Understanding resilience: Investigating the relationship between risk factors, resilience, and psychological well-being

Adversity in life is rarely considered positive. Adverse events can increase stress levels and decrease psychological well-being. However, experience of overcoming hardship can be the start of developing psychological resilience in life. Resilience is known to help regulate negative emotions and provides protection to one’s psychological well-being. The current study focused on contributing to present literature by further investigating the role of resilience on mitigating the negative impact of stress on psychological well-being. In the current study, resilience is expected to positively influence the relationship between perceived stress and psychological well-being by negating the direct negative effect of stress on psychological well-being. Participants in the study included adults between 25- and 71-years-old in the U.S. recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The survey included questions addressing demographic information, perceived stress, resilience, and psychological well-being. A mediation analysis was used to analyze the hypotheses. Results showed a partial mediation found between perceived stress and psychological well-being and this relation suggests that resilience plays a small role in negating the negative effects caused by stress

Helping Students Understand Health Statistics

Mathematical and statistical information is often presented to patients after receiving health care. Previous research would suggest that people often have difficulty understanding statistical information, especially when it is presented in a single event probability format. According to previous research, the difficulty arises from numerical literacy, presentation format and an interaction of both. The goal of the current study is to determine the accuracy of students’ estimates of having an STD, after receiving a positive test result in a simulated clinical setting. Three different formats were manipulated to help students understand the statistical information frequencies, single event probability, and an icon array. Contrary to previous research, a three step hierarchical logistic regression determined that none of the formats were aiding in the accuracy of students’ estimates of having chlamydia. In fact, very few students estimated the correct likelihood they had an STD after receiving a positive test result. Possible limitations and future research are discussed

Quantitative analysis on electric dipole energy in Rashba band splitting

We report on quantitative comparison between the electric dipole energy and the Rashba band splitting in model systems of Bi and Sb triangular monolayers under a perpendicular electric field. We used both first-principles and tight binding calculations on p-orbitals with spin-orbit coupling. First-principles calculation shows Rashba band splitting in both systems. It also shows asymmetric charge distributions in the Rashba split bands which are induced by the orbital angular momentum. We calculated the electric dipole energies from coupling of the asymmetric charge distribution and external electric field, and compared it to the Rashba splitting. Remarkably, the total split energy is found to come mostly from the difference in the electric dipole energy for both Bi and Sb systems. A perturbative approach for long wave length limit starting from tight binding calculation also supports that the Rashba band splitting originates mostly from the electric dipole energy difference in the strong atomic spin-orbit coupling regime.1131Ysciescopu

Experimental observation of hidden Berry curvature in inversion-symmetric bulk 2H-WSe2

We investigate the hidden Berry curvature in bulk 2H-WSe2 by utilizing the surface sensitivity of angle resolved photoemission (ARPES). The symmetry in the electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenides is used to uniquely determine the local orbital angular momentum (OAM) contribution to the circular dichroism (CD) in ARPES. The extracted CD signals for the K and K' valleys are almost identical but their signs, which should be determined by the valley index, are opposite. In addition, the sign is found to be the same for the two spin-split bands, indicating that it is independent of spin state. These observed CD behaviors are what are expected from Berry curvature of a monolayer of WSe2. In order to see if CD-ARPES is indeed representative of hidden Berry curvature within a layer, we use tight binding analysis as well as density functional calculation to calculate the Berry curvature and local OAM of a monolayer WSe2. We find that measured CD-ARPES is approximately proportional to the calculated Berry curvature as well as local OAM, further supporting our interpretation.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Comprehensive Proteome Profiling of Platelet Identified a Protein Profile Predictive of Responses to An Antiplatelet Agent Sarpogrelate

Sarpogrelate is an antiplatelet agent widely used to treat arterial occlusive diseases. Evaluation of platelet aggregation is essential to monitor therapeutic effects of sarpogrelate. Currently, no molecular signatures are available to evaluate platelet aggregation. Here, we performed comprehensive proteome profiling of platelets collected from 18 subjects before and after sarpogrelate administration using LC-MS/MS analysis coupled with extensive fractionation. Of 5423 proteins detected, we identified 499 proteins affected by sarpogrelate and found that they strongly represented cellular processes related to platelet activation and aggregation, including cell activation, coagulation, and vesicle-mediated transports. Based on the network model of the proteins involved in these processes, we selected three proteins (cut-like homeobox 1; coagulation factor XIII, B polypeptide; and peptidylprolyl isomerase D) that reflect the platelet aggregation-related processes after confirming their alterations by sarpogrelate in independent samples using Western blotting. Our proteomic approach provided a protein profile predictive of therapeutic effects of sarpogrelate. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.1

Consumers’ choice model: an alternative meta-goals model focused on cognitive effort, justification, and regret

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of PsychologyGary BraseConsumers’ choice behaviors are influenced by multifaceted decision factors. Information processing theory (Bettman, 1979) predicts that consumers’ decision processes are constructed at the time of a decision, and consumers’ meta-goals model (Bettman, Luce, & Payne, 1998) posits that their choice behaviors are generally guided by the minimization of cognitive effort and negative emotion, and the maximization of accuracy and justification. Insightful as this model may be at describing how consumers’ choices are shaped, it does not specify the interactions among the goals, assess the benefits of cognitive effort, or fairly evaluates the importance of emotion and justification in consumer decision making. Thus, the current studies collectively propose an alternative meta-goals choice model. Particularly, the current studies speculate on the importance of regret in consumer decision making. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 shows that participants trade-off between cognitive effort and accuracy goals depending on the monetary value of the products at hand, suggesting that the cognitive effort-accuracy trade-off may be moderated by price. Study 2 investigated the impact of cognitive effort on the experience of regret, showing the effectiveness of cognitive effort in attenuating the experienced regret. This relationship is explored with respect to the role of cognitive effort as a means of the justification factor in Study 3. Results showed that unjustified (wasted) cognitive effort did not make a substantial difference in post-purchase regret, but under spent cognitive effort generated more post-purchase regret. Study 4 examined both anticipated and experienced regret in relation to cognitive effort and justification; results showed that an exertion of cognitive effort is helpful in reducing the experience of regret but the justification of the choice also affects this relationship especially when the choice during the decision search is incongruent with the final decision. These results from current studies suggest interrelations between consumers’ four meta-goals. Based on these findings, an alternative meta-goals model is proposed which includes the benefits of cognitive effort exertion on consumer decision making, shedding light on how and when consumers choose to exert effort in an attempt to alleviate the potential future experience of regret