Short Range Correlation measurements in the quasielastic region with an 11 GeV beam

Electron scattering is a significant means of studying internal high momentumnucleon and quark distributions in nuclei. Thomas Jefferson National AcceleratorFacility (JLab) with its 11GeV beam is capable of studying high momentum nucleonswith unmatched precision. The role of short range nucleon configurations andquark distributions is significant for understanding the dynamics of nuclei and theirunderlying components. Scattering cross section measurements in the kinematicregime x \u3e 1, where the free nucleon is forbidden, are sensitive to high momentumnucleons, which are believed to come from short range correlations (SRCs). SRCs arestrongly interacting, high momentum nucleons with a low center-of-mass momentumthat are highly decoupled from the nuclear environment. The focus of this researchis on precision measurements of 2N SRCs, the observation of 3N SRCs, and themeasurement of parton distribution functions at x \u3e

Ableist Microaggressions and Well-being: Investigating the Moderating Effect of Coping Strategies

Purpose/Objective: In prior research, ableist microaggressions have previously correlated with higher depressive symptoms in samples of members of the disability community. Since well-being is more than merely the absence of distressing mental health symptoms; the present study examines the relationship between ableist microaggressions and well-being and whether different coping strategies moderate the relationship. Research Method/Design: Adults (N = 132) who self-identified as having a disability or chronic health condition that significantly impacts one or more major life activities, were recruited online to complete a survey. Measures of well-being, ableist microaggressions, coping, and depression symptoms were administered via an online Qualtrics survey. Results: Participants ranged in age from 18 to 82-years-old and were Caucasian (61.4%), female (48.6%) The overall moderation model between ableist microaggressions and well-being with socially supported coping and avoidant coping as moderators with depression symptoms score and disability visibility as covariates was statistically significant F(7,124) = 16.397, p 2= .481. However, the main effect of ableist microaggression scores did not significantly predict well-being (b1 = -.093, t(124) = -.690, p =.492). Socially supported coping did predict well-being score; however, the interaction between ableist microaggression and socially supported coping was not significant. In the full sample avoidant coping did not predict well-being score. The covariates of depression symptoms and disability visibility did predict well-being. In post hoc analyses, disability visibility predicted higher ableist microaggressions score and higher well-being. The minimization factor from the ableist microaggression scale significantly predicted lower well-being scores and explained 12.7% of the variance. Conclusions/Implications: Results broadly consistent with prior literature in the common experiences of ableist microaggression for people with disabilities. The results support that socially supported coping predicts well-being, and that well-being is conceptually different than the absence of depression symptoms. Only minimization ableist microaggressions negatively correlated with well-being. Future research is needed to analyze protective factors to explain why those with more visible report more frequent ableist microaggressions and have higher well-being. Examining positive psychological constructs as an outcome variable helps expand the focus of clinical psychology to move beyond pathologizing and study what is associated with people flourishing

Mamey (Mammea americana L.) in Martinique Island : un patrimonio para ser valorizados

Introduction. Mamey (Mammea americana L., Clusiaceae) was present in Martini-que before the Spanish colonization. Its distribution area includes tropical America and the Carib-bean. A significant phenotypical diversity is observed on the island, with fruits of very uneven quality as well as various agronomic, pomological and biochemical characteristics. The aim of our work was to localize, identify and characterize trees considered of superior quality. Materials and methods. A survey carried out between April and September 2005 allowed the selection of 10 trees renowned by the people as bearing high-quality fruits. These fruits present a small number of seeds and nonadhesive pulp, and develop a sweet taste as well as a strong flavor. During the year 2006, pomological description and biochemical analysis (total soluble solids and total titrable acidity) were carried out on the fruits. Results and discussion. The biometric and biochemical characteristics measured were generally better than those cited in the literature. Some accessions stand out and present great assets for their promotion for the fresh market as well as for processing. Moreover, some tendencies emerged from the variability observed for a few characters: thus, the variability of the biochemical characteristics measured within one accession, as well as between accessions originating from the same land, is low. It is null for the seed adhesion to the pulp for fruits belonging to the same accession. Conclusion and perspectives. Our work is one of the first relating to identification and characterization of phenotypical diversity of the M. americana L. species, especially in Martinique Island. Our results are likely to pro-mote the development of a diversification network. Some highlighted trends suggest new research to be able to distinguish the role of the environmental versus genetic components in the performance of the phenotypes observed

Alcohol expectancies in childhood: Change with the onset of drinking and ability to predict adolescent drunkenness and binge drinking

Aims: Childhood expectancies about alcohol are present long before drinking begins. We examined the relationship between alcohol expectancies in childhood and onset of drinking, binge drinking, and drunkenness in adolescence and the influence of drinking onset on development of alcohol expectancies. Design: A prospective, longitudinal study of children assessed for alcohol expectancies and drinking at 4 time points between ages 6 and 17. Setting: Community study of families at high risk for alcoholism conducted in a 4-county area in the Midwest. Participants: The study involved 614 children; 460 were children of alcoholics and 70% were male. Measurements: Expectancies about effects of alcohol were measured using the Beverage Opinion Questionnaire and child’s drinking was measured using the Drinking and Drug History - Youth Form. Findings: Partial factor invariance was found for expectancy factors from age 6 to age 17. Survival analysis showed that social/relaxation expectancies in childhood predicted time to onset of binge drinking and first time drunk (Wald chi-square, 1 d.f. = 3.8, p < .05 and 5.1, p < .05, respectively). The reciprocal effect was also present; when adolescents began drinking, there was an increase in social/relaxation expectancy and a concomitant increase in slope of the expectancy change lasting throughout adolescence. Conclusions: A reciprocal relationship exists between childhood alcohol expectancies and involvement with alcohol. Higher expectancies for positive effects predict earlier onset of problem drinking. Onset of use, in turn, predicts an increase in rate of development of positive expectancies.NIH R37 AA07065 K01AA016591Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110697/1/Jester alcohol expectancies.pdfDescription of Jester alcohol expectancies.pdf : Main articl

E‐cigarette price sensitivity among middle‐ and high‐school students: evidence from monitoring the future

AimsWe estimated associations between e‐cigarette prices (both disposable and refill) and e‐cigarette use among middle and high‐school students in the United States. We also estimated associations between cigarette prices and e‐cigarette use.DesignWe used regression models to estimate the associations between e‐cigarette and cigarette prices and e‐cigarette use. In our regression models, we exploited changes in e‐cigarette and cigarette prices across four periods of time and across 50 markets. We report the associations as price elasticities. In our primary model, we controlled for socio‐demographic characteristics, cigarette prices, tobacco control policies, market fixed effects and year‐quarter fixed effects.SettingUnited States of America.ParticipantsA total of 24 370 middle‐ and high‐school students participating in the Monitoring the Future Survey in years 2014 and 2015.MeasurementsSelf‐reported e‐cigarette use over the last 30 days. Average quarterly cigarette prices, e‐cigarette disposable prices and e‐cigarette refill prices were constructed from Nielsen retail data (inclusive of excise taxes) for 50 US markets.FindingsIn a model with market fixed effects, we estimated that a 10% increase in e‐cigarette disposable prices is associated with a reduction in the number of days vaping among e‐cigarette users by approximately 9.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) = −17.7 to 1.8%; P = 0.02] and is associated with a reduction in the number of days vaping by the full sample by approximately 17.9% (95% CI = −31.5 to −4.2%; P = 0.01). Refill e‐cigarette prices were not statistically significant predictors of vaping. Cigarette prices were not associated significantly with e‐cigarette use regardless of the e‐cigarette price used. However, in a model without market fixed effects, cigarette prices were a statistically significant positive predictor of total e‐cigarette use.ConclusionsHigher e‐cigarette disposable prices appear to be associated with reduced e‐cigarette use among adolescents in the US.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143795/1/add14119_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143795/2/add14119.pd

Context-Specific Drinking and Social Anxiety: The Roles of Anticipatory Anxiety and Post-Event Processing

Individuals with clinically elevated social anxiety are especially vulnerable to alcohol-related problems, despite not drinking more than those with less anxiety. It is therefore important to identify contexts in which socially anxious persons drink more to inform intervention efforts. This study tested whether social anxiety was related to greater drinking before, during, or after a social event and whether such drinking was related to the psychosocial factors anticipatory anxiety or post-event processing (PEP; review of the social event). Among past-month drinkers, those with clinically elevated or higher social anxiety (HSA; n = 212) reported more anticipatory anxiety, more pre-event drinking to manage anxiety, and PEP than those with normative or lower social anxiety (LSA; n = 365). There was a significant indirect effect of social anxiety on pre-drinking via anticipatory anxiety. Social anxiety was related to more drinking during the event indirectly via the serial effects of anticipatory anxiety and pre-drinking. Unexpectedly, PEP did not mediate or moderate the relation between social anxiety and post-event drinking. In sum, anticipatory anxiety was related to more drinking before, during, and after a social event and HSA drinkers were especially vulnerable to drinking more to manage this anxiety, which increased drinking before and during the event. This effect was specific to anticipatory anxiety and not evident for another social anxiety-specific risk factor, PEP. Thus, anticipatory anxiety may be an important therapeutic target for drinkers generally and may be especially important among HSA drinkers

Attentional capture by alcohol-related stimuli may be activated involuntarily by top-down search goals

Previous research has found that the attention of social drinkers is preferentially oriented towards alcohol related stimuli (attentional capture). This is argued to play a role in escalating craving for alcohol that can result in hazardous drinking. According to Incentive theories of drug addiction, the stimuli associated with the drug reward acquire learned incentive salience, and grab attention. However, it is not clear whether the mechanism by which this bias is created is a voluntary or an automatic one, although some evidence suggests a stimulus-driven mechanism. Here we test for the first time whether this attentional capture could reflect an involuntary consequence of a goal-driven mechanism. Across three experiments, participants were given search goals to detect either an alcoholic or a non-alcoholic object (target) in a stream of briefly presented objects unrelated to the target. Prior to the target, a task-irrelevant parafoveal distractor appeared. This could either be congruent or incongruent with the current search goal. Applying a meta-analysis, we combined the results across the three experiments and found consistent evidence of goal-driven attentional capture; whereby alcohol distractors impeded target detection when the search goal was for alcohol. By contrast, alcohol distractors did not interfere with target detection while participants were searching for a non-alcoholic category. A separate experiment revealed that the goal-driven capture effect was not found when participants held alcohol features active in memory but did not intentionally search for them. These findings suggest a strong goal-driven account of attentional capture by alcohol cues in social drinkers

Subjective response to alcohol and associated craving in heavy drinkers vs. alcohol dependents: An examination of Koob's allostatic model in humans

BACKGROUND: Koob's allostatic model of addiction emphasizes the transition from positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement as dependence develops. This study seeks to extend this well-established neurobiological model to humans by examining subjective response to alcohol (SR) as a biobehavioral marker of alcohol reinforcement. Specifically, this study examines (a) differential SR in heavy drinkers (HDs) vs. alcohol dependent individuals (ADs) and (b) whether HDs and ADs differ in terms of the association between SR and craving. METHODS: Data was culled from two alcohol challenge studies, totaling 91 participants (oversampled on OPRM1 Asp40 carriers). Alcohol was administered intravenously and participants completed standard measures of SR and craving at BrAC's of 0.02, 0.04, and 0.06 g/dl. SR was modeled as a multidimensional construct consisting of stimulation, sedation, and tension relief. RESULTS: ADs reported significantly higher sedation and craving initially and exhibited a blunted response to alcohol along escalating BrACs. ADs exhibited greater initial tension but did not differ from HDs in tension reduction across rising BrACs. Further, alcohol-induced stimulation was associated with alcohol craving to a significantly greater degree in HDs, as compared to ADs. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides initial evidence that HDs and ADs differ in their subjective experience of alcohol and in the association between dimensions of SR and craving for alcohol. Hypotheses derived from the allostatic model were partially supported, such that, while ADs and HDs did not differ on stimulation response, there was a relative dissociation between positive reinforcement and craving in ADs as compared to HDs