Self-Efficacy Matters More Than Interruptions in a Sequential Multitasking Experiment

Interruptions and multitasking have received a great deal of attention from researchers. The present study is the first to examine task self-efficacy along with interruptions in an experimental multitasking framework. Perceptions of resumption lag times and task rehearsal were also examined. Participants (N= 110) completed a primary task (puzzle) with some being interrupted to pursue a secondary task (a word search) either once or four times. Uninterrupted participants completed the puzzle 26% faster than those interrupted once and 30% faster than those interrupted four times. However, self-efficacy predicted performance much more strongly than did interruptions, and therefore should receive more attention in future studies. Participants generally disagreed that they experienced resumption lags or task rehearsal. Practically, the results indicate that training to the point of high self-efficacy on tasks will do more to enhance performance than would eliminating interruptions. In reality, such training is likely easier to accomplish

Bostonia: The Boston University Alumni Magazine. Volume 29

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Sentencing Outcomes of Convicted Child Sex Offenders

This research examines the sentencing outcomes of convicted child sexual offenders from data collected over an eight year period. Multiple regression and nominal log linear regression are used to examine length of prison sentence, length of probation sentence, and whether or not the convicted offender is actually sent to prison or to probation. While many independent variables appear to be related to sentence outcome, they fall into three categories: characteristics of the offender, characteristics of the victim, and characteristics of the crime. Additionally, while many variables appear related at the bivariate level, when multivariate analysis is applied, fewer variables remain significant and these are mostly from the characteristics of the offense

A Positive Deviance-based Antenatal Nutrition Project Improves Birth-weight in Upper Egypt

The positive deviance approach identifies and promotes existing uncommon healthy behaviours. A positive deviance-informed antenatal project was pilot-tested in Al-Minia Governorate, Upper Egypt, during 2003–2004, after a positive deviance study in 2000 found that successful pregnancies had increased consumption of meat and vegetables, daytime rest, and antenatal care; less second-hand smoke exposure; and symptoms of no urinary tract infection. Accordingly, health facilities were upgraded in target and comparison areas to provide quality antenatal care, including treatment of urinary tract infection. Additionally, in the target villages, women at-risk of delivering low-birth-weight infants were enrolled in weekly ‘IMPRESS’ (improved pregnancy through education and supplementation) sessions with counselling and supplemental food. In total, 519 women (344 target, 175 comparison) were enrolled in the third or fourth month of pregnancy and were followed through delivery. Birth-weights of the target mothers increased 2.2 times more than birth-weights of the comparison mothers over baseline (mean increase: 0.58 vs 0.26 g respectively, p<0.01). Similarly, the decrease in prevalence of low birth-weight from baseline was greater in the target villages than in the comparison mothers (% of decrease: 26.9 vs 11.9 respectively, p<0.01). The target at-risk women were far more likely than their counterparts to report eating more food (54.9% vs 10.6%), more meat (57.1% vs 4.2%), more vegetables (66.9% vs 5.3%), increasing daytime rest (64.1% vs 11.7%), and avoiding second-hand smoke (91.3% vs 51.6%) during pregnancy. The cost per 100 g of improvement in birth-weight was US$ 3.98. The Government of Egypt and partners are scaling up the elements of the project

FIRE Spectroscopy of Five Late-type T Dwarfs Discovered with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

We present the discovery of five late-type T dwarfs identified with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with the Magellan Folded-port InfraRed Echellette (FIRE) reveal strong water and methane absorption in all five sources, and spectral indices and comparison to spectral templates indicate classifications ranging from T5.5 to T8.5:. The spectrum of the latest-type source, WISE J1812+2721, is an excellent match to that of the T8.5 companion brown dwarf Wolf 940B. WISE-based spectrophotometric distance estimates place these T dwarfs at 12-13 pc from the Sun, assuming they are single. Preliminary fits of the spectral data to the atmosphere models of Saumon & Marley indicate effective temperatures ranging from 600 K to 930 K, both cloudy and cloud-free atmospheres, and a broad range of ages and masses. In particular, two sources show evidence of both low surface gravity and cloudy atmospheres, tentatively supporting a trend noted in other young brown dwarfs and exoplanets. In contrast, the high proper motion T dwarf WISE J2018-7423 exhibits a suppressed K-band peak and blue spectrophotometric J-K colors indicative of an old, massive brown dwarf; however, it lacks the broadened Y-band peak seen in metal-poor counterparts. These results illustrate the broad diversity of low-temperature brown dwarfs that will be uncovered with WISE.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication to Ap

U.S. Physician-Scientist Workforce in the 21st Century: Recommendations to Attract and Sustain the Pipeline

The U.S. physician-scientist (PS) workforce is invaluable to the nation's biomedical research effort. It is through biomedical research that certain diseases have been eliminated, cures for others have been discovered, and medical procedures and therapies that save lives have been developed. Yet, the U.S. PS workforce has both declined and aged over the last several years. The resulting decreased inflow and outflow to the PS pipeline renders the system vulnerable to collapsing suddenly as the senior workforce retires. In November 2015, the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine hosted a consensus conference on the PS workforce to address issues impacting academic medical schools, with input from early-career PSs based on their individual experiences and concerns. One of the goals of the conference was to identify current impediments in attracting and supporting PSs and to develop a new set of recommendations for sustaining the PS workforce in 2016 and beyond. This Perspective reports on the opportunities and factors identified at the conference and presents five recommendations designed to increase entry into the PS pipeline and nine recommendations designed to decrease attrition from the PS workflow

Polls and the political process: the use of opinion polls by political parties and mass media organizations in European post‐communist societies (1990–95)

Opinion polling occupies a significant role within the political process of most liberal-capitalist societies, where it is used by governments, parties and the mass media alike. This paper examines the extent to which polls are used for the same purposes in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular, for bringing political elites and citizens together. It argues that these political elites are more concerned with using opinion polls for gaining competitive advantage over their rivals and for reaffirming their political power, than for devolving political power to citizens and improving the general processes of democratization

Double-Peaked Low-Ionization Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei

We present a new sample of 116 double-peaked Balmer line Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Double-peaked emission lines are believed to originate in the accretion disks of AGN, a few hundred gravitational radii (Rg) from the supermassive black hole. We investigate the properties of the candidate disk emitters with respect to the full sample of AGN over the same redshifts, focusing on optical, radio and X-ray flux, broad line shapes and narrow line equivalent widths and line flux-ratios. We find that the disk-emitters have medium luminosities (~10^44erg/s) and FWHM on average six times broader than the AGN in the parent sample. The double-peaked AGN are 1.6 times more likely to be radio-sources and are predominantly (76%) radio quiet, with about 12% of the objects classified as LINERs. Statistical comparison of the observed double-peaked line profiles with those produced by axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric accretion disk models allows us to impose constraints on accretion disk parameters. The observed Halpha line profiles are consistent with accretion disks with inclinations smaller than 50 deg, surface emissivity slopes of 1.0-2.5, outer radii larger than ~2000 Rg, inner radii between 200-800Rg, and local turbulent broadening of 780-1800 km/s. The comparison suggests that 60% of accretion disks require some form of asymmetry (e.g., elliptical disks, warps, spiral shocks or hot spots).Comment: 60 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in AJ. For high quality figures and full tables, please see http://astro.princeton.edu/~iskra/disks.htm

Coronal X-Ray Emission from the Stellar Companions to Transiently Accreting Black Holes

Observations of soft X-ray transients (SXTs) in quiescence have found that the binaries harboring black holes are fainter than those that contain a neutron star. Narayan and collaborators postulated that the faint X-ray emission from black hole binaries was powered by an advection dominated accretion flow (ADAF). We explore an alternative explanation for the quiescent X-ray emission from the black hole systems: coronal emission from the rapidly rotating optical companion. This is commonly observed and well studied in other tidally locked binaries, such as the RS CVns. We show that two of the three X-ray detected black hole binaries (A0620-00 and GRO J1655-40) exhibit X-ray fluxes entirely consistent with coronal emission. The X-ray spectra of these objects should be best fit with thermal Raymond-Smith models rich in lines when coronal emission predominates. One black hole system (V404 Cyg) is too X-ray bright to be explained as coronal emission. The quiescent X-ray emission from the neutron star binaries is far too bright for coronal emission. It might be that all SXT's have variable accretion rates in quiescence and that the basal quiescent X-ray flux is set by either coronal emission from the companion or -- when present -- by thermal emission from the neutron star. We also show that the lithium abundances in the black hole systems are comparable to those in the RS CVns, reducing the need for production mechanisms that involve the compact object.Comment: ApJ, accepted (v541; Oct 1, 2000); Changes to figures and tables, minor modifications to text. Uses emulateapj.sty. 14 pages, 3 figure