Haldane to Dimer Phase Transition in the Spin-1 Haldane System with Bond-Alternating Nearest-Neighbor and Uniform Next-Nearest-Neighbor Exchange Interactions

The Haldane to dimer phase transition is studied in the spin-1 Haldane system with bond-alternating nearest-neighbor and uniform next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions, where both interactions are antiferromagnetic and thus compete with each other. By using a method of exact diagonalization, the ground-state phase diagram on the ratio of the next-nearest-neighbor interaction constant to the nearest-neighbor one versus the bond-alternation parameter of the nearest-neighbor interactions is determined. It is found that the competition between the interactions stabilizes the dimer phase against the Haldane phase

The universe out of a monopole in the laboratory?

To explore the possibility that an inflationary universe can be created out of a stable particle in the laboratory, we consider the classical and quantum dynamics of a magnetic monopole in the thin-shell approximation. Classically there are three types of solutions: stable, collapsing and inflating monopoles. We argue that the transition from a stable monopole to an inflating one could occur either by collision with a domain wall or by quantum tunneling.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. D with changing title into "Is it possible to create a universe out of a monopole in the laboratory?", text and figures revised, 21 pages, 6 figure

Does self-monitoring invoke other-knowledge reference process?

This study examined whether self-monitoring invokes other-knowledge reference by using task-faciliation paradigm(klein, Loftus, & Burton, 1989). Nineteen participants performed a series of tasks, which were other-reference("Does the word describe the friend?"), evaluative("Is the word socially desirable?"), self-monitoring("Does the word make you pleasant?"), and semantic("Is it difficult to define the word?"). Trials for each task were divided into four conditions by the type of the previous task. Comparisons among these condition showed that reaction times were shorter when the previous tasks and current tasks were the same than when they were different. the time required for the other-knowledge reference task was the same regardless of whether it was preceeded by the self-monitoring task of by the semantic task. considering with the results of Nakao and Miyatani(2005b), which showed the facilitation of self-knowledge referent task after self-monitoring task, our results revealed that self-monitoring is associated with characteristic traits of the self, but does not invoke ohter-knowledge reference

Does affective process mediate self-reference effect?

This study examined whether self-reference effect is mediated by affective process of trait adjectives based on the effect of encoding variability(Klein & Saltz, 1976). The effect of encoding variability refers to the evidence that the more variably the information about a stimulus word is encoded, the more likely that the word is retrieved in a latter free recall test. Therefore, if self-reference effect is not mediated by affective process, the task which contains both self-referece process and affective process produce greater memory performance than the tasks which contain only self-referent process or affective process. Sixteen participants engaged in four encoding tasks, each of which involved semantic, affective, self-referent, or affective self-referent process. Subsequent free recall test showed that memory performance for semantically encoded items was poorer than these for items in other three conditions. There was no difference in free recall performance between self-referenct and affective self-referent encoding conditions. These results suggest that self-referent task perse containg affective process, and this process mediates self-reference effect

Does other-referent process invoke evaluation process?

This study examied whether friend-referential process invoked evaluation process or not by using task-facilitation paradigm(Klein, Loftus, & burton, 1989). Fourteen participants performed a series of initial and target tasks, which were either friend-referential("Does this word describe the friend?"), evaluative("Is the word socially desirable?"), or semantic("Is it difficulut to define the word?"). A combination of three initial and three target tasks made nine conditions. Comparisons among these condition showed that reaction times for target tasks were shorten when initial and target tasks were the same than when they were different. But the time required fot the evaluation target task was the same regardless of whether it was preceeded by the friend-referent or by the semantic task. Considering with the results of Nakao and Miyatani(2004) which showed that self-referential task did, but acquaintance-referential task did not facilitate the subsequent evaluation process, these results revealed that evaluation process is not evoked by the other-referential process, although referent person is a familiar friend

Relationship between mind wandering and autobiographical reasoning

Mind wandering (MW) is the shift in the contents of thought away from an ongoing task to self-generated thoughts which is unrelated to the task. MW is thought to have the role of integrating one’s experiences into a meaningful context through autobiographical reasoning. However, the relationship between MW and autobiographical reasoning is only a theoretical suggestion and no previous studies have directly examined this relationship. In this study, we performed a questionnaire survey to clarify the role of MW that integrates experiences by examining whether there is a relationship between MW and autobiographical reasoning. As a result, a positive correlation was found between the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire and the Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) scale. There was also a positive correlation between the Daydream Frequency and TALE scales. This result indicates that MW is related to autobiographical reasoning.本研究は，JST，COI，JPMJCE1311の支援を受けたものです

A study on yutori : The relationships between yutori and depression, anxiety, optimism, and pessimism

The Japanese word yutori is commonly used. Previous research has reported that yutori of the mind is essential for a happy life. However, most of the results included in previous studies were obtained without empirical data. Thus, to find broader knowledge about yutori, we conducted an empirical study on the relationships between yutori and depression, anxiety, optimism, and pessimism. We presented 62 healthy Hiroshima University students with questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of the yutori of mind scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Optimism and Pessimism Scale. The correlation analysis indicated that yutori has negative correlations with depression, anxiety, and pessimism. In contrast, a positive correlation was found between yutori and optimism. These findings provide a strong evidence for the notion that yutori of mind is positively related to mental health

The Relationship Between the Yutori Scales for Mind and for University Students

Two yutori scales were developed in previous studies: i.e., Tomita’s yutori scale for mind, and Kitazume and Kanno’s yutori scale for university students. Although recent studies have used these scales, the relationship between these two scales is unclear. Therefore, this study examined the correlation between these two yutori scales. One hundred forty-five university students completed two questionnaires about yutori. In addition to these two questionnaires, we also used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). A correlation analysis showed the positive relationships between the two yutori scales. In addition, a negative correlation was observed between the two yutori scales and mental health as measured by CES-D and STAI. Based on these results, the future direction of yutori studies was discussed.本研究は広島大学校友会による第11回広島大学ドリームチャレンジ賞により実現しました