True Self in Threat Resilience: Using Essentialist Self-Views to Neutralize Personal Morality Threats

course of this dissertation, I introduce the idea of the true self construct as a personalized route to individual meaning and stability at a time in history when external direction regarding values and purpose is in decline. Setting aside the question of the ontological status of the true self, I emphasize that beliefs about and representations of the true self have distinctive psychological impact and cite research supporting this assertion. I then review evidence of the aptness of such true self-orientations in supporting well-being, fulfillment of basic psychological needs, and resilience against threat. Across two studies, I investigated the effectiveness of connecting with one’s true self-orientations for defending against three levels of personal morality threat severity. Compelling support arose for well-being being positively related to participants’ belief in having a true self. Evidence consistently suggested this to be the case across threat severity, but moderate evidence also supported the possibility that true self-orientations are ineffective against strong threat (Study 1). Participants highly preferred to engage with their true self-concepts across threat condition, and in doing so reported significantly higher subjective vitality than those who explored self-flexibility. Other well-being outcomes were unaffected by threat and connection to different self-conceptualizations (Study 2). I then consider theoretical implications and propose multiple pathways for fruitful future exploration. In particular, trait-level true self-orientations seem most effective for predicting well-being, and people may need additional guidance to effectively utilize their true self-orientations for active coping support

Primordial Power Spectra from Anisotropic Inflation

We examine cosmological perturbations in a dynamical theory of inflation in which an Abelian gauge field couples directly to the inflaton, breaking conformal invariance. When the coupling between the gauge field and the inflaton takes a specific form, inflation becomes anisotropic and anisotropy can persist throughout inflation, avoiding Wald's no-hair theorem. After discussing scenarios in which anisotropy can persist during inflation, we calculate the dominant effects of a small persistent anisotropy on the primordial gravitational wave and curvature perturbation power spectra using the "in-in" formalism of perturbation theory. We find that the primordial power spectra of cosmological perturbations gain significant direction dependence and that the fractional direction dependence of the tensor power spectrum is suppressed in comparison to that of the scalar power spectrum.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures; References added, typos corrected and some discussion expanded; version submitted for publication in PR

Reorganizing Business Analysis in an Information Technology Environment

Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCEThis project was initiated to identify changes needed for the existing structure of the business analysis process and the organization of Business Analysts within the Information Technology (IT) department of a major financial institution. The organization currently experiences a large number of quality issues that are found after the products are implemented rather than during project Initiation, Planning or Execution phases. This results in re-work costs, shortage of resources for strategic initiatives and issues with both employee morale and customer satisfaction. Management has identified weak business analysis processes as a key driver in the high number of resource hours spent on day-to-day unplanned issues. Analysis of data collected from interviews conducted with a cross-section of the IT staff were used to identify areas to be considered for process improvement. The current state was researched using data obtained from the interview process and data analyzed and prioritized using Cause and Effect Analysis. Pareto and Tornado analysis provided further insights into the data. Using the results of the data analysis, some potential short-term and long-term solutions were selected to address identified weaknesses, and potentially reduce time spent on unanticipated non-discretionary tasks, thereby increasing the availability of resources to address the organization’s key initiatives.Final Project Report / Final Project Report with research details / Interview Questions / Data with Cause and Effect and Pareto Analysis / SWOT and Matrix Analysis Graphics / Tornado Risk Analysis and Graphic / POPIT Impact Analysis and Graphic / Final PowerPoint Presentation / Project Lessons Learned / Narrative on Knowledge Areas / Project Management Plan / Risk Register /; Project Schedule and WBS / Requirements Traceability Matrix / Change Management Log / Stakeholder Management Plan / Project Charter / Sponsor Letter of Support / Digital Media Files of Projec

Effects Of Home-based Electrical Exercise On Energy Index And Spasticity In Those With Spinal Cord Injury

Appropriate levels of physical activity are important to optimize well-being. Often, individuals with physical disabilities encounter barriers when attempting to engage in physical activity, such as lacking transportation or access to adapted activity equipment. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected high-risk populations\u27 accessibility to physical activity, such as individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI), which can greatly reduce mobility and increase disease susceptibility. Home-based exercise has been shown useful for improving flexibility and reducing spasticity. Additionally, the home-based exercise would remove transportation requirements and reduce the spread of disease, specifically COVID-19, during the pandemic. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the chronic engagement of home-based electrical stimulation exercise (ESE) on energy index (EI) and spasticity in individuals with SCI. METHODS: 9 individuals with ASIA A or B SCI were recruited for this study. Participants were mailed exercise equipment (PowerDot). Participants completed a 5-day run-in period where they answered the brief assessment of mood (BAM) questionnaire and visual analog scale (10 cm) for spasticity via Qualtrics. Following this, participants engaged in neuromuscular electrical stimulation exercise (NMES) of the quadriceps and the hamstrings for 20 minutes each, totaling 40 minutes. This was completed Monday through Friday for three weeks or 15 total exercise sessions. Each night prior to bed, participants would complete the BAM and pain VAS. RESULTS: There was no main effect of time or spasticity on EI (F(33,225) = 0.73, p = 0.86, F(1,255) = 0.89, p = 0.35; respectively). CONCLUSION: Home-based ESE did not attenuate spasticity or increase EI in individuals with SCI. The modality of exercise may not be sufficient to drive beneficial alterations in either of the described variables

Pupil Dilation Differences When Playing Valorant Under Practice and Competition Conditions: A Case Study

Esports have been growing faster than any other sport in history. Esports are video games that are played in official competitions and usually fall into a major genre, such as fighting games, real-time strategy, multiplayer online battle arena games, or first-person shooters (FPS). Valorant is an FPS. Advances in technology have now made a new class of information, namely biofeedback, readily available. An example of biofeedback is pupil size, which is an indirect measure of the amount of material under active processing and sympathetic/parasympathetic activity. Eye behavior is considered crucial in FPS games. Relevant research is scarce in this specific esport genre. Skills learned during practice should transfer to real-game environments. PURPOSE: To investigate differences in pupil size between practice and competition sessions of Valorant. METHODS: A 21-year-old collegiate esports player, ranked Diamond 1 (top 12%), recorded a practice session and, then, a game of Valorant on the same day. Each session lasted about 65 minutes. Valorant is a 5v5 character-based tactical FPS game. Data was collected via Curia software using LabStreamingLayer to stream data from a Tobii 5L eye tracker into LSL native XDF format, retaining timestamping and synchronization information. Due to having one participant, significance was investigated graphically. RESULTS: On average, the pupil size during practice was 5.1mm and during game 5.3mm. When comparing the mean pupil diameter of both eyes between sessions using violin and scatterplot graphs, it was observed that the distribution of the pupil sizes in the game was shifted higher than during the practice session. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate higher cognitive load and sympathetic innervation/parasympathetic withdrawal during competition versus practice conditions. Implications for evidence-based practice include replication of load during practice to accomplish game-like conditions, and therefore, facilitate optimal learning and development of expertise. The significance of these findings increases as this form of augmented feedback can be available to the athlete and the coach in real time. Future research should consider examining fixation stability/location, the relationship of pupil dilation with HRV and using longitudinal designs and larger samples

Asymmetric WIMP dark matter

In existing dark matter models with global symmetries the relic abundance of dark matter is either equal to that of anti-dark matter (thermal WIMP), or vastly larger, with essentially no remaining anti-dark matter (asymmetric dark matter). By exploring the consequences of a primordial asymmetry on the coupled dark matter and anti-dark matter Boltzmann equations we find large regions of parameter space that interpolate between these two extremes. Interestingly, this new asymmetric WIMP framework can accommodate a wide range of dark matter masses and annihilation cross sections. The present-day dark matter population is typically asymmetric, but only weakly so, such that indirect signals of dark matter annihilation are not completely suppressed. We apply our results to existing models, noting that upcoming direct detection experiments will constrain a large region of the relevant parameter space.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, updated references, updated XENON100 bounds, typo in figure caption correcte

Noether Symmetry Approach in "Cosmic Triad" Vector Field Scenario

To realize the accelerations in the early and late periods of our universe, we need to specify potentials for the dominant fields. In this paper, by using the Noether symmetry approach, we try to find suitable potentials in the "cosmic triad" vector field scenario. Because the equation of state parameter of dark energy has been constrained in the range of $-1.21\leq \omega\leq -0.89$ by observations, we derive the Noether conditions for the vector field in quintessence, phantom and quintom models, respectively. In the first two cases, constant potential solutions have been obtained. What is more, a fast decaying point-like solution with power-law potential is also found for the vector field in quintessence model. For the quintom case, we find an interesting constraint $\tilde{C}V_{p}'=-CV_{q}'$ on the field potentials, where $C$ and $\tilde{C}$ are constants related to the Noether symmetry.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravity

Supersymmetric Decays of the Z' Boson

The decay of the Z' boson into supersymmetric particles is studied. We investigate how these supersymmetric modes affect the current limits from the Tevatron and project the expected sensitivities at the LHC. Employing three representative supersymmetric Z' models, namely, E_6, U(1)_{B-L}, and the sequential model, we show that the current limits of the Z' mass from the Tevatron could be reduced substantially due to the weakening of the branching ratio into leptonic pairs. The mass reach for the E_6 Z' bosons is about 1.3-1.5 TeV at the LHC-7 (1 fb^{-1}), about 2.5 - 2.6 TeV at the LHC-10 (10 fb^{-1}), and about 4.2 - 4.3 TeV at the LHC-14 (100 fb^{-1}). A similar mass reach for the U(1)_{B-L} Z' is also obtained. We also examine the potential of identifying various supersymmetric decay modes of the Z' boson because it may play a crucial role in the detailed dynamics of supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 30 pages, including 13 figures. improvements to the presentation and references adde

Two loop electroweak corrections to Bˉ→Xsγ\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma and Bs0→μ+μ−B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^- in the B-LSSM

The rare decays $\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ and $B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$ are important to research new physics beyond standard model. In this work, we investigate two loop electroweak corrections to $\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ and $B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$ in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM with local $B-L$ gauge symmetry (B-LSSM), under a minimal flavor violating assumption for the soft breaking terms. In this framework, new particles and new definition of squarks can affect the theoretical predictions of these two processes, with respect to the MSSM. Considering the constraints from updated experimental data, the numerical results show that the B-LSSM can fit the experimental data for the branching ratios of $\bar B\rightarrow X_s\gamma$ and $B_s^0\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$. The results of the rare decays also further constrain the parameter space of the B-LSSM.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, Published in EPJ

Chiral U(1) flavor models and flavored Higgs doublets: the top FB asymmetry and the Wjj

We present U(1) flavor models for leptophobic Z' with flavor dependent couplings to the right-handed up-type quarks in the Standard Model, which can accommodate the recent data on the top forward-backward (FB) asymmetry and the dijet resonance associated with a W boson reported by CDF Collaboration. Such flavor-dependent leptophobic charge assignments generally require extra chiral fermions for anomaly cancellation. Also the chiral nature of U(1)' flavor symmetry calls for new U(1)'-charged Higgs doublets in order for the SM fermions to have realistic renormalizable Yukawa couplings. The stringent constraints from the top FB asymmetry at the Tevatron and the same sign top pair production at the LHC can be evaded due to contributions of the extra Higgs doublets. We also show that the extension could realize cold dark matter candidates.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, added 1 figure and extended discussion, accepted for publication in JHE