Appearance-related internalization and appearance pressure in relation to body dissatisfaction in Instagram users

This item is only available electronically.Photo-based social media activity has been linked with increased body image concerns. Social networking sites like Instagram are comprised entirely of photo-based content, therefore it is important to understand its influence on body image. The present study employed Richard Perloff’s Transactional Model to examine body dissatisfaction among users of Instagram by looking at appearance-related internalization and appearance pressure. A sample of 149 male and female participants completed an online survey of several questionnaires relating to the above variables, as well as general psychological distress and social media disorder. Results indicated that time spent on Instagram significantly related to increased weight dissatisfaction as well as increased peer and media appearance pressure. Using a hierarchical multiple regression, appearance-related internalization and appearance pressure were found to be strong predictors of body dissatisfaction. Females scores higher for body dissatisfaction and media pressure and used Instagram more often. Results support the Transactional Model in its conceptualization of appearance-related internalization and appearance pressure from Instagram working in conjunction to influence body dissatisfaction. Future research should account for what users are engaging with and whether they are active or passive in their engagement, as this may clarify any protective factors in preventing the internalization of appearance pressure.Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 201

Access to and use of bank services in Nigeria: Micro-econometric evidence

This study examined the access to, and use of bank services in Nigeria using data from the World Bank Household Survey (2011) on financial inclusion. A framework was developed to situate the decision of individuals towards financial services in Nigeria. We examined three dependent variables – use of bank services, use of the account to save and frequency of bank withdrawals. Our results show that the attributes, income level, age and ICT inclination of individuals have an effect on the access to and use of bank services in Nigeria

Sustainable Fiscal Policies and Institutional Framework in West African Countries

A number of African countries have relied on external debt financing from multilateral institutions and 'generous' developed countries (e.g. through bilateral arrangements, etc.), with the intention of meeting their numerous financial needs. However, fiscal balances in West African countries have gradually declined in the last few years, following expansive infrastructural investment, coupled with weak institutions and poor revenue performance. This study examines the extent to which institutions affect fiscal sustainability in 15 West African countries (1996-20 12). With the aid of the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) estimator, and using institutional indicators of government effectiveness, political stability, rule of law, regulatory quality and control of corruption, the results, among others, suggest that regulatory quality plays the most significant role in attaining sustainable fiscal policies in West Africa

Grazing Vertebrates Promote Invasive Swamp Stonecrop (Crassula helmsii) Abundance

The macrophyte Australian swamp stonecrop has invaded a wide range of wetland habitats across Europe. An experiment was conducted within an invaded fen habitat, which tested whether the presence of grazing disturbance affected the relative abundance of swamp stonecrop, and whether any detected effect was suppressive or facilitative. The abundance of swamp stonecrop and co-occurring resident plants was monitored within fenced grazing exclosures and in adjacent unfenced plots. Swamp stonecrop abundance was higher in the unfenced plots compared to the fenced exclosures (t(87) = 28.974, p < 0.001), whereas the abundance of co-occurring plants was higher in the fenced exclosures compared to the unfenced plots (t(87) = 6.264, p < 0.001). These results indicate that the presence of large vertebrates could facilitate a higher abundance of swamp stonecrop in situations where competitive resident plant species were selectively removed by these grazing animals

Using web 2.0 tools to create customized research portals

The Information Resources team within the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield has a long-standing interest in the application of new and emerging Web 2.0 technologies for research, learning, and teaching. In early 2008, members of the group began to discuss the development of customized web portals, also referred to as personal start pages, to aggregate various streams of specialist information relevant to researchers within the School and in the wider National Health Service (NHS) research community. This paper documents the background to the portals, their development, and reflects on the challenges and issues the team encountered. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

3D printing of weft knitted textile based structures by selective laser sintering of nylon powder

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing whereby the building up of layers of material creates objects. The selective laser sintering process (SLS) uses a laser beam to sinter powdered material to create objects. This paper builds upon previous research into 3D printed textile based material exploring the use of SLS using nylon powder to create flexible weft knitted structures. The results show the potential to print flexible textile based structures that exhibit the properties of traditional knitted textile structures along with the mechanical properties of the material used, whilst describing the challenges regarding fineness of printing resolution. The conclusion highlights the potential future development and application of such pieces

Beyond the Bandwagon: Curating Cultural Memory at Milner Library

Archival and manuscript materials record human experience; they document how people have lived, worked, interacted, and thought about the world. These unique or rare materials make visible the experience and impact of individuals and organizations within their respective cultural, geographical, historical, local, and educational milieu. By exploring such documents and objects, patrons can see and investigate these relationships firsthand. Primary sources form the bedrock of humanistic research, personal inquiry, and engaged teaching. With this volume, we invite you to explore the unique and rare materials housed in Milner Library’s Special Collections and Dr. Jo Ann Rayfield University Archives as well as the services that bring them to life for readers worldwide. Contributed essays from scholars and collection stewards highlight how a small sample of these rich collections facilitate teaching and learning within the Illinois State University community and beyond.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/mlp/1032/thumbnail.jp

Micrometastasis Detection Guidance by Whole-Slide Image Texture Analysis in Colorectal Lymph Nodes

Introduction/ Background Cancer is a disease that affects millions worldwide and accurate determination of whether lymph nodes (LNs) near the primary tumor contain metastatic foci is of critical importance for proper patient management. Histopathological evaluation is the only accepted method to make that determination. However, the current standard of care only examines a single central histological section per LN and yields an unacceptable false-negative rate. Aims To help pathologists in their examination we propose a method that extracts textural features from histopathological LN whole slide images (WSI) and then applies support vector machines (SVMs) to automatically identify regions suspicious for metastatic foci. Methods The database consisted of WSI from 44 LNs. Sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and examined at 20x (0.45μm resolution). Twenty-eight of the LNs were identified by an expert pathologist as positive for cancer (P), and the remaining sixteen were negative (N). This database was divided into two groups. Group 1 (15P and 5N) was used for training and Group 2 (13P and 11N) was used for testing the classification technique. For all analysis each WSI was divided into non-overlapping 1000 x 1000 pixel sub-images that will be referred to as high-power fields (HPFs). For each LN in Group 1, at least one WSI was annotated by a pathologist to identify rectangular, HPF-scale regions as locally cancerous or locally non-cancerous. From these annotated slides, 924 HPFs (462 P and 462 N) were obtained. For each of these HPFs, statistical features based on gray-level co-occurrence matrices [1] and Law’s texture energy measures [2, 3] were extracted from 9 derived images [4]. The extracted features were submitted to a sequential forward selection (SFS) method [5] to select few non-redundant features providing best class separation (cancerous vs. non-cancerous region). Combinations of the selected features were tested on the 924 HPFs using k-fold cross-validation to find those that produced the best results and consequently to train our SVM-based classifier. In Group 2, WSI were not annotated for cancerous and non-cancerous zones on a HPF scale. Each LN, however, had been labeled by a pathologist as positive or negative for cancer. For each WSI, each section was divided into contiguous HPFs, and those which mainly contain fatty tissue, background, and tears were automatically excluded. Each selected HPFs was classified as cancerous or non-cancerous using the previously trained classifier to obtain the total number of cancer-classified per LN. A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was traced by changing the discriminator threshold (T) used to label the LN as P for cancer as a function of the total number of cancer-classified HPFs. Results During training, 5 Laws features were selected by SFS. Highly satisfactory k-fold cross-validation with a F-score of 0.996 ± 0.005 was obtained using only 2 statistical features computed at different scales. The ROC curve obtained by applying the SVM-classifier to the test set is shown in the next figure. Two valuable operating points can be identified which both guaranteed no false-negative. At T=11 we got 2 false-positives and an optimal F-score of 0.917, and with a more conservative approach, T=1, we got 7 false-positives and a F-score of 0.759. The top-left part of the slide displayed in next figure would have been proposed to the pathologist as the most suspicious region of the cancerous LN

Boosting Non-oil Export Revenue in Nigeria Through Non-traditional Agricultural Export Commodities: How Feasible?

Available data indicated that, some traditional agricultural export commodities like cocoa and rubber have remained on Nigeria’s agricultural export list, while others like groundnut and coffee have almost disappeared from the export list. In the same vein, non-traditional agricultural export commodities like sesame seed and cashew nuts have started featuring prominently on the export list. In line with theory, the econometric analysis carried out confirmed that a major policy change, which can provide a boost for agricultural exports, is the depreciation of the real exchange rate. For all the agricultural export commodities analyzed in the study, the coefficient of the exchange rate was positive and highly significant

A novel RFC1 repeat motif (ACAGG) in two Asia-Pacific CANVAS families

Cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy and vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) is a progressive late-onset, neurological disease. Recently, a pentanucleotide expansion in intron 2 of RFC1 was identified as the genetic cause of CANVAS. We screened an Asian-Pacific cohort for CANVAS and identified a novel RFC1 repeat expansion motif, (ACAGG)exp, in three affected individuals. This motif was associated with additional clinical features including fasciculations and elevated serum creatine kinase. These features have not previously been described in individuals with genetically-confirmed CANVAS. Haplotype analysis showed our patients shared the same core haplotype as previously published, supporting the possibility of a single origin of the RFC1 disease allele. We analysed data from >26 000 genetically diverse individuals in gnomAD to show enrichment of (ACAGG) in non-European populations