An Exploration of Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Association between Perfectionism and Disordered Eating in College Students

Perfectionism is a robust risk factor for eating disorders (EDs). Although individually-oriented dimensions of perfectionism are strongly related to eating pathology, less is known about the contribution of parent-oriented dimensions, specifically parental expectations (PE) and parental criticisms (PC). Further, few studies have investigated these effects within racially/ethnically diverse samples. However, PE and PC might be particularly relevant to eating pathology among certain cultural groups, such as those from collectivistic and interdependent societies. This study examined associations among PE, PC, and ED symptoms across racial/ethnic groups. Undergraduates (N=706; 74.8% Female; 48% White, 19.8% Black, 7.1% Latinx, 16% Asian, 9.1% multiracial) completed online surveys assessing perfectionism and ED symptoms. Multiple and logistic regressions examined the association between parent-oriented perfectionism, global eating pathology, loss-of-control (LOC) eating, purging behaviors, and ED risk status (EDE-Q global \u3c 4.0). Analyses were conducted by racial/ethnic group, controlling for gender. Both PE and PC were related to greater ED pathology in students identifying as White (pp=.03), Asian (p=.02), and multiracial (pp=.19). Higher PC was related to a greater likelihood of endorsing LOC eating in White (p=.004) and Black students (p=.05) and purging behaviors in White (p=.004), Asian (p=.04), and multiracial students (p=.03). Greater PC was also associated with ED risk in Asian (p=.03) and multiracial participants (p=.01). Findings indicate that the relations between specific aspects of parent-oriented perfectionism differ among cultural groups and are associated with ED symptoms in college students. PC seemed more relevant to ED pathology than did PE overall. Findings suggest that parent-oriented perfectionism, particularly PC, might be important to include in clinical assessment and treatment with students at-risk of EDs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1039/thumbnail.jp

EVALUATION OF NATURAL AND TRAFFIC-PRODUCING TURBULENCES USING FULL SCALE DATA FROM FOUR STREET CANYONS

In urban areas, high air pollutant concentrations may be observed, mostly within street canyons, where buildings and other obstacles disturb the airflow and turbulence. Air motions inside the street canyons are influenced by aerodynamic and thermal effects and by the movements of the vehicles. Parameters related with natural and traffic produced turbulences are estimated for four street canyons considering all wind directions. Available data used include air pollution concentrations measured in Göttinger Strasse (Hannover, Germany), Schildhornstrasse (Berlin, Germany), Jagtvej (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Hornsgatan (Stockholm, Sweden), and background pollution, wind speed and direction measured on the roof of a nearby building and information of traffic flow. For each street canyon, the variation with traffic density of critical wind speed (that equals the contributions of turbulent motions related to wind and traffic to the effective velocity variance inside the street canyon) is also studied

Effects of submerged vegetation on water clarity across climates

A positive feedback between submerged vegetation and water clarity forms the backbone of the alternative state theory in shallow lakes. The water clearing effect of aquatic vegetation may be caused by different physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms and has been studied mainly in temperate lakes. Recent work suggests differences in biotic interactions between (sub)tropical and cooler lakes might result in a less pronounced clearing effect in the (sub)tropics. To assess whether the effect of submerged vegetation changes with climate, we sampled 83 lakes over a gradient ranging from the tundra to the tropics in South America. Judged from a comparison of water clarity inside and outside vegetation beds, the vegetation appeared to have a similar positive effect on the water clarity across all climatic regions studied. However, the local clearing effect of vegetation decreased steeply with the contribution of humic substances to the underwater light attenuation. Looking at turbidity on a whole-lake scale, results were more difficult to interpret. Although lakes with abundant vegetation (>30%) were generally clear, sparsely vegetated lakes differed widely in clarity. Overall, the effect of vegetation on water clarity in our lakes appears to be smaller than that found in various Northern hemisphere studies. This might be explained by differences in fish communities and their relation to vegetation. For instance, unlike in Northern hemisphere studies, we find no clear relation between vegetation coverage and fish abundance or their diet preference. High densities of omnivorous fish and coinciding low grazing pressures on phytoplankton in the (sub)tropics may, furthermore, weaken the effect of vegetation on water clarity

Hodge theory on Cheeger spaces

We extend the study of the de Rham operator with ideal boundary conditions from the case of isolated conic singularities, as analyzed by Cheeger, to the case of arbitrary stratified pseudomanifolds. We introduce a class of ideal boundary operators and the notion of mezzoperversity, which intermediates between the standard lower and upper middle perversities in intersection theory, as interpreted in this de Rham setting, and show that the de Rham operator with these boundary conditions is Fredholm and has compact resolvent. We also prove an isomorphism between the resulting Hodge and L2 de Rham cohomology groups, and that these are independent of the choice of iterated edge metric. On spaces which admit ideal boundary conditions of this type which are also self-dual, which we call ‘Cheeger spaces’, we show that these Hodge/de Rham cohomology groups satisfy Poincare' Duality

Paper-based electroanalytical devices for accessible diagnostic testing

Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) use the passive capillary-driven flow of aqueous solutions through patterned paper channels to transport a sample fluid into distinct detection zones that contain the reagents for a chemical assay. These devices are simple, affordable, portable, and disposable; they are, thus, well suited for diagnostic applications in resource-limited environments. Adding screen-printed electrodes to the detection zones of a μPAD yields a device capable of performing electrochemical assays (an EμPAD). Electrochemical detection has the advantage over colorimetric detection that it is not affected by interferences from the color of the sample, and can be quantified with simple electronics. The accessibility of EμPADs is, however, limited by the requirement for an external potentiostat to power and interpret the electrochemical measurement. New developments in paper-based electronics may help loosen some of this requirement. This review discusses the current capabilities and limitations of EμPADs and paper-based electronics, and sketches the ways in which these technologies can be combined to provide new devices for diagnostic testing.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog