The Effects of Variations of Victim Impact Statements on Juror Bias

Victim impact statements (VIS) are federally protected statements describing the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on a victim. States can decide the content and timing of the VIS, resulting in much variation. Previous research has found an effect of these variations on mock juror bias in capital trials. The current study examined if variations such as changing the strength of emotion, crime type, and including sentencing recommendation within a VIS affects the judgements of mock jurors. The results showed the sexual assault VIS produced higher guilt ratings and longer sentences. Furthermore, the inclusion of a high sentencing recommendation produced longer sentences. Additionally, guilt ratings were increased by the interaction of emotionality and anchor within the VIS. The results of this study suggest that variations in the implementation and presentation of VIS across states may be impacting the fairness of criminal trials and the rights of defendants

The effect of stress mindset on appraisal tendencies and affect

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the effectiveness of stress mindset on stress appraisal tendencies and positive and negative affect. Chapter 1 reviews the current literature on stress mindset and stress appraisals, and how they each relate to adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Chapter 2 set out to investigate the relationships between stress mindset, challenge and threat appraisal tendencies, and positive and negative affect through a cross sectional study. Chapter 2 also investigated whether challenge and threat mediated the relationship between stress mindset and positive and negative affect. Chapter 3 built on Chapter 2’s findings and used an experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of a brief online video intervention in manipulating stress mindset, appraisal tendencies, and positive and negative affect in university students. Chapter 3 also investigated the effectiveness of the intervention on challenge and threat appraisals, positive and negative affect and the interpretation of anxiety in relation to an upcoming assessment period. Chapter 4 discusses the collective results of both Chapter 2 and 3 and suggests avenues for future research

Archaeologies of Gossip: AIDS in Contemporary Gay Fiction

Queer criticism is now in its third decade and, as critical orthodoxy, running up against its own limitations. What, for example, is a discipline preoccupied with the unspoken, the marginal and the blurring of gender boundaries to do with Edmund White’s unambiguously gay, masculine “red unsheathed fury of the third penis of the afternoon”? The Western AIDS novel is, overwhelmingly, a product of a historically precise, explicitly gay, male experience. This thesis seeks unapologetically to engage with this writing on its own terms, eschewing the queer critical lens as insufficient, and, rather, reading for a specifically gay aesthetic. Grounded in a broader overview of both AIDS novels and existing criticism, this thesis consists of extended close readings of two exemplary AIDS novels: Edmund White’s The Farewell Symphony and Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty. Firstly, I articulate the centrality of the gay sexual body to the representation of AIDS in The Farewell Symphony, tracing its representation of the disease through the epidemiological mapping of the virus itself, within the highly specific culture of gay New York in the 1970s. Secondly, I examine the way in which the re-imagination of a selective tradition of gay literary predecessors in The Line of Beauty, specifically Henry James and Oscar Wilde, provides an aesthetic solution to articulating AIDS

‘Just want to surf, make boards and party’: how do we identify lifestyle entrepreneurs within the lifestyle sports industry?

This paper aims to further our understanding of the identity of the lifestyle entrepreneur operating within the lifestyle sports industry. The lifestyle entrepreneur has to date been the subject of numerous definitions. However, understanding the context in which entrepreneurs operate has been identified by researchers as impacting upon the actions they take, and so therefore linking context to the entrepreneur is critical to the understanding of these individuals. A mixed methods study comprising of 80 questionnaire responses, and 21 semi-structured interviews focussed on identifying lifestyle sports entrepreneurs. Two groups of entrepreneurs were targeted; those entrepreneurs operating within a sport (Engagers) and those who run a business to participate (Enablers). Issues surrounding the identification of lifestyle entrepreneurs are presented. Through the analysis of the data, entrepreneurs identified through their own narratives how their identities are created. The results demonstrate that while the current external interpretation of the lifestyle entrepreneur is of a fixed nature, the entrepreneurs themselves evidence a much more complex approach to their identities

Using Discussion to Promote Learning in Undergraduate Biology

Summary and Comments from Workshop 40: “Looks Who\u27s Talking! Using Discussion as an Effective Learning Tool” presented at the 100th Ecological Society of America Meetin

Rapid resilience: Use of discussion circles in the time of covid-19

This paper describes the successful use of Discussion Circles to support student learning and promote continuing student engagement when our previously hybrid delivery MLS program courses were forced to move to entirely online delivery in Spring 2020 due to COVID-19. Although Discussion Circles, or literature circles as they are sometimes called, are not a new pedagogical technique, the use to which we put them in this unique situation is worthy of note, as are the outcomes of their use. Outcomes are described and observations are shared from the perspective of faculty both experienced in and new to hybrid course delivery and the use of Discussion Circles as well as the student experience of Discussion Circles

Empathy in frontline humanitarian negotiations: a relational approach to engagement

Humanitarian access—people’s ability to reach aid and aid's ability to reach people—is widely understood to be a central challenge in humanitarian action. One of the most important ways in which humanitarian access is practically secured in conflict settings is through frontline humanitarian negotiations. In this type of negotiation, humanitarians engage in face-to-face interactions with conflict parties to secure safe access to, and protection of, civilian populations in situations of armed conflict. An underdeveloped aspect of such negotiations that is ripe for further exploration is the role of empathy. The purpose of this article is thus to draw on the insights of the empathy literature to explore how empathy shapes humanitarian protection work in the specific domain of frontline humanitarian negotiations. Part one conceptualizes empathy, drawing on the interdisciplinary field of scientific research. Part two introduces the practice of frontline humanitarian negotiation and explains why empathy is critical, particularly in the increasingly fragmented environments that negotiators must operate. Adopting a relational approach, Part three advances a framework for analyzing empathy in frontline humanitarian negotiations. We theorize empathy's salience across four different axes of negotiation, drawing insights gleaned from scholarship and a systematic review of the grey literature on humanitarian negotiation, including field manuals, training materials, and operational guidance. We do not ultimately argue for ‘more empathy’ in this type of work, but rather a more thoughtful approach to empathy—one that entails the cultivation of core empathy-related skill areas, including: emotion regulation, perspective-taking, social awareness, and strategic conveyance of empathy. We contend that this approach could help to alleviate numerous problems in the humanitarian sector, including aid worker burnout

Trophic Ecology of Meso- and Bathypelagic Predatory Fishes in the Gulf of Mexico

The trophic ecology of eight circumglobal meso- and bathypelagic fishes (Anoplogaster cornuta, Chauliodus sloani, Coccorella atlantica, Gigantura chuni, G. indica, Omosudis lowii, Photostomias guernei, and Stomias affinis) with contrasting vertical migration habits (vertical migrators vs. non-migrators) were examined using stable isotope analysis (SIA). Mean δ13C values of these predators were similar among species, ranging from –18.17 to –18.99 ‰, suggesting that all species are supported by a similar carbon source. This finding was supported by mixing-model analysis; all of these deep-living predators received the majority (\u3e73%) of their carbon from epipelagic food resources. Mean δ15N values of the predators ranged from 9.18 to 11.13 ‰, resulting in trophic position estimates between the third and fourth trophic level, although significant shifts in δ15N with increasing body size suggest that some of these species undergo ontogenetic shifts in trophic position. Bayesian standard ellipses, used to estimate isotopic niche areas, differed in size among species, with those occupying the highest relative trophic positions possessing the largest isotopic niches. These results, which provide the first trophic descriptions using dietary tracers for several of these species, offer insight into the trophic structure of deep-sea ecosystems and will help inform the construction of ecosystem-based models