Using the validated Reflective Functioning Questionnaire to investigate mentalizing in individuals presenting with eating disorders with and without self-harm

Background The present study builds on previous research which explored the relationship between mentalizing and eating disorders (ED) in a subgroup of patients with comorbid self-harm (SH). Whereas previous literature had linked this comorbidity to impulse-control difficulties, more recent advances have suggested that a lack of a mentalizing stance might be responsible for a more treatment-resistant and severe symptomatology in this subgroup of clients. Methods A cross-sectional, quasi-experimental, questionnaire-based, between-groups design was employed and a measure of mentalizing was compared in individuals presenting with ED only, individuals presenting with ED and concurrent SH and a control group. Results Individuals with ED with concurrent SH reported significantly more mentalizing ability impairment than individuals without concurrent SH. In addition, both groups differed significantly from the control group. Opposite scoring patterns were identified in hypo- and hypermentalizing with the comorbid group reporting the lowest scores in hypermentalizing and the highest scores in hypomentalizing. Conclusions The current findings confirm that individuals with concurrent ED and SH report more severe impairments in mentalizing ability. Such impairments entail difficulties in symbolic capacity and abstract thinking and a concretisation of inner life, exemplified by a rigid, often inflexible focus on the physical world. The clinical implications that a lack of a mentalizing stance can have on individuals’ ability to engage with the therapeutic process and to initiate change are reflected upon

High Temperature Behavior and Long-term Stability of Lithium Drifted Silicon Surface-barrier Detectors

High temperature behavior and long-term stability of lithium drifted silicon surface barrier charged particle detector

How will disenfranchised Peoples adapt to Climate Change? Strengthening the Ecojustice Movement

The Fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledged That millions of people are currently, and will increasingly be, affected by the impacts of climate change, in the form of floods, droughts and other extreme events, as well as related threats to food security. In response to these global environmental changes, the international community, including civil society, is acting on the need for immediate adaptation measures and is developing strategies for future adaptation. However, the impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed, with many of the poorest, most vulnerable peoples experiencing the immediate effects of climate change, in the here and now. As the IPCC noted, developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change and often, the least able to adapt due to lack of infrastructure and resources

Virtual RTCP: A Case Study of Monitoring and Repair for UDP-based IPTV Systems

IPTV systems have seen widespread deployment, but often lack robust mechanisms for monitoring the quality of experience. This makes it difficult for network operators to ensure that their services match the quality of traditional broadcast TV systems, leading to consumer dissatisfaction. We present a case study of virtual RTCP, a new framework for reception quality monitoring and reporting for UDP-encapsulated MPEG video delivered over IP multicast. We show that this allows incremental deployment of reporting infrastructure, coupled with effective retransmission-based packet loss repair

The role of spatial and temporal radiation deposition in inertial fusion chambers: the case of HiPER¿

The first wall armour for the reactor chamber of HiPER will have to face short energy pulses of 5 to 20 MJ mostly in the form of x-rays and charged particles at a repetition rate of 5–10 Hz. Armour material and chamber dimensions have to be chosen to avoid/minimize damage to the chamber, ensuring the proper functioning of the facility during its planned lifetime. The maximum energy fluence that the armour can withstand without risk of failure, is determined by temporal and spatial deposition of the radiation energy inside the material. In this paper, simulations on the thermal effect of the radiation–armour interaction are carried out with an increasing definition of the temporal and spatial deposition of energy to prove their influence on the final results. These calculations will lead us to present the first values of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the tungsten armour designed for the HiPER project under a shock ignition target of 48 MJ. The results will show that only the crossing of the plasticity limit in the first few micrometres might be a threat after thousands of shots for the survivability of the armour

Understanding the Transition between High School and College Mathematics and Science

Mathematics and science education is gaining increasing recognition as key for the well-being of individuals and society. Accordingly, the transition from high school to college is particularly important to ensure that students are prepared for college mathematics and science. The goal of this study was to understand how high school mathematics and science course-taking related to performance in college. Specifically, the study employed a nonparametric regression method to examine the relationship between high school mathematics and science courses, and academic performance in college mathematics and science courses. The results provide some evidence pertaining to the positive benefits from high school course-taking. Namely, students who completed high school trigonometry and lab-based chemistry tended to earn higher grades in college algebra and general chemistry, respectively. However, there was also evidence that high school coursework in biology and physics did not improve course performance in general biology and college physics beyond standardized test scores. Interestingly, students who completed high school calculus earned better grades in general biology. The implications of the findings are discussed for high school curriculum and alignment in standards between high schools and colleges

Direct comparison of the performance of CZT detectors contacted with various metals

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) achieves excellent spatial resolution and good energy resolution over the broad energy range from several keV into the MeV energy range. In this paper we present the results of a systematic study of the performance of CZT detectors manufacturered by Orbotech (before IMARAD) depending on surface preparation, contact materials and contact deposition. The standard Orbotech detectors have the dimension of 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.5 cm. They have a pixellated In anode with 8 x 8 pixels and a monolithic In cathode. Using the same CZT substrates several times, we have made a direct comparison of the performance of different contact materials by replacing the cathode and/or the anode contacts with several high-workfunction metals. We present the performance of the detectors and conclude with an overview over our ongoing detector optimization.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference 5922, "Hard X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detector Physics VII" on the "Optics & Photonics 2005" SPIE Symposium, July 31- August 4, 2005, San Diego, C

Open string axions and the flavor problem

We consider extensions of the standard model inspired by intersecting D-brane constructions, in order to address flavor mass textures. We include additional anomalous gauge symmetries, and scalar fields to break them and to generate Froggatt-Nielsen mass terms. Green-Schwarz axions are included to cancel mixed anomalies rendering the models consistent. At low energies, a residual anomalous global symmetry remains, and its associated pseudo-Goldstone mode becomes the physical axion, which can be interpreted as an axion arising from open string modes. General considerations show that such axions are very common in D-brane models and can be completely incompatible with current bounds. Astrophysical constraints are placed on the axion both by including neutrino masses in the Froggatt-Nielsen scheme and considering QCD instanton contributions to the axion mass. We find simple models where the axion decay constant is in the allowed range, but only one such minimal model with this property is free from excessive fine tunings elsewhere. We also note that generically addressing flavor textures for the CKM matrix leads to deconstructed extra dimensions.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. v2: references added. v3:typos fixe