Features of Coping Strategies in Overcoming Extreme Critical Situations: A Study on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Liquidators and Antiterrorist Participants

The present study investigated and compared coping strategies and self-perception of psychopathological symptoms or disorders and radiation threat at different times in 122 cleanup workers (liquidators) of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in 76 liquidators who were also evacuated from the contaminated area, in 81 participants in antiterrorist operations (ATO), and in 84 individuals who were not liquidators or ATO combatants. The results showed that liquidators used a variety of coping strategies, while ATO participants and control subjects mainly used problem-oriented strategies. In all groups, coping subscale scores showed positive correlations with the radiation hazard factor that in turn increased the self-perception of psychopathological symptoms or disorders. Taken together, these findings would suggest that life-threatening stressors related to IR might increase the vulnerability toward developing psychopathological disorders and symptoms.     

小剂量酒精伤害驾驶行为的时序效应

酒后开车普遍存在并致交通肇事居高不下的现实,对法定酒精限量的科学性提出质疑.本实验在多数国家交通法规采用的体内血液酒精水平BAL＜0.5‰的标准以下,设计三项任务对12名被试在酒前酒后四段时间内的行为实施测试,结果表明个体无法准确估计安全的酒精摄入量;小剂量酒精仍具有伤害行为的效应;酒精影响依行为复杂程度呈现时序效应.     

The rise of information in an evolutionary universe

This paper outlines the grand scenario of cosmic evolution by examining the ongoing changes among radiation, matter and life in standard, big‐bang cosmology. Using aspects of non‐equilibrium thermodynamics and information science, we argue that it is the contrasting temporal behavior of various energy densities that have given rise to the environments needed for the emergence of galaxies, stars, planets, and life forms. We furthermore argue that a necessary (though perhaps not sufficient) condition—a veritable prime mover—for the emergence of such ordered structures of growing complexity is the expansion of the Universe itself. Neither demon‐strably new science nor appeals to non‐science are needed to explain the impressive hierarchy of developmental change, from quark to quasar, from microbe to mind.     

Dose response effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy in a school mental health program

ABSTRACT

School mental health (SMH) programs have been shown to be effective in providing evidence-based interventions to underserved youth. However, limitations of SMH programs are that they can entail holiday breaks, typically do not operate through summer, and often require pulling students from class to receive therapy. These limitations suggest that treatment must be expeditious and potent. Although researchers have investigated dose response to treatment, no studies were located that addressed dose response to treatment in SMH programs. The present study addressed this gap by evaluating the dose response to SMH treatment in a sample of 133 adolescents. Adolescents were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and at multiple time points throughout treatment. An average treatment response of a 26.81-point decrease in Youth Outcome Questionnaire (YOQ-30) score was found across 14 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Further, adolescents exhibited reliable change in YOQ-30 score within an average of 2.91 sessions. Finally, it was found that baseline scores on the Depression and Hyperactivity subscales of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition, along with YOQ-30 score, predicted treatment response. These findings advance our understanding of dose response to CBT in SMH settings, and create opportunities to better inform effective treatment strategies in similar contexts.     

Consensus conference on environmental values in radiation protection: a report on building consensus among experts

During the fall of 2001 (October 22–25), The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) and the Agricultural University of Norway arranged a consensus conference on the protection of the environment against ionising radiation. The motive for the conference was the need to study the ethical and philosophical basis for protection of nature in its own right. The conference was funded by Nordic Nuclear Safety Research (NKS), in cooperation with the International Union of Radioecology (IUR). The National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT) was hired as facilitators for the consensus process. This paper will give a brief outline of the aims and method of the conference, distinguishing these from other kinds of consensus conferences. The paper ends with some general reflections on the appropriateness of seeking consensus on ethics-related issues among experts.     

Radiobiology and gray science: Flaws in landmark new radiation protections

The International Commission on Radiological Protection — whose regularly updated recommendations are routinely adopted as law throughout the globe — recently issued the first-ever ICRP protections for the environment. These draft 2005 proposals are significant both because they offer the commission’s first radiation protections for any non-human parts of the planet and because they will influence both the quality of radiation risk assessment and environmental protection, as well as the global costs of nuclear-weapons cleanup, reactor decommissioning and radioactive waste management. This piece argues that the 2005 recommendations are scientifically and ethically flawed, or gray, in at least three respects: first, in largely ignoring scientific journals while employing mainly “gray literature;” second, in relying on non-transparent dose estimates and models, rather than on actual radiation measurements; and third, in ignoring classical ethical constraints on acceptable radiation risk.     

Characterization of grain-boundary dislocation networks by a combination of large-angle convergent-beam electron diffraction and weak-beam techniques

The Burgers vector of very close intrinsic dislocations in a near-Σ = 11,{311} grain-boundary in nickel is identified using a geometrical method based on local and accurate measurements of the angular deviation from perfect coincidence Σ = 11 by large-angle convergent-beam electron diffraction and of the dislocation spacing from weak-beam images of the grain boundary.