Can hypnotic suggestibility be measured online?

Hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions are gradually gaining popularity within the consciousness community as established tools for the experimental manipulation of illusions of involuntariness, hallucinations and delusions. However, hypnosis is still far from being a widespread instrument; a crucial hindrance to taking it up is the amount of time needed to invest in identifying people high and low in responsiveness to suggestion. In this study, we introduced an online assessment of hypnotic response and estimated the extent to which the scores and psychometric properties of an online screening differ from an offline one. We propose that the online screening of hypnotic response is viable as it reduces the level of responsiveness only by a slight extent. The application of online screening may prompt researchers to run large-scale studies with more heterogeneous samples, which would help researchers to overcome some of the issues underlying the current replication crisis in psychology

Corrigendum to: the Sussex-Waterloo Scale of Hypnotizability (SWASH): measuring capacity for altering conscious experience

In the originally published version of this manuscript, descriptive statistics are incorrectly reported on page 5, column 2, paragraph 1 (under the heading ‘Test/retest reliability’): ‘However, there was a strong correlation between mean retest subjective score, M = 3.1 (SD = 1.9) and the original subjective score of those taking part in the retest (M = 3.4, SD = 1.6)’ Corrected text: ‘However, there was a strong correlation between mean retest subjective score, M = 1.6 (SD = 1.0) and the original subjective score of those taking part in the retest (M = 1.8, SD = 0.9)’ These details have been corrected only in this corrigendum to preserve the published version of record

Computer vs live delivery of the Sussex Waterloo Scale of Hypnotisability (SWASH)

There exist reliable and stable trait differences in the ability to control phenomenology in response to imaginative suggestion. Hypnotisability scales measure response to imaginative suggestion within a hypnotic context. Because hypnotisability has recently been shown to predict measures of experiential change in psychological experiments (e.g., the rubber hand illusion), there is a need for easy to use screening tools which are accessible to researchers with little or no background in hypnosis or imaginative suggestion research. The SWASH is a time efficient group hypnotisability scale which can be administered to up to 50 participants simultaneously. Here we present norms from an undergraduate sample for a recorded version delivered by a computer program alongside norms for a live presentation. Reliability, validity and mean scores are similar across the two presentations. Computer delivery of a prerecorded script provides a simple tool to rapidly screen for hypnotisability in large groups for researchers with no prior experience of hypnosis research

High‐efficiency Al0.22Ga0.78As solar cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The quality of pn junction photodetectors made of Al0.2Ga0.8As has been investigated as a first step in the optimization of tandem solar cells. We have obtained 1 sun AM1.5 efficiencies of 16.1% for 0.25 cm2 Al0.22Ga0.78As solar cellsfabricated from molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) material. This efficiency is 3.2 percentage points higher than the previously best reported efficiency of 12.9% for an Al0.2Ga0.8As solar cell fabricated from MBE material

Building the field of health policy and systems research: framing the questions.

In the first of a series of articles addressing the current challenges and opportunities for the development of Health Policy & Systems Research (HPSR), Kabir Sheikh and colleagues lay out the main questions vexing the field

The ‘algebra of evolution’: the Robertson–Price identity and viability selection for body mass in a wild bird population

By the Robertson–Price identity, the change in a quantitative trait owing to selection, is equal to the trait’s covariance with relative fitness. In this study, we applied the identity to long-term data on superb fairy-wrens Malurus cyaneus, to estimate phenotypic and genetic change owing to juvenile viability selection. Mortality in the four-week period between fledging and independence was 40%, and heavier nestlings were more likely to survive, but why? There was additive genetic variance for both nestling mass and survival, and a positive phenotypic covariance between the traits, but no evidence of additive genetic covariance. Comparing standardized gradients, the phenotypic selection gradient was positive, βP = 0.108 (0.036, 0.187 95% CI), whereas the genetic gradient was not different from zero, βA = −0.025 (−0.19, 0.107 95% CI). This suggests that factors other than nestling mass were the cause of variation in survival. In particular, there were temporal correlations between mass and survival both within and between years. We suggest that use of the Price equation to describe cross-generational change in the wild may be challenging, but a more modest aim of estimating its first term, the Robertson–Price identity, to assess within-generation change can provide valuable insights into the processes shaping phenotypic diversity in natural populations. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of the Price equation’G.K.H. was supported by the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (grant no. NE/L002558/1) through the University of Edinburgh’s E3 Doctoral Training Partnership, and L.E.B.K. was funded by an ARC Future Fellowship FT110100453. The long-term superb fairy-wren study research has been facilitated by a series of Discovery Project grants from the Australian Research Council to A.C. and L.E.B.K., most recently DP150100298

CanRisk-Prostate: A Comprehensive, Externally Validated Risk Model for the Prediction of Future Prostate Cancer.

PURPOSE: Prostate cancer (PCa) is highly heritable. No validated PCa risk model currently exists. We therefore sought to develop a genetic risk model that can provide personalized predicted PCa risks on the basis of known moderate- to high-risk pathogenic variants, low-risk common genetic variants, and explicit cancer family history, and to externally validate the model in an independent prospective cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a risk model using a kin-cohort comprising individuals from 16,633 PCa families ascertained in the United Kingdom from 1993 to 2017 from the UK Genetic Prostate Cancer Study, and complex segregation analysis adjusting for ascertainment. The model was externally validated in 170,850 unaffected men (7,624 incident PCas) recruited from 2006 to 2010 to the independent UK Biobank prospective cohort study. RESULTS: The most parsimonious model included the effects of pathogenic variants in BRCA2, HOXB13, and BRCA1, and a polygenic score on the basis of 268 common low-risk variants. Residual familial risk was modeled by a hypothetical recessively inherited variant and a polygenic component whose standard deviation decreased log-linearly with age. The model predicted familial risks that were consistent with those reported in previous observational studies. In the validation cohort, the model discriminated well between unaffected men and men with incident PCas within 5 years (C-index, 0.790; 95% CI, 0.783 to 0.797) and 10 years (C-index, 0.772; 95% CI, 0.768 to 0.777). The 50% of men with highest predicted risks captured 86.3% of PCa cases within 10 years. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first validated risk model offering personalized PCa risks. The model will assist in counseling men concerned about their risk and can facilitate future risk-stratified population screening approaches

Going to waste? The potential impacts on nature conservation and cultural heritage from resource recovery on former mineral extraction sites in England and Wales

Scarcity of mineral supplies globally means that there is an international effort to examine the potential to extract resources from mine wastes. Such sites are often perceived as degraded and of little value. However, many sites are protected for their ecological, geological or historical significance. This paper examines the scale of the association between these designations and former mineral extraction sites in England and Wales. Around 69,000 mines (44%) are co-located with some form of designation; ranging from 27% of sand and gravel quarries in Wales to 84% of metal mines in England. Some designations are coincidental to mining and may benefit from resource recovery combined with remediation activities, others exist due to previous mining activities and may be adversely affected. This creates a tension in the long-term management of former mineral extraction, which should be considered when assessing the potential for, and desirability of, resource recovery