A Qualitative Assessment of the Sex Education Needs of Married Iranian Women

Despite a comprehensive reproductive health program there is little sex education available in Iran. In this article we present results of a study conducted to identify content area for a proposed sex education program for married Iranian women. Twenty-one married female clients (23–45 years) and 18 reproductive health providers, recruited from urban health clinics in Tehran using non-probability sampling, participated in four focus group discussions. Sexual health information needs related to reproductive tract and sexually transmitted infections, “acceptability” of certain sexual practices such as oral and anal intercourse, and the sexual response cycles and physiology of men and women. Women’s sexual concerns related to communication, incompatibility of sexual interests and desire, and their ability to maintain a strong marriage. Two themes cut across women’s responses to all questions: modesty and maintaining a strong marriage. Results contributed to the design of a sex education program that addressed the specific information needs and concerns of Iranian women.     

The political economy of poverty in Egypt (1975-2000): A sociological perspective

Studies of poverty in the 1990s have been very successful--more successful than the fight against the phenomenon itself. Had the efforts exerted to combat poverty equalled the concern given to the study of the problem, the poor would have enjoyed better conditions and the level of poverty would have diminished locally and worldwide. The current study identifies the relation between impoverishment, marginalization of particular groups in society and the nature of the political, economic and social policies adopted by the state in Egypt, in one of the important stages of social structure formation in the country--1975-2000. These policies play a direct role in creating the mechanisms of impoverishment and marginalization in Egyptian society, leading naturally to producing and reproducing poverty.     

Self-kindness when facing stress: The role of self-compassion,goal regulation,and support in college students’ well-being

This project brought together the constructs of goal and emotion regulation as a way of understanding college students’ well-being, building on previous work that identified the ability to disengage in goal pursuit and to redirect energy toward alternative goals as an important contributor to well-being. In Study 1, we assessed the amount of variance in well-being accounted for by measures of goal management, adding to the regression measures of student stress and self-compassion, the latter defined as a healthy form of self-acceptance and characterized as a tendency to treat oneself kindly in the face of perceived inadequacy. In Study 2, the stress scale was replaced by measures of perceived need and availability of support. Across studies, although factors such as goal management, stress, and need for and availability of support were important predictors of well-being, self-compassion accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in well-being.     

A Lotus 1-2-3-based system for recording and maintaining body weight of laboratory animals

Body-weight maintenance is required in a variety of behavioral and physiological studies. A PC-based animal-weighing system is described; it features automated data collection and allows for accurate control of body weight in test animals via manipulation of food intake. Major system components are a PC XT-compatible computer, Lotus 1-2-3 and National Instruments Measure software, and a digital electronic balance. The system is controlled by Lotus macros, which present menus to the user. Menus provide for the basic operations of the system, including establishing new data files, collecting weight data, printing, and transferring files to a laboratory minicomputer. The optional weight-maintenance algorithm calculates the amount of food necessary to maintain target body weights. Some important aspects of this algorithm, including maintenance-feeding and gain parameters, can be manipulated to reduce weight oscillation in test animals or to accommodate the maintenance of body weight of different animal species. The system facilitates acquisition and recording of weight data, minimizes the frequency of error, and reduces variability both within and across animals when body-weight maintenance is required.     

The final imperative

THE FINAL IMPERATIVE: AN ISLAMIC THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION. By SHABBIRAKHTAR. London: Bellew, 1991. 117pp. Pb. £9.95. ISBN 0-947792-93-7.     

躯体性和心理性应激对大鼠血浆皮质酮变化的影响

本实验以血浆皮质酮分泌量为大鼠应激反应指标。实验分三阶段进行:Ⅰ期.适应(第1～7天),在此期所有动物对环境及实验盒适应性训练。Ⅱ期.心理性应激的形成(第8～14天).随机分三组进行:对照(C)组仅给不规则光;规则光(R)组给光后再于尾部施电刺激,光与电刺激间隔恒定;不规则光(Ⅰ)组给光和电刺激,但两者间隔随机。C、R、I三组所接受的光刺激量相等,R、I组所接受的电刺激量相等。Ⅲ期.心理性应激的记忆(第15天).此期各组电刺激均撤除,余同第Ⅱ期。结果显示,在Ⅱ期末及Ⅲ期,R、I组血浆皮质酮均明显高于C组,I组高于R组。     

Association between adolescent rough-and-tumble play and conduct problems,substance use,and risk-taking behaviors: Findings from a school-based sample

Rough-and-tumble play (RTP), also known as play fighting, is a common form of play frequently reported and studied by researchers. However, one important limitation of past research in the area of RTP has been the neglect of the adolescence period. Consequently, little is known about the function of adolescent RTP as well as about clinical characteristics of youth who engage in this activity after childhood. In a school-based sample of 1,771 middle school students (ages 9–16 years), the current study sought to address this gap by examining, via bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, the potential cross-sectional associations of adolescent RTP with (a) selected demographic variables, (b) conduct problem symptoms, (c) substance use, and (d) risk-taking behaviors, including adjustment for several demographic confounders. Results indicated that adolescents reporting higher rates of conduct problem symptoms were more likely to report a recent participation in RTP. In addition, substance use (experimentation and current consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) and risk behaviors assessed all were strongly associated with an increased likelihood of reporting an engagement in RTP. This finding suggests that participation in this activity probably implicates particular phenotypic characteristics including the propensity to engage in health-damaging behaviors. But the most profound issue raised by this research concerns the strong relationship between RTP and great levels of conduct disorder symptoms, suggesting a possible significant change in the functional significance of RTP in the adolescence period.     

“No,You're Playing the Race Card”: Testing the Effects of Anti-Black,Anti-Latino,and Anti-Immigrant Appeals in the Post-Obama Era

Despite a sizable literature on racial priming, scholars have failed to account for the shifting nature of racial appeals. First, theories of racial priming have not yet been widely applied to increasingly common anti-immigrant and anti-Latino political appeals. Second, theories of racial priming have not adequately accounted for both an increasingly racialized political climate and increased tolerance for explicit anti-minority appeals. In two survey experiments fielded both before Trump's rise and after his presidential victory, we find the Implicit-Explicit (IE) model always fails for anti-black appeals, sometimes fails for anti-immigrant appeals, but consistently holds for anti-Latino appeals. While we find the null effects of implicit versus explicit anti-black and anti-immigrant appeals are partly driven by tolerance for the explicit appeals, we also find evidence that white Americans are adept at recognizing the racial content of appeals featuring widely used, congruent issue-group pairs. Our findings shed light on conditions under which the IE model does and does not hold in the current political era.     

Leibnizian Identity and Paraconsistent Logic

The standard Leibnizian view of identity allows for substitutivity of identicals and validates transitivity of identity within classical semantics. However, in a series of works, Graham Priest argues that Leibnizian identity invalidates both principles when formalized in paraconsistent semantics. This paper aims to show the Leibnizian view of identity validates substitutivity of identicals and transitivity of identity whether the logic is classical or paraconsistent. After presenting Priest's semantics of identity, I show what a semantic expression of Leibnizian identity does amount to. Then, I argue that Priest's semantic definition of identity is not Leibnizian. Finally, I offer a semantics characterization of identity in paraconsistent logic that is truly Leibnizian. I demonstrate that the correct formalization of Leibnizian identity in paraconsistent logic also validates substitutivity of identicals and transitivity of identity.