Showing papers by "Saint Anselm College published in 2003"

Selectively reduced regional cortical volumes in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Abstract: Different subterritories of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and adjacent ventromedial frontal cortex have been shown to serve distinct functions. This scheme has influenced contemporary pathophysiologic models of psychiatric disorders. Prevailing neurocircuitry models of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) implicate dysfunction within pregenual ACC and subcallosal cortex (SC), as well as amygdala and hippocampus. In the current study, cortical parcellation of magnetic resonance imaging data was performed to test for volumetric differences in pregenual ACC and SC, between women with PTSD and trauma-exposed women without PTSD. The PTSD group exhibited selectively decreased pregenual ACC and SC volumes. These results are consistent with contemporary schemes regarding functional and structural dissection of frontal cortex, and suggest specific regional cortical pathology in PTSD.

How does schema theory apply to real versus virtual memories

Abstract: Schemas are cognitive frameworks that guide memory, aide in the interpretation of events, and influence how we retrieve stored memories. The purpose of this study was to explore how schemas operate in a well-known environment and to examine whether or not schemas operate differently in real versus virtual environments. Twenty-four undergraduate students from a small liberal arts college in the northeast participated for course credit. Two identical offices (a real office and a virtual office) were created and filled with eight consistent and eight inconsistent items. Each participant explored either the real office or the virtual office for 20 seconds without any knowledge that their memory would be tested. After leaving the office, participants completed a recognition task and a short demographic questionnaire. Overall sensitivity and higher confidence in recognition memory scores was found for inconsistent compared to consistent items. Greater support for the consistency effect was observed in this study and interpreted in terms of the dynamic memory model and the schema-plus-correction model. The results also demonstrate that virtual reality paradigms may produce similar outcomes compared to the real world in terms of some memory processes, but additional design factors must be considered if the researcher's goal is to create equivalent paradigms.

Service learning models connecting computer science to the community

Abstract: Service learning is an educational experience that enables students to apply material learned in the classroom by volunteering in a real-world situation. This paper provides a brief review of service learning and describes two models that the computer science department at Saint Anselm College implemented successfully.

A late cretaceous callorhynchid (chondrichthyes, holocephali) from seymour island, antarctica

Abstract: (2003). A Late Cretaceous callorhynchid (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali) from Seymour Island, Antarctica. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 848-850.

Nicotine vs. ethanol discrimination: Extinction and spontaneous recovery of responding

Abstract: Studies regarding extinction and spontaneous recovery of the discriminative stimulus effects of drugs are limited. Eight rats were initially trained to discriminate nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) vs. ethanol (800 mg/kg). For four rats, itraperitaneal (IP) administrations of nicotine fifteen minutes prior to fifteen-minute training sessions served as a discriminative stimulus (SD) for predicting food-reinforced lever pressing (VI-1 min). On other sessions ethanol functioned in predicting nonreinforcement (SΔ). The stimulus roles of the drugs were counterbalanced for the remaining four rats. SΔ and SD sessions alternated quasi-randomly with two daily sessions at 1000 and 1400 hours. Discriminative control was not disrupted following ten extinction sessions under a non-drug/saline condition, but was disrupted following extinction sessions under the original training drugs. Instances of spontaneous recovery (SR) occurred throughout extinction under the drug condtions. There was no evidence for SR two weeks following extinction, but partial recovery four weeks following the final extinction phase. Contextual status (context renewal) had neither a restorative or disruptive impact on extiguished or discriminated responding, respectively. Theser results support and extend the limited number of other studies by demonstrating extinction and spontaneous recovery of responding discriminated bytwo distinct drugs. Some theoretical interpretations regarding history effects and training in the context of drug discrimination are entertained.

A linear optical trajectory informs the fielder where to run to the side to catch fly balls

Abstract: P. McLeod, N. Reed, and Z. Dienes (2002) argued that the linear optical trajectory (LOT) strategy incorrectly cues fielders to run forward for balls headed beyond them. The authors of this article explain that the downward optical curvature found for balls landing beyond the fielder's initial position occurs because the balls reorient the direction the fielder is facing during pursuit. Thus, when downward optical curvature begins, the ball is headed to land in front of where the fielder is facing and running. This investigation of open-loop failure conditions has led to new insights such as the reorientation of the fielder, and it supports the use of maintaining matching rates of vertical and lateral optical ball movement consistent with primacy of the LOT control mechanism even when interception is unachievable.

Spontaneous recovery during, but not following, extinction of the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine in rats: Reinstatement of stimulus control

Abstract: Extinction of the discriminative stimulus effects of drugs has received little research attention. Using a one-lever food-reinforcement (VI-1 min) operant procedure with rats (N = 16), the studies reported here assessed extinction, spontaneous recovery, and reinstatement of responding to the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine. Experiment 1 found evidence for retention of differential responding to IP administrations of nicotine after a 3-month (87 days) delay following acquisition. Experiment 2 compared spontaneous recovery of discriminative control 2 and 4 weeks following extinction. Additionally, the impact of noncontingent reinforcement on discriminative control was evaluated (reinstatement). During extinction training, nicotine (.4 mg/kg) or saline was administered 15 min prior to each 15-min session, as they were during training, but responding was not reinforced under either stimulus condition. Spontaneous recovery (SR) of responding under the SD condition occurred during a session (11th) preceded by two consecutive SΔ sessions. Matched by response rate, 8 rats were randomly assigned to either a 2-week delay group or a 4-week delay group. There was no evidence for SR of discriminated responding to the drugs 2 or 4 weeks following the final extinction session. Between-group comparisons further revealed that SR did not vary as a function of delay following extinction. Reinstatement of stimulus control was observed following 2 brief sessions of noncontingent food delivery (levers retracted and conducted in the absence of the drug cues). These results suggest that the maintenance and extinction of the discriminative stimulus effects of nicotine are temporally stable. Theoretical ideas regarding drug self-administration, craving, and therapy are entertained.

Variation in plumage, molt, and morphology of the Whiskered Auklet (Aethia pygmaea) in Alaska

Abstract: We studied molt and size variation in Whiskered Auklets collected at sea in August from the Aleutian Islands in 1992 and 1993. We evaluated size differences from external and skeletal measurements. Adults were molting extensively in August, indicating that molt began in July. Primaries 1–5 had been completely replaced, while primaries 6–8 were in various stages of replacement, and primaries 9 and 10 were old in most birds. We also found that juveniles were not molting. This pattern is similar to other species of small auklets where breeding and molt in adults overlap, but juveniles do not molt until the following summer. This suggests that Whiskered Auklets are subjected to similar ecological constraints as other auklets. We provide the first skeletal measurements of Whiskered Auklets and some new external measurements. Results of statistical analyses indicate that there is no sexual dimorphism in adults. A small sample of juveniles suggests that they are similar in size to adults.

Re-reading the Tea Leaves: New Hampshire as a Barometer of Presidential Primary Success

Abstract: New Hampshire, however, often seems more of an art than an exact science. In 1972, George McGovern won just 37% of the vote and lost the New Hampshire presidential primary by nine points to Edmund Muskie, yet Muskie faltered and McGovern surged in later contests. In 1992, Clinton managed just 24% of the vote in New Hampshire, yet pronounced himself the “Comeback Kid” and trounced Tsongas in later primaries. In 2000, Bill Bradley lost in New Hampshire by just four points to a sitting vice president—and had absolutely nothing to show for his efforts in terms of “momentum” in later primaries, which Gore won handily. It is doubtlessly true that the varying amounts of momentum each of the above candidates received had something to do with the “expectations” of success for each candidate, markers laid down by the national political media. Bradley’s 45% showing, for example, did not seem so impressive after polls released five months earlier had him dead-even with Gore. Clinton’s second-place finish, however, looked mighty indeed after revelations of sexual scandal and draft-dodging had apparently put his campaign on life support. From the “expectations” perspective, the only thing important about New Hampshire’s voting returns is that they are the first actual results received, after months of media speculation about the prospects of various candidates. From this perspective, the only interesting question about the actual New Hampshire vote is how the results fit the media’s “over/under,” that is, whether the candidate has exceeded media expectations, met expectations, or failed to meet expectations. This article, rather than focusing on media expectations as the key to momentum, instead concentrates on the “fundamentals” of the New Hampshire Democratic primary vote in 1988, 1992, and 2000 as key predictors of success in subsequent presidential primaries. (This is something akin to picking stocks based on old-fashioned measures of value such as price-earnings ratios, as opposed to buying whichever stocks have the best buzz from various brokers on CNBC.) By focusing on how well candidates did with particular segments of the New Hampshire Democratic primary vote, such as the working-class and the liberal elite, we can see which candidates showed “sound fundamentals”—that is, evidence of a broad-based coalition composed of both the liberal elite and the working-class

Critical Remembrance and Eschatological Hope in Edward Schillebeeckx's Theology of Suffering for Others

Abstract: Biblical prototypes of suffering for others – the eschatological prophet and messianic high priest – are correlated in the present article with Edward Schillebeeckx's examination of two vital concepts to provide the basis for a critical praxis: anamnesis, or the critical remembrance of history, and eschatological hope. The dialectical opposites of anamnesis and hope, which Schillebeeckx deems crucial for solidarity with suffering and its alleviation, are embodied by the prototypical scriptural figures. Indeed, critical remembrance and hope are intrinsic to the images of Jesus as the ‘suffering righteous one’ and the eschatological messianic high priest in Schillebeeckx's theology of suffering for others. Both the images and the critical concepts prove essential in his historical reconstruction of the eschatological communities, religious figures, and symbols in Hebrews and 1 Peter, among other New Testament documents. Schillebeeckx's discernment of hope as an eschatological concept is predicated on the transformation of the history of suffering into a constructive and critical force. He understands Jesus’ preaching about the coming kingdom of God as a message of hope that emerges from Jesus’ consciousness of the contrast between the history of suffering and his experience of God as Abba. Schillebeeckx's exegesis of biblical passages – taken from the Beatitudes, narratives of Jesus’ forgiveness of sins, and stories of his table fellowship – lays the foundation for the development of hope as the antidote to suffering and as a presentiment of eschatological salvation. He proposes that the transformation of failure and suffering into a critical and constructive force is Jesus’ eschatological legacy to the world and a model for the suffering servants of any age. Moreover, Schillebeeckx's dialectical understanding of remembered history and hope attests to his deep engagement with the Frankfurt School of social critical theory. In his later work (published during the 1970s and 1980s), such critical ideas serve to cultivate an eschatological sensibility and an ethical praxis, made possible by grace mediated through voluntary suffering.

94 An obligate(?) heterokont biflagellate parasite in codium fragile

Abstract: Specimens of Codium fragile (Suringar) Hariot ssp. tomentosoides were collected from 9 sites in New England, and Long Island, New York at intervals throughout the years 1999-2003. Segments were removed from the thalli and chopped into fine fragments, mostly individual utricles and medullary filaments. Fragments were incubated in enriched seawater in dim light at 15C, 12:12 LD. Within 2–3 days, in almost all cases (more than 300) motile cells formed in many of the utricles and filaments. These were 10–15 micrometer elongated biflagellate heterokont cells. They appeared to consume the chloroplasts, and within 24 hours were reduced to colorless cells, about 5 micrometers long. These cells are unable to grow in Codium chloroplast suspensions. They appear to be always associated with Codium thalli, despite attempts to clean the thalli, and were never seen in utricles or filaments of intact plants. Their ultrastructure is under investigation and will be reported on here.

Una investigación transnacional sobre la disponibilidad de armas de fuego y la violencia letal

Abstract: La comunidad mundial muestra gran interes por el abuso de las armas de fuego y su regulacion. Sin embargo, antes de 1997, existian pocas bases de datos disponibles a nivel internacional que permitieran a los investigadores profundizar en la importancia, en caso de que tuviese alguna, que la posibilidad de disponer de un arma de fuego tenia en las conductas violentas. Como repuesta, se llevo a cabo una recomendacion en el marco de la Cuarta Sesion de la Comision para la Prevencion del Crimen y la Justicia Criminal (Viena, Austria, del 30 de mayo al 9 de junio de 1995) a fin de que se estudiase este problema a nivel internacional. Basado en dicha recomendacion, el Congreso Economico y Social adopto una resolucion (ECOSOC Resolution 1995/27, Section IV, A., Parrafos 7 y 8) con el objetivo de fundar el ISFR (the United Nations International Study on Firearm Regulation) conocido como “Estudio Internacional sobre la Regulacion de las armas de fuego de las Naciones Unidas”. Este estudio recogia, entre otros, datos de variables similares a aquellos utilizadas en investigaciones previas que se habian llevado a cabo en otros paises (Killias 1993, Lester 1996).

Total Curvature and Packing of Knots

Abstract: We establish a new fundamental relationship between total curvature of knots and crossing number. If K is a smooth knot in 3-space, R the cross-section radius of a uniform tube neighborhood of K, L the arclength of K, and k the total curvature of K, then (up to a coefficient independent of K), crossing number of K < (k)(L/R). There are families of knots whose crossing numbers grow faster than either k or L/R separately. For example, the knots whose crossing numbers grow with the (4/3)-power of ropelength must have total curvature growing arbitrarily large as well.