Performed and Perceived Masculinity in Father-Son Relationships from the Perspective of Sons: A Thematic Narrative Analysis

The current study qualitatively explored father-son relationships and the perceptions and performances of masculinity within that relationship from the perspective of sons. Through the utilization of symbolic interactionism and narrative as theoretical and conceptual frameworks narratives were collected as a means to make sense of participants\u27 experiences and interactions with their fathers throughout their lives. Through a multi-phase analysis and utilizing Riessman\u27s (2008) thematic narrative analysis as an ideological and practical basis, RQ1, which asked what themes underlie sons\u27 narratives surrounding the performance and perceptions of masculinity within their father-son relationships, yielded the following three themes: (1) traditional masculinity; (2) responsibility; and (3) non-traditional masculinity. From RQ2 which asked what themes underlie sons\u27 narratives surrounding the construction of sons\u27 identities, roles and relationships within father-son relationships, the following three themes emerged: (1) perceptions of father(ing); (2) sons\u27 perceptions of self; and (3) turning point perspectives. RQ3 which asked what themes underlie sons\u27 narratives surrounding father-son contextual differences/similarities offer insight into both the performance and perception of masculinity and father-son relationships, resulted in four main themes: (1) history/family; (2) romantic/interpersonal relationships; (3) culture; and (4) sex and gender. Lastly, RQ4 which asked which themes stemming from sons\u27 dialogue and performances within the context of interviews offer insight into their narratives surrounding father-son relationships and masculinity gained further comprehension in to specific thematic dialogic and performative instances within participant responses. From these results this study added insight and understanding conceptually, ideologically, theoretically, and methodologically into the areas of family communication, gender communication and masculinity studies. Finally, the current study contributes further pragmatic understanding for individuals inside and outside father-son relationships when negotiating identities, roles and relationships regarding masculinity

Happiness Index Methodology

The Happiness Index is a comprehensive survey instrument that assesses happiness, well-being, and aspects of sustainability and resilience. The Happiness Alliance developed the Happiness Index to provide a survey instrument to community organizers, researchers, and others seeking to use a subjective well-being index and data. It is the only instrument of its kind freely available worldwide and translated into over ten languages. This instrument can be used to measure satisfaction with life and the conditions of life. It can also be used to define income inequality, trust in government, sense of community and other aspects of well-being within specific demographics of a population. This manuscript documents the development the Happiness Index between 2011 and 2015, and includes suggestions for implementation

Validation of seismic hazard curves using a calibrated 14 ka lacustrine record in the Eastern Alps, Austria.

Seismic hazard maps are crucial for earthquake mitigation and mostly rely on probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). However, the practise and value of PSHA are under debate because objective testing procedures for seismic hazard maps are scarce. We present a lacustrine turbidite record revealing 44 earthquakes over the last ~ 14 ka and use it to test seismic hazard curves in southern Austria. We derive local seismic intensities for paleo-earthquakes by applying scaling relationships between the sedimentary imprint and seismic intensity of well-documented historical earthquakes. The last ~ 2.8 ka of the record agree with a Poissonian recurrence behaviour and therefore a constant hazard rate, which is the modelling choice for standard PSHA. The lacustrine data are consistent with the intensity-frequency relationship of the local seismic hazard curve, confirming the current PSHA approach for this part of Austria. On longer timescales, distinct phases of enhanced regional seismicity occurred, indicating a potential increase of seismic hazard after large earthquakes-a factor hitherto disregarded in the PSHA of the Eastern Alps. Our new method forms an independent procedure to test hazard maps in any setting where suitable lake systems are available

Heats of vaporization of room temperature ionic liquids by tunable vacuum ultraviolet photoionization

The heats of vaporization of the room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bistrifluorosulfonylimide, N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide are determined using a heated effusive vapor source in conjunction with single photon ionization by a tunable vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron source. The relative gas phase ionic liquid vapor densities in the effusive beam are monitored by clearly distinguished dissociative photoionization processes via a time-of-flight mass spectrometer at a tunable vacuum ultraviolet beamline 9.0.2.3 (Chemical Dynamics Beamline) at the Advanced Light Source synchrotron facility. Resulting in relatively few assumptions, through the analysis of both parent cations and fragment cations, the heat of vaporization of N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bistrifluorosulfonylimide is determined to be Delta Hvap(298.15 K) = 195+-19 kJ mol-1. The observed heats of vaporization of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (Delta Hvap(298.15 K) = 174+-12 kJ mol-1) and N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide (Delta Hvap(298.15 K) = 171+-12 kJ mol-1) are consistent with reported experimental values using electron impact ionization. The tunable vacuum ultraviolet source has enabled accurate measurement of photoion appearance energies. These appearance energies are in good agreement with MP2 calculations for dissociative photoionization of the ion pair. These experimental heats of vaporization, photoion appearance energies, and ab initio calculations corroborate vaporization of these RTILs as intact cation-anion ion pairs

Your Trash Is Someone's Treasure The Politics of Value at a Michigan Landfill

This article discusses scavenging and dumping as alternative approaches to deriving value from rubbish at a large Michigan landfill. Both practices are attuned to the indeterminacy and power of abandoned things, but in different ways. Whereas scavenging relies on acquiring familiarity with an object by getting to know its particular qualities, landfilling and other forms of mass disposal make discards fungible and manipulable by stripping them of their former identities. By way of examining the different ways in which people become invested in the politics of value at the landfill, whether as part of expressions of gender and class or for personal enjoyment, different comportments toward materiality are revealed to have underlying social and moral implications. In particular, it is argued that different approaches to the evaluation of rubbish involve competing understandings of human and material potential

Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2) generates bioactive phospholipid products implicated in atherosclerosis. The sPLA2inhibitor varespladib has favorable effects on lipid and inflammatory markers; however, its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of sPLA2inhibition with varespladib on cardiovascular outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial at 362 academic and community hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, and North America of 5145 patients randomized within 96 hours of presentation of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to either varespladib (n = 2572) or placebo (n = 2573) with enrollment between June 1, 2010, and March 7, 2012 (study termination on March 9, 2012). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive varespladib (500 mg) or placebo daily for 16 weeks, in addition to atorvastatin and other established therapies. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy measurewas a composite of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with evidence of ischemia requiring hospitalization at 16 weeks. Six-month survival status was also evaluated. RESULTS: At a prespecified interim analysis, including 212 primary end point events, the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended termination of the trial for futility and possible harm. The primary end point occurred in 136 patients (6.1%) treated with varespladib compared with 109 patients (5.1%) treated with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25; 95%CI, 0.97-1.61; log-rank P = .08). Varespladib was associated with a greater risk of MI (78 [3.4%] vs 47 [2.2%]; HR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.16-2.39; log-rank P = .005). The composite secondary end point of cardiovascular mortality, MI, and stroke was observed in 107 patients (4.6%) in the varespladib group and 79 patients (3.8%) in the placebo group (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.82; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In patients with recent ACS, varespladib did not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and significantly increased the risk of MI. The sPLA2inhibition with varespladib may be harmful and is not a useful strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes after ACS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130246. Copyright 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

A rapidly-reversible absorptive and emissive vapochromic Pt(II) pincer-based chemical sensor

Selective, robust and cost-effective chemical sensors for detecting small volatile-organic compounds (VOCs) have widespread applications in industry, healthcare and environmental monitoring. Here we design a Pt(II) pincer-type material with selective absorptive and emissive responses to methanol and water. The yellow anhydrous form converts reversibly on a subsecond timescale to a red hydrate in the presence of parts-per-thousand levels of atmospheric water vapour. Exposure to methanol induces a similarly-rapid and reversible colour change to a blue methanol solvate. Stable smart coatings on glass demonstrate robust switching over 104 cycles, and flexible microporous polymer membranes incorporating microcrystals of the complex show identical vapochromic behaviour. The rapid vapochromic response can be rationalised from the crystal structure, and in combination with quantum-chemical modelling, we provide a complete microscopic picture of the switching mechanism. We discuss how this multiscale design approach can be used to obtain new compounds with tailored VOC selectivity and spectral responses

Formin1 Mediates the Induction of Dendritogenesis and Synaptogenesis by Neurogenin3 in Mouse Hippocampal Neurons

Neurogenin3, a proneural transcription factor controlled by Notch receptor, has been recently shown to regulate dendritogenesis and synaptogenesis in mouse hippocampal neurons. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in these actions of Ngn3. We have used a microarray analysis to identify Ngn3 regulated genes related with cytoskeleton dynamics. One of such genes is Fmn1, whose protein, Formin1, is associated with actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Overexpression of the Fmn1 isoform-Ib in cultured mouse hippocampal neurons induced an increase in the number of primary dendrites and in the number of glutamatergic synaptic inputs at 4 days in vitro. The same changes were provoked by overexpression of Ngn3. In addition downregulation of Fmn1 by the use of Fmn1-siRNAs impaired such morphological and synaptic changes induced by Ngn3 overexpression in neurons. These results reveal a previously unknown involvement of Formin1 in dendritogenesis and synaptogenesis and indicate that this protein is a key component of the Ngn3 signaling pathway that controls neuronal differentiation

Association of Resistance Exercise With the Incidence of Hypercholesterolemia in Men.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations of resistance exercise, independent of and combined with aerobic exercise, with the risk of development of hypercholesterolemia in men. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study used data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, which is a cohort examining the associations of clinical and lifestyle factors with the development of chronic diseases and mortality. Participants received extensive preventive medical examinations at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas, between January 1, 1987, and December 31, 2006. A total of 7317 men aged 18 to 83 years (mean age, 46 years) without hypercholesterolemia at baseline were included. Frequency (times per week) and total amount (min/wk) of resistance and aerobic exercise were determined by self-report. Hypercholesterolemia was defined as a total cholesterol level of 240 mg/dL or higher or physician diagnosis. RESULTS: During a median (interquartile range) follow-up of 4 (2 to 7) years, hypercholesterolemia developed in 1430 of the 7317 men (20%). Individuals meeting the resistance exercise guidelines (≥2 d/wk) had a 13% lower risk of development of hypercholesterolemia (hazard ratio [HR], 0.87; 95% CI, 0.76-0.99; P=.04) after adjustment for general characteristics, lifestyle factors, and aerobic exercise. In addition, less than 1 h/wk and 2 sessions per week of resistance exercise were associated with 32% and 31% lower risks of hypercholesterolemia (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54-0.86; P=.001; and HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.54-0.88; P=.003), respectively, compared with no resistance exercise. Higher levels of resistance exercise did not provide benefits. Meeting both resistance and aerobic exercise guidelines (≥500 metabolic equivalent task min/wk) lowered the risk of development of hypercholesterolemia by 21% (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.68-0.91; P=.002). compared with meeting none of the guidelines. CONCLUSION: Compared with no resistance exercise, less than 1 h/wk of resistance exercise, independent of aerobic exercise, is associated with a significantly lower risk of development of hypercholesterolemia in men (P=.001). However, the lowest risk of hypercholesterolemia was found at 58 min/wk of resistance exercise. This finding suggests that resistance exercise should be encouraged to prevent hypercholesterolemia in men. However, future studies with a more rigorous analysis including major potential confounders (eg, diet, medications) are warranted