Evaluating the effect of a campus-wide social norms marketing intervention on alcohol-use perceptions,consumption, and blackouts

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a campus-wide social norms marketing intervention on alcohol-use perceptions, consumption, and blackouts at a large, urban, public university. Participants: 4,172 college students (1,208 freshmen, 1,159 sophomores, 953 juniors, and 852 seniors) who completed surveys in Spring 2015 for the Spit for Science Study, a longitudinal study of students' substance use and emotional health. Methods: Participants were e-mailed an online survey that queried campaign readership, perception of peer alcohol use, alcohol consumption, frequency of consumption, and frequency of blackouts. Associations between variables were evaluated using path analysis. Results: We found that campaign readership was associated with more accurate perceptions of peer alcohol use, which, in turn, was associated with self-reported lower number of drinks per sitting and experiencing fewer blackouts. Conclusions: This evaluation supports the use of social norms marketing as a population-level intervention to correct alcohol-use misperceptions and reduce blackouts.     

New estimates of the vital rates of the United States black population during the nineteenth century

The difficulties of obtaining credible estimates of vital rates for the black population throughout the entire nineteenth century are overcome in this study. The methodology employed the notion of deviating networks of mortality rates for each general mortality level, which was taken from the United Nations studyThe Concept of a Stable Population. Period life tables and vital rates for intercensal periods were generated from the new estimates of the black population at each census date. The results of this study are highly compatible both with the life tables for the death-registration states in the twentieth century and the recent Coale and Rives reconstruction for the period from 1880 to 1970 and with several estimates of vital rates previously made for the mid-nineteenth century. This study places the mean life expectancy at birth for the black population during the nineteenth century at about 33.7 years for both sexes. The infant death rate (1000m (0)) is shown to have varied between 222 and 237 for females and between 266 and 278 for males. The intrinsic crude death rate centered on 30.4 per thousand during the century, while the birth rate declined from 53.2 early in the century to about 43.8 at the end.     

An extension of the classical A B C inventory control system

The conventional method of controlling inventories of relatively fast moving items in a store is based on an A B C classification of the stock items. An analysis is presented for the extension of this method to determine the number of categories that should be employed and the way in which the different items should be allocated to these categories. A case study is briefly described to illustrate the application of this methodology.     

Psychological stress and muscle activity during data entry at visual display units

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether psychological stress causes increased muscle activity, especially static muscle activity, in the trapezius muscles of the neck and shoulder. A pilot and a main study were carried out with 10 males and 20 females, respectively. The subjects performed a VDU data entry task under psychologically stressful and non-stressful conditions. Stress reactions were measured by different methods: heart rate and heart rate variability, hormonal excretion, and subjective ratings of mood and body symptoms. The stress condition caused an increase in heart rate. The low-frequency variability increased and the high-frequency variability decreased. Ratings of motivation and relaxation decreased, and subjects felt more activated. Pain and discomfort from the stomach increased. Adrenaline and noradrenaline in urine were unaffected. The majority of the subjects showed moderately increased static and median EMG levels during the stress condition. The interindividual variation in muscular reactions was large. Statistically significant increases were obtained for the myoelectric activity of the left (resting) trapezius muscle when pooling the two groups. It appears that the increase in muscle activity due to this type of mental stress is small, and factors other than ‘attention-related’ load may be more important. The results indicate that some individuals may be more prone to general muscle tension, making them more likely to develop symptoms and musculoskeletal pain.     

Globalization and the policing of protest: the case of APEC 1997

The policing of protest at international events conflicts with the political and policing culture of the host nation. Previous research shows a trend toward softer, more tolerant styles of policing protest within various Western democracies. We present a case study of an exception: the repression of protest at an international event in which one Western democracy hosted rulers of less democratic regimes in a ritual celebration of economic globalization. We explore reasons why, in the face of protests about undemocratic regimes elsewhere, the Canadian government and police were willing to use blatantly undemocratic tactics popularly believed to be more characteristic of those other regimes. Implications are discussed concerning protest policing, economic globalization, the nation-state and social movements.     

Resistance training is linked to heightened positive motivational state and lower negative affect among healthy women aged 65–70

Resistance training (RT) improves overall health, but the psychological effects of RT in healthy old adults have not been tested. The aim of this study was to investigate a sample of 65–70-year-old healthy and physically active women to assess their sense of coherence, health-related quality of life, hope, and affect, before and after taking part in a 24-week RT intervention (N = 14), compared to controls (N = 18). Findings showed a significant increase in hope (p = 0.013) and a significant decrease in negative affect (p = 0.002). Starting RT after age 65 does not appear to negatively impact on women’s psychological health but seems to be associated with important psychological health benefits.     

The surveillant assemblage

George Orwell's 'Big Brother' and Michel Foucault's 'panopticon' have dominated discussion of contemporary developments in surveillance. While such metaphors draw our attention to important attributes of surveillance, they also miss some recent dynamics in its operation. The work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari is used to analyse the convergence of once discrete surveillance systems. The resultant 'surveillant assemblage' operates by abstracting human bodies from their territorial settings, and separating them into a series of discrete flows. These flows are then reassembled in different locations as discrete and virtual 'data doubles'. The surveillant assemblage transforms the purposes of surveillance and the hierarchies of surveillance, as well as the institution of privacy.