Moral reasoning and homosexuality: the acceptability of arguments about lesbian and gay issues

In the political arena, lesbian and gay issues have typically been contested on grounds of human rights, but with variable success. Using a moral developmental framework, the purpose of this study was to explore preferences for different types of moral arguments when thinking about moral dilemmas around lesbian and gay issues. The analysis presented here comprised data collected from 545 students at UK universities, who completed a questionnaire, part of which comprised a moral dilemma task. Findings of the study showed that respondents do not apply moral reasoning consistently, and do not (clearly) favour human rights reasoning when thinking about lesbian and gay issues. Respondents tended to favour reasoning supporting existing social structures and frameworks, therefore this study highlights the importance of structural change in effecting widespread attitude change in relation to lesbian and gay rights issues. The implications of the findings for moral education are also discussed.</p

Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis as a natural anti-listerial agent in the mushroom industry

peer-reviewedMushroom growth substrates from different commercial producers of mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) were screened for the presence of bacteria with potential for use as biocontrol agents for controlling Listeria monocytogenes in the mushroom production environment. Eight anti-listerial strains were isolated from different sources and all were identified using 16s rRNA gene sequencing as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis. Whole-genome sequencing of the Lc. lactis isolates indicated that strains from different sites and substrate types were highly similar. Colony MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry found that these strains were Nisin Z producers but inhibitory activity was highly influenced by the incubation conditions and was strain dependant. The biofilm forming ability of these strains was tested using a crystal violet assay and all were found to be strong biofilm formers. Growth of Lc. lactis subsp. lactis using mixed-biofilm conditions with L. monocytogenes on stainless steel resulted in a 4-log reduction of L. monocytogenes cell numbers. Additional sampling of mushroom producers showed that these anti-listerial Lc. lactis strains are commonly present in the mushroom production environment. Lc. lactis has a generally regarded as safe (GRAS) status and therefore has potential for use as an environmentally benign solution to control L. monocytogenes in order to prevent product contamination and to enhance consumer confidence in the mushroom industry

Normative data for idiomatic expressions

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS): Technical and Scoring Manual (3rd Edition)

The BMIS scale is an open-source mood scale consisting of 16 mood-adjectives to which a person responds (e.g., Are you happy ?). The scale can yield measures of overall pleasant-unpleasant mood, arousal-calm mood, and it also can be scored according to positive-tired and negative-calm mood

News in an era of content confusion: effects of news use motivations and context on native advertising and digital news perceptions

This study examined the effects of differing native advertising framing contexts (hard versus soft news) and individuals’ news use motivations on ability to perceive commercialized content, evaluations of native advertising, and ensuing digital news perceptions. Based upon the framework of the persuasion knowledge model, an online experiment was conducted among a sample of U.S. adults (N = 684). When revealed as advertising, people were more likely to perceive the hard news rather than the soft news framing as commercial in nature. Furthermore, hard news approaches to native advertising were perceived unfavorably by audiences and tarnished the subsequent reporting of actual journalists.Accepted manuscrip

Tremblings, August 2018

Beaver are coming for your aspen — are you ready? Stephen Bennett Regulations and management of riparian corridors has improved greatly over the last few decades, but there remains a deficit of structure such as beaver dams and woody debris (e.g., logjams). Beaver dams and accumulations of wood alter the stream flow and create more complex stream habitats. Beaver populations were decimated in the 1800’s as trappers and settlers spread across western North America. Continued settlement and development left many streams without beavers (and the dams they build) and greatly reduced wood in streams. As a result, the form of many streams changed from multiple channels with diverse instream habitats and well connected floodplains to narrow incised channels, with low habitat diversity, and decreased ability to store sediment. These conditions still exist across the West and have likely reduced the extent of riparian areas and aspen communities dependent on mesic conditions

Is Differentiation Better?: Consumer Memory for Online Advertisement Selection

The proliferation of internet content has generated a significant online marketing increase in recent years. While there exists a relatively broad base of knowledge regarding the impact of traditional advertisement structures and their effects on consumer behavior, less is known about the impact of the interactive world of online advertising, particularly video advertising. Research has been done to address the question of identifying a more suitable model for the online video format than a standard pre-roll advertisement. The Pool Lane One of VivaKi found that the most effective model was the ad-selector, which allowed consumers to choose their preference from a group of advertisements in a given time frame. This study seeks to address contextual variations within the ad-selector model to determine how they impact recall. When the viewer is presented choices from the same brand or product class, there is potential for Competitive Interference to inhibit learning. Conversely, learning of advertised information could be improved if the ad-selector model increases Personal Relevance. Therefore, the interaction of Competitive Interference and Personal Relevance within the ad-selector model are examined in regards to free recall