A Survey Of Rewards For Teens: Extension, Replication, and 25-year Follow-up

Changes in our immediate environment--as well as our virtual--have great potential to decrease the reinforcing effects of stimuli once identified as potent and reliable in past generations. Extant reinforcement surveys and item preferences assessments alike have shown to be a reliable mode of ascertaining potent reinforcers for various populations; however, many are outdated and may comprise of items or rewards that contemporary populations may not value. Considering the substantial environmental changes that have occurred over recent decades, in tandem with the availability of outdated reward surveys, efforts should be directed towards obtaining empirical evidence demonstrating that contemporary adolescents hold different preferences towards rewarding stimuli, compared to previous generations. The purpose of this research is to replicate and extend upon the Houlihan and colleagues\u27 (1991) Survey of Rewards for Teens (SORT) and assess whether there is evidence of a potential, generational shift in reward preferences in high school students from 1991 to 2016. Results lend to preliminary evidence suggesting that the reward preferences of contemporary high school students\u27 differ compared to the sample of adolescents in Houlihan and colleagues\u27 (1991) study. In addition, a proposed, revision of the Survey of Rewards for Teens is provided, Using a principal components analysis (PCA) and psychometric assessment of the responses from a nationally representative sample of contemporary high school students, a preliminary revision of the Survey of Rewards for Teens was developed as a secondary outcome of the study

Order in the Court: How Firm Status and Reputation Shape the Outcomes of Employment Discrimination Suits

This article explores the mechanisms by which corporate prestige produces distorted legal outcomes. Drawing on social psychological theories of status, we suggest that prestige influences audience evaluations by shaping expectations, and that its effect will differ depending on whether a firm’s blameworthiness has been firmly established. We empirically analyze a unique database of more than 500 employment discrimination suits brought between 1998 and 2008. We find that prestige is associated with a decreased likelihood of being found liable (suggesting a halo effect in assessments of blameworthiness), but with more severe punishments among organizations that are found liable (suggesting a halo tax in administrations of punishment). Our analysis allows us to reconcile two ostensibly contradictory bodies of work on how organizational prestige affects audience evaluations by showing that prestige can be both a benefit and a liability, depending on whether an organization’s blameworthiness has been firmly established

Self-Grading: A Commentary

The theoretical perspectives and the various ways for implementing the self-grading strategy have been extensively discussed in the literature. In this paper, we aim to synthesize pertinent information and resources to deepen our understanding around self-grading and demystify any uncertainties about this concept, if any

Defense Against Biometric Reproduction Attacks

Systems and methods for defense against biometric reproduction attack are disclosed. The system includes one or more mobile devices installed with a security feature integrated to the operating system or installed to the device as an app. The security feature is in communication with a server installed with a mobile device management solution. The device includes a multi-factor authentication system including at least one biometric authenticator and at least one non-biometric authenticator. The method includes prompting for biometric authentication, if the network is reachable. In the absence of an active network, the server may instruct the device to stop using a biometric authentication and request the user for a multifactor authentication. The systems and methods provide for full enterprise connectivity on devices with a biometric authentication system. The present disclosure allows the network administrators to address biometric reproduction attacks with variable levels of risk tolerance

Good Firms, Good Targets: The Relationship Among Corporate Social Responsibility, Reputation, and Activist Targeting

Much research on social movements and organizations contends that there is an empirical link between activists\u27 contentious activity and corporate social responsibility (CSR; e.g., Bartley 2007; Campbell 2007; Soule 2009). Typically, we assume that activists influence firms\u27 CSR practices directly. Activists target corporations in order to pursue their social change agendas, hoping to influence those companies to change their policies or practices (King and Pearce 2010). Targeting corporations give activists a way to directly address their grievances and influences a firm to amend an undesirable practice (King and Soule 2007; Walker, Martin, and McCarthy 2008; Lenox and Eesley 2009). For example, if a retail firm regularly sources its products from manufacturers that employ sweatshop labor, activists may raise concerns about this inflammatory practice by protesting the firm boycotting it. Getting in the activists\u27 spotlight puts public pressure on firms to change their practices, especially inasmuch as movement tactics draw unwanted negative attention from the media that could influence the public\u27s perceptions about a firm\u27s level of social responsibility (King 2008, 2011; Bartley and Child 2011)

Keeping Up Appearances: Reputational Threat and Impression Management after Social Movement Boycotts

In this paper, we show that corporate targets\u27 responses to social movements are a function of impression management to counteract perceived image threats created by movement tactics. An image threat occurs when an organization‟s audiences or reference publics are given reason to doubt its reliability or claimed conformity to socially acceptable behaviors, norms and values. We examine organizational responses to image threats created by social movement boycotts. Consumer boycotts, while ostensibly trying to cause a decline in a firm\u27s sales revenue and force them to change a policy or practice, have a pronounced negative impact on their targets\u27 public images. Boycotts may elicit increased efforts by the firm to engage in positive impression management and to reinforce positive audience perceptions. We argue that firms frequently use corporate social actions as part of their image repertoire when dealing with the threat of boycotts. Corporate social actions are especially likely to be used by firms that have built their reputation around being a virtuous” company. We draw on social movement theory and organizational theory to predict the conditions in which firms will respond to boycotts with increased levels of social action. We use a dataset of boycotts that were reported in major national newspapers from 1990 to 2005 to test our hypotheses

Development and Validation of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Solver for Droplet-Fibre Systems

Droplet-fibre interactions are found in many natural and anthropogenic systems. A common industrial example is fibrous filtration - used to capture liquid (e.g. oil) mists. The filters used consist mostly of highly porous arrays of randomly layered fibres. Given the random (complex) nature of these filters, the existing models describing their behaviour are mainly empirical in nature and thus only applicable over a narrow range of parameters and operating conditions. Therefore simulation of these filters using computational fluid dynamics offers a viable alternative to the existing models. In this work we will detail the development of a solver that couples the Lagrangian tracking of particles with a volume-of-fluid (VOF) solver. This solver is built on the existing open-source OpenFOAM CFD libraries, which have been modified to allow the physically accurate modelling of small particles. The solver also models the collection of these particles, where there is a transition from the discrete treatment (as in the Lagrangian tracking of the particles) to the volume-of-fluid treatment. The solver allows the simulation of the motion of small liquid droplets, the capture of these droplets by filter fibres, the coalescence of these captured droplets, into films and the subsequent break up of these films into droplet arrays by Plateau-Rayleigh instability. Also simulated is the movement of these coalesced droplets within the filter, leading to the drainage of oil from the filter.A validation of the fundamental physical mechanisms in the filter was performed, by comparing the simulated conformation of liquid droplets and films on the fibre to Plateau-Rayleigh instability theory. The model showed general agreement with both theory and observations. The simulated capture efficiency was also compared to capture efficiencies predicted by the single fibre efficiency (SFE) theory. A good agreement between the two was found

Comparison of breathing models for determining flow and particle deposition in the lungs

Collection and deposition of particles in the upper airway and lungs is of considerable importance – for example, when studying chronic diseases, or when determining the efficacy of aerosol drug delivery. Modelling of particle deposition usually assumes either constant flow (typically at maximum inspiration), or oscillating flow – ignoring any effects of the lung’s motion. This paper presents a preliminary examination of the effects of ignoring mesh motion when modelling the lungs. Initially, an idealised lung model was created, corresponding to generations 0 to 3 of Weibel’s morphology[14]. Simulations were then made using this geometry for steady flow, oscillating flow, and flow developed by expanding the lung. The expansion of the lung was modelled using a mesh motion library developed by the authors. This model allowed the expansion of the lung to be prescribed. Results from the simulations show significant differences between the three modelling options – relating to both the predicted flow field, and particle deposition sites. Robustness of the moving mesh modelling technique is demonstrated on a high-resolution geometry created from CT scans of a Sprague-Dawley rat model lung