Body weight and weight perception among African and Caribbean university students: Correlation with depression symptoms

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between body weight, weight perception, and depressive symptoms in African and Caribbean university students. In a cross-sectional survey the total sample included 4 964 undergraduate university students (mean age 21.8, SD = 3.4, age range = 18-30 years) from five African and three Caribbean countries. Data on the students’ actual and perceived body weight, as well as depression symptoms, were collected. In logistic regression, perceived rather than measured overweight predicted depressive symptoms in male students with normal weight. For female students, perceived overweight predicted depression symptoms regardless of actual body weight. Male students who overestimated their body weight were at greater risk of depressive symptoms. Body weight self-perceptions appear to influence experience of mood disorder among African and Caribbean country students.     

Evil intent and design responsibility

Mass casualty attacks in recent years have demonstrated the need to include “evil intent” as a design consideration. Three recent actual or potential weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks did not involve nuclear bombs or other devices designed as weapons, but rather benign objects used with evil intent. Just as unplanned events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and user misuse have been codified into design requirements based on the likelihood and potential impact of the event, “evil intent” has to become part of the design process for buildings, vehicles, equipment, and other items. The endstate should be reasonable additions to existing codes and standards such that it is clear what is and is not designed for. In the absence of specific design guidance, professionals with appropriate expertise can assess potential for “evil intent” and provide recommendations to design out or warn against this potential harm to public safety, particularly when codified requirements are not present. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003. Author Note: Bart Kemper, PE, is the principal engineer for Kemper Imageering, Inc. A significant portion of his work has been involved in industrial equipment design, product design, and the design and analysis of different security devices as well as performing simulations, computer modelling, reliability studies, blast analyses, and FMEA analyses on commercial equipment, including marine, offshore, and industrial facilities. He is also a US Army Reserve captain in the Corps of Engineers and was mobilized and deployed overseas in February 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a member of the 412^th Engineer Command, headquartered in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A significant portion of his duties involved reviewing intelligence, analyzing potential courses of action, and evaluating risks with regard to Iraqi and Coalition activities in the northern Iraqi oilfields as well as base camp design and infrastructure engineering. This paper is unclassified and has been cleared for publication.     

Assignment of reference to reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases: evidence from eye movements

Most structural Binding Theories predict a complementary distribution between reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases containing possessors (e.g. "Ken's picture of himself/him"). In two head-mounted eye-tracking experiments, listeners frequently violated Binding Theory predictions for reflexives, often interpreting the reflexives as taking an antecedent outside of the binding domain, and violating complementarity assumptions. Moreover, the pattern and timing of the eye movements showed Binding Theory violations for reflexives during the earliest moments of reference resolution. The results demonstrate that either binding constraints must be reformulated to decouple pronouns and reflexives or all reflexives in picture noun phrases must be treated as logophors, and thus exempt from structural Binding Theory.     

Processing reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrase

Binding theory (e.g., Chomsky, 1981) has played a central role in both syntactic theory and models of language processing. Its constraints are designed to predict that the referential domains of pronouns and reflexives are nonoverlapping, that is, are complementary; these constraints are also thought to play a role in online reference resolution. The predictions of binding theory and its role in sentence processing were tested in four experiments that monitored participants' eye movements as they followed spoken instructions to have a doll touch a picture belonging to another doll. The instructions used pronouns and reflexives embedded in picture noun phrases (PNPs) containing possessor phrases (e.g., Pick up Ken. Have Ken touch Harry's picture of himself). Although the interpretations assigned to pronouns were generally consistent with binding theory, reflexives were frequently assigned interpretations that violated binding theory. In addition, the timing and pattern of eye movements were inconsistent with models of language processing that assume that binding theory acts as an early filter to restrict the referential domain. The interpretations assigned to reflexives in PNPs with possessors suggest that they are binding-theory-exempt logophors, a conclusion that unifies the treatment of reflexives in PNPs.     

The relationship between the drive for muscularity and anthropometric measures of muscularity and adiposity

Researchers have found consistently positive associations between women's body dissatisfaction and the desire to be thin and anthropometric indices of the amount of body fat they care on their frame. However, with the increasing emphasis being given to men's body image concerns, such as the drive for muscularity, it is important to study the relationship between men's desire to become more muscular and the actual amount of muscle they carry on their frames. That is, because men who want to become muscular can achieve that through strength training, do those with a high drive for muscularity have a high level of muscle mass? We explored this issue in a sample of 100 college-aged men and found that only one of four anthropometric measure of muscularity (flexed bicep circumference) was predictive of engaging in muscularity-oriented behaviors, while none predicted attitudes about becoming more muscular. These findings suggest either that men's drive for muscularity is unrelated to their actual level of muscularity or that current anthropometric indices are not accurate enough for a significant relationship to emerge. Suggestions for future research and study limitations were discussed.     

Necessary condition for forward progression in ballistic walking

Ballistic walking requires an appropriate configuration of posture and velocity at toe-off to avoid backward falling. In this study, we investigated a determinant of the state of the body center of mass (COM) at the toe-off with regard to ballistic walking. We used an inverted pendulum model to represent ballistic trajectories and the necessary condition for forward progression by a simple relationship between the COM states (position and velocity) at toe-off. This condition was validated through a computer simulation of a 7-link musculoskeletal model and measurement experiments of human movements involving stepping and walking. The results of the model simulation were in good agreement with some of the results predicted by the inverted pendulum model. The measurement experiments of walking and stepping movements showed that most COM states at toe-off satisfied the condition for forward progression and the measured trajectories during single support phase were similar to the ballistic trajectories although humans are capable of walking in non-ballistic ways. These results suggested that the necessary condition for forward progression can predict the COM states at toe-off for efficient movement and for avoiding backward falling during single support phase.     

Who lives,who dies,who decides: Differences between mass public shooters who survive,are killed,and commit suicide

This study provides an in-depth analysis of American mass public shooting conclusions between 1966 and 2017. Specifically, this work examines differences in factors contributing to the perpetrator's likelihood of surviving, being killed, and committing suicide. Ten hypotheses, rooted in previous homicide, suicide, homicide-suicide, and mass public shooting literature consider different psychological, situational, and background factors shaping the outcome of mass public shootings. Significant findings indicate factors influencing perpetrators' suicide include suicidal ideation, higher victim counts, and suicide copycat effects. Factors influencing perpetrators being killed similarly include higher victim counts, the arrival of law enforcement, lethal/non-lethal resistance, and government targets. This investigation provides practical implications for practitioners and policymakers, especially law enforcement and mental health practitioners, seeking to develop intervention and prevention strategies for addressing suicidal ideation and its most lethal outcome: mass public shootings.     

Competition in lexical processing of Italian noun/verb homographs

The study investigates the lexical representation of Italian noun/verb homographs, introducing a factor which has been analysed in production studies: the specific-word frequency (SWF). The SWF parameter allows to understand whether the grammatical class information is specified within the lexical knowledge or it is selected during post-lexical stages. We ran six lexical decision tasks employing the priming paradigm and a grammatical decision task to investigate the lexical representation of noun/verb homographs. In addition, we sought to determine the role played by the frequency of representations and the temporal activation of the grammatical class information. Our findings support the claim that these forms have independent representations for each syntactic role they can play. We interpreted these findings in the light of what we call the “Nominal Dominance” effect, which affects the lexical access of noun/verb homographs. We also discuss the relation between nominal dominance and lexical frequency.     

Personality correlates of risky health outcomes: Findings from a large Internet study

Numerous studies have documented the effects of personality on health outcomes. However, which traits are most relevant to health, and the precise magnitude of their effects, is inconsistent across studies. The present study used a large sample (N = 460,172) to replicate and extend the relations between the Big Five and three health-related outcomes: self-reported health, body mass index, and substance use. Low Conscientiousness predicted all outcomes, indicating that individuals who are less responsible and less self-controlled tend to report poorer health, be more overweight, and engage in more substance use. Individuals who were more emotionally unstable (high Neuroticism) reported poorer health, and individuals prone to seek out social experiences and rewards (high Extraversion) engaged in more frequent substance use.