Modeling Non-linearity in Religiosity’s Relationships to Premarital Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors among Adolescents and Young Adults

Using data from three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion, this paper examines the relationships of religiosity with premarital sexual attitudes and behaviors for adolescents and young adults. Following past research that shows evidence for non-linear relationships between these variables, particularly among the highly religious, this paper explicitly compares three functional forms of these relationships. The results show that nearly all of these relationships are best defined when non-linearity in the functional form is accounted for. That is, a linear-only approach often obscures large differences between the most religious individuals and their less-religious peers. These findings hold for both age groups of interest, suggesting that religious influence is markedly non-linear for these outcomes from adolescence into young adulthood. Further, these findings lay the groundwork to revisit religious influence across other domains and to test whether religiosity has been conceptualized and modeled in the most effective manner.Master of Art

Jim Allen : radical drama beyond 'days of hope'

Due to a desire to establish television as a serious medium, television drama has often been seen as a forum for writers, with names such as David Mercer, Dennis Potter and Trevor Griffiths identified by critics as the driving force, or auteur, behind the works that bear their names rather than, as in much writing about film, the director. However, while this has been so, there are also many examples of writers whose contribution to television writing has been much less celebrated, often due to their close collaboration with a high-profile director who in many critics’ view remains the most influential contributor to the final piece of work. One practitioner who arguably has failed to get the critical credit he is due is Jim Allen, a writer still perhaps best known for his work with one such high-profile director, Ken Loach

Note on Signature Change and Colombeau Theory

Recent work alludes to various `controversies' associated with signature change in general relativity. As we have argued previously, these are in fact disagreements about the (often unstated) assumptions underlying various possible approaches. The choice between approaches remains open.Comment: REVTex, 3 pages; to appear in GR

It Ain\u27t Necessarily So / music by George Gershwin; words by DuBose Hayward

Cover: drawing of an African American couple about to kiss; from Porgy and Bess; Publisher: Gershwin Publishing Corp. (New York)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_e/1034/thumbnail.jp

Searching for Meaning: New Methods, Measures, and Modeling Approaches in the Sociology of Religion

This dissertation uses a combination of new measures and modeling approaches in the sociology of religion to advance our understanding of three substantive topics. In the first chapter, I use data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to answer the question of how a multidimensional model of religiosity fits an adolescent and young adult sample. Additionally, this chapter considers multiple ways to build longitudinal models of these dimensions over time, and ultimately uses autoregressive latent trajectory models to show that each of these dimensions are predicted over time, sometimes in different ways, by their prior values, individuals’ background characteristics, and life course changes during the transition to adulthood. In the second chapter, I explore another dimension of religiosity: religious knowledge. This relatively understudied topic has long lacked ample measures, though the recent Pew Religious Knowledge Survey (2010) provides a rich set of religious knowledge questions, thus allowing for a fresh evaluation of this topic and assessment of these new measures. Accordingly, this chapter proposes and tests a multidimensional model of religious knowledge and provides support for a model spanning several religious traditions with twenty-four indicators. As an external validity check and application to personal religiosity, this chapter shows that knowledge of one’s own religion is correlated with two different dimensions of personal religiosity. Finally, the third chapter in this dissertation takes on a broader question: what can internet search data tell us about the dynamics of the U.S. religious landscape? Using Google search data from 2004 to 2019, this paper examines the trends in online searches for world religions, other religions, conventional religious terms, and a host of quasi-religious, spiritual, and areligious terms. The results show that, while terms related to institutional religion tend to be declining in popularity, many terms related to minority religious traditions and terms related to general spirituality are increasing in popularity. Nevertheless, searches for institutional religion still dominate the overall volume of religious searching. Comparisons with data from the General Social Survey suggest that internet search data can serve as a reasonable proxy for societal interest.Doctor of Philosoph

An investigation into the hexagonal phases formed in high-concentration dispersions of well-defined cylindrical block copolymer micelles

<p>This paper presents a detailed analysis of the structure of the hexagonal phase of poly(ferrocenylsilane) (PFS)-based cylindrical micelles found at concentrations above ca. 5 wt. % in non-polar solvents such as decane. Small-angle X-ray scattering indicated that the hexagonal order is not long-range. In all samples, deviations in the lower order peak positions were observed with respect to those expected for a perfect hexagonal lattice, with the degree of deviation correlating with micelle length. Furthermore, analysis of the peak shapes and peak widths suggests that the phase possesses intermediate translational order similar. to the hexatic phase. The observed features can be reproduced by amending Hosemann’s paracrystal theory to include a distribution of lattice parameters to model well and poorly condensed regions. It is proposed that this distribution arises due to the bending and intertwining of individual micelles in a hexagonal lattice, resulting in a kinetically trapped phase that is initially neither perfectly hexagonal nor canonically hexatic but which anneals over time towards a perfect hexagonal lattice.</p

Identifying infection in chronic wounds in a community setting: a systematic review of diagnostic test accuracy studies

To determine the diagnostic accuracy of different methods currently available to identify infection in chronic wounds applicable to adult patients in a community setting. Systematic review of diagnostic test accuracy studies. Two authors independently completed screening, data extraction and quality and bias assessments (QUADAS2). Eligible studies compared a method (index test) for detecting infection (diagnosis of interest) with microscopy and culture of either deep tissue biopsy or wound swab (reference test) in adult patients with wounds of >4 weeks duration (participants). The results were synthesized narratively. We systematically searched CINAHL, Embase and Medline from 2011 to April 2022. Four studies were included, all recruiting from secondary care wound clinics. Two studies assessed the diagnostic accuracy of Moleculight i:X, a bacterial fluorescence imaging device against deep tissue biopsy culture. One study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the elevation of various enzymes detected in wound fluid against wound swab microscopy of culture. One study assessed the diagnostic accuracy of bacterial protease activity against wound swab microscopy and culture. Sensitivities of these methods ranged from 50 to 75% and specificities from 47 to 100%. Only a small number of studies were included in this systematic review due to our strict inclusion criteria. We have not identified any methods for diagnosing infection in chronic wounds with either a sufficient quality of evidence to recommend their use in community settings at present. Further research is needed to develop and evaluate appropriate diagnostics for this purpose. This study highlights the paucity of research into wound diagnostics in a community setting and should prompt further research in this area. Accurate diagnostic tests have the potential to improve community-based wound care by optimizing antibiotic use and potentially improving healing time. PRISMA-DTA checklist. The PPI group for the NIHR Community Healthcare MIC were supportive of this topic of work

Improving care quality with prison telemedicine: The effects of context and multiplicity on successful implementation and use

Background: Prison telemedicine can improve the access, cost and quality of healthcare for prisoners, however adoption in prison systems worldwide has been variable despite these demonstrable benefits. This study examines anticipated and realised benefits, barriers and enablers for prison telemedicine, thereby providing evidence to improve the chances of successful implementation. / Methods: A systematic search was conducted using a combination of medical subject headings and text word searches for prisons and telemedicine. Databases searched included: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. Articles were included if they reported information regarding the use of/advocacy for telemedicine, for people residing within a secure correctional facility. A scoping summary and subsequent thematic qualitative analysis was undertaken on articles selected for inclusion in the review, to identify issues associated with successful implementation and use. / Results: One thousand, eight hundred and eighty-two non-duplicate articles were returned, 225 were identified for full text review. A total of 163 articles were included in the final literature set. Important considerations for prison telemedicine implementation include: differences between anticipated and realised benefits and barriers, differing wants and needs of prison and community healthcare providers, the importance of top-down and bottom-up support and consideration of logistical and clinical compatibility. / Conclusions: When implemented well, patients, prison and hospital staff are generally satisfied with telemedicine. Successful implementation requires careful consideration at outset of the partners to be engaged, the local context for implementation and the potential benefits that should be communicated to encourage participation