The spiritual revolution and suicidal ideation: an empirical enquiry among 13- to 15-year-old adolescents in England and Wales

The association between conventional religiosity and suicide inhibition has been well explored and documented since the pioneering work of Durkheim. Commentators like Heelas and Woodhead point to ways in which conventional religiosity is giving way in England and Wales to a range of alternative spiritualities, including renewed interest in paranormal phenomena. Taking a sample of 3095 13- to 15-year-old adolescents, the present study examines the association between suicidal ideation and both conventional religiosity and paranormal beliefs, after controlling for individual differences in sex, age and personality (extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism). The data demonstrate that, while conventional religiosity is slightly associated with lower levels of suicidal ideation, paranormal beliefs are strongly associated with higher levels of suicidal ideation

Ghost field realizations of the spinor W2,sW_{2,s} strings based on the linear W(1,2,s) algebras

It has been shown that certain W algebras can be linearized by the inclusion of a spin-1 current. This Provides a way of obtaining new realizations of the W algebras. In this paper, we investigate the new ghost field realizations of the W(2,s)(s=3,4) algebras, making use of the fact that these two algebras can be linearized. We then construct the nilpotent BRST charges of the spinor non-critical W(2,s) strings with these new realizations.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Poynting vector, energy density and energy velocity in anomalous dispersion medium

The Poynting vector, energy density and energy velocity of light pulses propagating in anomalous dispersion medium (used in WKD-like experiments) are calculated. Results show that a negative energy density in the medium propagates along opposite of incident direction with such a velocity similar to the negative group velocity while the direction of the Poynting vector is positive. In other words, one might say that a positive energy density in the medium would propagate along the positive direction with a speed having approximately the absolute valueof the group velocity. We further point out that neither energy velocity nor group velocity is a good concept to describe the propagation process of light pulse inside the medium in WKD experiment owing to the strong accumulation and dissipation effects.Comment: 6 page

Production Optimization,Molecular Characterization and Biological Activities of Exopolysaccharides from Xylaria nigripes

The optimal culture conditions of exopolysaccharides (EPS) production in submerged culture medium by Xylaria nigripes were determined using orthogonal matrix method. The optimal medium (per liter) EPS was 60.0 g L–1 maltose, 1.0 g L–1 peptone, 5 mmol L–1 KH2PO4, and initial pH 7.0 at 28 oC. In the optimal culture medium, the maximum EPS production was 11.967 g L–1 in shake flask. Two groups of EPSs (designated as Fr-I and Fr-II) were obtained from the culture filtrates by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and their molecular characteristics were examined by a multiangle laser-light scattering (MALLS) and refractive index (RI) detector system. The weight-average molar masses of Fr-I and Fr-II of EPS were determined to be 6.327104 and 1.478104 g mol–1, respectively. The SEC/MALLS analysis revealed that the molecular formation of Fr-I is of nearly globular shape. Furthermore, the experiments in vitro indicated that X. nigripes EPS exhibited high antioxidative effects though its antitumour activity was limited

Thermodynamic properties of thin films of superfluid 3He-A

The pairing correlations in superfluid He-3 are strongly modified by quasiparticle scattering off a surface or an interface. We present theoretical results and predictions for the order parameter, the quasiparticle excitation spectrum and the free energy for thin films of superfluid He-3. Both specular and diffuse scattering by a substrate are considered, while the free surface is assumed to be a perfectly reflecting specular boundary. The results are based on self-consistent calculations of the order parameter and quasiparticle excitation spectrum at zero pressure. We obtain new results for the phase diagram, free energy, entropy and specific heat of thin films of superfluid He-3.Comment: Replaced with an updated versio