Does modifying the thick texture and creamy flavour of a drink change portion size selection and intake?

Previous research indicates that a drink's sensory characteristics can influence appetite regulation. Enhancing the thick and creamy sensory characteristics of a drink generated expectations of satiety and improved its actual satiating effects. Expectations about food also play an important role in decisions about intake, in which case enhancing the thick and creamy characteristics of a drink might also result in smaller portion size selection. In the current study forty-eight participants (24 female) completed four test days where they came into the laboratory for a fixed-portion breakfast, returning two hours later for a mid-morning drink, which they could serve themselves and consume as much as they liked. Over the test days, participants consumed an iso-energetic drink in four sensory contexts: thin and low-creamy; thin and high-creamy; thick and low-creamy; thick and high-creamy. Results indicated that participants consumed less of the thick drinks, but that this was only true of the female participants; male participants consumed the same amount of the four drinks regardless of sensory context. The addition of creamy flavour did not affect intake but the thicker drinks were associated with an increase in perceived creaminess. Despite differences in intake, hunger and fullness ratings did not differ across male and female participants and were not affected by the drinks sensory characteristics. The vast majority of participants consumed all of the drink they served themselves indicating that differences in intake reflected portion size decisions. These findings suggest women will select smaller portions of a drink when its sensory characteristics indicate that it will be satiating

The role of interpersonal style in aggression and its containment in a forensic mental health setting:A correlational and pseudoprospective study of patients and nursing staff

Inpatient aggression on mental health wards is common and staff-patient interactions are frequently reported antecedents to aggression. However, relatively little is known about the precise relationship between aggression and these interactions, or their relationships with aggression and staff containment responses such as restraint and seclusion. This study aimed to determine the roles of anger and interpersonal style among mental health nurses and between nurses and patients in the occurrence of aggression and its containment. A correlational, pseudo-prospective study design was employed. n=85 inpatients and n=65 nurses were recruited from adult, low- and medium- secure wards of a secure forensic mental health service. Participants completed validated self-report anger and transactional interpersonal style measures. Inpatient aggression and containment incident data for a 3-month follow-up period were extracted from clinical records. Dyadic nurse-patient relationships were anti-complementary. Patients’ self-reported anger and staff-rated hostile interpersonal style were significantly positively correlated; staff self-reported anger and patient-rated dominant interpersonal style were also positively correlated. Patient anger predicted aggression and their interpersonal style predicted being subject to containment in the form of restraint and seclusion. There were no statistically significant differences identified on measures between staff who were and were not involved in containment. More targeted intervention for patients’ anger may have a positive impact on interpersonal style and lead to the reduction of incidents. Staff education and skills training programmes should emphasise the importance of interpersonal styles which could help to promote and enhance positive interaction

Effects of bearing surfaces on lap joint energy dissipation

Energy is dissipated in mechanical systems in several forms. The major contributor to damping in bolted lap joints is friction, and the level of damping is a function of stress distribution in the bearing surfaces. This study examines the effects of bearing surface configuration on lap joint energy dissipation. The examination is carried out through the analysis of experimental results in a nonlinear framework. Then finite element models are constructed in a nonlinear framework to simulate the results. The experimental data were analyzed using piecewise linear log decrement. Phenomenological and non-phenomenological mathematical models were used to simulate joint behavior. Numerical results of experiments and analyses are presented

Incremental Validity of Patients’ Self-Reported Anger Beyond Structured Professional Judgment Tools in the Prediction of Inpatient Aggression

Mental health inpatients’ self-reported violence risk predicts actual aggressive outcomes. Anger, for which there are well-evidenced interventions, commonly precedes inpatient aggression. We aimed to determine whether patients’ self-reported anger added incremental validity to violence prediction beyond routinely completed violence risk assessments. A correlational, pseudo-prospective study design was employed. N = 76 inpatients in secure hospitals completed self-report validated anger measures; routinely collected clinicians' ratings on structured professional judgment tools, and aggressive incident data for a 3-month follow-up period were extracted from clinical records. Thirty four (45%) participants were violent; self-reported anger and clinician-risk ratings were significantly positively correlated. Self-reported anger predicted aggressive outcomes but not incrementally beyond relevant risk assessment subscale and item scores. It may not be beneficial for all patients to self-report anger as part of continuous violence risk assessments, but those who score highly on anger-relevant items of risk assessment tools could be considered for further assessment to support risk-management interventions

Network segregation in a model of misinformation and fact checking

Misinformation under the form of rumor, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories spreads on social media at alarming rates. One hypothesis is that, since social media are shaped by homophily, belief in misinformation may be more likely to thrive on those social circles that are segregated from the rest of the network. One possible antidote is fact checking which, in some cases, is known to stop rumors from spreading further. However, fact checking may also backfire and reinforce the belief in a hoax. Here we take into account the combination of network segregation, finite memory and attention, and fact-checking efforts. We consider a compartmental model of two interacting epidemic processes over a network that is segregated between gullible and skeptic users. Extensive simulation and mean-field analysis show that a more segregated network facilitates the spread of a hoax only at low forgetting rates, but has no effect when agents forget at faster rates. This finding may inform the development of mitigation techniques and overall inform on the risks of uncontrolled misinformation online

Confidential Gossip and Organization Studies

This essay sets out the case for regarding confidential gossip as a significant concept in the study of organizations. It develops the more general concept of gossip by combining it with concepts of organizational secrecy in order to propose confidential gossip as a distinctive communicative practice. As a communicative practice, it is to be understood as playing a particular role within the communicative constitution of organizations. That particularity arises from the special nature of any communication regarded as secret, which includes the fact that such communication is liable to be regarded as containing the ‘real truth’ or ‘insider knowledge’. Thus it may be regarded as more than ‘just gossip’ and also as more significant than formal communication. This role is explored, as well as the methodological and ethical challenges of studying confidential gossip empirically

Generation tourism: towards a common identity

The purpose of this article is to highlight the implications of the indiscipline of tourism academia for a new generation of tourism academics. Generation Tourism is characterised by scholars with a multi-disciplinary education associated with a broad field of study and commonly considered to lack the advantages of a discipline-focused education with its strong theoretical and methodological foundations. The problem this article addresses relates to how new generations of scholars and their views on knowledge creation achieve ascendancy in ways that move on from existing paradigms and earlier cohorts of scholars. Our main argument is that Generation Tourism scholars would benefit from a more clearly developed and common academic identity. To begin the critical conversation around the identity of Generation Tourism we outline five possible points of departure. These points are: (1) learning from historical developments in parent disciplines; (2) spearheading inter-disciplinary scholarship; (3) working towards theoretical developments; (4) embracing mediating methodologies and (5) forming tourism nodes and networks. Recognising these as starting points rather than final statements, we hope that the conversation about Generation Tourism identity will continue in other forums

Gossip in organisations: Contexts, consequences and controversies

This article examines the key themes surrounding gossip including its contexts, the various outcomes (positive and negative) of gossip as well as a selection of challenges and controversies. The challenges which are highlighted revolve around definitional issues, methodological approaches, and ethical considerations. Our analysis suggests that the characteristics and features of gossip lend itself to a process-oriented approach whereby the beginning and, particularly, end points of gossip are not always easily identified. Gossip about a subject or person can temporarily disappear only for it to re-surface at some later stage. In addition, questions pertaining to the effects of gossip and ethical-based arguments depend on the nature of the relationships within the gossip triad (gossiper, listener/respondent and target)