198 research outputs found
How Personality Affects Vulnerability among Israelis and Palestinians Following the 2009 Gaza Conflict
Can the onset of PTSD symptoms and depression be predicted by personality factors and thought control strategies? A logical explanation for the different mental health outcomes of individuals exposed to trauma would seem to be personality factors and thought control strategies. Trauma exposure is necessary but not sufficient for the development of PTSD. To this end, we assess the role of personality traits and coping styles in PTSD vulnerability among Israeli and Palestinian students amid conflict.We also determine whether gender and exposure level to trauma impact the likelihood of the onset of PTSD symptoms. Five questionnaires assess previous trauma, PTSD symptoms, demographics, personality factors and thought control strategies, which are analyzed using path analysis. Findings show that the importance of personality factors and thought control strategies in predicting vulnerability increases in the face of political violence: the higher stress, the more important the roles of personality and thought control strategies. Thought control strategies associated with introverted and less emotionally stable personality-types correlate positively with higher levels of PTSD symptoms and depression, particularly among Palestinians. By extension, because mental health is key to reducing violence in the region, PTSD reduction in conflict zones warrants rethinking
Preference Matching, Income, and Population Distribution in Urban and Adjacent Rural Regions
We analyze the impact of preference matching and income on the distribution of the population in an aggregate economy consisting of an urban and an adjacent rural region. It costs more (less) to live in the urban (rural) region. Individuals choose freely to live either in the urban or in the rural region. They differ in their incomes. These incomes are uniformly distributed on the unit interval. Our analysis leads to four results. First, when the cost differential parameter satisfies a condition, both regions are occupied in the equilibrium. Second, when this parametric condition holds, in any equilibrium in which the mean income of individuals varies across the two regions, every resident of the rural region has a lower income than every resident of the urban region. Third, there exists an income threshold and all individuals with higher (lower) incomes choose to live in the urban (rural) region. Finally, in the equilibrium with income sorting, it is possible to make everyone better off by slightly modifying their residential choices
The Eliashberg Function of Amorphous Metals
A connection is proposed between the anomalous thermal transport properties
of amorphous solids and the low-frequency behavior of the Eliashberg function.
By means of a model calculation we show that the size and frequency dependence
of the phonon mean-free-path that has been extracted from measurements of the
thermal conductivity in amorphous solids leads to a sizeable linear region in
the Eliashberg function at small frequencies. Quantitative comparison with
recent experiments gives very good agreement.Comment: 4pp., REVTeX, 1 uuencoded ps fig. Original posting had a corrupted
raw ps fig appended. Published as PRB 51, 689 (1995
Supercomputer Simulations of Disk Galaxies
The time evolution of models for an isolated disk of highly flattened
galaxies of stars is investigated by direct integration of the Newtonian
equations of motion of N=30,000 identical stars over a time span of many
galactic rotations. Certain astronomical implications of the simulations to
actual disk-shaped (i.e. rapidly rotating) galaxies are explored as well.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure Aat.sty, Aattable.sty, presented by E. Griv at the
JENAM 2000, S02, Moscow, Russia, 200
Dynamic Scaling of Magnetic Flux Noise Near the KTB Transition in Overdamped Josephson Junction Arrays
We have used a dc Superconducting QUantum Interference Device to measure the
magnetic flux noise generated by the equilibrium vortex density fluctuations
associated with the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii (KTB) transition in an
overdamped Josephson junction array. At temperatures slightly above the KTB
transition temperature, the noise is white for and scales as
for . Here , where is the correlation
length and is the dynamic exponent. Moreover, when all frequencies are
scaled by , data for different temperatures and frequencies collapse on
to a single curve. In addition, we have extracted the dynamic exponent and
found .Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX (REVTeX) format, requires epsfig and amstex style
files. 3 figures included. Tentatively scheduled for publication in Physical
Review Letters, 18 March, 199
Critical Exponents of the Fully Frustrated 2-D Xy Model
We present a detailed study of the critical properties of the 2-D XY model
with maximal frustration in a square lattice. We use extensive Monte Carlo
simulations to study the thermodynamics of the spin and chiral degrees of
freedom, concentrating on their correlation functions. The gauge invariant
spin-spin correlation functions are calculated close to the critical point for
lattice sizes up to ; the chiral correlation functions are
studied on lattices up to . We find that the critical exponents of
the spin phase transition are , and , which are to be
compared with the unfrustrated XY model exponents and . We
also find that the critical exponents of the chiral transition are
, , , and
, which are different from the expected 2-D Ising
critical exponents. The spin-phase transition occurs at which
is about 7\% above the estimated chiral critical temperature . However, because of the size of the statistical errors, it is
difficult to decide with certainty whether the transitions occur at the same or
at slightly different temperatures. Finally, the jump in the helicity modulus
in the fully frustrated system is found to be about 23\% below the unfrustrated
universal value. The most important consequence of these results is that the
fully frustrated XY model appears to be in a novel universality class. Recent
successful comparisons of some of these results with experimental data are also
briefly discussed. (TO APPEAR IN PRB)Comment: 47 pages (PHYZZX
Severe Exercise and Exercise Training Exert Opposite Effects on Human Neutrophil Apoptosis via Altering the Redox Status
Neutrophil spontaneous apoptosis, a process crucial for immune regulation, is mainly controlled by alterations in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondria integrity. Exercise has been proposed to be a physiological way to modulate immunity; while acute severe exercise (ASE) usually impedes immunity, chronic moderate exercise (CME) improves it. This study aimed to investigate whether and how ASE and CME oppositely regulate human neutrophil apoptosis. Thirteen sedentary young males underwent an initial ASE and were subsequently divided into exercise and control groups. The exercise group (n = 8) underwent 2 months of CME followed by 2 months of detraining. Additional ASE paradigms were performed at the end of each month. Neutrophils were isolated from blood specimens drawn at rest and immediately after each ASE for assaying neutrophil spontaneous apoptosis (annexin-V binding on the outer surface) along with redox-related parameters and mitochondria-related parameters. Our results showed that i) the initial ASE immediately increased the oxidative stress (cytosolic ROS and glutathione oxidation), and sequentially accelerated the reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential, the surface binding of annexin-V, and the generation of mitochondrial ROS; ii) CME upregulated glutathione level, retarded spontaneous apoptosis and delayed mitochondria deterioration; iii) most effects of CME were unchanged after detraining; and iv) CME blocked ASE effects and this capability remained intact even after detraining. Furthermore, the ASE effects on neutrophil spontaneous apoptosis were mimicked by adding exogenous H2O2, but not by suppressing mitochondrial membrane potential. In conclusion, while ASE induced an oxidative state and resulted in acceleration of human neutrophil apoptosis, CME delayed neutrophil apoptosis by maintaining a reduced state for long periods of time even after detraining
Integrated Micro-Macro Structural Econometric Framework for Assessing Climate-Change Impacts on Agricultural Production and Food Markets
This paper combines a micro-level structural econometric model of farmland allocation and a market-level equilibrium supply-demand model in order to simulate the effects of climate changes on agricultural production, food prices and social welfare. The estimation accounts for corner solutions associated with disaggregated land-use data, whose usage enables treating prices as exogenous. We employ the model for assessing climate-change impacts in Israel, in which agriculture is protected by import tariffs. We find that projected climate changes are beneficial to farmers, particularly due to the positive impact of the forecasted temperature rise on field crops. Fruit production are projected to decline, and reduce consumer surpluses, but to a lower extent than the increase in total agricultural profits. Nearly 20% of the profit rise is attributed to farmers adaptation through land reallocation. Adaptation to the projected reduction in precipitation by increasing irrigation is found warranted from farmers perspective; however, it is not beneficial to society as a whole. Abolishing import tariffs effectively transfers surpluses from producers to consumers, but its impact on social welfare becomes positive only under large climate changes.
Acknowledgement
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