The Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Does it Apply to People with Schizophrenia?

The Facial Feedback Hypothesis (FFH) states that emotions are induced or enhanced by one\u27s own facial expression. Lack of accurate empathy, deficits in the ability to read facial expressions, and anhedonia are all symptoms found in schizophrenia. These symptoms have a dramatic impact on schizophrenia patients; the levels of those symptoms often determining functional outcome. Few studies exist on facial feedback in schizophrenia and those that do are conflicting in their views as to whether or not FFH applies to people with schizophrenia. This study measured level of positive affect and how it is affected by facial expression. Controls assigned to the smile condition demonstrated a trend toward higher immediate positive affect than did controls who did not smile. However, there was no trend toward happiness for the schizophrenia group assigned to the smile condition. This study also found that time spent smiling does not appear to be correlated higher or more intense positive affect for any group. Future research directions are discussed

Doing the Deal: Talent Contracts in Hollywood

Chapters on key topics, including copyright, trademark, piracy, antitrust, censorship, international exhibition, contracts, labour and tax. Drawing on historical and contemporary case studies, Hollywood and the Lawdiv_MCaPApub4843pu

Spitzer Secondary Eclipses of Qatar-1b

Previous secondary eclipse observations of the hot Jupiter Qatar-1b in the Ks band suggest that it may have an unusually high day side temperature, indicative of minimal heat redistribution. There have also been indications that the orbit may be slightly eccentric, possibly forced by another planet in the system. We investigate the day side temperature and orbital eccentricity using secondary eclipse observations with Spitzer. We observed the secondary eclipse with Spitzer/IRAC in subarray mode, in both 3.6 and 4.5 micron wavelengths. We used pixel-level decorrelation to correct for Spitzer's intra-pixel sensitivity variations and thereby obtain accurate eclipse depths and central phases. Our 3.6 micron eclipse depth is 0.149 +/- 0.051% and the 4.5 micron depth is 0.273 +/- 0.049%. Fitting a blackbody planet to our data and two recent Ks band eclipse depths indicates a brightness temperature of 1506 +/- 71K. Comparison to model atmospheres for the planet indicates that its degree of longitudinal heat redistribution is intermediate between fully uniform and day side only. The day side temperature of the planet is unlikely to be as high (1885K) as indicated by the ground-based eclipses in the Ks band, unless the planet's emergent spectrum deviates strongly from model atmosphere predictions. The average central phase for our Spitzer eclipses is 0.4984 +/- 0.0017, yielding e cos(omega) = -0.0028 +/- 0.0027. Our results are consistent with a circular orbit, and we constrain e cos(omega) much more strongly than has been possible with previous observations

Water Stress and Conflict Severity: A study on how environmental changes affect conflicts in Africa

Climate change has been well-established in the academic community, and has been studied for centuries. It is predicted to have many effects on the world, one of them being increases in water stress. Water stress can be seen through shifting precipitation patterns in both directions, shifting access to groundwater or changing groundwater supply, and increased demand, among other factors. This study looks at how precipitation changes have had an impact on conflict severity in countries throughout Africa, as well as how ethnic group distributions, temperature changes, GDP levels, and regional changes affect conflict severity through negative binomial regressions. It looks at conflicts from 1997 to 2014 on the African continent. When conflicts occur during times of negative water stress, the results indicated an increase in conflict severity and supported the hypotheses. When conflicts occur during times of positive water stress, the results differed depending on the region. As water stress worsens and temperatures increase with global warming, conflicts will get more severe, especially for less developed nations with large numbers of ethnic groups.Bachelor of Art

Is a group of individuals reporting psychotic-like experiences less susceptible to visual illusions than a non-clinical group?

Background A “basic cognitive disruption” leading to impairment in top-down and bottom-up processing is thought to underlie a number of anomalous experiences reported by individuals with psychosis. Visual illusion paradigms may be useful in exploring this potential disruption. The primary aim was to explore whether a group of young people having psychotic-like experiences were less susceptible to visual illusions than a group of healthy controls. This study also examined the relationship between frequency of psychotic-like experiences and illusion susceptibility and the role of appraisals and emotions because they are considered an important mechanism underlying anomalies in perception. Method A quantitative cross-sectional design was used to compare visual illusion susceptibility scores from a clinical group of young people reporting psychotic-like experiences with a nonclinical comparison group from a student population. Relationships between illusion susceptibility; the frequency of psychotic-like experiences; appraisals and emotional responses to psychotic-like experiences were explored within the clinical group only. Twenty-five clinical participants and 53 non-clinical participants completed a visual illusions task (measuring illusion susceptibility) and measures examining psychotic-like symptoms and mental-health symptomology. The clinical group only completed measures examining frequency, appraisals and emotional responses to psychotic-like experiences. Results The research found the clinical group were significantly more susceptible to visual illusions than the non-clinical group. When depression, anxiety and stress scores were controlled for,no significant difference was found between the groups for illusion susceptibility. Susceptibility scores were not related to frequency of psychotic-experiences; appraisals or emotional responses to anomalous experiences. Discussion The finding that a clinical group were more susceptible to visual illusions than a nonclinical group does not fit with Hemsley’s (2005) cognitive model. However, perceptual processing differences were observed between a clinical and non-clinical group. Theoretical and clinical implications for these findings are considered

Evaluating Autonomous Weapons Systems: A Dichotomic Lens of Military Value Accountability

In Part I, this Note will explain that autonomy is a spectrum, not a categorical condition. AWSs exist at various points along that spectrum. These machines can—and do—make mistakes resulting in accidental or improper loss of life. It will also outline the principle of proportionality and its dichotomous structure within international humanitarian law (“IHL”). Finally, Part I will establish the importance of accountability and responsibility in the legal system. In Part II, this Note will demonstrate how, due to the increasingly autonomous nature of these weapons, it becomes correspondingly more difficult to assign individual responsibility when these weapons malfunction. Finally, Part III will propose that in an analogical balance to proportionality, the legality assessment of AWSs should be to compare the increasingly autonomous nature of the weapons to the decreasing possibility of assigning responsibility for errors. This Note will conclude that if a finite point cannot be determined where the decreasing possibility of assigning responsibility outweighs the likelihood of the machine functioning as intended, then there must be a ban implemented against exploration into AWSs until that point of limitation can be adequately and clearly defined

Method of Infant Feeding as a Predictor of Maternal Responsiveness

Infants need to develop effective, secure attachment to their primary caregivers in the first year of life. Researchers have not been able to identify all the factors that may influence the development of infant attachment. Most of the studies in this area have been done without regard to infant feeding as a potential factor. Maternal responsiveness appears to be key in the child\u27s development of secure attachment behaviors, yet even after decades of research on infant attachment and maternal responsiveness, there is little evidence available to assist with early identification of families at risk and few interventions known to be effective in promoting maternal responsiveness.The research questions for this study were: 1) Do mothers who exclusively breastfed their infants for at least 6 weeks report more maternal responsiveness behaviors 2-4 months after delivery compared to mothers who exclusively formula feed their infants? 2) How well does breastfeeding duration predict self-reported maternal responsiveness at 2-4 months once socio-demographics and maternal characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, satisfaction with life) are statistically controlled?A cross-sectional survey design was used to assess the variables of maternal responsiveness, feeding patterns, and maternal characteristics in a convenience sample of 200 mothers in the first 2-4 months after delivery. The 60-item instrument included scales to measure maternal responsiveness (MIRI: Amankwaa et al., 2002), self-esteem (RSE: Rosenberg, 1965), and satisfaction with life (SWLS: Diener et al., 1985) as well as infant feeding and socio-demographic questions. A mixed mode data collection strategy was used combining Internet data collection with traditional paper-and-pencil survey methods.Somewhat surprisingly, mothers who exclusively breastfed for at least 6 weeks did not report any more maternal responsiveness behaviors compared to mothers who formula fed their infants. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that satisfaction with life, self-esteem, and parity, but not breastfeeding, explained a significant portion of the variance in self-reported maternal responsiveness scores. Further research in this area is needed. It should be noted that this is one of few studies of maternal responsiveness using a self-report instrument and may also be the first study of maternal responsiveness using Internet data collection