Parental depressed mood, psychological control, and adolescent behavior problems: evidence of mediation?

The objective of the current study was to examine parental psychological control as a mediator between parental depressed mood and adolescent behavior problems. The study involved a secondary analysis of the data from the Baton Rouge Families and Teens Project (BRFTP). Structured, in-home interviews were completed with 86 families. The sample was demographically and racially diverse; 59% of the adolescents were female, 58% were of a minority background, and 52% lived in a dual-parent home. The data was collected over 2 years, and included adolescents who, at the time of recruitment, were in the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. Adolescents reported on psychological control and behavior problems; parents reported on psychological control and depressed mood. The results of the study indicated that parental depressed mood was associated with more parent-reported intrusion. For the full sample, no associations were found between parental depressed mood and adolescent behavior problems. Adolescent-reported psychological control, adolescent-reported intrusion, and parent-reported intrusion were associated with more adolescent internalized behavior problems. Adolescent-reported psychological control was associated with more externalized behavior problems. The non-significant associations between parental depressed mood and adolescent behavior problems indicated that further tests for mediation were not warranted. Mean-level differences and moderating effects were tested to determine if measures varied as a function of family contextual variables. The results indicated that parents of girls reported more depressed mood than parents of boys. Black adolescents as well as parents of Black adolescents report more use of intrusion than White adolescents and parents of White adolescents. Parents from low-income families report more intrusion than parents from high income families. Tests for moderation indicate that income may moderate the relation between parental depressed mood and adolescent-reported psychological control. Race may moderate the relation between parent depressed mood and adolescent internalized behavior problems. Finally, adolescent gender may moderate the relation between adolescent-reported psychological control and externalized behavior problems and adolescent-reported intrusion and externalized behavior problems

UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIOLENCE VICTIMIZATION, ALCOHOL USE, AND THE HEALTH PROMOTIVE ROLE OF RESILENCE AMONG FEMALE SEX WORKERS IN PATTYA, THAILAND

Background: Female sex workers (FSW) experience high levels of violence, trauma, and adversity that can contribute to negative mental health outcomes and substance use. The majority of FSW literature has focused on contributors to these poor health outcomes, with less attention to the protective role of FSW resilience in adverse environments. This dissertation: 1) examines the relationship between violence victimization and alcohol use, 2) describes the socioecological contributors to resilience, and 3) examines the buffering role of resilience against alcohol use among FSW in Pattaya, Thailand. Methods: Dissertation analyses are secondary analyses of a quasi-experimental study designed to evaluate a safety-promotion intervention among FSW in Pattaya. Using proportional-to-venue-size sampling, 410 FSW were recruited for baseline survey in May 2017 and re-assessed after 14 weeks. Dissertation analyses use Generalized Structural Equation Modeling (GSEM), Hierarchical Linear Regression, and Logistic Regression with interaction to achieve study aims. Results: Among 401 FSW, violence victimization by clients in the past three months (24%) and having sex with clients while inebriated (SWI) in the past three months (51%) were common. GSEM results showed that within both assessed time periods, client violence victimization was cross-sectionally associated with SWI (aORbaseline 1.87, 95% CI 1.04 – 3.37; aORfollow-up 2.52, 95% CI 1.24 – 5.10). In contrast, violence victimization at baseline did not prospectively predict SWI at follow-up (aOR 2.43, 95% CI 0.61 – 9.67). FSW resilience (mean: 31.7; range 13-40) was measured on the Connor Davidson 10-item scale. Linear regression models showed resilience was associated with non-depression (β 2.55, 95% CI 1.07, 4.03), higher self-efficacy for condom use (β 1.64, 95% CI .66, 2.63), and increased community acceptance of sex work (β .65, 95% CI .22, 1.20). Logistic regression interaction models showed that the relationship between client violence victimization at baseline and SWI at follow-up was significantly different depending on resilience level. Specifically, centered interaction models showed that violence-exposed FSW, with a minimum resilience score (13) had a significantly increased risk of SWI at follow-up (aOR 14.2, 95% CI 1.5, 131.2), while violence-exposed FSW at the highest level of resilience (40) had significantly decreased odds of SWI at follow-up (aOR 0.2, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.9). Conclusions: Dissertation results highlight the violence-related risks of alcohol consumption in the venue environment and indicate the need for venue-level alcohol interventions to promote FSW safety. Novel dissertation results show that FSW resilience can function as a health promotion mechanism to buffer the negative alcohol-related consequences of violence exposure. Work to bolster FSW resilience through new or existing empowerment interventions is an untapped resource to improve FSW coping after violence and may offer more sustained health benefits for this population. Specifically, incorporating community-level approaches to FSW resilience building, such as increasing community acceptance of sex workers, are urgently needed

Addressable Superconductor Integrated Circuit Memory from Delay Lines

Recent advances in logic schemes and fabrication processes have renewed interest in using superconductor electronics for energy-efficient computing and quantum control processors. However, scalable superconducting memory still poses a challenge. To address this issue, we present an alternative to approaches that solely emphasize storage cell miniaturization by exploiting the minimal attenuation and dispersion properties of superconducting passive transmission lines to develop a delay-line memory system. This fully superconducting design operates at speeds between 20 GHz and 100 GHz, with $\pm$24\% and $\pm$13\% bias margins, respectively, and demonstrates data densities in the 10s of Mbit/cm$^2$ with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory SC2 fabrication process. Additionally, the circulating nature of this design allows for minimal control circuitry, eliminates the need for data splitting and merging, and enables inexpensive implementations of sequential access and content-addressable memories. Further advances in fabrication processes suggest data densities of 100s of Mbit/cm$^2$ and beyondComment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, under revie

Low-Cost Superconducting Fan-Out with Repurposed Josephson Junctions

Superconductor electronics (SCE) promise computer systems with orders of magnitude higher speeds and lower energy consumption than their complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) counterpart. At the same time, the scalability and resource utilization of superconducting systems are major concerns. Some of these concerns come from device-level challenges and the gap between SCE and CMOS technology nodes, and others come from the way Josephson Junctions (JJs) are used. Towards this end, we notice that a considerable fraction of hardware resources are not involved in logic operations, but rather are used for fan-out and buffering purposes. In this paper, we ask if there is a way to reduce these overheads; propose the repurposing of JJs at the cell boundaries for fan-out; and establish a set of rules to discretize critical currents in a way that is conducive to this reassignment. Finally, we demonstrate the accomplished gains through detailed analog simulations and modeling analyses. Our experiments indicate that the introduced method leads to a 48% savings in the JJ count in a tree with a fan-out of 1024, as well as an average of 43% of the JJ count for signal splitting and 32% for clock fan-out in ISCAS'85 benchmarks.Comment: 11 pages, 20 figures, submitted to IEEE TA

Specific food intake, fat and fiber intake, and behavioral correlates of BMI among overweight and obese members of a managed care organization

BACKGROUND: The study examined correlates of body mass index (BMI) in overweight and obese members of a managed care organization seeking treatment for obesity. It assessed intake of specific foods, dietary fat or fiber, and behaviors attempted to control weight. METHODS: Participants were 508 men and 1293 women who were > 18 years and had a self-reported BMI > 27.0. This paper reports analyses of baseline and 24-month follow-up data from a randomized weight-loss trial. Cross-sectional and prospective relationships between BMI and behaviors were examined with regression analyses controlling for age and education. RESULTS: At baseline, hamburger and beef consumption were associated with higher BMI for men; for women, hamburger, fried chicken, hot dog, bacon or sausage, egg, French fry, and overall fat consumption were associated with higher BMI, while eating high fiber cereal, fruit, and overall fiber intake were associated with lower BMI. Virtually all forms of weight control behavior were reported more often in heavier people. Subscribing to exercise magazines, however, was associated with lower BMI. Decreased fat intake and increased fruit/vegetable/fiber intake over the course of the study were associated with reductions in BMI at 24 months. CONCLUSION: The same behaviors that differentiate individuals with different body weight in the general population also differentiate between individuals of different body weights at the high end of the weight distribution. Educational efforts aimed at preventing weight gain and reducing obesity might benefit from focusing on specific foods known to be associated empirically with body weight and weight change over time

Towards an Integrated Primary and Secondary HIV Prevention Continuum for the United States: a Cyclical Process Model

Introduction: Every new HIV infection is preventable and every HIV-related death is avoidable. As many jurisdictions around the world endeavour to end HIV as an epidemic, missed HIV prevention and treatment opportunities must be regarded as public health emergencies, and efforts to quickly fill gaps in service provision for all people living with and vulnerable to HIV infection must be prioritized. Discussion: We present a novel, comprehensive, primary and secondary HIV prevention continuum model for the United States as a conceptual framework to identify key steps in reducing HIV incidence and improving health outcomes among those vulnerable to, as well as those living with, HIV infection. We further discuss potential approaches to address gaps in data required for programme planning, implementation and evaluation across the elements of the HIV prevention continuum. Conclusions: Our model conceptualizes opportunities to monitor and quantify primary HIV prevention efforts and, importantly, illustrates the interplay between an outcomes-oriented primary HIV prevention process and the HIV care continuum to move aggressively forward in reaching ambitious reductions in HIV incidence. To optimize the utility of this outcomes-oriented HIV prevention continuum, a key gap to be addressed includes the creation and increased coordination of data relevant to HIV prevention across sectors

Prospectus, September 28, 1988

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1988/1022/thumbnail.jp

Functional Allocation with Airborne Self-Separation Evaluated in a Piloted Simulation

A human-in-the-loop simulation experiment was designed and conducted to evaluate an airborne self-separation concept. The activity supports the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA) research focus on function allocation for separation assurance. The objectives of the experiment were twofold: (1) use experiment design features in common with a companion study of ground-based automated separation assurance to promote comparability, and (2) assess agility of self-separation operations in managing trajectory-changing events in high traffic density, en-route operations with arrival time constraints. This paper describes the experiment and presents initial results associated with subjective workload ratings and group discussion feedback obtained from the experiment s commercial transport pilot participants

Force-velocity-power and Force-pCa Relationships of Human Soleus Fibers After 17 Days of Bed Rest

Soleus muscle fibers from the rat display a reduction in peak power and Ca2+ sensitivity after hindlimb suspension. To examine human responses to non-weight bearing, we obtained soleus biopsies from eight adult men before and immediately after 17 days of bed rest (BR). Single chemically skinned fibers were mounted between a force transducer and a servo-controlled position motor and activated with maximal (isotonic properties) and/or submaximal (Ca2+ sensitivity) levels of free Ca2+. Gel electrophoresis indicated that all pre- and post-BR fibers expressed type I myosin heavy chain. Post-BR fibers obtained from one subject displayed increases in peak power and Ca2+ sensitivity. In contrast, post-BR fibers obtained from the seven remaining subjects showed an average 11% reduction in peak power (P \u3c 0.05), with each individual displaying a 7–27% reduction in this variable. Post-BR fibers from these subjects were smaller in diameter and produced 21% less force at the shortening velocity associated with peak power. However, the shortening velocity at peak power output was elevated 13% in the post-BR fibers, which partially compensated for their lower force. Post-BR fibers from these same seven subjects also displayed a reduced sensitivity to free Ca2+(P \u3c 0.05). These results indicate that the reduced functional capacity of human lower limb extensor muscles after BR may be in part caused by alterations in the cross-bridge mechanisms of contraction