17,117 research outputs found
An attentional control task reduces intrusive thoughts about smoking.
INTRODUCTION: Attentional control tasks such as body scanning and following isometric exercise instructions have been shown to reduce smoking cravings, apparently by reducing stress (Ussher, M., Cropley, M., Playle, S., Mohidin, R., & West, R. [2009]. Effect of isometric exercise and body scanning on cigarette cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Addiction, 104, 1251-1257. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02605.x). Related work based upon elaborated intrusion theory (Kavanagh, D. J., Andrade, J., & May, J. [2005]. Imaginary relish and exquisite torture: The elaborated intrusion theory of desire. Psychological Review, 112, 446-467. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.112.2.446) has shown that similar tasks can reduce hungry participants' involuntary food-related thoughts (May, J., Andrade, J., Batey, H., Berry, L.-M., & Kavanagh, D. [2010]. Less food for thought: Impact of attentional instructions on intrusive thoughts about snack foods. Appetite, 55, 279-287. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2010.06.014). This study tests the effect of body scanning instructions upon smoking-related thoughts as well as craving. METHODS: Twenty-seven smokers took part in 2 counterbalanced sessions, on different days, having been asked to abstain from smoking for 2 hr. In each session, they followed audio instructions for three 10-min blocks during which their thoughts were probed 10 times. In the first and third blocks, they were instructed to let their mind wander; during the second block of the control session, they also let their mind wander, but in the experimental session, they followed body scanning instructions. "Smoking thought frequency" was assessed using thought probes; "Craving" was measured using Factor 1 of the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges (Tiffany, S. T., & Drobes, D. J. [1991]. The development and initial validation of a questionnaire on smoking urges. British Journal of Addiction, 86, 1467-1476. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1991.tb01732.x). RESULTS: Participants reported fewer smoking-related thoughts and lower smoking cravings in the body scanning block of the experimental session, whereas they rose in the comparable mind-wandering block of the control session. The reduction in thoughts during the body scanning correlated with the corresponding reduction in craving. CONCLUSIONS: Body scanning reduces cravings and reduces the frequency or shortens the duration of smoking thoughts. Attentional control strategies may form a useful part of smoking cessation practices
Defect-induced spin-glass magnetism in incommensurate spin-gap magnets
We study magnetic order induced by non-magnetic impurities in quantum
paramagnets with incommensurate host spin correlations. In contrast to the
well-studied commensurate case where the defect-induced magnetism is spatially
disordered but non-frustrated, the present problem combines strong disorder
with frustration and, consequently, leads to spin-glass order. We discuss the
crossover from strong randomness in the dilute limit to more conventional glass
behavior at larger doping, and numerically characterize the robust short-range
order inherent to the spin-glass phase. We relate our findings to magnetic
order in both BiCu2PO6 and YBa2Cu3O6.6 induced by Zn substitution.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figs, (v2) real-space RG results added; discussion
extended, (v3) final version as publishe
Teleparallel Spin Connection
A new expression for the spin connection of teleparallel gravity is proposed,
given by minus the contorsion tensor plus a zero connection. The corresponding
minimal coupling is covariant under local Lorentz transformation, and
equivalent to the minimal coupling prescription of general relativity. With
this coupling prescription, therefore, teleparallel gravity turns out to be
fully equivalent to general relativity, even in the presence of spinor fields.Comment: 2 pages, RevTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev D (Brief Report
Lessons of spin and torsion: Reply to ``Consistent coupling to Dirac fields in teleparallelism"
In reply to the criticism made by Mielke in the pereceding Comment [Phys.
Rev. D69 (2004) 128501] on our recent paper, we once again explicitly
demonstrate the inconsistency of the coupling of a Dirac field to gravitation
in the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity. Moreover, we stress that
the mentioned inconsistency is generic for {\it all} sources with spin and is
by no means restricted to the Dirac field. In this sense the
-covariant generalization of the spinor fields in the teleparallel
gravity theory is irrelevant to the inconsistency problem.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, no figure
IMDB network revisited: unveiling fractal and modular properties from a typical small-world network
We study a subset of the movie collaboration network, imdb.com, where only
adult movies are included. We show that there are many benefits in using such a
network, which can serve as a prototype for studying social interactions. We
find that the strength of links, i.e., how many times two actors have
collaborated with each other, is an important factor that can significantly
influence the network topology. We see that when we link all actors in the same
movie with each other, the network becomes small-world, lacking a proper
modular structure. On the other hand, by imposing a threshold on the minimum
number of links two actors should have to be in our studied subset, the network
topology becomes naturally fractal. This occurs due to a large number of
meaningless links, namely, links connecting actors that did not actually
interact. We focus our analysis on the fractal and modular properties of this
resulting network, and show that the renormalization group analysis can
characterize the self-similar structure of these networks.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PLOS ON
Gravitation and Duality Symmetry
By generalizing the Hodge dual operator to the case of soldered bundles, and
working in the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, an
analysis of the duality symmetry in gravitation is performed. Although the
basic conclusion is that, at least in the general case, gravitation is not dual
symmetric, there is a particular theory in which this symmetry shows up. It is
a self dual (or anti-self dual) teleparallel gravity in which, due to the fact
that it does not contribute to the interaction of fermions with gravitation,
the purely tensor part of torsion is assumed to vanish. The ensuing fermionic
gravitational interaction is found to be chiral. Since duality is intimately
related to renormalizability, this theory may eventually be more amenable to
renormalization than teleparallel gravity or general relativity.Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Version 2: minor presentation changes,
references added. Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Teleparallel Equivalent of Non-Abelian Kaluza-Klein Theory
Based on the equivalence between a gauge theory for the translation group and
general relativity, a teleparallel version of the non-abelian Kaluza-Klein
theory is constructed. In this theory, only the fiber-space turns out to be
higher-dimensional, spacetime being kept always four-dimensional. The resulting
model is a gauge theory that unifies, in the Kaluza-Klein sense, gravitational
and gauge fields. In contrast to the ordinary Kaluza-Klein models, this theory
defines a natural length-scale for the compact sub-manifold of the fiber space,
which is shown to be of the order of the Planck length.Comment: Revtex4, 7 pages, no figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Modeling river delta formation
A new model to simulate the time evolution of river delta formation process
is presented. It is based on the continuity equation for water and sediment
flow and a phenomenological sedimentation/ erosion law. Different delta types
are reproduced using different parameters and erosion rules. The structures of
the calculated patterns are analyzed in space and time and compared with real
data patterns. Furthermore our model is capable to simulate the rich dynamics
related to the switching of the mouth of the river delta. The simulation
results are then compared with geological records for the Mississippi river
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Aligning Community-Engaged Research to Context.
Community-engaged research is understood as existing on a continuum from less to more community engagement, defined by participation and decision-making authority. It has been widely assumed that more is better than less engagement. However, we argue that what makes for good community engagement is not simply the extent but the fit or alignment between the intended approach and the various contexts shaping the research projects. This article draws on case studies from three Community Engagement Cores (CECs) of NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Science Core Centers (Harvard University, UC Davis and University of Arizona,) to illustrate the ways in which community engagement approaches have been fit to different contexts and the successes and challenges experienced in each case. We analyze the processes through which the CECs work with researchers and community leaders to develop place-based community engagement approaches and find that different strategies are called for to fit distinct contexts. We find that alignment of the scale and scope of the environmental health issue and related research project, the capacities and resources of the researchers and community leaders, and the influences of the sociopolitical environment are critical for understanding and designing effective and equitable engagement approaches. These cases demonstrate that the types and degrees of alignment in community-engaged research projects are dynamic and evolve over time. Based on this analysis, we recommend that CBPR scholars and practitioners select a range of project planning and management techniques for designing and implementing their collaborative research approaches and both expect and allow for the dynamic and changing nature of alignment
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