Texas A&M International University: Research Information Online (RIO)
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Media naturalness reduction and compensatory channel expansion: A study of online and face-to-face sections of the same course
No full textThis study provides a combined test of the media naturalness and channel expansion theories with a study of communication media perceptions and use outcomes in the context of a college information systems course delivery. Data was collected from undergraduate students at the middle and end of a long semester. Approximately half of the students took the course face-to-face, and the other half online. As predicted, based on media naturalness theory, grades were significantly higher in the face-to-face condition than the online condition at the middle of the semester. Consistent with predictions based on channel expansion theory, the difference between grades obtained at the middle of the semester disappeared at the end of the semester. This study shows that online course delivery may lead to both negative and positive effects in the same semester, leading to a final outcome that is generally positive. It provides a more nuanced view of online course delivery effects, and clarifies previous empirical findings that appear paradoxical at first glance. Copyright © 2011, IGI Global
Leukocyte apoptosis and pro-/anti-apoptotic proteins following downhill running
No full textThe purposes of this study were to determine the effect of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage on the induction of apoptosis in peripheral blood leukocytes and to investigate if the elevation in apoptotic leukocytes was mediated by changes in the concentration of anti-/proapoptotic proteins in circulation. Twelve moderately trained subjects performed three 40 min treadmill runs at ∼70% VO 2max: a level run (L) followed by two downhill runs (DH1 and DH2). Blood samples were taken at rest (PRE) and immediately (POST), 2, 24, and 48 h after each run. Data were analyzed using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey tests. Creatine kinase (CK) activity was significantly elevated at 24 and 48 h following DH1 (P\u3c0.01). The proportion (%) of apoptotic leukocytes was significantly elevated at POST and 2 h following all three runs, and up to 48 h following DH1 (P\u3c0.01). Bax at 24-h post and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio at 24- (P\u3c0.01) and 48-h post (P\u3c0.05) following DH1 were greater than PRE (P\u3c0.05). An acute bout of moderate intensity downhill running altered CK activity, Bax concentration and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in circulating leukocytes resulting in a greater apoptotic response at 24-and 48-h post-exercise compared to level grade running or a second downhill run. Although the mechanism by which these proteins are altered by unaccustomed eccentric exercise is currently unknown, the differential response to DH1 versus L and DH2 indicates that it may be related to exercise-induced muscle damage. © Springer-Verlag 2011
Four guiding principles for research on evolved information processing traits and technology-mediated task performance
No full textEvolved information processing traits are defined as mental traits that have been evolved by our species in response to evolutionary pressures and that are associated with the processing of information. Evolutionary psychologists and human evolution researchers have long realized that theorizing about evolved mental traits is very difficult to do in ways that lead to valid testable predictions. Quite often that theorizing leads to what are known as Panglossian (or naïve) explanations, which may at first glance be seen as valid evolutionary explanations of observable traits, but end up proving to be wrong and misleading. We propose four meta-theoretical principles to guide future research on evolved information processing traits and their effects on technology-mediated task performance, and help researchers avoid Panglossian explanations. We argue that this type of research holds the promise of bringing fresh insights into the study of human behavior toward information and communication technologies, and thus, helping advance the field of information systems through a promising path that has rarely been taken before. We derive the four principles from mathematical formulations developed based on two of the most fundamental conceptual tools employed in population genetics and mathematical modeling of evolutionary processes: Fisher\u27s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection and the Price Equation. We provide an illustration of the application of the principles through an empirical study of a technology-mediated learning task. The analysis was conducted using WarpPLS 1.0. The study provides support for a puzzling phenomenon, known as flashbulb memorization, the context of web-mediated learning
Monday returns and asset pricing
No full textThe seasonal patterns observed on Monday stock returns are still unexplained by different asset pricing models. We attempt to fill this gap in the finance literature by using the Fama-French (Journal of Financial Economics 33:3-56, 1993) risk factors to explain the Monday seasonal. The results in the study show that Monday returns are explained by risk factors such as the market return, the size of the firms, and the book-to-market ratios of firms. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Xenophobia among hispanic college students and implications for the criminal justice system
No full textImmigration, particularly the illegal immigration of Mexicans, has emerged as one of the nation\u27s foremost social problems. This study explores attitudes toward illegal immigrants among a sample of Hispanic college students of primarily Mexican decent (N = 216). Through an intrarace inquiry strategy, we examine whether illegal immigrants (a) are a growing problem in the United States, (b) contribute to the decline of society, and (c) are more likely than other groups in the United States to break the law. Findings reveal that college students with positive attitudes toward Mexico and the Mexican culture were more likely to hold negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants. Gender, annual household income, and college major were also found to be statistically significant predictors of attitude toward illegal immigrants. As Hispanics constitute the largest voting minority group, the impact of the findings on public policy, including implications for the criminal justice system, are discussed. © 2011 SAGE Publications
Hemispheric asymmetries in processing L1 and L2 idioms: Effects of salience and context
No full textThis study investigates the contribution of the left and right hemispheres to the comprehension of bilingual figurative language and the joint effects of salience and context on the differential cerebral involvement in idiom processing. The divided visual field and the lexical decision priming paradigms were employed to examine the activation of salient and nonsalient ambiguous idiom interpretations (i.e., literal vs. non-literal) in the two hemispheres. Literally plausible ambiguous idioms, L1 (Polish) and L2 (English), were embedded in unconstraining ambiguous (e.g., I knew he kept an ace up his sleeve) or constraining unambiguous context clearly favoring their conventional idiomatic interpretation (e.g., The debating president kept an ace up his sleeve). Idioms were presented centrally, followed by laterally presented targets related to the figurative (e.g., GAIN) or literal (e.g., SHIRT) meaning of the idiom and displayed at Interstimulus Intervals (ISIs) of 0. ms (Experiment 1), 300. ms (Experiment 2), and 800. ms (Experiment 3). Results indicate that context and salience effects are significantly modulated by the language (native vs. nonnative) of the stimulus materials being presented to each hemisphere. Literal facilitation was found for L2 idioms in all three ISI conditions, which supports the notion of the special status that literal meanings of L2 idioms enjoy in the course of their processing by nonnative language users. No significant differences were found between the right and left hemispheres in regards to their sensitivity to contextual constraints. Results are discussed in terms of the Graded Salience Hypothesis and the Fine/Coarse Coding Theory. © 2010 Elsevier Inc
Cobertura informativa de la violencia en México
No full textEl análisis del impacto de la violencia en los medios de comunicación no es nuevo. Quizás lo sea la naturaleza de los actos violentos, y la forma en la que tenemos acceso a ellos actualmente. Algunos elementos del contexto en los que se produce la violencia han cambiado, lo mismo que la concepción vigente de lo que es violento, su naturaleza y su percepción. La investigación existente sobre medios de comunicación y violencia tradicionalmente centraba la responsabilidad de la violencia en la emisión de contenidos violentos, mientras que los impactos de los mensajes regularmente se circunscribían a los efectos manifiestos en audiencias relativamente acotadas. Hoy en día, medios de comunicación, grupos delincuenciales, reporteros y usuarios de tecnologías, somos generadores de información con potenciales consecuencias no solo sociales sino globales. El presente ensayo aborda la problemática de la cobertura informativa de la violencia, particularmente en lo que concierne a la delincuencia, la falta de seguridad y la lucha contra el narcotráfico en México, presentando una reflexión desde la perspectiva de su impacto, de su difusión desde el punto de vista informativo y periodístico, y en general de la responsabilidad social de los diferentes actores involucrados en la cobertura de contenidos violentos. AbstractThe analysis on the impact of violence in media is not new. Maybe what have changed are the reasons for violence, or the ways in which we get in contact with it. Some elements of context for the production of violence have changed, as well as what is considered violent nowadays or the way in which it is perceived. Traditionally research on media and violence centered its views on the responsibility of media as providers of violent content, whereas impacts of violence were measured on well defined audiences. Today, media, violent groups, reporters and technology users are equally responsible for the production of violent content, with potentially dangerous consequences not only socially but globally. This essay deals with the coverage of violent content as pertained to crime, insecurity and drug trafficking in Mexico, providing some insights from the perspective of communication, its impact, the responsibility of journalists and reporters, as well as the social responsibility for crime and violence that we all have in its full coverage
Mediaciones que visibilizan la conflictividad y la acción colectiva de los asalariados: un abordaje cuantitativo y cualitativo desde el framing
No full textEn el presente artículo se aborda un fenómeno ampliamente estudiado: la conflictividad laboral y la acción colectiva en torno a ella. Además de efectuar el mapeo cuantitativo – enfoque principal de series temporales extensas – en un segundo momento se recurre a las categorías analíticas del framing para dar cuenta del rol del medio de comunicación en la configuración de la visibilidad de este objeto. Dentro de este enfoque se discriminan las diferentes voces que participan en dicha configuración, entre las cuales se incluye a la del propio medio. Por último se proponen nuevas dimensiones analíticas surgidas del frame analysis, para las estrategias de mapeo. AbstractThis article addresses a widely studied phenomenon: labor disputes and collective action around it. Besides carrying out quantitative mapping - primary focus of extensive time series - a second time is used analytical categories of framing to explain the role of media in shaping the visibility of this phenomenon. Within this approach discriminate the different voices involved in this configuration, among which is included to the medium itself. Finally, we propose new analytical dimensions emerged from the frame analysis for mapping strategies
Analysis of adjustment of satellite precipitation for streamflow simulations
No full textThe lack of dense ground networks of meteorological stations in many parts of the developing world impedes accurate hydrological modelling. These are regions that could greatly benefit from satellite precipitation data. However, there are significant problems with satellite products in providing reasonable estimates of precipitation over land. Methods exist that can adjust satellite products (with ground gauge or radar data) providing more robust estimates of precipitation. However, high quality ground data may not exist within the pixel, typically 0.25° × 0.25°, to provide the necessary information to facilitate the adjustment of the satellite product. To address this problem this study will examine how streamflow performance, based on satellite products (TRMM 3B42 Real-time-TMPA-RT; CMORPH) adjusted with ground precipitation data, will vary over a range of spatial transfer distances (0° to 3.00°). The spatial transfer distance is the mean distance that a rain gauge is located away from the centroid of the watershed. This study compares simulated (driven by adjusted satellite precipitation) and observed streamflow from six moderately large basins from the United States. These basins span a range of climatic conditions from dry (San Pedro Basin-Arizona; Cimmaron Basin-Oklahoma; Nueces Basin-South Texas; middle Rio Grande Basin-Texas and northern Mexico) to humid (Alapaha Basin-Georgia; Upper Tar Basin-North Carolina). This study is unique because it quantities how far spatially transferred precipitation data can be potentially applied to support hydrologic modelling, which is knowledge that can be applied to poorly gauged regions of the world. © 2011 WIT Press
How Petty is Petty Corruption? Evidence from Firm Surveys in Africa
No full textEvidence suggests that corruption is costly for African firms. This paper, however, shows that a minor difference in the way the question on bribe payments is asked has a large effect on estimates of the size of the burden. On average, firms report payments that are between 4 and 15 times higher when they report them as a percent of sales than when they report them in monetary terms. The paper discusses several possible reasons for this, but none explain the difference. One plausible remaining reason is that firm managers overestimate bribes when they report them in percentage terms. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd