Testing home dream precognition and exploring links to psychological factors

Precognition refers to the idea that an individual may be able to obtain information about a future event via a non-usual route, prior to the event occurring. Over time various paradigms have been developed to elicit and test for such effects. Here, we focused on dream precognition as dreaming represents a naturally occurring altered state of consciousness that may facilitate such anomalous experiences. Using a home-dream paradigm we examined whether participants would be able to dream about and rate a future target image as more similar to their dreams compared to decoy images. We also examined the potential relationship between dream precognition and sensory processing sensitivity, transliminality, boundary thinness and anomalous experiences and belief. One hundred and one participants completed an initial practice trial, to familiarise themselves with the procedure, followed by the main trial. In each trial participants were required to dream of a future target image that they would later be shown. During each trial, after they had completed their dreaming, participants were randomly presented with a set of four images and required to rate them in terms of how much similarity there was between each image and their dream on a scale from 1 to 100. Results of the main trial showed that ratings for the target image were significantly higher than the decoy images. However, no clear relationships were found between precognitive target ratings and sensory processing sensitivity, transliminality, boundary thinness or anomalous experiences and belief. We conclude that the result is not due to any methodological artifacts and as such represents suggestive evidence for dream precognition. Given the logistical simplicity of the home-dream paradigm we would encourage other researchers to replicate our findings and explore what may be a fruitful avenue of research

Coherent coupling between surface plasmons and excitons in semiconductor nanocrystals

We present an experimental demonstration of strong coupling between a surface plasmon propagating on a planar silver substrate, and the lowest excited state of CdSe nanocrystals. Variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements demonstrated the formation of plasmon-exciton mixed states, characterized by a Rabi splitting of $\sim$ 82 meV at room temperature. Such a coherent interaction has the potential for the development of plasmonic non-linear devices, and furthermore, this system is akin to those studied in cavity quantum electrodynamics, thus offering the possibility to study the regime of strong light-matter coupling in semiconductor nanocrystals at easily accessible experimental conditions.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

High efficiency GaAs-Ge tandem solar cells grown by MOCVD

High conversion efficiency and low weight are obviously desirable for solar cells intended for space applications. One promising structure is GaAs on Ge. The advantages of using Ge wafers as substrates include the following: they offer high efficiency by forming a two-junction tandem cell; low weight combined with superior strength allows usage of thin (3 mil) wafers; and they are a good substrate for GaAs, being lattice matched, thermal expansion matched, and available as large-area wafers

Ursinus College Alumni Journal, Spring 1948

Give the steward a break! • President\u27s page • College has full extra-curricular program: Dr. Miller forum speaker; Religious Emphasis Week; Ray Eberle for junior prom • Mrs. Smith resigns alumni secretaryship • College is recipient of paintings and furniture • Congratulations, alumni basketeers! • Women\u27s Club entertains Ursinus senior girls • New associate professor joins college faculty • Nineteen alumni attain doctorates • Still room for students in certain categories • College librarian resigns • A successful season was had by all: Men\u27s basketball; Girls\u27 basketball; Wrestling; Swimming • News about ourselves • Cost of living increase voted faculty members • News around town • Ursinus curriculum undergoes revision • Women\u27s rules liberalizedhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/alumnijournal/1032/thumbnail.jp

Highland Pond Utilization by Bats in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas

During May through August 1996, wildlife ponds (man-made and/or naturally occurring) and road ruts on the Sylamore Ranger District, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas, were mist netted to determine extent of utilization by bats. Thirty-nine ponds and road ruts were netted one or more times during 53 nights. These water sources were originally constructed to support wildlife species such as deer, turkey, etc.. This study demonstrates that taxonomically and numerically diverse bat populations use these water sources. Seven hundred and seventy bats of nine species, including two endangered species, were netted. Bats were identified, and sex, reproductive status, forearm length, and weight were recorded. All bats were banded and released at the site of capture

Highland Pond Utilization by Bats in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas

During May through August 1996, wildlife ponds (man-made and/or naturally occurring) and road ruts on the Sylamore Ranger District, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas, were mist netted to determine extent of utilization by bats. Thirty-nine ponds and road ruts were netted one or more times during 53 nights. These water sources were originally constructed to support wildlife species such as deer, turkey, etc.. This study demonstrates that taxonomically and numerically diverse bat populations use these water sources. Seven hundred and seventy bats of nine species, including two endangered species, were netted. Bats were identified, and sex, reproductive status, forearm length, and weight were recorded. All bats were banded and released at the site of capture

High energy neutrinos from neutralino annihilations in the Sun

Neutralino annihilations in the Sun to weak boson and top quark pairs lead to high-energy neutrinos that can be detected by the IceCube and KM3 experiments in the search for neutralino dark matter. We calculate the neutrino signals from real and virtual WW, ZZ, Zh, and $t \bar t$ production and decays, accounting for the spin-dependences of the matrix elements, which can have important influences on the neutrino energy spectra. We take into account neutrino propagation including neutrino oscillations, matter-resonance, absorption, and nu_tau regeneration effects in the Sun and evaluate the neutrino flux at the Earth. We concentrate on the compelling Focus Point (FP) region of the supergravity model that reproduces the observed dark matter relic density. For the FP region, the lightest neutralino has a large bino-higgsino mixture that leads to a high neutrino flux and the spin-dependent neutralino capture rate in the Sun is enhanced by 10^3 over the spin-independent rate. For the standard estimate of neutralino captures, the muon signal rates in IceCube are identifiable over the atmospheric neutrino background for neutralino masses above M_Z up to 400 GeV.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures and 5 tables, PRD versio

Metabolic Energy Correlates of Heart Rate Variability Spectral Power Associated with a 900-Calorie Challenge

We studied healthy males challenged with a 900 Cal test beverage and correlated EE with the raw (ms2) and normalized units (nu) of total power (TP), low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF) and VLF spectral power of heart rate variability (HRV). The correlations were evaluated during 20 min of normal breathing (NB, control) and 20 min of paced breathing (PB) at 12 breaths·min−1 (0.2 Hz). EE was not significantly correlated with any of the HRV variables before the metabolic challenge. After the challenge, EE was positively correlated with LF/HF and with VLF; VLF was also positively correlated with LF/HF during both NB and PB. These findings suggest that EE may be a correlate of LF/HF and of VLF spectral power of HRV in healthy adolescent/young adult males. The association of lower resting energy expenditure with lower amounts of VLF spectral power may occur in individuals with predilections for obese phenotypes