Implications of privacy needs and interpersonal distancing mechanisms for space station design

Privacy needs, or the need of people to regulate their degree of contact with one another, and interpersonal distancing mechanisms, which serve to satisfy these needs, are common in all cultures. Isolation, confinement, and other conditions accociated with space flight may at once accentuate privacy needs and limit the availability of certain common interpersonal contact. Loneliness occurs when people have less contact with one another than they desire. Crowding occurs when people have more contact with one another than they desire. Crowding, which is considered the greater threat to members of isolated and confined groups, can contribute to stress, a low quality of life, and poor performance. Drawing on the general literature on privacy, personal space, and interpersonal distancing, and on specialized literature on life aboard spacecraft and in spacecraft-analogous environments, a quantitative model for understanding privacy, interpersonal distancing, loneliness, and crowding was developed and the practical implications of this model for space station design were traced

The experience of financial stress among emerging adult cancer survivors.

Objective: The experience of cancer-related financial stress was examined within the developmental context of emerging adulthood.Methodological approach: This study is a secondary analysis of data drawn from two samples of testicular or hematologic cancer survivors. In-depth interviews from 52 emerging adult (EA) cancer survivors, ages 18-29, were coded by combining thematic analysis with an abductive approach.Findings: Emergent themes included some common to most age groups, including worries about medical costs and availability of health insurance, as well as specific age-related concerns, such as fertility preservation. Financial stress appeared to interrupt developmental tasks of emerging adulthood, including completing an education, establishing independence, and managing relationships. Surprisingly, financial stress was experienced as a benefit for some participants.Conclusion: Financial stress affects EA cancer survivors in unique ways. To provide support, health professionals should consider survivors' developmental life stage to understand their financial stress, and ultimately, to improve quality of life

At-Will Fiduciaries? The Anomalies of a “Duty of Loyalty” in the Twenty-First Century

This article proposes a means of improving the at-will world for employees—insofar as that world includes the threat of a sudden end to one’s livelihood—that does not tamper with the “at-will-ness” of termination itself. An at-will employee should owe only the duty of “good faith and fair dealing” derived from contract law, which, in effect, would fill any hole left in the legal web defining the employment relationship when the duty of loyalty is excised. Part II of this article provides an overview of the duty of loyalty as it is applied by the courts in the various states. Part III returns to various aspects of the law regarding the duty of loyalty that are particularly ambiguous and argues the ambiguity infects the very validity of imposing a duty of loyalty and renders it very difficult for employers and employees to understand and comply with the duty. Part IV illustrates why the jurisprudential provenance of the duty of loyalty—emanating from the medieval doctrine of master and servant—understandably does not map clearly onto the twenty-first-century global employment market. Finally, Part V argues the duty of loyalty is not necessary to “protect” the employer from “bad” conduct on the part of the employee—which is its essential function—and that if removing the duty of loyalty does pose any significant threat, requiring good faith and fair dealing by the employee satisfactorily fills any perceived gaps

Sexual compulsivity, erectile dysfunction, and suicidality among male survivors of military sexual violence

Although military sexual trauma (MST) is associated with an increased risk of suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal ideation among service members and veterans, there is limited knowledge regarding the mechanisms of MST and suicidality among men. The current study examined whether MST was associated with sexual compulsivity and/or erectile dysfunction and if these, in turn, explained elevated suicidal thoughts and the likelihood of engaging in future suicidal behavior after accounting for mental health, military, and demographic characteristics. Servicemembers and veteranswho reported their gender as male (N = 508) were recruited via social media and completed online self-report measures assessing MST, erectile dysfunction, sexual compulsivity, suicidal ideation frequency, and the likelihood of engaging in future suicidal behavior. Path analysis was used to examine the study hypotheses. In total, 67 participants (13.2%) reported a history of MST; of these individuals, 27 (40.3%) reported suicidal ideation in the past 12 months, and 29 (43.9%) reported an increased likelihood of engaging in future suicidal behavior. MST was associated with increased sexual compulsivity, which, in turn, predicted more frequent suicidal ideation as well as a higher self-reported likelihood of engaging in future suicidal behavior. MST was associated with higher levels of erectile dysfunction, but erectile dysfunction was not associated with suicidal ideation in the adjusted model. Although the data were cross-sectional, precluding determinations of causality, the results support assessing and intervening with regard to sexual compulsivity tomitigate the risk for suicide-related outcomes among men who experience MST

Multiple and changing cycles of active stars I. Methods of analysis and application to the solar cycles

Long-term observational data have information on the magnetic cycles of active stars and that of the Sun. The changes in the activity of our central star have basic effects on Earth, like variations in the global climate. Therefore understanding the nature of these variations is extremely important. The observed variations related to magnetic activity cannot be treated as stationary periodic variations, therefore methods like Fourier transform or different versions of periodogramms give only partial information on the nature of the light variability. We demonstrate that time-frequency distributions provide useful tools for analyzing the observations of active stars. With test data we demonstrate that the observational noise has practically no effect on the determination in the the long-term changes of time-series observations of active stars. The rotational signal may modify the determined cycles, therefore it is advisable to remove it from the data. Wavelets are less powerful in recovering complex long-term changes than other distributions which are discussed. Applying our technique to the sunspot data we find a complicated, multi-scale evolution in the solar activity.Comment: Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysic

A Variant in a MicroRNA complementary site in the 3' UTR of the KIT oncogene increases risk of acral melanoma.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small ∼22nt single stranded RNAs that negatively regulate protein expression by binding to partially complementary sequences in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTRs) of target gene messenger RNAs (mRNA). Recently, mutations have been identified in both miRNAs and target genes that disrupt regulatory relationships, contribute to oncogenesis and serve as biomarkers for cancer risk. KIT, an established oncogene with a multifaceted role in melanogenesis and melanoma pathogenesis, has recently been shown to be upregulated in some melanomas, and is also a target of the miRNA miR-221. Here, we describe a genetic variant in the 3' UTR of the KIT oncogene that correlates with a greater than fourfold increased risk of acral melanoma. This KIT variant results in a mismatch in the seed region of a miR-221 complementary site and reporter data suggests that this mismatch can result in increased expression of the KIT oncogene. Consistent with the hypothesis that this is a functional variant, KIT mRNA and protein levels are both increased in the majority of samples harboring the KIT variant. This work identifies a novel genetic marker for increased heritable risk of melanoma