Assessing personality risks using the Surps for alcohol and other drug problems in Cape Town, South Africa

Four personality traits are recognized risk factors for alcohol and drug-related problems: hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, sensation seeking, and impulsivity. In this crosssectional study, the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) was applied to measure these traits and assess the questionnaire’s reliability from a community sample in Cape Town, South Africa (n=1000). Results indicate that hopelessness is significantly associated with high-risk use of mandrax, inhalants, and opioids. However, unlike results from other settings that suggested utility for the SURPS, this study did not demonstrate strong internal reliability or associations between all personality traits and risky substance use. This provides evidence against it being an appropriate assessment tool in a diverse South African population.Keywords: SURPS; personality; substance use disorders (SUD); South Afric

Personality traits of alcohol and other drug users in Cape Town, South Africa

Includes bibliographical referencesThe Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) is a relatively new questionnaire that assesses individual personality risk for substance-related problems. Preliminary findings have indicated that the SURPS is a useful measure for identifying characteristics predisposing some individuals to alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. High levels of hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, sensation seeking, and impulsivity are each associated with specific patterns of substance use caused by underlying motivational susceptibilities. Furthermore, incorporating these traits into tailored prevention and treatment efforts have shown value in other countries. The present study enrolled a community sample in Cape Town, South Africa and asked respondents about their demographics, history of AOD use, personality as measured by the SURPS, and other mental health indicators. This information was used to identify personality risks in the local population and validate the utility of the SURPS for the first time in Sub-Saharan Africa. Results found that sensation seekers had a significantly higher risk for alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, and hallucinogen use compared to other personality groups and controls. As expected, respondents demonstrating anxiety sensitivity also showed high-risk use of alcohol, but less high-risk illicit drug use . Finally, the hopelessness group exhibited a higher risk for opioid use but overall, hopelessness and impulsivity had little impact on concurrent substance use, which contrasts with other literature. Unlike findings from mostly European and North American samples that indicate generalizability, this study did not find structural or concurrent validity for the SURPS. This provides evidence against it being adopted as a culturally appropriate assessment tool in a diverse South African population

“Corpses … coast to coast!” Trauma, gender, and race in 1950s horror comics

During the 1950s, a moral panic around youth culture and delinquency dominated the contemporary imagination. Rock n' roll and the new wave of youth-focused films seemed to critics to posit an alternative culture antagonistic to that of older generations. One cultural form sparked particular censorious intent: the horror comic book. Many critics of the 1940s and 1950s dwelt obsessively on the impact of horror comics on youthful readers. The culmination of this movement was the 1954 Senate Subcommittee Hearings on Juvenile Delinquency, which resulted in the implementation of a harsh new self-regulatory comics code and the end of the horror and crime genres. In this study, we argue that rather than (or perhaps as well as) promoting juvenile delinquency, horror comics served an important social function in that they presented a challenge to the dominant culture in cold war America. They corroborated the veteran experience; questioned faith in science and industry; recognised women as victims of war; and embodied, on occasion, many of the themes of the early Civil Rights movement. It was because of these countercultural impulses that the horror genre in comics was, ultimately, brought to an untimely end

Assessing Historical Fish Community Composition Using Surveys, Historical Collection Data, and Species Distribution Models

Accurate establishment of baseline conditions is critical to successful management and habitat restoration. We demonstrate the ability to robustly estimate historical fish community composition and assess the current status of the urbanized Barton Creek watershed in central Texas, U.S.A. Fish species were surveyed in 2008 and the resulting data compared to three sources of fish occurrence information: (i) historical records from a museum specimen database and literature searches; (ii) a nearly identical survey conducted 15 years earlier; and (iii) a modeled historical community constructed with species distribution models (SDMs). This holistic approach, and especially the application of SDMs, allowed us to discover that the fish community in Barton Creek was more diverse than the historical data and survey methods alone indicated. Sixteen native species with high modeled probability of occurrence within the watershed were not found in the 2008 survey, seven of these were not found in either survey or in any of the historical collection records. Our approach allowed us to more rigorously establish the true baseline for the pre-development fish fauna and then to more accurately assess trends and develop hypotheses regarding factors driving current fish community composition to better inform management decisions and future restoration efforts. Smaller, urbanized freshwater systems, like Barton Creek, typically have a relatively poor historical biodiversity inventory coupled with long histories of alteration, and thus there is a propensity for land managers and researchers to apply inaccurate baseline standards. Our methods provide a way around that limitation by using SDMs derived from larger and richer biodiversity databases of a broader geographic scope. Broadly applied, we propose that this technique has potential to overcome limitations of popular bioassessment metrics (e.g., IBI) to become a versatile and robust management tool for determining status of freshwater biotic communities

Redes de amistad y adaptación de los estudiantes extranjeros en Buenos Aires: Un estudio longitudinal de los programas de intercambio y su impacto.

En el transcurso del último siglo, facilitar la educación superior entre países se convirtió en un campo profesional que conllevó el surgimiento de numerosas organizaciones internacionales, programas de intercambio e investigación académica. Muchos de estos estudios tratan sobre la adaptación entre culturas señalando que los estudiantes tienden a formar nuevas amistades con sus compatriotas y no desarrollan relaciones con sus anfitriones. Esto es problemático si se tiene en cuenta que la comunicación interpersonal con los anfitriones es el núcleo del proceso de adaptación entre culturas. Esta tesis doctoral examina hasta qué punto los distintos programas de intercambio contribuyen a este problema e identifica las características del entorno cultural, el uso de las nuevas tecnologías y las predisposiciones personales que influyen en el desarrollo de las redes de amistad. Argentina se presenta como un sitio ideal porque tiene una tradición como país receptor de estudiantes extranjeros, lo cual aumentó en la última década. Este estudio incorpora un método mixto y longitudinal que compara la formación de las redes de amistad entre 105 estudiantes extranjeros inscritos en 10 programas. Los resultados amplían la teoría de la adaptación entre culturas y aspectos de la teoría de redes sociales, demostrando que los estudiantes construyen redes de amistad en los primeros días con compatriotas y otros estudiantes extranjeros y luego, más tarde, con los argentinos. Esa red con argentinos se incrementa en los casos en los que los estudiantes participaron en actividades extra-curriculares con argentinos y tuvieron mayor satisfacción con su programa de tutoría. Además, los estudiantes en programas de intercambio cuya sede está en los Estados Unidos, comparados con los de las universidades argentinas, reportaron una mayor cantidad de amigos compatriotas y enfatizaron el rol que sus compañeros de programa juegan en sus actividades sociales. Por último, las nuevas tecnologías han transformado la manera de comunicarse y proveen un medio novedoso para aprender y entender el comportamiento comunicativo de los anfitriones. Los resultados revelan el papel central que la administración de los estudios en el extranjero y los nuevos medios sociales tienen en el proceso de adaptación entre culturas y aportan nuevas direcciones para la gestión en el futuro. Over the last century facilitating education between countries has become a professional field with the emergence of countless international organizations, study abroad programs, and scholarly research. A robust pattern identified in the international education and cross-cultural adaptation literature shows that students tend to form new friendships with co-nationals while failing to develop relationships with host nationals. This is problematic considering that participation in interpersonal communication activities with host nationals lies at the heart of the cross-cultural adaptation process. This dissertation examines the extent to which distinct study abroad program models contribute to this problem while identifying environmental conditions, social media usage, and individual attributes that influence local friendship development. Argentina is an ideal research location due to its history of attracting numerous international students and considering the recent student boom in the past decade. This study uses a mixed-method, longitudinal strategy to compare the friendship network formation of 105 international students enrolled in 10 different study abroad programs and universities. Results extend cross-cultural adaptation, social networking, and intercultural friendship development theories in demonstrating that students build friendship networks rapidly upon arrival with co-nationals and other foreign students, and incorporate more Argentines into this network over time. This addition is heightened for students who participate in organized extra-curricular activities with Argentines and report satisfaction with their tutor program. Furthermore, compared to internationals students in Argentine Universities, those who study in US based programs report twice as many co-national friends while stressing the influence that their study abroad group has on their social activities. Finally, video chat and social networking programs enhance students’ communication with distant relationships while providing a novel medium for learning and understanding host national communication patterns. Findings reveal the central role that both study abroad administration and new social media play in the cross-cultural adaptation process and provide directions for future programming

Multistate Mumps Outbreak Originating from Asymptomatic Transmission at a Nebraska Wedding — Six States, August–October 2019

In August 2019, 30 attendees at a Nebraska wedding developed mumps after being exposed to one asymptomatic index patient who was fully vaccinated according to Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations (1), resulting in a multistate outbreak. A public health investigation and response revealed epidemiologic links that extended from the index patient through secondary, tertiary, and quaternary patients and culminated in a measles-mumpsrubella (MMR) booster vaccination campaign in the local community where approximately half of the patients resided

Final Report: Data compilation, distribution models, conservation planning, and status survey for selected fishes of concern in Texas and region

The four primary objectives of this project were to: (1) compile a dataset of georeferenced range-wide occurrence records for 6 target fish species (Notropis buccula, N. oxyrhynchus, N. girardi, Hybognathus amarus, Platygobio gracilis, Macrhybopsis tetranema, Pteronotropis hubbsi, and Percina maculata); (2) use a high quality and geographically wide-ranging subset of those data to create species distribution models (SDM’s), which convert point occurrences into a continuous probability coverage; (3) use those models in conjunction with 130 additional SDM’s (previously created) to develop modeled conservation priority areas for Texas; and (4) complete a status survey for N. oxyrhynchus and N. buccula in the mainstem of the middle Brazos River. The dataset provided, derived from 51 original sources, includes 11,082 records, of which we were able to georeference 3,675 (33%). This number of records was sufficient for constructing SDM’s for the six target species, with all models meeting quality assurance criteria. Using these models, conservation area prioritizations were developed for Texas under several guiding criteria for decision making. The field survey sampled the mainstem Brazos at 20 sites between Possum Kingdom Reservoir and Bryan, TX, collecting 65,840 fish specimens representing 46 species. Neither survey target species was collected, suggesting absence or extreme rarity of both in this reach of the Brazos at the time of sampling. Collection sites upstream of Waco, compared to those downstream of that city, were less diverse in cyprinids and more diverse in non-native species, suggesting more heavily impacted habitat upstream of Waco. All raw data used in analyses and results of analyses and the field survey are provided with the written report.Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Section 6 grant TX E-136-R, TPWD #416853Texas Natural Science Cente