Gender differences in the perception of rape: The role of ambiguity

Past research in the area of rape has focused on rates of acquaintance or date rape (Koss. 1985), the perception of rape victims (Shotland & Goodstein, 1983; Tieger. 1981) and the prevalence of rape myths (Burt, 1980; Gilmartin-Zena, 1988; Larsen & Long, 1988). Findings from Gilmartin-Zena (1988) suggest that most college students recognize obvious rape myths, but are uncertain about subtle ones. Other research indicates that males are more likely than females to perceive that forced intercourse was consensual (Abbey, 1982; Malamuth, Haber, & Feshback, 1980). In this vein, the present study tested the hypothesis that there are gender differences in the perception of rape, when the incident is ambiguous. Competing theories (Abbey\u27s contention that men misinterpret the cues given by women and the Gilligan / Hall suggestion that women are better at detecting cues than men) were also tested to determine which was better at explaining a gender difference. One hundred and five undergraduate psychology subjects watched a series of eight 5 minute film clips that ranged from mutually consenting sexuality to rape. After each presentation, they assessed the material on a number of variables involving the actors‘ pleasure, aggression, responsibility. willingness and whether or not a rape had occurred. Content coding was performed on open-ended responses to determine if women picked up more cues. Also, questions taken from Abbey\u27s (1982) research and content coding for interpretation were used to determine if men were making different interpretations than women. lt was hypothesized that both women and men would accurately identify non-ambiguous consenting sex or rape scenes. In contrast, ambiguous clips were expected to produce gender differences, in which women perceived ambiguous situations more as rapes, while men did not. Five dependent measures produced interactions, although not all in the predicted direction. The question central to the main hypothesis, which asked participants to place each clip on a continuum from mutually consenting to rape, produced an overall gender effect, in which men perceived the situations as more consensual than women did. Neither theory provided strong enough support to explain the gender differences in the perception of rape. These results were discussed in terms of the cultural norms surrounding dating and courtship behaviours

Supporting sustainability within the Sail Cargo Alliance Ecosystem

This paper focuses on how transportation and marketing bespoke products as “sail cargo” can promote the common good. The context is the Sail Cargo Alliance’s, UK “Sail Cargo Divisions”, who each promoted trading of sail cargo in their locality. We assess the implementation of this aim in each division on a set of four key sustainable development enabling factors, The results reveal that inadequate performance on this factor set led to the failure, in 2023, of the operating companies for all Divisions except Sail Cargo London and Sail Cargo Kent whose operating companies merged in 2021 thereby gaining the complementary resources that enabled the merged operating Company (Raybel Charters) to bounce forward. We describe a proof-of- value use case initiated within the transformed Division: Sail Cargo Channel in collaboration with Raybel Charters, that can guide the future sustainable development of all the Sail Cargo Alliance’s Divisions for the common good

Enactive management: a nurturing technology enabling fresh decision making to cope with conflict situations

The focus of this paper is observation, self-observation, and enactive management of organizational conflict situations whereby a community, an organization, or a human being has the possibility of recognizing their resources and generating changes in their practices if they so desire, and making fresh decisions, in the sense that different ontological dimensions are involved. We show how considering Body1- Language- Emotions- History- Eros- Silence can configure a nurturing technology call CLEHES. This tool has been applied for diverse people, groups, communities, and organizations that need and wish to develop their own skills to inquire conflict practice resolutions, in order to learn as a human decision support system. Conflict situations are understood as interactions, a breakdown in-between CLEHES from the individual or social standpoints. This tool allows observing the boundaries of conflict situations and building an observer system with the ability to manage, solve, or attenuate the situation, enabling fresh decision-making attending to the context in which the organization moves. This learning process happens in a constructed place called an Enactive Laboratory where strategies are developed to cope with the domains and context in the perceived individual and human activities systems. We present a case study focusing on a Learning Family Mediators System

Visual drainage assessment: A standardised visual soil assessment method for use in land drainage design in Ireland

peer-reviewedThe implementation of site-specific land drainage system designs is usually disregarded by landowners in favour of locally established ‘standard practice’ land drainage designs. This is due to a number of factors such as a limited understanding of soil–water interactions, lack of facilities for the measurement of soil’s physical or hydrological parameters and perceived time wastage and high costs. Hence there is a need for a site-specific drainage system design methodology that does not rely on inaccessible, time-consuming and/or expensive measurements of soil physical or hydrological properties. This requires a standardised process for deciphering the drainage characteristics of a given soil in the field. As an initial step, a new visual soil assessment method, referred to as visual drainage assessment (VDA), is presented whereby an approximation of the permeability of specific soil horizons is made using seven indicators (water seepage, pan layers, texture, porosity, consistence, stone content and root development) to provide a basis for the design of a site-specific drainage system. Across six poorly drained sites (1.3 ha to 2.6 ha in size) in south-west Ireland a VDA-based design was compared with (i) an ideal design (utilising soil physical measurements to elucidate soil hydraulic parameters) and (ii) a standard design (0.8 m deep drains at a 15 m spacing) by model estimate of water table control and rainfall recharge/drain discharge capacity. The VDA method, unlike standard design equivalents, provided a good approximation of an ideal (from measured hydrological properties) design and prescribed an equivalent land drainage system in the field. Mean modelled rainfall recharge/drain discharge capacity for the VDA (13.3 mm/day) and ideal (12.0 mm/day) designs were significantly higher (P < 0.001, s.e. 1.42 mm/day) than for the standard designs (0.5 mm/day), when assuming a design minimum water table depth of 0.45 m

Reducing dose for digital cranial radiography : The increased source to the image-receptor distance approach

This investigation proposes that an increased source to the image-receptor distance (SID) technique can be used to optimize occipital frontal and lateral cranial radiographs acquired with direct digital radiography. Although cranial radiography is not performed on a routine basis, it should nonetheless be optimized to keep the dose to the patient as low as reasonably achievable, particularly because it can form part of the facial bone and sinus series. Dose measurements were acquired at various SIDs, and image quality was assessed using visual grading analysis. Statistically significant reductions in the effective dose between 19.2% and 23.9% were obtained when the SID was increased from the standard 100 to 150 cm (P ≤.05), and visual grading analysis scores indicate that image quality remained diagnostically acceptable for both projections. This investigation concludes that increasing the SID effectively optimizes occipital frontal and lateral skull radiographs. Radiology departments must be advised of the benefits of this technique with the goal of introducing an updated reference SID of 150 cm into clinical practice.Peer reviewe

Generation of a fully erythromycin-sensitive strain of Clostridioides difficile using a novel CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system

© 2019, The Author(s). Understanding the molecular pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile has relied on the use of ermB-based mutagens in erythromycin-sensitive strains. However, the repeated subcultures required to isolate sensitive variants can lead to the acquisition of ancillary mutations that affect phenotype, including virulence. CRISPR-Cas9 allows the direct selection of mutants, reducing the number of subcultures and thereby minimising the likelihood of acquiring additional mutations. Accordingly, CRISPR-Cas9 was used to sequentially remove from the C. difficile 630 reference strain (NCTC 13307) two ermB genes and pyrE. The genomes of the strains generated (630Δerm* and 630Δerm*ΔpyrE, respectively) contained no ancillary mutations compared to the NCTC 13307 parental strain, making these strains the preferred option where erythromycin-sensitive 630 strains are required. Intriguingly, the cas9 gene of the plasmid used contained a proximal frameshift mutation. Despite this, the frequency of mutant isolation was high (96% and 89% for ermB and pyrE, respectively) indicating that a functional Cas9 is still being produced. Re-initiation of translation from an internal AUG start codon would produce a foreshortened protein lacking a RuvCI nucleolytic domain, effectively a ‘nickase’. The mutation allowed cas9 to be cloned downstream of the strong Pthl promoter. It may find application elsewhere where the use of strong, constitutive promoters is preferred

A novel conjugal donor strain for improved DNA transfer into Clostridium spp.

© 2019 The Authors Importance: The ability to transfer genetic material into a target organism is crucial for the development of a wide range of targeted genetic manipulation techniques. Overcoming the organisms’ native restriction systems which target foreign incoming DNA is one strategy that can increase the efficiency of genetic transfer. The novel E. coli donor strain described here employs this strategy, increasing the frequencies of conjugation into a range of clostridial strains, and therefore opening up the potential to implement novel gene manipulation techniques. Furthermore this novel donor strain has potential applications across a wide range of genetically recalcitrant organisms, and should be beneficial wherever the frequently occurring Type IV restriction systems are possessed by the target in question

Phosphorus and nitrogen losses from temperate permanent grassland on clay-loam soil after the installation of artificial mole and gravel mole drainage

peer-reviewedMole (M) and gravel-mole (GM) drainage systems improve the permeability of soils with high clay contents. They collect and carry away infiltrating water during episodic rainfall events. Characterisation of nutrient fluxes (concentration and flows) in overland flow (OF) and in mole drain flow (MF) across sequential rainfall events is important for environmental assessment of such drainage systems. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of drainage systems on soil nutrient losses. Three treatments were imposed on grazed permanent grassland on a clay loam soil in Ireland (52°30′N, 08°12′W) slope 1.48%: undrained control (C), mole drainage (M) and gravel mole drainage (GM). Plots (100 m × 15 m) were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replicated blocks. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations in OF, MF and groundwater (GW) were measured from each plot over 15 consecutive rainfall events. The results showed that M and GM (P < 0.05) deepened the watertable depth and decreased OF. M and GM increased losses of nitrate-N (22%) and ammonium-N (14%) in GW. Nitrate-N concentrations from all the flow pathways (mean and standard error (s.e.): 0.99 s.e. 0.10 mg L−1) were well below the 11.3 mg L−1 threshold for drinking water. Ammonium-N concentrations from all the flow pathways (mean: 0.64 s.e. 0.14 mg L−1) exceeded drinking water quality standards. On the other hand M and GM lowered total P losses (mean annual losses from C, M and GM: 918, 755 and 853 s.e. 14.1 g ha−1 year−1) by enhancing soil P sorption. Hence M and GM can be implemented on farms under similar management to that described in the present study with a minor impact on N (increased concentration on averaged 18% to GW) and P (reduced by on avenged 114 g ha−1 year−1)

General practitioners’ perspectives on campaigns to promote rapid help-seeking behaviour at the onset of rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To explore general practitioners’ (GPs’ ) perspectives on public health campaigns to encourage people with the early symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to seek medical help rapidly. Design. Nineteen GPs participated in four semistructured focus groups. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis. Results. GPs recognised the need for the early treatment of RA and identified that facilitating appropriate access to care was important. However, not all held the view that a delay in help seeking was a clinically significant issue. Furthermore, many were concerned that the early symptoms of RA were often non-specific, and that current knowledge about the nature of symptoms at disease onset was inadequate to inform the content of a help-seeking campaign. They argued that a campaign might not be able to specifically target those who need to present urgently. Poorly designed campaigns were suggested to have a negative impact on GPs’ workloads, and would “clog up” the referral pathway for genuine cases of RA. Conclusions. GPs were supportive of strategies to improve access to Rheumatological care and increase public awareness of RA symptoms. However, they have identified important issues that need to be considered in developing a public health campaign that forms part of an overall strategy to reduce time to treatment for patients with new onset RA. This study highlights the value of gaining GPs’ perspectives before launching health promotion campaigns

Isolated oxygen defects in 3C- and 4H-SiC: A theoretical study

Ab initio calculations in the local-density approximation have been carried out in SiC to determine the possible configurations of the isolated oxygen impurity. Equilibrium geometry and occupation levels were calculated. Substitutional oxygen in 3C-SiC is a relatively shallow effective mass like double donor on the carbon site (O-C) and a hyperdeep double donor on the Si site (O-Si). In 4H-SiC O-C is still a double donor but with a more localized electron state. In 3C-SiC O-C is substantially more stable under any condition than O-Si or interstitial oxygen (O-i). In 4H-SiC O-C is also the most stable one except for heavy n-type doping. We propose that O-C is at the core of the electrically active oxygen-related defect family found by deep level transient spectroscopy in 4H-SiC. The consequences of the site preference of oxygen on the SiC/SiO2 interface are discussed