The Dangerous Side of Social Media: Manipulating Bystander Aggression and Support to Cyberbullying Victims Through an Application of Side

Cyberbullying constitutes a complex social problem that is understudied among college students. A crucial factor contributing to the severity of cyberbullying is the level of bystander (un) involvement, or individuals who witness cyberbullying. A possible explanation for the different behaviors of bystanders is found in the theory of the Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE), which suggests that CMC alters perceptions of the self and others. The current investigation (n = 442) employs an experimental design testing the SIDE model and predicted that individuals in more anonymous conditions would be more likely to adopt a disconfirming or a confirming group norm in the context of an online discussion group. A total of 442 college students participated in the study. Results suggest that the group norm significantly impacts how individuals respond to a cyberbullying victim. Implications of this result and information on the prevalence of cyberbullying in college are discussed. Suggestions for cyberbullying interventions based on these findings are offered

Understanding the Attitudes and Beliefs of Faculty Members in Regards to Learning Communities at Cleveland State University

This thesis examines the intentions of faculty members\u27 in regards to their participation in learning communities at Cleveland State University (CSU). Like many higher education institutions, CSU offers learning community courses as an option to incoming students. Research has found that learning communities lead to a number of benefits for students, including higher grades and retention. However, CSU faces a continuous challenge in being able to offer learning community courses to students, and that is an increased need for faculty participation. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was applied as a theoretical framework in order to better understand how the attitudes and subjective norm of faculty members\u27 at CSU affects their likelihood of participation in learning communities. In this study a survey was administered to faculty members at CSU. Participants were asked questions to assess their attitudes and normative beliefs about learning communities at CSU. Research questions were asked to assess if other elements outside TRA affected the likelihood of faculty participation in learning communities. The results of the study provided support for the theoretical constructs of TRA. The results indicated that faculty at CSU felt that learning communities lead to benefits for students. Faculty also evaluated the outcomes of learning communities as positive. In addition, the results indicated the importance of normative beliefs in the intentions of faculty members at CSU in regards to their participation in learning communities. Results to the research questions discovered that faculty perceived that participation in learning communities would take too much time and logistical effort. Additionally, faculty member\u27s reported a general lack of information about learning communities and the ways that they are conducted specifically at CSU. However, the results also suggested that there is a potential to increase faculty involvement in learning communities at CSU. Sponsors of learning communities at CSU can use these r

Understanding the Attitudes and Beliefs of Faculty Members in Regards to Learning Communities at Cleveland State University

This thesis examines the intentions of faculty members\u27 in regards to their participation in learning communities at Cleveland State University (CSU). Like many higher education institutions, CSU offers learning community courses as an option to incoming students. Research has found that learning communities lead to a number of benefits for students, including higher grades and retention. However, CSU faces a continuous challenge in being able to offer learning community courses to students, and that is an increased need for faculty participation. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was applied as a theoretical framework in order to better understand how the attitudes and subjective norm of faculty members\u27 at CSU affects their likelihood of participation in learning communities. In this study a survey was administered to faculty members at CSU. Participants were asked questions to assess their attitudes and normative beliefs about learning communities at CSU. Research questions were asked to assess if other elements outside TRA affected the likelihood of faculty participation in learning communities. The results of the study provided support for the theoretical constructs of TRA. The results indicated that faculty at CSU felt that learning communities lead to benefits for students. Faculty also evaluated the outcomes of learning communities as positive. In addition, the results indicated the importance of normative beliefs in the intentions of faculty members at CSU in regards to their participation in learning communities. Results to the research questions discovered that faculty perceived that participation in learning communities would take too much time and logistical effort. Additionally, faculty member\u27s reported a general lack of information about learning communities and the ways that they are conducted specifically at CSU. However, the results also suggested that there is a potential to increase faculty involvement in learning communities at CSU. Sponsors of learning communities at CSU can use these r

How Do You Move? Everyday stories of physical activity

Stories can be a powerful method of exploring complexity, and the factors affecting everyday physical activity within a modern urban setting are nothing if not complex. The first part of our How Do You Move? study focused on the communication of physical activity guidelines to under-served communities. A key finding was that adults especially wanted physical activity messages to come from ‘everyday people, people like us’. This finding also reflects a wider move to use more relatable imagery in health promotion campaigns. Using a portrait vignette approach to create monologues, we set out to explore the experiences of people from diverse backgrounds living in Bristol, all of whom took part in varied leisure time physical activities but would also be considered to lead ‘normal’ lives. We aim to demonstrate that stories of such ‘experts by experience’ can contribute to how physical activity is perceived and elucidate the complex interplay of barriers and enablers in everyday experiences of physical activity

Examining Undergraduate Communication Degree Programs: Mission Statements, Assessment Plans, and Assessment Evaluations

One hundred undergraduate communication programs listed in the NCA directory were examined in this investigation. The process involved gathering the university mission statement, departmental mission statement, program assessment plan, and program assessment evaluations. Results demonstrate that 98 institutions utilized mission statements, 81 departments provided mission statements, 18 departments made assessment plans available and the researchers obtained 4 assessment evaluations

Path Integral Monte Carlo Approach to the U(1) Lattice Gauge Theory in (2+1) Dimensions

Path Integral Monte Carlo simulations have been performed for U(1) lattice gauge theory in (2+1) dimensions on anisotropic lattices. We extractthe static quark potential, the string tension and the low-lying "glueball" spectrum.The Euclidean string tension and mass gap decrease exponentially at weakcoupling in excellent agreement with the predictions of Polyakov and G{\" o}pfert and Mack, but their magnitudes are five times bigger than predicted. Extrapolations are made to the extreme anisotropic or Hamiltonian limit, and comparisons are made with previous estimates obtained in the Hamiltonian formulation.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure

Understanding the yeast host cell response to recombinant membrane protein production

Membrane proteins are drug targets for a wide range of diseases. Having access to appropriate samples for further research underpins the pharmaceutical industry's strategy for developing new drugs. This is typically achieved by synthesizing a protein of interest in host cells that can be cultured on a large scale, allowing the isolation of the pure protein in quantities much higher than those found in the protein's native source. Yeast is a popular host as it is a eukaryote with similar synthetic machinery to that of the native human source cells of many proteins of interest, while also being quick, easy and cheap to grow and process. Even in these cells, the production of human membrane proteins can be plagued by low functional yields; we wish to understand why. We have identified molecular mechanisms and culture parameters underpinning high yields and have consolidated our findings to engineer improved yeast host strains. By relieving the bottlenecks to recombinant membrane protein production in yeast, we aim to contribute to the drug discovery pipeline, while providing insight into translational processes

How Molecular Motors Are Arranged on a Cargo Is Important for Vesicular Transport

The spatial organization of the cell depends upon intracellular trafficking of cargos hauled along microtubules and actin filaments by the molecular motor proteins kinesin, dynein, and myosin. Although much is known about how single motors function, there is significant evidence that cargos in vivo are carried by multiple motors. While some aspects of multiple motor function have received attention, how the cargo itself —and motor organization on the cargo—affects transport has not been considered. To address this, we have developed a three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation of motors transporting a spherical cargo, subject to thermal fluctuations that produce both rotational and translational diffusion. We found that these fluctuations could exert a load on the motor(s), significantly decreasing the mean travel distance and velocity of large cargos, especially at large viscosities. In addition, the presence of the cargo could dramatically help the motor to bind productively to the microtubule: the relatively slow translational and rotational diffusion of moderately sized cargos gave the motors ample opportunity to bind to a microtubule before the motor/cargo ensemble diffuses out of range of that microtubule. For rapidly diffusing cargos, the probability of their binding to a microtubule was high if there were nearby microtubules that they could easily reach by translational diffusion. Our simulations found that one reason why motors may be approximately 100 nm long is to improve their ‘on’ rates when attached to comparably sized cargos. Finally, our results suggested that to efficiently regulate the number of active motors, motors should be clustered together rather than spread randomly over the surface of the cargo. While our simulation uses the specific parameters for kinesin, these effects result from generic properties of the motors, cargos, and filaments, so they should apply to other motors as well

Heterozygous Vangl2(Looptail) mice reveal novel roles for the planar cell polarity pathway in adult lung homeostasis and repair

Lung diseases impose a huge economic and health burden worldwide. A key aspect of several adult lung diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including emphysema, is aberrant tissue repair, which leads to an accumulation of damage and impaired respiratory function. Currently, there are few effective treatments available for these diseases and their incidence is rising. The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is critical for the embryonic development of many organs, including kidney and lung. We have previously shown that perturbation of the PCP pathway impairs tissue morphogenesis, which disrupts the number and shape of epithelial tubes formed within these organs during embryogenesis. However, very little is known about the role of the PCP pathway beyond birth, partly because of the perinatal lethality of many PCP mouse mutant lines. Here, we investigate heterozygous Looptail (Lp) mice, in which a single copy of the core PCP gene, Vangl2, is disrupted. We show that these mice are viable but display severe airspace enlargement and impaired adult lung function. Underlying these defects, we find that Vangl2Lp/+ lungs exhibit altered distribution of actin microfilaments and abnormal regulation of the actin-modifying protein cofilin. In addition, we show that Vangl2Lp/+ lungs exhibit many of the hallmarks of tissue damage, including an altered macrophage population, abnormal elastin deposition and elevated levels of the elastin-modifying enzyme, Mmp12, all of which are observed in emphysema. In vitro, disruption of VANGL2 impairs directed cell migration and reduces the rate of repair following scratch wounding of human alveolar epithelial cells. Moreover, using population data from a birth cohort of young adults, all aged 31, we found evidence of an interactive effect between VANGL2 and smoking on lung function. Finally, we show that PCP genes VANGL2 and SCRIB are significantly downregulated in lung tissue from patients with emphysema. Our data reveal an important novel role for the PCP pathway in adult lung homeostasis and repair and shed new light on the genetic factors which may modify destructive lung diseases such as emphysema.Peer reviewe

The Ternary Rab27a–Myrip–Myosin VIIa Complex Regulates Melanosome Motility in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) contains melanosomes similar to those found in the skin melanocytes, which undergo dramatic light-dependent movements in fish and amphibians. In mammals, those movements are more subtle and appear to be regulated by the Rab27a GTPase and the unconventional myosin, Myosin VIIa (MyoVIIa). Here we address the hypothesis that a recently identified Rab27a- and MyoVIIa-interacting protein, Myrip, promotes the formation of a functional tripartite complex. In heterologous cultured cells, all three proteins co-immunoprecipitated following overexpression. Rab27a and Myrip localize to the peripheral membrane of RPE melanosomes as observed by immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. Melanosome dynamics were studied using live-cell imaging of mouse RPE primary cultures. Wild-type RPE melanosomes exhibited either stationary or slow movement interrupted by bursts of fast movement, with a peripheral directionality trend. Nocodazole treatment led to melanosome paralysis, suggesting that movement requires microtubule motors. Significant and similar alterations in melanosome dynamics were observed when any one of the three components of the complex was missing, as studied in ashen- (Rab27a defective) and shaker-1 (MyoVIIa mutant)-derived RPE cells, and in wild-type RPE cells transduced with adenovirus carrying specific sequences to knockdown Myrip expression. We observed a significant increase in the number of motile melanosomes, exhibiting more frequent and prolonged bursts of fast movement, and inversion of directionality. Similar alterations were observed upon cytochalasin D treatment, suggesting that the Rab27a–Myrip–MyoVIIa complex regulates tethering of melanosomes onto actin filaments, a process that ensures melanosome movement towards the cell periphery