Religiosity, Moral Disapproval, Shame and Pornography Use: Assessing the Relationship Between Shame and Sexual Behaviors

Many compulsive and hypersexualized behaviors, including pornography use, have been associated with negative emotional, neurological, and psychosocial problems in a subset of users. Research showed that the constructs of shame, shame-proneness, and attachment may be related to the use of pornography as well as the theory of addiction. Shame-proneness is a construct that is consistently and positively associated with a variety of internalizing symptoms including depression, social, and generalized anxiety as well as a linked to an assortment of externalizing and risky behaviors such as anger, substance use, and criminal offending. Research suggested that higher levels of religiosity have a strong relationship to the moral disapproval of the use of pornography based on individual religious beliefs. This study examined the correlation between religiosity and sexual shame based on earlier research, which hypothesized that moral disapproval would mediate the relationship between religiosity and sexual shame. This research also hypothesized that shame-proneness would moderate the relationships between religiosity and moral disapproval, moral disapproval, and sexual shame, and finally the relationship between religiosity and sexual shame. The results showed that consistent with earlier research; moral disapproval mediated the relationship between religiosity and sexual shame. The study found that shame-proneness was a direct predictor of sexual shame however it did not moderate direct or indirect effects on the proposed theoretical relationships

An evaluation of the effects of illustration on comprehension in the first grade.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

National Low-Level Waste Management Program Radionuclide Report Series. Volume 10, Nickel-63

This report outlines the basic radiological, chemical, and physical characteristics of nickel-63 ({sup 63}Ni) and examines how these characteristics affect the behavior of {sup 63}Ni in various environmental media, such as soils, groundwater, plants, animals, the atmosphere, and the human body. Discussions also include methods of {sup 63}Ni production, waste types, and waste forms that contain {sup 63}Ni. The primary source of {sup 63}Ni in the environment has been low-level radioactive waste material generated as a result of neutron activation of stable {sup 62}Ni that is present in the structural components of nuclear reactor vessels. {sup 63}Ni enters the environment from the dismantling activities associated with nuclear reactor decommissioning. However, small amounts of {sup 63}Ni have been detected in the environment following the testing of thermonuclear weapons in the South Pacific. Concentrations as high as 2.7 Bq{sup a} per gram of sample (or equivalently 0.0022 parts per billion) were observed on Bikini Atoll (May 1954). {sup 63}Ni was not created as a fission product species (e.g., from {sup 235}U or {sup 239}Pu fissions), but instead was produced as a result of neutron capture in {sup 63}Ni, a common nickel isotope present in the stainless steel components of nuclear weapons (e.g., stainless-304 contains {approximately}9% total Ni or {approximately}0.3% {sup 63}Ni)

National Low-Level Waste Management Program Radionuclide Report Series

The National Low Level Waste Management Program at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory has published a report containing key information about selected radionuclides that are most likely to contribute significantly to the radiation exposures estimated from a performance assessment of a low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal facility. The information includes physical and chemical characteristics, production means, waste forms, behavior of the radionuclide in soils, plants, groundwater, and air, and biological effects in animals and humans. The radionuclides included in this study comprise all of the nuclides specifically listed in 10CFR61.55, Tables 1 and 2, 3 H, 14 C, 59 Ni, 60 Co, 63 Ni, 90 Sr, 94 Nb, 99 Tc, 129 I, 137 Cs, 241 Pu, and 242 Cm. Other key radionuclides addressed in the report include 237 Np, 238 U, 239 Pu, and 241 Am. This paper summarizes key information contained within this report

Success in Managing Waste With No Identified Path to Disposal at the INEEL

The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is aggressively managing waste with no identified path to disposal (WNPD), which was previously termed special case waste (SCW). As a result of several years of this aggressive management, the INEEL has reduced its WNPD volume from approximately 38,000 m3 in 1993 to approximately 6.33 m3 in 1999. This paper discusses how the INEEL reduced its WNPD volume. It specifically discusses the beryllium reflector waste produced from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) as an example of the INEEL's success in managing its WNPD. The INEEL's success in reducing its WNPD volume is the result of establishing long-range strategic objectives and consistently allocating an annual budget to implement specific work tasks that are consistent with these objectives. In addition, specific short- and long-range work tasks were developed and documented in work control documents. The work tasks are evaluated annually for consistency with the strategic objectives. Since the INEEL has successfully reduced its WNPD volume, it is now focusing on disposing of the remaining volume and preventing future generation of WNPD. As a result of this focused effort, a life-cycle disposal plan was developed for the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) beryllium waste. This plan covers beryllium reflectors currently stored in the ATR canal and beryllium reflectors generated through 2050. This plan includes a pollution prevention (P2) opportunity, which applies to the DOE complex reactor beryllium reflector waste stream. The P2 opportunity also contributes to planning for the international nuclear industry to extend the life and reduce the radionuclide activation of nonfuel material in existing and newly developed test reactor nuclear power systems. In Fiscal Year 2000, the INEEL is focusing on further reducing its WNPD volume. To completely dispose of the INEEL WNPD, it will need a national plan for disposing of some WNPD categories. Therefore, the INEEL WNPD Program is participating in the DOE complex integrated planning process for legacy and future generated WNPD waste

Loss of Free Fatty Acid Receptor 2 leads to impaired islet mass and beta cell survival

The regulation of pancreatic β cell mass is a critical factor to help maintain normoglycemia during insulin resistance. Nutrient-sensing G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) contribute to aspects of β cell function, including regulation of β cell mass. Nutrients such as free fatty acids (FFAs) contribute to precise regulation of β cell mass by signaling through cognate GPCRs, and considerable evidence suggests that circulating FFAs promote β cell expansion by direct and indirect mechanisms. Free Fatty Acid Receptor 2 (FFA2) is a β cell-expressed GPCR that is activated by short chain fatty acids, particularly acetate. Recent studies of FFA2 suggest that it may act as a regulator of β cell function. Here, we set out to explore what role FFA2 may play in regulation of β cell mass. Interestingly, Ffar2(-/-) mice exhibit diminished β cell mass at birth and throughout adulthood, and increased β cell death at adolescent time points, suggesting a role for FFA2 in establishment and maintenance of β cell mass. Additionally, activation of FFA2 with Gαq/11-biased agonists substantially increased β cell proliferation in in vitro and ex vivo proliferation assays. Collectively, these data suggest that FFA2 may be a novel therapeutic target to stimulate β cell growth and proliferation

Hierarchically modelling Kepler dwarfs and subgiants to improve inference of stellar properties with asteroseismology

This work is a part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (CartographY; grant agreement ID 804752). AJL, GRD, and WJC acknowledge the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. DH acknowledges support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC19K0597), and the National Science Foundation (AST-1717000). MBN acknowledges support from the UK Space Agency. RAG acknowledges the funding from the PLATO CNES grant.With recent advances in modelling stars using high-precision asteroseismology, the systematic effects associated with our assumptions of stellar helium abundance (Y) and the mixing-length theory parameter (αMLT) are becoming more important. We apply a new method to improve the inference of stellar parameters for a sample of Kepler dwarfs and subgiants across a narrow mass range (⁠0.8<M<1.2M⊙). In this method, we include a statistical treatment of Y and the αMLT. We develop a hierarchical Bayesian model to encode information about the distribution of Y and αMLT in the population, fitting a linear helium enrichment law including an intrinsic spread around this relation and normal distribution in αMLT. We test various levels of pooling parameters, with and without solar data as a calibrator. When including the Sun as a star, we find the gradient for the enrichment law, ΔY/ΔZ=1.05+0.28−0.25 and the mean αMLT in the population, μα=1.90+0.10−0.09, μα=1.90+0.10−0.09⁠. While accounting for the uncertainty in Y and αMLT, we are still able to report statistical uncertainties of 2.5 per cent in mass, 1.2 per cent in radius, and 12 per cent in age. Our method can also be applied to larger samples that will lead to improved constraints on both the population level inference and the star-by-star fundamental parameters.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

PBjam: A Python package for automating asteroseismology of solar-like oscillators

Asteroseismology is an exceptional tool for studying stars by using the properties of observed modes of oscillation. So far the process of performing an asteroseismic analysis of a star has remained somewhat esoteric and inaccessible to non-experts. In this software paper we describe PBjam, an open-source Python package for analyzing the frequency spectra of solar-like oscillators in a simple but principled and automated way. The aim of PBjam is to provide a set of easy-to-use tools to extract information about the radial and quadrupole oscillations in stars that oscillate like the Sun, which may then be used to infer bulk properties such as stellar mass, radius and age or even structure. Asteroseismology and its data analysis methods are becoming increasingly important as space-based photometric observatories are producing a wealth of new data, allowing asteroseismology to be applied in a wide range of contexts such as exoplanet, stellar structure and evolution, and Galactic population studies.Comment: 12 Pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ. Associated software available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.430007