Guided web-based cognitive behavior therapy for perfectionism: Results from two different randomized controlled trials

© 2018 The authors. Background: Perfectionism can become a debilitating condition that may negatively affect functioning in multiple areas, including mental health. Prior research has indicated that internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy can be beneficial, but few studies have included follow-up data. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the outcomes at follow-up of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy with guided self-help, delivered as 2 separate randomized controlled trials conducted in Sweden and the United Kingdom. Methods: In total, 120 participants randomly assigned to internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy were included in both intention-to-treat and completer analyses: 78 in the Swedish trial and 62 in the UK trial. The primary outcome measure was the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Concern over Mistakes subscale (FMPS CM). Secondary outcome measures varied between the trials and consisted of the Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ; both trials), the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Swedish trial), the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7; Swedish trial), and the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21; UK trial). Follow-up occurred after 6 months for the UK trial and after 12 months for the Swedish trial. Results: Analysis of covariance revealed a significant difference between pretreatment and follow-up in both studies. Intention-to-treat within-group Cohen d effect sizes were 1.21 (Swedish trial; 95% CI 0.86-1.54) and 1.24 (UK trial; 95% CI 0.85-1.62) for the FMPS CM. Furthermore, 29 (59%; Swedish trial) and 15 (43%; UK trial) of the participants met the criteria for recovery on the FMPS CM. Improvements were also significant for the CPQ, with effect sizes of 1.32 (Swedish trial; 95% CI 0.97-1.66) and 1.49 (UK trial; 95% CI 1.09-1.88); the PHQ-9, effect size 0.60 (95% CI 0.28-0.92); the GAD-7, effect size 0.67 (95% CI 0.34-0.99); and the DASS-21, effect size 0.50 (95% CI 0.13-0.85). Conclusions: The results are promising for the use of internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy as a way of targeting perfectionism, but the findings need to be replicated and include a comparison condition

On the Dalitz Plot Approach in Non-leptonic Charm Meson Decays

We claim that the non-resonant contribution to non-leptonic charm meson decays may not be constant in the phase space of the reaction. We argue that this can be relevant for any weak reaction. We discuss in detail the decay $D^+ \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+$.Comment: Version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. 9 pages, Latex, including 2 figure

Systematics of Heavy Quark Production at HERA

We discuss heavy quark and quarkonium production in various kinematic regions at the HERA ep collider. In contrast to fixed target experiments, collider kinematics allows the possibility of detailed measurements of particle production in the proton fragmentation region. One thus can study parton correlations in the proton Fock states materialized by the virtual photon probe. We discuss various configurations of inelastic electron-proton scattering, including peripheral, diffractive, and deep inelastic processes. In particular, we show that intrinsic heavy quark Fock states can be identified by the observation of quarkonium production at large $x_F$ and a low mean transverse momentum which is insensitive to the virtuality $Q^2$ of the photon.Comment: 17 pages, postscript. To obtain a copy of this paper send e-mail to [email protected]

Helium solubility in oxide nuclear fuel: Derivation of new correlations for Henry’s constant

Helium plays an important role in determining nuclear fuel performance both in-pile (especially for MOX fuels and those at high burnup) and in storage conditions. Predictive models of helium behaviour are therefore a fundamental element in fuel performance codes. These models are based on the accurate knowledge of helium diffusivity (addressed in a previous paper, Luzzi et al. (2018)) and of helium solubility in oxide nuclear fuel. Based on all the experimental data available in the literature and after verification of the validity of Henry’s law we propose two correlations for Henry’s constant, kH (at m-3 MPa-1 ): kH = 1. 8·10^25·exp(-0.41/kT) for powders and kH = 4.1·10^24·exp(-0.65/kT) for single crystals, with the Boltzmann factor 1/kT in (eV-1). The correlation for Henry’s constant in powder samples is of interest for the analysis of helium behaviour in the fuel after the pulverization occurring during LOCA-like temperature transients, while the correlation for Henry’s constant in single-crystals is usable in meso-scale models describing helium behaviour at the level of fuel grains. The current lack of data for this fundamental property, especially for poly-crystalline samples, calls for new experiments

Updated Measurement of the Strong Phase in D0 --> K+pi- Decay Using Quantum Correlations in e+e- --> D0 D0bar at CLEO

We analyze a sample of 3 million quantum-correlated D0 D0bar pairs from 818 pb^-1 of e+e- collision data collected with the CLEO-c detector at E_cm = 3.77 GeV, to give an updated measurement of \cos\delta and a first determination of \sin\delta, where \delta is the relative strong phase between doubly Cabibbo-suppressed D0 --> K+pi- and Cabibbo-favored D0bar --> K+pi- decay amplitudes. With no inputs from other experiments, we find \cos\delta = 0.81 +0.22+0.07 -0.18-0.05, \sin\delta = -0.01 +- 0.41 +- 0.04, and |\delta| = 10 +28+13 -53-0 degrees. By including external measurements of mixing parameters, we find alternative values of \cos\delta = 1.15 +0.19+0.00 -0.17-0.08, \sin\delta = 0.56 +0.32+0.21 -0.31-0.20, and \delta = (18 +11-17) degrees. Our results can be used to improve the world average uncertainty on the mixing parameter y by approximately 10%.Comment: Minor revisions, version accepted by PR

Studies of the decays D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-\pi^+ and D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+\pi^-

The first measurements of the coherence factor R_{K_S^0K\pi} and the average strong--phase difference \delta^{K_S^0K\pi} in D^0 \to K_S^0 K^\mp\pi^\pm decays are reported. These parameters can be used to improve the determination of the unitary triangle angle \gamma\ in B^- \rightarrow $\widetilde{D}K^-$ decays, where $\widetilde{D}$ is either a D^0 or a D^0-bar meson decaying to the same final state, and also in studies of charm mixing. The measurements of the coherence factor and strong-phase difference are made using quantum-correlated, fully-reconstructed D^0D^0-bar pairs produced in e^+e^- collisions at the \psi(3770) resonance. The measured values are R_{K_S^0K\pi} = 0.70 \pm 0.08 and \delta^{K_S^0K\pi} = (0.1 \pm 15.7)$^\circ$ for an unrestricted kinematic region and R_{K*K} = 0.94 \pm 0.12 and \delta^{K*K} = (-16.6 \pm 18.4)$^\circ$ for a region where the combined K_S^0 \pi^\pm invariant mass is within 100 MeV/c^2 of the K^{*}(892)^\pm mass. These results indicate a significant level of coherence in the decay. In addition, isobar models are presented for the two decays, which show the dominance of the K^*(892)^\pm resonance. The branching ratio {B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+\pi^-)/{B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-\pi^+) is determined to be 0.592 \pm 0.044 (stat.) \pm 0.018 (syst.), which is more precise than previous measurements.Comment: 38 pages. Version 3 updated to include the erratum information. Errors corrected in Eqs (25), (26), 28). Fit results updated accordingly, and external inputs updated to latest best known values. Typo corrected in Eq(3)- no other consequence