"Singing in the rain": The effect of perspective taking on music preferences as mood management strategies

This research examines the relationship between the first-person (1P) and third-person (3P) perspective and subsequent music selections when considering a sad scenario. 195 undergraduates at the Ohio State University read a sad scenario involving either a funeral or a sad movie from the 1P or 3P perspective, and then rated preferences for 16 genres of music. I predicted that the 3P perspective would result in little variance in rated music preferences, reflecting an implicit theory about the type of music sad people in general would prefer. In contrast, the music preferences in the 1P perspective should vary more, based on both the specific sad scenario presented (funeral or sad movie) and each participant’s individual music preferences. As predicted, 3P preferences were stronger and showed less variance than 1P preferences, supporting our belief that people have implicit theories about responding to sadness. Participants did not, however, differentiate between types of sad scenarios in their music choices. Results for several specific genres of interest are also reported. Finally, theoretical implications and future directions are discussed

The Assessment of Malingering Within Forensic Populations

The current literature review examines the assessment of malingering in adult forensic populations with a focus on recent applications of measures for identifying feigned psychiatric symptoms. Although a large amount of research on malingering assessment exists, such a review is needed given the limited research on factors that increase an individual’s ability to malinger successfully and evade detection. This review also serves as a guide to help clinicians select the most appropriate assessment measures which may vary across cases. Clinical implications of malingering assessment and suggestions for future research are discussed

Holes in the walls: primordial black holes as a solution to the cosmological domain wall problem

We propose a scenario in which the cosmological domain wall and monopole problems are solved without any fine tuning of the initial conditions or parameters in the Lagrangian of an underlying filed theory. In this scenario domain walls sweep out (unwind) the monopoles from the early universe, then the fast primordial black holes perforate the domain walls, change their topology and destroy them. We find further that the (old vacuum) energy density released from the domain walls could alleviate but not solve the cosmological flatness problem.Comment: References added; Published in Phys. Rev.

Report from the pandemic influenza project: expert panel meetings

This report was prepared by the Indiana University Center for Bioethics under contract with the Indiana State Department of Health as a part of the project “Translating Ethics Advice into Practice: Public and Professional Outreach about Pandemic Influenza Planning in Indiana.” The views expressed in this document are those of the authors and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Center for Bioethics, Indiana University, or the Indiana State Department of Health.The Indiana University Center for Bioethics convened expert panels for each of the four topics of the Technical Advisory Documents (TADs): altered standards of care, triage, vaccine and antiviral allocation, and healthcare workforce management. The goal of each meeting was to assess the relevance and applicability of the recommendations put forth by the TADs. Participants were encouraged to apply the seven ethical points and assess the feasibility of the recommendations by examining case studies intended to portray real world ethical dilemmas. Engagement from the public was critical for each panel to learn the full ethical and social implications of pandemic influenza preparedness and planning.Indiana University Center for Bioethics; Indiana State Department of Healt

MACHOs, White Dwarfs, and the Age of the Universe

(Abridged Abstract) A favored interpretation of recent microlensing measurements towards the Large Magellanic Cloud implies that a large fraction (i.e. 10--50%) of the mass of the galactic halo is composed of white dwarfs. We compare model white dwarf luminosity functions to the data from the observational surveys in order to determine a lower bound on the age of any substantial white dwarf halo population (and hence possibly on the age of the Universe). We compare various theoretical white dwarf luminosity functions, in which we vary hese three parameters, with the abovementioned survey results. From this comparison, we conclude that if white dwarfs do indeed constitute more than 10% of the local halo mass density, then the Universe must be at least 10 Gyr old for our most extreme allowed values of the parameters. When we use cooling curves that account for chemical fractionation and more likely values of the IMF and the bolometric correction, we find tighter limits: a white dwarf MACHO fraction of 10% (30%) requires a minimum age of 14 Gyr (15.5 Gyr). Our analysis also indicates that the halo white dwarfs almost certainly have helium-dominated atmospheres.Comment: Final version accepted for publication, straight TeX formate, 6 figs, 22 page

Evolutionary conservation of excision repair in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: Evidence for a family of sequences related to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD2 gene

Cells mutated at the rad13 locus in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe are deficient in excision-repair of UV damage. We have cloned the S.pombe rad13 gene by its ability to complement the UV sensitivity of a rad13 mutant. The gene is not essential for cell proliferation. Sequence analysis of the cloned gene revealed an open reading-frame of 1113 amino acids with structural homology to the RAD2 gene of the distantly related Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The sequence similarity is confined to three domains, two close to the N-terminus of the encoded protein, the third being close to the C-terminus. The central region of about 500 amino acids shows little similarity between the two organisms. The first and third domains are also found in a related yet distinct pair of homologous S.pombe/S.cerevisiae DNA repair genes (rad2/YKL510), which have only a very short region between these two conserved domains. Using the polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers, we have isolated fragments from a gene homologous to rad13/RAD2 from Aspergillus nidulans. These findings define new functional domains involved in excision-repair, as well as identifying a conserved family of genes related to RAD2

Carp Creek

The short stories in this collection take place in the late 1980s to the early 2000s and are unified by the first person voice of the protagonist, Natalie, a girl growing up in rural southwestern Ontario. The stories deal principally with issues of gender, class, environment, and mortality. Death, a recurring theme, signals psychological and emotional malaise within Natalie's environment and the necessity for her to interrogate her mother's obsolete values about women's roles. Natalie's coming of age is shaped by her and other female characters' experiences of anxiety, shame, and isolation in the deaths of individuals, ideals, and relationship

Role of the gerP Operon in Germination and Outgrowth of Bacillus anthracis Spores

Germination of Bacillus anthracis spores occurs when nutrients such as amino acids or purine nucleosides stimulate specific germinant receptors located in the spore inner membrane. The gerPABCDEF operon has been suggested to play a role in facilitating the interaction between germinants and their receptors in spores of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus. B. anthracis mutants containing deletions in each of the six genes belonging to the orthologue of the gerPABCDEF operon, or deletion of the entire operon, were tested for their ability to germinate. Deletion of the entire gerP operon resulted in a significant delay in germination in response to nutrient germinants. These spores eventually germinated to levels equivalent to wild-type, suggesting that an additional entry point for nutrient germinants may exist. Deletions of each individual gene resulted in a similar phenotype, with the exception of ΔgerPF, which showed no obvious defect. The removal of two additional gerPF-like orthologues was necessary to achieve the germination defect observed for the other mutants. Upon physical removal of the spore coat, the mutant lacking the full gerP operon no longer exhibited a germination defect, suggesting that the GerP proteins play a role in spore coat permeability. Additionally, each of the gerP mutants exhibited a severe defect in calcium-dipicolinic acid (Ca-DPA)–dependent germination, suggesting a role for the GerP proteins in this process. Collectively, these data implicate all GerP proteins in the early stages of spore germination

QUALITY CONTROL FROM A SUBSET OF HUMAN SURGICAL TISSUE SPECIMENS FROM THE IU SIMON CANCER CENTER TISSUE PROCUREMENT AND DISTRIBUTION CORE COLLECTED IN 2009-2010: AN H&E AND RIN VALUE ASSESSMENT

poster abstractQuality control (QC) of human tissue specimens for research is critical for the development of new bio-markers and their ability to determine clinical trial outcomes. In this study, we evaluated sixty-nine samples for both RNA and histology quality control measures from the IU Simon Cancer Center Tissue Bank. The IU Simon Cancer Center Tissue Bank is a centralized tissue procurement resource established to collect high quality tissue for basic clinical and translational research, collecting approximately 550 clinical cases per year using an informed consent and HIPAA signed document. All tissues are collected and processed in liquid nitrogen within 30 minutes of removal. The tissue samples are sliced and diced into 100 to 150 mg sample size. Each sample is placed into individual 2ml cryovials. Two representative samples are placed in 10% neutral buffered formalin. Two investigators QC the slides by microscopy to evaluate the following: percent of tumor, percent of necrosis, percent of fibrosis/inflammation, and percent of normal adjacent tissue. RNA was extracted using the Purescript RNA isolation kit (Gentra). Fifty-four of sixty-nine cases passed both histology and RNA (RIN value) QC. Of the fifteen cases that did not pass our QC criteria, thirteen cases did not pass the histology QC due to lack of tumor content (below 50%) in the sample, while the remaining two cases failed the RNA QC. Seventy-eight percent of samples passed our QC measures. The results were consistent with the existing literature on tissue quality control in human surgical tissue specimens

Effect of Primordial Black Holes on the Cosmic Microwave Background and Cosmological Parameter Estimates

We investigate the effect of non-evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs) on the ionization and thermal history of the universe. X-rays emitted by gas accretion onto PBHs modify the cosmic recombination history, producing measurable effects on the spectrum and anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Using the third-year WMAP data and FIRAS data we improve existing upper limits on the abundance of PBHs with masses >0.1 Msun by several orders of magnitude. Fitting WMAP3 data with cosmological models that do not allow for non-standard recombination histories, as produced by PBHs or other early energy sources, may lead to an underestimate of the best-fit values of the amplitude of linear density fluctuations (sigma_8) and the scalar spectral index (n_s). Cosmological parameter estimates are affected because models with PBHs allow for larger values of the Thomson scattering optical depth, whose correlation with other parameters may not be correctly taken into account when PBHs are ignored. Values of tau_e=0.2, n_s=1 and sigma_8=0.9 are allowed at 95% CF. This result that may relieve recent tension between WMAP3 data and clusters data on the value of sigma_8. PBHs may increase the primordial molecular hydrogen abundance by up to two orders of magnitude, this promoting cooling and star formation. The suppression of galaxy formation due to X-ray heating is negligible for models consistent with the CMB data. Thus, the formation rate of the first galaxies and stars would be enhanced by a population of PBHs.Comment: 17 pages (Apj style), 9 figures, submitted to Ap