Measuring athlete imagery ability: the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire

Based on literature identifying movement imagery, observation, and execution to elicit similar areas of neural activity, research has demonstrated movement imagery and observation to successfully prime movement execution. To investigate whether movement and observation could prime ease of imaging from an external visual imagery perspective, an internal visual imagery perspective, and kinaesthetic modality, 36 participants (M$_{age}$ = 20.58; SD = 3.11; 18 female, 18 male) completed the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 under four modes of delivery (movement prime, external observation prime, internal observation prime, and image-only). Results revealed ease of imaging was significantly greater during the movement and observation prime conditions compared to the image-only condition (p < .05). Specifically when priming external visual imagery and internal visual imagery, observation only facilitated ease of imaging when the perspective was congruent with the imagery perspective. Results support the utilization of movement and observation to facilitate ease of imaging, but highlight the importance of considering visual perspective when using observation

Direct observation of voids in the vacancy excess region of ion bombarded silicon

The results reported in this letter indicate that the spatial separation of the vacancy and interstitial excesses which result from ion bombardment gives rise to stable voids upon annealing at 850 °C even for implants where the projected ion range is only of the order of a few thousand Ångstrom. Such voids have been observed directly by transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, in cases where both voids and interstitial-based defects are present at different depths, it is found that Au has a strong preference for decorating void surfaces and hence Au can, indeed, be used as a selective detector of open volume defects in Si.One of the authors ~J.W.-L.! acknowledges the Australian Research Council for financial support

Nanoindentation-induced deformation of Ge

The deformation mechanisms of crystalline (100) Ge were studied using nanoindentation, cross sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and Raman microspectroscopy. For a wide range of indentation conditions using both spherical and pointed indenters, multiple discontinuities were found in the force–displacement curves on loading, but no discontinuities were found on unloading. Raman microspectroscopy, measured from samples which had plastically deformed on loading, showed a spectrum shift from that in pristine Ge, suggesting only residual strain. No evidence (such as extra Raman bands) was found to suggest that any pressure-induced phase transformations had occurred, despite the fact that the material had undergone severe plastic deformation.Selected area diffraction pattern studies of the mechanically damaged regions also confirmed the absence of additional phases. Moreover, XTEM showed that, at low loads, plastic deformation occurs by twinning and dislocation motion. This indicates that the hardness of Gemeasured by indentation is not primarily dominated by phase transformation, rather by the nucleation and propagation of twin bands and/or dislocations

The human fear-circuitry and fear-induced fainting in healthy individuals The paleolithic-threat hypothesis

The Paleolithic-Threat hypothesis reviewed here posits that habitual efferent fainting can be traced back to fear-induced allelic polymorphisms that were selected into some genomes of anatomically, mitochondrially, and neurally modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) in the Mid-Paleolithic because of the survival advantage they conferred during periods of inescapable threat. We posit that during Mid-Paleolithic warfare an encounter with “a stranger holding a sharp object” was consistently associated with threat to life. A heritable hard- wired or firm-wired (prepotentiated) predisposition to abruptly increase vagal tone and collapse flaccidly rather than freeze or attempt to flee or fight in response to an approaching sharp object, a minor injury, or the sight of blood, polymorphism for the hemodynamically “paradoxical” flaccid- immobility in response to these stimuli may have increased some non-combatants’ chances of survival. This is consistent with the unusual age and sex pattern of fear-induced fainting. The Paleolithic-Threat hypothesis also predicts a link to various hypo-androgenic states (e.g. low dehydroxyepiandrosterone-sulfate. We offer five predictions testable via epidemiological, clinical, and ethological/primatological methods. The Paleolithic-Threat hypothesis has implications for research in the aftermath of man-made disasters, such as terrorism against civilians, a traumatic event in which this hypothesis predicts epidemics of fear-induced faintin

Softening the Blow of Social Exclusion: The Responsive Theory of Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is an interactive process between multiple people, yet previous research has focused almost solely on the negative impacts on targets. What advice is there for people on the other side (i.e., sources) who want to minimize its negative impact and preserve their own reputation? To provide an impetus for research on the interactive nature of exclusion, we propose the Responsive Theory of Social Exclusion. Our theory postulates that targets and sources’ needs are better maintained if sources use clear, explicit verbal communication. We propose that sources have three options: explicit rejection (clearly stating no), ostracism (ignoring), and ambiguous rejection (being unclear). Drawing on psychology, sociology, communications, and business research, we propose that when sources use explicit rejection, targets’ feelings will be less hurt, their needs will be better protected, and sources will experience less backlash and emotional toil than if sources use ambiguous rejection or ostracism. Finally, we propose how the language of rejections may impact both parties

The STRS (shortness of breath, tremulousness, racing heart, and sweating): A brief checklist for acute distress with panic-like autonomic indicators; development and factor structure

Background: Peritraumatic response, as currently assessed by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criterion A2, has weak positive predictive value (PPV) with respect to PTSD diagnosis. Research suggests that indicators of peritraumatic autonomic activation may supplement the PPV of PTSD criterion A2. We describe the development and factor structure of the STRS (Shortness of Breath, Tremulousness, Racing Heart, and Sweating), a one page, two-minute checklist with a five-point Likert-type response format based on a previously unpublished scale. It is the first validated self-report measure of peritraumatic activation of the autonomic nervous system.\ud \ud Methods: We selected items from the Potential Stressful Events Interview (PSEI) to represent two latent variables: 1) PTSD diagnostic criterion A, and 2) acute autonomic activation. Participants (a convenience sample of 162 non-treatment seeking young adults) rated the most distressing incident of their lives on these items. We examined the factor structure of the STRS in this sample using factor and cluster analysis.\ud \ud Results: Results confirmed a two-factor model. The factors together accounted for 68% of the variance. The variance in each item accounted for by the two factors together ranged from 41% to 74%. The item loadings on the two factors mapped precisely onto the two proposed latent variables.\ud \ud Conclusion: The factor structure of the STRS is robust and interpretable. Autonomic activation signs tapped by the STRS constitute a dimension of the acute autonomic activation in response to stress that is distinct from the current PTSD criterion A2. Since the PTSD diagnostic criteria are likely to change in the DSM-V, further research is warranted to determine whether signs of peritraumatic autonomic activation such as those measured by this two-minute scale add to the positive predictive power of the current PTSD criterion A2. Additionally, future research is warranted to explore whether the four automatic activation items of the STRS can be useful as the basis for a possible PTSD criterion A3 in the DSM-V

2006 Housing in the Nation's Capital

Explores the interdependent relationship between public school systems and housing markets, and examines the ability of coordinated investment in affordable housing and quality education to revitalize Washington, D.C., metropolitan area neighborhoods

Bayesian Analysis for Food-Safety Risk Assessment: Evaluation of Dose-Response Functions within WinBUGS

Bayesian methods are becoming increasingly popular in the field of food-safety risk assessment. Risk assessment models often require the integration of a dose-response function over the distribution of all possible doses of a pathogen ingested with a specific food. This requires the evaluation of an integral for every sample for a Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis of a model. While many statistical software packages have functions that allow for the evaluation of the integral, this functionality is lacking in WinBUGS. A probabilistic model, that incorporates a novel numerical integration technique, is presented to facilitate the use of WinBUGS for food-safety risk assessments. The numerical integration technique is described in the context of a typical food-saftey risk assesment, some theoretical results are given, and a snippet of WinBUGS code is provided

Reevaluating the Management of Chronic Temporomandibular Pain Are We Treating PTSD with Debridement and Lavage?

n/