Cinema and the ‘City of the Mind’: Using Motion Pictures to Explore Human-Environment Transactions in Planning Education.

This chapter examines the pedagogical use of film in planning education, specifically as it relates to the teaching of environmental psychology. The intersections between film, theory, and pedagogy are important because film is herein invested with the power to represent – and more importantly interpret and challenge – our understandings of human-environment transactions. I further suggest that planning students may be undereducated in the nature of these transactions and that the medium of the motion picture – combined with the neglected body of theory represented by environmental psychology – offers an excellent synthesis to address this need.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-90-481-3209-6_1

Tribal vs. Public Schools: Perceived Discrimination and School Adjustment among Indigenous Children from Early to Mid- Adolescence

The purpose of this study is to assess the differential effects of perceived discrimination by type of school on positive school adjustment among Indigenous children during late elementary and early middle school years. The analysis utilizes a sample of 654 Indigenous children from four reservations in the Northern Midwest and four Canadian First Nation reserves. Multiple group linear growth modeling within a structural equation framework is employed to investigate the moderating effects of school type on the relationship between discrimination and positive school adjustment. Results show that students in all school types score relatively high on positive school adjustment at time one (ages 10-12). However, in contrast to students in tribal schools for whom positive school adjustment remains stable, those attending public schools and those moving between school types show a decline in school adjustment over time. Furthermore, the negative effects of discrimination on positive school adjustment are greater for those attending public schools and those moving between schools. Possible reasons for this finding and potential explanations for why tribal schools may provide protection from the negative effects of discrimination are discussed

Tribal vs. Public Schools: Perceived Discrimination and School Adjustment among Indigenous Children from Early to Mid- Adolescence

The purpose of this study is to assess the differential effects of perceived discrimination by type of school on positive school adjustment among Indigenous children during late elementary and early middle school years. The analysis utilizes a sample of 654 Indigenous children from four reservations in the Northern Midwest and four Canadian First Nation reserves. Multiple group linear growth modeling within a structural equation framework is employed to investigate the moderating effects of school type on the relationship between discrimination and positive school adjustment. Results show that students in all school types score relatively high on positive school adjustment at time one (ages 10-12). However, in contrast to students in tribal schools for whom positive school adjustment remains stable, those attending public schools and those moving between school types show a decline in school adjustment over time. Furthermore, the negative effects of discrimination on positive school adjustment are greater for those attending public schools and those moving between schools. Possible reasons for this finding and potential explanations for why tribal schools may provide protection from the negative effects of discrimination are discussed

Adolescent Loneliness and Health in Early Adulthood

The health consequence of loneliness in the early life course is an understudied topic in the sociological literature. Using data from Waves 1–3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine pre-disease pathways in the relationship between adolescent loneliness and early adult health. Our results indicate that loneliness during adolescence is associated with diagnosed depression, poorer adult self-rated health, and metabolic risk factors related to cardiovascular disease. High depressive symptoms and parent support are important pathways through which the health consequences of loneliness are exacerbated or offset. There is also evidence that lonely youth remain at higher risk for experiencing adult depression and poor self-rated health even in the presence of equivalent levels of parental support relative to non-lonely adolescents. Furthermore, lonely adolescent females are more vulnerable to reporting poor adult self-rated health and being overweight or obese in adulthood. In sum, our study demonstrates the importance of adolescent loneliness for elevating the risk of poor health outcomes in adulthood

Adolescent Loneliness and Health in Early Adulthood

The health consequence of loneliness in the early life course is an understudied topic in the sociological literature. Using data from Waves 1–3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine pre-disease pathways in the relationship between adolescent loneliness and early adult health. Our results indicate that loneliness during adolescence is associated with diagnosed depression, poorer adult self-rated health, and metabolic risk factors related to cardiovascular disease. High depressive symptoms and parent support are important pathways through which the health consequences of loneliness are exacerbated or offset. There is also evidence that lonely youth remain at higher risk for experiencing adult depression and poor self-rated health even in the presence of equivalent levels of parental support relative to non-lonely adolescents. Furthermore, lonely adolescent females are more vulnerable to reporting poor adult self-rated health and being overweight or obese in adulthood. In sum, our study demonstrates the importance of adolescent loneliness for elevating the risk of poor health outcomes in adulthood

The feasibility and utility of grocery receipt analyses for dietary assessment

OBJECTIVE: To establish the feasibility and utility of a simple data collection methodology for dietary assessment. DESIGN: Using a cross-sectional design, trained data collectors approached adults (~20 – 40 years of age) at local grocery stores and asked whether they would volunteer their grocery receipts and answer a few questions for a small stipend ($1). METHODS: The grocery data were divided into 3 categories: "fats, oils, and sweets," "processed foods," and "low-fat/low-calorie substitutions" as a percentage of the total food purchase price. The questions assessed the shopper's general eating habits (eg, fast-food consumption) and a few demographic characteristics and health aspects (eg, perception of body size). Statistical Analyses Performed. Descriptive and analytic analyses using non-parametric tests were conducted in SAS. RESULTS: Forty-eight receipts and questionnaires were collected. Nearly every respondent reported eating fast food at least once per month; 27% ate out once or twice a day. Frequency of fast-food consumption was positively related to perceived body size of the respondent (p = 0.02). Overall, 30% of the food purchase price was for fats, oils, sweets, 10% was for processed foods, and almost 6% was for low-fat/low-calorie substitutions. Households where no one was perceived to be overweight spent a smaller proportion of their food budget on fats, oils, and sweets than did households where at least one person was perceived to be overweight (p = 0.10); household where the spouse was not perceived to be overweight spent less on fats, oils, and sweets (p = 0.02) and more on low-fat/low-calorie substitutions (p = 0.09) than did households where the spouse was perceived to be overweight; and, respondents who perceived themselves to be overweight spent more on processed foods than did respondents who did not perceive themselves to be overweight (p = 0.06). CONCLUSION: This simple dietary assessment method, although global in nature, may be a useful indicator of dietary practices as evidenced by its association with perceived weight status

Parametric hazard rate models for long-term sickness absence

PURPOSE: In research on the time to onset of sickness absence and the duration of sickness absence episodes, Cox proportional hazard models are in common use. However, parametric models are to be preferred when time in itself is considered as independent variable. This study compares parametric hazard rate models for the onset of long-term sickness absence and return to work. METHOD: Prospective cohort study on sickness absence with four follow-up years of 53,830 employees working in the private sector in the Netherlands. The time to onset of long-term (>6 weeks) sickness absence and return to work were modelled by parametric hazard rate models. RESULTS: The exponential parametric model with a constant hazard rate most accurately described the time to onset of long-term sickness absence. Gompertz-Makeham models with monotonically declining hazard rates best described return to work. CONCLUSIONS: Parametric models offer more possibilities than commonly used models for time-dependent processes as sickness absence and return to work. However, the advantages of parametric models above Cox models apply mainly for return to work and less for onset of long-term sickness absence

Functional characterization of two human MutY homolog (hMYH) missense mutations (R227W and V232F) that lie within the putative hMSH6 binding domain and are associated with hMYH polyposis

The base excision repair DNA glycosylase MutY homolog (MYH) is responsible for removing adenines misincorporated into DNA opposite guanine or 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-guanine (8-oxoG), thereby preventing G:C to T:A mutations. Biallelic germline mutations in the human MYH gene predispose individuals to multiple colorectal adenomas and carcinoma. We have recently demonstrated that hMYH interacts with the mismatch repair protein hMSH6, and that the hMSH2/hMSH6 (hMutSα) heterodimer stimulates hMYH activity. Here, we characterize the functional effect of two missense mutations (R227W and V232F) associated with hMYH polyposis that lie within, or adjacent to, the putative hMSH6 binding domain. Neither missense mutation affects the physical interaction between hMYH and hMSH6. However, hMYH(R227W) has a severe defect in A/8-oxoG binding and glycosylase activities, while hMYH(V232F) has reduced A/8-oxoG binding and glycosylase activities. The glycosylase activity of the V232F mutant can be partially stimulated by hMutSα but cannot be restored to the wild-type level. Both mutants also fail to complement mutY-deficiency in Escherichia coli. These data define the pathogenic mechanisms underlying two further hMYH polyposis-associated mutations

Improved image aids interpretation: A case history

SUMMARY The Oritupano-Leona 3D of Eastern Venezuela was originally acquired and processed during the period from late 1994 through 1995. Since that time, seismic processing technology has been advanced significantly. This presented an opportunity to determine whether the original imaging could be improved to the extent that it supported a more confident interpretation. To this end, a portion of the 3D (about 10%) was reprocessed in mid 1997. In the reprocessing, more advanced interactive velocity analysis and Q.C. tools were used to assure optimal stacking and migration velocity fields. New noise attenuation and surface-consistent deconvolution algorithms were applied during the reprocessing to ensure that maximum signal-tonoise (S/N) ratio, vertical resolution and wavelet stability were achieved. Pre-stack time migration was used to help generate the best possible time-domain image. The result of these steps was a significant improvement over the original processing, particularly in areas disrupted by faults. This enabled the interpreters to choose new well locations in the faulted zone and extend their success from neighboring areas

Certainty Closure: Reliable Constraint Reasoning with Incomplete or Erroneous Data

Constraint Programming (CP) has proved an effective paradigm to model and solve difficult combinatorial satisfaction and optimisation problems from disparate domains. Many such problems arising from the commercial world are permeated by data uncertainty. Existing CP approaches that accommodate uncertainty are less suited to uncertainty arising due to incomplete and erroneous data, because they do not build reliable models and solutions guaranteed to address the user's genuine problem as she perceives it. Other fields such as reliable computation offer combinations of models and associated methods to handle these types of uncertain data, but lack an expressive framework characterising the resolution methodology independently of the model. We present a unifying framework that extends the CP formalism in both model and solutions, to tackle ill-defined combinatorial problems with incomplete or erroneous data. The certainty closure framework brings together modelling and solving methodologies from different fields into the CP paradigm to provide reliable and efficient approches for uncertain constraint problems. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework on a case study in network diagnosis. We define resolution forms that give generic templates, and their associated operational semantics, to derive practical solution methods for reliable solutions.Comment: Revised versio