Bifocal emotion regulation through acupoint tapping in fear of flying

Very few studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of bifocal-multisensory interventions such as acupoint tapping (tapping) despite their well-documented efficacy. The present study aims to investigate the neural and behavioral responses to tapping during the perception of phobic and generally fear-inducing stimulation in a group of participants with fear of flying. We studied 29 flight-phobic participants who were exposed to phobia-related, fear-inducing and neutral stimulation while undergoing fMRI and a bifocal-multisensory intervention session consisting of tapping plus cognitive restructuring in a within-subject design. During tapping we found an up-regulation of neural activation in the amygdala, and a down-regulation in the hippocampus and temporal pole. These effects were different from automatic emotion regulatory processes which entailed down-regulation in the amygdala, hippocampus, and temporal pole. Mean scores (±SD) on the Fear of Flying scale dropped from 2.51(±0.65) before the intervention to 1.27(±0.68) after the intervention (p <.001). The proportion of participants meeting the criteria for fear of flying also dropped from 89.7 percent before the intervention to 24.0 percent after the intervention (p <.001). Taken together, our results lend support to the effectiveness of tapping as a means of emotion regulation across multiple contexts and add to previous findings of increased amygdala activation during tapping, as opposed to amygdala down-regulation found in other emotion regulation techniques. They expand on previous knowledge by suggesting that tapping might modulate the processing of complex visual scene representations and their binding with visceral emotional reponses, reflected by the down-regulation of activation in the hippocampus and temporal pole. Bifocal emotion regulation was useful in ameliorating aversive reactions to phobic stimuli in people with fear of flying

HIGH EXCITATION ENERGY STRUCTURES IN HEAVY ION COLLISIONS ON A208Pb TARGET

Energy spectra of fragments from the 36Ar +208Pb reaction at 11 MeV/n and 20Ne + 208Pb reaction at 30 MeV/n were measured using a time of flight spectrometer. Structures ranging up to 130 MeV excitation energy are observed in the inelastic spectra. These structures are shown to be due to an excitation of the208Pb target nucleus

Quasi-fission reactions as a probe of nuclear viscosity

Fission fragment mass and angular distributions were measured from the ^{64}Ni+^{197}Au reaction at 418 MeV and 383 MeV incident energy. A detailed data analysis was performed, using the one-body dissipation theory implemented in the code HICOL. The effect of the window and the wall friction on the experimental observables was investigated. Friction stronger than one-body was also considered. The mass and angular distributions were consistent with one-body dissipation. An evaporation code DIFHEAT coupled to HICOL was developed in order to predict reaction time scales required to describe available data on pre-scission neutron multiplicities. The multiplicity data were again consistent with one-body dissipation. The cross-sections for touch, capture and quasi-fission were also obtained.Comment: 25 pages REVTeX, 3 tables, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev

Spectroscopic factors for bound s-wave states derived from neutron scattering lengths

A simple and model-independent method is described to derive neutron single-particle spectroscopic factors of bound s-wave states in $^{A+1}Z = ^{A}Z \otimes n$ nuclei from neutron scattering lengths. Spectroscopic factors for the nuclei ^{13}C, ^{14}C, ^{16}N, ^{17}O, ^{19}O, ^{23}Ne, ^{37}Ar, and ^{41}Ar are compared to results derived from transfer experiments using the well-known DWBA analysis and to shell model calculations. The scattering length of ^{14}C is calculated from the ^{15}C_{g.s.} spectroscopic factor.Comment: 9 pages (uses revtex), no figures, accepted for publication in PRC, uuencoded tex-files and postscript-files available at ftp://is1.kph.tuwien.ac.at/pub/ohu/Thermal.u

Excited States in 52Fe and the Origin of the Yrast Trap at I=12+

Excited states in 52Fe have been determined up to spin 10\hbar in the reaction 28Si + 28Si at 115 MeV by using \gamma-ray spectroscopy methods at the GASP array. The excitation energy of the yrast 10+ state has been determined to be 7.381 MeV, almost 0.5 MeV above the well known \beta+-decaying yrast 12+ state, definitely confirming the nature of its isomeric character. The mean lifetimes of the states have been measured by using the Doppler Shift Attenuation method. The experimental data are compared with spherical shell model calculations in the full pf-shell.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, 7 figures include

Reaction rates for Neutron Capture Reactions to C-, N- and O-isotopes to the neutron rich side of stability

The reaction rates of neutron capture reactions on light nuclei are important for reliably simulating nucleosynthesis in a variety of stellar scenarios. Neutron capture reaction rates on neutron-rich C-, N-, and O-isotopes are calculated in the framework of a hybrid compound and direct capture model. The results are tabulated and compared with the results of previous calculations as well as with experimental results.Comment: 33 pages (uses revtex) and 9 postscript figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.