Cognitive and Attentional Bias in the Processing of Smoking-Related Stimuli

The aim of the present thesis was to examine the cognitive and attentional processing of smoking-related stimuli in abstinent, active and non-smokers. The initial research reported here is directed at establishing appropriate experimental and questionnaire materials for the main studies. This included the development of a valid list of smoking-related words with frequency-matched controls, and revising the Smoking Motivation Questionnaire based on analyses of structure and reliability. Generalised cognitive biases were assessed through a series of modified Stroop experiments. Although the findings suggested that abstinence alters cognition with respect to smoking-related stimuli an assessment of the results suggested that there were some inconsistencies in the findings. Only when a blocked-format Stroop with vocal responses was used was there evidence of a cognitive bias for smoking-related words in abstinent smokers. In order to specifically examine attentional bias in abstinent, active and nonsmokers, a final study assessed performance on a Dot Probe task. Results showed no shift in attention towards smoking words in abstinent smokers. However, a subsidiary analysis revealed that smokers who reported an awareness of smoking shifted their attention towards smoking words.These findings may suggest that different formats of attentional tasks provide differing outcomes in terms of smokers processing of smoking-related information, and that awareness is an important aspect of this processing. Finally, analyses of self-report measures revealed that smokers were more state anxious than smokers and that abstinence increased state anxiety and cigarette craving. The results from this thesis have provided some useful indicators of successful smoking cessation and may assist in the development of a cognitive model of smoking. However, the development of the work will be dependent on modifications and extensions needed to address the anomalies in the findings. Specifically the smoking-related words used and the type of attentional task employed

Advancing Global Health Outcomes Through International Collaboration & Education

Study abroad opportunities for students are readily integrated into higher education. Curricular challenges exist for professional programs regulated by state & national accrediting bodies. However, mission driven values at the broader institutional level facilitate implementation of these learning opportunities. Institutional learning outcomes at Dominican University foster intercultural understanding. Global education outcomes of Dominican University further delineate levels of intercultural competencies to be achieved through coursework and service. The Dominican Department of Nursing seeks to prepare nurses who are competent, culturally sensitive, & ethically grounded within a global community. The Bwindi School of Nursing mission seeks to improve the health of the community through excellent nursing education, research, & practice. Mission statements of both schools reflect like values: professional competence, cultural sensitivity, excellence & compassion in care within a global community

Buddy-motivational interviewing (buddy-MI) to Increase Physical Activity in Community Settings: Results of a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a novel buddy-Motivational Interviewing intervention intended to help apparently healthy but relatively sedentary adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity for health and fitness. This intervention is an adaptation of Motivational Interviewing which adds client-selected motivational-buddies who can provide in-session input as well as ongoing out-of-session support focused on strengthening client’s motivation for and movement toward their physical activity goals. A pragmatic parallel-group randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up was implemented to test the intervention. The trial demonstrated that buddy-MI was feasible and could be delivered with equivalent fidelity to standard MI and both groups demonstrated statistically significant changes across a range of behavioural and health-status outcomes. Moreover, the experimental group participants generally ‘outperformed’ the control group participants as shown by the consistent trends observed over three repeated measures out to 12-months (although these between-group differences were statistically non-significant). Qualitative data indicated participant acceptance of the programme as well as providing initial evidence of positive collateral health effects (‘ripple effects’ whereby buddies changed their behaviours also). Consideration for further development, evaluation and applications are also discussed

Pre-quitting nicotine replacement therapy: Findings from a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) while still smoking in the lead up to quitting could enhance success at quitting, one of the most cost-effective means of improving health, but little is known about its acceptability and tolerability.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To test the acceptability and tolerability of using NRT while smoking for two weeks before quitting, to inform a randomised controlled trial of pre-quitting NRT versus usual NRT-based quitting practice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Prospective pragmatic uncontrolled clinic-based pilot study in which 14 adult smokers recruited from a smoking cessation clinic were prescribed nicotine patches or gum with follow up for two weeks. Data were collected on participants' concerns about smoking while using NRT, importance of quitting, urges to smoke, smoking behaviour, previous NRT use and the length of the pre-quitting period. Urine tests were collected weekly for cotinine, and participants recorded smoking activity and noted experiences and changes in their health in diaries.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Only 21% of 14 participants expressed concerns about using NRT while smoking. All of the nine followed up used it as recommended, 56% of these reporting no unpleasant symptoms. Median urine cotinine levels declined over the two weeks. Urges to smoke averaged 1.8 on a 4-point scale. All participants decreased the number of cigarettes per day. Diary records showed wide variation in smoking and NRT use, with an increased sense of control and determination to quit.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smokers using pre-quitting NRT over two weeks appeared to titrate nicotine levels and symptoms of toxicity were uncommon and of low intensity.</p

Buddy-Motivational Interviewing (buddy-MI) to Increase Physical Activity in Community Settings: Study Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

This article describes the development and evaluation of a novel buddy-motivational interviewing intervention intended to help apparently healthy but relatively sedentary adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity for health and fitness. Many people experience great difficulty in initiating physical activity (“the getting going problem”) and behavioural regression is common (“the keeping it going problem”). Typically there is a rather large gap between what people know to be healthy and what they actually do. This intervention is an adaptation of motivational interviewing in that it adds client-selected motivational-buddies who can provide in-session input as well as ongoing out-of-session support focused on strengthening clients’ motivation for and movement toward their physical activity goals. A pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up aims to deliver and assess the effectiveness of the intervention in a format that could realistically be implemented within primary care, workplaces, schools or other similar setting. The study is due to report clinical effectiveness findings in 2014

Real World Interpretations of Quantum Theory

I propose a new class of interpretations, {\it real world interpretations}, of the quantum theory of closed systems. These interpretations postulate a preferred factorization of Hilbert space and preferred projective measurements on one factor. They give a mathematical characterisation of the different possible worlds arising in an evolving closed quantum system, in which each possible world corresponds to a (generally mixed) evolving quantum state. In a realistic model, the states corresponding to different worlds should be expected to tend towards orthogonality as different possible quasiclassical structures emerge or as measurement-like interactions produce different classical outcomes. However, as the worlds have a precise mathematical definition, real world interpretations need no definition of quasiclassicality, measurement, or other concepts whose imprecision is problematic in other interpretational approaches. It is natural to postulate that precisely one world is chosen randomly, using the natural probability distribution, as the world realised in Nature, and that this world's mathematical characterisation is a complete description of reality.Comment: Minor revisions. To appear in Foundations of Physic

The excited hadron spectrum in lattice QCD using a new method of estimating quark propagation

Progress in determining the spectrum of excited baryons and mesons in lattice QCD is described. Large sets of carefully-designed hadron operators have been studied and their effectiveness in facilitating the extraction of excited-state energies is demonstrated. A new method of stochastically estimating the low-lying effects of quark propagation is proposed which will allow reliable determinations of temporal correlations of single-hadron and multi-hadron operators.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, talk given at Hadron 2009, Tallahassee, Florida, December 1, 200

Using session-RPE to monitor training load in swimmers

The ability to measure and control the internal training load (TL) of athletes is important to optimize athletic performance. However, at present, there are no methods available for evaluating internal tl during swimming. The session-rpe method is a practical, non-invasive system used to quantify the internal tl placed on athletes. This article discusses how the session-rpe method may be used to monitor swim training and ultimately improve the training process of swimmers. Copyright © National Strength and Conditioning Association

Geologic context of geodetic data across a Basin and Range normal fault, Crescent Valley, Nevada

Geodetic strain and late Quaternary faulting in the Basin and Range province is distributed over a region much wider than historic seismicity, which is localized near the margins of the province. In the relatively aseismic interior, both the magnitude and direction of geodetic strain may be inconsistent with the Holocene faulting record. We document the best example of such a disagreement across the NE striking, ~55° NW dipping Crescent normal fault, where a NW oriented, 70 km geodetic baseline records contemporary shortening of ~2 mm/yr orthogonal to the fault trace. In contrast, our geomorphic, paleoseismic, and geochronologic analyses of the Crescent fault suggest that a large extensional rupture occurred during the late Holocene epoch. An excavation across the fault at Fourmile Canyon reveals that the most recent event occurred at 2.8 ± 0.1 ka, with net vertical tectonic displacement of 4.6 ± 0.4 m at this location, corresponding to the release of ~3 m of accumulated NW-SE extension. Measured alluvial scarp profiles suggest a minimum rupture length of 30 km along the range front for the event, implying a moment magnitude M_w of at least 6.6. No prior event occurred between ~2.8 ka and ~6.4 ± 0.1 ka, the ^(14)C calender age of strata near the base of the exposed section. Assuming typical slip rates for Basin and Range faults (~0.3 mm/yr), these results imply that up to one third, or ~1 m, of the extensional strain released in the previous earthquake could have reaccumulated across the fault since ~2.8 ka. However, the contemporary shortening implies that the fault is unloading due to a transient process, whose duration is limited to between 6 years (geodetic recording time) and 2.8 ka (the age of the most recent event). These results emphasize the importance of providing accurate geologic data on the timescale of the earthquake cycle in order to evaluate geodetic measurements