Mindfulness: cognitive and emotional change

Editoria

Link between mindfulness and personality-related factors including empathy, theory of mind, openness, pro-social behaviour and suggestibility

This research investigated a potential linkage between mindfulness and personality characteristics such as openness to experience, empathy (empathic concern and theory of mind), prosocial behavior and suggestibility. A sample of 275 volunteers was recruited. A series of the research questionnaires and scales was employed to measure mindfulness, empathic concern, theory of mind (or perspective taking), prosocial behavior (or altruism) and suggestibility. Based on the quartile scores, participants were divided into two low (first quartile) and high (forth quartile) on mindfulness. Using a two-way MANOVA, the results showed that participants high on mindfulness exhibited increased theory of mind, prosocial behaviour and openness, in addition to decreased suggestibility. Neither main nor interaction effects were found for gender factor. Theoretical models in the field of social cognition will be discussed to explain how enhancement in cognitive functions due to mindfulness practice might alter personality characteristics and, in turn, influence socio-political behaviour

Chiral Perturbation Theory in the Framework of Non-Commutative Geometry

We consider the non-commutative generalization of the chiral perturbation theory. The resultant coupling constants are severely restricted by the model and in good agreement with the data. When applied to the Skyrme model, our scheme reproduces the non-Skyrme term with the right coefficient. We comment on a similar treatment of the linear $\sigma$-model.Comment: In this revised manuscript, we alter one of the conclusion

Modelling SCUBA sources in a Lambda-CDM cosmology: hot starbursts or cold extended galactic dust?

Previous modelling has demonstrated that it is difficult to reproduce the SCUBA source counts within the framework of standard hierarchical structure formation models if the sources are assumed to be the high-redshift counterparts of local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies with dust temperatures in the range 40-60 K. Here, we show that the counts are more easily reproduced in a model in which the bulk of the sub-millimetre emission comes from extended, cool (20-25 K) dust in objects with star formation rates of 50-100 solar masses per year. The low temperatures imply typical sizes of about 1 (S_{850}/1mJy})^{1/2} arcsec, a factor two to three larger than those predicted using starburst-like spectral energy distributions. Low dust temperatures also imply a ratio of optical/UV to 850-micron flux which is 30-100 times smaller, for the same optical depth, than expected for objects with a hot, starburst-like SED. This may help explain the small overlap between SCUBA sources and Lyman-break galaxies.Comment: 9 pages; 9 figures; published version, minor changes to the origina