Women\u27s risk perception and sexual victimization: A review of the literature

This article reviews empirical and theoretical studies that examined the relationship between risk perception and sexual victimization in women. Studies examining women\u27s general perceptions of risk for sexual assault as well as their ability to identify and respond to threat in specific situations are reviewed. Theoretical discussions of the optimistic bias and cognitive–ecological models of risk recognition are discussed in order to account for findings in the literature. Implications for interventions with women as well as recommendations for future research are provided

Problems in using social work records in assessing change

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Generational Equity, Generational Interdependence, and the Framing of the Debate Over Social Security Reform

This article analyzes the differences between the generational equity and generational interdependence conceptual packages used to frame arguments in the debate over policies such as Social Security reform. It begins with a history of the generational equity debate. This is followed by an analysis of the assumptions, values, and beliefs that inform each of these two ideological frames. It presents an analysis of why the generational equity frame has dominated the debate and highlights some of the limitations of this perspective

Evolution of trust and trustworthiness: social awareness favours personality differences

Interest in the evolution and maintenance of personality is burgeoning. Individuals of diverse animal species differ in their aggressiveness, fearfulness, sociability and activity. Strong trade-offs, mutation–selection balance, spatio-temporal fluctuations in selection, frequency dependence and good-genes mate choice are invoked to explain heritable personality variation, yet for continuous behavioural traits, it remains unclear which selective force is likely to maintain distinct polymorphisms. Using a model of trust and cooperation, we show how allowing individuals to monitor each other's cooperative tendencies, at a cost, can select for heritable polymorphisms in trustworthiness. This variation, in turn, favours costly ‘social awareness’ in some individuals. Feedback of this sort can explain the individual differences in trust and trustworthiness so often documented by economists in experimental public goods games across a range of cultures. Our work adds to growing evidence that evolutionary game theorists can no longer afford to ignore the importance of real world inter-individual variation in their models

The effects of altering milking frequency and/or diet in early lactation on the energy balance, production and reproduction of dairy cows.

End of Project ReportIt has been suggested that negative energy balance (NEB) in the immediate post-partum period is potentially an important factor in the association between increasing milk output and declining reproductive performance. The objective of this project was to design an experimental model that could be used to impose different degrees of NEB immediately after calving and to examine the effect of this model on dry matter intake (DMI), milk production, energy balance (EB), metabolic and reproductive hormonal profiles, the onset and pattern of post-partum ovarian cyclicity and reproductive physiology around AI. Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of milking frequency and diet on DMI, production, energy balance and blood metabolites and hormones in the first 4 weeks after calving and subsequent reproduction. Reducing milking frequency from either thrice or twice daily to once daily reduced DMI but also reduced milk production. This resulted in a better EB in once daily milked cows in both experiments, the reduction being significant in the first. Milk production during the 4-week treatment period was reduced by 23 and 20 percent by reducing milking frequency from thrice to once daily in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. There was a reduction of approximately 10 percent in the cumulative yield up to week 20 of lactation in experiment 1 and of approximately 9 percent in total lactation yield in experiment 2. Reducing milking frequency resulted in increased plasma glucose, insulin and IGF-1 concentrations and reduced non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) and beta hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentrations. Conception rates to first service or overall pregnancy rates were not different between milking frequency treatments but once daily milking resulted in a shorter interval to first ovulation than thrice daily milking, due to a higher proportion of cows on this treatment ovulating the first post-partum dominant follicle. Increasing the energy density 2 of the diet increased DMI and milk production with no consequent effect on energy balance. Logistic regression on the combined data from the two experiments showed that lower energy intake, greater NEB and lower milk protein content and were significantly associated with poorer conception to first service. Lower plasma IGF-1 concentrations in experiment 2 were also associated with a lower conception rate to first service. A third experiment which investigated protein concentration in the concentrate combined with concentrate feeding level post calving (for two groups of cows in different body condition score at calving) showed no effect of post calving diet on BCS change. Overall the results suggest that reducing milking frequency to once per day during the first 4 weeks of lactation reduces NEB and appears to be a suitable strategy for altering energy balance at this time. However, the short-term reduction in milking frequency immediately post partum reduces total lactation yields. Blood metabolite and hormonal concentrations indicate better energy balance for cows milked once daily. Increasing dietary energy density or reducing the protein content of the diet does not appear to be effective in changing energy balance in early lactation. Decreased NEB in the first 4 weeks post-partum is associated with an improved conception rate to first service

The phylogenetic origin of jaws in vertebrates: developmental plasticity and heterochrony

Copyright 2010 the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Published version of the paper reproduced here with permission from the publisher

Phenomenological Implications of a Magnetic 5th Force

A 5th force coupling to baryon number $B$ has been proposed to account for the correlations between the acceleration differences $\Delta a_{ij}$ of the samples studied in the E\"{o}tv\"{o}s experiment, and the corresponding differences in the baryon-to-mass ratios $\Delta(B/\mu)_{ij}$. To date the E\"{o}tv\"{o}s results have not been supported by modern experiments. Here we investigate the phenomenological implications of a possible magnetic analog $\vec{\mathscr{B}}_5$ of the conventional 5th force electric field, $\vec{\mathscr{E}}_5$, arising from the Earth's rotation. We demonstrate that, in the presence of couplings proportional to $\vec{\mathscr{B}}_5$, both the magnitude and direction of a possible 5th force field could be quite different from what would otherwise be expected and warrants further investigation.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, ws-ijmpa.cls, minor changes, final version to appear in International Journal of Modern Physics

A role for the placenta in programming maternal mood and childhood behavioural disorders

Substantial data demonstrate that the early‐life environment, including in utero, plays a key role in later life disease. In particular, maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to adverse behavioural and emotional outcomes in children. Data from human cohort studies and experimental animal models suggest that modulation of the developing epigenome in the foetus by maternal stress may contribute to the foetal programming of disease. Here, we summarise insights gained from recent studies that may advance our understanding of the role of the placenta in mediating the association between maternal mood disorders and offspring outcomes. First, the placenta provides a record of exposures during pregnancy, as indicated by changes in the placental trancriptome and epigenome. Second, prenatal maternal mood may alter placental function to adversely impact foetal and child development. Finally, we discuss the less well established but interesting possibility that altered placental function, more specifically changes in placental hormones, may adversely affect maternal mood and later maternal behaviour, which can also have consequence for offspring well‐being

Comparison of Instantaneous and Constant-Rate Stream Tracer Experiments Through Parametric Analysis of Residence Time Distributions

Artificial tracers are frequently employed to characterize solute residence times in stream systems and infer the nature of water retention. When the duration of tracer application is different between experiments, tracer breakthrough curves at downstream locations are difficult to compare directly. We explore methods for deriving stream solute residence time distributions (RTD) from tracer test data, allowing direct, non-parametric comparison of results from experiments of different durations. Paired short- and long-duration field experiments were performed using instantaneous and constant-rate tracer releases, respectively. The experiments were conducted in two study reaches that were morphologically distinct in channel structure and substrate size. Frequency- and time domain deconvolution techniques were used to derive RTDs from the resulting tracer concentrations. Comparisons of results between experiments of different duration demonstrated few differences in hydrologic retention characteristics inferred from short- and long-term tracer tests. Because non-parametric RTD analysis does not presume any shape of the distribution, it is useful for comparisons across tracer experiments with variable inputs and for validations of fundamental transport model assumptions