A Meta-Analytic Review of Achievement Goal Orientation Correlates in Competitive Sport: A Follow-Up to Lochbaum et al. (2016)

Recent quantitative research in competitive sport with the Task and Ego Orientations in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) and Perceptions of Success Questionnaire (POSQ) pointed to a potential critical issue that the two questionnaires did not agree across a number tested hypotheses (Lochbaum, Kazak Çetinkalp, Graham, Wright, & Zazo, 2016). Thus, the present quantitative review examined whether correlates of the two achievement goal orientations were moderated by the two measures. To achieve this purpose, 772 unique correlates (489 TEOSQ, 283 POSQ; 402 task orientation, 370 ego orientation) from 93 studies spanning 1989-2016 from 32 countries with 26,387 participants were placed into 15 different categories and meta-analyzed. The task goal orientation was significantly and small to moderate in meaningfulness related to adaptive success factors (rw=.29), maladaptive success factors (rw=-.12), desirable behaviors (rw=.28), positive emotions (rw=.35), amotivation (rw=-.13), extrinsic motivation (rw=.20), external regulations (rw=.12), internal regulations (rw=.34), intrinsic motivation (rw=.47), the mastery/task climate (rw=.38), perceived competence (rw=.26), and trait selfesteem (rw=.35). The ego goal orientation was significantly and small in meaningfulness related to adaptive success factors (rw=.10), maladaptive success factors (rw=.12), negative emotions (rw=.11), undesirable behaviors (rw=.23), amotivation (rw=.16), extrinsic motivation (rw=.28), external regulation (rw=.21), intrinsic motivation (rw=.14), performance/ego climate (rw=.28), and perceived competence (rw=.17). The questionnaire measure was a significant moderator for the task goal orientation relationship with desirable behaviors (POSQ rw=.24; TEOSQ rw=.37), internal regulations (POSQ rw=.26; TEOSQ rw=.39), and trait self-esteem (POSQ rw=.45; TEOSQ rw=.32) and for the ego goal orientation relationship with performance/ego climate (POSQ rw=.34; TEOSQ rw=.24). Overall, the extent of the questionnaire type being a concern when examining correlates was fortunately minimal. Yet, differences in the two dominant measures exit. Recommendations for future research examining both the TEOSQ and POSQ were proposed

Exploring the lived experience of Long Covid in black and minority ethnic groups in the UK: Protocol for qualitative interviews and art-based methods

Some people experience prolonged symptoms following an acute COVID-19 infection including fatigue, chest pain and breathlessness, headache and cognitive impairment. When symptoms persist for over 12 weeks following the initial infection, and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis, the term post-COVID-19 syndrome is used, or the patient-defined term of Long Covid. Understanding the lived experiences of Long Covid is crucial to supporting its management. However, research on patient experiences of Long Covid is currently not ethnically diverse enough. The study aim is to explore the lived experience of Long Covid, using qualitative interviews and art-based methods, among people from ethnically diverse backgrounds (in the UK), to better understand wider systems of support and healthcare support needs. Co-created artwork will be used to build on the interview findings. A purposive sampling strategy will be used to gain diverse experiences of Long Covid, sampling by demographics, geographic locations and experiences of Long Covid. Individuals (aged >18 years) from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds, who self-report Long Covid symptoms, will be invited to take part in a semi-structured interview. Interviews will be analysed thematically. A sub-sample of participants will be invited to co-create visual artwork to further explore shared narratives of Long Covid, enhance storytelling and increase understanding about the condition. A patient advisory group, representing diversity in ethnicity and experiences of Long Covid, will inform all research stages. Stakeholder workshops with healthcare professionals and persons, systems or networks important to people’s management of Long Covid, will advise on the integration of findings to inform management of Long Covid. The study will use patient narratives from people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, to raise awareness of Long Covid and help inform management of Long Covid and how wider social systems and networks may inform better healthcare service access and experiences

Temporal coherence, anomalous moments, and pairing correlations in the classical-field description of a degenerate Bose gas

The coherence properties of degenerate Bose gases have usually been expressed in terms of spatial correlation functions, neglecting the rich information encoded in their temporal behavior. In this paper we show, using a Hamiltonian classical-field formalism, that temporal correlations can be used to characterize familiar properties of a finite-temperature degenerate Bose gas. The temporal coherence of a Bose-Einstein condensate is limited only by the slow diffusion of its phase, and thus the presence of a condensate is indicated by a sharp feature in the temporal power spectrum of the field. We show that the condensate mode can be obtained by averaging the field for a short time in an appropriate phase-rotating frame, and that for a wide range of temperatures, the condensate obtained in this approach agrees well with that defined by the Penrose-Onsager criterion based on one-body (spatial) correlations. For time periods long compared to the phase diffusion time, the field will average to zero, as we would expect from the overall U(1) symmetry of the Hamiltonian. We identify the emergence of the first moment on short time scales with the concept of U(1) symmetry breaking that is central to traditional mean-field theories of Bose condensation. We demonstrate that the short-time averaging procedure constitutes a general analog of the 'anomalous' averaging operation of symmetry-broken theories by calculating the anomalous thermal density of the field, which we find to have form and temperature dependence consistent with the results of mean-field theories.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. v3: Final version. Typos fixed, and other minor change

Supersymmetric Homogeneous Quantum Cosmologies Coupled to a Scalar Field

Recent work on $N=2$ supersymmetric Bianchi type IX cosmologies coupled to a scalar field is extended to a general treatment of homogeneous quantum cosmologies with explicitely solvable momentum constraints, i.e. Bianchi types I, II, VII, VIII besides the Bianchi type IX, and special cases, namely the Friedmann universes, the Kantowski-Sachs space, and Taub-NUT space. Besides the earlier explicit solution of the Wheeler DeWitt equation for Bianchi type IX, describing a virtual wormhole fluctuation, an additional explicit solution is given and identified with the `no-boundary state'.Comment: 23 PAGE

Centaurus A: multiple outbursts or bursting bubble?

We present new radio observations of the brighter region of the northern lobe (the Northern Middle Lobe, NML) of Centaurus A obtained at 20 cm with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The angular resolutions are ~50 and ~130 arcsec, therefore much higher than for the previously available radio images of this region. The most interesting feature detected is a large-scale jet that connects the inner radio lobe and the NML and that is imaged for the first time. The NML itself appears as diffuse emission with a relatively bright ridge on the eastern side. The radio morphology of Centaurus A and, in particular, its NML could be the result of a precessing jet that has undergone a strong interaction with the environment at least in the northern side. The very big drop in intensity between the inner jet and the large-scale jet can be explained with a sequence of bursts of activity at different epochs in the life of the source. Alternatively (or additionally) a ``bursting bubble'' model is proposed which could also explain the good collimation of the large-scale jet. In this model, the plasma accumulated in the inner lobe would be able to ``burst'' out only through one nozzle that would be the region where the large-scale jet forms. From the comparison between the radio emission and the regions of ionized gas we find that the inner optical filament falls about 2 arcmin (~2 kpc) away from the large-scale radio jet. Thus, this filament does not seem to have experienced a direct interaction with the radio plasma. The outer filaments appear to be, in projection, closer to the radio emission, arguing for a direct interaction with the radio jet. However, also in this case a more complicated interaction than assumed so far has to be occuring.Comment: To appear in MNRAS; 11 pages, LateX, 7 figures. Fig 1 is available at http://www.ira.bo.cnr.it/~rmorgant/Centaurus

Condensate fluctuations in finite Bose-Einstein condensates at finite temperature

A Langevin equation for the complex amplitude of a single-mode Bose-Einstein condensate is derived. The equation is first formulated phenomenologically, defining three transport parameters. It is then also derived microscopically. Expressions for the transport parameters in the form of Green-Kubo formulas are thereby derived and evaluated for simple trap geometries, a cubic box with cyclic boundary conditions and an isotropic parabolic trap. The number fluctuations in the condensate, their correlation time, and the temperature-dependent collapse-time of the order parameter as well as its phase-diffusion coefficient are calculated.Comment: 29 pages, Revtex, to appear in Phys.Rev.

Cell migration leads to spatially distinct but clonally related airway cancer precursors

Background Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung is a common cancer with 95% mortality at 5 years. These cancers arise from preinvasive lesions, which have a natural history of development progressing through increasing severity of dysplasia to carcinoma in situ (CIS), and in some cases, ending in transformation to invasive carcinoma. Synchronous preinvasive lesions identified at autopsy have been previously shown to be clonally related. Methods Using autofluorescence bronchoscopy that allows visual observation of preinvasive lesions within the upper airways, together with molecular profiling of biopsies using gene sequencing and loss-of-heterozygosity analysis from both preinvasive lesions and from intervening normal tissue, we have monitored individual lesions longitudinally and documented their visual, histological and molecular relationship. Results We demonstrate that rather than forming a contiguous field of abnormal tissue, clonal CIS lesions can develop at multiple anatomically discrete sites over time. Further, we demonstrate that patients with CIS in the trachea have invariably had previous lesions that have migrated proximally, and in one case, into the other lung over a period of 12 years. Conclusions Molecular information from these unique biopsies provides for the first time evidence that field cancerisation of the upper airways can occur through cell migration rather than via local contiguous cellular expansion as previously thought. Our findings urge a clinical strategy of ablating high-grade premalignant airway lesions with subsequent attentive surveillance for recurrence in the bronchial tree

‘We need to get together and make ourselves heard’: everyday online spaces as incubators of political action

This article examines to what extent, and how, people engaging in political talk within ‘non-political’ discussion forums – online lifestyle communities – leads to political (or personal) action or calls-to-action. The analysis is framed in the context of wider questions of citizenship, civic engagement and political mobilization. To capture everyday political talk amongst citizens requires us to move beyond the now widely analysed online spaces of formal politics. Instead, we focus on online third spaces concerning lifestyle issues such as parenting, personal finance and popular culture. Drawing on a content analysis of three popular UK-based discussion forums over the course of five years (2010–2014), we found that (for two of the three cases) such spaces were more than just talking shops. Rather they were spaces where political actions not only emerged, but where they seemed to be cultivated. Discussions embedded in the personal lives of participants often developed – through talk – into political actions aimed at government (or other) authorities. The article sheds light on the contributing factors and processes that (potentially) trigger and foster action emerging from political talk and provides insight into the mobilization potential of third spaces

Decoherence of Bose-Einstein condensates in traps at finite temperature

The phase diffusion of the order parameter of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates at temperatures large compared to the mean trap frequency is determined, which gives the fundamental limit of the line-width of an atom laser. In addition a prediction of the correlation time of the number fluctuations in the condensate is made and related to the phase diffusion via the fluctuation-dissipation relation.Comment: 4 pages Revtex, revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter

Public opinion on energy crops in the landscape: considerations for the expansion of renewable energy from biomass

Public attitudes were assessed towards two dedicated biomass crops – Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), particularly regarding their visual impacts in the landscape. Results are based on responses to photographic and computer-generated images as the crops are still relatively scarce in the landscape. A questionnaire survey indicated little public concern about potential landscape aesthetics but more concern about attendant built infrastructure. Focus group meetings and interviews indicated support for biomass end uses that bring direct benefits to local communities. Questions arise as to how well the imagery used was able to portray the true nature of these tall, dense, perennial plants but based on the responses obtained and given the caveat that there was limited personal experience of the crops, it appears unlikely that wide-scale planting of biomass crops will give rise to substantial public concern in relation to their visual impact in the landscape