Dispositional Hardiness and Women’s Well-Being Relating to Gender Discrimination: The Role of Minimization

Three studies examined whether personality-based hardiness would be associated with mental health benefits in contexts of gender discrimination. Hardy women encountering both a laboratory simulation and a hypothetical scenario of discrimination showed greater self-esteem and less negative affect than low hardy women. However, these benefits were mediated by the use of specific attributions, suggesting that the well-being in hardy women may have been achieved through minimizing the pervasiveness of discrimination. Study three showed this mediation pattern occurred only for participants exposed to higher threat scenarios versus lower threat scenarios of discrimination. Thus, minimizing the pervasiveness of discrimination may have been a threat-reducing tool for high hardy women. Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory was used as a possible explanation for this finding

The Role of Hardiness in Moderating the Relationship between Global/Specific Attributions and Actions against Discrimination

In this study, we proposed that individual differences in hardiness may moderate the relationship between global attributions and actions against discrimination. Specifically, global attributions were expected to predict decreased endorsement of actions to combat discrimination among low hardy women. In contrast, global attributions were expected to predict increased endorsement of actions among high hardy women. High and low hardy women were exposed to a laboratory situation of discrimination, and their attributions for, and responses to, discrimination were then assessed. Results showed the expected interaction, but in the opposite direction: among low hardy women, global attributions predicted stronger endorsement of action.Among high hardy women, specific attributions predicted stronger endorsement of action. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Minimizing carry-over PCR contamination in expanded CAG/CTG repeat instability applications.

Expanded CAG/CTG repeats underlie the aetiology of 14 neurological and neuromuscular disorders. The size of the repeat tract determines in large part the severity of these disorders with longer tracts causing more severe phenotypes. Expanded CAG/CTG repeats are also unstable in somatic tissues, which is thought to modify disease progression. Routine molecular biology applications involving these repeats, including quantifying their instability, are plagued by low PCR yields. This leads to the need for setting up more PCRs of the same locus, thereby increasing the risk of carry-over contamination. Here we aimed to reduce this risk by pre-treating the samples with a Uracil N-Glycosylase (Ung) and using dUTP instead of dTTP in PCRs. We successfully applied this method to the PCR amplification of expanded CAG/CTG repeats, their sequencing, and their molecular cloning. In addition, we optimized the gold-standard method for measuring repeat instability, small-pool PCR (SP-PCR), such that it can be used together with Ung and dUTP-containing PCRs, without compromising data quality. We performed SP-PCR on myotonic-dystrophy-derived samples containing an expansion as large as 1000 repeats, demonstrating the applicability to clinically-relevant material. Thus, we expect the protocols herein to be applicable for molecular diagnostics of expanded repeat disorders

ROBOTS CONTROL BY ADAPTIVE GAIN SMOOTH SLIDING OBSERVER-CONTROLLER AND PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION

An adaptive gain, smooth sliding observer-controller are developed to control uncertain parameters, -degree of freedom rigid robotic manipulators. Furthermore, an on-line, closed loop identification scheme, for time-varying parameters is proposed in order to obtain useful information despite loads, external disturbances and faults detection. In order to reduce the chattering, a smooth switching function (parameterised tangent hyperbolic function) is used instead of pure relay one, into the observer and the controller. The gains of the switching functions are adaptively updated, depending on the estimation error and tracking error, respectively. By using adaptive gains, the transient and tracking responses are improved. Simulation results with a two degree of freedom (DOF) robot manipulator are presented to show the interest of the approach

Flexible Joints Robotic Manipulator Control By Adaptive Gain Smooth Sliding Observer-Controller

An adaptive gain sliding observer for uncertain parameter nonlinear systems together with an adaptive gain sliding controller is proposed in this paper. It considered nonlinear, SISO affine systems, with uncertainties in steady-state functions and parameters. A further parameter term, adaptively updated, has been introduced in steady state space model of the controlled system, in order to obtain useful information despite fault detection and isolation. By using of the sliding observer with adaptive gain, the robustness to uncertainties is increased and the parameters adaptively updated can provide useful information in fault detection. Also, the state estimation error is bounded accordingly with bound limits of the uncertainties. The both of them, the sliding adaptive observer and sliding controller are designed to fulfill the attractiveness condition of its corresponding switching surface. An application to a single arm with flexible joint robot is presented. In order to alleviate chattering, a parameterized tangent hyperbolic has been used as switching function, instead of pure relay one, to the observer and the controller. Also, the gains of the switching functions, to the sliding observer and sliding controller are adaptively updated depending of estimation error and tracking error, respectively. By the using adaptive gains, the transient and tracking response can be improved

Influence of the lattice topography on a three-dimensional, controllable Brownian motor

We study the influence of the lattice topography and the coupling between motion in different directions, for a three-dimensional Brownian motor based on cold atoms in a double optical lattice. Due to controllable relative spatial phases between the lattices, our Brownian motor can induce drifts in arbitrary directions. Since the lattices couple the different directions, the relation between the phase shifts and the directionality of the induced drift is non trivial. Here is therefore this relation investigated experimentally by systematically varying the relative spatial phase in two dimensions, while monitoring the vertically induced drift and the temperature. A relative spatial phase range of 2pi x 2pi is covered. We show that a drift, controllable both in speed and direction, can be achieved, by varying the phase both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of the measured induced drift. The experimental results are qualitatively reproduced by numerical simulations of a simplified, classical model of the system

Two decades of pulsar timing of Vela

Pulsar timing at the Mt Pleasant observatory has focused on Vela, which can be tracked for 18 hours of the day. These nearly continuous timing records extend over 24 years allowing a greater insight into details of timing noise, micro glitches and other more exotic effects. In particular we report the glitch parameters of the 2004 event, along with the reconfirmation that the spin up for the Vela pulsar occurs instantaneously to the accuracy of the data. This places a lower limit of about 30 seconds for the acceleration of the pulsar to the new rotational frequency. We also confirm of the low braking index for Vela, and the continued fall in the DM for this pulsar.Comment: Isolated Neutron Stars conference, London, April 24-28 200