The effects of hypnosis on flow states and three-point shooting performance in basketball players.

This study examined the effects of hypnosis on flow states and three-point shooting performance in 5 collegiate basketball players. The investigation uti- lized an ideographic single-subject multiple baselines across subjects design combined with a procedure that monitors the internal experience of the par- ticipants (Wollman, 1986). The method of intervention utilized in this study involved relaxation, imagery, hypnotic induction, hypnotic regression, and trigger control procedures. The results indicated that all five participants in- creased both their mean basketball three-point shooting performance and their mean flow scores from baseline to intervention. There were no overlapping data points between the baseline and intervention for either performance or flow state. Additionally, each participant indicated that they had felt the inter- vention was useful in keeping them confident, relaxed, and calm. These re- sults support the hypothesis that a hypnosis intervention can improve three- point shooting performance in basketball players and increase feelings and cognitions that are associated with flow

Fields from Afar: Evidence of Heterogeneity in United States Corn Rotational Response from Remote Sensing Data

We construct estimates of own- and cross-price corn rotation elasticities using a field-level dataset that accounts for over 83% of the US corn-producing area. We allow rotational response to vary by estimating separate models across 115 subsamples that we delineate using Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) and soil characteristics. The results show a high degree of rotational response heterogeneity. Across the country, we find that rotational response is elastic in some areas and near zero in others. After aggregating the results to the national level, we find that modeling rotational response without allowing for heterogeneity produces a short-run own-price elasticity of corn planting of around 0.50, which conforms to the latest estimates in the literature. When allowing heterogeneous price sensitivity, our preferred estimate of the rotation elasticity is 0.69. This is evidence that imposing a uniform rotation response could seriously bias aggregate elasticity estimates

Additionality from Payments for Environmental Services with Technology Diffusion

Because payments for environmental services (PES) often subsidize practices that offer latent private benefits, there are concerns that PES programs may provide little additional environmental benefits. Previous literature has framed the problem of non-additionality as an adverse selection problem. We develop a model where moral hazard can also arise because some agents delay adoption due to the incentive of potentially receiving a payment in the future. Moral hazard arises when agents have expectations of potential future subsidies, the technology naturally diffuses without a policy, and a subsidy is only available if the agent has not previously adopted the technology. We develop a conceptual model to illustrate the moral hazard incentive and conduct numerical simulations to understand the impact of policy parameters on aggregate outcomes. Numerical simulations illustrate that moral hazard creates a non-monotonic relationship between policy parameters—such as the subsidy and budget levels—and the net change in adoption induced by the program because some agents delay adoption. We also find that the cost-effectiveness of the policy is smaller when the policy is introduced during periods of rapid technology adoption

Farmer\u27s Choices Under the 1964 Voluntary Wheat Certificate Program

Farmer\u27s choices under the 1964 volunteer wheat certificate program addresses decisions to make about the program, the main provisions of the program, and budgeting for the program

Aysheaia prolata from the Wheeler Formation (Cambrian, Drumian) is a frontal appendage of the radiodontan Stanleycaris

Aysheaia prolata Robison, 1985, was described as the only lobopodian from the Cambrian (Drumian) Wheeler Formation in Utah, and the sole representative of this genus besides the type species Aysheaia pedunculata, from the Cambrian (Stage 5) Stephen Formation, British Columbia. A redescription of Aysheaia prolata reveals previously overlooked morphological features, including segmental boundaries between putative lobopods, and curved terminal spines on the putative anterior end. These observations undermine lobopodian affinities of Aysheaia prolata, and instead we interpret this specimen as an isolated radiodontan frontal appendage. The presence of 11 podomeres, five of which possess elongate and anteriorly recurved ventral blades with auxiliary spines, together with shorter robust dorsal spines, identify the specimen as Stanleycaris Caron et al., 2010. This represents the first report of Stanleycaris outside of the Cambrian (Stage 5) thin Stephen Formation in British Columbia, expanding its palaeobiogeographic and stratigraphic range. Aysheaia is left as a monotypic genus endemic to the Burgess Shale. The Spence Shale luolishaniid Acinocrinus stichus is currently the only lobopodian known from the Cambrian of Utah

Novel use of stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) as a tool for isolation of oviposition site attractants for gravid Culex quinquefasciatus

Mosquitoes such as Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) are important vectors of organisms that cause disease in humans. Research into the development of effective standardized odour baits for blood-fed females (oviposition attractants), to enable entomological monitoring of vector populations, is hampered by complex protocols for extraction of physiologically active volatile chemicals from natural breeding site water samples, which have produced inconsistent results. Air entrainment and solvent extraction are technically demanding methods and are impractical for use in resource poor environments where mosquito-borne disease is most prevalent. This study reports the first use of a simple, robust extraction technique, stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), to extract behaviourally active small lipophilic molecules (SLMs) present in water samples collected from Cx. quinquefasciatus breeding sites in Tanzania. Extracts from a pit latrine and from a cess pool breeding site attracted more gravid Cx. quinquefasciatus in pair choice bioassays than control extracts, and coupled gas chromatography-electroantennography (GC-EAG) allowed tentative identification of 15 electrophysiologically active chemicals, including the known oviposition attractant, skatole (3-methylindole). Here, we have demonstrated, using simple pair choice bioassays in controlled laboratory conditions, that SBSE is effective for the extraction of behaviourally and electrophysiologically active semiochemicals from mosquito breeding site waters. Further research is required to confirm that SBSE is an appropriate technique for use in field surveys in the search for oviposition cues for Cx. quinquefasciatus

First report of paired ventral endites in a hurdiid radiodont.

BACKGROUND: Radiodonta, large Palaeozoic nektonic predators, occupy a pivotal evolutionary position as stem-euarthropods and filled important ecological niches in early animal ecosystems. Analyses of the anatomy and phylogenetic affinity of these large nektonic animals have revealed the origins of the euarthropod compound eye and biramous limb, and interpretations of their diverse feeding styles have placed various radiodont taxa as primary consumers and apex predators. Critical to our understanding of both radiodont evolution and ecology are the paired frontal appendages; however, the vast differences in frontal appendage morphology between and within different radiodont families have made it difficult to identify the relative timings of character acquisitions for this body part. RESULTS: Here we describe a new genus of hurdiid, Ursulinacaris, from the middle Cambrian (Miaolingian, Wuliuan) Mount Cap Formation (Northwest Territories, Canada) and Jangle Limestone (Nevada, USA). Ursulinacaris has the same organisation as other hurdiid frontal appendages, with elongate endites on the first five podomeres in the distal articulated region and auxiliary spines on the distal margin of endites only. Unlike all other hurdiid genera, which possess a single row of elongated and blade-like ventral endites, this taxon uniquely bears paired slender endites. CONCLUSION: The blade-like endite morphology is shown to be a hurdiid autapomorphy. Two other frontal appendage characters known only in hurdiids, namely auxiliary spines on the distal margin of endites only, and elongate endites on the first five podomeres in the distal articulated region only, predate this innovation

Effects of asynchronous music on flow states and shooting performance among netball players

Objectives: To examine the effects of self-selected asynchronous (background) music on flow and netball shooting performance in three netball players. Based on the research of it was hypothesized that music would promote flow and would therefore have a positive impact on netball shooting performance.Design: An idiographic single-subject multiple baselines across-subjects design was employed (). The rationale centred upon the work of who indicated that single-subject designs were the most appropriate methodology for applied research.Methods: The participants comprised three collegiate netball players who were asked to complete 11 performance trials. Each trial involved taking 12 shots from lines located at three shooting positions. After each performance trial, flow and the internal experience of each player were assessed using the Flow State Scale () and Practical Assessment Questionnaire. Participants received the intervention of asynchronous music with the length of pre-intervention baseline increasing for each succeeding player.Results: Two of the participants experienced an increase in the perception of flow while all three participants improved their netball shooting performance. In addition, participants indicated that the intervention helped them to control both the emotions and cognitions that impacted upon their performance.Conclusions: Interventions comprising self-selected music and imagery can enhance athletic performance by triggering emotions and cognitions associated with flow

Target product profiles for protecting against outdoor malaria transmission.

BACKGROUND\ud \ud Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual sprays (IRS) have decimated malaria transmission by killing indoor-feeding mosquitoes. However, complete elimination of malaria transmission with these proven methods is confounded by vectors that evade pesticide contact by feeding outdoors.\ud \ud METHODS\ud \ud For any assumed level of indoor coverage and personal protective efficacy with insecticidal products, process-explicit malaria transmission models suggest that insecticides that repel mosquitoes will achieve less impact upon transmission than those that kill them outright. Here such models are extended to explore how outdoor use of products containing either contact toxins or spatial repellents might augment or attenuate impact of high indoor coverage of LLINs relying primarily upon contact toxicity.\ud \ud RESULTS\ud \ud LLIN impact could be dramatically enhanced by high coverage with spatial repellents conferring near-complete personal protection, but only if combined indoor use of both measures can be avoided where vectors persist that prefer feeding indoors upon humans. While very high levels of coverage and efficacy will be required for spatial repellents to substantially augment the impact of LLINs or IRS, these ambitious targets may well be at least as practically achievable as the lower requirements for equivalent impact using contact insecticides.\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS\ud \ud Vapour-phase repellents may be more acceptable, practical and effective than contact insecticides for preventing outdoor malaria transmission because they need not be applied to skin or clothing and may protect multiple occupants of spaces outside of treatable structures such as nets or houses