Alien Registration- Fletcher, Rachel (Bangor, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/15847/thumbnail.jp

The comparison of macroinvertebrates and diatoms as two biotic indices of water pollution

The value of macroinvertebrates and diatom communities as monitors of water quality was studied at 25 sites in the North East of England. The aim was to compare and contrast the two methods on their benefits as environmental quality indicators. Few studies have been made on a critical level between the two groups although similar reasons in support of their use have been made. Invertebrates were collected by a Standard kick sample and community quality was evaluated using a BMWP score. Diatom communities were scraped from stones and a Generic Diatom Index was applied to the result. Both methods appeared to give good indications of levels of organic pollution, though the correlation between the methods was poor. Multivariate analyses suggested that in both cases physical environmental factors overrode water quality in detecting community composition and that the precise nature of these was different for macroinvertebrates and diatoms. It does seem that diatom methods of water quality monitoring should be further studied as an addition to the solely used invertebrate method

Tolkien\u27s Work on the Oxford English Dictionary: Some New Evidence From Quotation Slips

This article presents previously undiscussed material, in the form of citation slips, relating to Tolkien’s work on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The separation of these slips from the OED archives means that they have been almost entirely overlooked, and their relevance to Tolkien studies has not been recognised. Nevertheless, they have the potential to be a valuable resource, especially for understanding the specialist skills Tolkien brought to the dictionary as a scholar of Old English. One item is of particular biographical interest, as it suggests that Tolkien was carrying out work for the OED earlier than previously believed

What's in a face? :exploring components of social perception and social cognition in Williams syndrome and autism

PhD ThesisThe social profiles seen in Williams syndrome (WS) and autism (ASD) have often been cited as mirror opposites of one another, with hyper-sociable behaviours seen in Williams syndrome and a disinterest in social engagement evidenced in autism. Studies investigating the social-perceptual abilities of individuals with these neurodevelopmental disorders have found overlapping profiles, with a tendency towards using more featural processing strategies when interpreting information from faces, and deficits in recognising and interpreting the various facial cues that provide social information. It is therefore likely that differences in social approach behaviours in the two groups are driven by a more social-cognitive mechanism. The focus of this thesis was on answering the overarching question: What meaning do faces and socially relevant stimuli have for children with Williams syndrome and autism? Six experiments examined the recognition, attribution, description and understanding of emotions and social cues from faces and socially relevant scenes, amongst WS and ASD individuals relative to their typically developing peers. It was found that the social-perceptual profiles of individuals with the neurodevelopmental disorders were markedly similar, with accuracy for identifying emotions being at nonverbal mental (but not chronological) age level. A tendency towards differences emerged in terms of the types of attribution and descriptions that individuals made, with those with ASD focusing more on physical aspects of social and non-social stimuli whilst individuals with WS showed more of an atypicality in the understanding of emotions and social contexts. The lack of any clear differentiation between individuals with ASD and WS in both the social-perceptual and social-cognitive domains is in line with recent research pointing to the extreme heterogeneity seen in these groups. The issue of overlaps and dissociations within such heterogeneous groups provides the theoretical framework for this thesis

Organisational stressors, coping, and outcomes in competitive sport

Organizational stressors are associated with positive and negative outcomes in extant literature; however, little is known about which demands predict which outcomes. Extant theory and literature also suggests that coping style may influence an individual’s resilience or vulnerability to stressors and, subsequently, their psychological responses and outcomes. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to examine the main effects of organizational stressors and coping styles on various outcomes (e.g., positive and negative affect, performance satisfaction). Sport performers (n = 414) completed measures of organizational stressors, coping styles, positive and negative affect, and performance satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed positive relationships of both goals and development stressors (duration and intensity) and team and culture stressors (frequency and intensity) on negative affect. Furthermore, problem-focused coping was positively related to positive affect, and emotion-focused coping was positively related to negative affect. This study furthers theoretical knowledge regarding the associations that both organizational stressors (and their dimensions) and coping styles can have with various outcomes, and practical understanding regarding the optimal design of stress management interventions

Basic calculation proficiency and mathematics achievement in elementary school children

The relation between skill in simple addition and subtraction and more general math achievement in elementary school is well established but not understood. Both the intrinsic importance of skill in simple calculation for math and the influence of conceptual knowledge and cognitive factors (working memory, processing speed, oral language) on simple calculation and math are plausible. The authors investigated the development of basic calculation fluency and its relations to math achievement and other factors by tracking a group of 259 United Kingdom English children from second to third grade. In both grades the group did not retrieve the solutions to most problems, but their math achievement was typical. Improvement in basic calculation proficiency was partially predicted by conceptual knowledge and cognitive factors. These factors only partially mediated the relation between basic calculation and math achievement. The relation between reading and math was wholly mediated by number measures and cognitive factors

Vitamin B3 salvage and NAD+^+ metabolism in skeletal muscle

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD$^+$) is both an essential redox coenzyme and a substrate for NAD$^+$consuming enzymes, such as the sirtuins, which adapt transcriptional programmes to increase energy availability. Skeletal muscle is a major regulator of energy metabolism and its function is impaired with ageing. Uncovering the key routes regulating NAD$^+$ availability may provide valuable insight into novel aspects of skeletal muscle metabolic health. Data presented here identifies a limited set of enzymes important for skeletal muscle NAD$^+$ -biosynthesis namely; nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) and nicotinamide riboside kinases (NMRK) 1 and 2, which salvage vitamin B3s nicotinamide (NAM) and nicotinamide riboside (NR) to NAD$^+$. NAMPT was confirmed vital for recycling of NAM, with NAD+ depleted in myotubes following NAMPT inhibition. Single and double NMRK knockout mouse models found NMRK activity nonessential for maintaining basal NAD$^+$, with activity restricted by NR availability. Exogenous NR delivery enhanced NAD$^+$ and recovered the effects of NAD+ depletion following NAMPT inhibition. NMRK2 was determined highly muscle-specific; although energy signalling was mostly unperturbed in NMRK2KOs, $in$ $vivo$ data indicated impaired metabolic flexibility following high fat diet. While the muscle-specific role of NMRK2 requires further investigation, this thesis identifies NMRK1/2 as important therapeutic targets for enhancing NAD$^+$ by NR supplementation

Attachment styles and clinical communication performance in trainee doctors

Objective To investigate the relationship between trainee doctors’ attachment style and their performance in qualifying clinical and communication skills assessments. Methods Participants were 190 undergraduate medical students whose performance was assessed by examiners across two areas (communication and clinical skills) during their qualifying Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Simulated patients also rated communication skills. Participants’ attachment style was rated across two dimensions, avoidance and anxiety, with the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ). Results Lower levels of attachment avoidance and anxiety were significant predictors of higher performance in both communication and clinical skills. Conclusion Trainee doctors’ attachment styles are associated with patient communication and clinical performance. Further research is needed to investigate the impact of attachment on consultations between doctors and patients within clinical settings. Practice implication Attachment theory can inform our understanding why, for some student doctors, interacting with patients may be particularly challenging and require additional support by medical educators

Organizational stressors and basic psychological needs:The mediating role of athletes' appraisal mechanisms

This article reports the first study to quantitatively examine the relationships between the demands encountered by athletes that are associated with the organization within which they are operating, cognitive appraisals, and basic psychological need experiences. Three hundred and fifteen high‐level British athletes completed a multisection questionnaire which assessed each of the aforementioned constructs. A series of path analyses provided valuable insight into the way in which the three dimensions (ie, frequency, intensity, and duration) of five organizational stressor categories were evaluated by athletes and, in turn, how such threat or challenge appraisals predicted feelings of need satisfaction and need frustration. Moreover, cognitive stress appraisals were found to mediate the relationship between organizational stressors and psychological need experiences. The role of secondary control appraisals was also explored and found to mediate the relationship between primary cognitive appraisals and basic psychological need experiences. Study limitations, proposed future research directions, and the implications of the findings for applied practitioners are discussed