Wallowing in Media Past: Media-Induced Nostalgia’s Connection to Parasocial Relationships

This article elaborates on media-induced nostalgia as a mixed emotion elicited by remembering past media content and characters. It argues that social components of media consumption such as parasocial relationships (PSRs) play an important part in the elicitation of nostalgia. In an online study, participants (N = 96) remembered their individual media use and preferred media characters as children. Results show that media-induced nostalgia is significantly associated with PSRs to characters in the past. These findings are evaluated concerning their implications for future research on nostalgia and PSRs.     

Students’ perceptions of family influences on their academic motivation: A qualitative analysis

Research examining family influences on student motivation and achievement in school has generally focused on parental influences and has often been limited to one or two variables (e.g., parental expectations or aspirations, parental involvement in schoolwork). In the present study we interviewed high school seniors to examine whether and how family members affected their academic motivation and achievement. Interviews were coded holistically for the strength, affective tone, source, and types of familial influence. Emergent themes from the interview analyses revealed that students perceived a broad range of types and sources of familial influence on motivation. Interviews were divided into five prototypical patterns: Family Obligation, Family Pleasing, Family Support, Aversive Influence, and No Influence. The types of familial influence differed by cultural characteristics (generational status, native country) and by achievement level. Associations between the five patterns of family influence and existing theories of family influence are discussed.     

Framing photographs,denying archives: the difficulty of focusing on archival photographs

This article pursues the varying understandings of the photograph in archival literature. An in-depth review of the scholarship uncovers several possible reasons why archivists and those writing about photographic archives apparently continue to struggle with the photograph, including: the sheer difficulty that photographs as an elusive medium present; past debates about photography in art history, history, and archival literature; and the challenges that the photograph as an evasive document presents to the contradictory nature of archives themselves and to conceptions of archival science. Having evolved from an understanding of photographs that conflated content with meaning to postmodernist notions of contingent and plural meanings in which photographs participate, archival writings on the photograph hold promise as they begin to tread the waters that Schwartz charted in the last 15 years. This paper follows that historical progression in order to trace the discourse on photographic archives that has emerged over the past three decades.

THE JOURNALIST IS MARKETING THE NEWS

This study, based on case studies of three online newsrooms, seeks to understand the patterns of how journalists use social media in their news work. Through 150 hours of observations and interviews with 31 journalists, the study found that journalists are normalizing social media while also reworking some of their norms and routines around it, a process of journalistic negotiation. They are balancing editorial autonomy and the other norms that have institutionalized journalism, on one hand, and the increasing influence exerted by the audience—perceived to be the key for journalism's survival—on the other. In doing so, journalists are also seeing a reworking of their traditional gatekeeping role, finding themselves having to also market the news.     

The effect of low back pain on trunk muscle size/function and hip strength in elite football (soccer) players

ABSTRACT

Low back pain (LBP) is a common problem in football (soccer) players. The effect of LBP on the trunk and hip muscles in this group is unknown. The relationship between LBP and trunk muscle size and function in football players across the preseason was examined. A secondary aim was to assess hip muscle strength. Twenty-five elite soccer players participated in the study, with assessments conducted on 23 players at both the start and end of the preseason. LBP was assessed with questionnaires and ultrasound imaging was used to assess size and function of trunk muscles at the start and end of preseason. Dynamometry was used to assess hip muscle strength at the start of the preseason. At the start of the preseason, 28% of players reported the presence of LBP and this was associated with reduced size of the multifidus, increased contraction of the transversus abdominis and multifidus muscles. LBP decreased across the preseason, and size of the multifidus muscle improved over the preseason. Ability to contract the abdominal and multifidus muscles did not alter across the preseason. Asymmetry in hip adductor and abductor muscle strength was found between players with and without LBP. Identifying modifiable factors in players with LBP may allow development of more targeted preseason rehabilitation programmes.     

Breaking the rules: A new life for Rescue Public Murals

The understanding of the conservation needs of outdoor community murals has increased exponentially since Rescue Public Murals (RPM) was introduced at the IIC London Congress in 2008, and this paper serves as a synopsis of current trends in the creation of exterior murals, and philosophies in dealing with their preservation. With the recent closing of its umbrella organization Heritage Preservation in Washington DC, the RPM initiative is redefining its mission and its usefulness to the worlds of conservation and community murals. The standard ethics and principles of the conservation profession are insufficient, or inappropriate, to meet the needs of community murals. Respect for the artist's intent is not high on the list of concerns in the case of saving such works. If established conservation procedures are applied to such paintings, much can be lost in exchange for a decision to proceed in a traditional manner. Outdoor murals are made of relatively short-lived materials and they are part of a continuing community dynamic and thus are not ‘completed’ in the same manner as an easel painting when prepared for exhibition or sale. When a community mural no longer serves its function in the context of its community, informed decisions must be made about how — or whether — to proceed in order to prolong its life. Conservators can play an important part in this process.     

Transfer of oddity learning in the pigeon

Two pigeons were trained on a six-key modified oddity-from-sample procedure. The stimuli were olor pictures of birds, butterflies, and human faces. Initially, the third peck on the sample key which presented one of three different bird pictures) lit only one comparison key. Every three dditional pecks on the sample illuminated another comparison key. Fifteen sample pecks produced he maximum of five comparison stimuli. A peck on the comparison key that presented the non-atching bird picture produced grain. Pecks on matching keys turned off all the comparison keys nd repeated the trial. The birds learned to peck each sample until the non-matching comparison timulus was produced, and then to peck that key. After acquisition (70%–90% accuracy), the hree bird stimuli were replaced by a new set of three bird pictures. Subsequent phases provided ew sets of bird, butterfly, and human face stimuli. Both birds showed transfer of oddity learning o the novel samples. The data suggest that the birds may have been engaging in conceptual-type oddity learning, rather than learning discrete five-key discriminations or a series of two component chains.     

Concealment of Child Sexual Abuse in Sports

Researchers and theorists offer a strong base of research in physical activity for high risk groups, particularly sedentary children, adults, and the elderly. Little research examines the lifelong healthy movement behaviors of former competitive athletes. This paper raises some important questions relevant to this population, in particular the disturbing, yet limited research pointing to a serious failure of former competitive athletes to necessarily live longer, healthier, and more physically active lives. The scarce research that seems to highlight this neglected problem is outlined and hypotheses that may contribute to this phenomenon are offered and categorized in the following three sections: atypical physical behaviors found in the sporting realm, utilitarian uses of physical activity, and the long-term consequences of athletic identity. Suggestions are offered to direct future research and to implement practical intervention strategies and educational programs.