Practice makes efficient: Effects of golf practice on brain activity

This study employed a test-retest design to examine changes in brain activity associated with practice of a motor skill. We recorded EEG activity from twelve right-handed recreational golfers (mean handicap: 23) as they putted 50 balls to a 2.4m distant hole, before and after a 3-day practice. We measured changes in putting performance, conscious processing, and regional EEG alpha activity. Putting performance improved and conscious processing decreased after practice. Mediation analyses revealed that performance improvements were associated with changes in EEG alpha, whereby activity in task-irrelevant cortical regions (temporal regions) was inhibited and functionally isolated from activity in task-relevant regions (central regions). These findings provide evidence for the development of greater neurophysiological efficiency with practice of a motor skill

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Matching service development to mental health needs: a case study of a rural county

The development of Somerset's mental health services from 1991 to 1996 involved the closure of the county's last long-stay hospital, and its replacement by more local in-patient provision and an expansion of community services. The process and outcome of this change is examined, drawing upon (a) an externally-commissioned evaluation in 1994-6 and (b) a comprehensive mental health needs assessment in 1996. The findings from these studies indicate that the development of accommodation for people with severe and long-term mental health problems has been dominated by the needs of long-stay residents in the old institutions. This led initially to geographical inequities and a shortage of supported accommodation for others with severe and enduring mental health problems. However, developments during this period also suggest a local capacity to detect and respond to unmet needs in this group

Modification and updating of the Manned Activity Scheduling System (MASS) for shuttle and shuttle payloads analysis. Volume 2: Space shuttle sortie payload analysis

Space shuttle operations include a significant number of launches with a sortie laboratory serving as a facility for manned experimentation in space. Planning a program of space experiments for a facility of this type requires that both the composition of the laboratory payload and the schedule of experiment operations for each payload be carefully selected. Experiment operations are investigated using the manned activity scheduling system (MASS). Schedules provided by these models assist in selecting experiment groups that efficiently use the laboratory resources and yield the desired experiment accomplishment at the program level. An alternate use of the MASS models provides for establishing the time-dependent supporting resources required for a specified candidate payload. A procedure for defining and analyzing shuttle sortie payloads was developed. This procedure was then applied to the definition of mixed-discipline experiment payloads for an advanced technology laboratory (ATL) supported by two-and three-man crews. The ATL payloads, including schedules of experiment operations, were defined to realize a high percentage of experiment accomplishment. The study considers the sensitivity of experiment accomplishment rate to variations of system parameters such as crew cross training, crew operations, shuttle and laboratory resources, ground target systems, and operational orbits

Static observables of relativistic three-fermion systems with instantaneous interactions

We show that static properties like the charge radius and the magnetic moment of relativistic three-fermion bound states with instantaneous interactions can be formulated as expectation values with respect to intrinsically defined wavefunctions. The resulting operators can be given a natural physical interpretation in accordance with relativistic covariance. We also indicate how the formalism may be generalized to arbitrary moments. The method is applied to the computation of static baryon properties with numerical results for the nucleon charge radii and the baryon octet magnetic moments. In addition we make predictions for the magnetic moments of some selected nucleon resonances and discuss the decomposition of the nucleon magnetic moments in contributions of spin and angular momentum, as well as the evolution of these contributions with decreasing quark mass.Comment: 13 pages, including 2 figures and 3 tables, submitted to Eur.Phys.J.

Reducing the hypoxic fraction of a tumour model by growth in low glucose.

The question of whether growth under low glucose conditions leads to a reduced amount of cell hypoxia was investigated using an in vitro tumour analogue, the sandwich system. In this multicellular system, the interplay between diffusion and consumption of oxygen and nutrients results in spatial gradients of these environmental factors. Gradients in the environment lead to biological heterogeneity within the cell population. A necrotic centre, surrounded by a viable cell border, subsequently develops. Cells adjacent to the necrotic centre in sandwiches are hypoxic and are in an environment somewhat analogous to that of cells adjacent to necrotic regions in solid tumours. Using sandwiches of the 9L and V79 cell lines, the effects of growth under low glucose conditions on the degree of hypoxia in regions adjacent to the necrotic centre were investigated. Per-cell binding of 3H-misonidazole, assessed by autoradiography, was used as an indicator of oxygen deprivation. It was found that the extent of the hypoxic region and the severity of hypoxia were considerably reduced by growing sandwiches in a glucose concentration of 0.6 mM rather than 6.5 mM. This reduction was found in conjunction with a smaller viable border; it occurred despite the fact that the average per-cell oxygen consumption is higher in the low glucose sandwiches. The data are qualitatively consistent with a joint oxygen-glucose deprivation model for cell necrosis

Attractive Bose-Einstein Condensates in three dimensions under rotation: Revisiting the problem of stability of the ground state in harmonic traps

We study harmonically trapped ultracold Bose gases with attractive interparticle interactions under external rotation in three spatial dimensions and determine the critical value of the attraction strength where the gas collapses as a function of the rotation frequency. To this end we examine the stationary state in the corotating frame with a many-body approach as well as within the Gross-Pitaevskii theory of systems in traps with different anisotropies. In contrast to recently reported results [N. A. Jamaludin, N. G. Parker, and A. M. Martin, Phys. Rev. A \textbf{77}, 051603(R) (2008)], we find that the collapse is not postponed in the presence of rotation. Unlike repulsive gases, the properties of the attractive system remain practically unchanged under rotation in isotropic and slightly anisotropic traps.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Recent advances in the manipulation of murine gene expression and its utility for the study of human neurological disease

Transgenic mouse models have vastly contributed to our knowledge of the genetic and molecular pathways underlying the pathogenesis of neurological disorders that affect millions of people worldwide. Not only they have allow the generation of disease models mimicking the human pathological state but they have also permit the exploration of the pathological role of specific genes through the generation of knock-out and knock-in models. Classical constitutive transgenic mice have several limitations however, due to behavioral adaptation process occurring and conditional mouse models are time-consuming and often lack of extensive spatial ortemporal control of gene manipulation. These limitations could be overcome by means of innovative methods that are now available such as RNAi, viral vectors and large cloning DNA vectors. These tools have been extensively used for the generation of mouse models and are characterized by the superior control of transgene expression that has proved invaluable in the assessment of novel treatments for neurological diseases and to further investigate the molecular processes underlying the etiopathology of neurological disorders. Furthermore, in association with classical transgenic mouse models, they have allowed the validation of innovative therapeutic strategies for the treatment of human neurological disorders. This review describes how these tools have overcome the limitations of classical transgenic mouse models and how they have been of value for the study of human neurological diseases

The effects of moral disengagement mechanisms on doping likelihood are mediated by guilt and moderated by moral traits

Objectives We examined the effects of moral disengagement on doping likelihood and guilt, and determined whether the effects of moral disengagement on doping likelihood were mediated by guilt and moderated by moral traits. Design We used an experimental design to compare the effects of moral disengagement mechanisms on doping likelihood and guilt in hypothetical situations. Method Athletes indicated their doping likelihood and anticipated guilt in situations describing one of six moral disengagement mechanisms (moral justification, advantageous comparison, euphemistic labeling, distortion of consequences, displacement of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility) and in neutral (control) situations. They also completed measures of moral agency, identity, perfectionism, and values, to which we refer collectively as moral traits. Results Doping likelihood was higher in all six moral disengagement situations compared to neutral situations. Anticipated guilt was lower in five moral disengagement situations (except euphemistic labeling) compared to neutral situations. Doping likelihood and anticipated guilt differed among the moral disengagement mechanisms. The effect of five moral disengagement mechanisms (except euphemistic labeling) on doping likelihood was mediated by anticipated guilt. The effect of overall moral disengagement on doping likelihood was moderated by moral agency, moral perfectionism and moral values. Conclusions Moral disengagement increased the likelihood of doping and decreased affective self-sanction for doping as predicted by the theory of moral thought and action. The finding that the effects of moral disengagement on doping likelihood were moderated by moral agency, moral perfectionism and moral values highlights the role played by moral traits to restrain dishonest conduct in sport

Relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory with Density Dependent Meson-Nucleon Couplings

Relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (RHFB) theory with density-dependent meson-nucleon couplings is presented. The integro-differential RHFB equations are solved by expanding the different components of the quasi-particle spinors in the complete set of eigen-solutions of the Dirac equations with Woods-Saxon potentials. Using the finite-range Gogny force D1S as an effective interaction in the pairing channel, systematic RHFB calculations are performed for Sn isotopes and N=82 isotones. It is demonstrated that an appropriate description of both mean field and pairing effects can be obtained within RHFB theory with finite range Gogny pairing forces. Better systematics are also found in the regions from the stable to the neutron-rich side with the inclusion of Fock terms, especially in the presence of $\rho$-tensor couplings.Comment: 11 pages, 2 tables and 4 figure