Correlates of Compulsive Buying

Compulsive buying is a chronic issue for shoppers exacerbated by a nation obsessed with consumption. To predict compulsive buying behavior, a survey was administered to 283 college students in southern Nevada. The results suggested that the compulsive buyer exhibits am ex­ternal consumer locus of control and purchases goods with the intent to increase social status or quell anxiety. Given that responsible financial behavior changes as a function of age, college students are particularly vulnerable to compulsive purchasing behavior, as it is exacerbated by irresponsible credit spending behaviors

Correlates of Gambling Disorder

Gambling disorder is an addictive behavior in which valuables are wagered in neglect of financial losses and delusions of financial gain. To predict problem gambling behavior, a survey of Machiavellian personalities, money attitudes, and impulsive/compulsive buying behavior was administered to 410 students at UNLV. The results suggested that disordered gambling behavior may be predicted by Money Status scores. Specifically, amorality, money worship, and money vigilance were significant in predicting African-American pathological gambling. For Asians, only money vigilance loaded significantly

Seismic-based characterization of a carbonate gas storage reservoir assisted by machine learning techniques

Silurian pinnacle reefs found within the Michigan Basin were prolific hydrocarbon producers in the mid-to-late twentieth century. During production, studies over these complex reservoirs were primarily focused on facies distributions and depositional environments interpreted from core and petrophysical log data. 2-D seismic was applied primarily for reef identification, and rarely incorporated in identifying facies. To date, only two studies using modern 3-D seismic data to characterize Silurian pinnacle reefs have been published (Toelle and Ganshin, 2018; Buist 2020). Toelle and Ganshin (2018) had poor well control, which significantly reduced the certainty of interpretations made. Buist (2020) utilized unsupervised Self-Organizing Maps for porosity and permeability correlation from seismic data in several reefs along the Southern Reef Trend. This study is the first to conduct a pre-stack seismic inversion over a Silurian pinnacle reef within the Michigan Basin, and both the pre-stack inversion volumes and post-stack seismic attributes are integrated with supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques (Probability Neural Networks and Generative Topographic Maps) to characterize the reservoir properties of Ray Reef field along the Southern Reef Trend. The workflow for this study begins with the well log data. A feasibility study is conducted to analyze relationships between elastic properties such as velocities and impedances, and reservoir properties such as porosity and lithology. Simultaneous pre-stack inversion is then conducted to provide P and S-impedance volumes, velocity cubes, and lambda-rho mu-rho volumes. Attributes are generated on the post-stack data as well, and input into the Generative Topographic Map (GTM) algorithm. The GTM is able to identify non-linear relationships between the attributes, and identifies relationships between lithology and seismic attributes. Pre-stack inversion attributes are analyzed in traditional crossplots to classify zones of good, fair, and poor porosity. Probability Neural Networks (PNNs) are shown to excel at classifying the gas-water contact within the reservoir, in addition to delineating salt units from the encasing carbonate units. The workflow described in this study identified a consistent relationship between lambda-rho and mu-rho attributes for porosity and possible fluid content within the Ray Reef gas storage reservoir in southeastern Michigan. Unsupervised machine learning techniques used also showed the ability to identify the reef core lithofacies from post-stack seismic data. These workflows have the potential to be applied on other pinnacle reef complexes within the Michigan Basin in addition to other carbonate reservoirs around the world

PROGRAMAS DE INFORMÁTICA PARA COMPARAÇÕES ENTRE CORRELAÇÕES: AMOSTRAS DEPENDENTES

Existe una variedad de técnicas para probar las diferencias entre correlaciones dependientes que no están disponibles en los programas estadísticos estándar para el investigador. Se presentan ejemplos de estas técnicas para evaluar diferentes hipótesis dentro del contexto de correlaciones en muestras dependientes, junto con programas informáticos interactivos, de fácil uso y libre distribución.There are a variety of techniques for testing the differences between dependent correlations that are not available using the standard statistical software packages.  Examples of these techniques for examining different hypotheses within the dependent correlational realm are presented along with the output and interpretation from easily attainable, user-friendly, interactive software.Existe uma variedade de técnicas para provar as diferencias entre correlações dependentes que não estão disponíveis nos programas estatísticos familiares para o investigador. Apresentam-se exemplos destas técnicas para avaliar diferentes hipóteses dentro do contexto de correlações em amostras dependentes, junto com programas de informáticas interativos, amigáveis e livre distribuição

PROGRAMAS DE INFORMÁTICA PARA COMPARAÇÕES ENTRE CORRELAÇÕES: AMOSTRAS INDEPENDENTES

Existe una variedad de técnicas para probar las diferencias entre correlaciones independientes que no están disponibles en los programas estadísticos familiares para el investigador. Se presentan ejemplos de estas técnicas para evaluar diferentes hipótesis dentro del contexto de correlaciones en muestras independientes, junto con programas informáticos interactivos, amigables y libre distribución.There is a variety of techniques to test the differences between independent correlations which are not available in statistical programs familiar to the researcher. We present examples of these techniques to evaluate different hypotheses within the context of correlations in independent samples, together with interactive, friendly and freeware computer programs.Existe uma variedade de técnicas para provar as diferencias entre correlações independentes que não estão disponíveis nos programas estatísticos familiares para o investigador. Apresentam-se exemplos destas técnicas para avaliar diferentes hipóteses dentro do contexto de correlações em amostras independentes, junto com programas de informáticas interativos, amigáveis e livre distribuição

Empathy, engagement, entrainment: the interaction dynamics of aesthetic experience

A recent version of the view that aesthetic experience is based in empathy as inner imitation explains aesthetic experience as the automatic simulation of actions, emotions, and bodily sensations depicted in an artwork by motor neurons in the brain. Criticizing the simulation theory for committing to an erroneous concept of empathy and failing to distinguish regular from aesthetic experiences of art, I advance an alternative, dynamic approach and claim that aesthetic experience is enacted and skillful, based in the recognition of others’ experiences as distinct from one’s own. In combining insights from mainly psychology, phenomenology, and cognitive science, the dynamic approach aims to explain the emergence of aesthetic experience in terms of the reciprocal interaction between viewer and artwork. I argue that aesthetic experience emerges by participatory sense-making and revolves around movement as a means for creating meaning. While entrainment merely plays a preparatory part in this, aesthetic engagement constitutes the phenomenological side of coupling to an artwork and provides the context for exploration, and eventually for moving, seeing, and feeling with art. I submit that aesthetic experience emerges from bodily and emotional engagement with works of art via the complementary processes of the perception–action and motion–emotion loops. The former involves the embodied visual exploration of an artwork in physical space, and progressively structures and organizes visual experience by way of perceptual feedback from body movements made in response to the artwork. The latter concerns the movement qualities and shapes of implicit and explicit bodily responses to an artwork that cue emotion and thereby modulate over-all affect and attitude. The two processes cause the viewer to bodily and emotionally move with and be moved by individual works of art, and consequently to recognize another psychological orientation than her own, which explains how art can cause feelings of insight or awe and disclose aspects of life that are unfamiliar or novel to the viewer

Synchronization in Singing Duo Performances : The Roles of Visual Contact and Leadership Instruction

Interpersonal synchronization between musicians during ensemble performances is characterized by continuous micro-timing adjustments due to intentional and unintentional factors supporting expressive interpretations, or caused by noise during the cognitive-motor process. Whether visual contact between musicians and the instruction to act as leader or follower affect synchronization in ensembles remains mostly unclear. This study investigates the role of visual cues and leader-follower relationships in singing performances. Twelve vocal duos took part in the study, singing a two-part piece, which was composed for the study and was mostly homophonic in structure. Four conditions were applied in a randomized order: with and without visual contact, and with a designated leader or follower. The piece was repeated four times in each condition, and the condition presented three times, for a total of 12 performances of the piece in each condition. Data were acquired using electrolaryngograph electrodes and head mounted microphones to track the fundamental frequency estimates of the individual singers. Results show that the presence and absence of visual contact had a significant effect on the precision and consistency of synchronization during singing duo performances. Precision and consistency were better in the presence of visual contact between singers than without, and these effects were associated with the beginning of phonation of the first note of the piece. The presence/absence of visual contact also had an effect on the tendency to lead or lag a co-performer associated with the onset of the first note; the extent of leading was greater when visual contact was absent. The instruction to act as leader or follower did not affect precision or consistency of synchronization, nor did it relate to the observed tendency to precede or lag a co-performer. The results contribute to the tailoring of rehearsal strategies, as singers and directors can be better informed of the factors influencing synchronization and focus on specific areas of difficulty in certain performance conditions, such as first note onsets when performers are not able to see each other

The heat is on: Effects of synchronous music on psychophysiological parameters and running performance in hot and humid conditions

© 2018 Nikol, Kuan, Ong, Chang and Terry. Running in high heat and humidity increases psychophysiological strain, which typically impairs running performance. Listening to synchronous music has been shown to provide psychophysiological benefits, which may enhance running performance. The present randomized, crossover study examined effects of listening to synchronous music on psychophysiological parameters and running performance in hot and humid conditions. Twelve male runners (21.7 ± 2.2 y; 166.17 ± 7.18 cm; 60.32 ± 9.52 kg; 59.29 ± 5.95 ml kg-1 min-1) completed two running trials in simulated conditions (31°C and 70% humidity) with and without synchronous music. Participants ran on a treadmill inside a climatic chamber for 60 min at 60% V.O2max and continued to run to exhaustion at 80% V.O2max. Time-to-exhaustion under the synchronous music condition was 66.59% longer (mean = 376.5 s vs. 226.0 s, p = 0.02, d = 0.63) compared to the no music condition. Ratings of perceived exertion were significantly lower for the synchronous music condition at each time point (15, 30, 45, and 60 min) of the steady state portion of the running trials. Small differences in heart rate were detected between conditions. No significant between-condition differences were found in urine specific gravity, percentage of body weight loss, thermal comfort, and blood lactate. Findings suggest that listening to synchronous music is beneficial to running performance and perceived exertion in hot and humid conditions.This present study was supported by Short-term Grant (USM304.PPSP.61313041) and Research University’s Individual Grant (1001/PPSP/812149) from the Universiti Sains Malaysia

More than just trees: Assessing reforestation success in tropical developing countries

Rural communities in many parts of the tropics are dependent of forests for their livelihoods and for environmental services. Forest resources in the tropics have declined rapidly over the past century and therefore many developing countries in the tropics have reforestation programs. Although reforestation is a long-term process with long-term benefits, existing evaluations of the success of these programs tends to focus on short-term establishment success indicators. This paper presents a review of reforestation assessment that highlights the need to not only consider short-term establishment success, but also longer-term growth and maturation success, environmental success and socio-economic success. In addition, we argue that reforestation assessment should not be based on success indicators alone, but should incorporate the drivers of success, which encompasses an array of biophysical, socio-economic, institutional and project characteristics. This is needed in order to understand the reasons why reforestation projects succeed or fail and therefore to design more successful projects in future. The paper presents a conceptual model for reforestation success assessment that links key groups of success indicators and drivers. This conceptual model provides the basis for a more comprehensive evaluation of reforestation success and the basis for the development of predictive systems-based assessment models. These models will be needed to better guide reforestation project planning and policy design and therefore assist rural communities in tropical developing countries to alleviate poverty and achieve a better quality of life