Longitudinal risk factors for intimate partner violence among men in treatment for alcohol use disorders.

Objective: This study examined static and time-varying risk factors for perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) among men in treatment for alcohol use disorders. Method: Participants were 178 men diagnosed with alcohol abuse or dependence and their partners. Most (85%) of the men were European American; their average age was 41.0 years. Participants completed measures assessing initial alcohol problem severity, baseline beliefs related to alcohol use, antisocial personality characteristics, alcohol and drug use, relationship adjustment, and IPV. Results: According to couples' reconciled reports, 42% of participants perpetrated IPV at baseline. Among this group, the IPV recurrence rate was 43% at 6-month follow-up and 36% at 12-month follow-up. For participants without IPV perpetration at baseline, new incidence of IPV was 15% and 7% at the 6-month and 12-month follow-up points, respectively. Fixed marker predictors of IPV rates included baseline alcohol problem severity variables, baseline beliefs related to alcohol use, and antisocial personality characteristics. Variable risk factor predictors included alcohol and drug use variables, relationship adjustment factors, and anger. Alcohol use variables and anger were associated with new incidents of IPV among those without reported IPV at baseline only. Conclusions: Findings suggest that assessing and monitoring IPV occurrence by both partners is important for men in treatment for alcohol use disorders. Results indicate vulnerability factors that may identify individuals at risk for IPV and provide targets for IPV prevention among those with alcohol use disorders. These findings can aid in the development of more comprehensive models that more precisely predict IPV. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

California's supreme court first reasserts an arbitrator power…

Two significant opinions on mediation confidentiality from opposite coasts emerged this summer. Alternatives' editor Russ Bleemer, and Timothy Klimpl, of New York, analyze the result in the closely watched California Supreme Court Simmons v. Ghaderi case, which provides strong support for the state's mediation protection statutes. Confidentiality is on shakier ground in the hands of New York's top court, with details provided about the Court's affirmance of a subpoena for a mediator's testimony and records. Jillian Lee Hunt, of New York, looks at another California Supreme Court case on the limits of arbitrator power, and there is a report on a United Kingdom survey revealing an insufficient use of employment mediation.     

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, physiological reactivity, alcohol problems, and aggression among military veterans.

This study examined the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and aggressive behavior among a sample of male Vietnam veterans (N = 1,328). Results indicated that the hyperarousal PTSD symptom cluster evidenced the strongest positive association with aggression at the bivariate level when compared with the other PTSD symptom clusters. When the PTSD symptom clusters were examined together as predictors, hyperarousal symptoms evidenced a significant positive relationship with aggression, and avoidance/numbing symptoms were negatively associated with aggression. Examination of potential mediators indicated that hyperarousal symptoms were directly associated with aggression and indirectly related to aggression via alcohol problems. Reexperiencing symptoms were associated with aggression only indirectly and through their positive association with physiological reactivity and negative association with alcohol problems. Study results highlight the complexity of the relationship between PTSD symptoms and aggression, and suggest possible mechanisms explaining this association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multimodal injury risk analysis of road users at signalized and non-signalized intersections

This paper proposes a multimodal approach to study safety at intersections by simultaneously analysing the safety and flow outcomes for both motorized and non-motorized traffic. This study uses an extensive inventory of signalized and non-signalized intersections on the island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, containing disaggregate motor-vehicle, cyclist and pedestrian flows, injury data, geometric design, traffic control and built environment characteristics in the vicinity of each intersection. Bayesian multivariate Poisson models are used to analyze the injury and traffic flow outcomes and to develop safety performance functions for each mode at both facilities. After model calibration, contributing injury frequency factors are identified. Injury frequency and injury risk measures are then generated to carry out a comparative study to identify which mode is at greatest risk at intersections in Montreal. Among other results, this study identified the significant effect that motor-vehicle traffic imposes on cyclist and pedestrian injury occurrence. Motor-vehicle traffic is the main risk determinant for all injury and intersection types. This highlights the need for safety improvements for cyclists and pedestrians who are, on average, at 14 and12 times greater risk than motorists, respectively, at signalized intersections. Aside from exposure measures, this work also identifies some geometric design and built environment characteristics affecting injury occurrence for cyclists, pedestrians and motor-vehicle occupants.     

An examination of family adjustment among Operation Desert Storm veterans.

This study examined interrelationships among combat exposure, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and family adjustment in a sample of male and female Operation Desert Storm veterans (N = 1,512). In structural equation models for both male and female veterans, higher combat exposure was associated with higher PTSD symptoms, which in turn were associated with poorer family adjustment, although these indirect effects did not reach statistical significance. The model for female veterans evidenced a significant direct negative association between combat exposure and family adjustment when it statistically accounted for PTSD symptoms. When the relative impacts of separate PTSD symptom groupings were examined, those reflecting withdrawal/numbing symptoms and arousal/lack of control symptoms significantly and indirectly accounted for the negative effects of combat exposure on family adjustment. Study findings indicate a number of possible pathways through which war-zone deployments negatively impact military families and suggest several avenues for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the importance of car meanings and attitudes in consumer evaluations of electric vehicles

This paper reports findings from a research study which assesses the importance of attitudinal constructs related to general car attitudes and the meanings attached to car ownership over evaluations of electric vehicles (EVs). The data are assessed using principal component analysis to evaluate the structure of the underlying attitudinal constructs. The identified constructs are then entered into a hierarchical regression analysis which uses either positive or negative evaluations of the instrumental capabilities of EVs as the dependent variable. Results show that attitudinal constructs offer additional predictive power over socioeconomic characteristics and that the symbolic and emotive meanings of car ownership are as, if not more, effective in explaining the assessment of EV instrumental capability as compared to issues of cost and environmental concern. Additionally, the more important an individual considers their car to be in their everyday life, the more negative their evaluations are of EVs whilst individuals who claim to be knowledgeable about cars in general and EVs in particular have a lower propensity for negative EV attitudes. However, positive and negative EV attitudes are related to different attitudinal constructs suggesting that it is possible for someone to hold both negative and positive assessments at the same time.     

Synergistic Inhibition of the Lethal Fungal Pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: The Combined Effect of Symbiotic Bacterial Metabolites and Antimicrobial Peptides of the Frog Rana muscosa

A powerful mechanism for protection against disease in animals is synergy between metabolites present in the natural microbiota of the host and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) produced by the host. We studied this method of protection in amphibians in regard to the lethal disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). In this study, we show that the AMPs of Rana muscosa, as well as the metabolite 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol (2,4-DAPG) from Pseudomonas fluorescens, a bacterial species normally found on the skin of R. muscosa, were inhibitory to the growth of Bd in vitro. When both AMPs and 2,4-DAPG were used in growth inhibition assays, they worked synergistically to inhibit the growth of Bd. This synergy resulted in reduced minimum concentrations necessary for inhibition by either 2,4-DAPG or AMPs. This inhibitory concentration of AMPs did not inhibit the growth of a P. fluorescens strain that produced 2,4-DAPG in vitro, although its growth was inhibited at higher peptide concentrations. These data suggest that the AMPs secreted onto frog skin and the metabolites secreted by the resident beneficial bacteria may work synergistically to enhance protection against Bd infection on amphibian skin. These results may aid conservation efforts to augment amphibian skins’ resistance to chytridiomycosis by introducing anti-Bd bacterial species that work synergistically with amphibian AMPs.     

Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements,Corporate Interests,and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements

The uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere have been credited in part to the creative use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Yet the information policies of the firms behind social media can inhibit activists and empower authoritarian regimes. Analysis of Facebook's response to Egypt's “We Are All Khaled Said” group, YouTube's policy exemption for videos coming from Syria, Moroccan loyalist response to the online presence of atheists, and the activities of the Syrian Electronic Army illustrate how prohibitions on anonymity, community policing practices, campaigns from regime loyalists, and counterinsurgency tactics work against democracy advocates. These problems arise from the design and governance challenges facing large‐scale, revenue‐seeking social media enterprises.     

Stable Inverted Polymer/Fullerene Solar Cells Using a Cationic Polythiophene Modified PEDOT:PSS Cathodic Interface

A cationic and water‐soluble polythiophene [poly[3‐(6‐pyridiniumylhexyl)thiophene bromide] (P3PHT⁺Br^?)] is synthesized and used in combination with anionic poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(p‐styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)^? to produce hybrid coatings on indium tin oxide (ITO). Two coating strategies are established: i) electrostatic layer‐by‐layer assembly with colloidal suspensions of (PEDOT:PSS)^?, and ii) modification of an electrochemically prepared (PEDOT:PSS)^? film on ITO. The coatings are found to modify the work function of ITO such that it could act as a cathode in inverted 2,5‐diyl‐poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/[6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₁‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) polymer photovoltaic cells. The interfacial modifier created from the layer‐by‐layer assembly route is used to produce efficient inverted organic photovoltaic devices (power conversion efficiency ～2%) with significant long‐term stability in excess of 500 h.