The influence of perceived shared risk in crisis communication: Elaborating the situational theory of publics

The study explored whether perceived shared experience with a media portrayal could influence various cognitions—such as concern, sense of personal involvement, and desire to learn more—that are important for behavior change. This research used the situational theory of publics in order to evaluate whether perceived shared risk is an antecedent to the factors leading to communication behavior. In general, the findings from this experiment supported the idea that shared risk experience with portrayals in news coverage has the potential to influence problem recognition, involvement recognition, and a new variable that combines information seeking and processing: that of information gaining.     

Development and application of a dose–response model for Elizabethkingia spp

Elizabethkingia spp. are common environmental pathogens responsible for infections in more vulnerable populations. Although the exposure routes of concern are not well understood, some hospital-associated outbreaks have indicated possible waterborne transmission. In order to facilitate quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) for Elizabethkingia spp., this study fit dose–response models to frog and mice datasets that evaluated intramuscular and intraperitoneal exposure to Elizabethkingia spp. The frog datasets could be pooled, and the exact beta-Poisson model was the best fitting model with optimized parameters α  = 0.52 and β = 86,351. Using the exact beta-Poisson model, the dose of Elizabethkingia miricola resulting in a 50% morbidity response (LD₅₀) was estimated to be approximately 237,000 CFU. The model developed herein was used to estimate the probability of infection for a hospital patient under a modeled exposure scenario involving a contaminated medical device and reported Elizabethkingia spp. concentrations isolated from hospital sinks after an outbreak. The median exposure dose was approximately 3 CFU/insertion event, and the corresponding median risk of infection was 3.4E-05. The median risk estimated in this case study was lower than the 3% attack rate observed in a previous outbreak, however, there are noted gaps pertaining to the possible concentrations of Elizabethkingia spp. in tap water and the most likely exposure routes. This is the first dose–response model developed for Elizabethkingia spp. thus enabling future risk assessments to help determine levels of risk and potential effective risk management strategies.     

Bisphenol A: How the Most Relevant Exposure Sources Contribute to Total Consumer Exposure

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disrupting chemical that is found in human urine throughout industrial societies around the globe. Consumer exposure pathways to BPA include packaged food, household dust, air, and dental fillings. To date, information on the relative contribution of the different pathways to total consumer exposure is lacking, but is key for managing substance‐associated risks. We investigated the relative contributions of the pathways known to be most relevant for nine different consumer groups. Our results suggest that the most important pathways for infants and children are the use of polycarbonate (PC) baby bottles and for adults and teenagers the consumption of canned food. Dental surgery can also considerably contribute over a short time directly after the surgery. For infants fed with PC baby bottles with mean dose rates of 0.8 μg/kg_bw/d the highest exposure dose rate was calculated. This dose rate is far below the tolerable daily intake of 50 μg/kg_bw/d. However, it is of the same order of magnitude as recently reported concentrations that caused low‐dose health effects in rodents. We find a pattern of falling exposure levels with rising age that is supported by urinary concentrations of BPA available for selected consumer groups. Similarly, the exposure levels we predict are confirmed by the levels reported in these studies.     

Political leaders in the SYMLOG space: Perceptions of right and left wing leaders by right and left wing constituencies

Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG) was applied to studying images of political leaders. Three left wing and three right wing Israeli leaders were evaluated by left and right wing voters along the SYMLOG's three dimensions—friendliness, task orientation, and dominance. It was found that right wing voters rated right wing leaders higher on friendliness and task orientation than left wing leaders. In a similar fashion, left wing voters viewed left wing leaders as more friendly and task-oriented than right wing leaders. Leaders of the right were viewed as more dominant than leaders of the left by left and right wing voters alike. Right and left wing voters assigned different SYMLOG types to right and left wing leaders. The dimension that distinguished between the various images was the dimension of friendliness. Whereas for right wing voters, all images of right wing leaders included a component of friendliness, none of these three images included an accented component of friendliness when rated by left wing voters. In a similar fashion, left wing voters saw two out of the three left wing leaders as including a component of friendliness, whereas none of the three left wing images included this component for right wing voters. Respondents from the right and the left rated their “ideal leader” as reflecting values of “dominance”, “friendliness,” and “task-orientation”. However, respondents saw leaders affiliated with their own political camp as closer to their image of the ideal leader on friendliness and task-orientation than leaders of the opposite political camp. Both right and left wing voters saw all political leaders as equally similar to their image of “ideal leader” on the “dominance” dimension regardless of that leader's political affiliation.     

Politics: Butler's Corporeal Politics: Matters of Politicized Abjection

This essay examines the work of Judith Butler in relation to corporeality through an analysis of Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex and Butler's notion of politicized abjection. Abjection is considered in relation to bodily materiality and proposed as the most promising path for a revamped corporeal politics. Through a reading of two novels, Katherine Dunn's Geek Love and Barbara Gowdy's Mister Sandman, the essay examines how the abject body can function as politically subversive. Throughout, the essay analyses Butler's placing of the material body in a political domain, and argues that she ultimately endorses materiality as potentially disruptive to the symbolic domain of viable bodies. This recasting of matter within her theory is shown as redefining the body as an active agent rather than a passive receptacle for regulatory norms. The essay examines this under-theorized aspect of her work, and illustrates that politicized abjection is as crucial to her philosophy as the notion of gender as performative.     

Self‐conscious Shyness: Growth during Toddlerhood,Strong Role of Genetics,and No Prediction from Fearful Shyness

Fearful and self‐conscious subtypes of shyness have received little attention in the empirical literature. Study aims included the following: (1) determining whether fearful shyness predicted self‐conscious shyness, (2) describing development of self‐conscious shyness, and (3) examining genetic and environmental contributions to fearful and self‐conscious shyness. Observed self‐conscious shyness was examined at 19, 22, 25, and 28 months in same‐sex twins (MZ = 102, DZ = 111, missing zygosity = 3 pairs). Self‐conscious shyness increased across toddlerhood, but onset was earlier than predicted by theory. Fearful shyness (observed [6 and 12 months] and parents’ reports [12 and 22 months]) was not predictive of self‐conscious shyness. Independent genetic factors made strong contributions to parent‐reported (but not observed) fearful shyness (additive genetic influence = .69 and .72 at 12 and 22 months, respectively) and self‐conscious shyness (additive genetic influence = .90 for the growth model intercept). Results encourage future investigation of patterns of change and inter‐relations in shyness subtypes.     

PREDICTORS OF WOMEN'S RETURN TO VIOLENT PARTNERS

The study aimed to prospectively assess the variables which predict women's intention to return and actual return to violent partners. A questionnaire was developed and administered to 78 women who were taking refuge in a women's shelter after leaving a violent partner. After a two month period it was determined whether or not the women had returned to their partner. Intention to return was significantly predicted by the frequency and severity of violence, the age of the woman's youngest child, her belief the partner had changed, subjective norms and external locus of control. Actual return was predicted by the intention to return to partner, number of times a women had previously left her partner, commitment to relationship, subjective norms and allocation of responsibility for violence. It was argued that therapeutic interventions that address the attitudinal predictors of intention to return or actual return could aid some women and their children to remain away from a violent living situation.     

Positive Attentional Bias,Attachment Style,and Susceptibility to Peer Influence

Susceptibility to peer influence may be related to activation in reward‐related brain regions. The current study extends research on the role of reward sensitivity in peer influence by examining whether preferential attention to positive emotional stimuli predicts behavior in peer interactions, and whether this association is moderated by attachment style in a sample of 36 same‐sex peer dyads. Positive attentional bias was associated with lower autonomy and greater avoidance with peers. This association was attenuated among individuals with secure attachment style. Attention to negative stimuli was associated with less avoidant and more hostile behavior during peer interactions. Results suggest that preferential attention to positive emotional stimuli is associated with greater susceptibility to peer influence, particularly in individuals low in secure attachment.     

Maternal and Child Anxiety: Do Attachment Beliefs or Children's Perceptions of Maternal Control Mediate Their Association?

This study tested a model of the association between maternal and child anxiety that views mother and child attachment beliefs and children's perceptions of maternal control as mediators of the association. The study was conducted with mothers and their children aged 6 to 17 (N = 88). Maternal anxiety was significantly associated with child anxiety and maternal anxious attachment beliefs, whereas child anxiety was associated with maternal anxious attachment beliefs, child insecure attachment beliefs, and children's perceptions of maternal control. Maternal anxious attachment beliefs mediated the association between maternal and child anxiety; however, child attachment beliefs and children's perceptions of maternal control did not. The influence of age and gender is also addressed. The findings are discussed in terms of elucidating the role of attachment beliefs and children's perceptions of maternal control on the association between maternal and child anxiety.     

A Small-Sample Estimator for the Sample-Selection Model

A semiparametric estimator for evaluating the parameters of data generated under a sample selection process is developed. This estimator is based on the generalized maximum entropy estimator and performs well for small and ill-posed samples. Theoretical and sampling comparisons with parametric and semiparametric estimators are given. This method and standard ones are applied to three small-sample empirical applications of the wage-participation model for female teenage heads of households, immigrants, and Native Americans.