The Roles of Biophilic Attitudes and Auditory Stimuli within Attention Restoration Theory

Attention Restoration Theory indicates that interacting with nature allows one’s fatigued, directed attention to be restored. This effect has been documented and produced through directed interaction with nature, such as a walk in the park, as well as through indirect interactions (e.g., photographs). The current dissertation was designed to: 1) investigate whether and how biophilic attitudes affect the attention-restoring effects incurred from interactions with nature, and 2) extend the research on ART by assessing the impact of nature-related audio stimuli. A total of 184 participants completed an assessment of biophilic attitudes, engaged in attention fatiguing exercises, and participated in one of five intervention conditions where they viewed photographs of nature, viewed photographs of nature and listened to nature sounds simultaneously, viewed photographs of nature and listened to classical music, listened to classical music, or viewed urban photographs before completing an attentional diagnostic instrument and a proof-reading task. My results indicated that neither visual nor auditory interactions with nature had a significant effect on attention restoration; nor did biophilic attitudes interact with intervention condition to influence attention restoration. Viewing photographs of nature did, however, have a significant effect on the perceived restorativeness of the scenes and sounds experienced

Literary Perceptions of Leadership

The purpose of this study has been to seek out an active and influential pattern of human leadership in the pages of Western literature. Literature is a mirror of human perception and thought. It is a reflection of ideas, a means of transcribing not events as they have taken place, nor of human commentary of actual deeds, but of ideas and aspirations. As such, literature may be a more accurate reflection of the human mind than history or even philosophy. Therefore, if we are to acquire an understanding of this elusive concepts of leadership, it is necessary that we first arrive at a reasonable understanding of the ways in which leaders and their deeds have been represented in human letters over the centuries. The study has focused on nine major fictional works from the pages of Western literature: The Classical Period: The Iliad of Homer, The Odyssey of Homer, and Sophocles\u27 Antigone. The Medieval Period: Beowulf and Le Mort D\u27Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. The Renaissance Period: Shakespeare\u27s Coriolanus and Henry V. The Modern Period: Herman Melville\u27s Billy Budd, Sailor and Herman Hesse\u27s The Glass Bead Game. It has been, for the most part, a study of relationships: between leaders and their followers; between leaders and their gods; and between leaders and heroes. Throughout, the study has attempted to determine whether or not there has been a conscious, coherent idea of leadership as a concept. Among the conclusions drawn are the following: (1) While the substance of leadership has not significantly changed in the course of 3000 years of Western literature, the leadership process has changed appreciably; (2) There are a number of points of commonalty held by effective leaders from ancient Greece to modern America; (3) The differences between leaders and heroes are greater than their similarities; (4) Writers of Western literature did not appear to be conscious of a concept of leadership prior to the 20th century

Correspondence to Elizabeth ( Bessie ) McCaw Boggs Taylor, December 11, 1901 - February 5, 1904

Correspondence to Elizabeth ( Bessie ) McCaw Boggs Taylor, December 11, 1901 - February 5, 1904. Box 2, folder 6.https://digitalcommons.wofford.edu/littlejohnboggs/1016/thumbnail.jp

Diffuse Galactic Soft Gamma-Ray Emission

The Galactic diffuse soft gamma-ray (30-800 keV) emission has been measured from the Galactic Center by the HIREGS balloon-borne germanium spectrometer to determine the spectral characteristics and origin of the emission. The resulting Galactic diffuse continuum is found to agree well with a single power-law (plus positronium) over the entire energy range, consistent with RXTE and COMPTEL/CGRO observations at lower and higher energies, respectively. We find no evidence of spectral steepening below 200 keV, as has been reported in previous observations. The spatial distribution along the Galactic ridge is found to be nearly flat, with upper limits set on the longitudinal gradient, and with no evidence of an edge in the observed region. The soft gamma-ray diffuse spectrum is well modeled by inverse Compton scattering of interstellar radiation off of cosmic-ray electrons, minimizing the need to invoke inefficient nonthermal bremsstrahlung emission. The resulting power requirement is well within that provided by Galactic supernovae. We speculate that the measured spectrum provides the first direct constraints on the cosmic-ray electron spectrum below 300 MeV.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure, submitted to Ap

Spectra and Symmetry in Nuclear Pairing

We apply the algebraic Bethe ansatz technique to the nuclear pairing problem with orbit dependent coupling constants and degenerate single particle energy levels. We find the exact energies and eigenstates. We show that for a given shell, there are degeneracies between the states corresponding to less and more than half full shell. We also provide a technique to solve the equations of Bethe ansatz.Comment: 15 pages of REVTEX with 2 eps figure

The Importance Of Managing Arthritis In Patients With Both Moderate-To-Severe Psoriasis And Psoriatic Arthritis

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Wind-tunnel study of Four Allen Center, Houston

May 1982.For Century Development Corporation.CER81-82JAP-JEC-BB-DWB66.Includes bibliographical references (pages 36-37).CSU Projects 2-27840 and 2-27940

The Giant Flare of December 27, 2004 from SGR 1806-20

The giant flare of December 27, 2004 from SGR 1806-20 represents one of the most extraordinary events captured in over three decades of monitoring the gamma-ray sky. One measure of the intensity of the main peak is its effect on X- and gamma-ray instruments. RHESSI, an instrument designed to study the brightest solar flares, was completely saturated for ~0.5 s following the start of the main peak. A fortuitous alignment of SGR 1806-20 near the Sun at the time of the giant flare, however, allowed RHESSI a unique view of the giant flare event, including the precursor, the main peak decay, and the pulsed tail. Since RHESSI was saturated during the main peak, we augment these observations with Wind and RHESSI particle detector data in order to reconstruct the main peak as well. Here we present detailed spectral analysis and evolution of the giant flare. We report the novel detection of a relatively soft fast peak just milliseconds before the main peak, whose timescale and sizescale indicate a magnetospheric origin. We present the novel detection of emission extending up to 17 MeV immediately following the main peak, perhaps revealing a highly-extended corona driven by the hyper-Eddington luminosities. The spectral evolution and pulse evolution during the tail are presented, demonstrating significant magnetospheric twist and evolution during this phase. Blackbody radii are derived for every stage of the flare, which show remarkable agreement despite the range of luminosities and temperatures covered. Finally, we place significant upper limits on afterglow emission in the hundreds of seconds following the giant flare.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Ap

In Vivo Detection of Residues Required for Ligand-Selective Activation of the S-Locus Receptor in Arabidopsis

SummaryThe self-incompatibility response of crucifers is a barrier to fertilization in which arrest of pollen tube development is mediated by allele-specific interactions between polymorphic receptors and ligands encoded by the S-locus haplotype. Activation of stigma-expressed S-locus receptor kinase (SRK) [1] by pollen coat-localized S-locus cysteine-rich (SCR) ligand [2–5] and the resulting rejection of pollen occurs only if receptor and ligand are encoded by the same S haplotype [4, 6–8]. To identify residues within the SRK extracellular domain (eSRK) that are required for its ligand-selective activation, we assayed chimeric receptors and receptor variants containing substitutions at polymorphic sites in Arabidopsis thaliana [9, 10]. We show that only a small number of the ∼100 polymorphic residues in eSRK are required for ligand-specific activation of self-incompatibility in vivo. These essential residues occur in two noncontiguous clusters located at equivalent positions in the two variants tested. They also correspond to sites showing elevated levels of substitutions in other SRKs, suggesting that these residues could define self-incompatibility specificity in most SRKs. The results demonstrate that the majority of eSRK residues that show signals of positive selection and previously surmised to function as specificity determinants are not essential for specificity in the SRK-SCR interaction