Not fitting in and getting out : psychological type and congregational satisfaction among Anglican churchgoers in England

Listening to the motivations reported by individuals for ceasing church attendance and becoming church leavers, Francis and Richter identified high on the list the sense of "not fitting in". Drawing on psychological type theory, several recent studies have documented the way in which some psychological types are over-represented in church congregations and other psychological types are under-represented. Bringing these two observations together, the present study tested the hypothesis that church congregations have created type-alike communities within which individuals displaying the opposite type preferences are more likely to feel marginalised and to display lower levels of satisfaction with the congregations they attend. Data were provided by 1867 churchgoers who completed a measure of psychological type, together with measures of frequency of attendance and congregational satisfaction. These data confirmed that congregations were weighted towards preferences for introversion, sensing, feeling and judging, and that individuals displaying the opposite preferences (especially intuition, thinking and perceiving) recorded lower levels of congregational satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed for promoting congregational retention by enhancing awareness of psychological type preferences among those who attend

Production of Native Bispecific Antibodies in Rabbits

BACKGROUND: A natural bispecific antibody, which can be produced by exchanging Fab arms of two IgG4 molecules, was first described in allergic patients receiving therapeutic injections with two distinct allergens. However, no information has been published on the production of natural bispecific antibody in animals. Even more important, establishment of an animal model is a useful approach to investigate and characterize the naturally occurring antibody. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We demonstrated that a natural bispecific antibody can also be generated in New Zealand white rabbits by immunization with synthesized conjugates. These antibodies showed bispecificity to the components that were simultaneously used to immunize the animals. We observed a trend in our test animals that female rabbits exhibited stronger bispecific antibody responses than males. The bispecific antibody was monomeric and primarily belonged to immunoglobulin (Ig) G. Moreover, bispecific antibodies were demonstrated by mixing 2 purified monospecific antibodies in vivo and in vitro. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results extend the context of natural bispecific antibodies on the basis of bispecific IgG4, and may provide insights into the exploration of native bispecific antibodies in immunological diseases

Functioning styles of personality disorders and five-factor normal personality traits: a correlation study in Chinese students

BACKGROUND: Previous studies show that both the categorical and dimensional descriptors of personality disorders are correlated with normal personality traits. Recently, a 92-item inventory, the Parker Personality Measure (PERM) was designed as a more efficient and precise first-level assessment of personality disorders. Whether the PERM constructs are correlated with those of the five-factor models of personality needs to be clarified. METHODS: We therefore invited 913 students from poly-technical schools and colleges in China to answer the PERM, the Five-Factor Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire (FFNPQ), and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ). RESULTS: Most personality constructs had satisfactory internal alphas. PERM constructs were loaded with FFNPQ and ZKPQ traits clearly on four factors, which can be labelled as Dissocial, Emotional Dysregulation, Inhibition and Compulsivity, as reported previously. FFNPQ Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Extraversion formed another Factor, named Experience Hunting, which was not clearly covered by PERM or ZKPQ. CONCLUSION: The PERM constructs were loaded in a predictable way on the disordered super-traits, suggesting the PERM might offer assistance measuring personality function in clinical practice

π+\pi^+ photoproduction on the proton for photon energies from 0.725 to 2.875 GeV

Differential cross sections for the reaction $\gamma p \to n \pi^+$ have been measured with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and a tagged photon beam with energies from 0.725 to 2.875 GeV. Where available, the results obtained here compare well with previously published results for the reaction. Agreement with the SAID and MAID analyses is found below 1 GeV. The present set of cross sections has been incorporated into the SAID database, and exploratory fits have been made up to 2.7 GeV. Resonance couplings have been extracted and compared to previous determinations. With the addition of these cross sections to the world data set, significant changes have occurred in the high-energy behavior of the SAID cross-section predictions and amplitudes.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Differential cross sections and spin density matrix elements for the reaction gamma p -> p omega

High-statistics differential cross sections and spin density matrix elements for the reaction gamma p -> p omega have been measured using the CLAS at Jefferson Lab for center-of-mass (CM) energies from threshold up to 2.84 GeV. Results are reported in 112 10-MeV wide CM energy bins, each subdivided into cos(theta_CM) bins of width 0.1. These are the most precise and extensive omega photoproduction measurements to date. A number of prominent structures are clearly present in the data. Many of these have not previously been observed due to limited statistics in earlier measurements

Interaction Between Convection and Pulsation

This article reviews our current understanding of modelling convection dynamics in stars. Several semi-analytical time-dependent convection models have been proposed for pulsating one-dimensional stellar structures with different formulations for how the convective turbulent velocity field couples with the global stellar oscillations. In this review we put emphasis on two, widely used, time-dependent convection formulations for estimating pulsation properties in one-dimensional stellar models. Applications to pulsating stars are presented with results for oscillation properties, such as the effects of convection dynamics on the oscillation frequencies, or the stability of pulsation modes, in classical pulsators and in stars supporting solar-type oscillations.Comment: Invited review article for Living Reviews in Solar Physics. 88 pages, 14 figure

Latin American immigrants in Indianapolis: Perceptions of prejudice and discrimination

The article focuses on immigrants’ interactions with the Indiana natives, with emphasis in the city of Indianapolis and its suburbs. More specifically, this study aims at providing an understanding of the experiences of Latin American immigrants with special attention to perceptions of prejudice and discrimination and to feelings of social exclusion. A substantial proportion of Latin American immigrants interviewed indicated that they considered Indiana natives to be prejudiced and that they had personally experienced discrimination. The study reveals specific examples of discrimination experienced by the immigrants at the work place, in housing, in stores, restaurants and by various service providers. The results of the study demonstrate the relevance of the normative and power resource theories to explain prejudice and discrimination

Photodisintegration of 4^4He into p+t

The two-body photodisintegration of $^4$He into a proton and a triton has been studied using the CEBAF Large-Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Laboratory. Real photons produced with the Hall-B bremsstrahlung-tagging system in the energy range from 0.35 to 1.55 GeV were incident on a liquid $^4$He target. This is the first measurement of the photodisintegration of $^4$He above 0.4 GeV. The differential cross sections for the $\gamma$$^4$He$\to pt$ reaction have been measured as a function of photon-beam energy and proton-scattering angle, and are compared with the latest model calculations by J.-M. Laget. At 0.6-1.2 GeV, our data are in good agreement only with the calculations that include three-body mechanisms, thus confirming their importance. These results reinforce the conclusion of our previous study of the three-body breakup of $^3$He that demonstrated the great importance of three-body mechanisms in the energy region 0.5-0.8 GeV .Comment: 13 pages submitted in one tgz file containing 2 tex file and 22 postscrip figure

Observation of an Exotic S=+1S=+1 Baryon in Exclusive Photoproduction from the Deuteron

In an exclusive measurement of the reaction $\gamma d \to K^+ K^- p n$, a narrow peak that can be attributed to an exotic baryon with strangeness $S=+1$ is seen in the $K^+n$ invariant mass spectrum. The peak is at $1.542\pm 0.005$ GeV/c$^2$ with a measured width of 0.021 GeV/c$^2$ FWHM, which is largely determined by experimental mass resolution. The statistical significance of the peak is $5.2 \pm 0.6 \sigma$. The mass and width of the observed peak are consistent with recent reports of a narrow $S=+1$ baryon by other experimental groups.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

A Measurement of Rb using a Double Tagging Method

The fraction of Z to bbbar events in hadronic Z decays has been measured by the OPAL experiment using the data collected at LEP between 1992 and 1995. The Z to bbbar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices, and high momentum electrons and muons. Systematic uncertainties were reduced by measuring the b-tagging efficiency using a double tagging technique. Efficiency correlations between opposite hemispheres of an event are small, and are well understood through comparisons between real and simulated data samples. A value of Rb = 0.2178 +- 0.0011 +- 0.0013 was obtained, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The uncertainty on Rc, the fraction of Z to ccbar events in hadronic Z decays, is not included in the errors. The dependence on Rc is Delta(Rb)/Rb = -0.056*Delta(Rc)/Rc where Delta(Rc) is the deviation of Rc from the value 0.172 predicted by the Standard Model. The result for Rb agrees with the value of 0.2155 +- 0.0003 predicted by the Standard Model.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX, 14 eps figures included, submitted to European Physical Journal