Posttraumatic stress disorder and psychophysiological reactivity in female assault survivors: testing the moderating effects of internalizing and externalizing latent dimensions of psychopathology

This study examined individual variability in the strength of association between psychophysiological reactivity to trauma cues and clinician-rated PTSD symptoms in a sample of female survivors of sexual and non-sexual assault. PTSD is a heterogeneous disorder, and individual differences in symptom presentation and accompanying comorbidities may be accounted for by internalizing and externalizing latent temperament-based dimensions of psychopathology. The present study proposed that these dimensions may also account for heterogeneity in the association between psychophysiological reactivity and PTSD. Prior research has demonstrated that most individuals with PTSD display elevated psychophysiological reactivity when exposed to trauma reminders, although some do not. As well, research has shown that externalizing pathologies are typically associated with diminished psychophysiological reactivity to aversive cues whereas internalizing pathologies are associated with elevated psychophysiological reactivity. This study therefore employed structural equation modeling to test hypotheses that externalizing and internalizing pathologies would display mitigating and enhancing moderator effects, respectively, on the prediction of PTSD by psychophysiological reactivity. To that end, confirmatory factor analysis first established a viable internalizing and externalizing model based on an array of clinical measures in one participant subgroup (n = 329) and then affirmed the reliability of the model in a second subgroup (n = 245). Structural equation modeling in the latter subgroup, in which PTSD was regressed on Internalizing, Externalizing, and Psychophysiological Reactivity factors as well as Internalizing by Psychophysiological Reactivity and Externalizing by Psychophysiological Reactivity moderator terms, revealed a significant moderator effect for externalizing but not internalizing pathology. However, the nature of the externalizing moderator effect differed from the hypothesized direction, with higher levels of externalizing pathology strengthening the association between PTSD and psychophysiological reactivity rather than weakening it. It therefore appears that variability in the association between PTSD and psychophysiological reactivity may be partially accounted for by individual differences in the externalizing dimension of psychopathology. As well, the psychophysiology of the externalizing dimension may also be marked by heterogeneity, with externalizing pathology being linked with increased rather than decreased psychophysiological reactivity among women who have experienced sexual or non-sexual assault

Stopping Start-Ups: How The Business Cycle Affects Entrepreneurship

This study analyzes whether economic conditions at the time of labor market entry affect entrepreneurship, using difference in business start-ups between cohorts of college students graduating in boom or bust economic conditions. Those graduating during an economic bust tend to delay their business start-ups relative to boom period graduates by about two years. Our results are consistent with additional findings that higher unemployment rates at time of graduation significantly delay the first business start-up across all college graduation cohorts over the 1982-2004 period. The adverse effect of a bust is temporary, delaying but not preventing self-employment over the life-cycle.Entrepreneurship; boom; bust; occupatiopnal choice; survivor analysis; business cycle; cohort

Social entrepreneurship: an overview of a public university alumni survey

This report presents an overview of social entrepreneurship activities of public university graduates obtained from a survey. Almost 3 percent of respondents had created at least one nonprofit organization. The primary focus of the organizations founded by social entrepreneur respondents was education and youth related causes, with services geared heavily toward local needs. The nonprofit organizations founded to meet these needs were typically small, with one or two paid employees and 5 to 15 volunteers

Entrepreneurship and higher education: an overview of the Iowa State University alumni survey

Entrepreneurship is a hot topic both in academic and policy circles. There is a growing recognition that entrepreneurship is a driving force in economic growth development in both established and emerging economies. There is also an increasing body of evidence suggesting entrepreneurship that stems from a high level of human capital and creativity is the most likely to produce the goods, services and ultimately the jobs that fuel economic growth development and competitiveness. If human capital and innovation are important for growth entrepreneurship, then higher education should have a significant role to play in fostering entrepreneurship. In this report we present a descriptive overview of the entrepreneurial activities of graduates from Iowa State University -- a medium-sized public university in the United States. The data were obtained from a random sample of 25,000 Iowa State University bachelor\u27s degree recipients between 1982 and 2006. The survey requested information on graduates\u27 employment history, further education, income, entrepreneurial activity and community involvement. The on-line survey was conducted in 2008 and produced 5,416 usable responses -- a response rate of 21.6 percent. Survey details are presented in Appendix I

Electrospinning as a route to advanced carbon fibre materials for selected low-temperature electrochemical devices: a review

Electrospinning has been proven as a highly versatile fabrication method for producing nano-structured fibres with controllable morphology, of both the fibres themselves and the void structure of the mats. Additionally, it is possible to use heteroatom doped polymers or to include catalytic precursors in the electrospinning solution to control the surface properties of the fibres. These factors make it an ideal method for the production of electrodes and flow media for a variety of electrochemical devices, enabling reduction in mass transport and activation overpotentials and therefore increasing efficiency. Moreover, the use of biomass as a polymer source has recently gained attention for the ability to embed sustainable principles in the materials of electrochemical devices, complementing their ability to allow an increase in the use of renewable electricity via their application. In this review, the historical and recent developments of electrospun materials for application in redox flow batteries, fuel cells, metal air batteries and supercapacitors are thoroughly reviewed, including an overview of the electrospinning process and a guide to best practice. Finally, we provide an outlook for the emerging use of this process in the field of electrochemical energy devices with the hope that the combination of tailored microstructure, surface functionality and computer modelling will herald a new era of bespoke functional materials that can significantly improve the performance of the devices in which they are used