The lived experiences of experienced Vipassana Mahasi meditators: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Research into the effects and mechanisms of mindfulness training draws predominantly on quantitative research. There is a lack of understanding about the subjective experiences of experienced mindfulness meditators, which may provide additional insights into the effects, processes and context of mindfulness training. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of a novel group of experienced mindfulness meditators who practise Vipassana Mahasi (VM) meditation. The study aimed to understand how experienced VM practitioners make sense of the effects of practice and what processes they ascribe to it. Participants attended semistructured interviews, and their responses were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results yielded overarching themes including (a) improvements in hedonic and eudaimonic well-being; (b) insights into self, others and perception of reality; (c) attaining equanimity; and (d) physical and interpersonal difficulties. Participants perceived VM as a ‘cleansing’ process whereby maladaptive responses were eliminated through mindfulness, other supportive mental qualities, decentering and nonattachment. The findings revealed a complex and dynamic set of interdependent outcomes and processes, which are reinforced by Buddhist teachings and ethical practices. This study highlights the need for additional interdisciplinary research into topics such as insight generation and supportive mental qualities cultivated during VM, novel states of well-being informed by Buddhist constructs and interpersonal difficulties related to long-term practice. Findings also suggest that incorporating Buddhist teachings and ethics into mindfulness-based interventions may enhance practitioner understanding and implementation of meditation techniques.N/

First observation of the nuclei TC-87 and TC-88

The gamma-decay of excited states in the neutron deficient isotopes Tc-87 and Tc-88 has been observed for the first time. The fusion-evaporation reactions Ni-58(S-32, p2n)Tc-87 and Ni-58(S-32, pn)Tc-88 at 110 MeV, Ca-40(Cr-50, p2n)Tc-87 and Ca-40(Cr-50, pn)Tc-88 at 170 MeV and Ni-58(Ar-36, alpha-pn)Tc-88 at 145 MeV beam energy were used. Unambiguous identification of these nuclei which are populated with less than 1 mb cross section was achieved with coincidences between the gamma-radiation and the evaporation residues detected in a recoil mass separator. From gamma-gamma-coincidence data, a decay scheme of 11 transitions was constructed for Tc-88, the ground state of which is suggested to have I-pi = 7- or 8+. Two transitions identified in Tc-87 follow the pattern of a g9/2 one-quasiparticle band

Isotopic Evaluation of Ocean Circulation in the Late Cretaceous North American Seaway

During the mid- and Late Cretaceous period, North America was split by the north–south oriented Western Interior Seaway. Its role in creating and maintaining Late Cretaceous global greenhouse conditions remains unclear. Different palaeoceanographic reconstructions portray diverse circulation patterns1, 2, 3. The southward extent of relatively cool, low-salinity, low-δ18O surface waters critically distinguishes among these models, but past studies of invertebrates could not independently assess water temperature and isotopic compositions. Here we present oxygen isotopes in biophosphate from coeval marine turtle and fish fossils from western Kansas, representing the east central seaway, and from the Mississippi embayment, representing the marginal Tethys Ocean. Our analyses yield precise seawater isotopic values and geographic temperature differences during the main transition from the Coniacian to the early Campanian age (87–82 Myr), and indicate that the seaway oxygen isotope value and salinity were 2‰ and 3‰ lower, respectively, than in the marginal Tethys Ocean. We infer that the influence of northern freshwater probably reached as far south as Kansas. Our revised values imply relatively large temperature differences between the Mississippi embayment and central seaway, explain the documented regional latitudinal palaeobiogeographic zonation4, 5 and support models with relatively little inflow of surface waters from the Tethys Ocean to the Western Interior Seaway2, 3