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Injectable cabotegravir was superior to daily oral tenofovir disoproxil fumarate plus emtricitabine for HIV prevention in two clinical trials. Both trials had the primary aim of establishing the HIV prevention efficacy of long-acting injectable cabotegravir pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) compared with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate plus emtricitabine daily oral PrEP. Long-acting PrEP was associated with diagnostic delays and integrase strand-transfer inhibitor (INSTI) resistance. This report presents findings from the first unblinded year of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 083 study.

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 083 trial showed that long-acting injectable cabotegravir was more effective than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate plus emtricitabine in preventing HIV in cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men. We aimed to characterise the cohort of transgender women included in HPTN 083.

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a robust finding whereby individuals’ perceptions of their abilities differ significantly from objective assessments of ability. This effect has been found in a variety of tasks; however, there is a need for more research with respect to real-life competencies. The current study examined the Dunning–Kruger effect in coaches. Ninety-four high school volleyball coaches completed the teaching technique and strategy scales of the Coaching Efficacy Scale and an assessment of coaching ability. The results showed that, when split into quartiles based on ability, coaches in the lowest quartile had significantly higher efficacy than ability (t(24) = 3.61, p < .001), whereas those in the highest quartile had significantly lower efficacy than ability (t(25) = −4.78, p < .001). These results support the generalisability of the Dunning–Kruger effect. Implications with respect to the context of coaching are discussed.

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, I went to an automobile garage and was greeted by a bearded man of Middle Eastern appearance who asked in a foreign [...]

The AIN-93G reference (REF) diet is used to allow the comparison within and between studies of different research groups but its levels of vitamin D (vit D) and calcium (Ca) may be higher than required for healthy bone structure and bone mineral density (BMD).

The power efficiency of a diode-pumped solid state laser was improved by encasing the Nd:YAG lasing medium with gold nanorod-doped epoxy. Gold nanorods were synthesized with a specific aspect ratio tuned to absorb at the Nd:YAG lasing wavelength of 1064 nm. The surfactant-stabilized nanorods in aqueous solution were then treated with a sequential, two-step functionalization in order to improve nanorod solubility in organic solvents. This process required treating the gold nanorods with a thiol-containing polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer followed by replacing the PEG-SH polymer with a multidentate thiol containing block copolymer synthesized using RAFT synthesis. With a multidentate polymer, the nanorods were soluble in traditional epoxies that could be used to coat the outside of Nd:YAG rods. By absorbing excess lateral 1064 nm emission, the gold nanorod coating attenuates amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), a parasitic, incoherent process that limits power produced by Q-switch laser designs. Laser power increased by nearly 2-fold with addition of the 1064 nm absorbing gold nanorod coating. Gold nanorod epoxy coatings stand out as attractive materials for attenuating ASE by avoiding the fabrication difficulties of samarium oxide ceramics and the photostability limitations of organic dyes.

Self-efficacy has been shown to be related to sport performance in a significant and reciprocal fashion over one season and across repeated trials. The present study investigated the self-efficacy–performance relationship within one continuous (i.e. uninterrupted) sport task. Forty-seven participants had their self-efficacy and performance measured concurrently five times within one educational gymnastic routine. A path analysis revealed that self-efficacy was not a significant predictor of performance, nor was performance a significant predictor of self-efficacy. Previous performance was, however, a significant predictor of subsequent performance, and previous self-efficacy was a significant predictor of subsequent self-efficacy. Although these findings were inconsistent with previous trial-to-trial self-efficacy–performance studies, this may be due to a notion of “overconfidence” developed as a result of the routines created by the participants in an educational gymnastics course. The results further raise an interesting issue of whether the previously established reciprocal self-efficacy–performance relationship remains recursive when tasks vary within one performance.

Recent research has shown that individuals tend to have higher pain tolerance after participating in a vigorous activity in synchrony with others compared to after they perform the same activity alone. The current study was designed to examine if the effect of this behavioral synchrony differs according to the social presence of teammates or strangers. Twenty-four individuals rowed on ergometers for 45 min in both individual and group conditions. Half the participants rowed in the group condition with teammates, whereas the other half rowed them with confederates. ANOVA procedures revealed pain tolerance was significantly higher after participating in a group condition than in an individual condition, and that there was no significant difference between a group of strangers and teammates. This higher pain tolerance has been inferred as an indicator of endorphin activity, which may be related to behavioral synchrony.

The optical properties such as index of refraction and optical absorption of many chromophore-containing polymers are sensitive to the physical and chemical environment to which the polymers are exposed. To demonstrate such applications, chemical sensors to detect trace explosives are presented. The sensors use polymers that contain chromophores whose molecular structure consists of an electron donor and an electron acceptor connected by a charge-transfer bridge of conjugated π-orbital electrons. The polymers used for the trace explosives sensor are not poled, and the chromophores are randomly oriented in the polymer host. Waveguide microring resonator and fiber Bragg grating structures were used in these sensors to enhance the detection sensitivity. Because chromophores undergo photodecomposition under intense ultraviolet radiation, chromophore-containing polymers can be patterned with ultraviolet light to create optical resonator structures in a single photobleaching step. The chemical sensor has shown part-per-billion level sensitivity and good specificity to the vapor, in air, of an explosive simulant 2,4-dinitrotoluene.

Binary chromophore systems represent a new and very promising class of organic second-order nonlinear optical (electro-optic) materials, where favorable intermolecular electrostatic interactions lead to significantly enhanced electro-optic coefficients and to other favorable physical properties such as low optical loss and improved stability. In this report, laser-assisted poling of a binary chromophore system consisting of a photoaddressable chromophore host (DR-1-co-PMMA) containing a non-photoaddressable guest chromophore (YLD_124) is demonstrated. A factor of 2.5 enhancement in poling efficiency of the guest chromophore (compared to simple conventional electric field poling of the same material) is observed when polarized light is used to selectively enhance the order of the host chromophores. These results further emphasize the importance of favorable intermolecular interactions thought to exist between guest and host chromophores in binary chromophore containing materials. Thin-film samples were processed using an in situ reflection ellipsometry apparatus that was modified to perform real-time monitoring as well as to introduce 532 nm polarized laser light. Poled samples were then removed and the principal element of the electro-optic tensor, r 33, was evaluated using the modified attenuated total reflection measurement method. Through the use of this approach, processing temperature, optical power, and electric poling field were optimized, and the dependence of resulting electro-optic properties on these variables was explored. Binary chromophore-containing materials may represent ideal model systems for studying intermolecular electrostatic interactions as well as realizing exceptionally large electro-optic activity and other photonic and electronic properties dependent on noncentrosymmetric (acentric) order.

Some of the most highly active organic electro-optic (EO) materials developed recently rely on the combination of an EO-active (chromophore-containing) host material (dendrimer or side-chain polymer) and an EO-active (chromophore) guest. These new binary-chromophore materials exhibit EO coefficients (r33) in the range of 250 to greater than 300 pm/V (currently as high as 450 pm/V). The EO activity of these binary-chromophore materials is greater the sum of their individual components. The experimentally observed increase in the nonlinear optical response of two representative classes of EO chromophore−EO dendrimer and EO chromophore−EO polymer mixtures relative to the response of the isolated components is described quantitatively herein by a physical model that accounts for cooperativity in the guest−host interactions.

AbstractThis study examined the relationship between physical self‐perception and the involvement of Jamaican youths in sport and physical activity. A sample of 1052 high school students aged between 12 and 19 years completed a Background Information Questionnaire and the Physical Self‐Perception Profile. Participants were involved in competitive sport and recreational physical activities, or were non‐participants in sport. Results revealed that the 5‐factor structure of the PSPP as proposed by Fox and Corbin (1989) was not appropriate for the data obtained. A three‐factor model based on the original PSPP items was proposed, consisting of the factors of Physical Self‐Worth, Physical Appearance, and Physical Competence. Significant differences between different levels of sport participation on the three factors were found amongst these factors. Practical implications and proposal for further investigation of physical self‐concept measures in this culture are made.

Alternating polymers of a nonlinear optical chromophore and bulky spacers were synthesized. High chromophore loading and efficient site isolation were achieved with this approach. The effects of chromophore loading density and electric poling field on the electro-optical (EO) properties of the polymers were carefully compared with those of guest−host systems of the same chromophore. The alternating polymer can be poled to higher EO efficiency under a lower poling field than the optimized guest−host system, while the λmax of the polymer film is about 40 nm shorter than that of the guest−host system.

Four dendritic electro-optic (EO) chromophores were designed, prepared, and evaluated to explore the effects on EO behavior of end-on relative to side-on chromophore attachment geometry as well as differing chromophore-to-dendrimer core tether groups. Composite samples of APC and dendritic chromophores were found to exhibit considerably more thermally stable EO properties as compared to samples of the corresponding isolated chromophore. Side-on type binding geometry was found most thermally stable, requiring larger thermal activation energies to induce dipole randomization. Incorporation of a long, flexible chromophore−core tether group greatly enhanced average EO coefficients of the dendritic systems.

The present research examined the relationship between the efficacy of intercollegiate coaches and their leadership style. Specific predictions between the multidimensional nature of efficacy and leadership were made. An international sample of 224 coaches (165 male, 58 female) completed Feltz et al.'s Coaching Efficacy Scale, and the Leadership Scale for Sports (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980). Two of the three regression models were significant, with coaching efficacy accounting for up to 42% of the variance in leadership style. Motivation and technique efficacy served as significant predictors for both models. These results are in accordance with the framework of coaching efficacy and leadership within sport, and offer further validity to the construct of coaching efficacy.

To assess whether the Group Environment Questionnaire is applicable to athletes in co-acting sports such as track and field, the factor structure of the Group Environment Questionnaire among a heterogeneous sample of 199 co-acting team sport athleres was investigated. A confirmatory factor analysis did not support the hypothesized four-factor model. A subsequent exploratory facror analysis yielded two independent factors chat had no interpretable pattern of the four Group Environment Questionnaire factors within them. While this finding requires replication and confirmation, rhe four-factor model of the Group Environment Questionnaire does nor appear ro be as valid for co-acting sports as for interacting sports.

Principals' attitudes toward innovative teaching methods are extremely open, according to a Utah survey. The key to having administrative backing for new methods in the classroom, this author tells teachers, is to keep the principal informed of what's happening and why.

Abstract:Functionalist theories of mind sometimes have viewed consciousness as emerging simply from the computational activity of extremely complex information-processing systems. Empirical evidence suggests strongly, however, that experiences without content ("pure consciousness" events, or "core mystical experience") and devoid of subjectivity (no sense of agency or ownership) do happen. The occurrence of such consciousness, lacking all informational content, counts against any theory that equates consciousness with the mere "flow of information," no matter how intricate.

The role played in psychiatry by the psychiatrist's personal values is often disputed. Some have claimed that the personal values of qualified psychiatrists do not influence their professional judgment. Others have maintained that, while personal values do exercise an influence, this represents an unwarranted and to be avoided intrusion of the psychiatrist's personal life into his work. Part I of the present study gives an example of the factof personal values influencing the psychiatrist's professional judgment. A relationship was shown in the military situation between the medical judgment, “fit for duty,” and the personal values of a group of psychiatrists as determined by their personal response to a rating scale of relevant value judgments. Part II demonstrates by closer analysis of an individual case that the psychiatrist must at times inevitablyintroduce his personal values in forming his professional judgment.

Accurate serological assays to detect antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are needed to characterize the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and identify potential candidates for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescent plasma (CCP) donation. This study compared the performances of commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) with respect to detection of IgG or total antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and neutralizing antibodies (nAbs). The diagnostic accuracy of five commercially available EIAs (Abbott, Euroimmun, EDI, ImmunoDiagnostics, and Roche) for detection of IgG or total antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 was evaluated using cross-sectional samples from potential CCP donors who had prior molecular confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection (n?=?214) and samples from prepandemic emergency department patients without SARS-CoV-2 infection (n?=?1,099).

A patient's presenting symptom may accord readily with a total clinical picture indicative of a known disease entity. When the relation is not so clear, the physician may consider whether or not the symptom is "functional," that is, a manifestation of the patient's emotional state. In assessing this possibility, the emotional and interpersonal circumstances at the time of the symptom's onset, the meaning of the symptom to the patient, and any advantage derived by him from the symptom should be examined. This information may be very helpful in medical management of the case, regardless of the ultimate nature of the symptom.

Calcium (Ca) and vitamin D (vit D) in the AIN-93G diet may be higher than required for healthy bone development, and mask the potential benefit of a dietary intervention.