Flinders University

About: Flinders University is a education organization based out in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 12033 authors who have published 32831 publications receiving 973172 citations. The organization is also known as: Flinders University of South Australia.

Psychological antecedents of student procrastination

Abstract: The study examined three psychological explanations for procrastination: indecision (Janis & Mann, 1977); irrational beliefs about self-worth (Ellis & Knaus, 1977); and low self-esteem (Burka & Yuen, 1983). Times taken by 245 students in a first-year Psychology course to submit three separate assignments (a term-paper outline, a term paper, and a research questionnaire) were recorded and correlated with measures of indecision, irrational beliefs, and self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Similarly, students' self-reported frequency of procrastination was correlated with the above measures. Small but significant correlations were found between indecision, irrational beliefs, and low self-esteem and two measures of procrastination: time taken to submit a term paper and self-reported frequency of procrastination. Multiple regression analyses revealed that self-esteem and, to a lesser extent, indecision accounted for significant unique portions of the variance in procrastination. Significant correlati...

Posttraumatic Phenomena in a Longitudinal Study of Children Following a Natural Disaster

Abstract: This longitudinal study examined the prevalence of posttraumatic phenomena and how they relate to symptomatic and behavioral disorders in a population of schoolchildren exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster. The prevalence of these phenomena did not change over an 18-month period, suggesting that they were markers of significant developmental trauma. The mothers' responses to the disaster were better predictors of the presence of posttraumatic phenomena in children than the children's direct exposure to the disaster. Both the experience of intrusive memories by the mothers and a changed pattern of parenting seemed to account for this relationship.

Association Between Telomere Length and Risk of Cancer and Non-Neoplastic Diseases A Mendelian Randomization Study

Abstract: IMPORTANCE: The causal direction and magnitude of the association between telomere length and incidence of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases is uncertain owing to the susceptibility of observational studies to confounding and reverse causation. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a Mendelian randomization study, using germline genetic variants as instrumental variables, to appraise the causal relevance of telomere length for risk of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases. DATA SOURCES: Genomewide association studies (GWAS) published up to January 15, 2015. STUDY SELECTION: GWAS of noncommunicable diseases that assayed germline genetic variation and did not select cohort or control participants on the basis of preexisting diseases. Of 163 GWAS of noncommunicable diseases identified, summary data from 103 were available. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Summary association statistics for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are strongly associated with telomere length in the general population. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for disease per standard deviation (SD) higher telomere length due to germline genetic variation. RESULTS: Summary data were available for 35 cancers and 48 non-neoplastic diseases, corresponding to 420 081 cases (median cases, 2526 per disease) and 1 093 105 controls (median, 6789 per disease). Increased telomere length due to germline genetic variation was generally associated with increased risk for site-specific cancers. The strongest associations (ORs [95% CIs] per 1-SD change in genetically increased telomere length) were observed for glioma, 5.27 (3.15-8.81); serous low-malignant-potential ovarian cancer, 4.35 (2.39-7.94); lung adenocarcinoma, 3.19 (2.40-4.22); neuroblastoma, 2.98 (1.92-4.62); bladder cancer, 2.19 (1.32-3.66); melanoma, 1.87 (1.55-2.26); testicular cancer, 1.76 (1.02-3.04); kidney cancer, 1.55 (1.08-2.23); and endometrial cancer, 1.31 (1.07-1.61). Associations were stronger for rarer cancers and at tissue sites with lower rates of stem cell division. There was generally little evidence of association between genetically increased telomere length and risk of psychiatric, autoimmune, inflammatory, diabetic, and other non-neoplastic diseases, except for coronary heart disease (OR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.67-0.90]), abdominal aortic aneurysm (OR, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.49-0.81]), celiac disease (OR, 0.42 [95% CI, 0.28-0.61]) and interstitial lung disease (OR, 0.09 [95% CI, 0.05-0.15]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: It is likely that longer telomeres increase risk for several cancers but reduce risk for some non-neoplastic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases.

Applications and explanations of Zipf's law

Abstract: Recently I have been intrigued by the reappearance of an old friend, George Kingsley Zipf, in a number of not entirely expected places. The law named for him is ubiquitous, but Zipf did not actually discover the law so much as provide a plausible explanation. Others have proposed modifications to Zipf's Law, and closer examination uncovers systematic deviations from its normative form. We demonstrate how Zipf's analysis can be extended to include some of these phenomena.