was examined for three different host materials: YAlO3, Y3Al5O12, and LiLaP4O12 nanocrystals. The highest relative sensitivity in physiological temperature range was found for YAlO3 nanocrystals reaching 0.35%/K, which is related to the highest crystal field found for this phosphor. The proposed methodology and the obtained materials enabled to not only reliably measure temperature in the range of -150 to 300 °C but also significantly simplify the technical detection scheme. In consequence, lamp-photoexcited, wide-field, micron-resolution microscopy imaging became possible, which is of special interest for many remote temperature studies in technology and biomedical applications.

Responding to the latest trends in luminescence thermometry, a new material of TZPN glass doped with Tb3+ ions was investigated for its use in the single band ratiometric approach. In contrast to the most of the Tb3+ doped phosphors emission intensity of Tb3+ ions in TZPN glass upon excitation matched to transitions from the ground 7F6 level show strong thermal quenching of luminescence intensity. On the other hand for an excitation line matched to the absorption from the thermally coupled excited 7F5 level, the emission intensity increases for temperature elevation. The ratio of these two signals is known to be an excellent temperature dependent parameter enabling a highly sensitive temperature readout. Strong thermal quenching of Tb3+ emission was discussed in terms of the thermally induced electron transfer from f state to the conduction band of the glass. In this work, it has been shown that optimization of the thermal quenching process is as important as the previously proposed optimizations of the intensity variability upon stimulation matched to excited state absorption. High relative sensitivities reaching 1–2%/°C were achieved, mainly because of the strong thermal quenching of the luminescence exhibited by the TZPN: Tb3+ glasses with different concentrations of dopant ions.

Negatively charged events are often remembered with high accuracy and are less prone to memory distortions; however, whether this applies to individuals with high emotional involvement, it is not well understood. To explore this issue, the present study investigated whether an internalizing depressive–anxious trait affected the occurrence of inferential memory errors for emotional vs. neutral events. A recognition memory paradigm consisting of pictorial scripted material was presented to two groups of young adults: one with high scores at the depression–anxiety scales and one control group. Results showed an increased proportion of causal false memories (i.e., inferring the not seen cause of a viewed effect) in the depressive–anxious group when the encoded events were negative but not when they were neutral. Most important, when these false memories occurred, they were characterized by a recollective experience. Conversely, in control participants negative material was found to protect against memory distortions compared to neutral material. Results are discussed in light of previous research on memory distortions in individuals with emotional disturbances and highlight the possibilities offered by using a new paradigm for studying false memories.