San Diego State University

About: San Diego State University is a education organization based out in San Diego, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 12418 authors who have published 27950 publications receiving 1192375 citations. The organization is also known as: SDSU & San Diego State College.

Socioeconomic Status and Health: What Is the Role of Reserve Capacity?

Abstract: A robust, linear association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health has been identified across many populations and endpoints. This relationship is typically monotonic, so that each step down the SES hierarchy brings increased vulnerability to disease and premature mortality. Despite growing attention to health disparities, scientists and policy makers have made little progress toward confronting their causes and implementing effective solutions. Using the Reserve Capacity Model (Gallo & Matthews, 2003) as an organizing framework, the current article examines the contribution of resilient psychosocial resources to socioeconomic disparities in physical health. Findings suggest that deficient psychosocial resources, such as low perceptions of control and social support, may be one of many factors that connect low SES with poor health. Additional research is needed to test these relationships and their underlying mechanisms, to consider interventions to enhance reserve capacity, and to evaluate the efficacy of such efforts in fostering resilience to socioeconomic hardship.

Predicting the distribution of shrub species in southern California from climate and terrain-derived variables

Abstract: Generalized additive, generalized linear, and classi- fication tree models were developed to predict the distribution of 20 species of chaparral and coastal sage shrubs within the southwest ecoregion of California. Mapped explanatory vari- ables included bioclimatic attributes related to primary envi- ronmental regimes: averages of annual precipitation, mini- mum temperature of the coldest month, maximum tempera- ture of the warmest month, and topographically-distributed potential solar insolation of the wettest quarter (winter) and of the growing season (spring). Also tested for significance were slope angle (related to soil depth) and the geographic coordi- nates of each observation. Models were parameterized and evaluated based on species presence/absence data from 906 plots surveyed on National Forest lands. Although all vari- ables were significant in at least one of the species' models, those models based only on the bioclimatic variables predicted species presence with 3 - 26 % error. While error would un- doubtedly be greater if the models were evaluated using inde- pendent data, results indicate that these models are useful for predictive mapping - for interpolating species distribution data within the ecoregion. All three methods produced models with similar accuracy for a given species; GAMs were useful for exploring the shape of the response functions, GLMs allowed those response functions to be parameterized and their significance tested, and classification trees, while some- times difficult to interpret, yielded the lowest prediction errors (lower by 3-5% ).

English for Specific Purposes: International in Scope, Specific in Purpose

Abstract: Over the past 30 years, English for specific purposes has established itself as a viable and vigorous movement within the field of TEFL/TESL. In this paper, English for specific purposes is defined and its distinguishing features examined. The international nature and scope of the movement are particularly emphasized. Finally, questions and controversies surrounding the movement are discussed.

Women's Preferences for Male Behavioral Displays Change Across the Menstrual Cycle

Abstract: Women prefer both the scent of symmetrical men and masculine male faces more during the fertile (late follicular and ovulatory) phases of their menstrual cycles than during their infertile (e.g., luteal) phases. Men's behavioral displays in social settings may convey signals that affect women's attraction to men even more strongly. This study examined shifts in women's preferences for these behavioral displays. A sample of 237 normally ovulating women viewed 36 or 40 videotaped men who were competing for a potential lunch date and then rated each man's attractiveness as a short-term and a long-term mate. As predicted, women's preference for men who displayed social presence and direct intrasexual competitiveness increased on high-fertility days relative to low-fertility days, but only in a short-term, not a long-term, mating context. These findings add to the growing literature indicating that women's mate pref- erences systematically vary across the reproductive cycle.