MODELING DAILY POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS SYMPTOMS AND MENTAL CONTAMINATION EXPERIENCES AMONG SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL TRAUMA

Mental contamination (i.e., feelings of dirtiness in the absence of contact with a contaminant) is a potentially important yet understudied factor in posttraumatic psychopathology, particularly for survivors of sexual trauma. Mental contamination has been linked to PTSD symptom severity, negative affect, and coping cross-sectionally and in lab-based paradigms, but research has yet to assess these relationships in ecological contexts. The present study extends previous cross-sectional findings by modelling relationships between mental contamination and posttraumatic psychopathology, emotions, and coping both within-day and from one day to the next. Forty-two female sexual trauma survivors completed twice-daily assessments of mental contamination, PTSD symptoms, negative emotions, and avoidant/approach coping via a smartphone app. Daily averages and intraindividual changes in mental contamination scores were linked with PTSD symptoms at the same timepoint. Mental contamination also significantly predicted several specific avoidant coping strategies at later timepoints in addition to concurrent links. Unexpectedly, several negative emotions exhibited positive links with concurrent mental contamination but were negatively linked to later mental contamination. Exploratory analyses identified a significant interaction whereby elevated morning negative affect predicted evening reductions in mental contamination, but only for individuals also high in morning PTSD symptoms. Lastly, prevalence of reported baseline mental contamination was much higher in the present study compared to prior research. Clinical relevance and future recommendations for ecological research in trauma-related mental contamination is discussed

Development of the Safe, Ethical, & Inclusive Physical Activity Model

The Safe, Ethical, & Inclusive Physical Activity (SEIPA) Project aims to develop an interdisciplinary & critical framework on SEIPA topics alongside an associated research agenda. The SEIPA team created a model to visually describe the project’s interdisciplinary & multifaceted nature. The model needed to convey that safe, ethical, & inclusive physical activity is considered across disciplines and throughout at least three levels of Health Sciences research: Individual, institutional, and sociocultural-political. The model was applied to several projects related to the USRI, including an inquiry into FHS research about safe, ethical, & inclusive physical activity. The authors created an infographic to detail the process of collaboration to create the SEIPA model

Effect of nitrogen supplementation and Zilpaterol-HCl on urea recycling in steers consuming corn-based diets

Cattle have the innate ability to recycle nitrogen absorbed post-ruminally back to the rumen as endogenously synthesized urea. Urea returning to the rumen provides an additional opportunity for ruminal microbes to benefit from nitrogen absorbed postruminally. Urea recycling may provide a significant benefit to cattle when protein requirements of ruminal microbes are high or when large amounts of the dietary protein escape ruminal degradation

A machine learning approach to the classification of phishing bot accounts within Twitter

Social network bots are becoming an ever-greater threat to online users. Most studies carried out have looked at bots which generate a lot of tweets known as spam, as these are very common. In recent years research into the area of bots within Twitter has been carried out using machine learning to attempt to find patterns in these ac-counts to aide with detection. However, limited research has been carried out that focuses on a sub set of Twitter bots which are involved in phishing campaigns which tweet very little to avoid detection. In this project an application was developed that combines a variety of commercial tools with machine learning theory to allow a user to collect and analyse public Twitter data using a neural network. The focus of the project is to try and find patterns in these phishing bots’ properties and to use the data collected to train a neural network to recognise these patterns and detect bots. A Twit-ter crawler was developed that harvests data from the Twitter API and stores it in a graph database. The data is then formatted and normalised by a pre-processor mod-ule which is then fed into a neural network. The neural network evaluates the data and creates predictions based on what it has previously learnt, these predictions are then displayed in a graph format within the browser. Experimental results have shown that there is a pattern in the properties of an account, and tests showed a correlation in the friend to follower ratio of bot accounts. With this pattern and other properties of an account, a neural network has been trained to detect bot accounts, with tests showing the neural being able to make predictions for an account with an accuracy of 92%. Whilst these results are still experimental the project has proven that is it possible to detect bots within Twitter using just the properties of an account

Electron density and collision frequency of microwave‐resonant‐cavity‐produced discharges

A review of perturbation diagnostics applied to microwave resonant cavity discharges is presented. The classical microwave perturbation technique examines the shift in the resonant frequency and cavity quality factor of the resonant cavity caused by low‐electron density discharges. However, the modifications presented allow the analysis to be applied to discharges with electron densities beyond the limit predicted by perturbation theory. An ‘‘exact’’ perturbation analysis is presented which models the discharge as a separate dielectric, thereby removing the restrictions on electron density imposed by the classical technique. The ‘‘exact’’ method also uses measurements of the shifts in the resonant conditions of the cavity. Third, an electromagnetic analysis is presented which uses a characteristic equation, based upon Maxwell’s laws, and predicts the discharge conductivity based upon measurements of a complex axial wave number. By allowing the axial wave number of the electromagnetic fields to be complex, the fields are experimentally and theoretically shown to be spatially attenuated. The diagnostics are applied to continuous‐wave microwave (2.45 GHz) discharges produced in an Asmussen resonant cavity. Double Langmuir probes, placed directly in the discharge at the point where the radial electric field is zero, act as a comparison with the analytic diagnostics. Microwave powers ranging from 30 to 100 W produce helium and nitrogen discharges with pressures ranging from 0.5 to 6 Torr. Analysis of the data predicts electron temperatures from 5 to 20 eV, electron densities from 1011 to 3×1012 cm−3, and collision frequencies from 109 to 1011 s−1.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69731/2/JAPIAU-74-6-3724-1.pd

Non-random dispersal in the butterfly Maniola jurtina: implications for metapopulation models

The dispersal patterns of animals are important in metapopulation ecology because they affect the dynamics and survival of populations. Theoretical models assume random dispersal but little is known in practice about the dispersal behaviour of individual animals or the strategy by which dispersers locate distant habitat patches. In the present study, we released individual meadow brown butterflies (Maniola jurtina) in a non-habitat and investigated their ability to return to a suitable habitat. The results provided three reasons for supposing that meadow brown butterflies do not seek habitat by means of random flight. First, when released within the range of their normal dispersal distances, the butterflies orientated towards suitable habitat at a higher rate than expected at random. Second, when released at larger distances from their habitat, they used a non-random, systematic, search strategy in which they flew in loops around the release point and returned periodically to it. Third, butterflies returned to a familiar habitat patch rather than a non-familiar one when given a choice. If dispersers actively orientate towards or search systematically for distant habitat, this may be problematic for existing metapopulation models, including models of the evolution of dispersal rates in metapopulations

Bioavailability of lysine from hydroxymethyl lysine

Twelve mature sheep were used as a ruminant model to estimate the bioavailability of lysine in hydroxymethyl lysine (HML) compared with a commercial product of rumen-protected lysine (RPL; LysiPEARL, Kemin Industries, Inc.) with known availability. The sheep were fed a diet with a forage to concentrate ratio similar to that of dairy diets. Following a control period in which plasma lysine was measured when sheep received no supplemental lysine, the sheep were provided 2 of 4 treatments during periods 2 and 3; treatments included RPL to provide 3 or 6 g/day of available lysine (actual amounts of product provided were based on the manufacturer\u27s data related to ruminal escape and intestinal availability) and 3 or 6 g/day of lysine provided as HML. Blood samples were collected at the end of each feeding period at 3 hours after feeding. Both HML and RPL significantly increased plasma lysine concentrations. By comparison with plasma lysine concentrations when known amounts of bioavailable lysine were provided as RPL, the bioavailability of lysine in HML was estimated to be 94%. Results indicate that HML may be an effective means of supplementing lysine to dairy cattle.; Dairy Day, 2010, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 2010; Dairy Research, 2010 is known as Dairy Day, 201

Personalities in female domesticated pigs: behavioural and physiological indications

The inconclusive evidence so far on the existence of distinct personality types in domesticated pigs, led us to perform the present experiment. A total of 128 gilts from 31 sows were systematically studied from birth to slaughter in two identical trials. Intra-test consistency in individual behavioural andror physiological reactions was studied in three different tests. We were not able to show consistencies in reactions of gilts over time to a backtest (at 2–4 days and 4 weeks of age) and to a novel environment test (at 10 and 24 weeks of age). Individual aggression, however, as measured in a group-feeding competition test in stable groups (at 10 and 24 weeks of age), proved to be highly consistent. Explanations for these discrepancies in intra-test consistencies are critically discussed. Inter-test consistencies were determined by relating the individual reactions of gilts to the backtest to various characteristics and responses to tests at a later age. The highest correlations were found when resistance in the first backtest was involved. No evidence was found for the existence of specific isolated categories of animals with respect to this resistance. For further analysis, extreme responding gilts in the first backtest (roughly the top and bottom 25% of the distribution) were classified as low resistant (LR; <3 escape attempts; n=31) or high resistant (HR; >4 escape attempts; n=45). By comparisons of mean responses of LR and HR gilts within groups, we have established a relationship between the backtest and several other variables. Behaviourally, the HR gilts showed more aggression in the group-feeding competition tests. Also, in the competition for the most productive teats at the anterior, a predominant position of HR piglets at this site was observed during the suckling period. The latter piglets also gained more weight during this period than LR ones. Compared to HR pigs, in the first novel environment test LR pigs hesitated longer to leave their home pens and to contact a human, but no difference in their locomotory behaviour was observed. Contrasts between LR and HR pigs in the second novel environment test were reduced or absent. Physiologically, when compared to HR gilts, LR ones had a higher reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) system. This was shown by higher cortisol responses to the first novel environment test, to routine weighing at 25 weeks of age, and to administration of a high dose of ACTH. It is discussed that these findings for LR and HR gilts, may provide support for the existence of behavioural and physiological responses in pigs, resembling those of proactive and reactive rodents.

A 19-channel d.c. SQUID magnetometer system for brain research

A 19-channel d.c. SQUID magnetometer system for neuromagnetic investigations is under constuction. The first-order gradiometers for sensing the signal are placed in a hexagonal configuration. D.c. SQUIDs based on niobium/aluminium technology have been developed, leading to a field sensitivity of about 5 fT/ Hz. SQUID read-out is realized with a resonant transformer circuit at 100 kHz. The multichannel control and detection electronics are compactly built