Media and the contact hypothesis: an experimental study on the impact of parasocial contact

"Does parasocial contact impact on inter-group bias? Widening the scope of Contact Theory, this study aims at experimentally examine the impact of parasocial out-group presentation on decisions in a two-person prisoner's dilemma game and social cognitive constructions of the social event. Within a minimal group experiment, 80 university students were randomly assigned to anonymous or video-wise personalization conditions. Participants rather took personal advantage of expected contributions to a commonly shared dilemma situation in anonymous settings than if a member of the out-group was personalized (p<.05). As perceptions of group boundaries, out-group homogeneity, and similarity did not systematically differ across the conditions, implications are discussed." (author's abstract)"Hat parasozialer Kontakt Einfluss auf intergruppale Diskriminierung? Im Sinne einer Erweiterung der Kontakthypothese liefert die vorliegende Studie eine experimentelle Prüfung des Einflusses von parasozialer Out-Group Präsentation sowohl auf Verteilungsentscheidungen im Prisoner's Dilemma Game als auch auf sozial kognitive Konstruktionen des sozialen Ereignisses. In einem minimalen Gruppen Experiment wurden 80 UniversitätsstudentInnen zufällig einer von zwei Experimentalbedingungen (anonyme Bedingung vs. Video - personalisierte Bedingung) zugewiesen. TeilnehmerInnen in der anonymen Bedingung haben eher einen Vorteil auf Kosten des Mitspielers/ der Mitspielerin aus erwarteten Zuteilungen geschlagen, als wenn ein Mitglied der Fremdgruppe per Video personalisiert wurde (p<.05). Wahrnehmungen der Gruppengrenzen, Outgroup Homogenität und Ähnlichkeit variierten nicht systematisch zwischen den experimentellen Bedingungen. Implikationen werden diskutiert." (Autorenreferat

Students' voice on literature teacher excellence:Towards a teacher-organized model of continuing professional development

This study contributes to the development of empirically based, domain-specific teaching standards in upper secondary education. It is part of a Dutch project to develop ecologically valid teaching standards and to find a teacher-organized model for continuing professional development. A previous study about teachers' perceptions of what constitutes an excellent teacher of literature resulted in a set of six domain-specific teaching standards. In this study, an exploratory factor analysis was performed to find out which dimensions or characteristics of an excellent teacher of literature could be gleaned from the students' perspective. We found four similar and two complementary dimensions

The Effect of Training on Stride Duration in a Cohort of Two-Year-Old and Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Racehorses

Objective gait monitoring is increasingly accessible to trainers. A more comprehensive understanding of ‘normal’ gait adaptations is required. Forty two-year-old thoroughbred racehorses were recruited when entering training and followed for 22 months. Gait analysis was performed by equipping each horse with an inertial measurement unit with inbuilt GPS (GPS-IMU) mounted on the dorsum. Horses were exercised as per their regular training regimen. Data were analysed using a linear mixed model. For two-year-old horses, there was a non-linear pattern of stride duration (SD) over time (p < 0.001) with SD decreasing initially and then ‘flattening off’ over time (linear and quadratic coefficients −0.29 ms/week and 0.006 ms/week2). Horses showed an increase in SD of 2.21 ms (p < 0.001) per 100 m galloped, and over time, SD decreased by 0.04 ms (p < 0.001) with each 100 m galloped per week. Three-year-old horses overall showed no change in SD over time (p = 0.52), but those that had a period of time off showed a decrease in SD of −0.59 ms per week (p = 0.02). They showed an increase in SD of 1.99 ms (p < 0.001) per 100 m galloped, and horses that had a period of time off showed an increase in stride duration of 1.05 ms per 100 m galloped (p = 0.01) compared to horses which did not have time off. Horses demonstrate an adaptation to high-speed exercise over time. SD decreases with training when other factors are controlled for in naïve horses

Numerical Investigation of a Mesoscopic Vehicular Traffic Flow Model Based on a Stochastic Acceleration Process

In this paper a spatial homogeneous vehicular traffic flow model based on a stochastic master equation of Boltzmann type in the acceleration variable is solved numerically for a special driver interaction model. The solution is done by a modified direct simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) well known in non equilibrium gas kinetic. The velocity and acceleration distribution functions in stochastic equilibrium, mean velocity, traffic density, ACN, velocity scattering and correlations between some of these variables and their car density dependences are discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure

Involvement of Bruton's tyrosine kinase in FcepsilonRI-dependent mast cell degranulation and cytokine production.

We investigated the role of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) in FcepsilonRI-dependent activation of mouse mast cells, using xid and btk null mutant mice. Unlike B cell development, mast cell development is apparently normal in these btk mutant mice. However, mast cells derived from these mice exhibited significant abnormalities in FcepsilonRI-dependent function. xid mice primed with anti-dinitrophenyl monoclonal IgE antibody exhibited mildly diminished early-phase and severely blunted late-phase anaphylactic reactions in response to antigen challenge in vivo. Consistent with this finding, cultured mast cells derived from the bone marrow cells of xid or btk null mice exhibited mild impairments in degranulation, and more profound defects in the production of several cytokines, upon FcepsilonRI cross-linking. Moreover, the transcriptional activities of these cytokine genes were severely reduced in FcepsilonRI-stimulated btk mutant mast cells. The specificity of these effects of btk mutations was confirmed by the improvement in the ability of btk mutant mast cells to degranulate and to secrete cytokines after the retroviral transfer of wild-type btk cDNA, but not of vector or kinase-dead btk cDNA. Retroviral transfer of Emt (= Itk/Tsk), Btk's closest relative, also partially improved the ability of btk mutant mast cells to secrete mediators. Taken together, these results demonstrate an important role for Btk in the full expression of FcepsilonRI signal transduction in mast cells

In-gas-cell laser ionization spectroscopy in the vicinity of 100Sn: Magnetic moments and mean-square charge radii of N=50-54 Ag

In-gas-cell laser ionization spectroscopy studies on the neutron deficient 97-101Ag isotopes have been performed with the LISOL setup. Magnetic dipole moments and mean-square charge radii have been determined for the first time with the exception of 101Ag, which was found in good agreement with previous experimental values. The reported results allow tentatively assigning the spin of 97,99Ag to 9/2 and confirming the presence of an isomeric state in these two isotopes, whose collapsed hyperfine structure suggests a spin of 1/2 . The effect of the N=50 shell closure is not only manifested in the magnetic moments but also in the evolution of the mean-square charge radii of the isotopes investigated, in accordance with the spherical droplet model predictions