Male Sexual Orientation Among Religious Men: A Discriminant Function Analysis

The ecological changes of human society especially in Western civilization via scientific, industrial, and technological revolutions have altered the foundations of what masculinity means in the l.990\u27s. This study was designed to discriminate and predict three masculine sexual orientation groups based upon father-son relations, gender, religious spirituality, psychological maltreatment/abuse, and shame. Data were obtained from 92 male volunteer participants (gay=32, heterosexual=32, x-gay=28) who identify as Christians or who affiliate with a Christian organization. Instruments used were the Boyhood Gender conformity Scale (BGCS), the Father Forgiveness Perception Scale (FFPS), the Home Environment Questionnaire (HEQ) (i.e., Child Abuse Trauma Scale), Internalized Shame Scale (ISS), the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid (KSOG), the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ), the Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ), the Religious Identification and Commitment Scale (RICS), and the Sexual Trauma Scale (STS). The KSOG, PIQ, and group affiliation provided three criterion variables. Total scores on the BGCS, HEQ, ISS, PARQ, and RICS provided five predictor variables. The PIQ provided demographic information for descriptive analysis, group profiles, and group homogeneity. The PIQ and two experimental scales (FFPS & STS) added alternative predictors. Two discriminant functions were generated. The first function, Wilks\u27 Lambda = .39, Chi Square (10) 67.43, R \u3c .001, accounted for 61% of the variance of group membership. The second function, Wilks\u27 Lambda .68, Chi Square (4) = 28.01, R \u3c .001 accounted for 39% of the variance of group membership. The BGCS, ISS, and HEQ were related to the first function. The RICS and PARQ were related to the second function. The BGCS exerted the strongest influence of the first discriminant function, ;n:=.87. The RICS exerted the strongest influence on the second discriminant function, n=.so. The first function discriminated between heterosexual subjects and the other two groups. The second function discriminated between the gay and x-gay subjects. Overall the two discriminant functions correctly classified the participants 77% of the time versus about 35% chance classification. Sixty-nine percent (n=22) of the gay participants, 84% (n=27) of the heterosexual participants, and 79% (n=22) of the gay participants were correctly classified. The findings indicate that boyhood masculine gender nonconformity is a strong indicator of adult homosexuality (gay & x-gay) and that high Christian religious commitment and identity is a strong indicator of the x-gay homosexual population

Born-Regulated Gravity in Four Dimensions

Previous work involving Born-regulated gravity theories in two dimensions is extended to four dimensions. The action we consider has two dimensionful parameters. Black hole solutions are studied for typical values of these parameters. For masses above a critical value determined in terms of these parameters, the event horizon persists. For masses below this critical value, the event horizon disappears, leaving a ``bare mass'', though of course no singularity.Comment: LaTeX, 15 pages, 2 figure

Development of a Dynamic Investment Strategy under Alternative Inflation Cycle Scenarios

Inflation and inflation cycles have been a major underlying reason for the financial successes and failures of real estate investors in recent history. These cycles have complex impacts on cash flow variables and thus on real estate returns and investment values. This study presents a decision framework and operational model to project investment returns for alternative inflation cycle scenarios and demonstrates their application for developing a dynamic real estate investment strategy. Such a strategy provides for portfolio revisions during different stages of the inflation cycle and assumes that investors seek to maximize expected "real" rates of return and hence owner's wealth. A probabilistic discounted cash flow model is designed and used to inflation-adjust each cash flow variable affected. Mathematical relationships are developed for specifying unique cash flow variable linkages and sensitivities, with lead and lag periods consistent with empirical evidence of timing of inflation impacts. Finally strategic implications for acquisition and disposition policy are discussed.

Hypoxic modulation of exogenous nitrite-induced vasodilation in humans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Broadening of Spectral Lines due to Dynamic Multiple Scattering and the Tully-Fisher Relation

The frequency shift of spectral lines is most often explained by the Doppler Effect in terms of relative motion, whereas the Doppler broadening of a particular line mainly depends on the absolute temperature. The Wolf effect on the other hand deals with the correlation induced spectral change and explains both the broadening and shift of the spectral lines. In this framework a relation between the width of the spectral line is related to the redshift z for the line and hence with the distance. For smaller values of z a relation similar to the Tully-Fisher relation can be obtained and for larger values of z a more general relation can be constructed. The derivation of this kind of relation based on dynamic multiple scattering theory may play a significant role in explaining the overall spectra of quasi stellar objects. We emphasize that this mechanism is not applicable for nearby galaxies, $z \leq 1$.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, revised Version has been submitted to Physical Review A. (2nd author's affiliation corrected

Engaging residents to choose wisely: Resident Doctors of Canada resource stewardship recommendations

Background: Resident doctors are integral to healthcare delivery in Canada. Engaging residents in resource stewardship is important for professional development, but also as they are drivers of healthcare resource use. To date, no national resident-specific resource stewardship guideline has been developed. Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC) in collaboration with Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) sought to develop an evidence-informed, consensus-based list of five recommendations to promote resource stewardship.                  Methods: RDoC convened a taskforce with diverse geographic and specialty representation to develop candidate recommendations targeting resident resource stewardship behaviours using a consensus-based process, supported by a literature review. Residents across the country provided feedback on the candidate recommendations via an online questionnaire. The taskforce used this feedback to finalize the list.Results: The taskforce prepared 28 candidate recommendations for consideration. A detailed literature review and consensus process narrowed this list to 12 candidate recommendations for consultation. A total of 754 residents (754/10,068 residents = 7.5%) representing all provinces and levels of residency training reviewed and ranked the candidate recommendations. The highest-ranked recommendations comprised the final list.Conclusion: Resident doctors are willing and able to demonstrate leadership in advancing resource stewardship by the development of a national resident-specific list of Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations

Symmetry-Adapted Phonon Analysis of Nanotubes

The characteristics of phonons, i.e. linearized normal modes of vibration, provide important insights into many aspects of crystals, e.g. stability and thermodynamics. In this paper, we use the Objective Structures framework to make concrete analogies between crystalline phonons and normal modes of vibration in non-crystalline but highly symmetric nanostructures. Our strategy is to use an intermediate linear transformation from real-space to an intermediate space in which the Hessian matrix of second derivatives is block-circulant. The block-circulant nature of the Hessian enables us to then follow the procedure to obtain phonons in crystals: namely, we use the Discrete Fourier Transform from this intermediate space to obtain a block-diagonal matrix that is readily diagonalizable. We formulate this for general Objective Structures and then apply it to study carbon nanotubes of various chiralities that are subjected to axial elongation and torsional deformation. We compare the phonon spectra computed in the Objective Framework with spectra computed for armchair and zigzag nanotubes. We also demonstrate the approach by computing the Density of States. In addition to the computational efficiency afforded by Objective Structures in providing the transformations to almost-diagonalize the Hessian, the framework provides an important conceptual simplification to interpret the phonon curves.Comment: To appear in J. Mech. Phys. Solid

Optics: general-purpose scintillator light response simulation code

We present the program optics that simulates the light response of an arbitrarily shaped scintillation particle detector. Predicted light responses of pure CsI polygonal detectors, plastic scintillator staves, cylindrical plastic target scintillators and a Plexiglas light-distribution plate are illustrated. We demonstrate how different bulk and surface optical properties of a scintillator lead to specific volume and temporal light collection probability distributions. High-statistics optics simulations are calibrated against the detector responses measured in a custom-made cosmic muon tomography apparatus. The presented code can also be used to track particles intersecting complex geometrical objects.Comment: RevTeX LaTeX, 37 pages in e-print format, 12 Postscript Figures and 1 Table, also available at http://pibeta.phys.virginia.edu/public_html/preprints/optics.p

Nonequilibrium and Nonlinear Dynamics in Geomaterials I : The Low Strain Regime

Members of a wide class of geomaterials are known to display complex and fascinating nonlinear and nonequilibrium dynamical behaviors over a wide range of bulk strains, down to surprisingly low values, e.g., 10^{-7}. In this paper we investigate two sandstones, Berea and Fontainebleau, and characterize their behavior under the influence of very small external forces via carefully controlled resonant bar experiments. By reducing environmental effects due to temperature and humidity variations, we are able to systematically and reproducibly study dynamical behavior at strains as low as 10^{-9}. Our study establishes the existence of two strain thresholds, the first, epsilon_L, below which the material is essentially linear, and the second, epsilon_M, below which the material is nonlinear but where quasiequilibrium thermodynamics still applies as evidenced by the success of Landau theory and a simple macroscopic description based on the Duffing oscillator. At strains above epsilon_M the behavior becomes truly nonequilibrium -- as demonstrated by the existence of material conditioning -- and Landau theory no longer applies. The main focus of this paper is the study of the region below the second threshold, but we also comment on how our work clarifies and resolves previous experimental conflicts, as well as suggest new directions of research.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure