33,834 research outputs found
Disturbances in the spontaneous attribution of social meaning in schizophrenia
Background. Schizophrenia patients show disturbances on a range of tasks that assess mentalizing or 'Theory of Mind' (ToM). However, these tasks are often developmentally inappropriate, make large demands on verbal abilities and explicit problem-solving skills, and involve after-the-fact reflection as opposed to spontaneous mentalizing.
Method. To address these limitations, 55 clinically stable schizophrenia out-patients and 44 healthy controls completed a validated Animations Task designed to assess spontaneous attributions of social meaning to ambiguous
abstract visual stimuli. In this paradigm, 12 animations depict two geometric shapes' interacting' with each other in three conditions: (1) ToM interactions that elicit attributions of mental states to the agents, (2) Goal-Directed (GO) interactions that elicit attributions of simple actions, and (3) Random scenes in which no interaction occurs. Verbal
descriptions of each animation are rated for the degree of Intentionality attributed to the agents and for accuracy.
Results. Patients had lower Intentionality ratings than controls for ToM and GO scenes but the groups did not significantly differ for Random scenes. The descriptions of the patients less closely matched the situations intended by the developers of the task. Within the schizophrenia group, performance on the Animations Task showed minimal
associations with clinical symptoms.
Conclusions. Patients demonstrated disturbances in the spontaneous attribution of mental states to abstract visual stimuli that normally evoke such attributions. Hence, in addition to previously established impairment on mentalizing tasks that require logical inferences about others' mental states, individuals with schizophrenia show disturbances in implicit aspects of mentalizing
Quartz crystal microbalance use in biological studies
Design, development, and applications of quartz crystal microbalance are discussed. Two types of crystals are used. One serves as reference and other senses changes in mass. Specific application to study of bacterial spores is described
Radio Spectral Index and Expansion of 3C58
We present new observations of the plerionic supernova remnant 3C58 with the
VLA at 74 and 327 MHz. In addition, we re-reduced earlier observations at 1.4
and 4.9 GHz taken in 1973 and 1984. Comparing these various images, we find
that: 1. the remnant has a flat and relatively uniform spectral index
distribution, 2. any expansion of the remnant with time is significantly less
than that expected for uniform, undecelerated expansion since the generally
accepted explosion date in 1181 A.D., and 3. there is no evidence for a
non-thermal synchrotron emission shell generated by a supernova shock wave,
with any such emission having a surface brightness of <1 x 10^(-21) W / (m^2 Hz
sr) at 327 MHz.Comment: 18 pages, 7 Figures, Latex, Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Improved high-temperature resistant matrix resins
A study was performed with the objective of developing matrix resins that exhibit improved thermo-oxidative stability over state-of-the-art high temperature resins for use at temperatures up to 644 K (700 F) and air pressures up to 0.7 MPa (100 psia). The work was based upon a TRW discovered family of polyimides currently licensed to and marketed by Ethyl Corporation as EYMYD(R) resins. The approach investigated to provide improved thermo-oxidative properties was to use halogenated derivatives of the diamine, 2, 2-bis (4-(4-aminophenoxy)phenyl) hexafluoropropane (4-BDAF). Polyimide neat resins and Celion(R) 12,000 composites prepared from fluorine substituted 4-BDAF demonstrated unexpectedly lower glass transition temperatures (Tg) and thermo-oxidative stabilities than the baseline 4-BDAF/PMDA polymer
Material Properties Measurements for Selected Materials
Hugoniot equation of state measurements were made on Coconino sandstone, Vacaville basalt, Kaibab limestone, Mono Crater, pumice and Zelux (a polycarbonate resin) for pressures to 2 Mb. A single data point was obtained for fused quartz at 1.6 Mb. In addition to the hugoniot studies, the uniaxial compressive stress behavior of Vacaville basalt and Zelux was investigated at strain rates from about 10(exp -5)/sec to 10(exp 3)/second. The data presented include the stress - strain relations as a function of strain rate for these two materials
Quantum Collective QCD String Dynamics
The string breaking model of particle production is extended in order to help
explain the transverse momentum distribution in elementary collisions. Inspired
by an idea of Bialas', we treat the string using a collective coordinate
approach. This leads to a chromo-electric field strength which fluctuates, and
in turn implies that quarks are produced according to a thermal distribution.Comment: 6 pages. Presented at SQM 2006. Submitted to J. Phys. G for
publication in proceedings. Vers. 2: Minor revisions; final hadron spectrum
calculation include
Green-Schwarz Formulation of Self-Dual Superstring
The self-dual superstring has been described previously in a
Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond formulation with local N=2 or 4 world-sheet supersymmetry.
We present a Green-Schwarz-type formulation, with manifest spacetime
supersymmetry.Comment: 11 pg., (uuencoded dvi file) ITP-SB-92-5
Remarks on the Classical Size of D-Branes
We discuss different criteria for `classical size' of extremal Dirichlet
p-branes in type-II supergravity. Using strong-weak coupling duality, we find
that the size of the strong-coupling region at the core of the (p<3)-branes, is
always given by the asymptotic string scale, if measured in the weakly coupled
dual string metric. We also point out how the eleven-dimensional Planck scale
arises in the classical 0-brane solution, as well as the ten-dimensional Planck
scale in the D-instanton solution.Comment: 8 pp, harvma
Large-N phase transition in lattice 2-d principal chiral models
We investigate the large-N critical behavior of 2-d lattice chiral models by
Monte Carlo simulations of U(N) and SU(N) groups at large N. Numerical results
confirm strong coupling analyses, i.e. the existence of a large-N second order
phase transition at a finite .Comment: 12 pages, Revtex, 8 uuencoded postscript figure
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