Do Sources of Meaning Differentially Predict Search for Meaning, Presence of Meaning, and Wellbeing

Meaning in life is vital for human wellbeing. Research has examined important sources of meaning: however, it has not yet investigated whether certain sources of meaning might be more predictive of overall meaning and wellbeing. A community sample of 247 individuals (30 – 69 years) rated the degree of meaningfulness they experienced in certain domains and completed 11 wellbeing measures. Presence of meaning was positively predicted by family and interpersonal relations, and negatively by leisure activities; search for meaning was positively predicted by personal growth and religiosity/spirituality. Meaning from family and health aided in the process of searching for meaning leading to presence of meaning; similarly, meaning from family, interpersonal relationships, health, religiosity/spirituality and life in general buffered against impoverished wellbeing when searching for meaning. Presence and wellbeing were both higher if the domains of work, family, interpersonal relations, community/society issues, and life in general were highly endorsed. Lastly, highly endorsing a larger number of sources buffered against negative wellbeing outcomes when searching for meaning. Overall, we found that meaning from important domains such as family and interpersonal relationships, and strongly endorsing a wide variety of sources, protected against negative wellbeing outcomes when searching for meaning.

Inhibitory synchrony as a mechanism for attentional gain modulation

Recordings from area V4 of monkeys have revealed that when the focus of attention is on a visual stimulus within the receptive field of a cortical neuron, two distinct changes can occur: The firing rate of the neuron can change and there can be an increase in the coherence between spikes and the local field potential in the gamma-frequency range (30-50 Hz). The hypothesis explored here is that these observed effects of attention could be a consequence of changes in the synchrony of local interneuron networks. We performed computer simulations of a Hodgkin-Huxley type neuron driven by a constant depolarizing current, I, representing visual stimulation and a modulatory inhibitory input representing the effects of attention via local interneuron networks. We observed that the neuron's firing rate and the coherence of its output spike train with the synaptic inputs was modulated by the degree of synchrony of the inhibitory inputs. The model suggest that the observed changes in firing rate and coherence of neurons in the visual cortex could be controlled by top-down inputs that regulated the coherence in the activity of a local inhibitory network discharging at gamma frequencies.Comment: J.Physiology (Paris) in press, 11 figure

Savoring mediates the effect of nature on positive affect

The more time people spend in nature, the happier they feel. But how consistent is this link, and what mechanisms might account for this beneficial effect of nature on wellbeing? The aim of the present study was to test one potential mechanism linking nature to wellbeing—the ability to savor experiences. Participants (N = 60, 70% female, aged 18 to 34, university students) were randomly assigned to take a daily 20-minute walk in a natural or urban environment for seven consecutive days. Each night, they completed a daily diary report about their experiences that day, including the amount and types of their savoring during the walk (i.e., absorption and intensification of experiences), savoring after the walk (i.e., expression of gratitude and sharing their experiences with others) all adapted from the Ways of Savoring Checklist (Bryant & Veroff, 2007), and their daily feelings of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), adapted from the affective circumplex (Barrett & Russell, 1998). Path analyses using multi-level structural equation modeling (MSEM) found that the composite measure of daily savoring significantly mediated the effect of nature on PA, controlling for NA and physical activity. Daily exposure to nature contributed to greater daily savoring, which predicted higher daily PA. Additional analyses showed that absorption and intensification of experiences in nature and sharing nature experiences with others were the key components of savoring, which may help to explain why people feel happier as a result of spending time in nature

Four fundamental distinctions in conceptions of wellbeing across cultures

One of the key roles of culture is to shape how human groups pursue personal and collective wellbeing, and thus each culture contains prescriptions and customs about how to achieve optimal functioning and wellbeing. This chapter identifies four fundamental differences in the conceptualizations of mental wellbeing across cultures. The identified differences are in the centrality of hedonic experience, self-enhancement, autonomy, and the relevance of contextual factors in determining wellbeing. These overlapping dynamics provide a framework for categorizing and making sense of existing cross-cultural findings on mental wellbeing. The chapter discusses the theoretical and empirical implications of the reviewed cross-cultural findings for international measurements of wellbeing. We argue that various measures of wellbeing may function differently in different global regions, with crucial implications for how countries are ranked based on wellbeing. Our review also highlights the relevance of cross-cultural variations in the concepts of wellbeing for designing interventions and policies and evaluating their effectiveness across cultures

Validation of the nonhydrostatic General Curvilinear Coastal Ocean Model (GCCOM) for stratified flows

While global- and basin-scale processes can be captured quite well with computationally-inexpensive hydrostatic models, smaller-scale features such as shoaling nonlinear internal waves and bores, coastal fronts, and other convective processes require the use of a nonhydrostatic model to accurately capture dynamics. Here the nonhydrostatic capabilities of the General Curvilinear Coastal Ocean Model (GCCOM) in a stratified environment are introduced. GCCOM is a three-dimensional, nonhydrostatic Large Eddy Simulation (LES), rigid lid model that has the ability to run in a fully three-dimensional general curvilinear coordinate system. This model was previously validated for unstratified flows with curvilinear coordinates. Here, recent advances of the model to simulate stratified flows are presented, focusing on sigma coordinate grids with both flat bottom geometry and a local gently sloping seamount. In particular, a suite of test cases widely used as benchmarks for assessing the nonhydrostatic capabilities for gravity-driven flows and internal waves is presented: an internal seiche in a flat bottom tank, the classic lock release and gravity current experiment, and a field-scale internal wave beam experiment consisting of an oscillating tidal flow over a topographic ridge. GCCOM shows excellent agreement with the benchmark test cases and is able to accurately resolve complex nonhydrostatic phenomena in stratified flows. Future studies will utilize the model capabilities for realistic field-scale internal wave simulations

CTQ 839: Candidate for the Smallest Projected Separation Binary Quasar

We report the discovery of the new double quasar CTQ 839. This B = 18.3, radio quiet quasar pair is separated by 2.1" in BRIH filters with magnitude differences of delta m_B = 2.5, delta m_R = delta m_I = 1.9, and delta m_H = 2.3. Spectral observations reveal both components to be z = 2.24 quasars, with relative redshifts that agree at the 100 km/s level, but exhibit pronounced differences in the equivalent widths of related emission features, as well as an enhancement of blue continuum flux in the brighter component longward of the Ly alpha emission feature. In general, similar redshift double quasars can be the result of a physical binary pair, or a single quasar multiply imaged by gravitational lensing. Empirical PSF subtraction of R and H band images of CTQ 839 reveal no indication of a lensing galaxy, and place a detection limit of R = 22.5 and H = 17.4 for a third component in the system. For an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology and SIS model, the R band detection limit constrains the characteristics of any lensing galaxy to z_lens >= 1 with a corresponding luminosity of L >~ 5 L_*, while an analysis based on the redshift probability distribution for the lensing galaxy argues against the existence of a z_lens >~ 1 lens at the 2 sigma level. A similar analysis for a Lambda dominated cosmology, however, does not significantly constrain the existence of any lensing galaxy. The broadband flux differences, spectral dissimilarities, and failure to detect a lensing galaxy make the lensing hypothesis for CTQ 839 unlikely. The similar redshifts of the two components would then argue for a physical quasar binary. At a projected separation of 8.3/h kpc (Omega_matter = 1), CTQ 839 would be the smallest projected separation binary quasar currently known.Comment: Latex, 23 pages including 5 ps figures; accepted for publication in A

The Effects of the Peak-Peak Correlation on the Peak Model of Hierarchical Clustering

In two previous papers a semi-analytical model was presented for the hierarchical clustering of halos via gravitational instability from peaks in a random Gaussian field of density fluctuations. This model is better founded than the extended Press-Schechter model, which is known to agree with numerical simulations and to make similar predictions. The specific merger rate, however, shows a significant departure at intermediate captured masses. The origin of this was suspected as being the rather crude approximation used for the density of nested peaks. Here, we seek to verify this suspicion by implementing a more accurate expression for the latter quantity which accounts for the correlation among peaks. We confirm that the inclusion of the peak-peak correlation improves the specific merger rate, while the good behavior of the remaining quantities is preserved.Comment: ApJ accepted. 15 pages, including 4 figures. Also available at ftp://pcess1.am.ub.es/pub/ApJ/effectpp.ps.g

Regional perturbation of gene transcription is associated with intrachromosomal rearrangements and gene fusion transcripts in high grade ovarian cancer.

Genomic rearrangements are a hallmark of cancer biology and progression, allowing cells to rapidly transform through alterations in regulatory structures, changes in expression patterns, reprogramming of signaling pathways, and creation of novel transcripts via gene fusion events. Though functional gene fusions encoding oncogenic proteins are the most dramatic outcomes of genomic rearrangements, we investigated the relationship between rearrangements evidenced by fusion transcripts and local expression changes in cancer using transcriptome data alone. 9,953 gene fusion predictions from 418 primary serious ovarian cancer tumors were analyzed, identifying depletions of gene fusion breakpoints within coding regions of fused genes as well as an N-terminal enrichment of breakpoints within fused genes. We identified 48 genes with significant fusion-associated upregulation and furthermore demonstrate that significant regional overexpression of intact genes in patient transcriptomes occurs within 1 megabase of 78 novel gene fusions that function as central markers of these regions. We reveal that cancer transcriptomes select for gene fusions that preserve protein and protein domain coding potential. The association of gene fusion transcripts with neighboring gene overexpression supports rearrangements as mechanism through which cancer cells remodel their transcriptomes and identifies a new way to utilize gene fusions as indicators of regional expression changes in diseased cells with only transcriptomic data

Genetic Structure of Mosquitofish Populations in the Altamaha and Ogeechee Drainages of Georgia: Reporting an Undescribed Form in the Ocmulgee River

An electrophoretic survey of genetic variation in mosquitofish populations of the Altamaha and Ogeechee drainages in Georgia revealed significant divergence (fs,=O.270) among populations within the Altamaha. Cluster analysis showed two lineages: one formed by populations from the Ogeechee drainage and the eastern and central Altamaha branches and another consisting of populations from the Ocmulgee River, the westernmost branch of the Altamaha drainage. These lineages may represent two independent forms. Average modified Rogers’ genetic distance was 0.25% between the two groups. The O_cmulgee lineage had significantly higher multilocus heterozygosity (H=0.206) than the other one (I-/=0.120). The high heterozygosity in the Ocmulgee lineage is consistent with the hypothesis that it originated by hybridization. Populations in the Altamaha and Ogeechee exhibit spatial patterns of genetic characteristics similar to those previously described for populations in other drainages

Genetic Structure of Mosquitofish Populations in the Altamaha and Ogeechee Drainages of Georgia: Reporting an Undescribed Form in the Ocmulgee River

An electrophoretic survey of genetic variation in mosquitofish populations of the Altamaha and Ogeechee drainages in Georgia revealed significant divergence (fs,=O.270) among populations within the Altamaha. Cluster analysis showed two lineages: one formed by populations from the Ogeechee drainage and the eastern and central Altamaha branches and another consisting of populations from the Ocmulgee River, the westernmost branch of the Altamaha drainage. These lineages may represent two independent forms. Average modified Rogers’ genetic distance was 0.25% between the two groups. The O_cmulgee lineage had significantly higher multilocus heterozygosity (H=0.206) than the other one (I-/=0.120). The high heterozygosity in the Ocmulgee lineage is consistent with the hypothesis that it originated by hybridization. Populations in the Altamaha and Ogeechee exhibit spatial patterns of genetic characteristics similar to those previously described for populations in other drainages