The effects of hypnosis on flow states and three-point shooting performance in basketball players.

This study examined the effects of hypnosis on flow states and three-point shooting performance in 5 collegiate basketball players. The investigation uti- lized an ideographic single-subject multiple baselines across subjects design combined with a procedure that monitors the internal experience of the par- ticipants (Wollman, 1986). The method of intervention utilized in this study involved relaxation, imagery, hypnotic induction, hypnotic regression, and trigger control procedures. The results indicated that all five participants in- creased both their mean basketball three-point shooting performance and their mean flow scores from baseline to intervention. There were no overlapping data points between the baseline and intervention for either performance or flow state. Additionally, each participant indicated that they had felt the inter- vention was useful in keeping them confident, relaxed, and calm. These re- sults support the hypothesis that a hypnosis intervention can improve three- point shooting performance in basketball players and increase feelings and cognitions that are associated with flow

Asymptotic solutions of glass temperature profiles during steady optical fibre drawing

In this paper we derive realistic simplified models for the high-speed drawing of glass optical fibres via the downdraw method, that capture the fluid dynamics and heat transport in the fibre via conduction, convection and radiative heating. We exploit the small aspect ratio of the fibre and the relative orders of magnitude of the dimensionless parameters that characterize the heat transfer to reduce the problem to one- or two-dimensional systems via asymptotic analysis. The resulting equations may be readily solved numerically and in many cases admit exact analytic solutions. The systematic asymptotic breakdown presented is used to elucidate the relative importance of furnace temperature profile, convection, surface radiation and conduction in each portion of the furnace and the role of each in controlling the glass temperature.\ud \ud The models derived predict many of the qualitative features observed in the real industrial process, such as the glass temperature profile within the furnace and the sharp transition in fibre thickness. The models thus offer a desirable route to quick scenario testing, providing valuable practical information into the dependencies of the solution on the parameters and the dominant heat-transport mechanism

White Dwarf Cosmochronology in the Solar Neighborhood

The study of the stellar formation history in the solar neighborhood is a powerful technique to recover information about the early stages and evolution of the Milky Way. We present a new method which consists of directly probing the formation history from the nearby stellar remnants. We rely on the volume complete sample of white dwarfs within 20 pc, where accurate cooling ages and masses have been determined. The well characterized initial-final mass relation is employed in order to recover the initial masses (1 < M/Msun < 8) and total ages for the local degenerate sample. We correct for moderate biases that are necessary to transform our results to a global stellar formation rate, which can be compared to similar studies based on the properties of main-sequence stars in the solar neighborhood. Our method provides precise formation rates for all ages except in very recent times, and the results suggest an enhanced formation rate for the solar neighborhood in the last 5 Gyr compared to the range 5 < Age (Gyr) < 10. Furthermore, the observed total age of ~10 Gyr for the oldest white dwarfs in the local sample is consistent with the early seminal studies that have determined the age of the Galactic disk from stellar remnants. The main shortcoming of our study is the small size of the local white dwarf sample. However, the presented technique can be applied to larger samples in the future.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

ARE RESIDENCE LIFE PROFESSIONALS CULTURALLY COMPETENT? AN EXPLORATION OF THE PERCEIVED MULTICULTURAL COUNSELING COMPETENCE OF RESIDENCE LIFE PROFESSIONALS NEW TO THE FIELD

This study examined the multicultural counseling competence among new residence life professionals by using the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS: Ponterotto, Gretchen, Utsey, Riger, & Austin, 2002) and a demographic questionnaire created by the researcher. Results included statistically significant positive relationships between participants’ completion of multicultural counseling graduate coursework and multicultural knowledge, quantity of field experiences and multicultural knowledge, and race and multicultural awareness. A negative relationship was discovered between the frequency of travel experiences outside country of birth and multicultural knowledge. Implications of these findings for field of Student Affairs and suggestions for future research are discussed