Assessing Momentary States of Relaxation: The Relaxation State Questionnaire

Stress is ubiquitous in everyday life and hazardous for mental and physical health. To prevent or ameliorate stress-related disease, approaches such as relaxation exercises aim to counteract stress by inducing short-lasting states of relaxation. Critically, current assessments capture the mid- and long-term consequences of relaxation but are unable to quantify these states of relaxation. To address this problem, we developed the Relaxation State Questionnaire (RSQ). We assessed the item properties, reliability, and validity of the questionnaire in an online study. Construct validity was examined through correlations with the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ; Fliege et al., 2005). An exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors capturing the momentary state of muscle tension, sleepiness, cardiovascular activity, and general relaxation. The items had high loadings on their factors and the reliability and construct validity of the RSQ were both high. These findings establish the RSQ as a tool to measure states of relaxation. As such, the RSQ opens up investigations of the immediate effects and effectiveness of relaxation exercises.

In-Wheel Two-Speed AMT with Selectable One-Way Clutch for Electric Vehicles

To improve the efficiency of the electric vehicle (EV) drive systems and EV performance, the use of multi-speed transmissions and distributed drives has been studied extensively. In addition, to develop efficient and compact drive systems, new clutch solutions are needed. In this paper, we propose an in-wheel two-speed automatic mechanical transmission (IW-AMT) with a selectable one-way clutch (SOWC). The IW-AMT consists of a high-speed motor and a mechanical shift actuator, and it can realize shifting without power interruption, thus effectively reducing the unsprung mass and the technical specifications of the motor. We established a virtual prototype model of the IW-AMT to show the shifting process and evaluate the quality of shifting. The simulation results of the upshifting process indicated that the vehicle torque and velocity changed smoothly, and the maximum jerk is less than 10 m/s3. Furthermore, to improve the jerk induced by the downshifting process, we analyzed the momentary state of the SOWC struts that are dropped and attempted to improve the jerk from two aspects: improving the wet multi-plate clutch (WMPC) combination curve and improving the SOWC structure. The results indicated that the downshift-induced jerk can be reduced to 13 m/s3.

Cognitive Failures and the Role of Emotion in Dimensional Schizotypy: A Replication and Extension

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Cognitive failures are commonplace within the general population but may be particularly heightened in those with higher levels of schizotypy. This is especially salient in the context of enduring trait and momentary state negative emotion which often contributes to increases in daily impairments, leading to a more debilitating and distracted life. Particularly, individuals with elevated levels of schizotypy may be more likely to experience cognitive failures, especially in the presence of negative trait emotion such as depression, anxiety, and stress. However, little is known about the influence of state emotion and the distinct roles that state and trait emotion may have with cognitive failures and schizotypy. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> To replicate and extend previous findings, 306 (58% males) undergraduate students aged 18–50 years (M = 19.343; SD = 2.493) completed self-report measures of cognitive failures, trait and state emotion, and schizotypy. Mediation and moderation analyses were performed in SPSS to examine the potential effects of trait and state emotion on the relationship between schizotypy and cognitive failures. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Consistent with previous findings, mood symptomology, in addition to negative affect, mediated cognitive failures in those with higher levels of schizotypy. However, in our sample, positive affect did not appear to buffer against cognitive failures. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The findings of the present study suggest there may be a nuanced relationship between both negative trait and state emotions on the relationships between cognitive failures and schizotypy. Understanding the interaction of enduring versus momentary emotion on cognition as they relate to an elevated risk for developing schizophrenia-spectrum phenomena may be a point for earlier and more targeted interventions.

The temporal nature of architecture

The desire for permanence that has been fundamental to architecture ignores the actuality of the physical world. The flow of time, linked to the process of articulation, is notably absent, resulting in an architecture that is misconstrued as static, passive, and deterministic. This conception of architecture is rooted in a conception of the world which has since been deemed obsolete. Form exists as a transient manifestation of process. This temporal act of creation is perpetual, which depicts form as a momentary state in an object’s continuous actualization. It has been said that process, rather than substance, is the prime constituent of the world. Architecture can be seen as a transient formation of tangible and intangible constituents that are understood as thermodynamic energy processes. Material formation, symbiotically linked to cultural transience, depicts an architecture with no absolute state, rather, it is constantly becoming.

The temporal nature of architecture

The desire for permanence that has been fundamental to architecture ignores the actuality of the physical world. The flow of time, linked to the process of articulation, is notably absent, resulting in an architecture that is misconstrued as static, passive, and deterministic. This conception of architecture is rooted in a conception of the world which has since been deemed obsolete. Form exists as a transient manifestation of process. This temporal act of creation is perpetual, which depicts form as a momentary state in an object’s continuous actualization. It has been said that process, rather than substance, is the prime constituent of the world. Architecture can be seen as a transient formation of tangible and intangible constituents that are understood as thermodynamic energy processes. Material formation, symbiotically linked to cultural transience, depicts an architecture with no absolute state, rather, it is constantly becoming.

The Invention of a Chair Tradition in Ethiopia: A Case Study of Liminoid Design

Both design and invention deal with future materializations, facilitating the environment and artefacts into different categories. These categories are conceptual constructs and any transgression of, combination of, or entering interstices between their imagined conceptual borders is Liminoid Design. Liminoid design is defined in this article as a momentary state of liminality: unstructuredness, transience, inter-categorical or uncategorizable. Though a very common phenomenon, it potentially creates new configurations of reality and new categories in design. This article describes manifestations of liminoid design, through the development of a contemporary Ethiopian chair with the merging of two categories: a side chair with imagery of the historic Aksum stelae. The Aksum stelae are monolithic stone monuments in northern Ethiopia erected during the ancient Kingdom of Aksum (in the early Christian period between the fourth and sixth centuries AD). This amalgamation emphasizes the contemporary connection to the past with a significant moment in Ethiopian history. Though seemingly traditional, this article identifies these chairs as a newly invented design type—the Aksum chair. During several visits to Ethiopia, I visited furniture workshops in Addis Ababa and Aksum and visited purchasers of the chairs as well. This helped the research to trace the proliferation and initiation of an invented traditional style.

Recalling Experiences: Looking at Momentary, Retrospective and Global Assessments of Relationship Satisfaction

Relationship satisfaction can be assessed in retrospection, as a global evaluation, or as a momentary state. In two experience sampling studies (N = 130, N = 510) the specificities of these assessment modalities are examined. We show that 1) compared to other summary statistics like the median, the mean of relationship satisfaction states describes retrospective and global evaluations best (but the difference to some other summary statistics was negligible); 2) retrospection introduces an overestimation of the average annoyance in the relationship reported on a momentary basis, which results in an overall negative mean-level bias for retrospective relationship satisfaction; 3) this bias is most strongly moderated by global relationship satisfaction at the time of retrospection; 4) snapshots of momentary relationship satisfaction get representative of global evaluations after approximately two weeks of sampling. The findings extend the recall bias reported in the literature for retrospection of negative affect to the domain of relationship evaluations and assist researchers in designing efficient experience sampling studies.

Chopin's Album Leaves and the Aesthetics of Musical Album Inscription

During the nineteenth century, major composers—such as Schubert, Schumann, Wieck Schumann, Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn Hensel, Liszt, and Chopin—contributed musical compositions to a kind of volume known as a friendship album (also keepsake album, album amicorum, or Stammbüch). Album inscriptions penned by Fryderyk Chopin provide a lens through which we can study these compositions, thereby gaining an understanding of the ways in which musical meaning, genre, and text were governed by conventions of gift exchange. Complete compositions, musical fragments, and performative flourishes left in albums by music lovers as well as professional composers and performers took on the function of secular relics that were understood to preserve metaphysical traces of the inscribers, while handwriting was believed to represent the writer's character or momentary state of mind. These ideas intersect with a broader Romantic culture of collectorship. To invoke experiences and memories shared by the inscriber and the dedicatee, some composers engaged in dialogic relationships with mementos inscribed by others or employed intertextual references. An examination of these forms of interplay adds to our knowledge of the way context can shape the use and meaning of musical borrowing and allusion. The authors of inscriptions also employed intrinsically musical vocabulary to impart the sense distortions that neuroscientists and scholars of memory describe as typical of a recalled experience. Moreover, albums provided a censorship-free private venue for political and national discourses. These musical texts constitute a separate class of presentation manuscripts that serve a specific social function and audience.

Comparison of Different Methods for Assessing Chlorophyll Content in Citrus

The content of chlorophyll-Chl present in green vegetables is strongly associated with the momentary state of the plant photosynthesis. Conventionally, determination of chlorophyll is by extraction with organic solvents and determining a spectrophotometer, and this method expensive, laborious and moreover a destructive method. Thus, the use of portable equipment has been used instead, as they allow studies without destruction of leaf tissue and obtaining instantaneous measurements. Thus, the aim of correlating the chlorophyll results obtained in the laboratory with Falker Chlorophyll Index (FCI) obtained by the ClorofiLog in different citrus rootstocks, as well asits relationship to soil moisture content variation. Positive simple correlations (linear Pearson correlation) were obtained for chl a, b and total, with the lowest correlation values observed for chl β, which ranged from 0.470-788 among the analyzed rootstocks. The coefficients of determination for the three variables chl α, β and total α+β showed a better fit by the polynomial regression model in all analyzed rootstocks; in general, the best results were for chl α, ranging from 0.7093-0.8551. The results indicate the usefulness of the ChloroflLog apparatus in the indirect determination of chlorophyll content in citrus.