Contact with nature and children's restorative experiences: An eye to the future

This article offers an overview of what has been done until now on restorative research with children and opens up new inquires for future research. Most of the work has studied children''s exposure to nature and the restorative benefits this contact provides, focusing on the renewal of children''s psychological resources. The paper begins with an introduction to children''s current tendency toward an alienation from the natural world and sets out the objectives of the article. It is followed by four main sections. The first two sections report on what we already know in this research area, distinguishing between children with normal mental capabilities and those suffering from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The findings gathered in these sections suggest that children''s contact with nature improves their mood and their cognitive functioning, increases their social interactions and reduces ADHD symptoms. The next section describes five suggestions for future research: (1) the need for considering the relational dynamics between the child and the environment in restoration research, and the concept of constrained restoration; (2) the possibility of restorative needs arising from understimulation; (3) the importance of considering children''s social context for restoration; (4) the relationship between restoration and pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors; and (5) children''s restorative environments other than nature. We close by making some final remarks about the importance of restoring daily depleted resources for children''s healthy functioning

Normative Influences on Adolescents’ Self-Reported Pro-Environmental Behaviors: The Role of Parents and Friends

Pro-environmental behavioral patterns are influenced by relevant others’ actions and expectations. Studies about the intergenerational transmission of environmentalism have demonstrated that parents play a major role in their children’s pro-environmental actions. However, little is known about how other social agents may shape youth’s environmentalism. This cross-sectional study concentrates on the role that parents and peers have in the regulation of 12- to 19-year-olds’ pro-environmental behaviors. We also consider the common response bias effect by examining the associations between parents, peers, and adolescents’ pro-environmentalism in two independent data sets. Data Set 1 (N = 330) includes adolescents’ perceptions of relevant others’ behaviors. Data Set 2 (N = 152) includes relevant others’ self-reported pro-environmental behavior. Our results show that parents’ and peers’ descriptive and injunctive norms have a direct effect on adolescents’ pro-environmental behavior and an indirect one, through personal norms. Adolescents seem to be accurate in the perception of their close ones’ environmental actions

Nature, perspective psychologique

Les mots et concepts de la psychologie environnementale sont pléthores et peuvent parfois sembler confus, étant donnée la pluralité des chercheurs et praticiens qui les explorent depuis des décennies. La déconnexion avec la nature et les conditions de vie dégradées ont d’abord conduit à mettre l’accent sur l’amélioration de l’habitat pour finalement aboutir à la psychologie de l’architecture. Puis l’évolution de cet intérêt pour l’environnement naturel et la nécessité de préserver la nature et les ressources naturelles sont devenus des enjeux majeurs en termes de bien-être comme d’adaptation au dérèglement climatique.Que les comportements pro-environnementaux, écologiques ou durables soient abordés sous l’angle de l’amélioration des conditions de vie ou de changements d’habitudes pour assurer un comportement plus durable, il importe de toujours prendre en considération l’implication des processus psychologiques, physiologiques et sociaux pour comprendre les mécanismes qui expliquent l’évolution des comportements.Cet ouvrage rassemble les principaux mots et concepts clés qui expliquent ou permettent une meilleure compréhension des processus liés à la relation individu-environnement, ainsi que les applications qu’ils permettent dans divers champs d’intervention.Social decision makin

Dark Current in Superconducting RF Photoinjectors Measurements and Mitigation

Unwanted beam can cause beam losses and may produce acute or chronic damages of the accelerator. Furthermore it can considerably disturb experiments or increase its back ground. The operation of the superconducting RF photo gun at the ELBE accelerator has delivered the first experimental information on that topic. It was found, that dark current is an important issue, similar to that normal conducting RF photo injectors. In the presentation the measurement of dark current, its properties and analysis will be shown and we will discuss ways for mitigation, especially the construction of a dark current kicke

Method for Determining Air Side Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient Using Infrared Thermography

Air side convective heat transfer coefficients are among the most important parameters to know when modeling thermal systems due to their dominant impact on the overall heat transfer coefficient. Local air side convective heat transfer coefficients can often prove challenging to measure experimentally due to limitations with sensor accuracy, complexity of surface geometries, and changes to the heat transfer due to the sensor itself. Infrared thermography allows local heat transfer coefficients to be accurately determined for many different surface geometries in a manner which does not impact the results. Moreover, when determining convective heat transfer coefficients for a large number of samples, it is less costly in terms of both time and materials than other experimental methods. The method determines the heat transfer coefficient for an arbitrary region by determining the rate at which the surface temperature changes due to a step change in air temperature. To utilize the method a simple calibration is first done to determine the local thermal time constant under natural convection. Alternatively, if the thermal properties of the object are well known, a model may be used. In subsequent tests, the ratio of thermal time constant to that from the calibration test can be determined. As the material properties of the solid object are unchanged, the convective heat transfer coefficient scales inversely with the thermal time constant. A computer script has been created which automates the entire analysis process with the exception of determining the region of interest. The experimental method has been validated by comparison to other experimental methods, values from literature, and numerical simulations

Equilibrium random-field Ising critical scattering in the antiferromagnet Fe(0.93)Zn(0.07)F2

It has long been believed that equilibrium random-field Ising model (RFIM) critical scattering studies are not feasible in dilute antiferromagnets close to and below Tc(H) because of severe non-equilibrium effects. The high magnetic concentration Ising antiferromagnet Fe(0.93)Zn(0.07)F2, however, does provide equilibrium behavior. We have employed scaling techniques to extract the universal equilibrium scattering line shape, critical exponents nu = 0.87 +- 0.07 and eta = 0.20 +- 0.05, and amplitude ratios of this RFIM system.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor revision

Geometrical distribution of Cryptococcus neoformans mediates flower-like biofilm development

Microbial biofilms are highly structured and dynamic communities in which phenotypic diversification allows microorganisms to adapt to different environments under distinct conditions. The environmentally ubiquitous pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans colonizes many niches of the human body and implanted medical devices in the form of biofilms, an important virulence factor. A new approach was used to characterize the underlying geometrical distribution of C. neoformans cells during the adhesion stage of biofilm formation. Geometrical aspects of adhered cells were calculated from the Delaunay triangulation and Voronoi diagramobtained fromscanning electronmicroscopy images (SEM). A correlation between increased biofilm formation and higher ordering of the underlying cell distribution was found. Mature biofilm aggregates were analyzed by applying an adapted protocol developed for ultrastructure visualization of cryptococcal cells by SEM. Flower-like clusters consisting of cells embedded in a dense layer of extracellular matrix were observed as well as distinct levels of spatial organization: adhered cells, clusters of cells and community of clusters. The results add insights into yeast motility during the dispersion stage of biofilm formation. This study highlights the importance of cellular organization for biofilm growth and presents a novel application of the geometrical method of analysis

Far-infrared interferometry/polarimetry on the ISX-B tokamak

Theoretical analyses have shown that the current density distribution in a tokamak plasma can be obtained indirectly by the measurement of the poloidal magnetic field created by the current flowing in the plasma discharge. The distribution of this field may be determined by projecting linearly polarized far-infrared (FIR) laser beams through the plasma and measuring the Faraday rotation of the polarization. Since the rotation angle of the polarization vector is proportional to the line integral of electron density times the poloidal magnetic field along the path, the electron density profile must also be measured simultaneously in order to unfold the current distribution. The amount of Faraday rotation expected in a typical plasma experiment is calculated to be on the order of 5 to 10 degrees. Therefore the authors have constructed a multichord modulated FIR polarimeter/interferometer that measures both the phase delay of four laser beams passing through a plasma discharge and the instantaneous polarization of these same beams. The phase shift of each of the beams is directly proportional to the line-averaged electron density and the polarization rotation is directly proportional to the line-averaged density times poloidal field