Do We Need to Put God into Emotional Support?: A Comparison of Caucasians’ and African-Americans’ Evaluations of Religious versus Non-Religious Comforting Messages

The current study explored whether ethnicity influences young adults’ evaluations of two different sets of comforting messages: those in which concepts such as God, prayer, religion, and faith are woven into low, moderate, and high person-centered strategies (called ‘‘religious strategies’’) and those in which such concepts are not embedded (called ‘‘non-religious strategies’’) into the messages. One hundred ninety-seven college students (63% African-American; 37% Caucasian) rated the sensitivity and effectiveness of religious and non-religious comforting messages. Several significant differences were observed between Caucasians and African-Americans in their evaluations of these strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications for ‘‘real world’’ comforting efforts as well as the theoretical significance they hold for the concept of person-centeredness

OCS in small para-hydrogen clusters: energetics and structure with N=1-8 complexed hydrogen molecules

We determine the structure and energetics of complexes of the linear OCS molecule with small numbers of para-hydrogen molecules, N=1-8, using zero temperature quantum Monte Carlo methods. Ground state calculations are carried out with importance-sampled rigid body diffusion Monte Carlo (IS-RBDMC) and excited state calculations with the projection operator imaginary time spectral evolution (POITSE) methodology. The ground states are found to be highly structured, with a gradual build up of two axial rings as N increases to 8. Analysis of the azimuthal density correlations around the OCS molecule shows that these rings are quite delocalized for small N values, but become strongly localized for N \geq 5 . Excited state calculations are made for a range of total cluster angular momentum values and the rotational energy levels fitted to obtain effective rotational and distortion constants of the complexed OCS molecule as a function of cluster size N. Detailed analysis of these spectroscopic constants indicates that the complexes of OCS with para-hydrogen have an unusually rich variation in dynamical behavior, with sizes N=1-2 showing near rigid behavior, sizes N=3-4 showing extremely floppy behavior, and the larger sizes N=5-8 showing more rigid behavior again. The large values of the distortion constant D obtained for N=3-4 are rationalized in terms of the coupling between the OCS rotations and the "breathing" mode of the first, partially filled ring of para-hydrogen molecules.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures. accepted for publication in the Journal of Chemical Physic

And This Little Teacher Went to Market

Have you ever seen an unmotivated child in a supermarket? There I s no such thing! From tempting displays of colorful, animated cereal boxes to appealing, eye-level candies at checkout, children (and adults) are bombarded with motivating messages from the friendly market manager. These master merchandisers could teach us something about motivation in the classroom

The Influence of Perceived Food Risk and Source Trust on Media System Dependency

Consumers regularly identify food safety as an issue of great concern. They also consistently rank mass media as a primary source of food safety information. The purpose of this study was to investigate Ohioans’ levels of media system dependency and to assess the role of source trust and perceived food risk factors in influencing this dependency. Mail survey techniques were used to collect data from a sample of 7,976 Ohio residents. Data are reported for 4,014 respondents, for a 56 percent response rate. Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news, were perceived by respondents to be the most helpful among the media formats assessed. Moderate levels of perceived risk were found for the food safety items assessed. Pesticide residues in food and contamination of drinking water generated the highest levels of perceived risk. Relative to perceived source trust, physicians and scientists were evaluated most favorably, ahead of farmers and growers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Extension. Regression findings indicate that perceived trust in government and expert sources were the two best predictors of media dependency, followed by perceived food safety risk. Findings have implications for food safety communicators and journalists communicating with at-risk audiences about the safety of their food supply

Snap-8 mercury corrosion and materials research, volume iii topical report, jun. 1960 - dec. 1962

SNAP-8 materials research - mercury corrosion capsule tests of ferritic alloys for mass transfer, stress corrosion, mode of attack, and mechanical propertie

The Creative Work Environment: Manager and Employee Perceptions of Factors that lnfluence Creativity Within Land·Grant Communication Units

According to research, environmental factors have the potential to inhibit or enhance creativity, particularly in a work setting

Level of Preparedness for Managing Crisis Communication on Land-Grant Campuses

Crisis situations can occur in any organization. Because they attract media attention and public scrutiny, crises demand effective intervention and response. Despite their importance, there has never been an inventory of crisis communication readiness at land-grant universities. This study used mail survey techniques to query communication administrators at 1862 and 1890 U.S. land-grant colleges of agriculture as to the level of preparedness that exists for handling crisis situations at their institutions. A major finding was that only about 60 percent of land-grant universities have a central crisis communication plan. Nearly one third of the respondents were unaware of a crisis communication plan at their university. Official crisis plans were most often found at the university level, followed by extension. Experiment station crisis plans were reported by fewer than one fourth of respondents, an alarming finding since research programs and facilities are considerably more susceptible to public outcry or threats from fringe groups. It was determined that faculty and staff are often not aware of crisis plans in place at their institutions and that communication professionals have limited involvement in the development of such plans. Findings highlight the need for communication professionals to be more proactive in assuring that crisis communication plans are in place and that they are involved in their development