Women’s Sexual Initiation: The Impact of Gender Roles and Relationship Type

Sexual script theory is the theoretical foundation for understanding how sexual interactions are navigated, including sexual initiation. Sexual initiation occurs when an individual conveys interest in sexual activity when sexual behaviors are not yet in progress. Past research has demonstrated that women initiate sex less frequently than men in other-sex relationships, perhaps due to traditional sexual scripts. The current research literature lacks data on sexual initiation among women in same-sex relationships. This study investigated the impact of perceived gender roles on women’s sexual initiation, the role of partner sex on women’s initiation behaviors, if perceived gender roles account for initiation behaviors over and above the impact of sexual desire, and the associated wellness benefits of sexual initiation. Women’s sexual initiation behaviors in their current relationship were investigated in two ways, through retrospective reports (N = 351; 242 with male partners and 109 with female partners) and a two-week daily diary (N = 60; 29 with male partners and 31 with female partners). Results indicated that nonsexual and sexual gender role beliefs had no impact on sexual initiation for women across relationship types. Women reported fairly balanced sexual initiation with their partners, with women in same-sex relationships reporting higher rates of initiation. Women in other-sex relationships used a higher proportion of direct initiation strategies than women in same-sex relationships. Comparisons between the subsample that participated in both portions of the study indicated reporting consistency across methodology. The results are discussed in terms of furthering understanding of how women’s sexual initiation looks across relationship types and the impact on current sexual scripts

Premenstrual experiences: The simultaneous examination of the association of self-perceived stress, college-related stress, and sleep quality

Research suggests that stress may contribute to the severity of premenstrual experiences, but the contribution of different types of stress has not been carefully examined. Using self-report measures, the current study examined the relation between self-perceived stress, college-related stress, sleep quality, and premenstrual experience in a predominantly Hispanic female college sample. Results indicated that self-perceived stress accounts for a statistically significant proportion of the variance in premenstrual experience ratings, with higher stress associated with greater premenstrual distress. Based on a hierarchical regression analysis, adding college-related stress to the predictive model allows for a significantly larger amount of the variance in premenstrual experiences to be accounted for and subsequently adding sleep quality as a predictor improves the model further. In the final model, all three predictor variables were statistically significant and accounted for 29% of the variance in premenstrual distress

Birds adapted to cold conditions show greater changes in range size related to past climatic oscillations than temperate birds

Investigation of ecological responses of species to past climate oscillations provides crucial information to understand the effects of global warming. In this work, we investigated how past climate changes affected the distribution of six bird species with different climatic requirements and migratory behaviours in the Western Palearctic and in Africa. Species Distribution Models and Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 2 fossil occurrences of selected species were employed to evaluate the relation between changes in range size and species climatic tolerances. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) range predictions, generally well supported by the MIS 2 fossil occurrences, suggest that cold-dwelling species considerably expanded their distribution in the LGM, experiencing more pronounced net changes in range size compared to temperate species. Overall, the thermal niche proves to be a key ecological trait for explaining the impact of climate change in species distributions. Thermal niche is linked to range size variations due to climatic oscillations, with cold-adapted species currently suffering a more striking range reduction compared to temperate species. This work also supports the persistence of Afro-Palearctic migrations during the LGM due to the presence of climatically suitable wintering areas in Africa even during glacial maxim

Study of the Usefulness of Audiovisual Texts in the EFL classroom: Attending Differentiation

This dissertation focuses on the usefulness of audiovisual texts in the EFL classroom attending differentiation

Early onset sebaceous carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ocular sebaceous carcinoma can masquerade as benign lesions resulting in delay of diagnosis. Early recognition is even more difficult in young patients where the disease rarely occurs. Here, we provide a clinicopathological correlation of ocular sebaceous carcinoma in a young individual lacking history of hereditary cancer or immunosuppression.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A detailed histopathological study including <it>p53 </it>DNA sequencing was performed on an aggressive sebaceous carcinoma presenting in a healthy 32 year-old Caucasian woman. She had no history of retinoblastoma, evidence for a hereditary cancer syndrome, or radiation therapy. However, she potentially was at risk for excessive UV light exposure. A detailed review of the literature is also provided.</p> <p>A moderately well differentiated sebaceous carcinoma was established histopathologically arising from the meibomian gland of the upper eyelid. In most areas, the cytoplasm contained small but distinct Oil-red-O positive vacuoles. Direct sequencing of <it>p53 </it>identified a G:C→A:T mutation at a dipyrimidine site. The mutation results in substitution of arginine for the highly conserved glycine at residue 199 located at the p53 dimer-dimer interface. Energy minimization structural modeling predicts that G199R will neutralize negative charges contributed by nearby inter- and intramonomeric glutamate residues.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study points to the importance of recognizing that sebaceous carcinoma can occur in young patients with no evidence for hereditary cancer risk or radiation therapy. The G199R substitution is anticipated to alter the stability of the p53 tetrameric complex. The role of UV light in the etiology of sebaceous carcinoma deserves further study. Our findings, taken together with those of others, suggest that different environmental factors could lead to the development of sebaceous carcinoma in different patients.</p

No bird database is perfect: citizen science and professional datasets contain different and complementary biodiversity Information

Citizen science has become a powerful tool for collecting big data on biodiversity. However, concerns have been raised about potential biases in these new datasets. We aimed to test whether citizen science bird databases have more biases than professional scientific databases. Our hypotheses were 1) citizen science databases will have more data on “easy to spot” species, that are widely distributed and have large body sizes; whereas 2) professional databases will have more endangered species and species of special interest for research. We analysed six Spanish bird databases: three professional, two citizen science and one mixed database. Our results show that, in general, occurrences in citizen science databases are better explained by the studied variables than professional databases, but no clear differences were found when analysed individually. Both citizen science and professional databases contain invaluable information on biodiversity but every database comes with a particular history and its stored data is the result of years of field sampling with heterogeneous goals, sampling methods and sampling effort. Consequently, raw observations should not be used directly as an ideal survey of the distribution or abundance of birds. We need to uncover these biases and develop new methods to properly incorporate the extensive and heterogeneous biodiversity data that is readily available to research. Galván, S., Barrientos, R. & Varela, S. (2022). No bird database is perfect: citizen science and professional datasets contain different and complementary biodiversity information. Citizen science has become a powerful tool for collecting big data on biodiversity. However, concerns have been raised about potential biases in these new datasets. We aimed to test whether citizen science bird databases have more biases than professional scientific databases. Our hypotheses were 1) citizen science databases will have more data on “easy to spot” species, that are widely distributed and have large body sizes; whereas 2) professional databases will have more endangered species and species of special interest for research. We analysed six Spanish bird databases: three professional, two citizen science and one mixed database. Our results show that, in general, occurrences in citizen science databases are better explained by the studied variables than professional databases, but no clear differences were found when analysed individually. Both citizen science and professional databases contain invaluable information on biodiversity but every database comes with a particular history and its stored data is the result of years of field sampling with heterogeneous goals, sampling methods and sampling effort. Consequently, raw observations should not be used directly as an ideal survey of the distribution or abundance of birds. We need to uncover these biases and develop new methods to properly incorporate the extensive and heterogeneous biodiversity data that is readily available to research. Galván, S., Barrientos, R. & Varela, S. (2022). No bird database is perfect: citizen science and professional datasets contain different and complementary biodiversity information. Ardeola, 69: 97-114La ciencia ciudadana se ha convertido en una poderosa herramienta para recopilar datos sobre biodiversidad. Sin embargo, a pesar de su disponibilidad para ser utilizados en investigaciones científicas, sus posibles sesgos se encuentran bajo continuo debate. Por ello, en este trabajo pretendemos comprobar si estas bases de datos sobre avifauna de España presentan mayores sesgos que aquellas científico-profesionales. Nuestras hipótesis son: 1) las bases de datos ciudadanas recogerán un mayor número de aves “fáciles de detectar” (ampliamente distribuidas y con mayores tamaños corporales), mientras que 2) las bases de datos profesionales recogerán preferentemente especies en peligro de extinción o con algún interés científico específico. Para comprobarlo, analizamos seis bases de datos: tres profesionales, dos ciudadanas y una mixta. Nuestros resultados mostraron que, en general, las variables estudiadas explican mejor las observaciones de las bases de datos ciudadanas en comparación con aquellas de las bases de datos profesionales, aunque no se encontraron diferencias claras cuando se analizaron individualmente. Así, tanto las bases de datos ciudadanas como las profesionales poseen una información muy valiosa sobre biodiversidad, aunque cada una de ellas posee una historia particular y su información es el resultado de años de muestreo con objetivos, métodos y esfuerzos heterogéneos. En consecuencia, sus observaciones no deben utilizarse directamente como un reflejo ideal de la distribución o la abundancia de estas aves. Así, es necesario detectar estos sesgos y desarrollar nuevos métodos para incorporar esta gran cantidad de datos sobre biodiversidad en futuras investigaciones. Galván, S., Barrientos, R. y Varela, S. (2022). Las bases de datos de ciencia ciudadana y profesionales poseen información diferente y complementaria sobre la avifauna. Ardeola, 69: 97-11

Operando chemistry and electronic structure of electrode/ferroelectric interfaces

In the past decade, oxide-based heterostructures have been studied extensively as potentially attractive systems for applications in nanoelectronics. Among them, ferroelectric materials raised interest as potential support for those technological applications. Indeed, their spontaneous electric polarization easily switched by applying an electric field makes them a good basis for non-volatile data storage. Switching the polarization requires a metallic contact with an electrode, thus heterostructures of ferroelectric thin films with metallic electrodes have been widely studied. At the interface between those two materials, free charges of the electrode help screening the polarization induced surface charges detrimental to maintaining proper polarization in the ferroelectric thin film. With metallic oxide electrodes, an ionic displacement at the electrode/ferroelectric interface will help the screening, bringing this interface at the core of the screening process. However, despite important theoretical discoveries, direct experimental data is scarce and the behavior of the electrode/ferroelectric interface is still only partially understood. Further understanding is crucial for a proper integration of ferroelectric films in functioning nanometer-sized devices. In this thesis, photoemission spectroscopy based techniques are used to probe the buried interface of an electrode/BaTiO3/electrode heterostructure, for two different top electrodes: the metallic oxide SrRuO3 and the Co metal. Combining operando hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, hard X-ray photoemission electron microscopy and time-resolved experiments, we acquired information on the behavior of the interface and its response to polarization switching. The work presented is a new step towards a complete understanding on the behavior of the interface between electrodes and ferroelectric materials, in the case of electrode / BaTiO3 / electrode heterostructures, in terms of electronic properties, kinetic, and fatigue. The three experiments presented combined state of the art characterization techniques, where the use of hard X-rays and in situ bias application made it possible to resolve the difficult task of probing buried interfaces in working conditions