1,950 research outputs found
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Changing cultural pathways through gender role and sexual development: A theoretical framework
Greenfield's theory linking sociodemographic change to dynamic cultural values for family interdependence versus individual independence is applied to sexual and gender role socialization and development. The theory explains how cultural pathways for sexual and gender-role development transform in concert with sociodemographic changes: urbanization, formal schooling, capitalism, and communication technologies. As environments become more urban, commercial, and technological, with more opportunities for formal education, sexual development moves away from the ideals of procreation and family responsibility and toward the ideals of personal pleasure and personal responsibility. At the same time, gender-role development moves away from the ideals of complementary and ascribed gender roles and toward chosen and equal gender roles. We present psychological, anthropological, and sociological evidence for these trends in a variety of communities undergoing social and ecological change. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association
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Gender Equality, Drinking Cultures and Second-Hand Harms from Alcohol in the 50 US States.
BackgroundGender inequality and cultures of binge drinking may increase the risk of second-hand harms from alcohol.MethodsUsing the 2014-2015 National Alcohol Survey and 2015 National Alcohol's Harm to Others Survey (N = 7792), we examine associations of state-level gender equality measures (contraceptive access, abortion rights, women's economic equality) and binge drinking cultures (rates of men's and women's binge drinking) with individual-level indicators of second-hand harms by drinking strangers and partners/spouses.ResultsIn main effects models, only male binge drinking was associated with greater odds of harms from drinking strangers. There were significant interactions of gender equality with male binge drinking: High male binge drinking rates were more strongly associated with stranger-perpetrated harms in states low on contraceptive access or abortion rights compared to states high on these measures. Conversely, male binge drinking was more strongly associated with spouse/partner-perpetrated second-hand harms in states with more economic equality, compared to states lower on this measure.ConclusionsDetrimental effects of high male binge drinking rates may be modified by gender equality. Targeted interventions may reduce alcohol-related harms experienced by women in states with high rates of male binge drinking. Restrictions in access to contraception and abortion may exacerbate harms due to men's drinking
Steel Bridge Fabrication Errors Indexed Examples and Solutions: Combining Rules and Cases
This research focuses on the development of a knowledge-based system in the domain of steel bridge fabrication errors using both rule-based reasoning (RBR) and case-based reasoning (CBR). Fabrication error Indexed and Solutions (FIXS) was developed to combine the benefits of two previous research projects: 1) the rule-based Bridge Fabrication error solution eXpert system (BFX), and 2) its case-based counterpart (CB-BFX). Errors that occur during the fabrication of steel bridg~ members can have a costly effect on the performance of a bridge if not repaired properly. FIXS is an effort to provide guidance to the bridge engineer responsible for cost effective solutions in a time sensitive manner. FIXS is implemented in the programming language PROLOG and runs in the Windows environment as a stand-alone application. RBR facilities are provided by the expert system shell MESS (Modest Expert System Shell). Similarly, CBR functions are provided by the simple case-based reasoner shell SCBR (Simple Case Based Reasoning). The application has been designed for addition of new domain knowledge. The addition of new and updated knowledge allows the application to keep pace with changes in the steel bridge design industry and the methods of repairing errors
Wafer-scale magnesium diboride thin films and devices with tunable high kinetic inductance
Progress in superconducting device and detector technologies over the past
decade have realized practical applications in quantum computers, detectors for
far-IR telescopes, and optical communications. Superconducting thin film
materials, however, have remained largely unchanged, with aluminum still being
the material of choice for superconducting qubits, and Nb compounds for higher
frequency devices. , known for its highest (39
K) among metallic superconductors, is a viable material for higher frequency
superconducting devices moving towards THz frequencies. However, difficulty in
synthesizing thin films have prevented implementation of
devices into the application base of superconducting electronics, despite
promising preliminary results for a number of applications. We have developed
smooth and uniform films on 4-inch Si wafers by depositing
uniform Mg-B co-sputtered film, capping the film in situ to create a closed
environment, followed by an optimized post-annealing step. We further report
mature device fabrication processes and demonstrate test structures to measure
properties of the films. This includes resonators with internal Q factor over
at 4.5 K and tunable high kinetic inductance (5-50 pH/
readily achieved in a 40 nm film), opening up the path for development of high
frequency and high temperature microdevices
The enrichment of an alkaliphilic biofilm consortia capable of the anaerobic degradation of isosaccharinic acid from cellulosic materials incubated within an anthropogenic, hyperalkaline environment.
Anthropogenic hyper-alkaline sites provide an environment that is analogous to proposed cementitious geological disposal facilities (GDF) for radioactive waste. Under anoxic, alkaline conditions cellulosic wastes will hydrolyse to a range of cellulose degradation products (CDP) dominated by isosaccharinic acids (ISA). In order to investigate the potential for microbial activity in a cementitious GDF, cellulose samples were incubated in the alkaline (∼pH 12), anaerobic zone of a lime kiln waste site. Following retrieval, these samples had undergone partial alkaline hydrolysis and were colonised by a Clostridia dominated biofilm community, where hydrogenotrophic, alkaliphilic methanogens were also present. When these samples were used to establish an alkaline CDP fed microcosm, the community shifted away from Clostridia, methanogens became undetectable and a flocculate community dominated by Alishewanella sp. established. These flocs were composed of bacteria embedded in polysaccharides and protein stabilised by extracellular DNA. This community was able to degrade all forms of ISA with >60% of the carbon flow being channelled into extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) production. This study demonstrated that alkaliphilic microbial communities can degrade the CDP associated with some radioactive waste disposal concepts at pH 11. These communities divert significant amounts of degradable carbon to EPS formation, suggesting that EPS has a central role in the protection of these communities from hyper-alkaline conditions
Validity of the Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Korean National Medical Health Insurance Claims Data: The Korean Heart Study (1)
Secondary B-mode polarization from Faraday rotation in clusters and galaxies
We revisit the polarisation induced by Faraday rotation when Cosmic Microwave
Background photons traverse magnetised plasma. We compute the secondary B-mode
angular power spectrum from Faraday rotation due to magnetic fields in galaxies
and galaxy clusters with masses ranging from to .
We investigate its dependence on the electron and the magnetic field profiles.
Namely, we consider both the beta-profile of electron density as well as an
electron density distribution based on the Navarro-Frenk-White dark matter
profile. We model the magnetic field structure in galaxies and clusters
motivated by recent observations. We further account for its redshift evolution
and we examine the importance of its coherence length. We find that the B-mode
polarisation from Faraday rotation depends on the normalisation parameter
. At 30 GHz for , the B-modes from
Faraday rotation range between and at in the case of a maximally coherent fields. For smaller
coherence lengths, those amplitudes are smaller and they peak at higher
multipoles.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Molecularly Engineered Self-Assembling Membranes for Cell-Mediated Degradation
The use of peptide engineering to develop self-assembling membranes that are responsive to cellular enzyme activities is reported. The membranes are obtained by combining hyaluronan (HA) and a rationally designed peptide amphiphile (PA) containing a proteolytic domain (GPQGIWGQ octapeptide) sensitive to matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1). Insertion of an octapeptide in a typical PA structure does not disturb its self-assembly into fibrillar nanostructures neither the ability to form membranes with HA. In vitro enzymatic degradation with hyaluronidase and MMP-1 shows that membranes containing the MMP-1 substrate exhibit enhanced enzymatic degradation, compared with control membranes (absence of MMP-1 cleavable peptide or containing a MMP-1 insensitive sequence), being completely degraded after 7 days. Cell viability and proliferation is minimally affected by the enzymatically cleavable functionality of the membrane, but the presence of MMP-1 cleavable sequence does stimulate the secretion of MMP-1 by fibroblasts and interfere with matrix deposition, particularly the deposition of collagen. By showing cell-responsiveness to biochemical signals presented on self-assembling membranes, this study highlights the ability of modulating certain cellular activities through matrix engineering. This concept can be further explored to understand the cellular remodeling process and as a strategy to develop artificial matrices with more biomimetic degradation for tissue engineering applications.This work was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Operational Competitiveness Programme "COMPETE" (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014758) and national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the project PTDC/EBB-BIO/114523/2009. The authors also thank a start-up grant provided by the School of Engineering and Materials Science at QMUL. D.S.F. gratefully acknowledges FCT for the PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/44977/2008)
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