Individuality and Group Identity on Facebook: Managing and Maintaining both Identities

In today’s society technology has become very integrated into our lives. Many of us use it on a daily basis and it is part of the way we communication. Some scholars believe that the level of anonymity that is enticing about online communication brings about a sense of de-individuation. In other words, these scholars believe that anonymity online allows people to disguise themselves, engage in “uncharacteristic” outburst of identity and fosters a loss of individuality. However, through my own personal experiences and general observations throughout the time that I have used Facebook, I began to notice that people are not actually hiding behind anonymity. The more I thought about it the more I noticed that people on Facebook were sharing sometimes very intimate details of their lives. At the same time, Facebook has an incredible power to bring people together if there is some sort of social issue users find important enough to express their opinions. These kinds of situations also occur when there is a topic that is heavily debated. This observation was especially emphasized during the presidential election of 2012. It seemed like every day more people were posting statuses about their thoughts on the election and where they personally stood on different issues that were debated. I wanted to explore whether there was a connection between anonymity online and social identity establishment. This study examined how technology, specifically Facebook, has shaped the way that people manage two kinds of identity: individual and group identity. This study gathered 30 participants (female=16, male=14) who agreed to share posts with me from their personal Facebook profiles. Information pertaining to participants’ identity was gathered through profile observation, which I was able to do because I had gained consent from all of my participants. The next step of this study as to cross-examine how participants’ individual identity compared to the amount of social identity disclosures they had. The main research method that was utilized in this study was observation, but in order to understand the levels of social identity disclosure each participant had based on the postings some rhetorical analysis was used as well. The findings of this study are that previous notions of anonymity and social identity disclosure are starting to become less applicable to today’s computer mediated communication methods, such as Facebook. This means that the way we have used technology to communicate in the past, is not necessarily the same way we do so now. People who use social media sites such as Facebook to communicate now feel that they can maintain a level of individual identity which would be similar to the type of identity they would hold in offline settings. Along with this, Facebook users have found this site to be a tool to easily demonstrate various in-group allegiances without losing that sense of individuality

Slow-Wave Sleep Disruption in Adolescence: Brain Responses to Monetary Reward and Loss

Among adolescents, there is an association between sleep deprivation and reward seeking, but more work is needed to better understand this association. The goal of this study was to investigate slow-wave sleep disruption (SWD) and activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) during a task measuring reward processing. Participants were 28 healthy adolescents aged 15–17 years (50% female; 57.1% White) who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a monetary incentive delay task to measure reward anticipation and feedback after a baseline (BL) night and a SWD night. There was greater activation of the NAcc during feedback of large loss and less activation of the NAcc during anticipation of large loss after the SWD night relative to the BL night. These results support an association between SWD and reward processing among adolescents. Knowing more about SWD and reward responsivity may provide enhanced treatment and support to adolescents exhibiting sleep problems and risky reward-related behaviors.National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R21 AA022339)https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143845/1/Harris__Julia__Revised - Julia Harris.pdfDescription of Harris__Julia__Revised - Julia Harris.pdf : Julia Harris Senior Thesi

The Role of the Basic Health Program in the Coverage Continuum: Opportunities, Risks and Considerations for States

Outlines issues for offering subsidized coverage to those eligible for insurance exchange subsidies by using federal dollars that would otherwise go to those subsidies, including continuity of coverage, impact on exchanges, and financial feasibility

Effects of Simulated Student Interaction on Student Perceptions of Teaching Presence

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the instructor posting in online discussions as a simulated student; particularly the impact simulated student interaction (SSI) had on the instructor/student relationship. Student perceptions were examined using a modified version of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) survey to determine what impact SSI had on teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence within the online classroom. The full 34 item CoI Survey was piloted in the summer of 2014 at a small comprehensive university located in northeast Texas. A factor analysis was conducted on the data and the top items from each factor in the instrument extracted. The resulting 17 item instrument demonstrated both validity and reliability. This modified CoI Survey was used in the fall of 2014 with three special education courses making up a control group and an intervention group in a pre-post experimental design. An ANOVA was performed to compare the results of the pre-course and post-course surveys by group. The ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference for all three factors for the intervention group between the pre- and post-course survey, while no significance between surveys was shown for the control group

Letter from Julia Harris to Leander Harris, February 26, 1865

A reproduction of the original and typed transcription of letter from Julia Harris to Leander Harris, dated February 26, 1865

Input-Output Analysis, Linear Programming and Modified Multipliers

The input-output (IO) analysis explores changes in final demand through the regional economy using multipliers. However, it isn’t flexible to investigate the regional impact from the capacity limitations which are directly imposed on production, not final demand. This is because the multipliers are changing with exogenous restrictions on production. Conventionally, the IO analysis is performed assuming exogenous production restrictions being the changes in final demands or assuming the sector being exogenous sector like the final demand. If researchers or policy makers are interested in only economic impacts from production restrictions, there is no need to look into the modified multipliers. The modified multipliers should be considered when researchers and policy makers attempt to analyze the compensation of impact, especially recovery of loss using government expenditure. We suggest that the linear programming is a useful and efficient tool to derive modified multipliers and estimate correct regional impact from the policy changes.Input-Output Analysis, Multipliers, Regional Impact Analysis, Community/Rural/Urban Development, C67, R15, R5,

Modeling US Counties’ Innovation Capacity with a Focus on Natural Amenities

Innovation Capacity, Natural Amenity, Community/Rural/Urban Development, O31, Q51,

A role for MCH neuron firing in modulating hippocampal plasticity threshold

It has been revealed that hypothalamic neurons containing the peptide, melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) can influence learning [1] and memory formation [2], but the cellular mechanisms by which they perform this function are not well understood. Here, we examine the role of MCH neural input to the hippocampus, and show in vitro that optogenetically increasing MCH axon activity facilitates hippocampal plasticity by lowering the threshold for synaptic potentiation. These results align with increasing evidence that MCH neurons play a regulatory role in learning, and reveal that this could be achieved by modulating plasticity thresholds in the hippocampus

Measuring Regional Economic Impacts from Wildfire: Case Study of Southeast Oregon Cattle-Ranching Business

public grazing, regional economic impact, Social Accounting Matrix, Southeast Oregon, wildfire