A Count of Coping Strategies: A Longitudinal Study Investigating an Alternative Method to Understanding Coping and Adjustment

Coping flexibility – an individual’s ability to modify and change coping strategies depending on the context – may be an important but under-examined aspect of coping. The availability of numerous coping strategies may be an important precursor to coping flexibility, given that flexibility can only be obtained if an individual is able to access and use different coping strategies. Typically, studies examining coping compute means, which assess not only what strategies are used but also how much they are used. This means-based approach fails to differentiate between infrequent use of many strategies and frequent use of one or two strategies. One way to disentangle the effects of these alternative styles of coping is to count the number of strategies that an individual uses without attention to how frequently they use them (i.e., a count-based approach). The present longitudinal study compared a count-based model and a means-based model of coping and adjustment among undergraduates (N = 1,132). An autoregressive cross-lagged path analysis revealed that for the count-based approach, using a greater number of positive coping strategies led to more positive adjustment and less suicide ideation over time than using a smaller number of positive coping strategies. Further, engagement in a greater number of negative coping strategies predicted more depressive symptoms and poorer emotion regulation over time. In comparison, the means-based model revealed similar results for negative coping strategies; however, engagement in more frequent positive coping strategies did not predict better positive adjustment over time. Thus, a count-based approach offers a novel way to examine how the number of coping strategies that individuals use can help promote adjustment among university students

Biološka i društvena kategorija roda u rodnoj teoriji i rodna teorija stereotipa

U radu se razmatra biološka i društvena kategorija roda u okviru rodne teorije, te se razrađuje njihov odraz u rodnoj teoriji stereotipa s uvođenjem izvorne rodne teorije u hrvatskome jeziku i pratećega nazivlja u hrvatsku sociolingvistiku.The paper considers the biological and social categories of gender within the framework of gender theory. It provides an outline of existing respective gender accounts, interspersed with additional comments and conclusions. It also lays a foundation for a genuine Croatian gender theory of stereotypes, including its definition, elaboration and further scientific classification in accordance with its static or dynamic provenance. Consequently, it introduces some original Croatian gender terminology, such as: 3D stereo type, stereotypization, stereotypizing and stereotypoid. The newly introduced terminology provides theoretical framework for scientific research of gender, but also contributes to the establishment of Croatian gender concepts and terminology

Commissioned Textile Design for Government House, Sydney

Commissioned Textile Design for Government House, Sydney The project was part of the Historic Houses Trust To Furnish a Future Program, a five-year refurbishment plan to redesign the interior of Government House, Sydney, 2002-2007. I was commissioned to design a contemporary lace curtain for the State Rooms. Throughout a three-year interview period I presented new concepts and methodologies for the lace curtain â to a series of judging panels consisting of leading architects, historians, curators and design experts. This work is part of ongoing research-by-design investigation into the possibilities of contemporary lace. New production techniques, the possibilities of digital imagery and non-traditional imagery are explored in the context of the unique open-work structure of lace. The motivation behind these projects is to bring the qualities of lace into the world of modern textiles, fashion, interior design and architecture. These investigations combine technical and aesthetic innovation. The significance of this research is that it stands alone in its field and has created an original Australian lace innovation; one that is unique to our culture and times. It breaks away from the traditional European floral motif normally associated with lace design. It references botanical illustrations specific to NSW and, in particular, the work of the Scott sisters who left a plethora of botanical illustrations in the 1900s. The scale, composition and repeat of the design completely breaks away from the high decorative style associated with traditional lace design, giving it a uniquely Australian aesthetic of light, space and scale

Aerial Lace

Aerial Lace is a suite of fifteen textile works that explore memory, place and identity. The work reflects on the experience of migration and the process of cultural assimilation. It seeks to extend metaphorical and material translations of lace. The series was selected for Sensorial Loop, the 1st Tamworth Textile Triennial. The Triennial explores the change and blurring of boundaries in Australian textile practice today. From 24 September to 26 November 2011, the Tamworth Regional Gallery featured the work of 22 textile artists, selected by Guest Curator Patrick Snelling. The Triennial is an incarnation of the Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial, and continues its rigorous and stimulating contribution to Australias cultural calendar

The development of sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents

Several theories of adolescent brain development suggest that adolescence is a sensitive period of development characterized by the onset of internalizing problems, such as anxiety. Sensitivity to threat, a heightened responsiveness to aversive situations, has been suggested to be a precursor to anxiety, highlighting the importance of understanding sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents. Yet relatively little is known about the development of sensitivity to threat. Further, identifying the neural indicators that are associated with heightened sensitivity to threat would help classify which youth are most at risk for anxiety. The primary goals of my dissertation were: 1) to explore whether adolescents, compared to children, have heightened sensitive to threat, 2) assess which neural indicators are associated with heightened sensitivity to threat, and 3) assess whether individual differences (e.g., in consistency of sensitivity to threat across time and situation) help predict which youth are most at risk for anxiety-related problems. Study 1 of my dissertation examined, with concurrent data, whether adolescents have greater neural sensitivity to negative feedback compared to children. Study 2 examined whether children and adolescents differ in their longitudinal trajectories of sensitivity to threat (e.g., consistency across time). I also was interested in whether these trajectories were associated with frontal asymmetry, a neural indicator associated with avoidance motivations. Study 3 extended the findings from Study 2 to examine consistency across threatening situations. While Studies 1 through 3 investigated whether adolescence is a period of heightened sensitivity to threat, Study 4 of my dissertation used a latent class analysis to investigate whether individual differences in sensitivity to threat, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation are associated with anxiety and/or risk taking. Results indicated that adolescence (especially when defined by pubertal status), may be a normative period for sensitivity to threat. At the same time, not all youth who are sensitive to threat go on to develop anxiety; thus, it may be that for many adolescents, sensitivity to threat is an adolescent-limited phenomenon, meaning that threat sensitivity may peak in adolescence, but then tapers off into adulthood. Importantly, neural indicators associated with threat sensitivity helped identify which youth may have the highest levels of threat sensitivity. Overall, my dissertation shows that while some level of sensitivity to threat is normative, it is less common for youth to be consistently sensitive to threats and importantly, these youth who are consistently sensitive appear to be most at risk. Taken together, the four studies of my dissertation incorporate EEG, longitudinal designs, multiple indicators of development (age and pubertal status), and self-report data to gain a holistic understanding of sensitivity to threat from childhood to adolescence

Evolution of the Hox gene fushi tarazu in arthropods

Homeotic (Hox) genes are important in determining regional identity in virtually all metazoans,and are conserved throughout the animal kingdom. In Drosophila melanogaster, fushi tarazu (ftz) is located within the Hox complex and contains a Hox-like DNA-binding homeodomain, but functions as a pair-rule segmentation gene. At some point(s) during evolution, ftz has undergone three specific changes thought to contribute to its new segmentation function in Drosophila: 1) The gain of an LXXLL motif allowed for interaction with a new co-factor, Ftz-F1; 2) The degeneration of the YPWM motif decreased the ability to interact with the homeotic co-factor Exd; 3) ftz expression switched from Hox-like to seven stripes in Drosophila. Here I isolated ftz sequences and examined expression from arthropods spanning 550 million years of evolutionary time to track these changes in ftz. I found that while the LXXLL motif required for segmentation was stably acquired at the base of the holometabolous insects, the YPWM motif degenerated independently many times in arthropod lineages, and these `degen-YPWMs' vary in their homeotic potential. Additionally, ftz expression in a crustacean is in a weak Hox-like pattern, suggesting a model in which different ftz variants could arise in nature and not be detrimental to organismal development. Given my findings that ftz sequence and expression is so dynamic, I investigated the features that may be preventing ftz fossilization in arthropod genomes. I tested the hypothesis that a broadly conserved role of ftz in the developing central nervous system (CNS) retains ftz in arthropod genomes. This model predicts that the homeodomain, but not variable co-factor interaction motifs, is required for Ftz CNS function. Evidence supporting this model was obtained from CNS-specific rescue experiments in Drosophila. Additionally I examined the expression and function of ftz and ftz-f1 in the short-germ beetle Tribolium castaneum. I found that both genes are expressed in pair-rule patterns, and preliminary results suggest that ftz-f1 is important for proper segmentation and cuticle deposition, and ftz function may be partially redundant with ftz-f1. Taken together, these findings show that variation of a pleiotropic transcription factor is more extensive than previously imagined, and suggest that evolutionary plasticity may be widespread among regulatory genes

Language Lace: thinking and speaking through material making

Over the last decade interdisciplinary engagement with lace has opened up an emerging space for designers to explore new materials and technologies that question conventional forms of textile making and meaning. The focus of this article is to present contemporary approaches to lacemaking as a creative exploratory response to a local environment. The article will present a textile installation created for the Museum Central de Textile in Lódź, Poland in 2013. Here historical embroidered laces known as punto en aire (translation: ‘stitches in the air’) will be re- imagined as a modern-day place marker. Philosophies of striated and smooth space (Deleuze & Guattari 1988) will explore metaphor through the relationship between language and material structures as a means to move beyond the surface reading of a textile. This article seeks to find original research methodologies for place making in textiles and in doing so present an expanded view of the field

Integrated Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A). Engineering Test Report: AMSU-A1 EOS Instrument, (S/N 202) Qualification Level Vibration Tests of August/September 1998, (S/O 565632, OC-417) Plus Addendum A

The purpose of this report is to present a qualification level vibration testing performed on the S/N 202, EOS AMSU-A1 Instrument was vibration tested to qualification levels per the Ref. 1 shop order. The instrument withstood the 8 g sine sweep test, the 7.5 Grms random vibration test, and the 18.75 g sine burst test in each of the three orthogonal axes. Some loss of transmissibility, however, is seen in the lower reflector after Z-axis random vibration. The test sequence was not without incidence. Failure of Channel 7 in the Limited Performance Test (LPT) performed after completion of the 1 st (X-axis) axis vibration sequence, required replacement of the DRO and subsequent re-testing of the instrument. The post-vibration comprehensive performance test (CPT) was successfully run after completion of the three axes of vibration with the replacement component installed in the instrument. Passing the CPT signified the successful completion of the S/N 202 A1 qualification vibration testing