The 9-item Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale (Tylka & Iannantuono, 2016) assesses the extent to which individuals are able to perceive a wide range of physical appearances as beautiful, whether these appearances are largely unchangeable (e.g., body shape) or more easily modifiable (e.g., personal style, dress), and draw from inner characteristics (e.g., confidence, self-acceptance) when defining beauty. While originally designed for female respondents, the BCBS was modified to be gender neutral. The BCBS can be administered online or in-person to adolescents and adults and is free to use. This chapter first discusses the development of the BCBS and then provides evidence of its psychometrics. More specifically, the BCBS has been found to have a unidimensional factor structure within exploratory and/or confirmatory factor analyses. Internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity support the use of the BCBS. Next, this chapter provides the BCBS items in their entirety, instructions for administering the BCBS to participants, the item response scale, and the scoring procedure. Links to known translations are included. Logistics of use, such as permissions, copyright, and contact information, are available for readers.

The notion of linear stability of a variety in projective space was introduced by Mumford in the context of GIT. It has subsequently been applied by Mistretta and others to Butler’s conjecture on stability of the dual span bundle (DSB) $M_{V\mathrm{,}E}$ of a general generated coherent system $(E\mathrm{,}V)$. We survey recent progress in this direction on rank one coherent systems, prove a new result for hyperelliptic curves, and state some open questions. We then extend the definition of linear stability to generated coherent systems of higher rank. We show that various coherent systems with unstable DSB studied in \cite{bmno} are also linearly unstable. We show that linearly stable coherent systems of type (2, d, 4) for low enough d have stable DSB, and use this to prove a particular case of Butler’s conjecture. We then exhibit a linearly stable generated coherent system with unstable DSB, confirming that linear stability of $(E\mathrm{,}V)$ in general remains weaker than semistability of $M_{V\mathrm{,}E}$ in higher rank. We end with a list of open questions on the higher rank case.

This chapter reviews the psychological research examining the relationship between religious faith and life purpose. First, because defining the constructs of religious faith and life purpose have been such an empirically challenging task, the author offers various definitions adopted in the social sciences. Second, the author describes theoretical propositions about possible mechanisms that help to explain why religious faith contributes to life purpose. Although research is limited, the author then reviews the empirical literature that has addressed the link between religious faith and life purpose, including findings to date that suggest that various religious faith constructs may play a key role in cultivating one’s sense of life purpose. The author also reviews the literature that has examined the complex relationships between religious faith, life purpose, and well-being. Throughout, the author offers suggestions for future research to advance the science examining religious faith and life purpose. The chapter closes with a discussion of the implications of this research to inform understandings of the development and importance of religious faith, and life purpose to optimal human functioning.

Decision-making is vital in our daily living. Through the following book, readers will develop an understanding of decision-making from the underlying anatomy through to the complexities of free will.

The 13-item Appearance-Related Social Media Consciousness Scale (ASMC Scale; Choukas-Bradley et al., 2020) assesses appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC) – i.e., ongoing awareness of one’s physical attractiveness to an online audience. The ASMC Scale can be administered online or in-person to adolescents and adults and is free to use in any setting. In this chapter, we discuss the development of the scale and provide evidence of its psychometric properties. The ASMC Scale is unidimensional, with evidence of partial measurement invariance across gender (comparing girls/women and boys/men). Internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity support the use of the scale with adolescents and adults. Next, we provide the ASMC Scale items in their entirety, instructions for administering the scale to participants, the response scale, the scoring procedure, and information about known translations (Chinese/Mandarin, Spanish, Turkish). Additionally, we provide logistical information, such as permissions, copyright, contact information, and considerations for alterations (e.g., related to short-term video-based social media). We also discuss initial findings related to ASMC, including gender differences in mean levels (with girls/women reporting higher levels of ASMC than boys/men), and evidence of associations between ASMC and offline body image and mental health constructs.

Junction- and metal oxide-field effect transistors are introduced and their operation is explained. Governing equations are presented. DC and switching applications are given. The Universal DC bias circuit is used to provide DC biasing for AC amplification circuits. The AC equivalents for the field-effect transistor are developed and then used to derive the properties of the common-source, common-drain, and common-gate amplifiers.

Self-discovery characterizes the late teens and early twenties. Accordingly, many young people turn to colleges and universities – with their expansive resources for occupational, ideological, and interpersonal exploration – to help them clarify who they are and where they are going in life. Although changes in identity and self-direction are normative, perhaps even expected, parts of one’s journey through college, people vary in their ability to find threads of continuity within themselves in the face of change. This leaves many of them feeling unstable and disconnected from the people they were in the past. A sense of being “off-course” in life is known as derailment and is consistently related to elevated levels of concurrent psychological distress. As demand for mental health services on college campuses rises across the nation, derailment represents a potentially salient experience that can help educators and practitioners better address the developmental needs of their students. In this chapter, I review the features of emerging adulthood before unpacking derailment and what it could mean within the landscape of this period. Then, against the backdrop of existing identity and purpose formation literature, I explore the alignment between current United States (US) college structures and the developmental needs of students, theorizing on how traditional institutional policies, practices, and opportunities encourage or discourage derailment during a student’s tenure. Finally, I close by looking ahead to the future, calling for empirical investigation of how higher education can support young people in finding a balance between maintaining personal stability and undergoing radical personal change.