Attributions & Resiliency: An Analysis of the Resiliency-Attribution Association

This study sought to provide support for the King-Rothstein (2010) model of resiliency and to establish an understanding of the relationship between resiliency and causal attributions. A cross-sectional study investigated these relationships using an online questionnaire battery. Some associative and predictive relationships were found between causal attributions and resiliency. Components of resiliency were predictive of job satisfaction and support and symptoms of psychological illness. Given a path analysis, the King-Rothstein model of resiliency was found to be most predictive of the outcome symptoms of psychological illness (over job satisfaction and support or wellbeing). Finally, mediation analysis revealed self-regulatory processes fully mediated the relationship between causal attributions and symptoms of psychological illness. Given the results obtained through the completion of this thesis it is believed that the constructs of causal attributions and resiliency are independent although mildly associated constructs. The impact of these findings with regards to future research are discussed

Mindful Resilience: Investigating Mindfulness and Resilience in Relation to a Broad Range of Adversity

This dissertation research sought to establish a complex understanding of the relationships between adversity severity, resiliency, mindfulness (and its mediating mechanism components: reperceiving, values clarification, exposure, cognitive-emotional-behvioural flexibility, and self-regulation). Through one cross-sectional (N = 914) and one repeated-measures study (Time 1 N = 1891; Time 2 N = 990) these relationships are investigated using online questionnaire batteries and assessed via multiple regression analysis. Initial findings demonstrated an effective, reliable, and valid assessment of adversity severity was developed and that this variable contributes to the experience of adversity and the resiliency process. Additional findings indicated the majority of the proposed relationships were found to reach levels indicating statistical significance. Evidence provided preliminary support for an integrated model of mindful-resilience that seems to describe phenomena that generalized beyond work-related adversity to a broad range of experienced adversity. Given the results obtained through the completion of this study it is argued that the parameters limiting the King and Rothstein model of resiliency be removed and that a new inclusive framework be adopted for applications requiring a comprehensive and more detailed understanding of mindful-resilient phenomena promoting health and wellness in the face of adversity. The impact of these findings with regards to individual and organizational wellness, post-traumatic growth theory, resiliency theory, and future research are discussed

Efficient Empiricism: Streamlining Teaching, Research, and Learning in Empirical Courses

The increasing importance of empirical analysis in economics highlights the need for efficient ways to bring these skills to the classroom. R Markdown is a new technology that provides a solution by integrating writing, statistical work and computation into a single document. R Markdown benefits students and instructors by streamlining teaching, research, and collaboration. We report on our use of R Markdown in undergraduate teaching, including core courses, electives, and senior theses. We discuss the costs and benefits of adoption, and explain the advantages of R Markdown in teaching reproducibility of empirical work, avoiding time-consuming and error-prone ‘cut and paste,’ and facilitating a one-stop solution for importing, cleaning, manipulating, visualizing and communicating with data

Convergent validity and reliability of a novel repeated agility protocol in junior rugby league players

Background: : Rugby league involves repeated, complex, and high intensity change-of-direction (COD) movements with no existing test protocols that specifically assesses these multiple physical fitness components simultaneously. Thus, the current study examined the convergent validity of a repeated Illinois Agility (RIA) protocol with the repeated T-agility protocol, and the repeatability of the RIA protocol in adolescent Rugby League players. Furthermore, aerobic capacity and anaerobic and COD performance were assessed to determine whether these physical qualities were important contributors to the RIA protocol. Methods: Twenty-two junior Rugby League players completed 4 sessions with each separated by 7 days. Initially, physical fitness characteristics at baseline (i.e., Multi-stage Shuttle test, countermovement jump, 30-m sprint, single-effort COD and repeated sprint ability [RSA]) were assessed. The second session involved a familiarisation of RIA and repeated T-agility test (RTT) protocols. During the third and fourth sessions, participants completed the RIA and RTT protocols in a randomised, counterbalanced design to examine the validity and test-retest reliability of these protocols. Results: For convergent validity, significant correlations were identified between RIA and RTT performances (r= >0.80; p0.71; p < 0.05). Reliability of the RIA protocol was near perfect with excellent intra-class correlation coefficient (0.87-0.97), good ratio limits of agreement (×/÷ 1.05-1.06) and low coefficient of variations (1.8-2.0%). Conclusions: The current study has demonstrated the RIA to be a simple, valid and reliable field test for RL athletes that can provide coaches with information about their team’s ability to sustain high intensity, multi-directional running efforts

Development of a Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS): a relational-socioecological framework for surveying attachment security and childhood trauma history

Background : Current psychometric measures of childhood trauma history generally fail to assess the relational-socioecological context within which childhood maltreatment occurs, including the relationship of abusers to abused persons, the emotional availability of caregivers, and the respondent&#x0027;s own thoughts, feelings, and actions in response to maltreatment. Objective : To evaluate a computerized approach to measuring the relational-socioecological context within which childhood maltreatment occurs. Method : The psychometric properties of a Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS) were evaluated as a retrospective survey of childhood maltreatment history designed to be appropriate for completion by adults. Participants were undergraduates (n=222), an internet sample (n=123), and psychiatric outpatients (n=30). Results : The internal reliability, convergent, and concurrent validity of the CARTS were supported across samples. Paired differences in means and correlations between rated item-descriptiveness to self, mothers, and fathers also accorded with findings of prior attachment and maltreatment research, illustrating the utility of assessing the occurrence and effects of maltreatment within a relational-socioecological framework. Conclusions : Results preliminarily support a new survey methodology for assessing childhood maltreatment within a relational-socioecological framework. Further psychometric evaluation of the CARTS is warranted

Identification of novel risk loci, causal insights, and heritable risk for Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies

Background Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Parkinson's disease have increased the scope of biological knowledge about the disease over the past decade. We aimed to use the largest aggregate of GWAS data to identify novel risk loci and gain further insight into the causes of Parkinson's disease. Methods We did a meta-analysis of 17 datasets from Parkinson's disease GWAS available from European ancestry samples to nominate novel loci for disease risk. These datasets incorporated all available data. We then used these data to estimate heritable risk and develop predictive models of this heritability. We also used large gene expression and methylation resources to examine possible functional consequences as well as tissue, cell type, and biological pathway enrichments for the identified risk factors. Additionally, we examined shared genetic risk between Parkinson's disease and other phenotypes of interest via genetic correlations followed by Mendelian randomisation. Findings Between Oct 1, 2017, and Aug 9, 2018, we analysed 7·8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms in 37 688 cases, 18 618 UK Biobank proxy-cases (ie, individuals who do not have Parkinson's disease but have a first degree relative that does), and 1·4 million controls. We identified 90 independent genome-wide significant risk signals across 78 genomic regions, including 38 novel independent risk signals in 37 loci. These 90 variants explained 16–36% of the heritable risk of Parkinson's disease depending on prevalence. Integrating methylation and expression data within a Mendelian randomisation framework identified putatively associated genes at 70 risk signals underlying GWAS loci for follow-up functional studies. Tissue-specific expression enrichment analyses suggested Parkinson's disease loci were heavily brain-enriched, with specific neuronal cell types being implicated from single cell data. We found significant genetic correlations with brain volumes (false discovery rate-adjusted p=0·0035 for intracranial volume, p=0·024 for putamen volume), smoking status (p=0·024), and educational attainment (p=0·038). Mendelian randomisation between cognitive performance and Parkinson's disease risk showed a robust association (p=8·00 × 10−7). Interpretation These data provide the most comprehensive survey of genetic risk within Parkinson's disease to date, to the best of our knowledge, by revealing many additional Parkinson's disease risk loci, providing a biological context for these risk factors, and showing that a considerable genetic component of this disease remains unidentified. These associations derived from European ancestry datasets will need to be followed-up with more diverse data. Funding The National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (USA), The Michael J Fox Foundation, and The Parkinson's Foundation (see appendix for full list of funding sources)

Non-standard neutrino interactions in IceCube

Non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) may arise in various types of new physics. Their existence would change the potential that atmospheric neutrinos encounter when traversing Earth matter and hence alter their oscillation behavior. This imprint on coherent neutrino forward scattering can be probed using high-statistics neutrino experiments such as IceCube and its low-energy extension, DeepCore. Both provide extensive data samples that include all neutrino flavors, with oscillation baselines between tens of kilometers and the diameter of the Earth. DeepCore event energies reach from a few GeV up to the order of 100 GeV - which marks the lower threshold for higher energy IceCube atmospheric samples, ranging up to 10 TeV. In DeepCore data, the large sample size and energy range allow us to consider not only flavor-violating and flavor-nonuniversal NSI in the μ−τ sector, but also those involving electron flavor. The effective parameterization used in our analyses is independent of the underlying model and the new physics mass scale. In this way, competitive limits on several NSI parameters have been set in the past. The 8 years of data available now result in significantly improved sensitivities. This improvement stems not only from the increase in statistics but also from substantial improvement in the treatment of systematic uncertainties, background rejection and event reconstruction