Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

A century of war: Analysis of the President, the images, and public opinion from the Spanish American War to the Persian Gulf War

Over the last century, the United States has engaged itself in numerous conflicts--some of which have been large-scale world wars; others have been smaller in scope. But, this trend of U.S. involvement in other country\u27s issues isn\u27t a trend that will seem to subside. As Lippmann (1922) suggests, the news media provide audiences with pictures--literal and figurative--in our heads, giving audiences impressions of the world that are largely out of reach, out of sight, out of mind (Lippmann 1922, 29; McCombs and Estrada, 1997, 237). This study examines a century of war, but more specifically, this study examines the relationship between the President, the press, and the public during times of war over the last century. Furthermore, this study examines the visual images and the visual messages produced during six major conflicts of the last 100 years. This project is divided into two studies: Study 1 tests traditional agenda-setting literature. Study 2 is a test of the photographic framing of war. The two studies together provide meaningful interpretations of textual and visual messages of war and the way those messages interact with Presidential rhetoric and public opinion. Using a combination of mass communication and visual sociology theories, this study\u27s theoretical foundation is built on agenda-setting theory, framing theory, and visual sociology theory. In many of the hypotheses, it was predicted there would be associations between the President and the press, the President and the public, and the press and the public. A content analysis was used to examine textual and visual content, a content analysis was used to examine Presidential speeches, and secondary analysis of public opinion polls was used to assess measures of public opinion. The findings support the notion that there is a transferal of issue agendas between these entities. The photographic portion of this study examined the way newsmagazines reported the war photographically. In this case, content categories were created to provide a means of categorizing images of war. The findings from this study indicate that war, over time, has been framed and characterized in particular ways

Confidence And Competence Among Community College Students: Self-Efficacy And Performance In Grammar

Proper grammar is crucial for effective communication. Two surveys of students in an introductory writing course sought to identify predictors of grammar ability. Students demonstrated a limited grasp of the language, struggling with such issues as the distinction between “it\u27s” and “its.” Women performed better than men at the beginning of the semester, but the gap later narrowed. There was a correlation between self-efficacy (confidence in one\u27s ability to perform a particular task) and grammar ability at the end of the semester. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to empirically link grammar self-efficacy and grammar performance. High school grade point average also predicted grammar ability at the end of the semester. © 2004 Taylor and Francis, LLC

Social Science, Media Effects & The Supreme Court: Is Communication Research Relevant After Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association?

This article examines the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 ruling in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association for the future use of social science evidence and communication research to supply legislative facts supporting laws that target harms allegedly caused by media artifacts. The Brown majority set the bar for the relevance of social science evidence exceedingly high - perhaps too high, the article suggests - while Justice Stephen Breyer, in contrast, adopted a much more deferential approach in a dissent that embraced the evidence proffered by California. The article also reveals an apparent inconsistency in Justice Antonin Scalia's approach to social evidence when comparing his majority opinion in Brown against his opinion just two years earlier in Federal Communications Commissionv. Fox Television Stations, Inc. Ultimately, the article asserts that communication scientists hoping to influence both legislative bodies and jurists should view Brown as a wake-up call to do two things: 1) educate lawmakers and jurists about whether and when social science research can adequately resolve complex questions about media-caused harms; and 2) jettison research that lacks real-world generalizability and legal relevance

News frames and attitudes toward mental illness

Informed by framing theory, the present study tested whether stimulus material designed to include pertinent educational background information about mental illness would result in more favorable or less unfavorable attitudes toward people with mental illness. The study is significant because it tested participant attitudes both before and after exposure to a newspaper article linking violence and mental illness, specifically schizophrenia. Using a simple pre-test/post-test within-subjects experimental design, the study also examined whether exposure to general media, including news and entertainment content, influences attitudes toward people with mental illness. Results indicated no significant relationship between general news and entertainment media exposure and attitudes toward people with mental illness, but suggested other variables such as personal knowledge of mental illness may influence attitudes toward people with mental illness. The study also found that the inclusion of factual, educational material in an otherwise stereotypical article linking mental illness and violence may foster less negative attitudes toward people with mental illness. The study suggests one possible, and practical, method for reporters and editors to help mitigate the stigma attached to mental illness. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

The effect of verb aspect on cognitive dissonance and social influence

The present research addresses whether describing a prior decision-making act as ongoing using the imperfective verb aspect (rather than describing it as completed using the perfective verb aspect) influences attitudes toward the decision and tendencies to make similar decisions. In Experiment 1, participants who described their prior decision-making act using the perfective (vs. imperfective) aspect indicated greater decision satisfaction (i.e., a larger preference for their chosen over the unchosen alternative). In Experiment 2, participants viewed the decision to agree to a small request in the perfective (vs. imperfective) aspect and were then asked a larger, more costly request. Though it was expected that participants who viewed the perfective (vs. imperfective) in their descriptions would demonstrate more compliance, the results suggested verb aspect had no effect on compliance. All told, the present research provides mixed evidence for understanding how subtle language features shapes basic thought processes, but may hold important implications for understanding cognitive dissonance and decision-making processes. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

Narrative and frame in health communication: the influence of narrative transportation to promote detection behavior

The purpose of thesis is to test two types of persuasive message strategies including narrative message type and message frame in health context and to investigate the potential interplay of those strategies when health message contain multiple persuasive strategies that combine various categories (e.g., gain-framed narrative message or loss-framed statistical evidence). In fact, the combination of strategies seems likely to intensify or diminish the effect of health message on persuasion. The results are congruent with the transportation theory. Narrative message produces higher transportation experience into the message than statistical evidence, and higher transportation yields positive attitude and intention toward skin cancer detection behaviors than low transportation. Moreover, the results also indicate that loss frame elicits no effect on attitude and intention toward skin cancer detection behaviors compared to gain frame. The findings support the meta-analyses of message frame literature, arguing that loss frame is only effective in promoting breast cancer detection behavior but not for other detection behaviors such as HIV test and blood test. This study is also designed to explore the possible moderating role of transportation in different message frame. It hypothesizes that for highly transported participants, loss frame will be more effective than gain frame in promoting positive attitude and intention to engage in detection behavior. The findings show that message frame has no effect for those who highly transported people. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

Video games and violence: a content analysis of print advertisements and internet trailers

This study examined the level of violent content in video game advertisements and trailers. For the purposes of this study, violence was defined as an act intended to cause physical harm (Harris, 2004). Violent content was considered to fall into three different categories: weapons, violent actions, and violent words (Scharrer, 2004). The instances of each were coded, including the type of weapons and actions, and compiled to determine violent content along with race and gender of characters, as well as the genre and the rating and the content descriptors designated by the Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB). The print video game advertisements were selected from editions from two popular video game magazines published between 2007 and 2010. Each novel advertisement found in a magazine was included in the sample and the corresponding trailer for each game was downloaded from a website dedicated to video games. The resulting sample included 347 print advertisements and 260 trailers (n = 607). The data collected by this content analysis indicated that violence is prevalent in video games, 78.9% of the games included violent content. The genre and rating were each shown to have significant relationships with the number of violent words in the games; however the medium and the number of violent words were not related, indicating that game developers and advertisers rely heavily of exciting images to attract players when creating advertisements. The General Aggression Model, Social Learning Theory, and Cultivation Theory were used as a foundation for this study and indicated the dangers of a media diet that is heavy in violence. These three theories indicated that consuming media riddled with violence leads to an ominous worldview and to aggressive responses to social situation and hostile learned behaviors. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries

The relationship between violent motion-sensing video games and aggression in Taiwanese children

The research in the effects of violent motion-sensing video game on aggression is scarce, particularly on Asian children. The first object of this research is to examine whether violent motion-sensing video games is positively correlated with children's aggression in Taiwan, where its cultural values discourage aggressive behaviors. Additionally, this research examines whether the GAM illustrate how violent motion-sensing video game influences aggression among Taiwanese children. A survey study was conducted in 2008. More than nine hundred Taiwanese children were surveyed. Analyses of the data revealed that playing violent motion-sensing video game was not significantly associated with high levels of aggression in Taiwanese children, while controlling the influences of other explanatory variables. It seems that GAM was not effective in illustrating the process of violent motion-sensing video game influencing aggression. Although the result failed to demonstrate the influencing pathway of violent motion-sensing video games, the GAM illustrates the process of biological and social environmental modifiers affecting aggression in Taiwanese children. Some implications and limitations of this research were also discussed. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries