7,421 research outputs found
Developing a rating scale for projected stories
The 6-Part Story Method (6PSM) is a projective tool in wide use by dramatherapists in the UK, USA and Israel (Lahad & Ayalon, 1993). In contrast to projective tests used by psychotherapists and psychologists, the 6PSM has never been the subject of any validation or reliability studies. This paper reports on the identification of scale items to describe the manifest content of 6-part stories. 26 statements with acceptable inter-rater reliability have been identified. These statements were used to rate stories produced by clinicians (n=24), mainstream community mental health patients (n=21) and patients with a Borderline Personality Disorder (n=19). Some features that were expected to be indicators of an author with a BPD diagnosis proved to be as common in stories from other authors. However a scale of eight items was identified that differentiated well between authors with a BPD diagnosis and others, with adequate test-retest and inter-rater reliability. Concurrent validity was tested against the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II), the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems short form (IIP-32)
Collisional Processes in Extrasolar Planetsimal Disks - Dust Clumps in Fomalhaut's Debris Disk
This paper presents a model for the outcome of collisions between
planetesimals in a debris disk and assesses the impact of collisional processes
on the structure and size distribution of the disk. The model is presented by
its application to Fomalhaut's collisionally replenished dust disk; a recent
450 micron image of this disk shows a clump embedded within it with a flux ~5
per cent of the total. The following conclusions are drawn: (i) SED modelling
is consistent with Fomalhaut's disk having a collisional cascade size
distribution extending from bodies 0.2 m in diameter down to 7 micron-sized
dust. (ii) Collisional lifetime arguments imply that the cascade starts with
planetesimals 1.5-4 km in diameter. Any larger bodies must be predominantly
primordial. (iii) Constraints on the timescale for the ignition of the cascade
are consistent with these primordial planetesimals having a distribution that
extends up to 1000km, resulting in a disk mass of 5-10 times the minimum mass
solar nebula. (iv) The debris disk is expected to be intrinsically clumpy,
since planetesimal collisions result in dust clumps. The intrinsic clumpiness
of Fomalhaut's disk is below current detection limits, but could be detectable
by future observatories such as the ALMA, and could provide the only way of
determining the primordial planetesimal population. (v) The observed clump
could have originated in a collision between two runaway planetesimals, both
larger than 1400 km diameter. It is unlikely that we should witness such an
event unless both the formation of these runaways and the ignition of the
collisional cascade occurred within the last ~10 Myr. (vi) Another explanation
for Fomalhaut's clump is that ~5 per cent of the planetesimals in the ring are
trapped in 1:2 resonance with a planet orbiting at 80 AU.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, accepted by MNRA
Killing the Straw Man: Does BICEP Prove Inflation at the GUT Scale?
The surprisingly large value of , the ratio of power in tensor to scalar
density perturbations in the CMB reported by the BICEP2 Collaboration, if
confirmed, provides strong evidence for Inflation at the GUT scale. While the
Inflationary signal remains the best motivated source, a large value of
alone would still allow for the possibility that a comparable gravitational
wave background might result from a self ordering scalar field (SOSF)
transition that takes place later at somewhat lower energy. We find that even
without detailed considerations of the predicted BICEP signature of such a
transition, simple existing limits on the isocurvature contribution to CMB
anisotropies would definitively rule out a contribution of more than to
,. We also present a general relation for the allowed fractional
SOSF contribution to as a function of the ultimate measured value of .
These results point strongly not only to an inflationary origin of the BICEP2
signal, if confirmed, but also to the fact that if the GUT scale is of order
then either the GUT transition happens before Inflation or the
Inflationary transition and the GUT transition must be one and the same.Comment: 3 pages 2 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters B .
Accepted version revised slightly in response to referee's comment
CP Violation and Moduli Stabilization in Heterotic Models
The role of moduli stabilization in predictions for CP violation is examined
in the context of four-dimensional effective supergravity models obtained from
the weakly coupled heterotic string. We point out that while stabilization of
compactification moduli has been studied extensively, the determination of
background values for other scalars by dynamical means has not been subjected
to the same degree of scrutiny. These other complex scalars are important
potential sources of CP violation and we show in a simple model how their
background values (including complex phases) may be determined from the
minimization of the supergravity scalar potential, subject to the constraint of
vanishing cosmological constant.Comment: 8 Pages. Based on a talk given at the CP Violation Conference,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, November 4-18, 2001, correction to Eq.
(27
Effect on smoking quit rate of telling patients their lung age: the Step2quit randomised controlled trial
Objective To evaluate the impact of telling patients their estimated spirometric lung age as an incentive to quit smoking.Design Randomised controlled trial.Setting Five general practices in Hertfordshire, England.Participants 561 current smokers aged over 35.Intervention All participants were offered spirometric assessment of lung function. Participants in intervention group received their results in terms of "lung age" (the age of the average healthy individual who would perform similar to them on spirometry). Those in the control group received a raw figure for forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1). Both groups were advised to quit and offered referral to local NHS smoking cessation services.Main outcome measures The primary outcome measure was verified cessation of smoking by salivary cotinine testing 12 months after recruitment. Secondary outcomes were reported changes in daily consumption of cigarettes and identification of new diagnoses of chronic obstructive lung disease.Results Follow-up was 89%. Independently verified quit rates at 12 months in the intervention and control groups, respectively, were 13.6% and 6.4% (difference 7.2%, P=0.005, 95% confidence interval 2.2% to 12.1%; number needed to treat 14). People with worse spirometric lung age were no more likely to have quit than those with normal lung age in either group. Cost per successful quitter was estimated at 280 pound ((euro) 365, $556). A new diagnosis of obstructive lung disease was made in 17% in the intervention group and 14% in the control group; a total of 16% (89/561) of participants.Conclusion Telling smokers their lung age significantly improves the likelihood of them quitting smoking, but the mechanism by which this intervention achieves its effect is unclear.Trial registration National Research Register N0096173751
Competing bounds on the present-day time variation of fundamental constants
We compare the sensitivity of a recent bound on time variation of the fine
structure constant from optical clocks with bounds on time varying fundamental
constants from atomic clocks sensitive to the electron-to-proton mass ratio,
from radioactive decay rates in meteorites, and from the Oklo natural reactor.
Tests of the Weak Equivalence Principle also lead to comparable bounds on
present variations of constants. The "winner in sensitivity" depends on what
relations exist between the variations of different couplings in the standard
model of particle physics, which may arise from the unification of gauge
interactions. WEP tests are currently the most sensitive within unified
scenarios. A detection of time variation in atomic clocks would favour
dynamical dark energy and put strong constraints on the dynamics of a
cosmological scalar field.Comment: ~4 Phys Rev page
Surface oscillations in channeled snow flows
An experimental device has been built to measure velocity profiles and
friction laws in channeled snow flows. The measurements show that the velocity
depends linearly on the vertical position in the flow and that the friction
coefficient is a first-order polynomial in velocity (u) and thickness (h) of
the flow. In all flows, oscillations on the surface of the flow were observed
throughout the channel and measured at the location of the probes. The
experimental results are confronted with a shallow water approach. Using a
Saint-Venant modeling, we show that the flow is effectively uniform in the
streamwise direction at the measurement location. We show that the surface
oscillations produced by the Archimedes's screw at the top of the channel
persist throughout the whole length of the channel and are the source of the
measured oscillations. This last result provides good validation of the
description of such channeled snow flows by a Saint-Venant modeling
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