How influential are they? The role of parents, social support, attachment, and autonomy in college students\u27 likelihood to experience social anxiety

Previous research has found that parental control predicts social anxiety and is moderated by parental proximity, as measured by the amount of contact one has with their parent; however there have been no studies examining how levels of parental proximity may change over the course of a young adult\u27s life. The purpose of the current study was to examine how variables previously associated with social anxiety change across a semester of college. The current study examined parental proximity, autonomy, social support and social anxiety at three points across the semester. Thirty-nine undergraduate students at West Virginia University participated in the study. It was hypothesized that as the semester progressed, reported levels of parental proximity would decrease, while autonomy and social support would increase as students assimilated more into the college community. To evaluate these hypotheses, a repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted. While results were in the predicted direction, there were no significant findings. As past research has found that levels of social anxiety were higher for those who maintained close proximity to their parents and whose parents were more controlling, it was hypothesized that the same would hold true for the current study. To test this hypothesis, a univariate analysis of variance was conducted; however, the results were not significant nor in the predicted direction. Implications and directions for future research are discussed

Risk Perception among Sexually Abused Female Adolescents

Previous research investigating risk recognition in female victims of child sexual abuse has focused on college-aged women and young adults to the exclusion of adolescent females, who are just entering the stage where dating and sexual relationships are becoming important. Research with college-aged women and young adults has demonstrated that women with a history of child sexual abuse are less likely to detect risk cues in social environments. Understanding how adolescents perceive risky situations is important in preventing the trajectory from child sexual abuse to later adult victimization. It also is important to understand deficits in risk perception across a developmental period to better inform programs aimed at preventing sexual revictimization. In addition, coping mechanisms have been heavily studied in adults with a history of child sexual abuse but not in adolescents with the same history. The purpose of the present study was to address the current deficit in the literature regarding child sexual abuse and perception of danger cues, as well as coping strategies used by adolescents, who are victims of child sexual abuse. Seventeen adolescent females between the ages of 14 and 16 with a sexual abuse history comprised the target sample, while twenty-four in the same age range without a sexual abuse history are included in the comparison sample. Analyses indicated that there were no differences in identified risk cues between the target and comparison sample; however, a trend was observed for individuals in the target group to leave risky social situations sooner. There was a trend for individuals with higher levels of avoidant coping to leave the scene sooner than individuals with higher levels of self-destructive coping. There also was a trend for individuals with nervous/anxious coping to leave the scene sooner than individuals with self-destructive coping. Social anxiety was associated with longer latencies to leave dangerous settings in the target sample. Finally, abuse severity was positively associated with the number of identified risk cues, PTSD symptoms, and harm avoidance. Implications and directions for future research are discussed

Web-Based vs. Traditional Education: Does Distance Education at the Graduate Level Deserve a Failing Grade

Prior research addressing whether differences exist between traditional classroom education and web-based learning has provided inconclusive results (Li, 2002); this is especially true in graduate level classes. The proposed empirical research attempts to explore differences in outcomes from a graduate level MIS course which was taught in a traditional classroom setting as well as in a web-based learning environment. The purpose of the proposed study is to determine whether differences between the two approaches exist, and to identify whether student attributes (employment status and whether the student has children) or educational approach attributes (traditional classroom or web-based environment) affect a student’s learning outcomes. From a qualitative research perspective, the study also will address how satisfied students in the traditional classroom and the web-based environment are with the learning experience

Socioeconomic Status, Health and Lifestyle

The role of lifestyle in mediating the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and and health has been discussed extensively in the epidemiological and economic literatures. Previous analyses have not considered a formal framework incorporating unobservable heterogeneity. In this paper we develop a simple economic model in which health is determined (partially) by lifestyle, which depends on preferences, budget and time constraints and unobservable characteristics. We estimate a recursive empirical specification consisting of a health production function and reduced forms for the lifestyle equations using Maximum Simulated Likelihood for a multivariate probit model with discrete indicators of lifestyle choices and self-assessed health (SAH) on British panel data from the 1984 and 1991 Health and Lifestyle Survey. We find that prudent drinking and not smoking in 1984 have dramatic positive effects on the probability of reporting excellent or good SAH in 1991. The failure of epidemiological analyses to account for unobserved heterogeneity can explain their low estimates of the relevance of lifestyle in the socio-economic status-health relationship. Accounting for unobserved heterogeneity also leads us to conclude that indicators for sleep, exercise and breakfast in 1984 are unimportant for SAH in 1991.Determinants of health, lifestyles, simulation-based inference, panel data.

Are IS Candidates Supplying the Teaching and Research Skills that Universities Need Most?

This longitudinal research study investigates the teaching and research expectations for potential IS professors. Most university departments advertise for specific job skills and qualifications when they attempt to recruit faculty members. This study examines over 400 IS placement advertisements for the academic recruiting years 2001-2002, 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Top teaching and research areas that universities are interested in for their new hires are identified. The study then investigates whether the interests of candidates seeking appointments are similar. Over 400 IS candidate doctorates\u27 résumés are content analyzed and their teaching and research preferences are identified. By looking at the teaching and research needs of the universities and the preferences of IS candidates, it is then possible to identify if a gap exists between the two. Lists of (1) most required and (2) most desired IS teaching and research areas over the three year period are shown. The results report that in terms of teaching, what the universities are looking for is being well matched with what candidates are offering, except in the universities\u27 demand for telecommunications. With respect to research, while there is some match between demand and supply, there is a noticeable lack of demand by universities for e-Commerce, HCI and ERP

Foundations of Information Systems Course Content: A Comparison of Assigned Value by Faculty, Recruiters, and Students

This research compares the value placed on the content of the foundations of information systems course by three stakeholders: faculty, recruiters, and students. Given the declining enrollments in IS that led ACM/AIS to redesign its curriculum in an attempt to help universities reverse this trend, we need to assess the value placed on this curriculum by stakeholders. Although all majors in a business school are typically required to take the foundations of IS course, its real or perceived value to businesses and future employers is unclear. A first step in evaluating the entire curriculum is to focus on the foundations of IS course. Results differ among the stakeholders, and discussions highlight the need to continually improve the curriculum to fit the needs and the assigned importance of the diverse stakeholders

Distance Education At The Graduate Level: A Viable Alternative

This research extends a previous comparative study that looked at learning outcomes between traditional classroom and web-based education at the graduate level. That research (Jones and Everard, 2008) provided little evidence that there were significant differences between delivery methods. This research looks at employment status, household demographics, and family commitments and explores why these underlying factors do not affect outcomes between traditional classroom and web-based education at the graduate level. Results of this research provide evidence that for graduate level education, distance education is a practical and appropriate option

Human acylpeptide hydrolase. Studies on its thiol groups and mechanism of action.

The presence of a cysteine residue(s) near the active site of acylpeptide hydrolase was suggested by inactivation of the enzyme with sulfhydryl-modifying agents and by the substantial protection against inactivation afforded by the competitive inhibitor acetylmethionine. 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoate) titrations of the native and the denatured enzyme together with analysis for cysteic acid after performic acid oxidation showed that the enzyme contained 12 free SH groups and three disulfide bonds/monomer. Chemical modification with radiolabeled iodoacetamide led to the labeling of Cys-30 and Cys-64 suggesting that one or both of these Cys residues are close to the active site. Modification of one or both of them probably inhibits the enzyme either because of a distortion of the active site or because the adducts present a barrier to the efficient diffusion of substrates into and products out of the active site. Studies on the mechanism of action of acylpeptide hydrolase have employed p-nitrophenyl-N-propyl carbamate as a potent active site-directed inhibitor. Enzyme inactivation, which follows pseudo first-order kinetics, is diminished by the competitive inhibitor acetylmethionine. The inhibited enzyme slowly regains activity at a rate that is increased in the presence of the nucleophile hydroxylamine. A general mechanism involving an acyl-enzyme intermediate is supported by evidence for the formation of acetyl-alanyl hydroxamate during hydrolysis of acetyl-alanine p-nitroanilide in the presence of hydroxylamine. The effect on Vmax and Km during this reaction indicate that hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme intermediate is rate-limiting

A Lanthanide-Based Chemosensor for Bioavailable Fe3+ Using a Fluorescent Siderophore: An Assay Displacement Approach

The measurement of trace analytes in aqueous systems has become increasingly important for understanding ocean primary productivity. In oceanography, iron (Fe) is a key element in regulating ocean productivity, microplankton assemblages and has been identified as a causative element in the development of some harmful algal blooms. The chemosenor developed in this study is based on an indicator displacement approach that utilizes time-resolved fluorescence and fluorescence resonance energy transfer as the sensing mechanism to achieve detection of Fe3+ ions as low as 5 nM. This novel approach holds promise for the development of photoactive chemosensors for ocean deployment