Thoughts and Rambles

My work is rooted in the here and now of my mind. The emotions I am feeling, the shows I am watching and music I am listening to all play a large role in informing my artwork. In my “From Birth to Death” photographs, I thought about how quick a sun sets and in relation how quick our time on earth is. I wanted to put the two together to represent that idea. I enjoy playing out these ideas and whimsies.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art399/1018/thumbnail.jp

Overweight or about right? A norm comparison explanation of perceived weight status

Objectives Body‐weight norms may explain why personal evaluations of weight status are often inaccurate. Here, we tested a ‘norm comparison’ explanation of weight status perceptions, whereby personal evaluations of weight status are biased by perceived body‐weight norms. Methods Study 1 examined whether perceptions of how one's own body weight compares to an average person predict personal evaluations of weight status. Study 2 examined whether manipulating perceptions of how one's own body weight compares to an average person influences whether or not a person identifies their own weight status as being overweight. Results In Study 1, if participants rated their body weight as being similar to the body weight of an average person, they were less likely to identify their weight status as being overweight. In Study 2, participants that were led to believe that their body weight was heavier than the average person were more likely to perceive their own weight status as being overweight. Conclusions Personal perceptions of weight status are likely to be shaped by a ‘norm comparison’ process. As overweight becomes more normal, underestimation of weight status amongst individuals with overweight and obesity will be more common

What Motivates Barrier-Crossing Leadership?

From large-scale wars, natural disasters, and pandemics to community-level religious and ethnic conflicts, many leaders wield power during crises by championing their group’s goals against those of rivals. But there is also a rarer breed of leader—barrier-crossers who pursue group interests by recognizing rivals’ interests and working with them to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Though such leaders have played vital roles in resolving conflicts, little is known about their extraordinary motivation. Here we report survey results contrasting barrier-crossing with barrier-bound leaders from seven communities. In line with new theories from group psychology and anthropology, we found that barrier-crossers uniquely reported intense, family-like bonds to both ingroups and outgroups. Further evidence suggests that these outgroup bonds result from past, personally transformative experiences shared with outgroup members

Crystal Structures and Phase Transitions of 3-Chloro-2,2-bis(chloromethyl)propionic Acid-1 and 1,3-Dichloro-2,2-dimethylpropane

The crystal structure of 3-chloro-2,2-bis(chloromethyl)propionic acid-1 was determined from single crystal data. The compound crystallizes in the acentric monoclinic space group P21. Lattice constants at T = 304 K are a = 6.961(1) Å, b = 9.979(2) Å, c = 12.0569(3) Å, b = 94.01(2)°. Structure refinement on 1736 independent reflections yielded R = 0.041. Two molecules are interconnected by hydrogen bridges to form dimers. Thermal analysis and temperature dependent X-ray and IR-measurements gave no indication of a phase transition in the range 150 K < T < 384 K. An order-disorder phase transition was detected for 1,3-dichloro-2,2-dimethylpropane at TI&#x2192;II = 194.3 K, with a plastic cubic phase in the range 194.3 K < T < 259.1 K. The lattice constant in space group Fm3m is a = 9.24 Å at 220 K with a thermal expansion coefficient a(200 K) = 2.6769 x 10–4 K–1. The entropy at the melting point Tm = 259.1 K and at the solid-solid phase transition TI&#x2192;II = 194.3 K is rather low giving strong evidence of a plastic phase. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern in the ordered phase at T = 160 K gave indication of monoclinic symmetry with a = 12.27 Å, b = 10.86 Å, c = 10.68 Å, b = 111.8°. Temperature dependent infrared measurements revealed the conformation of the molecule

Biochemical properties of attachment region binding protein ARBP

AbstractARBP (attachment region binding protein) is an abundant nuclear protein that specifically binds to matrix/scaffold attachment regions (MARs/SARs). Here we show by gel filtration and gradient sedimentation that ARBP has an elongated shape. The sedimentation coefficient was determined as only 2.1 S. Furthermore, limited proteolysis of ARBP in situ (in isolated nuclei) with several proteases generated limiting resistant peptides from 14.5 to 18 kDa, that retained the ability to bind MARs specifically. This indicates that these peptides encompass the DNA binding domain of ARBP

Judging Knowledge in the Digital Age: The Role of External-Memory Organization

Two studies examined relations between features of external-memory repositories (personal computers) and confidence in knowing. Participants judged their confidence in knowledge related to their work or studies and then answered questions about the way they store and use information. Participants who maintained more organized repositories were more confident in their knowledge. Furthermore, moderation analyses showed that the participants who navigated through their files by manually clicking through folders to find documents, but not those who use an automated search feature, felt more knowledge confident if they maintained a well-organized electronic repository. These results provide evidence for relation between assessments of internally “stored” knowledge and the degree of organization of their externally stored “knowledge.

Bidirectional associations between descriptive and injunctive norms

Modern research on social norms makes an important distinction between descriptive norms (how people commonly behave) and injunctive norms (what one is morally obligated to do). Here we propose that this distinction is far from clear in the cognition of social norms. In a first study, using the implicit association test, the concepts of ‘‘common’’ and ‘‘moral’’ were found to be strongly associated. Some implications of this automatic common–moral association were investigated in a subsequent series of experiments: Our participants tended to make explicit inferences from descriptive norms to injunctive norms and vice versa; they tended to mix up descriptive and injunctive concepts in recall tasks; and frequency information influenced participants’ own moral judgments. We conclude by discussing how the common–moral association could play a role in the dynamics of social norms

Crystal Structures and Phase Transitions of 3-Chloro-2,2-bis(chloromethyl)propionic Acid-1 and 1,3-Dichloro-2,2-dimethylpropane

The crystal structure of 3-chloro-2,2-bis(chloromethyl)propionic acid-1 was determined from single crystal data. The compound crystallizes in the acentric monoclinic space group P21. Lattice constants at T = 304 K are a = 6.961(1) Å, b = 9.979(2) Å, c = 12.0569(3) Å, b = 94.01(2)°. Structure refinement on 1736 independent reflections yielded R = 0.041. Two molecules are interconnected by hydrogen bridges to form dimers. Thermal analysis and temperature dependent X-ray and IR-measurements gave no indication of a phase transition in the range 150 K < T < 384 K. An order-disorder phase transition was detected for 1,3-dichloro-2,2-dimethylpropane at TI&#x2192;II = 194.3 K, with a plastic cubic phase in the range 194.3 K < T < 259.1 K. The lattice constant in space group Fm3m is a = 9.24 Å at 220 K with a thermal expansion coefficient a(200 K) = 2.6769 x 10–4 K–1. The entropy at the melting point Tm = 259.1 K and at the solid-solid phase transition TI&#x2192;II = 194.3 K is rather low giving strong evidence of a plastic phase. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern in the ordered phase at T = 160 K gave indication of monoclinic symmetry with a = 12.27 Å, b = 10.86 Å, c = 10.68 Å, b = 111.8°. Temperature dependent infrared measurements revealed the conformation of the molecule