Sexual Desire Trajectories: Heterosexual Individuals\u27 Perceptions of the State and Trait Characteristics of Desire

Significant theoretical and empirical attention has aimed to classify sexual desire in a way that accounts for its complexities. A recent question to arise from this discussion is whether desire is best conceptualized as a state or a trait. Limited data examine patterns of desire spanning several years, and most data emanate from cross-sectional or short-term follow-up studies. Long-term accounts of desire level variability remain a gap in the literature, as does research inquiring directly about the question of trait desire. Thirteen heterosexual women and ten heterosexual men, ages 40-63, participated in a semi-structured interview focusing on desire level and variability across the lifespan, causal factors for desire changes, and perception of trait and state-level desire. Men and women also provided a graphic representation of desire level across their lifetime. The sample of women in this study were generally desirous, and content with their desire level. What emerged from narratives of their desire trajectories was a model of desire development, beginning in adolescence and evolving through middle adulthood, composed of three relatively distinct stages. In their adolescent years, desire was not experienced as its own entity with a connection to their own wants. Instead, what was salient during this time was sexual activity driven by a yearning for validation or by a pressure to fulfill societal or partner expectations, often followed by feelings of shame for having been sexual. Then, as women progressed through their adult lives, they accumulated personal and relational experiences that clarified exactly what and how they desire. Finally, at the time of the interviews they appeared to have defined what desire is to them, to have developed their own expectations for sex and relationships, and to place high value on enacting their desire in line with these expectations. The majority of women in this sample viewed themselves as having a trait level of desire, with fluctuations seen as circumstantial deviations from this trait level. Men’s trajectories did not reveal a developmental model. They largely viewed their desire level as a trait and had a clear sense of desire from late adolescence or early adulthood. In most cases, there were two or three key causal factors that influenced men’s trajectories, falling broadly into categories of Individual (self-esteem, well-being, stress, physical health, and aging) and Relational (positive relationship characteristics, and novelty and stagnation). Results support the characterization of desire level as a trait characteristic in some men and women. Interestingly, the way in which women determine their trait level of desire, given potentially significant variability across time, appears influenced by satisfaction with desire level. The graphic representations of lifespan desire level indicate a distinction between causal factors that influence the direction of the overall trajectory, versus those that were not sufficiently significant to factor into the trajectory. Results highlight the importance of intra-individual factors in desire development

Spatial and temporal variability of oceanic heat flux to the Arctic ice pack

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 110 (2005): C07021, doi:10.1029/2004JC002293.In order to simulate the large-scale structure and temporal variability of oceanic heat flux (F w) to the Arctic perennial ice pack, observations of heat in the mixed layer and ice dynamics are compared with parameterizations and climatologies. Long-term drifting platform observations of seawater temperature and salinity (primarily from automated buoys) are used to describe the annual cycle of temperature above freezing (ΔT f) in the mixed layer beneath the ice pack, which are modulated by ice-ocean friction velocities (u*) determined from the platform drifts to produce estimates of F w between 1975 and 1998. On average, ΔT f is not negligible in winter, especially in the Transpolar Drift, which implies a positive F w to the ice pack by means other than solar heating. A parameterization based solely on the solar zenith angle (with a 1 month lag) is found to largely describe the observed ΔT f (with root mean square error of 0.03°C), despite the lack of an albedo or open water term. A reconstruction of F w from 1979 to 2002 is produced by modulating parameterized ΔT f with u* on the basis of daily ice drift estimates from a composite satellite and in situ data set. The reconstructed estimates are corrected for regional variations and are compared to independent estimates of F w from ice mass balance measurements, indicating annual F w averages between 3 and 4 W m−2 depending on the selection of under-ice roughness length in the ice-ocean stress calculations. Although the interannual variations in ΔT f are fixed by the parameterization in the derived reconstruction, the dynamics indicate an overall positive trend (0.2 W m−2 decade−1) in Arctic F w, with the largest variations found in the southern Beaufort Gyre.Portions of this work were prepared with funding provided by the International Arctic Research Center and National Science Foundation ARCSS program (grant OPP-0230184). Analysis of the IOEB data was accomplished as part of the IOEB program, which was supported by the Office of Naval Research, High Latitude Program, and Japan Marine Science and Technology Center

The Importance of Being Uncomfortable and Unfinished

Our initial intention was to outline the structure of an entity, the Bear Healing Lodge, within the Faculty of Nursing at MacEwan. This structure was created out of the Truth and Reconciliation’s Calls to Action. However, as we engaged in critical discussions we realized that who we were becoming as persons, as we unpacked out privilege and power, was invaluable and informative to prepare us for authentic allyship and partnership. We realized that outcomes and endings were not the end goals, but being uncomfortable and unfinished were necessary for the creation of an ethical space for members to engage in decolonization of self. Authentic allyship and partnership must fundamentally be relational, create a brave space for vulnerability, and stimulate a shift in paradigms for multiple perspectives. We have humbly offered learning intentions, as solution-oriented perspectives, for others to learn which may lead to positive change. Résumé Notre intention première était de présenter la structure d’une entité, le Bear Healing Lodge, au sein de la Faculty of Nursing de MacEwan. Cette structure a été créée en suivi aux appels à l’action de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation. Cependant, alors que nous entamions des discussions critiques, nous avons réalisé que ce que nous devenions comme personnes, au fur et à mesure que nous remettions en question nos privilèges et notre pouvoir, nous préparait de manière inestimable et instructive à une alliance authentique et à un partenariat. Nous avons réalisé que les objectifs ultimes ne se résument pas aux résultats et aux conclusions, mais que le sentiment d’inconfort et d’incomplétude étaient nécessaires à la création d’un espace éthique permettant aux membres de s’engager dans la décolonisation de soi. Une alliance authentique et un partenariat sont fondamentalement relationnels, créant un espace sûr qui permet la vulnérabilité et stimulant un changement de paradigmes pour une ouverture à de nombreuses perspectives. Nous avons humblement offert des intentions d’apprentissage en tant que perspectives axées sur les solutions dans l’espoir d’un changement positif

Who or What Should I Be Like? The Self-Assessment of Sexual Desire

The construct of sexual desire has been notoriously difficult to capture and measure, in part as a function of questionable methods of sexual desire assessment. Due to problems finding an accurate, objective marker of sexual desire, research has relied on self-report. One notable difficulty with self-reported desire assessment is the lack of information on the context in which these assessments are made. The only available data focuses on relative assessment of sexual desire within couples, and ignores broader social and cultural contexts. The present study investigated men and women\u27s perception of sexual desire discrepancies between themselves and other people and groups, and the extent to which these perceived desire discrepancies related to broader aspects of sexuality, personality traits, and life satisfaction. Heterosexual women (N = 407) and men (N = 178) were recruited from a university participant pool, and completed a series of questionnaires examining perceived sexual desire discrepancies, sexual function, sexual self-concept, sexual distress, sexual double-standard beliefs, personality traits, and life satisfaction. Desire discrepancy was calculated in two ways, to account for both the direction of discrepancy (higher or lower desire relative to the comparison group), and the magnitude of discrepancy regardless of direction. Results indicated that men generally perceive their desire to be higher than comparison groups, while women generally perceive their desire to be lower. For both men and women, peers exerted the strongest influence on the assessment of overall desire levels. In general, men and women who perceived their desire to be more discrepant from comparison groups were less satisfied and more distressed with their desire levels. In women, larger perceived discrepancy, regardless of direction, was associated with lower sexual function, sexual esteem, sexual satisfaction, sexual optimism, life satisfaction, and emotional stability, as well as with higher sexual monitoring, global sexual distress, and conscientiousness. In men, larger perceived discrepancies, regardless of direction, were associated with lower sexual esteem, sexual satisfaction, sexual optimism, life satisfaction, and higher global sexual distress. These relationships were primarily observed with desire that was discrepant from what men and women thought it should be or wanted it to be

The seasonal variability of the Arctic Ocean Ekman transport and its role in the mixed layer heat and salt fluxes

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 19 (2006): 5366–5387, doi:10.1175/JCLI3892.1.The oceanic Ekman transport and pumping are among the most important parameters in studying the ocean general circulation and its variability. Upwelling due to the Ekman transport divergence has been identified as a leading mechanism for the seasonal to interannual variability of the upper-ocean heat content in many parts of the World Ocean, especially along coasts and the equator. Meanwhile, the Ekman pumping is the primary mechanism that drives basin-scale circulations in subtropical and subpolar oceans. In those ice-free oceans, the Ekman transport and pumping rate are calculated using the surface wind stress. In the ice-covered Arctic Ocean, the surface momentum flux comes from both air–water and ice–water stresses. The data required to compute these stresses are now available from satellite and buoy observations. But no basin-scale calculation of the Ekman transport in the Arctic Ocean has been done to date. In this study, a suite of satellite and buoy observations of ice motion, ice concentration, surface wind, etc., will be used to calculate the daily Ekman transport over the whole Arctic Ocean from 1978 to 2003 on a 25-km resolution. The seasonal variability and its relationship to the surface forcing fields will be examined. Meanwhile, the contribution of the Ekman transport to the seasonal fluxes of heat and salt to the Arctic Ocean mixed layer will be discussed. It was found that the greatest seasonal variations of Ekman transports of heat and salt occur in the southern Beaufort Sea in the fall and early winter when a strong anticyclonic wind and ice motion are present. The Ekman pumping velocity in the interior Beaufort Sea reaches as high as 10 cm day−1 in November while coastal upwelling is even stronger. The contributions of the Ekman transport to the heat and salt flux in the mixed layer are also considerable in the region.This study has been supported by NASA Cryospheric Science Program (Grant NNG04GP34G) and by the NSF Office of Polar Program (Grant OPP0424074)

A model of melt pond evolution on sea ice

A one-dimensional, thermodynamic, and radiative model of a melt pond on sea ice is presented that explicitly treats the melt pond as an extra phase. A two-stream radiation model, which allows albedo to be determined from bulk optical properties, and a parameterization of the summertime evolution of optical properties, is used. Heat transport within the sea ice is described using an equation describing heat transport in a mushy layer of a binary alloy (salt water). The model is tested by comparison of numerical simulations with SHEBA data and previous modeling. The presence of melt ponds on the sea ice surface is demonstrated to have a significant effect on the heat and mass balance. Sensitivity tests indicate that the maximum melt pond depth is highly sensitive to optical parameters and drainage. INDEX TERMS: 4207 Oceanography: General: Arctic and Antarctic oceanography; 4255 Oceanography: General: Numerical modeling; 4299 Oceanography: General: General or miscellaneous; KEYWORDS: sea ice, melt pond, albedo, Arctic Ocean, radiation model, thermodynami

Taijiquan the 'Taiji World' way: Towards a cosmopolitan vision of ecology.

In this article, we present a case study analysis of data gathered on the practice of the art of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) in one UK context. Our interest in looking at this physical culture was in exploring if/how physical cultures of shared embodied experience and practice may help “sow the seeds of environmental awareness”. In so doing, we illustrate certain affinities between this interpretation of the art and Beck’s idea of a “cosmopolitan vision of ecology”. We present an analysis of documentary and interview data of one English Taijiquan organisation and how it currently promotes the idea of interconnectedness, wellbeing and an alternative meta-narrative for living through the practice of Taijiquan. We conclude that, while further research is needed, there is evidence that a cosmopolitan vision for ecology is emerging in physical cultures such as Taijiquan