4,029 research outputs found
Is My Exercise Partner Similar Enough? Partner Characteristics as a Moderator of the Köhler Effect in Exergames
Objective: Recent research has shown the Köhler motivation gain effect (working at a task with a more capable partner where one's performance is indispensable to the group) leads to greater effort in partnered exercise videogame play. The purpose of this article was to examine potential moderators of the Köhler effect by exploring dissimilarities in one's partner's appearance, namely, having an older partner (compared with a same-age partner) and having a heavier-weight partner (compared with a same-weight partner).
Subjects and Methods: One hundred fifty-three male and female college students completed a series of plank exercises using the âEyeToy: Kineticâąâ for the PlayStationÂź 2 (Sony, Tokyo, Japan). Participants first completed the exercises individually and, after a rest, completed the same exercises with a virtually present partner. Exercise persistence, subjective effort, self-efficacy beliefs, enjoyment, and intentions to exercise were recorded and analyzed.
Results: A significant Köhler motivation gain was observed in all partner conditions (compared with individual controls) such that participants with a partner held the plank exercises longer (P<0.001) and reported higher subjective effort (P<0.01). These results were unmoderated by partner's age and weight, with one exception: Males tended to persist longer when paired with an obese partner (P=0.08).
Conclusions: These results suggest that differences in age and weight do not attenuate the Köhler effect in exergames and may even strengthen it
Frequent somatic loss of BRCA1 in breast tumours from BRCA2 germ-line mutation carriers and vice versa
Breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are tumour suppressor genes the alleles of which have to be inactivated before tumour development occurs. Hereditary breast cancers linked to germ-line mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes almost invariably show allelic imbalance (AI) at the respective loci. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are believed to take part in a common pathway in maintenance of genomic integrity in cells. We carried out AI and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses of BRCA2 in breast tumours from germ-line BRCA1 mutation carriers and vice versa. For comparison, 14 sporadic breast tumours were also studied. 8 of the 11 (73%) informative BRCA1 mutation tumours showed AI at the BRCA2 locus. 53% of these tumours showed a copy number loss of the BRCA2 gene by FISH. 5 of the 6 (83%) informative BRCA2 mutation tumours showed AI at the BRCA1 locus. Half of the tumours (4/8) showed a physical deletion of the BRCA1 gene by FISH. Combined allelic loss of both BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene was seen in 12 of the 17 (71%) informative hereditary tumours, whereas copy number losses of both BRCA genes was seen in only 4/14 (29%) sporadic control tumours studied by FISH. In conclusion, the high prevalence of AI at BRCA1 in BRCA2 mutation tumours and vice versa suggests that somatic events occurring at the other breast cancer susceptibility gene locus may be selected in the cancer development. The mechanism resulting in AI at these loci seems more complex than a physical deletion. ââhttp://www.bjcancer.com © 2001 Cancer Research Campaig
Noise in neurons is message-dependent
Neuronal responses are conspicuously variable. We focus on one particular
aspect of that variability: the precision of action potential timing. We show
that for common models of noisy spike generation, elementary considerations
imply that such variability is a function of the input, and can be made
arbitrarily large or small by a suitable choice of inputs. Our considerations
are expected to extend to virtually any mechanism of spike generation, and we
illustrate them with data from the visual pathway. Thus, a simplification
usually made in the application of information theory to neural processing is
violated: noise {\sl is not independent of the message}. However, we also show
the existence of {\sl error-correcting} topologies, which can achieve better
timing reliability than their components.Comment: 6 pages,6 figures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(in press
Peacock Bundles: Bundle Coloring for Graphs with Globality-Locality Trade-off
Bundling of graph edges (node-to-node connections) is a common technique to
enhance visibility of overall trends in the edge structure of a large graph
layout, and a large variety of bundling algorithms have been proposed. However,
with strong bundling, it becomes hard to identify origins and destinations of
individual edges. We propose a solution: we optimize edge coloring to
differentiate bundled edges. We quantify strength of bundling in a flexible
pairwise fashion between edges, and among bundled edges, we quantify how
dissimilar their colors should be by dissimilarity of their origins and
destinations. We solve the resulting nonlinear optimization, which is also
interpretable as a novel dimensionality reduction task. In large graphs the
necessary compromise is whether to differentiate colors sharply between locally
occurring strongly bundled edges ("local bundles"), or also between the weakly
bundled edges occurring globally over the graph ("global bundles"); we allow a
user-set global-local tradeoff. We call the technique "peacock bundles".
Experiments show the coloring clearly enhances comprehensibility of graph
layouts with edge bundling.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on
Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016
âNourishing Communionâ: A Less Recognized Dimension of Support For Young Persons Facing Mental Health Challenges?
This study, the third in a series of three, draws on a broader Norwegian research project exploring the phenomenon of support for young persons with mental health issues. The aim was to explore and explicate the sense of ânourishing communionâ, as a somewhat neglected aspect of support. Fourteen Norwegian young adults, aged 18-25, were interviewed about their experiences of support. Data was analyzed using van Manenâs hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to open up possible meanings of how nourishing communion is concretely lived. Analysis was supplemented by in-depth reflexive dialogues between the first and second author, which fostered a nourishing communion akin to the processes and dimensions of our phenomenon of interest. Findings highlight five intertwined existential themes: a) trusting the other to hold vulnerability safely; b) flourishing in mutual participation; c) acceptance in a felt togetherness; d) feeling found and received; and e) feeling an attuned resonance. The notion of ânourishing communionâ as a significant but neglected element of support challenges current practice, suggesting the need for a different approach to collaboration with young persons and their networks. From the perspectives both of individual professional engagement and of policy making, there is a need for further exploration of how young persons might be supported to create and maintain a broader range of nourishing relationships
Measuring the proton spectrum in neutron decay - latest results with aSPECT
The retardation spectrometer aSPECT was built to measure the shape of the
proton spectrum in free neutron decay with high precision. This allows us to
determine the antineutrino electron angular correlation coefficient a. We aim
for a precision more than one order of magnitude better than the present best
value, which is Delta_a /a = 5%.
In a recent beam time performed at the Institut Laue-Langevin during April /
May 2008 we reached a statistical accuracy of about 2% per 24 hours measurement
time. Several systematic effects were investigated experimentally. We expect
the total relative uncertainty to be well below 5%.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Conference Proceedings of the
International Workshop on Particle Physics with Slow Neutrons 2008 held at
the ILL, France. To be published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in
Physics Research, Section
Plate-impact loading of cellular structures formed by selective laser melting
Porous materials are of great interest because of improved energy absorption over their solid counterparts. Their properties, however, have been difficult to optimize. Additive manufacturing has emerged as a potential technique to closely define the structure and properties of porous components, i.e. density, strut width and pore size; however, the behaviour of these materials at very high impact energies remains largely unexplored. We describe an initial study of the dynamic compression response of lattice materials fabricated through additive manufacturing. Lattices consisting of an array of intersecting stainless steel rods were fabricated into discs using selective laser melting. The resulting discs were impacted against solid stainless steel targets at velocities ranging from 300 to 700 m s-1 using a gas gun. Continuum CTH simulations were performed to identify key features in the measured wave profiles, while 3D simulations, in which the individual cells were modelled, revealed details of microscale deformation during collapse of the lattice structure. The validated computer models have been used to provide an understanding of the deformation processes in the cellular samples. The study supports the optimization of cellular structures for application as energy absorbers. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd
In search of phylogenetic congruence between molecular and morphological data in bryozoans with extreme adult skeletal heteromorphy
peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=tsab20© Crown Copyright 2015. This document is the author's final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it
On the Two Spectra Inverse Problem for Semi-Infinite Jacobi Matrices
We present results on the unique reconstruction of a semi-infinite Jacobi
operator from the spectra of the operator with two different boundary
conditions. This is the discrete analogue of the Borg-Marchenko theorem for
Schr{\"o}dinger operators in the half-line. Furthermore, we give necessary and
sufficient conditions for two real sequences to be the spectra of a Jacobi
operator with different boundary conditions.Comment: In this slightly revised version we have reworded some of the
theorems, and we updated two reference
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