Making a Difference: Women in management in Australian and Canadian faculties of education

This article reports a study of Australian and Canadian women in management positions in university faculties of education. It provides a perspective on the contradictory and multilayered experiences of the first cohort of academic women to reach management positions in any significant numbers in education. The article explores the way in which women are positioned as different but at the same time negotiate their place by using marginality and difference as strengths. Many of the women continue to hold to feminist agendas that were forged in relation to the university of a quarter of a century ago. They have strong commitments to 'making a difference'. The authors raise the question of how these agendas will operate in the years to come and whether we can anticipate a new feminist politics of leadership.     

Decorative Color as a Rhetorical Enhancement on the World Wide Web

Professional communication scholars have defined the decorative narrowly and subordinated it to informational text. Yet, current psychological research indicates that decorative elements elicit emotion-laden reactions that may precede cognitive awareness and influence interpretation of images. We conceive the decorative in design, and specifically color, as a complex rhetorical phenomenon. Applying decorative and color theory and analyzing design examples illustrating aesthetic, ethical, and logical appeals, we present a range of potential uses for color in electronic media.     

The Interaction of Issue and Image Frames on Political Candidate Assessment

This study examined the combined effect of character and policy coverage about a political candidate in news media on voters’ evaluations and thoughts about the candidate. A 2 (issue coverage: present/absent) × 2 (image coverage: present/absent) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted whereby participants (N = 134) read a version of an editorial article that varied in the coverage of a candidate’s character and policy positions. Results indicated that issue and image coverage, each in isolation, enhanced perceptions of the candidate’s image strength and issue strength. However, issue and image coverage when presented in combination compared to in isolation did not enhance perceptions of the candidate and in some cases hindered perceptions of candidate strength. When both coverage types were present, issue coverage dominated image coverage when participants formed image evaluations, whereas image coverage dominated issue coverage when they formed issue evaluations. Similar findings resulted for issue- and image-relevant thoughts. Implications about the effects of multicoverage political messages are discussed.     

Facial Similarity Mitigates the Persuasive Effects of Source Bias: An Evolutionary Explanation for Kinship and Susceptibility to Influence

This research examined how the interaction between a source's facial similarity to message targets and communicated bias affects audience persuadability. We used an evolutionary explanation to hypothesize that biased sources would elicit less favorable attitudes than unbiased sources for dissimilar sources, but that this difference would be absent for similar sources. Predictions were supported by results from a 2 (facial similarity) × 2 (source bias) experiment, in which an unrecognizable percentage of participants' photographs (n = 94) was digitally morphed with a source's face to act as a kinship cue. Further, structural equation modeling demonstrated a direct effect of facial similarity on attitude independent of mediation by source liking and appraisals, providing further evidence that susceptibility to influence from facially similar sources may have evolutionary origins.     

Development of the Sport Injury Anxiety Scale

The purpose of this research was to develop a measure of sport injury anxiety (SIA), defined as the tendency to make threat appraisals in sport situations where injury is seen as possible and/or likely. The Sport Injury Anxiety Scale (SIAS) was developed in three stages. In Stage 1, expert raters evaluated items to determine their adequacy. In Stage 2, 491 collegiate athletes completed the preliminary SIAS. Results of an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a reliable scale with seven subscales, including anxiety associated with: (a) loss of athleticism, (b) being perceived as weak, (c) experiencing pain, (d) loss of social support, (e) letting down important others, (f) reinjury, and (g) having an impaired self-image. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) supported a shortened scale and the multidimensional and hierarchical structure of SIAS scores. In Stage 3, 284 collegiate athletes completed the 21-item SIAS and other measures. Analyses supported the construct validity of the SIAS.     

Ice hockey shoulder pad design and the effect on head response during shoulder-to-head impacts

Ice hockey body checks involving direct shoulder-to-head contact frequently result in head injury. In the current study, we examined the effect of shoulder pad style on the likelihood of head injury from a shoulder-to-head check. Shoulder-to-head body checks were simulated by swinging a modified Hybrid-III anthropomorphic test device (ATD) with and without shoulder pads into a stationary Hybrid-III ATD at 21 km/h. Tests were conducted with three different styles of shoulder pads (traditional, integrated and tethered) and without shoulder pads for the purpose of control. Head response kinematics for the stationary ATD were measured. Compared to the case of no shoulder pads, the three different pad styles significantly (p < 0.05) reduced peak resultant linear head accelerations of the stationary ATD by 35–56%. The integrated shoulder pads reduced linear head accelerations by an additional 18–21% beyond the other two styles of shoulder pads. The data presented here suggest that shoulder pads can be designed to help protect the head of the struck player in a shoulder-to-head check.