An update of Murrayan needs: A pilot study among American college students

Much research work on motives has been based on the taxonomy of psychogenic needs originally proposed by Murray and his colleagues in 1938. However, many of these needs have received little attention, and some of them may be less relevant now than they were 70 years ago. Two studies were conducted to investigate current motives. In Study 1, we used the Striving Assessment to elicit the personal strivings of 255 undergraduate university students. Murray’s taxonomy was unable to account for 50% of the 2,937 strivings. These strivings were thematically groups into 11 new categories and combined with 7 Murrayan needs to form the Comprehensive Motivation Coding System (CMCS). In Study 2, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) stories produced by 143 undergraduate student participants were coded by these two systems. Murray’s system was unable to fully account for 42% of motives identified in the TAT stories, but the CMCS was able to account for 89%. These findings suggest that Murrayan needs may not adequately describe contemporary motivations and that the CMCS has the potential to do so. However, due to the limited demographics of our sample, further investigations are needed.

Pauline Kael and the Western genre as critical displacement of self & nation: metaphorics and affects of 'taste' in American film criticism

Pauline Kael (1919–2001) is one of the most influential American film critics of the second half of the twentieth century. Many people are writing on her presently, with at least half an eye to her future cultural, political and historical importance. Certainly the full impact of Kael’s work, both within and beyond the borders of cinema (however defined), has not yet been established. This article unpacks the mechanisms and operations of ‘taste’ in Kael’s writings by using two notions drawn from Roland Barthes’ observations about another key figure of current cultural critique: Julia Kristeva. The comparison of Kael with Kristeva is not dwelt upon; instead, the article focuses on how Kael used the concepts of ‘taste’ and ‘dis-taste’ to draw her readership into a field of what might be termed ‘permanent dissent’. This article concludes by sketching out why Jewish-American Kael’s taste might endure, through the dual transition she occupies from a Cold War to a post-Cold War period, and from an era when cinema was the supreme, undisputed, screen artform, to the rise of the myriad screen technologies of the networked, Internet age.

Mothering siblings: Diaspora, desire and identity in American born confused Desi

In this essay we consider the construction of cultural identity, motherhood and the family in ABCD, a film of the Indian diaspora that had its world premiere at the 2001 London Film Festival. This film reads family, apparently within familiar narrative structures such as the U.S.-immigrant story, as portrayed in films like Goodbye, Columbus and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the "leaving home" story, as classically portrayed in Pride and Prejudice, where a young person needs to escape from her clueless family. The irritating presence of the mother in the film, and the quickness with which her two children appear to make life-determining decisions following her death, seem to invite discussions of plot and character organized around ideas of individual development, self-improvement and understanding. This is the territory of the desire plot, an account of family history captured for the twentieth century by Freudian-Lacanian readings which position sexual desire within the unconscious history of familial fantasies, understood as vertical and Oedipal. In this territory, mothers and old ladies become, as Mary Jacobus memorably phrased it, little more than "the waste products" of a system in which marriageable women are objects of exchange between men (142) and a mother's death would be expected to grease the wheels of narrative. Identity and narrative are inextricably linked here: a certain understanding of narrative as developmental and teleological paves the way for an understanding of identity as either/or. There are problems, however, in trying to read ABCD as a bildüngsroman structured by what Susan Freidman calls "the temporal plots of the family romance, its repetitions and discontents" (137), rendering the "Indian" characteristics of the plot unreadable, and the apparently self-defeating nature of the characters' choices and behavior, rather pointless. A central [End Page 16] difficulty is that the film both responds to and resists readings based on the Oedipal model of the bildüngsroman with its focus on linear development through time.

American exceptionalism: population trends and flight initiation distances in birds from three continents.

All organisms may be affected by humans' increasing impact on Earth, but there are many potential drivers of population trends and the relative importance of each remains largely unknown. The causes of spatial patterns in population trends and their relationship with animal responses to human proximity are even less known.

The relationships between insomnia, sleep apnoea and depression: findings from the American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2008.

Objective: To determine the association between insomnia, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and comorbid insomnia- OSA and depression, while controlling for relevant lifestyle and health factors, among a large population-based sample of US adults. Method: We examined a sample of 11,329 adults (≥18 years) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) during the years 2005-2008. Insomnia was classified via a combination of self-reported positive physician diagnosis and high-frequency 'trouble falling asleep', 'waking during the night', 'waking too early', and 'feeling unrested during the day'. OSA was classified as a combination of a positive response to a physician-diagnosed condition, in addition to a high frequency of self-reported nocturnal 'snoring', 'snorting/stopping breathing' and 'feeling overly sleepy during the day'. Comorbid insomnia-OSA was further assessed by combining a positive response to either insomnia (all), or sleep apnoea (all), as classified above. Depressive symptomology was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), with scores of >9 used to indicate depression. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for sleep disorders and depression were attained from logistic regression modelling adjusted for sex, age, poverty level, smoking status and body mass index (BMI). Results: Those who reported insomnia, OSA or comorbid insomnia-OSA symptoms reported higher rates of depression (33.6%, 22.2%, 27.1%, respectively), and consistently reported poorer physical health outcomes than those who did not report sleep disorders. After adjusting for sex, age, poverty level, smoking status and BMI (kg/m2), insomnia (OR 6.57, 95% CI 3.89-11.11), OSA (OR 5.14, 95% CI 3.14-8.41) and comorbid insomnia-OSA (OR 6.67, 95% CI 4.44-10.00) were associated with an increased likelihood of reporting depression. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014.

Real and substantial connections : Enforcing Canadian privacy laws against American social networking companies

Any organisation that captures personal data in Canada for processing is deemed tohave a ‘real and substantial connection’ to Canada and thus fall within thejurisdiction of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act(PIPEDA) and of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC). Whathas been the experience of enforcing Canadian privacy protection law on US-basedsocial networking services? We analyse some of the high-profile enforcement actionsby the Privacy Commissioner. We also test compliance through an analysis of theprivacy policies of the top 23 SNSs operating in Canada and through the use of accessto personal information requests. Our analysis suggests that non-compliance iswidespread, and is explained by the countervailing conceptions of jurisdictioninherent in corporate policy and technical system design.

Analysis of serious non-AIDS events among HIV-infected adults at Latin American sites

Acquired immune deficiency appears to be associated with serious non-AIDS (SNA)-defining conditions such as cardiovascular disease, liver and renal insufficiency and non-AIDS-related malignancies. We analysed the incidence of, and factors associated with, several SNA events in the LATINA retrospective cohort.

Cross-cultural examination of the structure of the Revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS-POQ-R)

This study investigated the cross-cultural factor stability and internal consistency of the Revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS-POQ-R); a measure of the quality of postoperative pain management employed internationally. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of APS-POQ-R data from two point-prevalence studies comprising 268 and 311 surveys of Danish and Australian medical-surgical patients. Parallel analysis indicated four and three factor solutions for Danish and Australian patients respectively, which accounted for 58.1% and 52.9% of variance. Internal consistency was unsatisfactory among both Danish (Cronbach α=.54) and Australian (Cronbach α=.63) cohorts. There was a high degree of between-group similarity in item-factor loadings of variables coded as "pain experience", but not "pain management". This reflected cross-cultural differences in ratings of treatment satisfaction. For Danish patients, satisfaction was associated with the degree of pain severity and activity interference whereas for Australian patients, satisfaction was associated with their perceived ability to participate in treatment. To facilitate further cross-cultural comparison, we compared our findings to past research conducted in the U.S. and Iceland. EFA supported the construct validity of the APS-POQ-R as a measure of "pain experience", but indicated that items measuring "pain management" may vary cross-culturally. Findings highlighted the need for further validation of the APS-POQ-R internationally. PERSPECTIVE: This study revealed the APS-POQ-R as a valid measure of postoperative pain experience for Danish and Australian patients. Measures of patients' perception of pain management were not robust to group differences in treatment expectations and demonstrated cross-cultural instability. Results highlighted difficulties in establishing stable cross-cultural, cross-population subscales for the APS-POQ-R.

Cost effectiveness of an elementary school active physical education policy

INTRODUCTION: Many American children do not meet recommendations for moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Although school-based physical education (PE) provides children with opportunities for MVPA, less than half of PE minutes are typically active. The purpose of this study is to estimate the cost effectiveness of a state "active PE" policy implemented nationally requiring that at least 50% of elementary school PE time is spent in MVPA. METHODS: A cohort model was used to simulate the impact of an active PE policy on physical activity, BMI, and healthcare costs over 10 years for a simulated cohort of the 2015 U.S. population aged 6-11 years. Data were analyzed in 2014. RESULTS: An elementary school active PE policy would increase MVPA per 30-minute PE class by 1.87 minutes (95% uncertainty interval [UI]=1.23, 2.51) and cost $70.7 million (95% UI=$51.1, $95.9 million) in the first year to implement nationally. Physical activity gains would cost $0.34 per MET-hour/day (95% UI=$0.15, $2.15), and BMI could be reduced after 2 years at a cost of $401 per BMI unit (95% UI=$148, $3,100). From 2015 to 2025, the policy would cost $235 million (95% UI=$170 million, $319 million) and reduce healthcare costs by $60.5 million (95% UI=$7.93 million, $153 million). CONCLUSIONS: Implementing an active PE policy at the elementary school level could have a small impact on physical activity levels in the population and potentially lead to reductions in BMI and obesity-related healthcare expenditures over 10 years.