In the Eye of the Beholder : Prejudice, the In-Group Over-Exclusion Effect, and the Fat Threshold

This dissertation examined whether factors specific to the perceiver influence whom he/she labels as “fat.” Building upon research examining the role that one‟s level of identification with a group (Castano, Yzerbyt, Bourguignon, & Seron, 2002; Leyens & Yzerbyt, 1992) and one‟s prejudice level (Allport, 1954; Allport & Kramer, 1946) play in the process of categorizing others, this dissertation examined whether one‟s body weight centrality and prejudice against fat people influence whom he/she labels as “fat.” Further, to understand the mechanism explaining the link between these factors and the labeling process, this dissertation also explored whether motivational factors underlie whom a perceiver labels as “fat.” Undergraduate females who self-identified as “not fat” were recruited for two studies that addressed these goals. Study one examined whether perceivers‟ prejudice levels and body weight centrality levels influenced how they categorized others based upon body weight and whether this categorization process represented a threat to the self. Study two examined further examined the role of prejudice and body weight centrality in body weight-based categorization as well as whether the desire to protect the in-group from contamination motivates the categorization process. Hypotheses were tested through a series of multiple regression analyses. Findings suggest that both prejudice towards fat people and the importance that one places upon body weight in one‟s feelings of self-worth predicted the fat threshold. Further, evidence did not support the hypothesized impact of motivational factors on the link between prejudice or body weight centrality and the fat threshold. Implications and limitations are discussed

The Ursinus Weekly, November 7, 1932

Max Montor featured in dramatic offerings • Bears claw undefeated Drexel Dragons in humiliating defeat, 28-6 • Girls\u27 hockey team loses to Swarthmore sticksters • Frosh tie Dragons, 6-6 after close fight • Ursinus debating league to convene this Saturday • Zimmer Harp Trio will be heard in recital • Track men to compete in conference meet • Social activities council discusses future plans • Novel hobo hop presents Ken Nichols and his orchestra • Men\u27s student council discuss conference plans • Schaff play cast picked • Tea served at Shreiner • Faculty club meets at Dr. Barnard\u27s • Co-eds feature Halloween party in field cage • Results of YWCA ballot point to Hoover\u27s election • Varsity Club convenes • Glee Club scheduled for two concerts this week • WSGA convenes • Mod. lang. group meets • Y.W. discusses politics • Y.W.C.A. cabinet meeting • Inter-sorority council discusses rushing rules • Booters defeat Haverford 3rd by decisive 2-0 count • Y.M.-Y.W.C.A. to present Ba thane, play of India • Sunday school groups hold interesting discussions • Assistants for 1934 Ruby • Drexel pep meetinghttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/2035/thumbnail.jp

Critical Reflections on Experiential Learning for Food Justice

This essay will reflect on Santa Clara University\u27s (SCU) forays into experiential learning around food justice through the Bronco Urban Gardens (BUG) program. BUG works with urban schools and a community center in San José, California, using a garden-based education approach. This program emerged out of our student garden, The Forge. University student farms and gardens provide opportunities for students to learn how to grow, manage, and market food. At Santa Clara University, our half-acre (0.2 hectare) garden plays that role. However, because of our institution\u27s commitment to social justice and a strong network of community partners, our campus garden has blossomed into a larger food justice outreach program. We will first discuss the motivation behind experiential learning for social justice and reflect on its connection to food justice. We then focus on several observations, challenges, and questions that have emerged out of our BUG experiences. Some of those observations involve the challenge of working with students and community partners where the interests of both groups must be served. We also explore what food justice means in this context, and what it means when a program expands beyond the committed few to an entire student body. By engaging in food justice with low-income communities of color through innovative campus programs such as BUG, our students are likely to see the food system from a very different vantage point than if they stayed on campus, resulting in deep learning experiences and also benefits for communities

Face engagement during infancy predicts later face recognition ability in younger siblings of children with autism

Face recognition difficulties are frequently documented in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It has been hypothesized that these difficulties result from a reduced interest in faces early in life, leading to decreased cortical specialization and atypical development of the neural circuitry for face processing. However, a recent study by our lab demonstrated that infants at increased familial risk for ASD, irrespective of their diagnostic status at 3 years, exhibit a clear orienting response to faces. The present study was conducted as a follow-up on the same cohort to investigate how measures of early engagement with faces relate to face-processing abilities later in life. We also investigated whether face recognition difficulties are specifically related to an ASD diagnosis, or whether they are present at a higher rate in all those at familial risk. At 3 years we found a reduced ability to recognize unfamiliar faces in the high-risk group that was not specific to those children who received an ASD diagnosis, consistent with face recognition difficulties being an endophenotype of the disorder. Furthermore, we found that longer looking at faces at 7 months was associated with poorer performance on the face recognition task at 3 years in the high- risk group. These findings suggest that longer looking at faces in infants at risk for ASD might reflect early face-processing difficulties and predicts difficulties with recognizing faces later in life

Face engagement during infancy predicts later face recognition ability in younger siblings of children with autism

Face recognition difficulties are frequently documented in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It has been hypothesized that these difficulties result from a reduced interest in faces early in life, leading to decreased cortical specialization and atypical development of the neural circuitry for face processing. However, a recent study by our lab demonstrated that infants at increased familial risk for ASD, irrespective of their diagnostic status at 3 years, exhibit a clear orienting response to faces. The present study was conducted as a follow-up on the same cohort to investigate how measures of early engagement with faces relate to face-processing abilities later in life. We also investigated whether face recognition difficulties are specifically related to an ASD diagnosis, or whether they are present at a higher rate in all those at familial risk. At 3 years we found a reduced ability to recognize unfamiliar faces in the high-risk group that was not specific to those children who received an ASD diagnosis, consistent with face recognition difficulties being an endophenotype of the disorder. Furthermore, we found that longer looking at faces at 7 months was associated with poorer performance on the face recognition task at 3 years in the high- risk group. These findings suggest that longer looking at faces in infants at risk for ASD might reflect early face-processing difficulties and predicts difficulties with recognizing faces later in life

Age- and sex-related ABC transporter expression in pyrethroid-susceptible and – resistant \u3ci\u3eAedes aegypti\u3c/i\u3e

Resistance mechanisms to synthetic insecticides often include point mutations and increased expression of genes encoding detoxification enzymes. Since pyrethroids are the main adulticides used against Aedes aegypti, which vectors pathogens such as Zika virus, understanding resistance to this insecticide class is of significant relevance. We focused on adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in the pyrethroid-resistant Puerto Rico (PR) strain of Ae. aegypti. We investigated the expression patterns of six ABC transporters previously characterized as differentially expressed in insecticide-challenged mosquitoes, or increased mRNA expression in pyrethroid-resistant Ae. aegypti, by comparing PR to the Rockefeller (Rock) susceptible strain. No constitutive differential expression between strains was detected, but expression differences for these genes was influenced by sex and age, suggesting that their role is independent from resistance in PR. Instead, ABC transporters may be induced after insecticide exposure. Challenging mosquitoes with deltamethrin, with or without ABC transporter modulators, showed that Rock and PR responded differently, but a contribution of ABC transporters to deltamethrin toxicity is suspected. Moreover, the effect of dexamethasone, which enhanced the inhibition of nerve firing by deltamethrin, was observed using a Drosophila central nervous system preparation, showing synergy of these two compounds through the potential inhibition of ABC transporters

The Ursinus Weekly, April 12, 1965

Farewell and welcome: 12th annual senior banquet • Women elect WSGA officers • Sprecher, Rodimer, Tucker and Katz named editors: Production staff also announced • YW-YMCA freshman camp plans now in progress • Summer reading program supplemented by film • Spring fashions grace Bomberger; Proceeds support foster child • Soc. classes hear Lloyd • Spirit Committee announces bake sale • Save money, read this note • Editorial: Our policy • Kennedy memorial day • YM-YWCA volunteer service programs • Red Chinese use truth against P.O.W.s • $400,000 a year? • Lantern and Giefan move toward merger • Baseball team drops opener • Cindermen extend streak: Trackmen rip Muhlenberg & H\u27ford • West Chester downed: Snellbelles end season with hard fought victory • Mermaids end season • Tennis team wins • Beta Sig new intramural champs • Letters to the editorhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1245/thumbnail.jp

Cover Story: A Modus Vivendi? Sex, Marriage and the Church

The article presents divergent views on an analysis by historian Eamon Duffy of the Catholic Church\u27s response to shifting attitude towards sex and marriage in the West. Duffy noted that the church is increasingly confronted with the need to evolve a modus vivendi with social trends. Many Catholics are said to have disregarded the church\u27s teachings on sex and marriage. Other topics tackled include the increasing rate of divorce, premarital sex, same-sex unions and sexual education

A Modus Vivendi? Sex, Marriage & the Church

During the 1960s, nearly 80 percent of adult Americans were married. A recent analysis of U.S. census data reported that only 52 percent of adult Americans were married in 2009. That is the lowest percentage reported in the 100 years the Census Bureau has collected such information. The reasons for this dramatic cultural shift are well known: high rates of divorce; changing attitudes toward premarital sex; social acceptability of cohabitation; the weakening of the stigma surrounding out-of-wedlock births and single parenting; the postponement of marriage and children for academic or professional reasons. Among those with only a high-school education or less, the data suggest that the decision to marry has been made more difficult by deteriorating economic conditions

Functional Neuroanatomy of Second Language Sentence Comprehension: An fMRI Study of Late Learners of American Sign Language

The neurobiology of sentence comprehension is well-studied but the properties and characteristics of sentence processing networks remain unclear and highly debated. Sign languages (i.e., visual-manual languages), like spoken languages, have complex grammatical structures and thus can provide valuable insights into the specificity and function of brain regions supporting sentence comprehension. The present study aims to characterize how these well-studied spoken language networks can adapt in adults to be responsive to sign language sentences, which contain combinatorial semantic and syntactic visual-spatial linguistic information. Twenty native English-speaking undergraduates who had completed introductory American Sign Language (ASL) courses viewed videos of the following conditions during fMRI acquisition: signed sentences, signed word lists, English sentences and English word lists. Overall our results indicate that native language (L1) sentence processing resources are responsive to ASL sentence structures in late L2 learners, but that certain L1 sentence processing regions respond differently to L2 ASL sentences, likely due to the nature of their contribution to language comprehension. For example, L1 sentence regions in Broca's area were significantly more responsive to L2 than L1 sentences, supporting the hypothesis that Broca's area contributes to sentence comprehension as a cognitive resource when increased processing is required. Anterior temporal L1 sentence regions were sensitive to L2 ASL sentence structure, but demonstrated no significant differences in activation to L1 than L2, suggesting its contribution to sentence processing is modality-independent. Posterior superior temporal L1 sentence regions also responded to ASL sentence structure but were more activated by English than ASL sentences. An exploratory analysis of the neural correlates of L2 ASL proficiency indicates that ASL proficiency is positively correlated with increased activations in response to ASL sentences in L1 sentence processing regions. Overall these results suggest that well-established fronto-temporal spoken language networks involved in sentence processing exhibit functional plasticity with late L2 ASL exposure, and thus are adaptable to syntactic structures widely different than those in an individual's native language. Our findings also provide valuable insights into the unique contributions of the inferior frontal and superior temporal regions that are frequently implicated in sentence comprehension but whose exact roles remain highly debated