Positive Emotions: Short-Term Mechanisms, Long-Term Outcomes, and Mediating Processes.

Positive emotions such as amusement, interest, and contentment lead people to broaden their repertoires of thoughts and actions, giving rise to exploration, reflection, learning, and relationship-building. Over time these behaviors lead to lasting resources, such as knowledge, coping skill, and supportive relationships. The benefits of positive emotions emerge slowly, but they endure, and help individuals thrive in both good times and bad. This dissertation presents my work on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, ranging from controlled lab research to a practical, field-tested intervention. Chapter 2 describes research on positive affect and attentional allocation. Sixty undergraduate participants completed a visual search task either with or without added information. This information could improve future performance but might also be distracting. Only individuals low in positive affect benefited from the information, suggesting that positive affect may interfere with complex divided attention. However, I was not able to find a specific attentional or motivational mechanism, which makes the results difficult to interpret. I discuss advantages of the method used and potential improvements. In Chapter 3, I analyze daily diary data on positive and negative emotions from 84 undergraduate participants. Mediational analysis suggests that positive emotions predict growth in life satisfaction specifically because they also predict growth in trait resilience. Positive emotions are not just pleasurable; they also help build resources for living well. Negative emotions cannot block these benefits, though positive emotions can neutralize negative emotions' harmful effects. Chapter 4 describes a two-month controlled trial of a positive emotion intervention, in which 195 working adults (132 completers) were randomized to a seven-week course on loving-kindness meditation or to a waitlist. Meditators experienced increased day-to-day positive emotions, which predicted gains in resources including social support, purpose in life, and physical health. These resources in turn predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced symptoms of depression. These papers chronicle the maturation of the broaden-and-build theory. It now comprises precise laboratory research, environmentally validated theory-based predictions, and potential for real-life interventions. Although it continues to evolve, it is substantiated enough to become one of the foundational ideas for positive emotions research throughout the social sciences.Ph.D.PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60754/1/macohn_1.pd

Detecting Voter Fraud in an Electronic Voting Context An Analysis of the Unlimited Reelection Vote in Venezuela

Between December 2007 and February 2009, Venezuelans participated twice in constitutional referenda where the elimination of presidential term limits was one of the most salient proposals. Assuming voter preferences did not change significantly during that period, the ‘repeated’ character of these elections provide us with an excellent opportunity to apply forensic tools designed to detect anomalies and outliers in election returns in elections where electronic voting technologies were used. Similar tools were first applied by Myagkov et al. ([20], [21],[22], [23]) to the study of electoral fraud in Russia and Ukraine, and were effective in the isolation of potential cases of manipulation of electoral returns. The case of Venezuela is different because there exists no widespread agreement about the integrity or otherwise fraudulent nature of national elections, and because it is a nation where electronic voting technologies are used. Unless electoral fraud takes place in exactly the same manner in each election, an analysis of the ‘flow of votes’ between elections can be used to detect suspicious patterns in electoral returns. Although we do not find evidence of pervasive electoral fraud compared, for instance, to the Russian case, our analysis is useful to detect polling places or regions deviating considerably from the more general pattern

In search of durable positive psychology interventions: Predictors and consequences of long-term positive behavior change

A number of positive psychology interventions have successfully helped people learn skills for improving mood and building personal resources (e.g., psychological resilience and social support). However, little is known about whether intervention activities remain effective in the long term, or whether new resources are maintained after the intervention ends. We address these issues in a 15-month follow-up survey of participants from a loving-kindness meditation intervention. Many participants continued to practice meditation, and they reported more positive emotions (PEs) than those who had stopped meditating or had never meditated. All participants maintained gains in resources made during the initial intervention, whether or not they continued meditating. Continuing meditators did not differ on resources at baseline, but they did show more PE and a more rapid PE response to the intervention. Overall, our results suggest that positive psychology interventions are not just efficacious but of significant value in participants' real lives

Acylation of the Lipooligosaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae and Colonization: an htrB Mutation Diminishes the Colonization of Human Airway Epithelial Cells

Haemophilus influenzae is a commensal and opportunistic pathogen of the human airways. A number of surface molecules contribute to colonization of the airways by H. influenzae, such as adhesins, including structures found in the lipooligosaccharide (LOS). A human bronchiolar xenograft model was employed to investigate the host-bacterial interactions involved in the colonization of the airway by H. influenzae. Differential display was used to identify H. influenzae mRNA that reflect genes which were preferentially expressed in the xenograft compared to growth. Eleven mRNA fragments had consistent increased expression when the bacteria grew in xenografts. On sequencing these fragments, eight open reading frames were identified. Three of these had no match in the NCBI or the TIGR database, while an additional three were homologous to genes involved in heme or iron acquisition and utilization: two of the mRNAs encoded proteins homologous to enzymes involved in LOS biosynthesis: a heptosyl transferase (rfaF) involved in the synthesis of the LOS core and a ketodeoxyoctonate phosphate-dependent acyltransferase (htrB) that performs one of the late acylation reactions in lipid A synthesis. Inoculation of human bronchiolar xenografts revealed a significant reduction in colonization capacity by htrB mutants. In vitro, htrB mutants elicited lesser degrees of cytoskeletal rearrangement and less stimulation of host cell signaling with 16HBE14o- cells and decreased intracellular survival. These results implicate acylation of H. influenzae lipid A as playing a key role in the organisms' colonization of the normal airway

Effective d=2 supersymmetric Lagrangians from d=1 supermatrix models

We discuss $d=1, {\cal N}=2$ supersymmetric matrix models and exhibit the associated $d=2$ collective field theory in the limit of dense eigenvalues. From this theory we construct, by the addition of several new fields, a $d=2$ supersymmetric effective field theory, which reduces to the collective field theory when the new fields are replaced with their vacuum expectation values. This effective theory is Poincare invariant and contains perturbative and non-perturbative information about the associated superstrings. We exhibit instanton solutions corresponding to the motion of single eigenvalues and discuss their possible role in supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 59 pages. Contains 5 postscript figures included with epsf macro. Figures obtained upon request, preprint CERN-TH.7017/9

Adding constrained discontinuities to Gaussian process models of wind fields

Gaussian Processes provide good prior models for spatial data, but can be too smooth. In many physical situations there are discontinuities along bounding surfaces, for example fronts in near-surface wind fields. We describe a modelling method for such a constrained discontinuity and demonstrate how to infer the model parameters in wind fields with MCMC sampling

A Web-Based, Positive Emotion Skills Intervention for Enhancing Posttreatment Psychological Well-Being in Young Adult Cancer Survivors (EMPOWER): Protocol for a Single-Arm Feasibility Trial

BACKGROUND: Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors (AYAs) experience clinically significant distress and have limited access to supportive care services. Interventions to enhance psychological well-being have improved positive affect and reduced depression in clinical and healthy populations but have not been routinely tested in AYAs. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this protocol is to (1) test the feasibility and acceptability of a Web-based positive emotion skills intervention for posttreatment AYAs called Enhancing Management of Psychological Outcomes With Emotion Regulation (EMPOWER) and (2) examine proof of concept for reducing psychological distress and enhancing psychological well-being. METHODS: The intervention development and testing are taking place in 3 phases. In phase 1, we adapted the content of an existing, Web-based positive emotion intervention so that it would be suitable for AYAs. EMPOWER targets 8 skills (noticing positive events, capitalizing, gratitude, mindfulness, positive reappraisal, goal setting, personal strengths, and acts of kindness) and is delivered remotely as a 5-week, Web-based intervention. Phase 2 consisted of a pilot test of EMPOWER in a single-arm trial to evaluate feasibility, acceptability, retention, and adherence and to collect data on psychosocial outcomes for proof of concept. In phase 3, we are refining study procedures and conducting a second pilot test. RESULTS: The project was part of a career development award. Pilot work began in June 2015, and data collection was completed in March 2019. The analysis is ongoing, and results will be submitted for publication by May 2020. CONCLUSIONS: If this intervention proves feasible and acceptable, EMPOWER will be primed for a subsequent large, multisite randomized controlled trial. As a scalable intervention, it will be ideally suited for AYA survivors who would otherwise not have access to supportive care interventions to help manage posttreatment distress and enhance well-being. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02832154, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02832154. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/1707

The Clustering of Massive Halos

The clustering properties of dark matter halos are a firm prediction of modern theories of structure formation. We use two large volume, high-resolution N-body simulations to study how the correlation function of massive dark matter halos depends upon their mass and formation history. We find that halos with the lowest concentrations are presently more clustered than those of higher concentration, the size of the effect increasing with halo mass; this agrees with trends found in studies of lower mass halos. The clustering dependence on other characterizations of the full mass accretion history appears weaker than the effect with concentration. Using the integrated correlation function, marked correlation functions, and a power-law fit to the correlation function, we find evidence that halos which have recently undergone a major merger or a large mass gain have slightly enhanced clustering relative to a randomly chosen population with the same mass distribution.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; text improved, references and one figure added; accepted for publication in Ap

Adverse Birth Outcomes of adolescent and Young adult Women Diagnosed With Cancer During Pregnancy

BACKGROUND: We examined adverse birth outcomes among adolescent and young adult women diagnosed with cancer (AYA women, ages 15-39 years) during pregnancy. METHODS: We linked data from the Texas Cancer Registry, vital records, and Texas Birth Defects Registry to identify all singleton births to AYA women diagnosed during pregnancy from January 1999 to December 2016. We compared prevalence of adverse live birth outcomes between AYA women and women without cancer (matched 1:4 on age, race and ethnicity, and year). Among AYA women, we used log-binomial regression to identify factors associated with these outcomes. Statistical tests were 2-sided. RESULTS: AYA women had 1271 singleton live births and 20 stillbirths. AYA women (n = 1291) were 33.3% Hispanic and 9.8% non-Hispanic Black and most commonly had breast (22.5%), thyroid (19.8%), and gynecologic (13.3%) cancers. Among live births, AYA women had a higher prevalence of low birth weight offspring (30.1% vs 9.0%), very preterm (5.7% vs 1.2%), and preterm birth (25.1% vs 7.2%); cesarean delivery (44.3% vs 35.2%); and low Apgar score (2.7% vs 1.5%), compared with women without cancer (n = 5084) (all P \u3c .05). Prevalence of any birth defect by age 12 months did not statistically differ (5.2% vs 4.7%; P = .48), but live births to AYA women more often had heart and circulatory system defects (2.2% vs 1.3%; P = .01). In adjusted models, cancer type and chemotherapy were associated with adverse live birth outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: AYA women diagnosed during pregnancy have higher prevalence of adverse birth outcomes and face difficult decisions in balancing treatment risks and benefits

Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources.

B. L. Fredrickson’s (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions asserts that people’s daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources. The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms. Discussion centers on how positive emotions are the mechanism of change for the type of mind-training practice studied here and how loving-kindness meditation is an intervention strategy that produces positive emotions in a way that outpaces the hedonic treadmill effect