State Of Body Research Articles

#3083 Fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): an interoceptive predictive coding model of pain and fatigue expression

IntroductionThe aetiology and pathophysiology of fibromyalgia and ME/CFS are poorly characterised but altered inflammatory, autonomic and interoceptive processes have been implicated. Interoception has been conceptualised as a predictive coding process; where top-down prediction signals compare to bottom-up afferents, resulting in prediction error signals indicating mismatch between expected and actual bodily states. Chronic dyshomeostasis and elevated interoceptive prediction error signals have been theorised to contribute to the expression of pain and fatigue in fibromyalgia and ME/CFS.Objectives/AimsTo investigate how altered interoception and prediction error relates to baseline expression of pain and fatigue in fibromyalgia and ME/CFS and in response to an inflammatory challenge.MethodsSixty-five patients with fibromyalgia and/or ME/CFS diagnosis and 26 matched controls underwent baseline assessment: self-report questionnaires assessing subjective pain and fatigue and objective measurements of pressure-pain thresholds. Participants received injections of typhoid (inflammatory challenge) or saline (placebo) in a randomised, double-blind, crossover design, then completed heartbeat tracking task (assessing interoceptive accuracy). Porges Body Questionnaire assessed interoceptive sensibility. Interoceptive prediction error (IPE) was calculated as discrepancy between objective accuracy and subjective sensibility.ResultsPatients with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS had significantly higher IPE (suggesting tendency to over-estimate interoceptive ability) and interoceptive sensibility, despite no differences in interoceptive accuracy. IPE and sensibility correlated positively with all self-report fatigue and pain measures, and negatively with pain thresholds. Following inflammatory challenge, IPE correlated negatively with the mismatch between subjective and objective measures of pain induced by inflammation.ConclusionsThis is the first study to reveal altered interoception processes in patients with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, who are known to have dysregulated autonomic function. Notably, we found elevated IPE in patients, correlating with their subjective experiences of pain and fatigue. We hypothesise a predictive coding model, where mismatch between expected and actual internal bodily states (linked to autonomic dysregulation) results in prediction error signalling which could be metacognitively interpreted as chronic pain and fatigue. Our results demonstrate potential for further exploration of interoceptive processing in patients with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, aiding understanding of these poorly defined conditions and providing potential new targets for diagnostic and therapeutic intervention.

Evaluating the dynamics of occupancy heat gains in a mid-sized airport terminal through agent-based modelling

The occupancy heat gains of airport terminal buildings are driven by the dynamics of passenger flow. In this paper, we evaluate the heat losses from the human body in a transient state to estimate the sensible and latent loads on the HVAC system. The study pertains to a mid-sized airport terminal building in a tropical wet and dry climate of India. The pattern of passenger movement, service time and discretionary activity choices are evaluated through field measurement and subjective surveys. The sequence of passenger movement, dwell time and occupancy profile at different zones for departure and arrival sequences are estimated through validated agent-based simulations. Transient heat losses from the human body are established through thermo-physiology simulations based on the occupancy dynamics. Hourly sensible and latent heat load profiles of different zones are deduced for different terminal operation periods. The evaporative heat losses from human body varies considerably during passenger transit resulting in significant latent heat gain differences among the zones. Despite lower activity levels in certain zones, latent heat loads from occupancy are higher because of preceding activity sequences. The sensible to latent heat load ratio varies from 0.7:0.3 to 0.52:0.48 across the zones during different operational periods.

Psilocybin Induces Aberrant Prediction Error Processing of Tactile Mismatch Responses-A Simultaneous EEG-FMRI Study.

As source of sensory information, the body provides a sense of agency and self/non-self-discrimination. The integration of bodily states and sensory inputs with prior beliefs has been linked to the generation of bodily self-consciousness. The ability to detect surprising tactile stimuli is essential for the survival of an organism and for the formation of mental body representations. Despite the relevance for a variety of psychiatric disorders characterized by altered body and self-perception, the neurobiology of these processes is poorly understood. We therefore investigated the effect of psilocybin (Psi), known to induce alterations in self-experience, on tactile mismatch responses by combining pharmacological manipulations with simultaneous electroencephalography-functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) recording. Psi reduced activity in response to tactile surprising stimuli in frontal regions, the visual cortex, and the cerebellum. Furthermore, Psi reduced tactile mismatch negativity EEG responses at frontal electrodes, associated with alterations of body- and self-experience. This study provides first evidence that Psi alters the integration of tactile sensory inputs through aberrant prediction error processing and highlights the importance of the 5-HT2A system in tactile deviancy processing as well as in the integration of bodily and self-related stimuli. These findings may have important implications for the treatment of psychiatric disorders characterized by aberrant bodily self-awareness.

THE LITERARY STUDY OF RAKTAVRITA VATA W.S.R TO CELLULITIS

Ayurveda consider that the body is controlled by three fundamental factors called tridosha. They are the pillar of the body. They all in equilibrium perform their normal functions by which the body is sustained free from diseases. Any disturbance to their balance state leads to disease. Among these three dosha , vata has very much significance. It plays a key role behind maintenance of body in normal healthy state. Vata is strongest of all dosha and it causes large number of diseases if get vitiated. Avarana is one of the least understood concepts among the basic mechanism of ayurvedic fundamentals. Avaran plays an important part in understanding the samprapti of many diseases. In any type of avarna there are two components one is Avrutt dosha , the dosha whose function get affected by obstruction or covering and the second component is the Avarak which causing avarana of peculiar dosha. Acharyas have explained many avarana and its sign and symptoms will give clue to the diagnosis of avarana. The increased sign and symptoms will suggest the avaraka and decreased sign and symptoms suggest avarutta. Once the diagnosis confirmed then the treatment can be initiated. This study aims to observe correlation between lakshanani of raktavrita vata and Cellulitis. It can be concluded that the most of symptoms of cellulitis are found similar to raktavrita vata.

Beyond internalizing and externalizing symptoms: The association between body disconnection and the symptoms of Internet gaming disorder

As the vast majority of online videogames imply the immersion into an alternative reality where a virtual body is also involved, the current cross-sectional study aims to investigate the contribution of low body awareness (i.e. low attention to sensory cues indicating bodily state) and body dissociation (i.e. low emotional connection with one’s own body) in predicting Internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms, after controlling for internalizing (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) and externalizing symptoms (i.e., aggression). A total of 370 online-game players (73% men; mean age 29.63 ± 7.64 years) recruited in online player communities took part in the study and were given a survey that included gaming characteristics, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale −21, the Aggression Questionnaire, the Body Disconnection Scale, and the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale- Short Form. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that low body awareness and high body dissociation predicted IGD scores after controlling for all the other factors. Moreover, we found an interaction effect between physical aggression and body dissociation in predicting IGD scores. On the one hand, these results provide support to previous studies that stressed the potential association between dissociative detachment (in terms of bodily disconnections) and problematic videogaming; on the other hand, the current study provides first evidence of the opportunity to focus on the integration of bodily experiences in clinical practice with people suffering from problematic gaming, as this factor might be incisively related to their aggressive and internalizing symptoms.

High concentrations of metals in the waters from Araguari River lower section (Amazon biome): Relationship with land use and cover, ecotoxicological effects and risks to aquatic biota

The Araguari River is one of the most important water body in the Brazilian state of Amapá. However, the quality of its waters has been deteriorating and, recently, high concentrations of metals were found in water samples collected from its lower section. Overall, we aimed to evaluate land use and cover around three sampling sites located in the Araguari River lower section and its contribution to water pollution by metals; correlate land use pattern with detected metal concentrations; assess acute toxicity using the Daphnia similis test and genotoxicity using the Danio rerio bioassay of water samples from the three sampling sites; and investigate the risks arising from metals present in waters to aquatic biota. Riparian forest around all sampling sites is fragmented owing to the expansion of pasture areas, which showed a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) with the concentrations of Hg and Cu in water samples. Water samples from sampling sites 2 and 3 presented acute toxicity for D. similis, and the D. rerio bioassay confirmed the presence of genotoxic pollutants in the waters from all sampling sites. Our preliminary risk assessment showed that individual concentrations and the mixture of metals posed a high risk to aquatic biota. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the conversion of native forest to pastureland contributes to water contamination by metals, which contributes to the risks to aquatic biota.

Pain, paradox and polysemy

AbstractThe paradox of pain refers to the idea that the folk concept of pain is paradoxical, treating pains as simultaneously mental states and bodily states (as described in papers by Hill and Borg et al.). By taking a close look at our pain terms, this paper argues that there is no paradox of pain. The air of paradox dissolves once we recognize that pain terms are polysemous and that there are two separate but related concepts of pain rather than one.

Perception and misperception of bodily symptoms from an active inference perspective: Modelling the case of panic disorder.

We advance a novel computational model that characterizes formally the ways we perceive or misperceive bodily symptoms, in the context of panic attacks. The computational model is grounded within the formal framework of Active Inference, which considers top-down prediction and attention dynamics as key to perceptual inference and action selection. In a series of simulations, we use the computational model to reproduce key facets of adaptive and maladaptive symptom perception: the ways we infer our bodily state by integrating prior information and somatic afferents; the ways we decide whether or not to attend to somatic channels; the ways we use the symptom inference to make decisions about taking or not taking a medicine; and the ways all the above processes can go awry, determining symptom misperception and ensuing maladaptive behaviors, such as hypervigilance or excessive medicine use. While recent existing theoretical treatments of psychopathological conditions focus on prediction-based perception (predictive coding), our computational model goes beyond them, in at least two ways. First, it includes action and attention selection dynamics that are disregarded in previous conceptualizations but are crucial to fully understand the phenomenology of bodily symptom perception and misperception. Second, it is a fully implemented model that generates specific (and personalized) quantitative predictions, thus going beyond previous qualitative frameworks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Disrupted Dorsal Mid-Insula Activation During Interoception Across Psychiatric Disorders.

ObjectiveMaintenance of bodily homeostasis relies on interoceptive mechanisms in the brain to predict and regulate bodily state. While many experiments report altered neural activation during interoception in specific psychiatric disorders, it is unclear whether a common neural locus underpins transdiagnostic interoceptive differences.MethodsWe conducted a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies comparing psychiatric groups against healthy controls to identify brain regions exhibiting convergent ‘disrupted activation’ during interoception. We searched bibliographic, neuroimaging, and preprint databases through to May 2020. We extracted 306 foci from 33 studies, including 610 controls and 626 patients with schizophrenia, bipolar or unipolar depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. Data were pooled using a random-effects model implemented by the activation likelihood estimation algorithm. Our pre-registered primary outcome was the neuroanatomical location of the convergence of peak voxel coordinates.ResultsWe found convergent ‘disrupted activation’ specific to the left dorsal mid-insula (Z=4.47, p=0.0000038; peak: -36, -2, 14; volume: 928mm3). Studies directly contributing to the cluster included patients with bipolar, anxiety, major depression, anorexia, and schizophrenia, and task probes assessing pain, hunger, and interoceptive attention. A series of conjunction analyses against extant meta-analytic datasets revealed that this mid-insula cluster was anatomically distinct from brain regions involved in affective processing and from regions altered by psychological or pharmacological interventions for affective disorders.ConclusionsWe report a transdiagnostic, domain-general difference in interoceptive processing in the left dorsal mid-insula. Disrupted mid-insular activation may represent a neural marker of psychopathology and a putative target for novel interventions.

Philosophy in the flesh: How philosophical view of embodiment motivates public compliance with health recommendations during the COVID-19 crisis

Philosophical view of embodiment, one of the most influential hypotheses in cognitive science, postulates that sensorimotor experiences and bodily states influence people's behavior, cognition, and emotion. Despite embodiment theory addressing the basic experiences of cognitive life, there is a paucity of information available regarding the health consequences of holding such a philosophic belief. In the current investigation, we examined a new idea that embodiment theory leads people to believe in the central role of physical body in shaping cognitive processes and mental activities, which can in turn alter individuals' motivation to comply with preventive measures to the COVID-19. In Study 1, participants who were primed with theories of embodied cognition (vs. Cartesian dualism) self-reported more compliance with safety-promoting measures surrounding the new coronavirus disease. Extending beyond self-report measures, Study 2 focused on an actual virus-mitigation behavior. The results showed that participants primed with philosophic conceptions of embodiment (vs. dualism) were more likely to choose face masks (vs. pencils) as a gift. These findings suggest that the philosophical view of embodiment not only offers scientifically valuable insight into the mechanics of cognitive processing, but increases people's willingness to follow non-pharmaceutical containment measures in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Do Simulated Hospital Admissions Reflect Reality? A Qualitative Study of Volunteer Well-Being During a 24-Hr Simulated Hospitalization.

Objectives:This study aims to delineate if and how healthy volunteers admitted to simulated care can aid in understanding real well-being experiences of in-hospital surgical patients.Background:Scientific research is necessary to understand the mediating effect of healthcare design on patient outcomes. Studies with patients are, however, difficult to conduct as they require substantial funding, time, and research capacity, and recovering patients are often not willing or able to participate. If studies conducted with volunteers provide similar findings, such studies might serve as fruitful alternatives for future research.Method:A multimethod study was conducted between July 2017 and December 2017 with 17 volunteers who underwent a 24-hr simulated inpatient postsurgical care protocol. Data on value experiences, norms, and design requirements for an optimal healing environment were collected via diaries and semi-structured value-oriented interviews, focused on the values of spatial comfort, privacy, autonomy, sensory comfort, safety and security, and social comfort. Volunteers’ outcomes were compared to prior literature on similar patients’ outcomes.Results:Volunteers seem to experience their healing environment similarly to patients with regard to the values of spatial comfort, privacy, autonomy, sensory comfort, and social comfort related to contact with personnel and relatives. Less valuable insights were gained on the values of safety and security, and social comfort related to interaction with other patients, most probably due to the study design and because the participants did not truly experience a diseased bodily state.Conclusion:Simulated hospital admissions with volunteers provide a satisfactory alternative for studying real patient outcomes.

State anxiety modulates the effect of emotion cues on visual temporal sensitivity in autism spectrum disorder.

Atypical processing of stimulus inputs across a range of sensory modalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is widely reported. Sensory processing is known to be influenced by bodily internal states such as physiological arousal and anxiety. As a sizeable proportion of ASD reportedly have co-morbid anxiety disorders that are linked with dysregulated arousal, we investigated if face emotion arousal cues influenced visual sensory sensitivity (indexed by temporal resolution) in ASD (n=20) compared to a matched group of typically developed individuals (TD, n=21). We asked further if emotion-cued changes in visual sensitivity were associated with individual differences in state and trait anxiety. Participants reported the laterality of the second of two consecutive Gaussian-blob flashes in a visual temporal order judgment task (v-TOJ), demanding higher-level visual processing. The key manipulation was presenting a task-irrelevant face emotion cue briefly at unexpected time points preceding the task-relevant flashes. Disgust vs. Neutral emotion signals significantly enhanced the visual temporal resolution in ASD. Individual state-anxiety scores showed a fair correlative trend with the emotion-cued changes in temporal resolution (Disgust versus Neutral) in ASD but missed statistical significance. Both these effects were absent in TD. The results show that individual state-anxiety levels likely modulate the effect of emotions on visual temporal sensitivity in ASD. The findings support a nuanced approach to understand the disparate sensory features in ASD, by factoring in the interplay of the individual reactivity to environmental affective information and the severity of anxiety.

Bodily Information and Top-Down Affective Priming Jointly Affect the Processing of Fearful Faces.

According to embodied theories, the processing of emotions such as happiness or fear is grounded in emotion-specific perceptual, bodily, and physiological processes. Under these views, perceiving an emotional stimulus (e.g., a fearful face) re-enacts interoceptive and bodily states congruent with that emotion (e.g., increases heart rate); and in turn, interoceptive and bodily changes (e.g., increases of heart rate) influence the processing of congruent emotional content. A previous study by Pezzulo et al. (2018) provided evidence for this embodied congruence, reporting that experimentally increasing heart rate with physical exercise facilitated the processing of facial expressions congruent with that interoception (fear), but not those conveying incongruent states (disgust or neutrality). Here, we investigated whether the above (bottom-up) interoceptive manipulation and the (top-down) priming of affective content may jointly influence the processing of happy and fearful faces. The fact that happiness and fear are both associated with high heart rate but have different (positive and negative) valence permits testing the hypothesis that their processing might be facilitated by the same interoceptive manipulation (the increase of heart rate) but two opposite (positive and negative) affective primes. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to perform a gender-categorization task of happy, fearful, and neutral faces, which were preceded by positive, negative, and neutral primes. Participants performed the same task in two sessions (after rest, with normal heart rate, or exercise, with faster heart rate) and we recorded their response times and mouse movements during the choices. We replicated the finding that when participants were in the exercise condition, they processed fearful faces faster than when they were in the rest condition. However, we did not find the same reduction in response time for happy (or neutral) faces. Furthermore, we found that when participants were in the exercise condition, they processed fearful faces faster in the presence of negative compared to positive or neutral primes; but we found no equivalent facilitation of positive (or neutral) primes during the processing of happy (or neutral) faces. While the asymmetries between the processing of fearful and happy faces require further investigation, our findings promisingly indicate that the processing of fearful faces is jointly influenced by both bottom-up interoceptive states and top-down affective primes that are congruent with the emotion.

Intuitive Dualism and Afterlife Beliefs: A Cross-Cultural Study.

It is widely held that intuitive dualism-an implicit default mode of thought that takes minds to be separable from bodies and capable of independent existence-is a human universal. Among the findings taken to support universal intuitive dualism is a pattern of evidence in which "psychological" traits (knowledge, desires) are judged more likely to continue after death than bodily or "biological" traits (perceptual, physiological, and bodily states). Here, we present cross-cultural evidence from six study populations, including non-Western societies with diverse belief systems, that shows that while this pattern exists, the overall pattern of responses nonetheless does not support intuitive dualism in afterlife beliefs. Most responses of most participants across all cultures tested were not dualist. While our sample is in no way intended to capture the full range of human societies and afterlife beliefs, it captures a far broader range of cultures than in any prior study, and thus puts the case for afterlife beliefs as evidence for universal intuitive dualism to a strong test. Based on these findings, we suggest that while dualist thinking is a possible mode of thought enabled by evolved human psychology, such thinking does not constitute a default mode of thought. Rather, our data support what we will call intuitive materialism-the view that the underlying intuitive systems for reasoning about minds and death produce as a default judgment that mental states cease to exist with bodily death.

When the body matches the picture: The influence of physiological arousal on subjective familiarity of novel stimuli.

Numerous studies show that bodily states shape affect and cognition. Here, we investigated whether incidental physiological arousal impacted perceived familiarity for novel images depicting real-world scenes. Participants provided familiarity ratings for a series of high- and low-arousal emotional images, once after a cycling session (to increase heart rate) and once after a relaxation session (to reduce heart rate). We observed a novel match-effect between internal (physiological) and external (stimulus) arousal sources, where participants rated highly arousing images as more familiar when bodily arousal was also high. Interestingly, the match-effect was greater in participants that scored low on self-report measures of interoception, suggesting that these individuals are less able to correctly perceive bodily changes, and thus are more likely to confuse their physiological arousal with an external source. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of interactions between the mind, body, and stimulus, especially when it comes to subjective judgments of familiarity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Unreplicable state‐dependent effects on start‐box emergence latency in wild‐origin sticklebacks

AbstractAnimals are predicted to adjust their behaviour in relation to their bodily energetic state. Adjustment can be driven by either positive feedbacks (e.g. increased risk‐taking with higher energetic status; “state‐dependent safety”) or negative feedbacks (e.g. reduced risk‐taking with higher status; “asset protection”). This study investigated effects of food restriction and subsequent refeeding on boldness‐like behaviour in three‐spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and nine‐spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius). The same experimental design was run in 2 consecutive years, using a start‐box emergence test to score behaviour, aiming for an exact replication in the second year. Results indicate that the results from the original and the replicated experiment did not match. Both years there was support for treatment effects, but the effects were qualitatively and quantitatively different. In 2012, the fish on a continuous high ration had longer emergence times than restricted‐refed fish (suggesting asset protection as the feedback mechanism), while in 2013, this pattern is reversed (suggesting state‐dependent safety as the feedback mechanism). In 2013, the general emergence time was also generally shorter than in 2012. These effects suggest that the methodology used may not be particularly robust. Subject fish were wild‐caught, and differences in the populations across years, or in the individuals' prior experience, may have influenced the results. Alternatively, the start‐box emergence test could be sensitive to minor (unperceived) alterations in procedures. Regardless, the present study suggests that the robustness of the start‐box emergence test, which is a commonly used test (e.g. to score “boldness” in animal personality experiments) needs further investigation. In addition to the behavioural experiment, fish going through the refeeding protocol were shown to have higher body water content than fish on a continuously high food ration in both species. Food restriction also decreased relative liver mass in the short term, but it was restored during refeeding.

The inside of me: interoceptive constraints on the concept of self in neuroscience and clinical psychology

Humans are unique in their ability to think about themselves and carry a more or less clear notion of who they are in their mind. Here we review recent evidence suggesting that the birth, maintenance, and loss of the abstract concept of ‘self’ is deeply tied to interoception, the sense of internal physiological signals. Interoception influences multiple facets of the self-concept, cutting across its material, social, moral, and agentive components. Overall, we argue that interoception contributes to the stability of the self-concept over time, unifying its layers and constraining the degree to which it is susceptible to external influences. Hence, the core features of the self-concept are those that correlate more with inner bodily states. We discuss the implications that this may have for theories of embodied cognition as well as for the understanding of psychiatric disorders in which the concept of self appears fragmented or loose. Finally, we formulate some empirical predictions that could be tested in future studies to shed further light on this emerging field.

Body connection mediates the relationship between traumatic childhood experiences and impaired emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder

BackgroundPrevious studies revealed an association between traumatic childhood experiences and emotional dysregulation in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, possible mediating pathways are still not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential mediating role of body connection, describing the awareness of the relationship of bodily and mental states, for the association between a history of traumatic childhood experiences and BPD core symptomatology.MethodsOne-hundred-twelve adult female individuals with BPD and 96 healthy female controls (HC) were included. Impaired emotion regulation, traumatic childhood experiences, and BPD symptomatology were assessed with self-report questionnaires. The Scale of Body Connection was used to assess two dimensions of body connection, that is body awareness, describing attendance to bodily information in daily life and noticing bodily responses to emotions and/or environment and body dissociation, describing a sense of separation from one’s own body, due to avoidance or emotional disconnection. Mann-Whitney U tests were employed to test for group differences (BPD vs. HC) on the two SBC subscales and associations with clinical symptoms were analyzed with Spearman correlations. We performed mediation analyses in the BPD group to test the assumption that body connection could act as a mediator between a history of traumatic childhood experiences and emotion dysregulation.ResultsIndividuals with BPD reported significantly lower levels of body awareness and significantly higher levels of body dissociation compared to HC. Body dissociation, traumatic childhood experiences, and emotion dysregulation were significantly positively associated. Further analyses revealed that body dissociation, but not body awareness, significantly and fully mediated the positive relationship between traumatic childhood experiences and impaired emotion regulation in the BPD sample. This mediation survived when trait dissociation, i.e., general dissociative experiences not necessarily related to the body, was statistically controlled for.ConclusionCertain dimensions of body connection seem to be disturbed in BPD patients, with body dissociation being an important feature linking a history of traumatic childhood experiences to current deficits in emotion regulation.

Investigation of the shape of the torpedo nose in supercavitation and numerical analysis of the effect of gas injection

Extensive studies on cavitation have been conducted for years as an undesirable phenomenon in marine engineering. The cavitation phenomenon causes severe damage to the body of torpedoes, ship's propellers, pump impellers and turbines. It also increases the frictional drag of submarine vessels and imposes many limitations on their design and construction. With increasing speed in submarines and increasing of the cavitation, supercavitation occurs which can be used to create a large bubble around the vessel. Because of drag in the water is mostly due to the friction of the body, by the supercavitation, the contact of water with the torpedo is reduced and as a result the friction drag is greatly reduced and the torpedo speed will increase significantly. In this regard, by artificially injecting air into the body in the state of cavitation, the process of creating supercavitation and reaching this stage can be accelerated.In this study, in order to investigate the effect of torpedo nose shape on supercavitation, different types of torpedo bodies have been modeled and studied different nose shapes. After modeling, meshing is performed with ANSYS Fluent software and the analysis of the model in cavitation numbers (0.2, 0.3 and 0.4) will be examined. Finally, the model will be analyzed in air injection mode (artificial supercavitation) with ANSYS CFX software and the results will be presented.

Beliefs about Origins and Eternal Life: How Easy Is Formal Religious Theory Development?

ABSTRACT Two studies investigated children’s and their parents’ reasoning about their mental and bodily states during the time prior to biological conception–“preexistence.” Prior research has suggested that, in the absence of a religious script, children display untutored intuitions that they existed as largely disembodied emotional beings during preexistence. This research explored whether children who are being taught a formal theological doctrine about preexistence initially display similar default intuitive tendencies and whether these facilitate acquisition of the specific formal religious doctrine that they are learning. Adult (N = 38) and 7-to 12-year-old (N = 59) members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints judged whether their mental and bodily capacities functioned during preexistence. Results showed that by 11-to 12-years of age, children’s responses increasingly aligned with their parents’ doctrinally-accurate beliefs that they had a full range of mental states (i.e., epistemic, emotions, desires) and certain bodily capacities (i.e., perceptual, external body parts) during preexistence. However, at all ages, children deviated from their parents’ theologically-correct views, with children showing greatest consistency in privileging emotions as the continuous core of personhood. Findings converge with afterlife research to support conclusions that, across cultures, children are “intuitive eternalists” about psychological states. However, their intuitive tendencies also act as constraints on formal religious theory-building by primarily expediting the acquisition of those aspects of religious doctrine that are intuition-consistent not the doctrine as a whole. The process of becoming theologically correct therefore takes time and effort suggesting parallels to the process of acquiring formal scientific accuracy.