The relevance of intellectual capital disclosure: empirical evidence from Spanish universities

The reporting of intellectual capital (IC) in higher education institutions is of vital importance, mainly owing to the fact that knowledge is the main output and input in these institutions. Furthermore, the increasing social concern about establishing procedures of accountability and ensuring information transparency in public universities prompted us to consider the need to disclose information on their IC. In this study, we developed a questionnaire that was sent to members of the Social Councils of Spanish public universities in order to identify the intangible elements about which university stakeholders demand most information. It was also used to see which groups of universities have stakeholders who are more proactive to the disclosure of IC. Our results represent a starting point for public universities to identify the most commonly requested information about IC. Universities can then develop an IC report that fits their own characteristics and environment.     

The use of economic classifiers for the indexing of scientific publications

The experience from the application of the OKVED 2 economic classifier for indexing scientific publications is considered. More than 9500 articles on the subject of “Automation. Computer Engineering” in authoritative Russian magazines were the material for the study. Some means for the comparative analysis of economic statistics and results of the classification of scientific publications are shown.     

Adolescents and Movie Ratings: Is Psychological Reactance a Theoretical Explanation for the Forbidden Fruit Effect?

Adolescents were recruited to participate in an experiment to assess whether psychological reactance can provide a theoretical explanation for the forbidden fruit effect in the context of movie rating restrictions. In addition to examining if movie ratings served as antecedents to freedom threat perceptions, we investigated the role authoritarian parents had on freedom threat perception and reactance arousal. Results indicated that a movie with an NC-17 rating was perceived as a stronger freedom threat than R and PG-13 rated movies. Interestingly, adolescents who perceived their parents to be authoritarian were less likely to view movie ratings as a freedom threat. As expected, freedom threat perceptions were positively associated with psychological reactance. Reactance, in turn, was positively associated with both first and third person attitudes. The results are discussed with an emphasis on the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.     

Gay On-Screen: The Relationship Between Exposure to Gay Characters on Television and Heterosexual Audiences' Endorsement of Gay Equality

The current study, grounded in the parasocial contact hypothesis, employed a survey of emerging adults to investigate the relationship between exposure to gay characters on television and heterosexuals' endorsement of gay equality. A positive relationship existed between exposure to on-screen gay characters and gay equality endorsement. The relationship was stronger for racial minority participants than for White participants, and for participants who had no or few interpersonal relationships with openly gay individuals than for participants who had more than three respective relationships. Results are discussed in terms of the parasocial contact hypothesis and television as an agent of social change.     

Shifting the Perspective of the Research Librarian: A CoResearch Paradigm

This article proposes the coresearch engagement model (CoRE), which addresses how the academic research librarian can become a coresearch partner with any patron. The CoRE model is an interpersonal process and is founded upon the concepts of mutual respect, collaboration, reciprocity, and empowerment. Grounded in Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory, Malcolm Knowles’ andragogical model, and guidelines from the Reference and User Services Association, CoRE has the potential to result in engagement for the librarian and patron. The CoRE model can be utilized in many ways including self-awareness and development for those who need and want to expand their abilities as a research librarian. It provides a theoretical framework and a knowledge base, in addition to giving a context for further development by expanding, comparing the related theories for further research, and implementing various applications suggested by this article.     

Thermally multiplexed polymerase chain reaction

Amplification of multiple unique genetic targets using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is commonly required in molecular biology laboratories. Such reactions are typically performed either serially or by multiplex PCR. Serial reactions are time consuming, and multiplex PCR, while powerful and widely used, can be prone to amplification bias, PCR drift, and primer-primer interactions. We present a new thermocycling method, termed thermal multiplexing, in which a single heat source is uniformly distributed and selectively modulated for independent temperature control of an array of PCR reactions. Thermal multiplexing allows amplification of multiple targets simultaneously—each reaction segregated and performed at optimal conditions. We demonstrate the method using a microfluidic system consisting of an infrared laser thermocycler, a polymer microchip featuring 1 μl, oil-encapsulated reactions, and closed-loop pulse-width modulation control. Heat transfer modeling is used to characterize thermal performance limitations of the system. We validate the model and perform two reactions simultaneously with widely varying annealing temperatures (48 °C and 68 °C), demonstrating excellent amplification. In addition, to demonstrate microfluidic infrared PCR using clinical specimens, we successfully amplified and detected both influenza A and B from human nasopharyngeal swabs. Thermal multiplexing is scalable and applicable to challenges such as pathogen detection where patients presenting non-specific symptoms need to be efficiently screened across a viral or bacterial panel.