Comparing the Perceptions of Family and Parenting Between Juvenile Sexual Offenders and Juveniles With No History of Sexual Offending

Juvenile sexual offenders and a matched sample of nonoffending youth were compared on the Family Environment Scale (FES), the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES ill), the Adult Adolescent Parent Inventory (AAPI), and a biographical inventory. The purpose was to determine whether or not juvenile sexual offenders and nonoffenders would prove to have different perceptions of family characteristics and whether the biographical inventory could distinguish between the two groups. The sample consisted of 95 participants (46 offenders, 49 nonoffenders) in the northern Utah area. The offending population were in outpatient treatment for their sexual offending. When the participants were categorized as offender/ nonoffender and 12-15 year olds/ 16-19 year olds, only an age effect was found to be significant on the variables cohesiveness, cohesion, and conflict. Offender group membership did not have any effect. Younger adolescents viewed their family environment as more cohesive and felt more freedom to express anger and dissent. Significant differences were found between offenders with multiple victims and all other groups on two AAPI variables: inappropriate developmental expectations of children and lack of empathic awareness of children. The discriminant function analysis of the biographical inventory items yielded a 90% correct classification rate on participants cooed as either offender or nonoffender. Only eight biographical items were used in this procedure. It is clear that, of the four instruments used in this study, the biographical inventory provided the best descriptive profile of the juvenile sexual offenders. Offenders reported more instability in their home-life and lack of positive emotional relationships with their caretakers. The perception of diminished humanness in relationships went hand in hand with victimizing others. One can conclude that family environment remains an important factor to consider in the development and treatment of sexually abusive behavior

The Perfect Quark-Gluon Vertex Function

We evaluate a perfect quark-gluon vertex function for QCD in coordinate space and truncate it to a short range. We present preliminary results for the charmonium spectrum using this quasi-perfect action.Comment: 3 pages LaTex, 4 figures, poster presented at LATTICE9

Analytical results for the confinement mechanism in QCD_3

We present analytical methods for investigating the interaction of two heavy quarks in QCD_3 using the effective action approach. Our findings result in explicit expressions for the static potentials in QCD_3 for long and short distances. With regard to confinement, our conclusion reflects many features found in the more realistic world of QCD_4.Comment: 24 pages, uses REVTe

Unquenched Charmonium with NRQCD - Lattice 2000

We present results from a series of NRQCD simulations of the charmonium system, both in the quenched approximation and with n_f = 2 dynamical quarks. The spectra show evidence for quenching effects of ~10% in the S- and P-hyperfine splittings. We compare this with other systematic effects. Improving the NRQCD evolution equation altered the S-hyperfine by as much as 20 MeV, and we estimate radiative corrections may be as large as 40%.Comment: Lattice 2000 (Heavy Quark Physics

To what distances do we know the confining potential?

We argue that asymptotically linear static potential is built in into the common procedure of extracting it from lattice Wilson loop measurements. To illustrate the point, we extract the potential by the standard lattice method in a model vacuum made of instantons. A beautiful infinitely rising linear potential is obtained in the case where the true potential is actually flattening. We argue that the flux tube formation might be also an artifact of the lattice procedure and not necessarily a measured physical effect. We conclude that at present the rising potential is known for sure up to no more than about 0.7 fm. It may explain why no screening has been clearly observed so far for adjoint sources and for fundamental sources but with dynamical fermions. Finally, we speculate on how confinement could be achieved even if the static potential in the pure glue theory is not infinitely rising.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. Additional arguments presented, a new figure and references adde

Adjoint "quarks" on coarse anisotropic lattices: Implications for string breaking in full QCD

A detailed study is made of four dimensional SU(2) gauge theory with static adjoint ``quarks'' in the context of string breaking. A tadpole-improved action is used to do simulations on lattices with coarse spatial spacings $a_s$, allowing the static potential to be probed at large separations at a dramatically reduced computational cost. Highly anisotropic lattices are used, with fine temporal spacings $a_t$, in order to assess the behavior of the time-dependent effective potentials. The lattice spacings are determined from the potentials for quarks in the fundamental representation. Simulations of the Wilson loop in the adjoint representation are done, and the energies of magnetic and electric ``gluelumps'' (adjoint quark-gluon bound states) are calculated, which set the energy scale for string breaking. Correlators of gauge-fixed static quark propagators, without a connecting string of spatial links, are analyzed. Correlation functions of gluelump pairs are also considered; similar correlators have recently been proposed for observing string breaking in full QCD and other models. A thorough discussion of the relevance of Wilson loops over other operators for studies of string breaking is presented, using the simulation results presented here to support a number of new arguments.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure

Distribution of the color fields around static quarks: Flux tube profiles

We report detailed calculations of the profiles of energy and action densities in the quark-antiquark string in SU(2) lattice gauge theory.Comment: 40 pages, LSUHE 94-15

Spatial Intensity Distribution Analysis Reveals Abnormal Oligomerization of Proteins in Single Cells

AbstractKnowledge of membrane receptor organization is essential for understanding the initial steps in cell signaling and trafficking mechanisms, but quantitative analysis of receptor interactions at the single-cell level and in different cellular compartments has remained highly challenging. To achieve this, we apply a quantitative image analysis technique—spatial intensity distribution analysis (SpIDA)—that can measure fluorescent particle concentrations and oligomerization states within different subcellular compartments in live cells. An important technical challenge faced by fluorescence microscopy-based measurement of oligomerization is the fidelity of receptor labeling. In practice, imperfect labeling biases the distribution of oligomeric states measured within an aggregated system. We extend SpIDA to enable analysis of high-order oligomers from fluorescence microscopy images, by including a probability weighted correction algorithm for nonemitting labels. We demonstrated that this fraction of nonemitting probes could be estimated in single cells using SpIDA measurements on model systems with known oligomerization state. Previously, this artifact was measured using single-step photobleaching. This approach was validated using computer-simulated data and the imperfect labeling was quantified in cells with ion channels of known oligomer subunit count. It was then applied to quantify the oligomerization states in different cell compartments of the proteolipid protein (PLP) expressed in COS-7 cells. Expression of a mutant PLP linked to impaired trafficking resulted in the detection of PLP tetramers that persist in the endoplasmic reticulum, while no difference was measured at the membrane between the distributions of wild-type and mutated PLPs. Our results demonstrate that SpIDA allows measurement of protein oligomerization in different compartments of intact cells, even when fractional mislabeling occurs as well as photobleaching during the imaging process, and reveals insights into the mechanism underlying impaired trafficking of PLP

Prospectives

Tiré de: Prospectives, vol. 11, no 4, oct. 1975Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 24 janv. 2013

Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory for full QCD

We give a full account of the Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory method for Lattice Gauge Theories. Particular relevance is given to the inclusion of dynamical fermions, which turns out to be surprisingly cheap in this context. We analyse the underlying stochastic process and discuss the convergence properties. We perform some benchmark calculations and - as a byproduct - we present original results for Wilson loops and the 3-loop critical mass for Wilson fermions.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figures; syntax revise