Does Humour Influence Perceptions of the Ethicality of Female-Disparaging Advertising?

This article responds to calls for further research on ethical issues in advertising. The study examines whether advertising strategies which use female-disparaging themes are perceived as ethical, and what effect this has on ad and brand attitudes. It also examines whether or not humour assuages ethical evaluations of female-disparaging ads. The findings from an experimental research design, which included 336 British respondents, show that non-disparaging and non-humorous ads are considered to be the most ethical, while disparaging ads (regardless of the level of humour) are considered the least ethical. Across the board, female-disparaging ads are not perceived as ethical; however, high benevolent sexists appear to favour them most. Finally, an ad’s perceived ethicality mediates the relationship between ad disparagement and ad attitudes; likewise, an ad’s perceived ethicality and ad attitudes mediate the relationship between an ad’s female disparagement and brand attitudes. Female-disparaging ads should be avoided given that they are perceived as less ethical and given the impact that advertising has on behaviour, as well as on societal and moral values. Advertisers should also avoid using female-disparaging advertising themes, even light-hearted ones, since they constitute a risky strategy for the ad and the brand as they can backfire and alienate consumers

Was wissen wir über die Preiswahrnehmung und das Preiswissen von Konsumenten in Bezug auf Öko-Lebensmittel? Eine Analyse des aktuellen Stands der Wissenschaft

From the state of science itIt can be concluded that on the one hand consumers stated to be price sensitive and overestimated organic food prices, while on the other hand most consumers generally had low price knowledge and were attracted by high prices up to a certain level

Leitura de narrativa policial

VII Seminário de Extensão Universitária da UNILA (SEUNI); VIII Encontro de Iniciação Científica e IV Encontro de Iniciação em Desenvolvimento Tecnológico e Inovação (EICTI 2019) e Seminário de Atividades Formativas da UNILA (SAFOR)O Curso de Leitura de Narrativa Policial foi pensado a partir do desejo de instigar a comunidade acadêmica e o público externo à universidade a exercitar e desenvolver a leitura, trabalhando-a em grupo, de contos ficcionais da literatura do gênero policial. Desta forma, seu objetivo principal é desenvolver a capacidade crítica dos participantes, tanto da leitura como do pensamento. O curso é realizado a partir de aulas expositivas dialógicas, pautadas na bibliografia básica e complementar sugeridas, assim como em debates, discussões, rodas de leitura e, também, na leitura de obra audiovisual e de imagens. Para melhor aproveitamento, foi dividido em dois módulos, para que cada um fosse realizado em um semestre diferente: “A narrativa policial latino-americana” e “A narrativa policial e as mulheres”. Como resultado parcial, obtivemos a frequência regular de, pelo menos, dez participantes no módulo desenvolvido no primeiro semestre, sendo o maior número deles de pessoas com algum vínculo com a UNILA. Apesar de não ser cobrada avaliação e não haver atribuição de nota e, portanto, não ser quantificada a evolução dos alunos, foi notável o desenvolvimento dos que participavam ativamente, com comentários e envolvimento nas discussões. Estudantes relataram que já recorreram ao que havíamos trabalhado em sala para resolver e/ou compreender situações apresentadas em outra aula, com textos que não são literatura policial, mas que foram bem aproveitados no exercício de ler outros gêneros, a partir do pensamento crítico, “desconfiado”, que desenvolvemos ao longo do semestreEstou grata à UNILA pela oportunidade de fazer parte deste projeto e por vivenciar a experiência da sala de aula por uma outra perspectiv

Fitness of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment: a laboratory activity

In this laboratory experiment, we propose an opportunity for students to broaden their understanding of the ecology of antibiotic-resistant and sensitive waterborne bacteria. Antibiotics can be found in rivers or soil as a consequence of agricultural practices or as a result of human use. Concentrations of antibiotics in the environment may range from a few ng to μg L-1. Such concentrations can affect the selection and fitness of resistant bacteria. In this laboratory activity, students learn how to set up a fitness experiment by using an isogenic pair of antibiotic-resistant and sensitive bacteria in the presence or absence of selective pressure. Microcosms were generated by using filtered river water containing populations of resistant and sensitive bacteria. Competition of both populations was measured in the presence or absence of antibiotics. Students appreciated the use of microcosms for in vitro experiments and the extent to which the fitness of resistant and sensitive bacteria changed in the presence and/or absence of a selective pressure in river water. Student learning was measured by using different types of assessments: multiple-choice, true/false, fill in the blanks, laboratory skills observations, and laboratory reports. After the laboratory activity, the percentage of correct answers significantly rose from ~20% to ~85%. Laboratory skills were also evaluated during the exercises, showing no major issues during the experiment. Students showed proficiency in analyzing the complexity of fitness data by reaching a mean of 5.57 (standard error 0.57) over a maximum score of 7 points

Laboratory activity to teach about the proliferation of salmonella in vegetables

We designed a three-week laboratory experience that can complement any Microbiology teaching laboratory to expand students’ knowledge of the ecology of human enteric pathogens outside of their animal hosts. Through their participation in this laboratory activity, students learned that vegetative and reproductive plant parts could be a natural habitat for enteric bacteria such as non-typhoidal strains of Salmonella enterica. This field was recently brought to the forefront of the scientific and public interest by outbreaks of human illness linked to the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. Students were encouraged to develop their own testable hypotheses to compare proliferation of Salmonella enterica sv Typhimurium LT2 in different vegetables: cherry and regular size tomatoes, onions, lettuce, yellow and red bell peppers (Escherichia coli can be substituted for BSL1 laboratories). Upon completion of the laboratory experience, students were able to: 1) Develop testable hypotheses addressing the ability of a human pathogen Salmonella enterica to colonize and proliferate in vegetables; 2) Determine that different vegetables support the growth of Salmonella to a different extent; 3) Conduct statistical analysis and identify any significant differences. The teaching-learning process was assessed with a pre/post test, with an average increase in content understanding from ~15% to 85%. We also measured students’ proficiency while conducting specific technical tasks, revealing no major difficulties while conducting the experiments. Students indicated satisfaction with organization and content of the practices. 100% of the students agreed that the exercises improved their knowledge of this subject

Rain Rate Retrieval Algorithm for Conical-Scanning Microwave Imagers Aided by Random Forest, RReliefF, and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (RAMARS)

This paper proposes a rain rate retrieval algorithm for conical-scanning microwave imagers (RAMARS), as an alternative to the NASA Goddard profiling (GPROF) algorithm, that does not rely on any a priori information. The fundamental basis of the RAMARS follows the concept of the GPROF algorithm, which means, being consistent with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar rain rate observations, but independent of any auxiliary information. The RAMARS is built upon the combination of state-of-the-art machine learning and regression techniques, comprising of random forest algorithm, RReliefF, and multivariate adaptive regression splines. The RAMARS is applicable to both over ocean and land as well as coast surface terrains. It has been demonstrated that, when comparing with the TRMM Precipitation Radar observations, the performance of the RAMARS algorithm is comparable with the 2A12 GPROF algorithm. Furthermore, the RAMARS has been applied to two cyclonic cases, hurricane Sandy in 2012, and cyclone Mahasen in 2013, showing a very good capability to reproduce the structure and intensity of the cyclone fields. The RAMARS is highly flexible, because of its four processing components, making it extremely suitable for use to other passive microwave imagers in the global precipitation measurement (GPM) constellation