Toward A General Race Salience Effect: Alternative Manipulations And Group-Level Decision Making

The race salience effect of juror decision making states that White jurors will display bias favoring White defendants over Black defendants only when race is not a prominent aspect of the crime or trial. Although past research has established this effect under certain conditions, a broader investigation of the effect is currently lacking in the literature. Furthermore, the literature has largely ignored the role that jury deliberation may have in attenuating or exacerbating the race salience effect. In total, 357 White mock jurors participated in a simulated court case about an interracial bar fight in which race was made salient either through attorney statements (Experiment 1, N = 207) or through pretrial publicity (Experiment 2, N = 150); participants in Experiment 1 also convened as a jury and deliberated the case. In both experiments, a race salience effect was found for verdict preference, but not for any other trial outcome. In addition, the effect identified was in the opposite direction to that expected based on previous research, as results showed an outgroup favoritism effect in race salient conditions. Experiment 1 also found no race salience effects following jury deliberation, indicating that no new effects were created through deliberation and any that existed prior to deliberation were eliminated. Implications of these findings for the race salience literature and the juror decision making literature are discussed along with implications for actual court cases

Aggregation, indexing and visualization using the ELK Stack

My idea of what this final creative component of my education should be is related to the next step in the journey of life. I’m not aspiring to break new ground at this point, I am aspiring to teach those who desire to learn. I want to help build a strong foundation of learning for each student or individual I have the privilege to engage with in whatever capacity that entails. With that in mind, I decided to approach this last experience from a different perspective. This is not something that has never been done before. However, it is something that is not traditionally submitted as a creative component. Of course, I am going to submit the paper portion as required. What makes this more important to me is the additional video component

Effect of Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis on Health Utilization and Education Progress in Children and Adolescents.

Aims. To determining the effect of asthma, cystic fibrosis (CF), and both on healthcare utilization, absences from school, and rate of progress in school. Background. Previous studies on academic progression and health care utilization in children with the respiratory diseases of asthma and CF have been limited or conflicting. Design. Non experimental, cross-sectional, secondary data analysis using a multilevel probability sample. Methods. The response of all persons under 18 years of age in the U.S. 1997-2012 National Health Interview Survey to interviewer questions on demographic, educational, and health care utilization items were analyzed. The mean and 95% confidence intervals for these variables were compared for children with asthma, CF, and controls. Results/Findings. Children with asthma, CF, or both had a higher utilization of all major types of healthcare services than children with neither of these conditions. Children with asthma or CF were more likely to have not only poor health, but more rapid declines in recent health with the greatest decline in those with both conditions. The number of missed school days was also higher, and highest in children with both CF and asthma. Despite the many missed school days, children with asthma paradoxically had a greater rate of progression in school than those without asthma. Those with CF or CF with asthma had a slower rate. Conclusion. Asthma in CF has a negative impact on attendance and progress in school largely opposite that of asthma alone

The Moderating Effects of Need for Closure on the Common Ingroup Identity Model

The current study looked at the Common Ingroup Identity Model and its link to need for closure, a cognitive construct that causes individuals to seek out quick and finite answers. Based on previous research, I predicted that participants high in situational and dispositional need for closure would be more responsive to the Common Ingroup Identity Model than participants who were not. Results indicated that need for closure does not have a direct relationship with the model; however, a three-way interaction suggests that a more complex relationship may exist. These results give the Common Ingroup Identity Model more applicability within real-world situations. The findings also add to previous research on need for closure\u27s relationship with prejudice reduction and suggest that its impact may be limited to techniques focused on intergroup contact

Automatic generation of a floor plan from a 3D scanned model: Making the Analogue World Digital

The processing of three-dimensional (3D) room models is an area of research undertaken by many academics and hobbyists due to multiple uses derived from the information obtained - such as the generation of a floor plan; an example of bridging the real and digital world. A floor plan is required when an existing room, floor, or building requires alteration. By having the floor plan in the digital domain it allows the user to alter the room via simulation and render the environment in a life-like manner to determine if the alterations will suffice. This is done using Computer Aided Design Software (CAD). Designing a new room or building would be done using CAD software. However, not all building's digital files are readily available or exist - making the creation of a floor plan necessary. The floor plan can created up by a person on pen and paper, or with using software tools and sensors. Commercial systems exist for this task but there are no automated, open-source systems that can do the same. Current research tends to focus on the processing algorithms and not the sensors or methods for capturing the environment. This dissertation deals with testing and evaluating off-the-shelf (OTS) sensors and the processing of 3D modelled rooms captured with one of these sensors. The tests performed on the OTS sensors determine the overall accuracy of the sensors for 3D room modelling. The rationale for designing and conducting these tests is to provide the community with suggested practical tests to assist in selecting an OTS sensor for 3D room modelling. The 3D room models are captured using an opensource application and are imported into custom software. The 3D models undergo pre-processing algorithms producing 2D results, which were further processed to determine the walls of rooms. The dimension information about these features are used to create a 2D floor plan. 3D modelled environments are inherently noisy, requiring efficient pre-processing to remove the noise without hampering processing performance of the 3D model. One of the largest contributors to noise and accuracy is the sensor. Selecting the appropriate sensor can mitigate the need for complex pre-processing algorithms and will improve overall processing time. The project was able to extract dimension information within an acceptable error. The tests that were designed and used for sensor testing were able to determine which sensor was the better choice for 3D room modelling. The optimal sensor was found to be Microsoft's Kinect1 . Tests were performed in which the Microsoft Kinect was required to map a room. The results show that dimensional information about the given scene could be successfully extracted with an average error of 4.60 %

Variability of FEV and Criterion for Acute Pulmonary Exacerbation

Excerpt: Morgan et al. (1) concluded that cystic fibrosis (CF) in children and adolescents with a high baseline forced expiratory volume (FEV1) were less likely to have a therapeutic intervention or slower rate of FEV1 decline after a single acute decline in FEV1 of 10%. This conclusion is not well supported due to the arbitrary criteria used for defining a pulmonary exacerbation, as explained below

Miglustat effects on the basal nasal potential differences in cystic fibrosis

A recent study by Leonard, Lebecque, Dingemanse, and Leal [1] tested the effect of Miglustat, an alpha inhibitor on the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator gene using total chloride secretion in the nasal epithelium as the key variable estimated from basal nasal potential differences. The conclusion was drawn that “There was no evidence of a treatment effect on any nasal potential difference variable.” This conclusion may not be correct because of a slight misinterpretation of their statistical results. There also is a question of whether longer exposure periods than 8 days would have produced a more pronounced effect

Mechanisms of intron gain and loss in Drosophila

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is widely accepted that orthologous genes have lost or gained introns throughout evolution. However, the specific mechanisms that generate these changes have proved elusive. Introns are known to affect nearly every level of gene expression. Therefore, understanding their mechanism of evolution after their initial fixation in eukaryotes is pertinent to understanding the means by which organisms develop greater regulation and complexity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To investigate possible mechanisms of intron gain and loss, we identified 189 intron gain and 297 intron loss events among 11 Drosophila species. We then investigated these events for signatures of previously proposed mechanisms of intron gain and loss. This work constitutes the first comprehensive study into the specific mechanisms that may generate intron gains and losses in Drosophila. We report evidence of intron gain via transposon insertion; the first intron loss that may have occurred via non-homologous end joining; intron gains via the repair of a double strand break; evidence of intron sliding; and evidence that internal or 5' introns may not frequently be deleted via the self-priming of reverse transcription during mRNA-mediated intron loss. Our data also suggest that the transcription process may promote or result in intron gain.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings support the occurrence of intron gain via transposon insertion, repair of double strand breaks, as well as intron loss via non-homologous end joining. Furthermore, our data suggest that intron gain may be enabled by or due to transcription, and we shed further light on the exact mechanism of mRNA-mediated intron loss.</p

Rednecks, Hillbillies, and White Trash in the Living Room: A Rhetorical Analysis of Reality Television\u27s Construction of Appalachian Regional Identity

Reality television is one of America’s guiltiest pleasures because it lets us peer into the lives of people who are both similar to and different from us. However, the narratives we see on the small screen are far from innocent; in fact, reality television plays a large role in directing how we make sense of the world and our place within it. To that end, this study examines how MTV’s reality television series, Buckwild, constructs a particular view of Appalachian regional identity. This study utilizes ideological criticism to uncover how MTV engages in continued stereotyping of Appalachian people. Specifically, my analysis argues that Buckwild paints Appalachian people as inferior Americans living lives governed by gender double standards, ridiculous redneck contraptions, and fetishization, even an embrace of, of poverty and insularity. I conclude that this study reveals an urgent need for more critical engagement with reality television as well as an increased effort to rethink the way we understand Appalachian places and people

Long-term yogurt consumption and risk of incident hypertension in adults

The Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohorts are supported by grants UM1 CA186107, UM1 CA176726, and UM1 CA167552 from the National Institutes of Health. The current analyses were supported by small grants from the National Dairy Council, the General Mills Bell Institute for Health and Nutrition, and the Boston Nutrition and Obesity Research Center. The Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center is administratively based at Boston Medical Center and is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK) grant P30DK046200. (UM1 CA186107 - National Institutes of Health; UM1 CA176726 - National Institutes of Health; UM1 CA167552 - National Institutes of Health; small grants from the National Dairy Council; General Mills Bell Institute for Health and Nutrition; Boston Nutrition and Obesity Research Center; P30DK046200 - National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK))Accepted manuscrip