Perfectionism in Sport, Dance, and Exercise

Perfect performance, flawlessness, and the perfect body are revered in sport, dance, and exercise. As such, sport, dance, and exercise provide ideal domains in which to study perfectionism. This chapter provides an overview of research that has examined multidimensional perfectionism in these domains. We place particular emphasis on the most recent research in this area and provide suggestions to guide future research. It will be argued that perfectionism is a complex characteristic with particular relevance in sport, dance, and exercise. In addition, in its various guises, perfectionism can be problematic, beneficial, and also ambivalent with regards to motivation, well-being, and performance. To better understand the effects of perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise, we call for research that adopts longitudinal designs, examines moderating factors, develops and refines measurement tools, and focuses on the influence of perfectionism among exercisers

Geologic framework of the northern North Carolina, USA inner continental shelf and its influence on coastal evolution

© The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Geology 348 (2014): 113-130, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.11.011.The inner continental shelf off the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina was mapped using sidescan sonar, interferometric swath bathymetry, and high-resolution chirp and boomer subbottom profiling systems. We use this information to describe the shallow stratigraphy, reinterpret formation mechanisms of some shoal features, evaluate local relative sea-levels during the Late Pleistocene, and provide new constraints, via recent bedform evolution, on regional sediment transport patterns. The study area is approximately 290 km long by 11 km wide, extending from False Cape, Virginia to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, in water depths ranging from 6 to 34 m. Late Pleistocene sedimentary units comprise the shallow geologic framework of this region and determine both the morphology of the inner shelf and the distribution of sediment sources and sinks. We identify Pleistocene sedimentary units beneath Diamond Shoals that may have provided a geologic template for the location of modern Cape Hatteras and earlier paleo-capes during the Late Pleistocene. These units indicate shallow marine deposition 15–25 m below present sea-level. The uppermost Pleistocene unit may have been deposited as recently as Marine Isotope Stage 3, although some apparent ages for this timing may be suspect. Paleofluvial valleys incised during the Last Glacial Maximum traverse the inner shelf throughout the study area and dissect the Late Pleistocene units. Sediments deposited in the valleys record the Holocene transgression and provide insight into the evolutionary history of the barrier-estuary system in this region. The relationship between these valleys and adjacent shoal complexes suggests that the paleo-Roanoke River did not form the Albemarle Shelf Valley complex as previously proposed; a major fluvial system is absent and thus makes the formation of this feature enigmatic. Major shoal features in the study area show mobility at decadal to centennial timescales, including nearly a kilometer of shoal migration over the past 134 yr. Sorted bedforms occupy ~ 1000 km2 of seafloor in Raleigh Bay, and indicate regional sediment transport patterns between Capes Hatteras and Lookout that help explain long-term sediment accumulation and morphologic development. Portions of the inner continental shelf with relatively high sediment abundance are characterized by shoals and shoreface-attached ridges, and where sediment is less abundant, the seafloor is dominated by sorted bedforms. These relationships are also observed in other passive margin settings, suggesting a continuum of shelf morphology that may have broad application for interpreting inner shelf sedimentation patterns.Funding for this research was provided by the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program

Why rational argument fails the genetic modification (GM) debate

AbstractGenetic modification (GM) of crops provides a methodology for the agricultural improvements needed to deliver global food security. However, public opposition to GM-food is great. The debate has tended to risk communication, but here we show through study of a large nationally representative sample of British adults that public acceptance of GM-food has social, cultural and affective contexts. Regression models showed that metaphysical beliefs about the sanctity of food and an emotional dislike of GM-food were primary negative determinants, while belief in the value of science and favourable evaluation of the benefits-to-risks of GM-food were secondary positive determinants. Although institutional trust, general knowledge of the GM-food debate and belief in the eco-friendliness of GM-food were all associated with acceptance, their influence was minor. While a belief in the sanctity of food had a direct inverse effect on GM acceptance, belief in the value of science was largely mediated through favourable perception of benefits-to-risks. Furthermore, segmentation analysis demonstrated that anxiety about GM-food had social and cultural antecedents, with white men being least anxious and older vegetarian women being most anxious. Rational argument alone about the risks and benefits of GM-food is unlikely to change public perceptions of GM-technology

Long-range temporal correlations in scale-free neuromorphic networks

© 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological neuronal networks are the computing engines of the mammalian brain. These networks exhibit structural characteristics such as hierarchical architectures, small-world attributes, and scale-free topologies, providing the basis for the emergence of rich temporal characteristics such as scale-free dynamics and long-range temporal correlations. Devices that have both the topological and the temporal features of a neuronal network would be a significant step toward constructing a neuromorphic system that can emulate the computational ability and energy efficiency of the human brain. Here we use numerical simulations to show that percolating networks of nanoparticles exhibit structural properties that are reminiscent of biological neuronal networks, and then show experimentally that stimulation of percolating networks by an external voltage stimulus produces temporal dynamics that are self-similar, follow power-law scaling, and exhibit long-range temporal correlations. These results are expected to have important implications for the development of neuromorphic devices, especially for those based on the concept of reservoir computing

Putative markers for the detection of breast carcinoma cells in blood.

The aim of this study was to investigate certain genes for their suitability as molecular markers for detection of breast carcinoma cells using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RNA was prepared from MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells and peripheral blood leucocytes of healthy female volunteers. This RNA was screened for mRNA of MUC1, cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and CD44 (exons 8-11) by RT-PCR and the results validated by Southern blots. Variable degrees of expression of MUC1 and CD44 (exons 8-11) were detected in normal peripheral blood, rendering these genes non-specific for epithelial cells and therefore unsuitable for use as markers to detect breast carcinoma cells. Although CK19 mRNA was apparently specific, it was deemed unsuitable for use as a marker of breast cancer cells in light of its limited sensitivity. Furthermore, an attempt at using nested primers to increase sensitivity resulted in CK19 mRNA being detected after two amplification rounds in blood from healthy volunteers

Epibenthic and mobile species colonisation of a geotextile artificial surf reef on the south coast of England

With increasing coastal infrastructure and use of novel materials there is a need to investigate the colonisation of assemblages associated with new structures, how these differ to natural and other artificial habitats and their potential impact on regional biodiversity. The colonisation of Europe’s first artificial surf reef (ASR) was investigated at Boscombe on the south coast of England (2009–2014) and compared with assemblages on existing natural and artificial habitats. The ASR consists of geotextile bags filled with sand located 220m offshore on a sandy sea bed at a depth of 0-5m. Successional changes in epibiota were recorded annually on differently orientated surfaces and depths using SCUBA diving and photography. Mobile faunal assemblages were sampled using Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV). Distinct stages in colonisation were observed, commencing with bryozoans and green algae which were replaced by red algae, hydroids and ascidians, however there were significant differences in assemblage structure with depth and orientation. The reef is being utilised by migratory, spawning and juvenile life-history stages of fish and invertebrates. The number of non-native species was larger than on natural reefs and other artificial habitats and some occupied a significant proportion of the structure. The accumulation of 180 benthic and mobile taxa, recorded to date, appears to have arisen from a locally rich and mixed pool of native and non-native species. Provided no negative invasive impacts are detected on nearby protected reefs the creation of novel yet diverse habitats may be considered a beneficial outcome

Titanium abundances in late-type stars I. 1D non-LTE modelling in benchmark dwarfs and giants

The titanium abundances of late-type stars are important tracers of Galactic formation history. However, abundances inferred from Ti I and Ti II lines can be in stark disagreement in very metal-poor giants. Departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) have a large impact on the minority neutral species and thus influences the ionisation imbalance, but satisfactory non-LTE modelling for both dwarfs and giants has not been achieved in previous literature. The reliability of titanium abundances is reassessed in benchmark dwarfs and giants using a new non-LTE model and one-dimensional (1D) model atmospheres. A comprehensive model atom was compiled with a more extended level structure and newly published data for inelastic collisions between Ti I and neutral hydrogen. In 1D LTE, the Ti I and Ti II lines agree to within $0.06$ dex for the Sun, Arcturus, and the very metal-poor stars HD84937 and HD140283. For the very metal-poor giant HD122563, the Ti I lines give an abundance that is $0.47$ dex lower than that from Ti II. The 1D non-LTE corrections can reach $+0.4$ dex for individual Ti I lines and $+0.1$ dex for individual Ti II lines, and reduce the overall ionisation imbalance to $-0.17$ dex for HD122563. However, it also increases the imbalance for the very metal-poor dwarf and sub-giant to around $0.2$ dex. Using 1D non-LTE reduces the ionisation imbalance in very metal-poor giants but breaks the balance of other very metal-poor stars, consistent with the conclusions in earlier literature. To make further progress, consistent 3D non-LTE models are needed.Comment: 9 pages plus appendix, 6 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Atomic Scale Dynamics Drive Brain-like Avalanches in Percolating Nanostructured Networks.

Self-assembled networks of nanoparticles and nanowires have recently emerged as promising systems for brain-like computation. Here, we focus on percolating networks of nanoparticles which exhibit brain-like dynamics. We use a combination of experiments and simulations to show that the brain-like network dynamics emerge from atomic-scale switching dynamics inside tunnel gaps that are distributed throughout the network. The atomic-scale dynamics emulate leaky integrate and fire (LIF) mechanisms in biological neurons, leading to the generation of critical avalanches of signals. These avalanches are quantitatively the same as those observed in cortical tissue and are signatures of the correlations that are required for computation. We show that the avalanches are associated with dynamical restructuring of the networks which self-tune to balanced states consistent with self-organized criticality. Our simulations allow visualization of the network states and detailed mechanisms of signal propagation