Absence of age effects on spontaneous past and future thinking in daily life

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018.Previous research on voluntary mental time travel (i.e., deliberately thinking about the past or future) has resulted in negative age effects. In contrast, studies on spontaneous past thoughts (i.e., involuntary autobiographical memories) have reported small or no age effects. The aim of the present research was to investigate the effects of age on the nature and frequency of spontaneous future thoughts in everyday life. In two studies, we examined whether older adults reported spontaneous future thoughts as often as younger adults, and whether these thoughts were predominantly goal-oriented and less dependent on incidental cues than thoughts about the past. In Study 1, young and old participants kept a diary of spontaneous thoughts of upcoming prospective memory tasks and involuntary autobiographical memories for 2 weeks. In Study 2, a 1-day experience sampling method was used to investigate spontaneous and deliberate task-unrelated future and past thoughts, by having young and old participants complete a questionnaire in response to 30 random signals. In both studies, no age effects were found in the frequency of spontaneous future thoughts, which were reported as frequently as thoughts about the past (Study 2) and referred predominantly to upcoming tasks and goals rather than future events or hypothetical events (Study 2). Results concerning the triggers of reported thoughts provide initial support for the idea that representations of future thoughts may be more activated than memories of past events. Taken together, these results have important implications for research on cognitive ageing, mind-wandering, prospective memory and involuntary autobiographical memories.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

VEGANISM: THE DIET FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Veganism is a lifestyle that can allow for the individual to reduce their own carbon footprint on the world. In order to accomplish this one must remove all animal products from their life to maximize the reduction of carbon emissions they produce in a year. This comes from the meat and animal product industry producing far more carbon emissions than that of non-animal products. The animal product industry requires much more land use than that of the non-animal product industry in regard to food. If someone can decide that certain animal products are not necessary in their life than they can begin to reduce their carbon footprint. There are other ways to accomplish this goal but there are other benefits to becoming vegan as well. Veganism is cheaper on average per year for an individual than someone that consumes meat. Budget is not the only additional benefit as many people see an elevation of overall health after transitioning to a vegan diet. Not everyone can make the complete leap to a vegan diet, but if someone can slowly remove animal products from their life than their carbon footprint will decrease with it

Using quality improvement methodology to improve clinic flow at a pediatric outpatient clinic

Thesis (M.A.)Boston Medical Center’s pediatric outpatient clinic has resident clinic flow problems that negatively affect its patient care level. Due to system backup, in August 2012, resident patients spent an average of 71 minutes in the clinic for a scheduled 20-minute appointment. This study used quality improvement methodology (QI) to investigate potential solutions to the clinic flow problems. Our aim was, by May 2013 decrease the average patient time-in-clinic for resident vaccination patients between 2 and 30 months of age by 20%. Using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles within QI, the research team implemented three interventions between August 2012 and May 2013 that focused on improving communication between members of the clinic medical team. Throughout the year, the research team measured the time-in-clinic for the patient population, plotted the data with run charts, and determined if the interventions resulted in a corresponding decrease in time. By May 2013, the interventions resulted in an average decrease in time across all resident classes. First years showed a 4.5% decrease. Second years showed a 5.7% decrease. Third years showed a 20% decrease. While these decreases are significant, due to time limitations, we could not determine if the interventions resulted in a lasting improvement to clinic flow.2031-01-0

Molecular-dynamics simulations of stacking-fault-induced dislocation annihilation in pre-strained ultrathin single-crystalline copper films

We report results of large-scale molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of dynamic deformation under biaxial tensile strain of pre-strained single-crystalline nanometer-scale-thick face-centered cubic (fcc) copper films. Our results show that stacking faults, which are abundantly present in fcc metals, may play a significant role in the dissociation, cross-slip, and eventual annihilation of dislocations in small-volume structures of fcc metals. The underlying mechanisms are mediated by interactions within and between extended dislocations that lead to annihilation of Shockley partial dislocations or formation of perfect dislocations. Our findings demonstrate dislocation starvation in small-volume structures with ultra-thin film geometry, governed by a mechanism other than dislocation escape to free surfaces, and underline the significant role of geometry in determining the mechanical response of metallic small-volume structures.Comment: 28 pages, 3 figure

Equilibration of Long Chain Polymer Melts in Computer Simulations

Several methods for preparing well equilibrated melts of long chains polymers are studied. We show that the standard method in which one starts with an ensemble of chains with the correct end-to-end distance arranged randomly in the simulation cell and introduces the excluded volume rapidly, leads to deformation on short length scales. This deformation is strongest for long chains and relaxes only after the chains have moved their own size. Two methods are shown to overcome this local deformation of the chains. One method is to first pre-pack the Gaussian chains, which reduces the density fluctuations in the system, followed by a gradual introduction of the excluded volume. The second method is a double-pivot algorithm in which new bonds are formed across a pair of chains, creating two new chains each substantially different from the original. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods for a linear bead spring polymer model with both zero and nonzero bending stiffness, however the methods are applicable to more complex architectures such as branched and star polymer.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Comparative Study of HIM Professionals Comprehension and Use of Data Protection on Mobile Devices

AS SMARTPHONE USE continues to grow, these devices are often used to access an individual’s private information. American mobile device users spend, on average, five hours1 of their day communicating or accessing information on their smartphones. Approximately 69 percent of that time is spent in apps. Recent figures show healthcare apps have helped boost that percentage, as more than 50 percent of smartphone users gather health-related information on their phones, while 80 percent of physicians use smartphones and medical apps