Recent measurements demonstrate that the "background" stratospheric aerosol layer is persistently variable rather than constant, even in the absence of major volcanic eruptions. Several independent ...data sets show that stratospheric aerosols have increased in abundance since 2000. Near-global satellite aerosol data imply a negative radiative forcing due to stratospheric aerosol changes over this period of about -0.1 watt per square meter, reducing the recent global warming that would otherwise have occurred. Observations from earlier periods are limited but suggest an additional negative radiative forcing of about -0.1 watt per square meter from 1960 to 1990. Climate model projections neglecting these changes would continue to overestimate the radiative forcing and global warming in coming decades if these aerosols remain present at current values or increase.
Dutton's rethinking of the fundamentals of intimate partner violence is essential reading for psychologists, policy makers, and those dealing with the sociology of social science, the relationship of ...psychology to law, and explanations of adverse behaviour.
•CVI is more common in the pediatric population with multiple disabilities, which is increasing in prevalence.•Those with autism and ID commonly manifest atypical basic visual functioning.•Difficult ...differential diagnosis between Autism, ID and the deleterious effects of CVI on cognitive and social development.•All communication with affected children must take into account the impact of the perceptual deficits.
From birth, vision guides our movement, facilitates social interaction and accords recognition and understanding of the environment. In children, vision underpins development of these skills, and is crucial for typical development. Deficits in visual processing may lead to impairment of cognitive, motor, and social development, placing children at risk of developing features of autism. Severe early onset visual dysfunction accords the greatest risk. Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) can lead to disorders of cognitive and social development that resemble Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Similarly, children who appear primarily affected by cognitive and social developmental disorders, can manifest a range of visual and perceptual deficits that may be contributory to their disorder. This dual perspective highlights the need for links between impaired vision and neurodevelopmental disorders to be identified and acted upon by means of applying appropriate social and educational strategies. There is good evidence to show that targeted systematic screening for visual and perceptual impairments, and implementation of long-term management approaches, is now required for all at risk children.
Long-term variations in solar radiation at Earth's surface (S) can affect our climate, the hydrological cycle, plant photosynthesis, and solar power. Sustained decreases in S have been widely ...reported from about the year 1960 to 1990. Here we present an estimate of global temporal variations in S by using the longest available satellite record. We observed an overall increase in S from 1983 to 2001 at a rate of 0.16 watts per square meter (0.10%) per year; this change is a combination of a decrease until about 1990, followed by a sustained increase. The global-scale findings are consistent with recent independent satellite observations but differ in sign and magnitude from previously reported ground observations. Unlike ground stations, satellites can uniformly sample the entire globe.
Abstract I argue that Gondolf, Johnson and Dekeseredy, in a recent issue of Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal, presented one sided arguments and misleading evidence for the role of ...gender in intimate partner violence (IPV). Johnson and Dekeseredy use only female victim samples and Gondolf only a male perpetrator sample. These methods generate spurious support for the gender paradigm. Better methodology; longitudinal and laboratory studies indicate that bilateral IPV, matched for level of severity is the most common form of IPV. Our policies should be directed towards this most common form not the relatively rare "wife battering". The stereotype of IPV proffered by the gender paradigm has obscured the dyadic patterns and psychological profiles of IPV so that a "one size fits all" approach has been the normative response. The future of IPV policy lies in prevention and in models that treat abusive families as coherent systems.
Variations in solar radiation incident at Earth's surface profoundly affect the human and terrestrial environment. A decline in solar radiation at land surfaces has become apparent in many ...observational records up to 1990, a phenomenon known as global dimming. Newly available surface observations from 1990 to the present, primarily from the Northern Hemisphere, show that the dimming did not persist into the 1990s. Instead, a widespread brightening has been observed since the late 1980s. This reversal is reconcilable with changes in cloudiness and atmospheric transmission and may substantially affect surface climate, the hydrological cycle, glaciers, and ecosystems.
Abstract We argue that human attachment encompasses a broad spectrum of attachment insecurities including fearful and preoccupied attachment style, negative emotionality (NEM), and borderline ...personality organization (BPO). These, in turn, have a developing literature to link them as causative factors for intimate partner violence (IPV) in both adolescents and adults. These broad spectrum attachment disorders constitute the major psychological predictor of IPV. Direct assessments indicate that they increase the likelihood of aggression in adolescents and intimate partner violence in adults. Some of the proposed mechanisms increasing aggression in insecurely attached people include alterations in the appraisal of threat due to an inability to call on memories of parental support and diminished ability to implement affective controls and impulsivity.
The relationship between obesity and suicidal ideation and behavior (suicidality) is not well understood, and conventional suicide risk factors do not adequately explain the associations observed. ...Thus, the current study aimed to further examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI; kg m(-2)) and suicidal ideation as well as potential mechanisms of this relationship.
Two hundred seventy-one adults (n=151 undergraduates; n=120 obesity treatment participants) completed self-report questionnaires assessing relevant variables, including suicidal ideation, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness and current height/weight used to calculate BMI.
There was a significant, quadratic relationship between BMI and suicidal ideation (b=0.001, t=2.21, P=0.03, partial r=0.14) and between BMI and perceived burdensomeness (b=0.003, t=2.50, P=0.013, partial r=0.16), such that as BMI increased, these positive associations became more pronounced. Additionally, perceived burdensomeness partially mediated the relationship between BMI and suicidal ideation.
Individuals with a higher BMI demonstrated increased suicidal ideation as well as greater feelings of perceived burdensomeness. These results provide novel information regarding potential mechanisms explaining the obesity-suicidal ideation association.
This study investigates recent variations in downwelling surface solar radiation inferred from a comprehensive set of ground‐based observational records updated for the period 2000–2005. Surface ...radiation data beyond the year 2000 are particularly interesting as they provide independent and complementary information to the ambitious satellite programs which became operational with the beginning of the new millennium. The surface records suggest a continuation of the surface solar brightening beyond 2000 at numerous stations in Europe and the United States, as well as parts of east Asia (Korea). Surface solar radiation variations in Europe after 2000 are dominated by a large positive anomaly in the year 2003 with its unprecedented summer heat wave, exceeding 10 Wm−2 on an annual and 20 Wm−2 on a summer mean basis in central Europe. The brightening seen at sites in Antarctica during the 1990s, influenced by a recovery from the low atmospheric transparency after the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption in 1991, fades after 2000. The brightening tendency also seems to level off at sites in Japan. In China there is some indication for a renewed dimming, after the stabilization in the 1990s. A continuation of the long‐lasting dimming is also noted at the sites in India. Overall, the available data suggest continuation of the brightening beyond the year 2000 at numerous locations, yet less pronounced and coherent than during the 1990s, with more regions with no clear changes or declines. Therefore, globally, greenhouse warming after 2000 may be less modulated by surface solar variations than in prior decades.
A new nitrous oxide (N2O) calibration scale has been developed for atmospheric observations. The NOAA‐2006 N2O scale is based on gravimetrically prepared compressed gas standards. This scale ...supercedes the NOAA‐2000 scale, which was accepted by the community of experts within the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmosphere Watch program (GAW) as the GAW reference standard. The new scale is defined by thirteen “daughter” standards with dry air mole fractions ranging from 261–371 parts‐per‐billion (nmol mol−1, ppb). These were derived from four part‐per‐million (mmol mol−1, ppm) level “parents”. Standards were evaluated using gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The daughter standards are internally consistent with a standard deviation of residuals of 0.33 ppb, and there is essentially no detectable difference among “cousins” (standards prepared from different parents). The NOAA‐2006 scale is 0.19 ppb lower than the NOAA‐2000 scale at 320 ppb. The global mean N2O mixing ratio (dry air mole fraction), calculated from in situ observations at five monitoring sites was 318.46 ppb in 2004 on the new scale. The NOAA‐2006 scale compares well with other scales based on comparisons of compressed gas standards. The NOAA‐2006 scale is, on average, 0.23% higher than that defined by NIST Standard Reference Materials 2608 and 2609, and an average of 0.01% lower than the Scripps Institution of Oceanography SIO‐98 scale over the range 298–319 ppb.
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