1,922 research outputs found

    The social psychology of seismic hazard adjustment: re-evaluating the international literature

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    The majority of people at risk from earthquakes do little or nothing to reduce their vulnerability. Over the past 40 years social scientists have tried to predict and explain levels of seismic hazard adjustment using models from behavioural sciences such as psychology. The present paper is the first to synthesise the major findings from the international literature on psychological correlates and causes of seismic adjustment at the level of the individual and the household. It starts by reviewing research on seismic risk perception. Next, it looks at norms and normative beliefs, focusing particularly on issues of earthquake protection responsibility and trust between risk stakeholders. It then considers research on attitudes towards seismic adjustment attributes, specifically beliefs about efficacy, control and fate. It concludes that an updated model of seismic adjustment must give the issues of norms, trust, power and identity a more prominent role. These have been only sparsely represented in the social psychological literature to date

    Silicon-based three-dimensional microstructures for radiation dosimetry in hadrontherapy

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    In this work, we propose a solid-state-detector for use in radiation microdosimetry. This device improves the performance of existing dosimeters using customized 3D-cylindrical microstructures etched inside silicon. The microdosimeter consists of an array of micro-sensors that have 3D-cylindrical electrodes of 15 μm diameter and a depth of 5 μm within a silicon membrane, resulting in a well-defined micrometric radiation sensitive volume. These microdetectors have been characterized using an 241Am source to assess their performance as radiation detectors in a high-LET environment. This letter demonstrates the capability of this microdetector to be used to measure dose and LET in hadrontherapy centers for treatment plan verification as part of their patient-specific quality control program

    Trajectories of Maternal Mental Health: A Prospective Study of Mothers of Infants With Congenital Heart Defects From Pregnancy to 36 Months Postpartum

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    Objective To chart mothers' trajectories of mental health from pregnancy to 36 months postpartum in order to investigate the association between infants' congenital heart defects (CHD) and compromised maternal mental health. Methods Mothers of infants with mild, moderate, or severe CHD (n = 141) and mothers (n = 36,437) enrolled in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were assessed at regular intervals from pregnancy up to 36 months postpartum, including measurements at 6 and 18 months, using an 8-item version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25. Results Mean score trajectories of SCL-8 for mothers of infants with severe CHD deviated significantly from cohort controls 6, 18, and 36 months postpartum, indicating heightened symptoms of depression and anxiety. Conclusions Mothers of infants with severe CHD are at risk of compromised mental health from delivery to 36 months postpartum. Strain due to CHD-related interventions is identified as a possible partial mediator of the distres

    Relationship Satisfaction Among Mothers of Children With Congenital Heart Defects: A Prospective Case-Cohort Study

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    Objective To assess the level of partner relationship satisfaction among mothers of children with different severity of congenital heart defects (CHD) compared with mothers in the cohort. Methods Mothers of children with mild, moderate, or severe CHD (n = 182) and a cohort of mothers of children without CHD (n = 46,782) from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were assessed at 5 time points from pregnancy to 36 months postpartum. A 5-item version of the Relationship Satisfaction scale was used, and relevant covariates were explored. Results The trajectories of relationship satisfaction among mothers of children with varying CHD severity did not differ from the trajectories in the cohort. All women in the cohort experienced decreasing relationship satisfaction from 18 months after delivery up to 36 months after delivery. Conclusions Having a child with CHD, regardless of severity, does not appear to exacerbate the decline in relationship satisfactio
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