Contestable adulthood: variability and disparity in markers for negotiating the transition to adulthood

Recent research has identified a discreet set of subjective markers that are seen as characterizing the transition to adulthood. The current study challenges this coherence by examining the disparity and variability in young people’s selection of such criteria. Four sentence-completion cues corresponding to four differentcontexts in which adult status might be contested were given to 156 British 16- to 17-year-olds. Their qualitative responses were analyzed to explore patterns whilst capturing some of their richness and diversity. An astonishing amount of variability emerged, both within and between cued contexts.The implications of this variability for how the transition to adulthood is experienced are explored. The argument is made that markers of the transition to adulthood are not merely reflective of the bio–psycho–social development of young people. Rather, adulthood here is seen as an essentially contested concept,located within the discursive interactional environment in which young people participate

Not Such a Complainer Anymore: Confrontation That Signals a Growth Mindset Can Attenuate Backlash

We report the first investigation of whether observers draw information about mindsets from behavior, specifically prejudice confrontation. We tested two questions across 10 studies (N = 3,168). First, would people who observe someone confront a biased comment (vs. remain silent) see them as endorsing more growth (vs. fixed) mindsets about prejudice and bias? If so, would the growth mindset perceptions that arise from confrontation (vs. remaining silent) attenuate the backlash that observers exhibit against confronters? We investigated these questions using scenarios (Studies 1, 2a–b, 4, 5a–d), naturalistic confrontations of national, race, and gender stereotypes reported retrospectively (Study 3), and an in-person laboratory experiment of actual confrontations of racial bias (Study 6). Correlational and experimental methods yielded support for our core hypotheses: People spontaneously imbue someone who confronts a biased comment with more growth mindset beliefs about prejudice and bias (Studies 1, 2a–b, 4, 6), regardless of whether participants observe the confrontation (Studies 1, 2a–b, 5a–d) or are being confronted themselves (Studies 2a–4, 6). The growth mindset perceptions arising from these confrontations suppress backlash, assessed by classic interpersonal perceptions (Studies 4–5) and judgments of interpersonal warmth and willingness to interact again in the future (Study 6), both when the confronter was a target of the biased behavior (Studies 1–5), and when they were an ally (Study 6), in both correlational studies (Study 3–4) and when growth mindset (about personality, Study 5; about prejudice, Study 6) was manipulated, confirming causality. We discuss implications for the study of mindsets, confrontation, and intergroup relation

THE EFFECTS OF AN ERGONOMIC DEVICE ON SAGITTAL PLANE LOWER EXTREMITY MOTION DURING A FULL SQUAT IN ACL-REPAIRED AND NON-INJURED FEMALES

Each year, 250,000 Americans experience injuries affecting the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), with women four to six times more likely to incur an ACL injury than their male counterparts. Knee Savers® (KS) are an ergonomic aid purported to lessen the risk of such injuries linked to deep squats. While widely used, KS have not been tested to determine their effect upon lower extremity kinematics. Female participants (n=20) with a history of ACLrepair (n=10) or non-injury (n=10) completed a deep squat with and without KS, while being filmed with 2D videography using methods increasingly available in clinical environments. Results from the study indicate no significant differences were found in sagittal plane lower extremity kinematics when squatting with and without KS. KS did not appear to influence lower extremity joint positions during the bottom phase of a deep squat as purported

FRONTAL PLANE KNEE MOTION OF ACL-REPAIRED AND NON-INJURED FEMALES WHEN USING KNEE SAVERS

Women are four to six times more likely to sustain ACL injuries compared to male counterparts. Few investigations have explored if ergonomic devices may alleviate the stress placed on the ACL during deep squatting. The purpose of the study was to determine if Knee Savers® (KS) influenced the frontal plane knee motion when previously-injured and healthy participants completed a squat. Female participants (ACLrepaired: n=10; healthy: n=10) completed a deep squat with and without KS using 2-D videography methods. Results indicated a greater medial motion of the patella in the frontal plane in the right leg of non-injured participants when compared to the ACLrepaired group (p = 0.04). When squatting with KS, the non-injured group experienced more frontal plane motion at the knee, compared to the ACL-repaired group

Genome-wide association study identifies single-nucleotide polymorphism in KCNB1 associated with left ventricular mass in humans: The HyperGEN Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and validation study for left ventricular (LV) mass in the Family Blood Pressure Program – HyperGEN population. LV mass is a sensitive predictor of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in all genders, races, and ages. Polymorphisms of candidate genes in diverse pathways have been associated with LV mass. However, subsequent studies have often failed to replicate these associations. Genome-wide association studies have unprecedented power to identify potential genes with modest effects on left LV mass. We describe here a GWAS for LV mass in Caucasians using the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping 100 k Set. Cases (N = 101) and controls (N = 101) were selected from extreme tails of the LV mass index distribution from 906 individuals in the HyperGEN study. Eleven of 12 promising (<it>Q </it>< 0.8) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the genome-wide study were successfully genotyped using quantitative real time PCR in a validation study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Despite the relatively small sample, we identified 12 promising SNPs in the GWAS. Eleven SNPs were successfully genotyped in the validation study of 704 Caucasians and 1467 African Americans; 5 SNPs on chromosomes 5, 12, and 20 were significantly (<it>P </it>≤ 0.05) associated with LV mass after correction for multiple testing. One SNP (rs756529) is intragenic within <it>KCNB1</it>, which is dephosphorylated by calcineurin, a previously reported candidate gene for LV hypertrophy within this population.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest <it>KCNB1 </it>may be involved in the development of LV hypertrophy in humans.</p

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo