A critical overview of intrafamilial sexual abuse: Recognition of symptomology and the efficacy of group treatment

This paper provides the reader with knowledge of symptomology and a profile of the effects of intrafamilial sexual abuse on survivors of this devastating experience. This work provides a brief overview of group therapy as an effective remedial treatment for this population. This type of abuse, considered taboo in American society, is often kept secret. However, it is a highly prevalent social problem, affecting at least one third of the population (McFarlane, Waterman, Conerly, Damon, Durfee, & Long, 1986). Considering the prevalence and secrecy of this phenomenon, it is extremely important that mental health professionals are able to identify possible indicators of this abuse and to bring it to the surface in a caring, gentle, and therapeutic manner

Results from a Research Project about foliar fertilizers in organic fruit-growing

The intention of this research project, which was supported within the "Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau", was to investigate in 2003 the situation on organic apple farms of nutrition of leaves and fruits of the variety 'Topaz' and 'Elstar'. The contents of N, P, K, Ca and Mg were determined in the leaves in April, June and August, micronutrients like Fe, Mn, Zn, B and Cu in April and August. The number of flower-clusters per tree, the fruit-setting and the yield were investigated. There were great differences between the orchards, the yield per tree varied between 3 and 24 kg, depending from the age and height of the trees. Field trials were done to proof the effect of the foliar fertilizers Vinasse, Biokal, Phytoamin, Wuxal Ascofol and Humulus. Effects on the fruit-setting (apples per flower-cluster) were low after application for one season. The average fruit-weight did not vary heavily, some differences were found in the percentage of flowerbuds in December 2003

Comparison of air fluorescence and ionization measurements of E.M. shower depth profiles: test of a UHECR detector technique

ManuscriptMeasurements are reported on the fluorescence of air as a function of depth in electromagnetic showers initiated by bunches of 28.5 GeV electrons. The light yield is compared with the expected and observed depth profiles of ionization in the showers. It validates the use of atmospheric fluorescence profiles in measuring ultra high energy cosmic rays

Techniques for measuring atmospheric aerosols at the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment

We describe several techniques developed by the High Resolution Fly's Eye experiment for measuring aerosol vertical optical depth, aerosol horizontal attenuation length, and aerosol phase function. The techniques are based on measurements of side-scattered light generated by a steerable ultraviolet laser and collected by an optical detector designed to measure fluorescence light from cosmic-ray air showers. We also present a technique to cross-check the aerosol optical depth measurement using air showers observed in stereo. These methods can be used by future air fluorescence experiments.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics Journal 16 pages, 9 figure

Evidence for virtual Compton scattering from the proton

In virtual Compton scattering an electron is scattered off a nucleon such that the nucleon emits a photon. We show that these events can be selected experimentally, and present the first evidence for virtual Compton scattering from the proton in data obtained at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The angular and energy dependence of the data is well described by a calculation that includes the coherent sum of electron and proton radiation

Modeling Effective Dosages in Hormetic Dose-Response Studies

BACKGROUND: Two hormetic modifications of a monotonically decreasing log-logistic dose-response function are most often used to model stimulatory effects of low dosages of a toxicant in plant biology. As just one of these empirical models is yet properly parameterized to allow inference about quantities of interest, this study contributes the parameterized functions for the second hormetic model and compares the estimates of effective dosages between both models based on 23 hormetic data sets. Based on this, the impact on effective dosage estimations was evaluated, especially in case of a substantially inferior fit by one of the two models. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The data sets evaluated described the hormetic responses of four different test plant species exposed to 15 different chemical stressors in two different experimental dose-response test designs. Out of the 23 data sets, one could not be described by any of the two models, 14 could be better described by one of the two models, and eight could be equally described by both models. In cases of misspecification by any of the two models, the differences between effective dosages estimates (0-1768%) greatly exceeded the differences observed when both models provided a satisfactory fit (0-26%). This suggests that the conclusions drawn depending on the model used may diverge considerably when using an improper hormetic model especially regarding effective dosages quantifying hormesis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The study showed that hormetic dose responses can take on many shapes and that this diversity can not be captured by a single model without risking considerable misinterpretation. However, the two empirical models considered in this paper together provide a powerful means to model, prove, and now also to quantify a wide range of hormetic responses by reparameterization. Despite this, they should not be applied uncritically, but after statistical and graphical assessment of their adequacy