A Review of the Literature Regarding a History of Sexual Abuse as a Risk Factor for Risky Sexual Behavior in Females

Objective: This paper seeks to answer the questions: Does a history of sexual abuse predict risky sexual behavior for females? If so, by what mechanisms does this correlation occur? Method: A literature review was conducted to identify research articles that investigated the correlation between sexual abuse and sexual behavior. Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Medline and PsychInfo databases were searched. Medline and CINAHL databases were searched using the terms sexual abuse and risky sexual behaviors. PsychInfo was searched using the terms sexual abuse, risky sexual behaviors, and risk taking behaviors. Studies examined multiple or single incidents of abuse and both childhood and adult victimization. Only abstracts published in English from 1997 and later were considered. Ultimately, 12 articles were reviewed and discussed. Results: There is a correlation between child and adolescent sexual abuse and risky sexual behaviors but the mechanisms by which this correlation exists are not fully understood. The mechanisms may be dependent on the interplay of pre-victimization, victimization, and post-victimization factors. Implications: This review indicates that it is important to conduct more prospective studies with various samples and sample sizes in order to clarify the mechanisms by which a victim of sexual abuse is at an increased risk for becoming involved in risky sexual behaviors

Robustness of spatial micronetworks

Power lines, roadways, pipelines, and other physical infrastructure are critical to modern society. These structures may be viewed as spatial networks where geographic distances play a role in the functionality and construction cost of links. Traditionally, studies of network robustness have primarily considered the connectedness of large, random networks. Yet for spatial infrastructure, physical distances must also play a role in network robustness. Understanding the robustness of small spatial networks is particularly important with the increasing interest in microgrids, i.e., small-area distributed power grids that are well suited to using renewable energy resources. We study the random failures of links in small networks where functionality depends on both spatial distance and topological connectedness. By introducing a percolation model where the failure of each link is proportional to its spatial length, we find that when failures depend on spatial distances, networks are more fragile than expected. Accounting for spatial effects in both construction and robustness is important for designing efficient microgrids and other network infrastructure

All American Beauty: The Experiences of African American, European American, and Japanese American Women with Beauty Culture in the Mid-twentieth Century Untied States

This study documents how shifting attitudes regarding female display were negotiated between the start of World War II in 1941 and the close of the 1950s. During the middle decades of the twentieth century, multiple players including women, men, employers, and the U. S. government, defined beauty, charm, poise, and grace as essential characteristics of womanhood, creating what I term an all-American beauty ideal. By examining this ideal as it functioned in the lives of African American, European American, and Japanese American women, I argue that each of these groups inscribed its own notions of gender, power, race, and nationalism into representations of the female form. Analyzing this ideal as it operated within and outside of American borders, my study demonstrates the many ways in which beauty culture functioned as a powerful mechanism to expand or diminish the cultural, economic, and political agency of various social groups in the middle decades of the twentieth century

Economics of tillage management systems in northeastern Alberta

Non-Peer ReviewedThe economic returns and riskiness of continuous barley production using four tillage management systems were compared at five sites in three soil zones in northeastern Alberta. The study used five years of data from a tillage experiment in northeastern Alberta. The four tillage systems included conventional one (C1), which leaves 5% standing stubble, conventional two (C2), which leaves 50% standing stubble, minimum-tillage (Min), and zero-tillage (ZT). Economic calculations were based on 1992 input costs and product prices. The systems were evaluated at barley prices of $46,$69, and $92 t-1, calculated with and without all risk crop insurance. Over the five sites the expected net returns were generally higher for ZT at all barley prices. Income variability was usually lower for ZT and C2 depending on the site. The study concluded that use of reduced tillage management systems by producers in northeastern Alberta could increase farm-level returns and reduce the risk of financial loss, while potentially decreasing the amount of soil erosion