Are Schools Educating About Poverty? University Students’ Perceptions of K-12 Poverty Education

Research shows that there are disparities in academic outcomes between students living in poverty and those who are not. Poverty will affect all areas of a child’s life. There is potential that with increased poverty education in schools, students will come to better understand their role in the causes and consequences of poverty, and in working to eradicate poverty. Eighty- six undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Maine participated in this study. Participants completed a survey designed to gain insights into their recollection of poverty education during their primary and secondary school years. Results showed that enrolled students did not recall receiving education about poverty. Implications for practices and future research are also discussed

Is procrastination related to sleep quality? Testing an application of the procrastination-health model

Despite a growing body of research on the consequences of procrastination for health and well-being, there is little research focused on testing or explaining the potential links between procrastination and sleep quality. Using the procrastination-health model as our guiding conceptual lens, we addressed this gap by examining how and why trait procrastination may be linked to various dimensions of sleep quality across two student samples. In Study 1, procrastination was associated with feeling unrested, but not sleep disturbance frequency, in a sample of Greek undergraduate students (N = 141). In Study 2, bootstrapping analysis of the indirect effects of procrastination on an index of sleep quality through perceived stress in a sample of Canadian students (N = 339) was significant supporting an extended procrastination-health model view of how chronic self-regulation failure may compromise sleep quality. Given the potential for dynamic and reciprocal relations among procrastination, stress, and sleep quality suggested by the current and other research, the ways in which procrastination may contribute to and be influenced by poor sleep quality warrants further investigation

Health beliefs, attitudes, and health-related quality of life in persons with fibromyalgia : mediating role of treatment adherence

Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness characterized by pain and fatigue. Persons with fibromyalgia experience increased the risk for poor mental and physical health-related quality of life, which may be dependent on multiple factors, including health beliefs, such as confidence in physicians and the health-care system, and health behaviors, such as treatment adherence. Respondents with fibromyalgia (n = 409) were recruited nationally, via support organizations, and completed self-report measures: Multidimensional Health Profile – Health Functioning Index (MHP-H), Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36v2), and Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Measure of Patient Adherence – General Adherence Items. In mediation models, belief in the healthcare system and health-care personnel, and health efficacy exerted an indirect effect through treatment adherence on mental and physical quality of life. Adaptive health beliefs and attitudes were related to greater treatment adherence and, in turn, to a better quality of life. Maladaptive health beliefs and mistrusting attitudes about physician-level and systemic-level healthcare provision are negatively related to both treatment adherence and consequent physical and mental health-related quality of life in persons with fibromyalgia. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to determine if therapeutic strategies to alter health values might improve adherence and self-rated health

The role of self‐compassion in the mental health of adults with ADHD

Objective Evidence suggests that the poorer mental health associated with attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is partially explained by adverse psychosocial correlates of the condition. As recent studies show that self-compassion is negatively associated with ADHD, this study investigates if levels of self-compassion may explain the mental health outcomes in people with ADHD compared to people without ADHD. Method A total of 543 adults with ADHD (62.72% female, 18–67 years), and 313 adults without ADHD (66.45% female, 18–82 years) completed questionnaires online to measure levels of self-compassion and mental health. A Structural Equation Model assessed the mediating effect of self-compassion on the relationships between ADHD and well-being (psychological, emotional, and social), and ADHD and ill-being (depression, anxiety, and stress). Results Findings suggest that low self-compassion contributes to poorer mental health in adults with ADHD compared to adults without ADHD. Conclusions Thus, self-compassion may be a potential target to improve mental health in this population. Public Health Significance This study shows that self-compassion is an important factor in the mental health of adults with ADHD and provides preliminary evidence for the use of self-compassion interventions to improve mental health outcomes in adults with ADHD

The role of mind-body awareness in the outcomes of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

Introduction Mind-body awareness is often viewed as an outcome of using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Emerging evidence suggests that mind-body awareness may be an intermediate outcome that contributes to CAM-related outcomes. The current study aimed to test a model of mind-body awareness as an intermediate outcome of CAM use via provider autonomy support that facilitates quality of life and health behaviour changes. Methods Undergraduate students (N = 243, M age = 23.5, 84% female) screened for current CAM use, completed an online survey including questions about their CAM use, perceived outcomes from use of CAM, a measure of CAM provider autonomy support, and a new 8-item measure of Mind-body Awareness (MBA). Results Bivariate analyses confirmed that those with high MBA had higher scores on positive CAM-related health behaviour (diet, weight loss, exercise) and quality of life (sleep quality, mood, energy levels, concentration) changes. Path analysis controlling for demographics and health status tested the proposed model of CAM use predicting provider autonomy support, and in turn MBA and two CAM-related outcomes. The model fit well to the data, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.03, supporting the hypotheses that CAM use is associated with higher MBA via increased autonomy support, and MBA contributes to quality of life and health behaviour changes. Conclusions Findings extend previous research on mind-body awareness by linking it to CAM-related quality of life and behavioural outcomes in a sample of young adult CAM consumers, and further suggest a route through which provider support may enhance CAM outcomes

Effects of female mating status and age on fecundity, longevity and sex ratio in Trichogramma minutum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

Effects of female mating status and age of Trichogramma minutum Riley on its fecundity, longevity and offspring sex ratio were detennined in the laboratory, using eggs of the variegated cutworm as hosts. Although the mating status of female T. minutum did not affect their total fecundity significantly (P > 0.05), mated and unmated females showed different allocations of progeny. Mated females deposited significantly more eggs (P < 0.05) than those unmated on the first day of exposure to hosts. On subsequent days, however, unmated females parasitized significantly more hosts (P < 0.05) than those mated. Mated females laid 82.4% of their total fecundity on the first day of oviposition, whereas unmated females laid 58.3%. The number of eggs parasitized by both groups of females decreased significantly (P < 0.05) with parasitoid age. Unmated females lived longer (P < 0.05) than their mated counterparts. No significant differences (P> 0.05) in clutch size (the number of parasitoid offspring produced per parasitized host) and emergence rate were found between the offspring of mated and unmated female parasitoids. The sex ratio of the offspring of mated females changed significantly (P < 0.05) with maternal age: younger females produced a higher proportion of daughters than did older parasitoids. Unmated females produced male offspring only

Report of the GDR working group on the R-parity violation

This report summarizes the work of the "R-parity violation group" of the French Research Network (GDR) in Supersymmetry, concerning the physics of supersymmetric models without conservation of R-parity at HERA, LEP, Tevatron and LHC and limits on R-parity violating couplings from various processes. The report includes a discussion of the recent searches at the HERA experiment, prospects for new experiments, a review of the existing limits, and also theoretically motivated alternatives to R-parity and a brief discussion on the implications of R-parity violation on the neutrino masses.Comment: 60 pages, LaTeX, 22 figures, 2 table

Shielding efficiency and E(J) characteristics measured on large melt cast Bi-2212 hollow cylinders in axial magnetic fields

We show that tubes of melt cast Bi-2212 used as current leads for LTS magnets can also act as efficient magnetic shields. The magnetic screening properties under an axial DC magnetic field are characterized at several temperatures below the liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Two main shielding properties are studied and compared with those of Bi-2223, a material that has been considered in the past for bulk magnetic shields. The first property is related to the maximum magnetic flux density that can be screened, Blim; it is defined as the applied magnetic flux density below which the field attenuation measured at the centre of the shield exceeds 1000. For a cylinder of Bi-2212 with a wall thickness of 5 mm and a large ratio of length over radius, Blim is evaluated to 1 T at T = 10 K. This value largely exceeds the Blim value measured at the same temperature on similar tubes of Bi-2223. The second shielding property that is characterized is the dependence of Blim with respect to variations of the sweep rate of the applied field, dBapp/dt. This dependence is interpreted in terms of the power law E = Ec(J/Jc)^n and allows us to determine the exponent n of this E(J) characteristics for Bi-2212. The characterization of the magnetic field relaxation involves very small values of the electric field. This gives us the opportunity to experimentally determine the E(J) law in an unexplored region of small electric fields. Combining these results with transport and AC shielding measurements, we construct a piecewise E(J) law that spans over 8 orders of magnitude of the electric field.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure