Correlates of 9-month-old infants\u27 night awakening

There are individual differences in 9-month-old infants\u27 night awakening behavior. Some infants are able to soothe themselves back to sleep however; others are unable to fall back asleep without parental intervention. Attending to a waking infant frequently during the night may cause problems for parents due to the effects of sleep deprivation. In particular, mothers of infants who are sleep deprived as a result of their infants\u27 frequent night awakenings have been found to experience deficits in mood and perceptions of their infants. Given that there are individual differences in night awakening behavior the present study sought to determine: (1) whether infant characteristics were associated with night awakening and (2) whether variations in infant night awakening were related to infant behavior and maternal characteristics and behaviors. Specific factors were found to be related to infant night awakening in 9-month-olds. Care-giving factors such as feeding method, method used to put the infant to sleep, and co-sleeping practices were all related to infant night awakening. Individual difference factors were also associated with infant night awakening. Infants who experienced separation anxiety, were dysregulated, napped more, and cried more experienced more night awakening than infants who did not have these characteristics. No individual difference factors in the mother were related to maternal perceptions of and expectations for the infant. However, variations in infant night awakening were related to individual differences in maternal characteristics. Mothers whose infants awakened more frequently during the night reported experiencing more sleep deprivation, more depressive symptoms, and lower levels of optimism. These findings can be used to guide future research, which could utilize experimental methods to ascertain whether infant night awakening can be reduced or eliminated by manipulating environmental conditions. If night awakening is reduced through these experimental methods then the difficulties associated with maternal sleep deprivation, such as deficits in mood and optimism, could also be alleviated

Reproducibility of Biovolumetric Parameters in Community Reconstruction

Author Institution: Department of Geological Sciences, Wright State UniversityCriticisms have been raised about the inadequacies of methods in community paleoecological analysis. Until recently, most paleoecological studies were done by specialists in individual taxonomic groups. Because of this specialization, most data collected favored certain groups. Other fossils were either ignored, discounted, or loosely labelled qualitatively under descriptive terms as: rare, occasional or abundantly present. Ausich (1981) and Boucot (1981) have independently proposed methods of community analysis whereby the biovolume (shelly biomass) of all taxa present are quantified. To date, little has been done to substantiate the reproducibility of data obtained in this manner for level, soft-bottom, Paleozoic communities. A level, soft-bottom, Middle Devonian community is analyzed here using the sampling model proposed by Ausich (1981). Trends in the comparisons of biovolume to minimum number counts are shown to be reproducible as are trends in each of these catagories within individual horizontally continuous beds. Informational loss and quantitative reproducibility for this new method is shown to be an improvement over prior methodology

Effects of maternal sleep deprivation on maternal sensitivity and contingent responsiveness

Research has revealed that sleep deprivation deleteriously affects several aspects of adults\u27 behavior, such as mood, cognition, and motor performance. One population that is subject to sleep deprivation and the accompanying consequences are parents of young infants. The present study explored how sleep deprivation, resulting from infant night awakening, affects the face-to-face interaction between mothers and their 3- to 4-month-old infants. Contrary to the proposed hypotheses the groups did not differ in sensitivity or contingent responsiveness. However, regression analyses revealed that depression and sleep deprivation together significantly predicted contingent responsiveness during the interaction. Mothers who were more depressed and sleep deprived were less likely than other mothers to smile or vocalize in response to an infant smile or vocalization. These findings suggest that maternal sleep deprivation, resulting from infant night awakening in combination with depression, suppresses their contingent responsiveness to their infants\u27 social cues

Rhetorical and musical synthesis and the strategies for inter-generational resonance in Queen\u27s Bohemian rhapsody

This study critically examines the popular rock anthem Bohemian Rhapsody to understand why the song has remained a lasting and eminently compelling standard for the progressive rock genre and why it has appealed through an inter-generational scope. Through the use of Close Textual Analysis (CTA), with an emphasis on metaphoric criticism, combined with Music Analysis of the score using popular song analysis tools, this study deconstructs the song and uncovered rhetorical strategies of the music and the lyrics as they function separately. In the conclusion, the two methodological approaches are synthesized to reveal the intertextual interanimation of the music and lyrics together, resulting in a complete musical experience that allows listeners from all generations and on all continents to enter the interpretive space of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody

A Character and A Fame to Model Their Own: Statesmanship, Masculinity, and Honor in Northern Political Culture, 1852-1874

The advent of the 1850s ushered in a period great change in the United States. Finding themselves in a moment of transition punctuated with a political changing of the guard, Americans were prompted to consider what kinds of political leadership they valued in the midst of sectional conflict and crisis. By the 1870s, the ideals northerners held looked very different than those touted only two decades before. Using the eulogies of Daniel Webster, Stephen A. Douglas, and Charles Sumner, this thesis explores how changing ideals of masculinity drove the transformation of northern political culture and in particular its values regarding statesmanship. It argues that as shifting gender ideals and the politics of slavery prompted northerners to reconsider what kind of manhood they believed was capable of maintaining the nation’s character, voter preferences shifted from favoring restrained manhood to martial manhood

Ties That Bind: The Emergence of Iron Tie Rod Reinforcement in Load Bearing Masonry Buildings of Charleston, S.C.

Comprehensive studies of structural tie rods in Charleston\u27s load bearing masonry buildings are scarce. While the presence of these anchors on building facades fascinates passersby and is appreciated throughout the city, a general knowledge of their history and emergence as a technology is lacking. Often associated with the earthquake of 1886, iron tie rods were in fact present in Charleston buildings as early as the 18th century. And while the effect of the 1886 earthquake on Charleston\u27s built environment is typically looked at from a sociological or political perspective, and the physical effect has been studied extensively, rarely has the history of Charleston\u27s buildings been looked at in relation to their earthquake safety and resistance. In the direct aftermath and subsequent years following the earthquake of 1886, extensive studies were conducted to determine the effect on the Charleston\u27s buildings. The use of iron tie rods abounded as an earthquake damage repair technique, yet documentation of their use is limited. The following thesis presents an overview of iron tie rod form and function in Europe and America. Further narrowing in scope, it compiles information on the subject matter focusing specifically on the use of tie rods and `earthquake bolts\u27 in Charleston. While this has not been an exhaustive study, its findings establish a solid foundation for future research of the Charleston building tradition and the universal preservation of wrought iron tie rod reinforcement in North America

Multiple Information Sources and Equilibrium in Financial Markets

The purpose of the dissertation is to examine the interaction among multiple information sources in financial markets such as among analysts and firm managers and the effect of these interactions on the information available in financial markets. In the first chapter, analysts of heterogeneous abilities may choose which firm to cover, firms with or without prior coverage, and then issue earnings forecasts. The information an analyst observes depends on his ability and may be correlated with that of other analysts who cover the same firm. It is shown that analysts with career concerns, i.e., who aim to appear well informed, may differ in their coverage decisions. Thus, analyst initiations of coverage provide information about analysts’ abilities. Also, depending on the correlation of analysts’ information and the prevalence of competent analysts, analysts’ reputations are not necessarily monotonic in forecast accuracy, in contrast to the prevalent assumption in the empirical literature. Further, incompetent analysts bias their forecast if their information is not sufficiently precise. It is shown that forecasting bias is more likely when a few analysts cover the same firm than when an analyst initiates exclusive firm coverage. In the second chapter, the interaction between analysts and firms’ managers is examined. A firm’s manager may be regarding future demand and may disclose it at his discretion. An analyst who covers the firm’s industry observes relevant information and issues a (possibly biased) forecast. Whether the analyst issues a biased or unbiased forecast is unknown to investors, who price the firm based on the available information. It is shown that investors’ beliefs about the manager’s information endowment and the analyst’s forecasting objective are endogenously intertwined. Thus, in addition to the direct role of the analyst’s forecast in providing information, the forecast has an indirect effect by influencing investors’ beliefs regarding the manager’s information endowment. If the analyst’s forecast comes after the manager’s possible disclosure, it is shown that analyst coverage crowds out the manager’s disclosure compared to the case without coverage. If the analyst’s forecast precedes the manager’s disclosure, the manager may disclose his information even when the analyst issues a positively biased forecast