Dimensions of Protective Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Defined by Mexican American Sons

The unique relationship between parent and adolescent requires clinical attention as a means of promoting positive mental, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for adolescents. The dynamic identity and growing presence of the Mexican American male adolescent in American society add multiple layers to this already complex relationship. The purpose of this project was to explore features and definitions of closeness and care in parent-adolescent dyads to understand how Mexican American male adolescents build positive relationships with their resident parents. In this secondary data analysis, features of closeness and care were drawn from Wave I, Stage 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a longitudinal study following a nationally representative sample of adolescents from 1994 to 2008. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The findings indicated similar features of closeness and care in relationships with both resident parents. Features associated with communication and warmth or emotional support corresponded most significantly with higher levels of closeness and care. These trends offer a foundation for fostering positive relationships between Mexican American male adolescents and the formative adult figures in their lives. Likewise, these results present important information about the process of developing a therapeutic alliance with this client population. In moving forward, this study points to the need for a more culturally specific, modernized, and qualitative investigation of these definitions and the implications of parental and adolescent gender

Dimensions of Protective Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Defined by Mexican American Sons

The unique relationship between parent and adolescent requires clinical attention as a means of promoting positive mental, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for adolescents. The dynamic identity and growing presence of the Mexican American male adolescent in American society add multiple layers to this already complex relationship. The purpose of this project was to explore features and definitions of closeness and care in parent-adolescent dyads to understand how Mexican American male adolescents build positive relationships with their resident parents. In this secondary data analysis, features of closeness and care were drawn from Wave I, Stage 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a longitudinal study following a nationally representative sample of adolescents from 1994 to 2008. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The findings indicated similar features of closeness and care in relationships with both resident parents. Features associated with communication and warmth or emotional support corresponded most significantly with higher levels of closeness and care. These trends offer a foundation for fostering positive relationships between Mexican American male adolescents and the formative adult figures in their lives. Likewise, these results present important information about the process of developing a therapeutic alliance with this client population. In moving forward, this study points to the need for a more culturally specific, modernized, and qualitative investigation of these definitions and the implications of parental and adolescent gender

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) data report for tapes VL0010 and VL0012

The GASP atmospheric trace constituent data currently available are considered. Included on tapes are in-situ measurements of atmospheric ozone, carbon monoxide, water vapor, and clouds, data from laboratory analysis of filters exposed in flight, and related flight and meteorological data. Measurements of ozone levels within the first class cabin of these aircraft are also reported. In addition to the GASP data, tropopause pressures obtained from time and space interpolation of NMC archived data for the dates of the flights are included. Reported herein are the flight routes and dates, instrumentation, data processing procedures, data tape specifications, and analyses of the cabin ozone measurements

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) data report for tape VL0009

The GASP atmospheric trace constituent data cover atmospheric ozone, carbon monoxide, condensation nuclei, clouds, and related meteorological and flight information obtained during October 28-31, 1977. Reported herein are flight routes and dates, instrumentation, data processing procedures, and data tape specifications

Methodological Considerations for Comparison of Cross-species Use of Tactile Contact

Cross-species comparisons are benefited by compatible datasets; conclusions related to phylogenetic comparisons, questions on convergent and divergent evolution, or homologs versus analogs can only be made when the behaviors being measured are comparable. A direct comparison of the social function of physical contact across two disparate taxa is possible only if data collection and analyses methodologies are analogous. We identify and discuss the parameters, assumptions and measurement schemes applicable to multiple taxa and species that facilitate cross-species comparisons. To illustrate our proposed guidelines for evaluating the role played by tactile contact in social behavior across disparate taxa, this paper presents data on mother-offspring relationships in the two species studied by the authors: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) and dolphins (bottlenose and spotted, Tursiops truncatus and Stenella frontalis, respectively). Cross-species comparative studies allow for a more comprehensive assessment of the similarities and differences with respect to how animals traverse the relationships that form their social groups and societies

Distinguishing personal belief from scientific knowledge for the betterment of killer whale welfare – a commentary

We contest publication of Marino et al. regarding captive killer whale (Orcinus orca) welfare because of misrepresentations of available data and the use of citations that do not support assertions. Marino et al. misrepresent stress response concepts and erroneously cite studies, which appear to support Marino et al.’s philosophical beliefs regarding the cetacean hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. To be clear, these misrepresentations are not differences of scientific opinion, as the authors’ conclusions lack any scientific basis. More extensive review of Marino et al.’s citations reveal a dearth of empirical evidence to support their assertions. Further, Marino et al.’s approach to animal welfare is not consistent with conventional veterinary approaches to animal welfare, including their apparent opposition to use of preventative and therapeutic veterinary interventions. While Marino et al. argue that killer whales’ cognitive and spatial needs preclude management of this species under human care, misrepresentation of the citations used to support this opinion invalidates their arguments. Misleading interpretations of data relative to killer whales’ cognitive and emotional needs and specious and unsubstantiated comparisons with states experienced by humans with posttraumatic stress disorder and other conditions, represent a number of strategies used to misrepresent knowledge regarding killer whale welfare. These misrepresentations and fallacies are inconsistent with scientific ethical standards for credible, peer-reviewed journals (ICMJE, 2018), and are barriers to rigorous discourse and identification of strategies for optimizing killer whale welfare. Assertions in the paper amount to nothing more than a compilation of conclusory, philosophical statements. We would also like to mention that manuscripts such as Marino et al.’s do great damage to the fields of comparative psychology and to behavioral science as a whole

Joint use of habitat by red kangaroos and shorthorn cattle in arid central Australia

The distribution of cattle and red kangaroos among the major communities of a 170 km 2 paddock in central Australia was determined from 108 and 82 air surveys respectively over a four and a half year period. Fifty-nine surveys of each species were used in this report. Changes in use of the communities by the two species were analysed in relation to forage conditions using linear regression techniques. The two species showed trends in time of use of the open and wooded communities. Kangaroos used the mulga-perennial community (groved Acacia woodland with a shrub and perennial grass understorey) during good forage conditions and moved to the drought refuge open communities when forage conditions deteriorated. Cattle, on the other hand, used the open communities during good forage conditions and tended to move to the mulga communities and the hills when drought began. Mulga-annual (ungroved Acacia woodland with short grass and forb understorey) was the only major community which showed no clear linear relationship between kangaroo use and forage conditions. This might be a buffer area from which kangaroos come and go as other areas become more attractive as feeding areas. Cattle, however, show some preference for mulga annual during medium forage conditions. There appears to be little spatial interaction by the two species except during drought when kangaroos concentrate on the open communities and some cattle continue to feed in these communities. Community selection seems to be determined mainly by forage conditions, as there is no evidence that one species attracts or repels the other in spatial terms. In the conditions observed, the two species successfully coexisted with some control of numbers of cattle by man.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74942/1/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01301.x.pd

A Comparative Test of Creative Thinking in Preschool Children and Dolphins

Creativity is considered one aspect of intelligence. Including creativity allows for more room for expression (e.g., participants can respond with movement instead of written or verbal responses) than in standard intelligence assessments. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT; Torrance, 1974) are the leading method of assessing creative abilities in school-aged humans and above. To assess creativity in young humans and nonhuman animals, modifications must be made to facilitate nonverbal responses. In the current study, a cross-species comparison was conducted between preschoolers and bottlenose dolphins to examine responses to a modified creativity task in which both species were trained to demonstrate non-repeated behaviors to an “innovate” prompt. The resulting behaviors for the first test session were coded for fluency (number of non-repeated behaviors demonstrated), originality, and flexibility (low, moderate, or high activity level). Children and dolphins produced a similar number of non-repeated behaviors during individual test trials and also had similar originality scores. Related to flexibility, dolphins displayed more low energy activity levels compared to the children. Given the limited understanding of creative abilities in animals and young children, this comparison using a modified version of the TTCT offers exciting possibilities. These results could provide further evidence of similarities in cognitive processes for humans and nonhuman animals

Power spectra of TASEPs with a localized slow site

The totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with a localized defect is revisited in this article with attention paid to the power spectra of the particle occupancy N(t). Intrigued by the oscillatory behaviors in the power spectra of an ordinary TASEP in high/low density phase(HD/LD) observed by Adams et al. (2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 020601), we introduce a single slow site with hopping rate q<1 to the system. As the power spectrum contains time-correlation information of the particle occupancy of the system, we are particularly interested in how the defect affects fluctuation in particle number of the left and right subsystems as well as that of the entire system. Exploiting Monte Carlo simulations, we observe the disappearance of oscillations when the defect is located at the center of the system. When the defect is off center, oscillations are restored. To explore the origin of such phenomenon, we use a linearized Langevin equation to calculate the power spectrum for the sublattices and the whole lattice. We provide insights into the interactions between the sublattices coupled through the defect site for both simulation and analytical results.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures; v2: Minor revision

Competition for finite resources

The resources in a cell are finite, which implies that the various components of the cell must compete for resources. One such resource is the ribosomes used during translation to create proteins. Motivated by this example, we explore this competition by connecting two totally asymmetric simple exclusion processes (TASEPs) to a finite pool of particles. Expanding on our previous work, we focus on the effects on the density and current of having different entry and exit rates.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, v2: minor revisions, v3: additional reference & minor correction