Examining Motivation as a Mechanism for the Effects of Stereotype Threat on Stem Outcomes: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis

Although African-American students start STEM majors with higher levels of interest compared to their racial majority peers, they drop out of these majors at higher rates. One often tested explanation for this racial disparity is stereotype threat–the anxiety related to being judged stereotypically or the fear of confirming such stereotypes. Stereotype threat negatively impacts academic outcomes through a variety of psychological mechanisms including declined motivation. Accordingly, in this study, I examined expectancy-value beliefs as motivational mechanisms for the effects of stereotype threat on STEM outcomes. Participants were 362 African-American students in introductory chemistry and biology courses who completed surveys at three time-points within a semester. Surveys included measures of self-reputation and group-reputation stereotype threats, self-efficacy, task values, perceived costs, and intentions to persist in STEM. Students’ final exam grades were also collected as a measure of STEM achievement from their instructors. Across 12 longitudinal mediation models, results suggested that self-reputation threat and group-reputation threat were negatively related to self-efficacy. Self-reputation threat was also negatively related to task values. On the other hand, self-efficacy and task values positively and perceived costs negatively related to STEM achievement and persistence. Lastly, self-efficacy mediated the relations between group-reputation threat and STEM outcomes while task values mediated the relations between self-reputation threat and STEM outcomes. These findings provide empirical evidence for the theorized relations between cultural stereotypes and expectancy-value beliefs and also expand the stereotype threat theory by examining the mechanisms and consequences of two distinct types of stereotype threat. Results of this dissertation further sheds light on the factors that contribute to the racial opportunity gap in STEM

Impact of early admission in labor on maternal and neonatal outcomes in Hajar health-care center of Shahr-e-Kord, Iran.

Background and Aim: Time of hospitalization of women for delivery can have an important impact on the outcome of labor and attention to it could prevent many complications affecting mother and fetus. The aim of this study was to detect the impact of early admission of women in labor and maternal and neonatal outcomes. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and analytical study , 463 women with low risk Pregnancy ; single fetus and vertex presentation, that had been admitted in their latent phase (group 1) and 287 women who had similar characteristics and had been admitted in their active phase (group 2) were assessed in Hajar hospital from February to November 2004. Information recording forms and check lists were used for data collection. SPSS software, t-test, chi -square and logistic regression tests were used to analize the obtained data. P<0.05 was considered as the significant level. Results: 463 (61.7%) of women admitted were in their latent phase and 287 (38.3%) cases were in their active phase of labor. Mean age of mother, gestational age based on left mentoposterior (LMP) and sonography, mean birth weight and Apgar score of neonates were not significant in the two groups. Although the number of women who were augmentated with oxytocin due to dystocia were similar in the two groups (79.9% ,76.5%), the incidence of cesarean section in women who received oxytocin was more in group 1 than in group 2 (57.2% versus 25.8% , P<0.001). Total rate of cesarean section was more in group 1 than in group 2 (363 versus 118, P<0.001).The main Cause of cesarean section in group 1 was dystocia and in group 2 it was fetal distress. There was no difference in the rates of forceps delivery, vacuum extraction, neonatal intubation and postpartum hemorrhage in two groups. Conclusion: It is suggested that pregnant women should be sufficiently instructed about prenatal care regarding the signs of the beginning of active labor and they had better refer to the hospital when in the active phase of labor in order to prevent complications which could be resulted from early admission

Elective induction of labor versus spontaneous labor in Hajar hospital, Shahrekord

Background and aim: With attention to increasing of the early hospitalization of women, induction of labor and its complications, the present study designed to compare the elective induction and spontaneous labor considering the mother and infant outcome. Methods: In a prospective and analytical study using of questionnaire and check list, 50 nulliparous women who were hospitalized for elective induction were compared with 50 nulliparous women with spontaneous labor in terms of Bishop score of cervix, duration of labor stages, number of vaginal examinations, intensity of uterine contractions, fetal distress, mode of delivery, Apgar score and birth weight of infants. The exclusion criteria were, multifetal pregnancy, abnormal presentation, premature rupture of membrane, preterm labor and placenta abruption. Data analyzed by t, Chi square and Pearson correlation tests. Results: There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of age, job and gestational age, mean of duration of labor stages, number of vaginal examinations, birth weight and Apgar score. In 98% of women with induced labor, Bishop score was <5. In this study group tetanic contractions, fetal distresses and cesarean sections were more than those of women with spontaneous labor (p<0.001). Conclusion: Elective induction of labor must be applied when there is a medical indication for termination of pregnancy. Onetime admission of women for delivery and change the women’s attitude towards the benefits of spontaneous labor and complications of elective induction are suggestive ways until they decide with knowledge and select these methods

EFFECT OF VITEX ON HOT FLASH OF MENOPAUSAL WOMEN REFERRED TO HEALTH CENTER OF ISFAHAN

Background and Aim: Menopause is a period in women’s lives that is accompanied with outcomes and effects which can adversely affect on the quality of life and weaken well-being. The most widely recognized outcome of menopause is hot flash that adversely affects on work, social activities, enjoying life, sleep, andin sum- total quality of living. The common treatment of this symptom is hormone treatment (HRT) which has some adverse effects and sometimes some contraindications. The present study aimed at assessing the effect of Vitex on hot flash. Materials and Methods: This double –blind and clinical trial was performed on 54 women with hot flash aged between 45 and 55 years in Isfahan in 2002, which had been referred for treatment. The population was randomly divided into 2 groups: 1) taking Vitex 2) control group, taking placebos. Data collection was done through interviews and a questionnaire considering demographic and hot flash characteristics (using Kupperman Index), which was filled out for each woman. Hot flash was assessed in three stages .The obtained data was analysed by means of SPSS software, descriptive and inferential statistics; and P%0.05 was taken as the significant level. Results: It was found that there was a significant difference in severity of hot flash before and after treatment in vitex group (P<0.012).While the difference was not significant after treatment in the placebo group. (P>0.05).Comparing the two groups with respect to severity of hot flash after treatment revealed a significant statistical difference (P<0.05); though the difference was not significant before treatment. Conclusion: Vitex can act as an alternative in treating menopausal hot flash; particularly in those who cannot safely bear hormonal treatment

Improving Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models via Exploiting Shared Representations

In this work, we address the challenge of multi-task image generation with limited data for denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPM), a class of generative models that produce high-quality images by reversing a noisy diffusion process. We propose a novel method, SR-DDPM, that leverages representation-based techniques from few-shot learning to effectively learn from fewer samples across different tasks. Our method consists of a core meta architecture with shared parameters, i.e., task-specific layers with exclusive parameters. By exploiting the similarity between diverse data distributions, our method can scale to multiple tasks without compromising the image quality. We evaluate our method on standard image datasets and show that it outperforms both unconditional and conditional DDPM in terms of FID and SSIM metrics

Educational needs of midwife alumni work in health care centers

Abstract Aims: Determination of educational needs is the first step in educational planning and the first factor of ensuring the quality and efficacy of education process. Midwives’ sufficient knowledge and improvement of their decision-making will lead to performance progress. The aim of this study was determining the educational needs of midwives working in hospitals and healthcare centers of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari province. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 280 midwives and 50 healthcare center authorities of hospitals and healthcare centers of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari who were selected by census sampling method in 2009. Data was collected by a researcher-made questionnaire containing three sections of demographic characteristics, educational needs related to their specialty or general domains and priority in educational needs. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square, student T-test and one-way ANOVA using SPSS 15 software. Results: There wasn’t significant difference in the average scores of educational needs in specific and general domains from authorities and midwives’ point of view (p>0.05). There was a significant relationship between the average score of educational needs and work place in obstetrics (p=0.002), maternal and child health (p=0.038) and neonatal (p=0.025) domains. There was a significant relationship between the average score of educational needs and the academic level of education in general domains (p=0.025). Conclusion: Holding educational classes of English, use of Information Technology (IT) in obstetrics, resuscitation, research methodology, religious and legal commandments, abnormal uterine bleeding, hypertensive disorders, neonatal medical treatment and common gynecologic infections seems essential as educational priorities. Keywords: Midwife, Hea

Willingness to Engage in Collective Action After the Killing of an Unarmed Black Man: Differential Pathways for Black and White Individuals

This cross-sectional survey study examined the underlying psychosocial constructs of Black (n = 163) and White (n = 246) university students\u27 willingness to endorse racially motivated collective action. Consistent with the defensive motivation system model, we expected the police shooting of an unarmed Black American to activate concerns about personal safety, thereby eliciting negative affect, lack of forgiveness of the perpetrator, and motivation to engage in collective action. This path model was expected for both Black and White participants, with stronger associations among Black participants. In the full model, Black participants identified more with the victim and indicated greater personal threat, which led to (1) more negative affect and greater endorsement of collective action and (2) greater avoidance of the shooter and greater endorsement of collective action. In the Black participants model, collective action was explained by identifying with the victim and feeling personally threatened. In the White participants model, collective action was explained by three pathways stemming from identifying with the victim and personal threat, including negative affect, seeking avoidance, and seeking revenge. The results indicate different mechanisms to explain Black and White individuals\u27 motivation to endorse collective action to prevent police-involved shootings of unarmed Black Americans

Pattern of Deliberate Self-Poisoning in Gorgan, North of Iran

Background: Suicide is a global public health problem. Deliberate Self-Poisoning (DSP) is one of the most common methods of suicide in many countries. This study was designed to identify the trends and characteristics of DSP in Gorgan.Methods: The study was carried out retrospectively in 5 Azar Hospital. It included 549 patients who were hospitalized in the hospital due to DSP from March 2008 to March 2015. Data were obtained from medical records. Stata software and Pearson's chi-squared test were used for data analysis.Results: Of 549 patients, 51% were females and 50.27% were aged 20–29 years. The majority of patients (76.68%) lived in urban areas. Poisoning occurred mostly in summer and the peak was observed in August. Most of the poisoning agents were pharmaceuticals (80.51%). Among the pharmaceuticals, benzodiazepines were involved most often. Overall, 21 patients (3.83%) died. The highest number of deaths was due to aluminum phosphide poisoning (76.19%). In addition, family quarrel was the main cause of DSP (43.17%). There were significant differences between the causes of DSP and demographics. Characteristics including gender, age groups, marital status, employment status and educational status.Conclusion: Deliberate self-poisoning (DSP) with drugs has recently been a serious social problem, especially in the younger generation in Gorgan and there is an urgent need for a prevention plan

INCIDENCE AND SOURCE OF ANXIETY OF MIDWIFERY STUDENTS IN CONDUCT THEIR FIRST VAGINAL EXAMINATION.

Background & Aims: The professional education can be a very stressful experience. Vaginal examinations are especially sensitive, both for the inexperienced midwifery student and for the pregnant woman being examined. This study aimed to determine anxiety of midwifery students when they conduct their first vaginal examination. Materials & Methods: In this cross- sectional study included 47 sophomore midwifery students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. The students were asked to complete two questionnaires. Spielberger's ..

The effect of occupational therapy on some aspects of quality of life in schizophrenic patients

چکیده: زمینه و هدف: بیماری اسکیزوفرنیا شدیدترین و مزمن شونده ترین بیماری روانپزشکی است که با اختلال در تواناییهای اجتماعی و شغلی همراه است. کار درمانی باعث افزایش اعتماد به نفس، خودسازی و تقویت رفتارهای کاری در بیمار می شود. این پژوهش با هدف تعیین تاثیر کاردرمانی بر ابعاد مختلف کیفیت زندگی بیماران اسکیزوفرنیک مزمن بستری در بیمارستان سینا انجام شده است. روش بررسی: این پژوهش یک مطالعه کار آزمایی بالینی است که ابتدا بیماران اسکیزوفرن مزمن بستری در بیمارستان سینای فارسان در استان چهارمحال و بختیاری بصورت سرشماری انتخاب و کیفیت زندگی آنان بوسیله پرسشنامه کیفیت زندگی بررسی و سپس بیماران بصورت تصادفی به دو گروه مورد (32 نفر) و شاهد (30 نفر) تقسیم گردیدند. کاردرمانی به مدت 20 ساعت در هفته در طی 6 ماه برای گروه مورد اجرا شد. بعد از اجرای کاردرمانی مجدداً کیفیت زندگی بیماران بررسی و اطلاعات با استفاده از آمار توصیفی و استنباطی (t مستقل) تجزیه و تحلیل شد. یافته ها: نتایج نشان داد در بدو مطالعه، تفاوت معنی داری بین میانگین نمره کیفیت زندگی گروه مورد و شاهد، وجود نداشت، بعد از مطالعه این تفاوت در حیطه انگیزه و انرژی و نمره کل کیفیت زندگی بین گروه مورد و شاهد معنی دار بود (001/0