Aggressions, social cognitions, anger and sadness in bullies and victims

Background: The present study aimed to investigate children's social information processing (SIP) and emotions in the bullying situation, taking into account reactive and proactive aggression. More specifically, we investigated the way in which children interpret social information, which goals they select, how they evaluate their responses and which emotions they express in hypothetical situations. Method: The participants comprised 242 Dutch children (120 girls and 122 boys; mean age: 117.2 months), who were assigned by means of peer nominations (Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, et al., 1996) to one of the following roles: bully (n = 21), follower of the bully (n = 38), victim (n = 35), defender of the victim (n = 48), outsider (n = 52) and not involved (n = 32). Sixteen children (including 3 bully/victims) were not given any role. The reactive and proactive aggression scale (Dodge, & Coie, 1987) was filled out by teachers in order to test the association between these types of aggression and involvement in bullying. Children were presented with ambiguous scenarios and responded to questions about attribution of intent, goal selection and emotions (anger and sadness). In addition, two questionnaires were administered to children: one assessed perceived self-efficacy in performing aggression, inhibiting aggression and using verbal persuasion skills, and the other assessed expected outcomes from behaving aggressively or prosocially. Results: Results showed that while reactive aggression was common in bullies and victims, proactive aggression was only characteristic of bullies. Both bullies and victims, compared to the other children, scored higher on hostile interpretation, anger, retaliation and ease of aggression. Bullies and followers claimed that it was easy for them to use verbal persuasion, while victims turned out to be the saddest group. All children, irrespective of their role in the peer group, thought that aggressive as well as prosocial behavior was more likely to produce desired results from a friendly peer than from an aggressive one. Conclusions: Bullies and victims seem to be similar in reactive aggression, SIP, and in the expression of anger, but the motivations which lead to their behavior may be different, as well as the final outcomes of their acts. © Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2004

Optical investigation on the electronic structures of Y_{2}Ru_{2}O_{7}, CaRuO_{3}, SrRuO_{3}, and Bi_{2}Ru_{2}O_{7}

We investigated the electronic structures of the bandwidth-controlled ruthenates, Y$_{2}$Ru$_{2}$O$_{7}$, CaRuO$_{3}$, SrRuO$_{3}$, and Bi$_{2}$Ru$_{2}$O$_{7}$, by optical conductivity analysis in a wide energy region of 5 meV $\sim$ 12 eV. We could assign optical transitions from the systematic changes of the spectra and by comparison with the O 1$s$ x-ray absorption data. We estimated some physical parameters, such as the on-site Coulomb repulsion energy and the crystal-field splitting energy. These parameters show that the 4$d$ orbitals should be more extended than 3$d$ ones. These results are also discussed in terms of the Mott-Hubbard model.Comment: 12 pages (1 table), 3 figure

The Intentional Use of Service Recovery Strategies to Influence Consumer Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour

Service recovery strategies have been identified as a critical factor in the success of. service organizations. This study develops a conceptual frame work to investigate how specific service recovery strategies influence the emotional, cognitive and negative behavioural responses of . consumers., as well as how emotion and cognition influence negative behavior. Understanding the impact of specific service recovery strategies will allow service providers' to more deliberately and intentionally engage in strategies that result in positive organizational outcomes. This study was conducted using a 2 x 2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design. The results suggest that service recovery has a significant impact on emotion, cognition and negative behavior. Similarly, satisfaction, negative emotion and positive emotion all influence negative behavior but distributive justice has no effect

Markerless monocular tracking system for guided external eye surgery

This paper presents a novel markerless monocular tracking system aimed at guiding ophthalmologists during external eye surgery. This new tracking system performs a very accurate tracking of the eye by detecting invariant points using only textures that are present in the sclera, i.e., without using traditional features like the pupil and/or cornea reflections, which remain partially or totally occluded in most surgeries. Two known algorithms that compute invariant points and correspondences between pairs of images were implemented in our system: Scalable Invariant Feature Transforms (SIFT) and Speed Up Robust Features (SURF). The results of experiments performed on phantom eyes show that, with either algorithm, the developed system tracks a sphere at a 360◦ rotation angle with an error that is lower than 0.5%. Some experiments have also been carried out on images of real eyes showing promising behavior of the system in the presence of blood or surgical instruments during real eye surgery. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Monserrat Aranda, C.; Rupérez Moreno, MJ.; Alcañiz Raya, ML.; Mataix, J. (2014). Markerless monocular tracking system for guided external eye surgery. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics. 38(8):785-792. doi:10.1016/j.compmedimag.2014.08.001S78579238

Precise Measurements of Beam Spin Asymmetries in Semi-Inclusive π0\pi^0 production

We present studies of single-spin asymmetries for neutral pion electroproduction in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering of 5.776 GeV polarized electrons from an unpolarized hydrogen target, using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. A substantial $\sin \phi_h$ amplitude has been measured in the distribution of the cross section asymmetry as a function of the azimuthal angle $\phi_h$ of the produced neutral pion. The dependence of this amplitude on Bjorken $x$ and on the pion transverse momentum is extracted with significantly higher precision than previous data and is compared to model calculations.Comment: to be submitted PL

First measurement of direct f0(980)f_0(980) photoproduction on the proton

We report on the results of the first measurement of exclusive $f_0(980)$ meson photoproduction on protons for $E_\gamma=3.0 - 3.8$ GeV and $-t = 0.4-1.0$ GeV$^2$. Data were collected with the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The resonance was detected via its decay in the $\pi^+ \pi^-$ channel by performing a partial wave analysis of the reaction $\gamma p \to p \pi^+ \pi^-$. Clear evidence of the $f_0(980)$ meson was found in the interference between $P$ and $S$ waves at $M_{\pi^+ \pi^-}\sim 1$ GeV. The $S$-wave differential cross section integrated in the mass range of the $f_0(980)$ was found to be a factor of 50 smaller than the cross section for the $\rho$ meson. This is the first time the $f_0(980)$ meson has been measured in a photoproduction experiment

Long term outcomes of biomaterial-mediated repair of focal cartilage defects in a large animal model

The repair of focal cartilage defects remains one of the foremost issues in the field of orthopaedics. Chondral defects may arise from a variety of joint pathologies and left untreated, will likely progress to osteoarthritis. Current repair techniques, such as microfracture, result in short-term clinical improvements but have poor long-term outcomes. Emerging scaffold-based repair strategies have reported superior outcomes compared to microfracture and motivate the development of new biomaterials for this purpose. In this study, unique composite implants consisting of a base porous reinforcing component (woven poly(ε-caprolactone)) infiltrated with 1 of 2 hydrogels (self-assembling peptide or thermo-gelling hyaluronan) or bone marrow aspirate were evaluated. The objective was to evaluate cartilage repair with composite scaffold treatment compared to the current standard of care (microfracture) in a translationally relevant large animal model, the Yucatan minipig. While many cartilage-repair studies have shown some success in vivo, most are short term and not clinically relevant. Informed by promising 6-week findings, a 12-month study was carried out and those results are presented here. To aid in comparisons across platforms, several structural and functionally relevant outcome measures were performed. Despite positive early findings, the long-term results indicated less than optimal structural and mechanical results with respect to cartilage repair, with all treatment groups performing worse than the standard of care. This study is important in that it brings much needed attention to the importance of performing translationally relevant long-term studies in an appropriate animal model when developing new clinical cartilage repair approaches

Prostate cancer and Hedgehog signalling pathway

[Abstract] The Hedgehog (Hh) family of intercellular signalling proteins have come to be recognised as key mediators in many fundamental processes in embryonic development. Their activities are central to the growth, patterning and morphogenesis of many different regions within the bodies of vertebrates. In some contexts, Hh signals act as morphogens in the dose-dependent induction of distinct cell fates within a target field, in others as mitogens in the regulation of cell proliferation or as inducing factors controlling the form of a developing organ. These diverse functions of Hh proteins raise many intriguing questions about their mode of action. Various studies have now demonstrated the function of Hh signalling in the control of cell proliferation, especially for stem cells and stem-like progenitors. Abnormal activation of the Hh pathway has been demonstrated in a variety of human tumours. Hh pathway activity in these tumours is required for cancer cell proliferation and tumour growth. Recent studies have uncovered the role for Hh signalling in advanced prostate cancer and demonstrated that autocrine signalling by tumour cells is required for proliferation, viability and invasive behaviour. Thus, Hh signalling represents a novel pathway in prostate cancer that offers opportunities for prognostic biomarker development, drug targeting and therapeutic response monitoring

The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment in diverse geographical and ethnocultural regions: The COSMIC Collaboration

Background Changes in criteria and differences in populations studied and methodology have produced a wide range of prevalence estimates for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods Uniform criteria were applied to harmonized data from 11 studies from USA, Europe, Asia and Australia, and MCI prevalence estimates determined using three separate definitions of cognitive impairment. Results The published range of MCI prevalence estimates was 5.0%-36.7%. This was reduced with all cognitive impairment definitions: performance in the bottom 6.681% (3.2%-10.8%); Clinical Dementia Rating of 0.5 (1.8%-14.9%); Mini-Mental State Examination score of 24-27 (2.1%-20.7%). Prevalences using the first definition were 5.9% overall, and increased with age (P < .001) but were unaffected by sex or the main races/ethnicities investigated (Whites and Chinese). Not completing high school increased the likelihood of MCI (P = .01). Conclusion Applying uniform criteria to harmonized data greatly reduced the variation in MCI prevalence internationally

Evidence for the Onset of Color Transparency in ρ0\rho^0 Electroproduction off Nuclei

We have measured the nuclear transparency of the incoherent diffractive $A(e,e'\rho^0)$ process in $^{12}$C and $^{56}$Fe targets relative to $^2$H using a 5 GeV electron beam. The nuclear transparency, the ratio of the produced $\rho^0$'s on a nucleus relative to deuterium, which is sensitive to $\rho A$ interaction, was studied as function of the coherence length ($l_c$), a lifetime of the hadronic fluctuation of the virtual photon, and the four-momentum transfer squared ($Q^2$). While the transparency for both $^{12}$C and $^{56}$Fe showed no $l_c$ dependence, a significant $Q^2$ dependence was measured, which is consistent with calculations that included the color transparency effects.Comment: 6 pages and 4 figure