Effects of Religious Participation on Negative Mental Health Symptoms among Low-Income, Urban African American Adolescents

African American adolescents living in low-income, urban neighborhoods are at high risk for developing psychological problems due to increased exposure to urban stressors. Given the complexity and chronic nature of these stressors, protective factors such as involvement in one’s religious institution may protect adolescents from harmful stressors associated with living in urban, low-income neighborhoods. This thesis sought to examine whether religious participation is an effective moderator of the relation between urban stressful life experiences and internalizing/externalizing psychological outcomes among low-income, urban African American adolescents. Two dimensions of religious participation, organizational and non-organizational, were examined as potential moderators of the effect of religious participation on the stress and internalizing/internalizing psychological outcomes. Participants included 1238 low-income, urban African American adolescents from three Chicago Public Schools who completed self-report measures assessing urban adolescent life experiences, religious participation, and internalizing/externalizing behaviors. Results of this study showed that although urban stress significantly predicted both internalizing and externalizing outcomes in low-income, urban African American adolescents, neither frequency of youth church attendance, public and private religious participation moderated the relation between urban stress and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Overall, the findings suggested that religious participation for early-age, low-income, urban African American adolescents may not provide the protective barriers against urban stressors and the development of negative psychological outcomes as expected

Outsiders in the Circle : Examining the Lived Experiences of Gay Afro-Caribbean Male Immigrants Living in the United States

This dissertation presents the findings of a descriptive phenomenological study focused on the intersectional experiences of Afro-Caribbean male immigrants living in the United States who identify as gay, same gender loving, queer, and/or men who sleep with other men. This study also explored the unique experiences of participants’ challenges and resilience in the multiple communities to which they belong. Eleven participants who migrated from Anglophone colonized territories in the Caribbean participated in two semi-structured interviews. Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive phenomenology tenets. Findings of this study suggest implications for the counseling profession to better provide culturally responsive services to multiply marginalized communities

Critical failure of the principle equivalence between acceleration and gravity

The principle of equivalence between acceleration and gravity of general relativity is reviewed in a thought experiment of two bodies, aligned according to the perpendicular, under the reciprocal action of their gravity, in free fall, inside of an uniformly accelerated reference system, in the vacuum. The result is that the two bodies fall with a different acceleration. This result invalidates such principle

Using Individual Determinants to Predict Behavioral Health Service Use in Integrated Pediatric Primary Care

Mental health problems (e.g., attention, externalizing, internalizing) are commonly observed in youth and are often associated with significant impairment and an increased need for mental health services. Conceptual frameworks, such as Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Service Utilization, have proposed that several individual determinants (e.g., predisposing, enabling, and need factors) may influence service use for mental health problems among youth. Despite the glaring need for mental health treatment among youth with mental health problems, studies indicate that many affected youths do not receive mental health care. Integrated pediatric primary care (IPPC) settings provide an ideal setting for youth and families to receive adequate evidence-based services to assess and treat mental health problems. Guided by Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Service Utilization, the present study sought to examine individual factors associated with behavioral health service utilization in an urban, mid-Atlantic IPPC clinic. The study (N = 403; Mage = 10.74, SD = 3.67 years; 50.6% female) identified two distinct subgroups (“Significant Comorbid Problems” and “Predominantly Internalizing”) and significant predictors (age, gender) of subgroup membership. Although there were no significant differences in behavioral health service use between the two groups, the study found that older youth in the “Significant Comorbid Problems” subgroup were associated with higher behavioral health service use, whereas females in the “Predominantly Internalizing” subgroup were associated with higher behavioral health service use. Results of the present study provide support for factors associated with IPPC behavioral health service use among a mostly racial/ethnic minoritized, urban sample of youth and families

Estimating the impact of natural and anthropogenic emissions on cloud chemistry: the influence of organic compounds

International audienceIn order to estimate the anthropogenic influence of gas and aerosol emissions from the Petroleum Industry in maritime zones with clouds of small vertical extent, a numerical 1D Eulerian cloud-chemical model with detailed microphysics (Alfonso and Raga, 2002) is used to simulate the influence of water soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and organic+inorganic gas emissions on cloud development. Following Mircea et al. (2002), we tested the sensitivity of the cloud and precipitation development in the classical inorganic case (CIC) and the inorganic+organic case (IOC) with respect to CCN compositions. The results indicate an increase in the droplet concentration for the IOC, and a delay in the development of precipitation. The pH spectral evolution was studied during both the development and precipitation stages. The influence of the diffusion of formic acid and its generation by oxidation of hydrated formaldehyde in the aqueous phase result in a reduction in the pH of precipitation in the range between 0.05 and 0.15 pH units (from 1 to 3%) for the high ambient SO2 concentration (20 ppb) and between 0.2?0.5 pH units (from 4 to 10%) for the low ambient SO2 concentration (1 ppb) case

A numerical study of interactions and stellar bars

For several decades it has been known that stellar bars in disc galaxies can be triggered by interactions, or by internal processes such as dynamical instabilities. In this work, we explore the differences between these two mechanisms using numerical simulations. We perform two groups of simulations based on isolated galaxies, one group in which a bar develops naturally, and another group in which the bar could not develop in isolation. The rest of the simulations recreate 1:1 coplanar fly-by interactions computed with the impulse approximation. The orbits we use for the interactions represent the fly-bys in groups or clusters of different masses accordingly to the velocity of the encounter. In the analysis we focus on bars' amplitude, size, pattern speed and their rotation parameter, ${\cal R}=R_{CR}/R_{bar}$. The latter is used to define fast (${\cal R}1.4$). Compared with equivalent isolated galaxies we find that bars affected or triggered by interactions: (i) remain in the slow regime for longer; (ii) are more boxy in face-on views; (iii) they host kinematically hotter discs. Within this set of simulations we do not see strong differences between retrograde or prograde fly-bys. We also show that slow interactions can trigger bar formation.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

The influence of organic compounds on the development of precipitation acidity in maritime clouds

International audienceIn order to estimate the anthropogenic influence of gas and aerosol emissions from the Petroleum Industry in maritime zones with clouds of small vertical extent, a numerical 1-D Eulerian cloud-chemical model with detailed microphysics (Alfonso and Raga, 2002) is used to simulate the influence of water soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and organic+inorganic gas emissions on cloud development. Following Mircea et al. (2002), we tested the sensitivity of the cloud and precipitation development in the classical inorganic case (CIC) and the inorganic+organic case (IOC) with respect to CCN compositions. The results indicate an increase in the droplet concentration for the IOC, and a delay in the development of precipitation. The pH spectral evolution was studied during both the development and precipitation stages. The influence of the diffusion of formic acid and its generation by oxidation of hydrated formaldehyde in the aqueous phase result in a reduction in the pH of precipitation in the range between 0.05 and 0.15 pH units (from 1 to 3%) for the high ambient SO2 concentration (20 ppb) and between 0.2-0.5 pH units (from 4 to 10%) for the low ambient SO2 concentration (1 ppb) case

Pseudoeurycea galeanae

Number of Pages: 3Integrative BiologyGeological Science