372 research outputs found
Social Pre-treatment Modulates Attention Allocation to Transient and Stable Object Properties
Increasing evidence suggests that ostensive-communicative signals in social learning situations enable observers to focus their attention on the intrinsic features of an object (e.g., color) at the expense of ignoring transient object properties (e.g., location). Here we investigated whether off-line social cues, presented as social primes, have the same power to modulate attention allocation to stable and transient object properties as on-line ostensive-communicative cues. The first part of the experiment consisted of a pre-treatment phase, where adult male participants either received intensive social stimulation or were asked to perform non-social actions. Then, they participated in a change detection test, where they watched pairs of pictures depicting an array of five objects. On the second picture, a change occurred compared to the first picture. One object changed either its location (moving forward or backward) or was replaced by another object, and participants were required to indicate where the change had happened. We found that participants detected the change more successfully if it had happened in the location of the object; however, this difference was reduced following a socially intense pre-treatment phase. The results are discussed in relation to the claims of the natural pedagogy theory
The Szemeredi-Trotter Theorem in the Complex Plane
It is shown that points and lines in the complex Euclidean plane
determine point-line incidences. This
bound is the best possible, and it generalizes the celebrated theorem by
Szemer\'edi and Trotter about point-line incidences in the real Euclidean plane
.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Combinatoric
High precision Y(,)Y scattering at low energies
Elastic scattering cross sections of the Y(,)Y
reaction have been measured at energies E = 15.51 and 18.63 MeV. The
high precision data for the semi-magic nucleus Y are used to
derive a local potential and to evaluate the predictions of global and regional
-nucleus potentials. The variation of the elastic alpha scattering
cross sections along the isotonic chain is investigated by a study of
the ratios of angular distributions for Y(,)Y and
Mo(,)Mo at E 15.51 and 18.63
MeV. This ratio is a very sensitive probe at energies close to the Coulomb
barrier, where scattering data alone is usually not enough to characterize the
different potentials. Furthermore, -cluster states in Nb =
Y are investigated
Response of Multi-strip Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber
A prototype of Multi-strip Multi-gap Resistive Plate chamber (MMRPC) with
active area 40 cm 20 cm has been developed at SINP, Kolkata. Detailed
response of the developed detector was studied with the pulsed electron beam
from ELBE at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. In this report the response
of SINP developed MMRPC with different controlling parameters is described in
details. The obtained time resolution () of the detector after slew
correction was 91.53 ps. Position resolution measured along ()
and across () the strip was 2.80.6 cm and 0.58 cm, respectively.
The measured absolute efficiency of the detector for minimum ionizing particle
like electron was 95.81.3 . Better timing resolution of the detector
can be achieved by restricting the events to a single strip. The response of
the detector was mainly in avalanche mode but a few percentage of streamer mode
response was also observed. A comparison of the response of these two modes
with trigger rate was studiedComment: 19 pages, 26 figure
Efficiency determination of resistive plate chambers for fast quasi-monoenergetic neutrons
Composite detectors made of stainless steel converters and multigap resistive
plate chambers have been irradiated with quasi-monoenergetic neutrons with a
peak energy of 175MeV. The neutron detection efficiency has been determined
using two different methods. The data are in agreement with the output of Monte
Carlo simulations. The simulations are then extended to study the response of a
hypothetical array made of these detectors to energetic neutrons from a
radioactive ion beam experiment.Comment: Submitted to Eur.Phys.J. A; upgraded version correcting some typos
and updating ref.
Relationship Between Spirituality, Meaning in Life, Psychological Distress, Wish for Hastened Death, and Their Influence on Quality of Life in Palliative Care Patients.
Spiritual, existential, and psychological issues represent central components of quality of life (QOL) in palliative care. A better understanding of the dynamic nature underlying these components is essential for the development of interventions tailored to the palliative context.
The aims were to explore 1) the relationship between spirituality, meaning in life, wishes for hastened death and psychological distress in palliative patients and 2) the extent to which these nonphysical determinants influence QOL.
A cross-sectional study involving face-to-face interviews with Swiss palliative patients was performed, including the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMILE), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp), the Idler Index of Religiosity (IIR), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death (SAHD). QOL was measured with a single-item visual analogue scale (0-10).
Two hundred and six patients completed the protocol (51.5% female; mean age = 67.5 years). The results indicated a significant negative relationship between FACIT-Sp/SMILE and HADS total scores (P = 0.000). The best model for QOL explained 32.8% of the variance (P = 0.000) and included the FACIT-Sp, SMILE, and SAHD total scores, the IIR "private religiosity" score, as well as the HADS "depression" score.
Both spiritual well-being and meaning in life appear to be potential protective factors against psychological distress at the end of life. Since nonphysical determinants play a major role in shaping QOL at the end of life, there is a need for the development of meaning-oriented and spiritual care interventions tailored to the fragility of palliative patients
Linking the exotic structure of C to its unbound mirror Na
The structure of C is used to define a nuclear interaction that,
when used in a multichannel algebraic scattering theory for the C
system, gives a credible definition of the (compound) excitation spectra. When
couplings to the low-lying collective excitations of the C-core are
taken into account, both sub-threshold and resonant states about the
C threshold are found. Adding Coulomb potentials to that nuclear
interaction, the method is used for the mirror system of Ne to
specify the low-excitation spectrum of the particle unstable Na. We
compare the results with those of a microscopic cluster model. A spectrum of
low excitation resonant states in Na is found with some differences to
that given by the microscopic-cluster model. The calculated resonance
half-widths (for proton emission) range from to keV.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Search for low lying dipole strength in the neutron rich nucleus Ne
Coulomb excitation of the exotic neutron-rich nucleus Ne on a
Pb target was measured at 58 A.MeV in order to search for low-lying E1
strength above the neutron emission threshold. Data were also taken on an
Al target to estimate the nuclear contribution. The radioactive beam
was produced by fragmentation of a 95 A.MeV Ar beam delivered by the
RIKEN Research Facility. The set-up included a NaI gamma-ray array, a charged
fragment hodoscope and a neutron wall. Using the invariant mass method in the
Ne+n channel, we observe a sizable amount of E1 strength between 6 and
10 MeV. The reconstructed Ne angular distribution confirms its E1
nature. A reduced dipole transition probability of B(E1)=0.490.16
is deduced. For the first time, the decay pattern of low-lying
strength in a neutron-rich nucleus is obtained. The results are discussed in
terms of a pygmy resonance centered around 9 MeV
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