Impact of the HeartMath Self-Management Skills Program on Physiological and Psychological Stress in Police Officers

This study explored the impact on a group of police officers from Santa Clara County, California of the HeartMath stress and emotional self-management training, which provides practical techniques designed to reduce stress in the moment, improve physiological and emotional balance, increase mental clarity and enhance performance and quality of life.This study provides evidence that practical stress and emotional self-management techniques can reduce damaging physiological and psychological responses to both acute and chronic stress in police, and positively impact a variety of major life areas in a relatively short period of time. In particular, results show that application of these interventions can produce notable improvements in communication difficulties at work and in strained family relationships, two areas that are well recognized to be major sources of stress for police

Understanding The Effects Of Endocrine Disruptors On The Glucocorticoid Signaling Pathway

Endocrine disruptors are exogenous chemicals that interfere with the functions of the endocrine system and can cause adverse developmental, reproductive, and neurological effects. Unlike toxic effects that may be evident immediately, disruption to the endocrine system may impact complex signaling pathways that take years or generations to discover. Current toxicology testing does not routinely incorporate endpoints that would identify potential endocrine disruptors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the endocrine disrupting potential of a broad range of industrial chemicals, specifically focusing on four chemicals with predicted activity on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR): 4-nonylphenol, bisphenol A (BPA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and phenolphthalein (PP). These chemicals are used in detergents, paints, pesticides, personal care products, and plastics. We have focused on glucocorticoids because these hormones play a critical role in reproduction, development, metabolism, and overall physiological homeostasis. Their actions are mediated by GR, a transcription factor that is necessary for life. Thus, endocrine disrupting chemicals that alter glucocorticoid signaling have the potential to alter the physiology of several organs and tissues. Human liver (HepG2) and Ishikawa (uterine) cell lines were used to study the effects of these chemicals on metabolism and reproduction, respectively. In Ishikawa and HepG2 cells, the industrial chemicals differentially regulated the transcript levels of both glucocorticoid responsive genes studied (GILZ and PER1). Interestingly, the effects of industrial chemical on gene expression varied by cell type. Additionally, the industrial chemicals altered the phosphorylation status of two phosphorylated GR proteins (pGR-211 and pGR-226). A combination of chemicals causes unique effects compared to individual chemicals. Collectively, this suggests that the evaluated chemicals demonstrate gene- and cell-type specific effects. These findings demonstrate that the endocrine disrupting potential of commonly used industrial chemicals is an underappreciated potential source of toxicity

Bringing together the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity and the Harrington School of Communications to promote topics from the URI community and reach approx. one million potential people in Rhode Island and beyond

This is Joseph Santiago and Dana proposal application for 2012/2013 Innovative Approaches Using Technology to Advance the Student Experience. Dana and Joseph are establishing the Community Voices Committee to showcase diversity and community at URI to go beyond traditional internet sharing of information and reach approximately one million potential television viewers in Rhode Island with the many original programs, speakers, and talent (faculty, staff, guest speakers) that go on here every day. The committee will take on topics from the URI community with potential to be utilized in the classroom to entertain, educate, and raise awareness while providing promotion of diversity issues that link people back to the many services and programs available at URI. In establishing this program and committee, we seek to encourage a participatory culture through which everyone can share their works, thoughts, and expressions of self in order to interact on a more global scale. This initiative has the potential to engage current and future students to become more involved with the URI community and further connect through shared visions and experiences once they get here

Digital Community Voices Committee Programming Inventory For July 2012 Meeting

Digital Community Voices Committee Programming Inventory for the July 2012 meeting. This will be used by the committee to decide what to show on PBS and RI Interstate in order to showcase past and future diversity programing here at URI

Digital Community Voices Committee Initial Agenda

The overarching goal of this committee is to encourage dialogue around diversity education while encouraging a digital media literacy skillset. This committee will serve as a hub for different departments, associations, and individuals representing a wide spectrum of populations within the URI community and will serve to manage the program in a collegial manner. The Digital Community Voices Committee will utilize writing, the production of multimedia content, and educational digital media products (E-books, TV shorts, podcasts, DVDs, and streaming videos) that showcase diversity, inclusion and community of the URI community. The target audience for the program will be the URI community, prospective community members and the global community interested in issues of diversity. The works from this committee have the potential to engage current and future students to become more involved with the URI community and further connect through shared visions and experiences even before they get to URI. Agenda Items 1. Establishing how the committee will function and purpose. 2. Dana is currently sorting through over 1,000 hours of video he has shot to date at URI looking for programming we can immediately air on URI Campus TV and the RI Educational Network. This includes titles we should have available to discuss at our first meeting. 3. Order of titles to be digitized for URI Campus TV and the RI Educational Network (Local Access) 4. Opportunity for training for those on the committee to become Administers of the Community Equity & Diversity Digital Collections (CEDDC). 5. Establishing process and procedure for utilizing the CEDDC and television broadcasting for new and old programing. 6. Volunteers and/or ideas for future projects and programing. 7. People we would like to invite to be members to create stronger partnerships and make the committee sustainable

Do We Really Need Another Meeting? The Science of Workplace Meetings

Meetings are routine in organizations, but their value is often questioned by the employees who must sit through them daily. The science of meetings that has emerged as of late provides necessary direction toward improving meetings, but an evaluation of the current state of the science is much needed. In this review, we examine current directions for the psychological science of workplace meetings, with a focus on applying scientific findings about the activities that occur before, during, and after meetings that facilitate success. We conclude with concrete recommendations and a checklist for promoting good meetings, as well as some thoughts on the future of the science of workplace meetings

Coronal Loop Expansion Properties Explained Using Separators

One puzzling observed property of coronal loops is that they are of roughly constant thickness along their length. Various studies have found no consistent pattern of width variation along the length of loops observed by TRACE and SOHO. This is at odds with expectations of magnetic flux tube expansion properties, which suggests that loops are widest at their tops, and significantly narrower at their footpoints. Coronal loops correspond to areas of the solar corona which have been preferentially heated by some process, so this observed property might be connected to the mechanisms that heat the corona. One means of energy deposition is magnetic reconnection, which occurs along field lines called separators. These field lines begin and end on magnetic null points, and loops forming near them can therefore be relatively wide at their bases. Thus, coronal energization by magnetic reconnection may replicate the puzzling expansion properties observed in coronal loops. We present results of a Monte Carlo survey of separator field line expansion properties, comparing them to the observed properties of coronal loops.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, to be submitted to Ap