The Impact of Music on Short Term Memory and Cognitive Processes

The present study sought to analyze the effects of background music on cognition (e.g., memorization, reading comprehension and pattern recognition) and which category of pop background music (instrumental pop, pop with both instrument and vocals, or pop with vocals only) may have the greatest impact on ones attention span and concentration, as operationalized through several memory and pattern recognition tasks

Alexithymia and Emotional Ambivalence as Predictors of College Adjustment

The current study evaluated the constructs alexithymia and emotional ambivalence, regarding their impact on adjustment to college. Alexithymia is an emotional processing concept which is defined as difficulty identifying and describing feelings, externally oriented thought, and limited imaginal ability. Emotional ambivalence is the ongoing internal conflict about the desire to hide emotions, despite external circumstances that demand disclosure, and/or regret over decisions to disclose feelings. These were both looked at as predictors of college adjustment, with the inclusion of chronic pain and psychiatric distress as physical and mental health components of the transition

The Impact of Body Image Preoccupation on College Adjustment

Faculty Research Day 2018: Graduate Student Poster Honorable MentionThe physical and psychological adjustment to college is a often a disorienting time for students. Upon entering college, students are met with a new set of societal, personal, and academic expectations that decide the degree to which they are able to adapt to their new lives (Tinto, 1993). Given the taxing mental demands associated with the college transition, as well as the increasing prevalence of mental illnesses among college students (Duarte, Ferreira, Trindade, & Pinto-Gouveia, 2015; Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010), extensive research has examined the many psychological components that can effect students’ college experiences. Yet, despite the extensive literatures centering around body image preoccupation and college students’ psychological health/adjustment to college, there have been no studies that assess body image alongside college adjustment. The present study aims to fill this gap in the literature by examining the association of body image preoccupation and students’ adjustment to college

The Role of Trauma In Baseline Functioning for Individuals Entering Substance Use Treatment from the Criminal Justice System

Problems- Trauma and post-traumatic symptoms have a profound effect on the lives of the individual. We know that rates of post-traumatic stress disorder range from 3-10% in the general population, however, rates of trauma, and the impact of trauma on other areas of functioning for individuals in the criminal justice system are less clear. The purpose of the current study was to determine the rate of trauma and the relationship of trauma to substance use and other psychiatric diagnoses in individuals who are referred to a forensic drug treatment center in New Haven, CT for evaluation. Methods- Participants were 145 men and women who were referred by the criminal justice system (ongoing court case or at risk of violation of probation) for a substance use evaluation. Data was collected at the clients’ initial visit to the treatment facility. Trauma was assessed by self-report on the PTSD Checklist – Civilian (PCL-C) version. This study compared the effects of a positive symptomatic score for PTSD on the PCL-C with demographic information and key factors upon admission to the treatment program. Results- Individuals entering the substance use program with self-reported trauma also evidenced poorer baseline functioning in general. This included higher rates of mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders. Additionally, of importance to this population, individuals reporting trauma evidenced greater number of days incarcerated in the past 30. Interestingly, no gender difference was observed in the rates of trauma. Implications- Overall, the results of this study suggest that PTSD correlates with negative baseline characteristics as expected based on prior research; however there are unique differences in rates of PTSD in the criminal justice population as compared to the general population

Upright and left out: Posture moderates the effects of social exclusion on mood and threats to basic needs

The present study sought to examine the relationship between the experience of social-exclusion (ostracism), the posture that one maintains while being socially included or excluded, and how these factors impact basic needs (e.g., feelings of belonging) and mood

Quality assurance in immunoassay performance – carbamazepine immunoassay format evaluation and application on surface and waste water

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals in water samples. For the determination of this anthropogenic marker, various immunoassay formats were tested and evaluated in order to identify the most suitable one. For these direct competitive assays, the analyte was labelled with the enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or alkaline phosphatase (AP), and seven substrates with specific detection properties were used. The quality criteria for the standard curves were fulfilled by all HRP assays and the chemiluminescence AP format. Furthermore, intra- and inter-plate coefficients of variation as a measure of the achievable precision were determined for the samples. The application of the AP assays to surface water was unfeasible due to CBZ concentrations below the quantifiable concentration range. Surface as well as waste water samples could be analyzed with the HRP assays. Here, the HRP assay employing the chromogenic substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine yielded the best results

Boise iNtuitives

For this project, I created an MBTI Intuitives meetup group in Boise. Meet up groups are often focused around a common activity to find people you connect with. This group explores connecting through MBTI personality. According to MBTI, Intuitives make up about 26.6% of the population. They often feel different from mainstream society and are usually the group that is the most interested in MBTI. I created this meet up group for intuitive to gather and connect, discussing topics through a more intuitive lens. The results from this project were encouraging, showing there is a need for this in our community

Emotional risk factors for substance abuse in a chronic pain population: Developing a predictive model and testing methods for assessing stigmatized behaviors

There are currently few factors guiding physicians\u27 decisions as to whether an individual patient may need additional regulation of pain medications because of risks. The limited predictive factors applied to prescription opioid abuse in chronic pain patients is surprising given the breadth of personal, cognitive, and emotional factors explored in both chronic pain and substance abuse literatures broadly. The present study had two purposes. First, concurrent risk factors for prescription misuse and substance abuse in chronic pain patients were explored, specifically examining whether the addition of emotional factors to the traditionally used risk factors improves prediction of prescription and substance misuse. The present study also experimentally examined whether an enhanced interview condition would lead to increased disclosure of prescription misuse, other drug use, and traumatic events, by normalizing the experience of substance use and trauma, and engaging in a conversation about confidentiality of the information. Participants completed one session in which they were assigned to report their prescription misuse, substance use, and trauma in one of the following formats: written/private, standard interview, enhanced interview. In the enhanced condition, the interviewer followed an initial script addressing participants\u27 potential concerns about disclosure prior to questions regarding substance use and trauma. In addition to replicating the role of personal and family history of substance use problems, this study provided new evidence for the role of emotional ambivalence as a risk factor for prescription misuse, prescription abuse and dependence symptoms, and alcohol use. Interestingly, only younger age was predictive of cannabis use. This study also provided evidence that further development in assessment methods, focused on understanding the role of meta-communication, normalizing of problematic behaviors, and probing unclear responses, could lead to better identification of patients already engaging in problematic prescription related behaviors

A Method for Finding a Design Space as Linear Combinations of Parameter Ranges for Biopharmaceutical Control Strategies

According to ICH Q8 guidelines, the biopharmaceutical manufacturer submits a design space (DS) definition as part of the regulatory approval application, in which case process parameter (PP) deviations within this space are not considered a change and do not trigger a regulatory post approval procedure. A DS can be described by non-linear PP ranges, i.e., the range of one PP conditioned on specific values of another. However, independent PP ranges (linear combinations) are often preferred in biopharmaceutical manufacturing due to their operation simplicity. While some statistical software supports the calculation of a DS comprised of linear combinations, such methods are generally based on discretizing the parameter space - an approach that scales poorly as the number of PPs increases. Here, we introduce a novel method for finding linear PP combinations using a numeric optimizer to calculate the largest design space within the parameter space that results in critical quality attribute (CQA) boundaries within acceptance criteria, predicted by a regression model. A precomputed approximation of tolerance intervals is used in inequality constraints to facilitate fast evaluations of this boundary using a single matrix multiplication. Correctness of the method was validated against different ground truths with known design spaces. Compared to stateof-the-art, grid-based approaches, the optimizer-based procedure is more accurate, generally yields a larger DS and enables the calculation in higher dimensions. Furthermore, a proposed weighting scheme can be used to favor certain PPs over others and therefore enabling a more dynamic approach to DS definition and exploration. The increased PP ranges of the larger DS provide greater operational flexibility for biopharmaceutical manufacturers.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, research articl

Fronteira vermelha: uma história do movimento comunista entre Brasil e Paraguai (1917-73)

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em História da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana como requisito parcial à obtenção do título de Mestre em História.Este trabalho visa elucidar e analisar a natureza da relação entre o Partido Comunista Paraguaio (PCP) e o Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB) durante o período entre a écada de 1920 e o final dos anos 1960, analisando quais contribuições tiveram os militantes de ambos os partidos para a organização, luta e formação ideológica do outro, dentro de um contexto de agudos conflitos políticos e militares, como a Guerra do Chaco (1932-5), a Guerra Civil Paraguaia (1947) e os esforços de guerrilha contra o regime de Alfredo Stroessner (1954-89). O estudo será baseado em fontes literárias, como livros e artigos, biografias e depoimentos de militantes (como Formación Histórica de la Nación Paraguaya, de Oscar Creydt, e Formação do PCB, de Atrojildo Pereira), matérias de jornais ligados aos partidos comunistas (como A Classe Operária, periódico do PCB entre 1925 e 1953), e documentação policial (fichas criminais, depoimentos, relatórios), extraída principalmente do Centro de Documentación y Archivo (CDyA), no Museu da Justiça em Asunción. Será examinada a participação de brasileiros, principalmente brasileiros comunistas, no âmbito da política comunista paraguaia, dentro deste recorte temporal, bem como as perspectivas e posições ideológicas sobre o território nacional brasileiro para a revolução comunista no Paraguai, e vice-versa, visando contribuir para a ainda escassa e recente literatura sobre o movimento comunista na dimensão paraguaia, de maneira informada pelas teorias de autores como Luca (2007) e Prado (2005)