“You Have to be Positive.” Social Support Processes of an Online Support Group for Men Living with HIV

Over the past decade, improved treatments have helped people with AIDS enjoy a state of restored health and greater hope for long-term survival. Because of these changes, social support is an even more important resource for those battling HIV/AIDS. One source for social support is a support group, which offers social and emotional resources to meet the needs of its members. The online support group investigated in this study serves gay men with HIV/AIDS and requires that they talk only about positive aspects of life. To understand the implications this rule has for support processes, a thematic analysis was conducted to determine how this group constructs social support. Rules and resources aimed at the group goal of positivity help develop a unique speech community. Implications for social support, support groups, and the Internet are discussed.     

Multi-analytical Investigation of the Composition and Binders Used in the Earthen Support Layer of Fifth–Fourteenth Century CE Painted Fragments From Bezeklik,China

ABSTRACT

Composition, microstructure, and binding media of the decorative earthen plaster fragments from the Buddhist cave temple of Bezeklik (fifth–fourteenth century CE), China, were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, sieve analysis, and other methods. In addition, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry was used for identification of the organic adhesive found mixed in the earthen plaster. Studies indicated the presence of proteinaceous material, mainly beeswax, with animal glue, pine resin, and plant sterol mixed in the earthen plaster as the biopolymer. The organic additives improved the basic qualities of the mud by acting as stabilizers, hardeners, and water proofers. The loamy sand soil sourced for Bezeklik plasters shows low cohesion and disaggregation of grains occurred for want of clay-sized particles in the plaster. Due to frequent handling and transportation, the fragments are now showing distress in the form of loss of earthen support and paint layers. Based on the analytical findings, traditional binders such as sepiolite clay, slaked lime, and fish glue were introduced and fragments consolidated for display.     

Effect of Internet Literacy in Understanding Older Adults’ Social Capital and Expected Internet Support

This article investigates whether knowledge of Internet usage among older adults is related to social capital as well as their expectations to obtain social support online. A U.S. national survey of adults aged 60 and older (n = 1,101) found that Internet literacy is significantly associated with their expected Internet support and bridging and bonding social capital even after controlling for age, Internet use, and other factors.     

The Impact of Pretrial Publicity on “Eye for an Eye” Retributivist Support and Malicious Perceptions of Criminal Offenders

This study explores the associative influence of pretrial publicity on (a) an individual’s perceptions of a criminal offender as malicious and (b) an individual’s judgment of the criminal offender’s punishment for the crime. Expanding on the uses of agenda-setting and framing theories, this research indicates that attention to pretrial news media about a specific criminal is significantly associated with negative judgments of a criminal offender. The criminal offender in the Colorado theater shooting case, James Holmes, was the criminal offender used in this study. Results from a national survey (N = 236) indicated that pretrial publicity significantly influenced participants’ perceptions of James Holmes as malicious and resulted in increased retributivist support (i.e., views of the offender deserving a harsher punishment). Mediation scenarios were also detected, whereas pretrial publicity exposure mediated the relationship between case interest and judgments of James Holmes as malicious and deserving retributivist punishment.     

Does the Music Matter? Examining Differential Effects of Music Genre on Support for Ethnic Groups

Using data from a post-test only experiment with random assignment, this article examines whether differing music genres influence socially relevant decisions made by listeners. A sample of White college students was exposed to1 of 3 music genres during an ostensible waiting period, and was then asked to allocate funding to projects for different ethnic groups. Three music conditions—radical White power rock, mainstream rock, and Top 40 pop music—were examined to determine whether differential allocations to ethnic groups would emerge following music exposure. As expected, Top 40 pop music exposure led to equal allocations to the various ethnic groups. After listening to mainstream rock, participants allocated significantly higher budgets to White Americans compared to all other race groups. After listening to radical White power rock music, participants also allocated significantly higher budgets to White Americans, but changes in allocations to ethnic minority groups also emerged. Namely, African Americans and Arab Americans received particularly low funding from participants exposed to radical White power rock music.     

Examining the Construct Validity of Enacted Support: A Multitrait–Multimethod Analysis of Three Perspectives for Judging Immediacy and Listening Behaviors

Scholars of supportive communication are primarily concerned with how variations in the quality of enacted support affect individual and relational health and well-being. But who gets to determine what counts as enacted support? There is a large degree of operational heterogeneity for what gets called enacted support, but little attention has been afforded to the issue of whether these assessments are substitutable. In two studies we use self-reports, conversational partner-reports, and third-party ratings of two quintessential behavioral support indicators, namely, listening and immediacy. Using a multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) design, Study 1 found (1) little association between the enacted support assessments and (2) a high degree of common method variance. A second study found moderate-to-high degrees of effective reliability (i.e., consistency of judgments within a set of judgments, or mean judgments) for enacted support evaluations from the perspective of unacquainted and untrained third-party judges. In general, our data provide cautionary evidence that when scholars examine evaluations of enacted support, perspective matters and might ultimately contribute differently to well-being and health.     

Testing the “Proximate Casualties Hypothesis”: Local Troop Loss,Attention to News,and Support for Military Intervention

In academic and policy circles, it is believed that the American public is casualties-averse when sending its troops into war and that as casualties mount the public will increasingly call for withdrawal of troops from foreign military interventions. This study tests a variant of this “casualties hypothesis” by examining whether the public conceptualizes the human costs of war in local as well as national terms. Using a massive quantity of public opinion data combined with information on deaths to U.S. soldiers in the Iraq war theater between 2003 and 2006, we show that recent deaths to soldiers from a person's home state prompt an increase in the likelihood of the person supporting withdrawal of troops, independent of cumulative national casualties and recent casualties to soldiers from elsewhere in the country. These results are explained in terms of journalism norms that make recent, local casualties salient to consumers of news, who then use this salient information when their opinions about the progress of a war are probed.     

Mineralogical,Chemical, and Thermal Characterizations of Historic Lime Plasters of Thirteenth–Sixteenth-century Daulatabad Fort,India

Iron ore as pozzolanic filler is an uncommon constituent of historic plaster rarely reported in any research. This paper presents one such study from western India where hematite instead of crushed bricks was identified as admixture in thirteenth–sixteenth-century CE Mughal masonry lime works of Daulatabad Fort. The outer/inner coat plasters from different locations of the fort were examined for morphological, mineralogical, chemical, and basic physical properties. The analytical investigative study was performed by optical microscopy, sieve analysis, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, SEM-EDX, and thermal analyzer. Although the plaster is dominantly made of micritic calcite and aggregate, incorporation of gypsum in the outer and inner coats has been detected and probably acted as a second binder. Cannabis sativa was mixed in the plaster, pointing to the knowledge of hempcrete technology by the makers of Daulatabad Fort. This investigation has now provided essential information with enough precision about this historic plaster for formulation of compatible repair materials essential for the site restoration.     

“I Can Air My Feelings Instead of Eating Them”: Blogging as Social Support for the Morbidly Obese

The morbidly obese, defined as people who are 100 pounds or more overweight, are the fastest growing population among the obese. They often live with health risks, face discrimination, and lack traditional social support. This article explores the use of weight loss blogs by the morbidly obese (N = 50) and argues that blogging provides invaluable computer-mediated social support for them in four ways: (a) it allows for empathy; (b) it ensures accountability to others; (c) it provides venting and advice seeking; and (d) it shares validation of the weight loss experience. Additionally, the article argues that social support scholars must move beyond chat rooms and message boards as media and explore more media-rich environments such as blogging and social networks.     

Characterization,weathering, and protection of sandstones: The case of ‘Agro d'Ardesia’

Abstract

The conservation of roofing and cladding materials has both environmental and cultural heritage bearing. Our research aimed at comparing the performances of some polymeric products used for the protection of a typical Italian sandstone, the ‘Agro d'Ardesia’, used mostly as cladding, paving, roofing, and building material. These products belong to three different classes: polysiloxanes, acrylics, and fluoropolymers. In addition, an acrylic–silicone mixture was chosen for testing. After the application onto the Agro sandstone by capillary absorption, both efficacy and durability were assessed. Particularly, two types of weathering tests were performed to check the stability over time of the protective products: the exposure to ultraviolet radiation in a climatic chamber and the ageing by exposure to acid rain, expressly designed to represent realistically natural and anthropogenic changes. Detailed information on treatment performances was obtained. The polysiloxane was shown to be the most effective protective material for the Agro sandstone.     

“Why Is This Happening to Me?:” The Attributional Make-Up of Negative Emotions Experienced in Emotional Support Encounters

Weiner's (2000 Weiner , B. ( 2000 ). Intrapersonal and interpersonal theories of motivation from an attributional perspective . Educational Psychology Review , 12 , 1 – 14 . [CSA] [CROSSREF] [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) attributional model of intrapersonal motivations suggests that attributions influence not only people's emotional experiences, but also their behavioral responses to the events that caused these emotions. The current study investigates the causal dimensions (i.e., stability, controllability, locus) of five emotions (i.e., sadness, helplessness, hurt, fear, anger) people commonly experience when they are distressed and in need of emotional support. Participants (N = 258) were asked to identify an upsetting event and subsequently talk about it with a confederate helper in a five-minute conversation. After the conversation, participants completed attribution and emotion indices scales. The events discussed were coded into nine categories (e.g., death of a relative, college performance/job problems, break-ups). Results suggested that the five emotions possess a unique attributional make-up and are uniquely tied to specific events that were discussed by participants. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of providing emotional support to people who experience distress.     

Off-Campus Postgraduate Students’ Perceptions About Distance Library Support Services: A Case Study of Allama Iqbal Open University Libraries Network

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to assess distance learning students’ perceptions about location and physical set up of libraries, collections, resources, and services rendered at thirty-four regional campuses as well as main campus libraries network of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) all over Pakistan. During the spring semester of 2007, a questionnaire was mailed to 250 randomly selected students enrolled in eleven postgraduate programs throughout the country. The response rate was 61.2%, which was made up of 43.1% females and 56.9% males. A majority of the respondents were dissatisfied with the virtual reference services, online database facilities, interlibrary loan, library membership, and borrowing of library material from the AIOU libraries. They were satisfied with the location and physical setup of the libraries, the collections, and the resources of the libraries. The study revealed that most of the respondents used the libraries during workshops as well as for research purposes. The statistical analysis (t = 0.550, Sig. = 0.970) showed that there was no significant difference between the opinion of females and males. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows version 10.0.     

Abstracts of theses in the field of speech,XIV∗

In this paper we report on a longitudinal case study of an administrative unit of a large nonfederal government following the election of a new Chief Elective Official. In this case, the changing climate becomes a dominant characteristic of the emerging situation. Poole and McPhee's (1983) extension of Giddens' Structuration Theory is employed as an analytic framework, tracing through the evolution and transformation of climate themes in the case. We find new categories of, and conditions affecting, climate—theme emergence, spread, and sedimentation. More particularly, the case demonstrates the complexity of organizational climate, with several processes interacting simultaneously to generate a constantly changing climate in the course of reproducing the organization's culture and beliefs. Importantly, the case shows how these complex climate processes are related to demoralization and counterintentional results in organizational change.     

Abstracts of theses in the field of speech,XVI∗

The effects of interpersonal reward and violations of conversational distancing expectations on compliance and interaction behaviors were tested in three retail shopping settings. Subjects were salespeople (N = 70, N = 49, N = 104) who were approached by confederates posing as customers or students conducting interviews on consumer behavior. Two levels of interpersonal reward (high versus low levels of apparent status, attractiveness, purchasing power and/or expertise) and three levels of distance (close violation, norm, far violation) were manipulated. Results showed high reward to induce more compliance with a request and more favorable interaction patterns than low reward. Distance violations evoked more arousal, activation and apparent distraction, while the favorability of reactions to distance violations tended to vary by reward level, as expected. Confounding effects of gender, confederate communication style, and possible nonverbal norms for compensation and reciprocity are also discussed.     

An analysis of bibliometric indicators,National Institutes of Health funding,and faculty size at Association of American Medical Colleges medical schools, 1997–2007

Objective:

The objective of this study was to analyze bibliometric data from ISI, National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funding data, and faculty size information for Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) member schools during 1997 to 2007 to assess research productivity and impact.

Methods:

This study gathered and synthesized 10 metrics for almost all AAMC medical schools (n = 123): (1) total number of published articles per medical school, (2) total number of citations to published articles per medical school, (3) average number of citations per article, (4) institutional impact indices, (5) institutional percentages of articles with zero citations, (6) annual average number of faculty per medical school, (7) total amount of NIH funding per medical school, (8) average amount of NIH grant money awarded per faculty member, (9) average number of articles per faculty member, and (10) average number of citations per faculty member. Using principal components analysis, the author calculated the relationships between measures, if they existed.

Results:

Principal components analysis revealed 3 major clusters of variables that accounted for 91% of the total variance: (1) institutional research productivity, (2) research influence or impact, and (3) individual faculty research productivity. Depending on the variables in each cluster, medical school research may be appropriately evaluated in a more nuanced way. Significant correlations exist between extracted factors, indicating an interrelatedness of all variables. Total NIH funding may relate more strongly to the quality of the research than the quantity of the research. The elimination of medical schools with outliers in 1 or more indicators (n = 20) altered the analysis considerably.

Conclusions:

Though popular, ordinal rankings cannot adequately describe the multidimensional nature of a medical school''s research productivity and impact. This study provides statistics that can be used in conjunction with other sound methodologies to provide a more authentic view of a medical school''s research. The large variance of the collected data suggests that refining bibliometric data by discipline, peer groups, or journal information may provide a more precise assessment.

Highlights

• Principal components analysis discovered three clusters of variables: (1) institutional research productivity, (2) research influence or impact, and (3) individual faculty research productivity.
• The associations between size-independent measures (e.g., average number of citations/article) were more significant than associations between size-independent bibliometric measures and size-dependent (e.g., number of faculty) bibliometric measures and vice versa, except in the case of total National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.
• The factor coefficients, or loadings, for total NIH funding may associate more with the quality of research rather than the quantity of research.
• The removal of twenty outliers, fourteen highly productive or influential medical schools and six medical schools with relatively low research profiles, changed the results of the analysis significantly.
• This study''s broad institutional bibliometric data sets cannot be extrapolated to specific departments at the studied medical schools.

Implications

• Librarians, administrators, and faculty should use several methodologies in tandem with bibliometric data when evaluating institutions'' research impact and productivity.
• Health sciences librarians should not make use of university rankings materials lacking strong methodological foundations.
• This study''s bibliometric data may provide a starting point or point of comparison for future assessments.

     

Meeting of directors of national libraries: Second meeting,Oslo, 12–13 August 1975

The article reviews various definitions of information literacy and discusses a study conducted at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Library to reassess the need for information literacy, to identify factors which influenced non-attendance, to evaluate the impact of the program, and comments and suggestions used. The major findings include: there is a dire need for information literacy; participants found the programs useful; and one-on-one method coupled with seminars were more effective and more preferred by the participants. The article also advances a set of recommendations for improving bibliographic retrieval education programs at the KFUPM Library and other libraries in Saudi Arabia and other countries.     

Man of Letters,Literary Lady,Journalist or Reporter?

The enormous changes wrought in the British newspaper industry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries brought about a revolution in newspaper reading habits, financing and influence, all aspects of which have been well documented by historians of the press. But what of the contributor, particularly the freelance whose millions of words formed, mostly anonymously, the content of the new mass market press? How did writers negotiate changes in the literary marketplace during this time as editors demanded more ‘news’ and less in the way of whimsical paragraphing, and sketches, the traditional newspaper output of the professional man, or woman, of letters? Through the study of memoirs, correspondence and the fictional output of contributors to the press during this time, it is possible to discern the often fraught relations between writers and their most lucrative market.     

“Toward Integrative Models of Flow”: Effects of Performance,Skill, Challenge,Playfulness, and Presence on Flow in Video Games

This research examined various predictors of flow in video games. Study 1 examined the effects of performance on flow across two game genres (shooting and medical simulation games) and demonstrated that successful performance results in greater flow. Study 2 demonstrated an interaction effect of skill and challenge on flow across three genres (racing, violent, and prosocial games). Highly skilled players experience greater flow when encountering higher challenge whereas players with moderate and low levels of skill experience less flow when encountering higher challenge. Study 3 tested the moderating role of users' playfulness in an exergame and a music game.     

Material characterization,stratigraphy, textures,and painting techniques of the mural painting The Allegory of the Industrial Development of São Paulo by Fulvio Pennacchi

ABSTRACT

This work presents a study of samples of the mural painting The Allegory of the Industrial Development of São Paulo (Alegoria ao Desenvolvimento Industrial Paulista), made in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, by the artist Fulvio Pennacchi. Using transmitted light petrographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and X-ray fluorescence, the stratigraphy, the textures, the mineralogy, and the chemical compositions of the mural were established; therefore the painting techniques, pigments, and materials applied by the artist were identified. The mural was painted with the fresco technique and variations. This technique involves the use of materials of mineral origin, both in the support and for the pigments. About the artist’s relevance, Fulvio Pennacchi is considered an important muralist of his time, being one of the pioneers in the production of frescoes in Brazil. The mural, measuring approximately 11?×?6?m, painted in 1954, was removed from where it was originally made, in consequence of a fire that affected the place. Specialized engineers transported it, and today it is stored awaiting restoration. The data presented here can support the process of restoration of the mural, as well as contribute to the improvement of protocols for the analysis of works of art, and to the historical record of mural painting techniques over time.     

A Review of “Nations of the World: A Political,Economic, and Business Handbook”

This case study presents the revision of an upper-division one-shot instruction session to include an online tutorial that introduces students to business information sources prior to the library session. In order to complete the assignment and prepare for the library session, students are prompted to find specific information using the given resource, and then consider questions regarding the information retrieved. Students in a 3000-level business writing class responded positively to the activity while providing a good amount of material to inform further iterations of the assignment.