Coseismic river avulsion on surface rupturing faults: Assessing earthquake-induced flood hazard.

Surface-rupturing earthquakes can produce fault displacements that abruptly alter the established course of rivers. Several notable examples of fault rupture-induced river avulsions (FIRAs) have been documented, yet the factors influencing these phenomena have not been examined in detail. Here, we use a recent case study from New Zealand's 2016 Kaikoura earthquake to model the coseismic avulsion of a major braided river subjected to ~7-m vertical and ~4-m horizontal offset. We demonstrate that the salient characteristics of the avulsion can be reproduced with high accuracy by running a simple two-dimensional hydrodynamic model on synthetic (pre-earthquake) and "real" (post-earthquake) deformed lidar datasets. With adequate hydraulic inputs, deterministic and probabilistic hazard models can be precompiled for fault-river intersections to improve multihazard planning. Flood hazard models that ignore present and potential future fault deformation may underestimate the extent, frequency, and severity of inundation following large earthquakes.

Depicted Immorality Influences the Perceived Applicability of the Phrase "Committed Suicide".

Background: "Committed suicide" is often deemed less acceptable than alternative phrases, but such judgments vary widely across individuals. Aim: We tested whether the endorsement of statements containing "committed suicide" is greater when a suicide death is depicted as immoral. We also assessed the degree of immorality suggested by the free-standing phrases "committed suicide" and "died by suicide." Method: Undergraduate participants (N = 154) read scenarios of a suicide depicted as immoral and one depicted more neutrally and judged the applicability of statements employing either "committed suicide" or "died by suicide" to each scenario. Participants next chose between the free-standing phrases "committed suicide" or "died by suicide" in terms of which connoted immorality and provided written justifications for their choices. Results: Participants judged "committed suicide" statements to be most applicable to the immoral-suicide scenario. A large majority of participants chose "committed suicide" over "died by suicide" as connoting immorality and participants' justifications for this choice revealed several meaningful themes. Limitations: Our manipulation of immorality employed religious overtones and our participants were undergraduate students. Conclusions: Findings contribute to the empirical basis for concerns regarding the phrase "committed suicide," with implications for stigma reduction and help-seeking.

Reusability of autoclaved 3D printed polypropylene compared to a glass filled polypropylene composite.

Health care waste can be a costly expenditure for facilities as specific disposal methods must be used to prevent the spread of pathogens. If more multi-use medical devices were available, it could potentially relieve some of this burden; however, sterilization between uses is important in preventing disease transmission. 3D printing has the ability to easily create custom medical devices at a low cost, but the majority of filaments utilized cannot survive steam sterilization. Polypropylene (PP) can withstand autoclave temperatures, but is difficult to print as it warps and shrinks during printing; however, a composite PP filament reduces these effects. Commercially available PP and glass filled PP (GFPP) filaments were successfully 3D printed into 30 × 30 × 30 mm cubes with no shrinking or warping and were autoclaved. The 134 °C autoclave temperature was too high as several cubes melted after two to three rounds, but both PP and GFPP cubes displayed minimal changes in mass and volume after one, four, seven, and ten rounds of autoclaving at 121 °C. GFPP cubes autoclaved zero, four, seven, and ten times had significantly smaller average compressive stress values compared to all PP groups, but the GFPP cubes autoclaved once were only less than PP cubes autoclaved zero, seven and ten times. GFPP cubes autoclaved zero, one, four, and seven times also deformed less indicating that the embedded glass fibers provided additional strength. While a single method was found that successfully printed PP and GFPP cubes that were able to survive up to ten rounds of autoclaving, future work should include further investigation into the mechanical properties and increasing the number of autoclave rounds.

The efficacy of the Strength, Hope and Resourcefulness Program for people with Parkinson's disease (SHARP-PWP): A mixed methods study.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of PD focuses on improving symptoms and quality of life, yet research has not examined interventions aimed at promoting hope in patients. This study examined the effects of a Strength, Hope, and Resources Program for People with PD (SHARP-PWP), based on the principles of positive psychology. METHODS: A mixed method design examined the effects of a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial of SHARP-PWP. 31 PD patients diagnosed in the last 5 years (average age = 66; 13 men, 18 women) participated in a 6-session program. All participants completed self-report measures at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-week follow-up. Data were analyzed using ANOVA. After the program, 15 participants completed a semi-structured interview. Qualitative interview data were analyzed using Interpretive Description. RESULTS: No significant differences in improvement were found between the Immediate and Delayed intervention groups. However, significant effects for time (i.e., pre-treatment to post-treatment) were found for health-related quality of life and well-being in both Immediate and Delayed conditions. Additional quantitative analysis revealed significant improvement in both groups on hope from pre-treatment to follow-up. Qualitative findings revealed that clients identified social, emotional, behavioral and cognitive changes experienced in the group. CONCLUSIONS: Participating in positive psychology research improved health-related quality of life (HrQoL) and mental health and patients identified additional benefits at 6-week follow-up. Our results provide insight about the placebo effect and Hawthorne pre-placebo effects in the context of PD research. The findings can inform trial design and clinical care of patients with PD.

Palaeotsunamis and tsunami hazards in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The dominant uncertainties in assessing tsunami hazard in the Eastern Mediterranean are attached to the location of the sources. Reliable historical reports exist for five tsunamis associated with earthquakes at the Hellenic plate boundary, including two that caused widespread devastation. Because most of the relative motion across this boundary is aseismic, however, the modern record of seismicity provides little or no information about the faults that are likely to generate such earthquakes. Independent geological and geophysical observations of two large historical to prehistorical earthquakes, in Crete and Rhodes, lead to a coherent framework in which large to great earthquakes occurred not on the subduction boundary, but on reverse faults within the overlying crust. We apply this framework to the less complete evidence from the remainder of the Hellenic plate boundary zone, identifying candidate sources for future tsunamigenic earthquakes. Each such source poses a significant hazard to the North African coast of the Eastern Mediterranean. Because modern rates of seismicity are irrelevant to slip on the tsunamigenic faults, and because historical and geological data are too sparse, there is no reliable basis for a probabilistic assessment of this hazard, and a precautionary approach seems advisable.

College students who have an eveningness preference report lower self-control and greater procrastination.

Previous research suggests a possible link between eveningness and general difficulties with self-regulation (e.g., evening types are more likely than other chronotypes to have irregular sleep schedules and social rhythms and use substances). Our study investigated the relationship between eveningness and self-regulation by using two standardized measures of self-regulation: the Self-Control Scale and the Procrastination Scale. We predicted that an eveningness preference would be associated with poorer self-control and greater procrastination than would an intermediate or morningness preference. Participants were 308 psychology students (mean age=19.92 yrs) at a small Canadian college. Students completed the self-regulation questionnaires and Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) online. The mean MEQ score was 46.69 (SD=8.20), which is intermediate between morningness and eveningness. MEQ scores ranged from definite morningness to definite eveningness, but the dispersion of scores was skewed toward more eveningness. Pearson and partial correlations (controlling for age) were used to assess the relationship between MEQ score and the Self-Control Scale (global score and 5 subscale scores) and Procrastination Scale (global score). All correlations were significant. The magnitude of the effects was medium for all measures except one of the Self-Control subscales, which was small. A multiple regression analysis to predict MEQ score using the Self-Control Scale (global score), Procrastination Scale, and age as predictors indicated the Self-Control Scale was a significant predictor (accounting for 20% of the variance). A multiple regression analysis to predict MEQ scores using the five subscales of the Self-Control Scale and age as predictors showed the subscales for reliability and work ethic were significant predictors (accounting for 33% of the variance). Our study showed a relationship between eveningness and low self-control, but it did not address whether the relationship is a causal one.

Judgments of impairment and distress associated with symptoms of internalizing and externalizing disorders.

The pattern of dysfunction (i.e. impairment vs. distress) judged to be associated with disorders empirically identified by Krueger, Caspi, Moffitt and Silva (1998) as internalizing (e.g. major depressive episode; agoraphobia) was compared to the pattern characterizing disorders classified as externalizing (e.g. antisocial personality disorder; alcohol dependence). In Study 1, lay raters (N=270) judged the social impairment, occupational impairment, and personal distress associated with symptoms of seven internalizing and four externalizing disorders. As predicted, symptoms composing internalizing disorders were perceived as involving a greater degree of distress, and a lesser degree of impairment, relative to symptoms composing externalizing disorders. In Study 2, conducted with a small sample of clinician judges (N=21), symptoms composing internalizing disorders were again judged as involving a greater degree of distress (but, in this case, not a lesser degree of impairment) relative to symptoms composing externalizing disorders. This research provides a novel means of validating the distinction between internalizing and externalizing groups of disorders.

Re-framing 'binge drinking' as calculated hedonism: empirical evidence from the UK.

BACKGROUND: Recent debates on 'binge drinking' in the UK have represented the activities of young drinkers in urban areas as a particular source of concern, as constituting a threat to law and order, a drain on public health and welfare services and as a source of risk to their own future health and well being. The discourse of moral panic around young people's 'binge drinking' has pervaded popular media, public policy and academic research, often differentiating the excesses of 'binge drinking' from 'normal' patterns of alcohol consumption, although in practice definitions of 'binge drinking' vary considerably. However, recent research in this area has drawn on the notion of 'calculated hedonism' to refer to a way of 'managing' alcohol consumption that might be viewed as excessive. METHODS: The paper presents a critical analysis of contemporary discourses around 'binge drinking' in the British context, highlighting contradictory messages about responsibility and self control in relation to the recent liberalisation of licensing laws and the extensive marketing of alcohol to young people. The paper analyses marketing communications which present drinking as a crucial element in 'having fun', and as an important aspect of young people's social lives. The empirical study involves analysis of focus group discussions and individual interviews with young people aged 18-25 in three areas of Britain: a major city in the West Midlands, a seaside town in the South-West of England and a small market town also in the South-West. RESULTS: The initial findings present the varied forms and meanings that socialising and drinking took in these young people's social lives. In particular the results illustrate the ways in which drinking is constituted and managed as a potential source of pleasure. CONCLUSION: The paper concludes that the term 'calculated hedonism' better describes the behaviour of the young people in this study and in particular the way they manage their pleasure around alcohol, than the emotive term 'binge drinking'.

Impairment and distress associated with symptoms of male-typed and female-typed DSM-IV Axis-I disorders.

Recent research has established a pattern of impairment and distress associated with the symptoms of DSM-IV Axis-II disorders such that personality disorders occurring more commonly among males are associated with more social and occupational impairment, but less personal distress, than personality disorders occurring more commonly among females. The current study examined whether a similar pattern exists for DSM-IV Axis-I disorders. Lay judges (N = 206) rated the social impairment, occupational impairment, and personal distress associated with the symptoms of six male-typed and six female-typed Axis-I disorders. Impairment and distress were associated with male-typed and female-typed Axis-I disorders in the same manner as personality disorders. Reasons for the emphasis of social and occupational impairment among male-typed disorders and distress among female-typed disorders are discussed.

Sleep quality, sleep propensity and academic performance.

We examined associations between measures of sleep propensity on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, sleep quality on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and academic performance by GPA and grades in introductory psychology for 414 students. In the total sample, neither sleep propensity nor sleep quality correlated with GPA or introductory psychology grades. However, among students carrying a full course load, those reporting poor sleep quality performed less well on academic measures than those reporting a better quality of sleep. Further research is needed to assess the moderating influence of overall demands of daytime functioning on the association between sleep quality and academic performance.

Perceived dysfunction of male-typed and female-typed DSM-IV personality disorder criteria.

To determine whether female-typed personality disorders are associated with a different pattern of dysfunction than male-typed disorders, lay judges (N = 216) estimated the amount of social impairment, occupational impairment, and personal distress related to symptoms of personality disorders. Results for both the subset of six disorders originally rated by clinician judges in the research of Funtowicz and Widiger (1999) and for a larger set of nine disorders revealed a pattern originally reported by Funtowicz and Widiger where female-typed disorders were associated with relatively higher ratings of personal distress, whereas male-typed disorders were associated with relatively higher ratings of social (and sometimes occupational) impairment. Findings are discussed with respect to the emphasis of different forms of dysfunction for male- and female-typed disorders, lay versus clinician judgments, and directions for future research.