Knowledge and attitudes toward sexuality in adolescents and their association with the family and other factors

Family structure and function and their association with knowledge and attitudes toward sexuality, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) were studied in 918 students and 312 adolescents working in factories. Unmarried workers reported higher rates of sexual activity than did students (30.9% vs. 21.8%, p = .04 for males; 12.9% vs. 6.0%, p = .005 for females). Among sexually active males, 33.3% of students and 30.7% of workers used contraception, compared with 27.5% of female students and 9.5% of female workers. Workers were from larger families than students, and the male and female workers had lower scores for knowledge on sexuality, contraception, and STD than did students. Multiple stepwise regression showed that age and schooling of the parents were associated with knowledge and attitudes in the students. In workers, the position of the child in the family was a negative regressor for attitudes and knowledge on sexuality in males, and for knowledge on contraception and STD in females. In regard to family function, the significant factors were compromise between the parents, positive affective response, communication within the family, problem solution, and control of behavior. It was concluded that female workers are at higher risk for unwanted pregnancies and STD. The factors associated with knowledge and attitudes were age, schooling of the parents, mother working out of home, position of the adolescent in the family, and the diverse aspects of family function.     

Psychological impact of colorectal cancer screening.

This article examines the psychological impact of participating in sigmoidoscopy screening for colorectal cancer prevention. The 1st study examined psychological well-being at 3 months, in relation to screening outcome, in 4,153 individuals. The 2nd study used longitudinal data to examine changes in psychological functioning from before to after screening in relation both to screening outcome and baseline indicators of vulnerability. There were few psychological differences between those who had received negative results or had polyps detected. These findings were confirmed in the longitudinal study, which also found no evidence for vulnerability to adverse effects among those who were initially most anxious or who perceived their risk of cancer to be higher. The longitudinal data suggested that screening might produce transient positive effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Gilbert-Holland FDTD thin slot model revisited: an alternative expression for the in-cell capacitance

This paper proposes an alternative expression for the in-cell capacitance of a photoelectrical cell (PEC)-mounted slot, which is the conceptual cornerstone of the Gilbert-Holland subcell finite difference time domain (FDTD) model. By treating a slightly modified electrostatic problem, the extraneous charge singularity on the PEC edges touching the cell, which is characteristic of the originally proposed model, is removed. The latter offers better physical grounds for a new expression of the capacitance and the effective permittivity used in the update equations. High resolution standard FDTD simulation results are presented in support of the new expression.     

An overview of FDA medical device regulation as it relates to deep brain stimulation devices.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is charged with assuring the safety and effectiveness of a variety of medical products and the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health is responsible for premarket and postmarket regulation of medical devices. In this paper, we review--from device classification and clinical studies to the final marketing application--FDA's premarket requirements and postmarket requirements as they relate to deep brain stimulation devices.     

Emission cross sections and spectroscopy of Ho3+ laserchannels in KGd(WO4)2 single crystal

The spectroscopic properties of Ho³⁺ laser channels in KGd(WO₄)₂ crystals have been investigated using optical absorption, photoluminescence, and lifetime measurements. The radiative lifetimes of Ho³⁺ have been calculated through a Judd-Ofelt (JO) formalism using 300-K optical absorption results. The JO parameters obtained were Ω₂=15.35×10^-20 cm², Ω ₄=3.79×10^-20 cm², Ω₆ =1.69×10^-20 cm². The 7-300-K lifetimes obtained in diluted (8·10¹⁸ cm^-3) KGW:0.1% Ho samples are: τ(⁵F₃)≈0.9 μs, τ( ⁵S₂)=19-3.6 μs, and τ(⁵F₅ )≈1.1 μs. For Ho concentrations below 1.5×10²⁰ cm^-3, multiphonon emission is the main source of non radiative losses, and the temperature independent multiphonon probability in KGW is found to follow the energy gap law τ_ph ^-1(0)=βexp(-αΔE), where β=1.4×10^-7 s^-1, and α=1.4×10³ cm. Above this holmium concentration, energy transfer between Ho impurities also contributes to the losses. The spectral distributions of the Ho³⁺ emission cross section σ_EM for several laser channels are calculated in σ- and π-polarized configurations. The peak a σ_EM values achieved for transitions to the ⁵I₈ level are ≈2×10^-20 cm² in the σ-polarized configuration, and three main lasing peaks at 2.02, 2.05, and 2.07 μm are envisaged inside the ⁵I₇→⁵I₈ channel     

Majority and minority influence: Source-position imbalance as a determinant of message scrutiny.

Two experiments addressed the issue of whether endorsement of a position by a numerical majority or a minority leads to greater scrutiny of the information presented in a persuasive message. In Exp 1, a counterattitudinal position was endorsed by a majority or a minority and was supported by strong or weak arguments. Argument quality had a larger impact on attitudes with majority than with minority endorsement. In Exp 2, a proattitudinal or a counterattitudinal message was endorsed by a majority or a minority and was supported by strong or weak arguments. When the source and message position were unexpected (i.e., majority-counter and minority-pro messages), argument quality had a larger impact on attitudes than when the source and message position were expected (i.e., majority-pro and minority-counter messages). Thus, either majority or minority endorsement can enhance message scrutiny if the source-position pairing is surprising. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Promise is Debt, Threat Another Matter: The Effect of Credibility on the Interpretation of Conditional Promises and Threats.

Evidence from reasoning tasks shows that promises and threats both tend to receive biconditional interpretations. They also both display high speaker control. On the face of it, the only difference seems to be the positive or negative signing of the consequent. In a promise, the speaker tries to persuade the hearer to do something by holding out the prospect of a particular reward; in a threat, the speaker tries to refrain the hearer from doing something by holding out the prospect of a particular punishment. This paper investigates the respects in which conditional promises and threats differ further by means of an inference task. The credibility of the consequent was manipulated in order to examine whether the acceptability ratings of inferences based on promises and on threats would be equally affected. The results of the inference task and an analysis of the reasons people give for their answers suggest that the credibility of promises is less affected by the use of excessive consequents than the credibility of threats. In other words, promise remains debt, whereas threat is another matter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm revisited

We propose a slight modification of the Berlekamp-Massey Algorithm for obtaining the minimal polynomial of a given linearly recurrent sequence. Such a modification enables to explain it in a simpler way and to adapt it to lazy evaluation. partially supported by the Galois Theory and Explicit Methods in Arithmetic Project HPRN-CT-2000-00114 partially supported by the European Union funded project RAAG CT-2001-00271     

Savoring Versus Dampening: Self-Esteem Differences in Regulating Positive Affect.

Five studies examined the hypotheses that when people experience positive affect, those low in self-esteem are especially likely to dampen that affect, whereas those high in self-esteem are especially likely to savor it. Undergraduate participants' memories for a positive event (Study 1) and their reported reactions to a success (Study 2) supported the dampening prediction. Results also suggest that dampening was associated with worse mood the day after a success (Study 2), that positive and negative affect regulation are distinct, that self-esteem is associated with affect regulation even when Neuroticism and Extraversion are controlled (Studies 3 and 4), and that self-esteem may be especially important for certain types of positive events and positive affect regulation (Study 5). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)