Children’s depressive symptoms and their regulation of negative affect in response to vignette-depicted emotion-eliciting events

The present study examined the relationship between sub-clinical depressive symptoms and children's anticipated cognitive and behavioral reactions to two written vignettes depicting emotion-eliciting stressors (i.e., fight with one's best friend and failure at a roller blade contest). Participants (N = 244) ranging in age between 10 and 13 were presented each vignette and then asked to rate their anticipated utilization of each of seven emotion-regulation strategies (ERs), along with the anticipated mood enhancement effects of each strategy. In addition, ratings of participants' perceived coping efficacy to manage the stressful situation were collected. Results indicated that participants were more likely to endorse ERs for which they have greater confidence in their mood enhancement effects. Moreover, marked differences were observed between ratings for conceptually distinct cognitive ERs. Consistent with expectations, results revealed that participants displaying higher levels of depressive symptoms were more likely to endorse cognitive and behavioral ERs that are negative, passive, and/or avoidant in nature. Children's ratings of the anticipated mood enhancement effects of several ERs were inversely related to their level of depressive symptoms, as was their perceived self-efficacy to manage the stressor. © 2007 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development

Vibrations of a chain of Xe atoms in a groove of carbon nanotube bundle

We present a lattice dynamics study of the vibrations of a linear chain of Xe adsorbates in groove positions of a bundle of carbon nanotubes. The characteristic phonon frequencies are calculated and the adsorbate polarization vectors discussed. Comparison of the present results with the ones previously published shows that the adsorbate vibrations cannot be treated as completely decoupled from the vibrations of carbon nanotubes and that a significant hybridization between the adsorbate and the tube modes occurs for phonons of large wavelengths.Comment: 3 PS figure

What fraction of stars formed in infrared galaxies at high redshift?

Star formation happens in two types of environment: ultraviolet-bright starbursts (like 30 Doradus and HII galaxies at low redshift and Lyman-break galaxies at high redshift) and infrared-bright dust-enshrouded regions (which may be moderately star-forming like Orion in the Galaxy or extreme like the core of Arp 220). In this work I will estimate how many of the stars in the local Universe formed in each type of environment, using observations of star-forming galaxies at all redshifts at different wavelengths and of the evolution of the field galaxy population.Comment: 7 pages, 0 figs, to appear in proceedings of "Starbursts - From 30 Doradus to Lyman break galaxies", edited by Richard de Grijs and Rosa M. Gonzalez Delgado, published by Kluwe

The structure of oppositionality: Response disposition and situational aspects

Background: The Amsterdam Scale of Oppositionality (ASO) is a recently developed self-report instrument to measure the full range of oppositionality. It was used to test the assumption that oppositionality can best be conceptualized as a combination of emotions and behaviors varying across contexts, i.e., with parents, peers and authority figures. Method: The sample consisted of 560 boys and 598 girls, aged 8 to 12 years. The thirty items of the ASO, grouped in item parcels, were analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses. Results: Results confirmed the main hypothesis. The best fitting models contained strongly related emotional and behavioral factors and three mutually related situational factors. Oppositionality appeared to be to a large extent situation-specific. Girls are more affected by the situation than boys and show less oppositionality only outside the family context. Conclusions: Results are discussed with respect to the concept of oppositionality, varying expectations for interpersonal consequences, and implications for clinical assessment and studies of inter-informant reliability

Body mass index, but not FTO genotype or major depressive disorder, influences brain structure

Obesity and major depressive disorder (MDD) are highly prevalent and often comorbid health conditions. Both are associated with differences in brain structure and are genetically influenced. Yet, little is known about how obesity, MDD, and known risk genotypes might interact in the brain. Subjects were 81 patients with MDD (mean age 48.6 years) and 69 matched healthy controls (mean age 51.2 years). Subjects underwent 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging, genotyping for the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene rs3751812 polymorphism, and measurements for body mass index (BMI). We conducted a whole brain voxelwise analysis using tensor-based morphometry (TBM) to examine the main and interaction effects of diagnosis, BMI and FTO genotype. Significant effects of BMI were observed across widespread brain regions, indicating reductions in predominantly subcortical and white matter areas associated with increased BMI, but there was no influence of MDD or FTO rs3751812 genotype. There were no significant interaction effects. Within MDD patients, there was no effect of current depressive symptoms; however the use of antidepressant medication was associated with reductions in brain volume in the frontal lobe and cerebellum. Obesity affects brain structure in both healthy participants and MDD patients; this influence may account for some of the brain changes previously associated with MDD. BMI and the use of medication should ideally be measured and controlled for when conducting structural brain imaging research in MDD

Classtalk: A Classroom Communication System for Active Learning

This pdf file is an article describing the advantages of using Classtalk technology in the classroom to enhance classroom communication. Classtalk technology cab facilitate the presentation of questions for small group work, collec the student answers and then display histograms showing how the class answered. This new communication technology can help instructors create a more interactive, student centered classroom, especially when teaching large courses. The article describes Classtalk as a very useful tool not only for engaging students in active learning, but also for enhancing the overall communication within the classroom. This article is a selection from the electronic Journal for Computing in Higher Education. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

High-p_T pion and kaon production in relativistic nuclear collisions

High-p_T pion and kaon production is studied in relativistic proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions in a wide energy range. Cross sections are calculated based on perturbative QCD, augmented by a phenomenological transverse momentum distribution of partons (``intrinsic k_T''). An energy dependent width of the transverse momentum distribution is extracted from pion and charged hadron production data in proton-proton/proton-antiproton collisions. Effects of multiscattering and shadowing in the strongly interacting medium are taken into account. Enhancement of the transverse momentum width is introduced and parameterized to explain the Cronin effect. In collisions between heavy nuclei, the model over-predicts central pion production cross sections (more significantly at higher energies), hinting at the presence of jet quenching. Predictions are made for proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC energies.Comment: 26 pages in Latex, 19 EPS figure

Stability analysis of agegraphic dark energy in Brans-Dicke cosmology

Stability analysis of agegraphic dark energy in Brans-Dicke theory is presented in this paper. We constrain the model parameters with the observational data and thus the results become broadly consistent with those expected from experiment. Stability analysis of the model without best fitting shows that universe may begin from an unstable state passing a saddle point and finally become stable in future. However, with the best fitted model, There is no saddle intermediate state. The agegraphic dark energy in the model by itself exhibits a phantom behavior. However, contribution of cold dark matter on the effective energy density modifies the state of teh universe from phantom phase to quintessence one. The statefinder diagnosis also indicates that the universe leaves an unstable state in the past, passes the LCDM state and finally approaches the sable state in future.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure

Effects of watershed land use on nitrogen concentrations and δ15 Nitrogen in groundwater

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Biogeochemistry 77 (2006): 199-215, doi:10.1007/s10533-005-1036-2.Eutrophication is a major agent of change affecting freshwater, estuarine, and marine systems. It is largely driven by transportation of nitrogen from natural and anthropogenic sources. Research is needed to quantify this nitrogen delivery and to link the delivery to specific land-derived sources. In this study we measured nitrogen concentrations and δ15N values in seepage water entering three freshwater ponds and six estuaries on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and assessed how they varied with different types of land use. Nitrate concentrations and δ15N values in groundwater reflected land use in developed and pristine watersheds. In particular, watersheds with larger populations delivered larger nitrate loads with higher δ15N values to receiving waters. The enriched δ15N values confirmed nitrogen loading model results identifying wastewater contributions from septic tanks as the major N source. Furthermore, it was apparent that N coastal sources had a relatively larger impact on the N loads and isotopic signatures than did inland N sources further upstream in the watersheds. This finding suggests that management priorities could focus on coastal sources as a first course of action. This would require management constraints on a much smaller population.This work was supported by funds from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Program, from the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, from Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to Applied Science Associates, Narragansett, RI, as well as from Palmer/McLeod and NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve Fellowships to Kevin Kroeger. This work is the result of research sponsored by NOAA National Sea Grant College Program Office, Department of Commerce, under Grant No. NA86RG0075, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Project No. R/M-40