Incorporating family function into chronic pain disability: the role of catastrophizing

Background. Observers' responses to pain are recently investigated to more comprehensively explain chronic pain (CP) and disability. However, the role of family context, defined as interference in roles, communication, and problem-solving, and how (i.e., through which mechanisms) these variables contribute to CP related disability have yet to be examined. Objectives. The aim of the present study is to examine family context in relationship to pain catastrophizing, fear of movement, and depression and its role in understanding CP disability. Three different models were examined. Methods. A total sample of 142 patients with musculoskeletal chronic pain was recruited to examine the role of fear of movement, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and depression in relationship to family functioning as predictors of disability. Results. Findings indicated that two models showed acceptable fit, but one of them revealed superior fit indices. Results of the model with superior fit indices indicated that family dysfunction may contribute to catastrophic thinking, which, in turn, contributes to patients' disability through increasing fear of movement and depression. Discussion. The current study provides further support for the notion that the impact of emotional and cognitive variables upon CP-related disability can be better understood when we consider the social context of pain patients and family function in particular

Effect of cement on treatment of a clay soil contaminated with glycerol

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Society of Civil Engineers via the DOI in this record.An investigation into the behavior of a contaminated clay soil and its treatment was carried out through a program of experimental tests. The contaminated soil samples were prepared with different percentages (3, 6, and 9%) of a glycerol solution with 40% concentration. The samples were prepared as mixtures of clean or glycerol-contaminated soil with different cement contents (3, 6, and 9%). Atterberg limits and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were conducted on the samples. The results showed that Atterberg limits are reduced by adding glycerol or cement or adding glycerol to soil-cement. Both the strength and stiffness of the contaminated soil are reduced by increasing the degree of contamination. The results of treated soil showed that adding cement to contaminated soil increases the strength and the amount of increase in strength is dependent on the percent of cement, curing time and degree of contamination. Based on scanning electron microscopy analysis, it was found that the presence of glycerol prevents the interaction between soil and cement

Staggered Quantum Walks With Superconducting Microwave Resonators

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)The staggered quantum walk is a model defined by the product of local operators associated with two or more independent graph tessellations. This model is versatile, encompasses several well-known discrete-time quantum walks, and inherits interesting features of the continuous-time quantum walk. We propose an implementation of the staggered quantum walk model with superconducting microwave resonators, where the required local operations are provided by the nearest neighbor interaction of the resonators coupled through superconducting quantum interference devices. The tunability of the interactions makes this system an excellent toolbox for this class of quantum walks. We focus on the one-dimensional case and discuss its generalization to a more general class known as triangle-free graphs.9514CNPq [PDJ 165941/2014-6, 303406/2015-1, 474143/2013-9]FAPESP through the Research Center in Optics and Photonics (CePOF)Faperj [26/102.350/2013]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Quantum simulation of the Anderson Hamiltonian with an array of coupled nanoresonators: delocalization and thermalization effects

The possibility of using nanoelectromechanical systems as a simulation tool for quantum many-body effects is explored. It is demonstrated that an array of electrostatically coupled nanoresonators can effectively simulate the Bose-Hubbard model without interactions, corresponding in the single-phonon regime to the Anderson tight-binding model. Employing a density matrix formalism for the system coupled to a bosonic thermal bath, we study the interplay between disorder and thermalization, focusing on the delocalization process. It is found that the phonon population remains localized for a long time at low enough temperatures; with increasing temperatures the localization is rapidly lost due to thermal pumping of excitations into the array, producing in the equilibrium a fully thermalized system. Finally, we consider a possible experimental design to measure the phonon population in the array by means of a superconducting transmon qubit coupled to individual nanoresonators. We also consider the possibility of using the proposed quantum simulator for realizing continuous-time quantum walks.Comment: Replaced with new improved version. To appear in EPJ Q

AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING JAPANESE LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SRI LANKA

The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivation and attitudes of students in secondary schools (G.C.E. Advanced Level classes) towards learning Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) in Sri Lanka. Further, it examines whether JFL students are instrumentally or integratively motivated to study Japanese. This study adapted a quantitative research paradigm and used a questionnaire for collection of data. The study focuses on investigating the two important social psychological variables introduced in Gardner’s socio educational model, which are the instrumental motivation and integrative motivation. The international version (2004) of Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) was used to examine the students’ attitudes and motivation levels. A systematic sampling was used under the complex probability sampling method. The results discovered that the integrative motivation of the students was slightly greater than the instrumental motivation. Further, it was found that the students had positive attitudes towards learning situation which are language course and the language teacher. The findings shows that JFL learners in G.C.E. Advanced level classes were less likely to hold utilitarian and academic reasons for learning Japanese. However, the results proved that their attitudes towards the Japanese language community and its members were highly positive. Finally, the study introduces some pedagogical implications that would help to enhance the students’ motivation and attitudes.  Article visualizations

Chronic pain and selective attention to pain arousing daily activity pictures: evidence from an eye tracking study

Introduction: According to the pain research literature, attentional bias for pain is the mechanism responsible for the development and maintenance of fear of pain in patients with chronic pain. However, there is still some debate about the exact mechanism and the role of faster engagement versus difficulty in disengagement in the development of attentional bias. Methods: To investigate attentional bias in patients with chronic pain, we used an eye-tracker with the pictures of pain-provoking activities and compared the results with an age- and gender-matched group of pain-free participants. In addition, other measures of pain-related cognition and pain severity ratings were included to assess their contribution to the attentional bias toward pain-related information. Results: Calculating the frequency of the first fixations showed that both groups fixated initially on pain-provoking pictures compared to neutral one. Calculating the speed of fixations showed that control participants were faster in fixating on neutral stimuli, but patients with pain were faster in fixating on pain-provoking pictures, indicating a relative vigilance for the pain-related stimuli among them. These patients reported that the intensity of pain in the previous week was positively correlated with the speed of their fixation on the painful stimuli. Conclusion: Although these results did not provide unequivocal support for the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis, they are generally consistent with the results of studies using eye tracking technology. Furthermore, our findings put a question over characterization of attentional biases in patients with chronic pain by simply relating that to difficulty in disengaging from pain-related stimuli

Impact of Customer Perception towards Online Business in Malaysia: An Empirical Study

The use of social networks has become a phenomenon of great importance to the business environment nowadays. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of customer perception towards online business in Malaysia. A total of 100 respondents aged 21 years and above were involved in this survey. Prior to the hypothesis testing, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), reliability analyses for each construct, correlation and regression were conducted to achieve the research objectives. The results found that the online business has the opportunity of doing business with a lower cost by using customer perception as their marketing platform. Thus, this online business required to be assisted by the government in order to provide the proper business courses and to comply with the law. The implication of the study would draw the bigger picture in business milieu. Although online business is generally is in the infant stage, but given the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of business and with proper guidance, there will be a future for them and there can be an expectation to expand the business on to the next level. Keywords: Customer Perception, Online Business, Malaysi