Forgiveness and interpersonal skills in same-sexed friendships

Although forgiveness is a largely interpersonal process, little research has examined the relationship between forgiveness and the interpersonal skills that may be important in forgiving another for an offence. The current study addressed this issue by investigating the relationship between forgiveness and interpersonal skills in same-sexed friendships among a community sample of 210 people (mean age 38.32 years). Each participant completed the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (Thompson et al., 2005), which assesses forgiveness of self, others, and situations; and the same-sex friend version of the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (Buhrmester, Furman, Wittenberg, & Reis, 1988) which assesses skills in initiation, negative assertion, self-disclosure, emotional support, and conflict management. Positive correlations were found between all five interpersonal skills and the three types of forgiveness, with only the relationship between forgiveness of others and negative assertion failing to reach significance. Separate hierarchical regressions were conducted to predict each type of forgiveness, with age and gender entered at Step 1 and the interpersonal skills variables entered at Step 2. Age, initiation skills, and conflict management skills each contributed uniquely to the prediction of all three types of forgiveness. Discussion centres around the relationship between forgiveness and interpersonal skills

A Silicon Surface Code Architecture Resilient Against Leakage Errors

Spin qubits in silicon quantum dots are one of the most promising building blocks for large scale quantum computers thanks to their high qubit density and compatibility with the existing semiconductor technologies. High fidelity single-qubit gates exceeding the threshold of error correction codes like the surface code have been demonstrated, while two-qubit gates have reached 98\% fidelity and are improving rapidly. However, there are other types of error --- such as charge leakage and propagation --- that may occur in quantum dot arrays and which cannot be corrected by quantum error correction codes, making them potentially damaging even when their probability is small. We propose a surface code architecture for silicon quantum dot spin qubits that is robust against leakage errors by incorporating multi-electron mediator dots. Charge leakage in the qubit dots is transferred to the mediator dots via charge relaxation processes and then removed using charge reservoirs attached to the mediators. A stabiliser-check cycle, optimised for our hardware, then removes the correlations between the residual physical errors. Through simulations we obtain the surface code threshold for the charge leakage errors and show that in our architecture the damage due to charge leakage errors is reduced to a similar level to that of the usual depolarising gate noise. Spin leakage errors in our architecture are constrained to only ancilla qubits and can be removed during quantum error correction via reinitialisations of ancillae, which ensure the robustness of our architecture against spin leakage as well. Our use of an elongated mediator dots creates spaces throughout the quantum dot array for charge reservoirs, measuring devices and control gates, providing the scalability in the design

Fast and Slow Rotators in the Densest Environments: a SWIFT IFS study of the Coma Cluster

We present integral-field spectroscopy of 27 galaxies in the Coma cluster observed with the Oxford SWIFT spectrograph, exploring the kinematic morphology-density relationship in a cluster environment richer and denser than any in the ATLAS3D survey. Our new data enables comparison of the kinematic morphology relation in three very different clusters (Virgo, Coma and Abell 1689) as well as to the field/group environment. The Coma sample was selected to match the parent luminosity and ellipticity distributions of the early-type population within a radius 15' (0.43 Mpc) of the cluster centre, and is limited to r' = 16 mag (equivalent to M_K = -21.5 mag), sampling one third of that population. From analysis of the lambda-ellipticity diagram, we find 15+-6% of early-type galaxies are slow rotators; this is identical to the fraction found in the field and the average fraction in the Virgo cluster, based on the ATLAS3D data. It is also identical to the average fraction found recently in Abell 1689 by D'Eugenio et al.. Thus it appears that the average slow rotator fraction of early type galaxies remains remarkably constant across many different environments, spanning five orders of magnitude in galaxy number density. However, within each cluster the slow rotators are generally found in regions of higher projected density, possibly as a result of mass segregation by dynamical friction. These results provide firm constraints on the mechanisms that produce early-type galaxies: they must maintain a fixed ratio between the number of fast rotators and slow rotators while also allowing the total early-type fraction to increase in clusters relative to the field. A complete survey of Coma, sampling hundreds rather than tens of galaxies, could probe a more representative volume of Coma and provide significantly stronger constraints, particularly on how the slow rotator fraction varies at larger radii.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Topological properties of punctual Hilbert schemes of almost-complex fourfolds (I)

In this article, we study topological properties of Voisin's punctual Hilbert schemes of an almost-complex fourfold $X$. In this setting, we compute their Betti numbers and construct Nakajima operators. We also define tautological bundles associated with any complex bundle on $X$, which are shown to be canonical in $K$-theory

Inequity in access to transplantation in the UK

Background and objectives Despite the presence of a universal health care system, it is unclear if there is intercenter variation in access to kidney transplantation in the United Kingdom. This study aims to assess whether equity exists in access to kidney transplantation in the United Kingdom after adjustment for patient-specific factors and center practice patterns. Design, setting, participants, & measurements In this prospective, observational cohort study including all 71 United Kingdom kidney centers, incident RRT patients recruited between November 2011 and March 2013 as part of the Access to Transplantation and Transplant Outcome Measures study were analyzed to assess preemptive listing (n=2676) and listing within 2 years of starting dialysis (n=1970) by center. Results Seven hundred and six participants (26%) were listed preemptively, whereas 585 (30%) were listed within 2 years of commencing dialysis. The interquartile range across centers was 6%–33% for preemptive listing and 25%–40% for listing after starting dialysis. Patient factors, including increasing age, most comorbidities, body mass index >35 kg/m2, and lower socioeconomic status, were associated with a lower likelihood of being listed and accounted for 89% and 97% of measured intercenter variation for preemptive listing and listing within 2 years of starting dialysis, respectively. Asian (odds ratio, 0.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.33 to 0.72) and Black (odds ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.26 to 0.71) participants were both associated with reduced access to preemptive listing; however Asian participants were associated with a higher likelihood of being listed after starting dialysis (odds ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.12 to 1.79). As for center factors, being registered at a transplanting center (odds ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 2.36 to 4.07) and a universal approach to discussing transplantation (odds ratio, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.08 to 1.78) were associated with higher preemptive listing, whereas using a written protocol was associated negatively with listing within 2 years of starting dialysis (odds ratio, 0.7; 95% confidence interval, 0.58 to 0.9). Conclusions Patient case mix accounts for most of the intercenter variation seen in access to transplantation in the United Kingdom, with practice patterns also contributing some variation. Socioeconomic inequity exists despite having a universal health care system

The Effect of Fertilization on Biomass and Metabolism in North Carolina Salt Marshes: Modulated by Location-Specific Factors

The resilience of salt marshes to sea level rise depends on vertical accretion through belowground biomass production and sediment deposition to maintain elevation above sea level. Increased nitrogen (N) availability from anthropogenic sources may stimulate aboveground biomass production and sediment deposition and, thus, accretion; however, increased N may also negatively impact marsh accretion by decreasing belowground biomass and increasing net CO2 emissions. A study was conducted in Spartina alterniflora‐dominated salt marshes in North Carolina, USA, to determine how responses to fertilization vary across locations with different physical and chemical characteristics. Pore water residence time, inundation time, and proximity to tidal creeks drove spatial differences in pore water sulfide, ammonium, and dissolved carbon concentrations. Although annual respiration and gross primary production were greater at the creek edge than interior marsh sites, net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) was nearly balanced at all the sites. Fertilization decreased belowground biomass in the interior sites but not on the creek edge. Aboveground biomass, respiration, gross primary production, and net CO2 emissions increased in response to fertilization, but responses were diminished in interior marsh locations with high pore water sulfide. Hourly NEE measured by chambers were similar to hourly NEE observed by a nearby eddy covariance tower, but correcting for inundation depth relative to plant height was critical for accurate extrapolation to annual fluxes. The impact of fertilization on biomass and NEE, and thus marsh resilience, varied across marsh locations depending upon location‐specific pore water sulfide concentrations

Wildlife Damage to Seedlings in Reforested in Hardwood Sites in Mississippi

Herbivory assessments were conducted on seven reforested sites that were less than one year old in the following Mississippi counties: Bolivar, Leflore, and Attala. At each site, 100ft. x 100 ft. plots were established and randomly selected seedlings were marked and measured to determine seedling species, height, condition, survival, and type and extent of animal feeding sign. Surveys were conducted in March/April, May, and August 2004. Herbivory rates were highest during May with approximately 47% of seedlings showing signs of herbivory. In March/ April and August, the percentage of seedlings exhibiting signs of herbivory was 37% and 30%, respectively. Foraging by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was recorded on \u3e 90% of the damaged seedlings during each survey. Tree mortality for all study sites and tree species was negligible, with the highest amount (7%) recorded during August, despite the recorded rates of herbivory by white-tailed deer. Herbivory by rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.) and rodents occurred on approximately 6% of the seedlings throughout the 2004 growing season