Mindfulness as a moderator of coping response and the Abstinence Violation Effect : a test of the role of mindfulness in the Relapse Prevention Model for exercise.

The importance of physical activity in preventing disease and promoting health is increasingly evident in health outcomes research. Although most adults in the U.S. have initiated exercise programs at some point in their lives, research suggests that they have difficulty maintaining beneficial levels of physical activity and exercise. With escalating rates of obesity and physical inactivity, the importance of understanding processes by which individuals engage in and maintain physical activity cannot be understated. The Relapse Prevention Model (RPM), developed for use with addiction, has been successfully used to explore factors associated with exercise drop-out, or exercise relapse . In the current study, relationships between constructs of the RPM were examined and the role of mindfulness in moderating these relationships was evaluated using retrospective recall of exercise. In this cross-sectional study, static constructs were used as proxies for the situationally defined constructs of the RPM and the sequelae of high-risk situations for exercise lapse. Mindfulness was predicted to moderate the relationships between vulnerability to relapse and coping response, and between slip frequency and the Abstinence Violation Effect (AVE) in lapsers, such that individuals who were higher in mindfulness would endorse more effective coping strategies and lower AVE. The findings of this study suggest that mindfulness may be associated with better exercise outcomes, that less mindful community exercisers may use certain ineffective coping strategies more often, and that mindfulness may buffer the relationship between missed exercise sessions and the AVE. Future research on the role of mindfulness in exercise is recommended using prospective assessment methodologies and longitudinal design

Tidal scattering of stars on supermassive black holes in galactic centers

Some of the mass that feeds the growth of a massive black hole (BH) in a galactic center is supplied by tidal disruption of stars that approach it on unbound, low angular momentum orbits. For each star that is disrupted, others narrowly escape after being subjected to extreme tidal distortion, spin-up, mixing and mass-loss, which may affect their evolution and appearance. We show that it is likely that a significant fraction of the stars around massive BHs in galactic centers have undergone such extreme tidal interactions and survived subsequent total disruption, either by being deflected off their orbit or by missing the BH due to its Brownian motion. We discuss possible long-term observable consequences of this process, which may be relevant for understanding the nature of stars in galactic centers, and may provide a signature of the existence of massive BHs there.Comment: 5 pages 4 figures. ApJL in press, minor changes to reflect journal version including redifinition of unbound tidally disturbed stars and additional reference

FEDERAL PROCEDURE-CHANGE OF VENUE ON MOTION OF THE PLAINTIFF

Plaintiff, a resident of California, was injured on defendant corporation\u27s premises in Nevada. Being unable to serve defendant in California, plaintiff started a negligence action in the Federal District Court in Nevada and then moved for a change of venue to the proper Federal District Court in California under section 1404(a) of the Judicial Code. The Federal District Court of Nevada overruled plaintiff\u27s motion. On appeal, held, affirmed. The requirement under 1404(a) that the action be transferred to any district where it might have been brought precludes transfer to a forum where the defendant was not amenable to process. Shapiro v. Bonanza Hotel Co., (9th Cir. 1950) 185 F. (2d) 777