What motivates you right now? Development of a measure of momentary-chronic regulatory focus

Regulatory focus is a motivational construct that describes humans’ motivational orientation during goal pursuit. It is conceptualized as a chronic, trait-like, as well as a momentary, state-like orientation. Whereas there is a large number of measures to capture chronic regulatory focus, measures for its momentary assessment are only just emerging. This paper presents the development and validation of a measure of Momentary-Chronic Regulatory Focus. Our development incorporates the distinction between self-guide and reference-point definitions of regulatory focus. Ideals and ought striving are the promotion and prevention dimension in the self-guide system; gain and non-loss regulatory focus are the respective dimensions within the reference-point system. Three-survey-based studies test the structure, psychometric properties, and validity of the measure in its version to assess chronic regulatory focus (two samples of working participants, N = 389, N = 672; one student sample [time 1, N = 105; time 2, n = 91]). In two further studies, an experience sampling study with students (N = 84, k = 1649) and a daily-diary study with working individuals (N = 129, k = 1766), the measure was applied to assess momentary regulatory focus. Multilevel analyses test the momentary measure’s factorial structure, provide support for its sensitivity to capture within-person fluctuations, and provide evidence for concurrent construct validity

Relations among personal initiative and the development of reading strategy knowledge and reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is a self-regulated activity that depends on the proactive effort of the reader. Therefore, the authors studied the effects of personal initiative (PI) on the development of reading comprehension, mediated by reading strategy knowledge. Structural equation modelling was applied to a longitudinal study with two data waves separated by two years. At Time 1, the participants (N = 1,102) were either in third or fourth grade. At Time 2, third graders had moved to grade five, and fourth graders had moved to grade six (N = 1,009). At both grade levels, PI explained unique variance in reading strategy knowledge and reading comprehension at Time 2. Moreover, from fourth to sixth grade the effect of PI on reading comprehension was mediated by reading strategy knowledge. No mediation was observed from third to fifth grade. These findings emphasize the relevance of PI in the development of reading strategy knowledge and reading comprehension. They further reveal that the hypothesized mediation process does not unfold until sixth grade.

Residential satisfaction: A study of nonmetropolitan single parent women

Studies of residential satisfaction are an area of great concern among researchers in housing, sociology, and planning. While there is some existing research that focuses on housing and neighborhood satisfaction of women very little highlights the particular concerns and needs of nonmetropolitan singleparent women. It is hoped that this study can begin to add to the literature in this research area. This study involved data from two nonmetropolitan cities in Iowa: Fort Dodge and Marshalltown. A survey was designed and collected data only from femaleheaded households with at least one child under the age of 18 on the Section 8 program in both cities. Preliminary conclusions were drawn regarding the desire for portability from information respondents provided concerning their knowledge of this option. The results of this research have implications for the provision of Section 8 housing in Iowa and elsewhere. Findings regarding the portability option may suggest mobility trends among Section 8 recipients for which planners may need to prepare

The Ursinus Weekly, May 17, 1948

Derstine promoted to associate editor • Male students elect ten men to serve as 1949 student council representatives • Armstrong selected most popular prof • Curtain Club elects Tischler president • Kimes and Drummer named to head dining room staff • Life comes to life; photos Ursinus coeds • Honorary degrees to be given to six • Who\u27s who member listed to speak at seventy-eighth annual commencement • Dr. Dobbs Ehlman to speak at baccalaureate service • Rosicrucians elect Pechter as president for new year • History prize for women established by Dr. White • Love letters lack punch? Read this! • Men\u27s May pageant loaded with talent • Weekly discovers wizard cartoonist • Godshall-Bart look to Ursinus future • Navy offers commissions to qualified college grads • Trackmen second in triangular meet • Bears trim Fords 12-2 behind steady hurling by Landes • Curtis holds lead as loop nears end • Bears stopped cold by Greyhound nine • Coeds continue win streak by downing Main Line lassies • Kennedy, R. Binder cop track crowns • Coeds bow to Quakerettes; victors in only one event • Beaver trips women golfers 5-0 • Landes pitches, bats diamond squad to 12-0 whitewash of Juniata Indians • Fords trim bruins 9-0 in tennis battle • Girls jayvee team defeats Bryn Mawr in hitting fray • AVC elects Stein chairman; discusses plans for fall • Dr. Philp serves as judge of New England festivals • \u2751 renames three leaders; Thalheimer to hold money • Office releases statement affecting school veterans • Y officers name commission heads • Program listed by grads for Alumni Day on May 29https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1640/thumbnail.jp

Asking for work adjustments or initiating behavioral changes – what makes a “problematic co-worker” score Brownie points?: An experimental study on the reactions towards colleagues with a personality disorder

People with mental disorders, especially personality disorders, often face low acceptance at work. This is particularly problematic when returning to work after sick-leave, because it impedes reintegration into the former workplace. This study explores colleagues’ reactions towards a problematic worker dependent on the returning person’s reintegration strategy: The returning person undertaking changes in their behaviour is compared with the person requesting adjustments of the workplace. In an experimental study 188 employed persons read one of four vignettes that described a return-to-work-situation of a problematic co-worker. Across all vignettes the co-worker was depicted as having previously caused problems in the work team. In the first vignette the co-worker asked for workplace-adjustments when she returned to work; in the second, she attempted to change her behaviour in order to cause less problems; the third vignette combined both workplace-adjustments and behavioural changes; and the fourth (control) vignette did not include any change. Study participants were asked for their reactions towards the problematic co-worker. Vignettes that included a behavioural change evoked more positive reactions towards the co-worker than vignettes without any behavioural change. Asking for workplace-adjustments alone did not yield more positive reactions compared to not initiating any change. When preparing employees with interactional problems for their return to work, it is not effective to only instruct them on their statutory entitlement for workplace-adjustments. Instead, it is advisable to encourage them to proactively strive for behaviour changes

The Ursinus Weekly, November 10, 1947

Guest speaker pictures university life in Czechoslovakia and rest of Europe • Ruby subscriptions aid supply store queen obtain new ensemble • F & M football game, Varsity Club hop headline varied old timers\u27 day doings • Mary Carter voted annual May queen • Cast for coming production announced by Curtain Club • Noted educator to address forum on World in action • Campus sororities bid thirty-five initiates during rushing week • Musicians begin rehearsals as swing band plans debut • WSSF opens annual drive for funds; to benefit students in war-torn lands • Frosh women introduced to feminine sports by WAA • Dr. Rice to address German Club at November meeting • New gym nears completion; seats for 800 to be constructed • Views on the Marshall Plan • English Club hears book review • WSGA purchases records • Dr. Child well-known as mountaineer; arrived\u27 with conquest of Matterhorn • Steamship line offers trips to Scandinavia in new essay contest • Student from Iraq finds our grammar easier than Arabic • Pre-meds hear psychiatrist lecture on mental illness • Officers of Newman Club chosen • FTA plans monthly meeting with visual education film • French Club has social meeting • Spanish Club plans activities • Court squad prepares for season\u27s opening • Wrestlers to face six-match schedule • Bruins to meet F & M here Saturday; long-time rivals first tangled in 1894 • JV booters bow to Valley Forge • Golfers plan for 1948 season; to face Princeton, Swarthmore • Co-eds notch win over Chestnut Hill • Second half surge gives Juniata 31-14 victory over bears • Ursinus representatives on girls\u27 all-college team • Haverford defeats bruin booters, 6-1 • Graduation losses promise headaches for coach Wieneke\u27s eleven next fall • Brodbeck, Curtis play off to determine campus champ • JVs swamp Chestnut Hill • Brotherhood plans service • Harriers in Muhlenberg meet • Dorm representatives selectedhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1626/thumbnail.jp

The Ursinus Weekly, December 15, 1947

Dance, banquet to highlight eventful pre-Christmas week • Large audience lauds Messiah presentation • Barrett-Browning story lives again at Ursinus in Curtain Club drama • Thirteen Ursinus seniors will appear in \u2747-\u2748 Who\u27s Who Among Students • Unique game opens junior band drive • European aid poll sponsored by PAC • Rettew presents Christmas story for candlelight vesper service • Ursinus group gains experience at debate tourney in Vermont • Freshmen issue first copy of new Highlights of \u2751 • Christmas carols to echo over campus Wednesday night in traditional custom • Dormitory thefts solved; Local man pleads guilty • WSGA passes two regulations • Poem by Wentzel selected for anthology publication • Dr. Miller AVC forum guest • Commentator: The Geneva conference • Room for improvement • Alumni-society notes • Important notice • The Christmas season • Rebellion and war part of daily life for Bob Hekking, formerly of Shanghai • More college musical talent discovered as two sophs make hit in swing trio • Vox pop • Shreiner behind Ruby 100% • On the boards • Court mentor Seeders commends enthusiasm of this year\u27s team • Kimono kids trip Bearettes, 2-0, in field hockey upset • Local wrestlers drill for Haverford match • Basketeers down Elizabethtown, 46-42, in season\u27s inaugural: Varsity stops last minute E-Town surge; JV\u27s baffled by visitors\u27 zone defense • Local mermaid squad prepares for \u2748 debut under new instructor • Dinners planned to honor football and soccer teams • Bears, Pharmacy 5 tangle tomorrow • Tentative arrangements planned for intra-mural court tourney • Shreiner-Hobson annexes crown in interdorm hockey loop race • Ski Club arranges meeting • Business Administration group hears talk on life insurance career • Political confusion to be topic for PAC commission • Simons chosen for soccer finals • Day Study girls conduct drive • Annex students form Hillbilly Band ; To play at Spanish Club meeting tonite • Curtain Club plans purchaseshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/3124/thumbnail.jp

Effective Population Size and the Efficacy of Selection on the X Chromosomes of Two Closely Related Drosophila Species

The prevalence of natural selection relative to genetic drift is of central interest in evolutionary biology. Depending on the distribution of fitness effects of new mutations, the importance of these evolutionary forces may differ in species with different effective population sizes. Here, we survey population genetic variation at 105 orthologous X-linked protein coding regions in Drosophila melanogaster and its sister species D. simulans, two closely related species with distinct demographic histories. We observe significantly higher levels of polymorphism and evidence for stronger selection on codon usage bias in D. simulans, consistent with a larger historical effective population size on average for this species. Despite these differences, we estimate that <10% of newly arising nonsynonymous mutations have deleterious fitness effects in the nearly neutral range (i.e., −10 < Nes < 0) in both species. The inferred distributions of fitness effects and demographic models translate into surprisingly high estimates of the fraction of “adaptive” protein divergence in both species (∼85–90%). Despite evidence for different demographic histories, differences in population size have apparently played little role in the dynamics of protein evolution in these two species, and estimates of the adaptive fraction (α) of protein divergence in both species remain high even if we account for recent 10-fold growth. Furthermore, although several recent studies have noted strong signatures of recurrent adaptive protein evolution at genes involved in immunity, reproduction, sexual conflict, and intragenomic conflict, our finding of high levels of adaptive protein divergence at randomly chosen proteins (with respect to function) suggests that many other factors likely contribute to the adaptive protein divergence signature in Drosophila

The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment:differences between public and private sector employees

Employees in the public and private sectors experience different working conditions and employment relationships. Therefore, it can be assumed that their attitudes toward their job and organizations, and relationships between them, are different. The existing literature has identified the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction as interesting in this context. The present field study examines the satisfaction–commitment link with respect to differences between private and public sector employees. A sample of 617 Greek employees (257 from the private sector and 360 from the public sector) completed standardized questionnaires. Results confirmed the hypothesized relationship differences: Extrinsic satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction are more strongly related to affective commitment and normative commitment for public sector employees than for private sector ones. The results are discussed, limitations are considered, and directions for future research are proposed

Repeat controlled human malaria infection of healthy UK adults with blood-stage plasmodium falciparum:Safety and parasite growth dynamics

In endemic settings it is known that natural malaria immunity is gradually acquired following repeated exposures. Here we sought to assess whether similar acquisition of blood-stage malaria immunity would occur following repeated parasite exposure by controlled human malaria infection (CHMI). We report the findings of repeat homologous blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum (3D7 clone) CHMI studies VAC063C (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03906474) and VAC063 (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02927145). In total, 24 healthy, unvaccinated, malaria-naïve UK adult participants underwent primary CHMI followed by drug treatment. Ten of these then underwent secondary CHMI in the same manner, and then six of these underwent a final tertiary CHMI. As with primary CHMI, malaria symptoms were common following secondary and tertiary infection, however, most resolved within a few days of treatment and there were no long term sequelae or serious adverse events related to CHMI. Despite detectable induction and boosting of anti-merozoite serum IgG antibody responses following each round of CHMI, there was no clear evidence of anti-parasite immunity (manifest as reduced parasite growth in vivo) conferred by repeated challenge with the homologous parasite in the majority of volunteers. However, three volunteers showed some variation in parasite growth dynamics in vivo following repeat CHMI that were either modest or short-lived. We also observed no major differences in clinical symptoms or laboratory markers of infection across the primary, secondary and tertiary challenges. However, there was a trend to more severe pyrexia after primary CHMI and the absence of a detectable transaminitis post-treatment following secondary and tertiary infection. We hypothesize that this could represent the initial induction of clinical immunity. Repeat homologous blood-stage CHMI is thus safe and provides a model with the potential to further the understanding of naturally acquired immunity to blood-stage infection in a highly controlled setting. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03906474, NCT02927145