The impact of the mode of thought in complex decisions: intuitive decisions are better

A number of recent studies have reported that decision quality is enhanced under conditions of inattention or distraction (unconscious thought; Dijksterhuis, 2004; Dijksterhuis and Nordgren, 2006; Dijksterhuis et al., 2006). These reports have generated considerable controversy, for both experimental (problems of replication) and theoretical reasons (interpretation). Here we report the results of four experiments. The first experiment replicates the unconscious thought effect, under conditions that validate and control the subjective criterion of decision quality. The second and third experiments examine the impact of a mode of thought manipulation (without distraction) on decision quality in immediate decisions. Here we find that intuitive or affective manipulations improve decision quality compared to analytic/deliberation manipulations. The fourth experiment combines the two methods (distraction and mode of thought manipulations) and demonstrates enhanced decision quality, in a situation that attempts to preserve ecological validity. The results are interpreted within a framework that is based on two interacting subsystems of decision-making: an affective/intuition based system and an analytic/deliberation system

Interference between direct ionisation and positronium formation in continuum in positron-hydrogen collisions

The fully differential cross section for positron-impact ionisation of hydrogen is calculated in a two-centre Born approximation. It is suggested that two-centre approaches to the problem should assume incoherent combination of contributions from direct ionisation of the atom and positronium formation in continuum

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the linear sigma model at finite chemical potential: One-loop corrections

We investigate spontaneous symmetry breaking within the linear sigma model with the SU(2)xU(1) internal symmetry at finite chemical potential, which was suggested as a model for kaon condensation in the CFL phase of dense quark matter. One-loop corrections to the scalar field effective potential as well as its propagator are calculated. Particular attention is paid to the type-II Goldstone boson that appears in the Bose--Einstein condensed phase. Furthermore, we show that the type-I Goldstone boson -- the superfluid phonon -- is allowed to decay due to the nonlinearity of its dispersion relation at high momentum, and determine its decay width.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX4, 37 eps figures; v2: substantial error in Sec. IV corrected, references added, other minor corrections; version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Dynamical breakdown of Abelian gauge chiral symmetry by strong Yukawa interactions

We consider a model with anomaly-free Abelian gauge axial-vector symmetry, which is intended to mimic the standard electroweak gauge chiral SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y theory. Within this model we demonstrate: (1) Strong Yukawa interactions between massless fermion fields and a massive scalar field carrying the axial charge generate dynamically the fermion and boson proper self-energies, which are ultraviolet-finite and chirally noninvariant. (2) Solutions of the underlying Schwinger-Dyson equations found numerically exhibit a huge amplification of the fermion mass ratios as a response to mild changes of the ratios of the Yukawa couplings. (3) The `would-be' Nambu-Goldstone boson is a composite of both the fermion and scalar fields, and it gives rise to the mass of the axial-vector gauge boson. (4) Spontaneous breakdown of the gauge symmetry further manifests by mass splitting of the complex scalar and by new symmetry-breaking vertices, generated at one loop. In particular, we work out in detail the cubic vertex of the Abelian gauge boson.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX4, 10 eps figures; additional remarks and references added; version published in Phys. Rev.

Instability of free interfaces in premixed flame propagation

In this survey, we are interested in the instability of flame fronts regarded as free interfaces. We successively consider a classical Arrhenius kinetics (thin flame) and a stepwise ignition-tempera ture kinetics (thick flame) with two free interfaces. A general method initially developed for thin flame problems subject to interface jump conditions is proving to be an effective strategy for smoother thick flame systems. It relies on the elimination of the free interface(s) and reduction to a fully nonlinear parabolic problem. The theory of analytic semigroups is a key tool to study the linearized operators

Physiological Responses to Acute Silver Exposure in the Freshwater Crayfish (\u3cem\u3eCambarus diogenes diogenes\u3c/em\u3e)—A Model Invertebrate?

Adult crayfish (Cambarus diogenes diogenes) exposed to 8.41 ± 0.17 μg silver/L (19.4% as Ag+) in moderately hard freshwater under flow-through conditions for 96 h exhibited ionoregulatory disturbance, elevated metabolic ammonia (Tamm) production and substantial silver accumulation in the gills, hemolymph, and hepatopancreas. The ionoregulatory disturbance included both a generally reduced unidirectional Na1 influx and an increased unidirectional Na+ efflux, leading to a substantial net loss of Na+ from the silver-exposed crayfish. The Na+ uptake in silver-exposed crayfish differed overall from controls, while the increased Na+ efflux recovered to control values 48 h into the 96 h of exposure. The general inhibition of Na+ uptake could be explained by a reduced sodium/potassium-adenosine triphosphatase (Na/K-ATPase) activity in terminally obtained gill samples from the silver exposed crayfish. The silver-induced effect on Na+ uptake and loss translated to reduced hemolymph Na+ concentrations but not significantly reduced hemolymph Cl- concentrations. Hemolymph Tamm and Tamm efflux both increased in silver-exposed crayfish, indicating an increased metabolic Tamm production. The present study demonstrates that the toxic mechanism of waterborne silver exposure in freshwater crayfish resembles that of freshwater teleost fish. The crayfish might therefore be a useful model system for extending current environmental regulatory strategies, currently based on teleost fish, to invertebrates

Representation of the three-body Coulomb Green's function in parabolic coordinates: paths of integration

The possibility is discussed of using straight-line paths of integration in computing the integral representation of the three-body Coulomb Green's function. In our numerical examples two different integration contours are considered. It is demonstrated that only one of these straight-line paths provides that the integral representation is valid

Histological and immunohistochemical evaluation of mandibular bone tissue regeneration

The purpose of the study was to perform an immunohistochemical and histological evaluation of samples taken from different bone regeneration procedures in atrophic human mandible. 30 patients (15 men and 15 women, age range of 35-60 years), non-smokers, with good general and oral health were recruited in this study and divided into three groups. The first group included patients who were treated with blood Concentration Growth Factors (bCGF), the second group included patients who were treated with a mixture of bCGF and autologous bone, while the third group of patients was treated with bCGF and tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite (TCP-HA). Six months after the regenerative procedures, all patients undergone implant surgery, and a bone biopsy was carried out in the site of implant insertion. Each sample was histologically and immunohistochemically examined. Histological evaluation showed a complete bone formation for group II, partial ossification for group I, and moderate ossification for group III. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the three groups, and the best clinical result was obtained with a mixture of bCGF and autologous bone

Instabilities in a combustion model with two free interfaces

We study in a strip of R2 a combustion model of flame propagation with stepwise temperature kinetics and zero-order reaction, characterized by two free interfaces, respectively the ignition and the trailing fronts. The latter interface presents an additional difficulty because the non-degeneracy condition is not met. We turn the system to a fully nonlinear problem which is thoroughly investigated. When the width ℓ of the strip is sufficiently large, we prove the existence of a critical value Lec of the Lewis number Le, such that the one-dimensional, planar, solution is unstable for

Nuclear Fusion via Triple Collisions in Solar Plasma

We consider several nuclear fusion reactions that take place at the center of the sun, which are omitted in the standard pp-chain model. More specifically the reaction rates of the nonradiative production of ^3He, ^7Be, and ^8B nuclei in triple collisions involving electrons are estimated within the framework of the adiabatic approximation. These rates are compared with those of the corresponding binary fusion reactions.Comment: 3 pages, latex (RevTex), no figure