Researching the everyday: young people’s experiences and expressions of citizenship

This paper reports on a research study which drew attention to the constitutive nature of the everyday world in young people’s subjectivities and practices of citizenship. Central to the aim of this research was a need for alignment between the focus of the research (‘everyday’ citizenship), with methods which could illuminate the day-to-day experiences of being a citizen. In this paper, I re-examine some of the ‘everyday’ data generated by two research methods which were initially discounted as rambling or divergent. This data characteristically had frequent interjections, incomplete sentences, questions and queries, or a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty. Through a re-analysis of this data, I consider the potential it offers to contribute conceptual and theoretical insights into young people’s citizenship dispositions and practices. The research revealed the diverse, complex and contested understandings of citizenship that young people were forming in the context of day-to-day social and spatial interactions.     

Developmental foundations of physiological dynamics among mother–infant dyads: The role of newborn neurobehavior

This study tested whether newborn attention and arousal provide a foundation for the dynamics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother–infant dyads. Participants were 106 mothers (M_age = 29.54) and their 7-month-old infants (55 males and 58 White and non-Hispanic). Newborn attention and arousal were measured shortly after birth using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale. Higher newborn arousal predicted a slower return of infant RSA to baseline. Additionally, greater newborn attention predicted mothers’ slower return to baseline RSA following the still-face paradigm, and this effect only held for mothers whose infants had lower newborn arousal. These findings suggest that newborn neurobehavior, measured within days of birth, may contribute to later mother–infant physiological processes while recovering from stress.     

How patenting informs VC investors – The case of biotechnology

In the presence of asymmetric information, economic agents need to communicate their quality to investors and other parties. This paper investigates how information generated during the patenting process affects the ability of new ventures to attract VC financing. While much of the literature on information asymmetries focuses on patent applications, we argue that the entire examination process should be considered, including information that emerges in the course of patent examination and review. We test several hypotheses using a sample of British and German companies that seek venture capital. We find that the filing of patent applications is positively related to VC financing. Moreover, the examination process at the patent office generates valuable technological and commercial information via search reports, citations and opposition procedures which affect the likelihood of VC financing. Our results suggest that the patenting process supports investors in updating their expectations regarding the quality of new ventures.     

Cortisol Reactivity to Social Stress as a Mediator of Early Adversity on Risk and Adaptive Outcomes

Children chronically exposed to stress early in life are at increased risk for maladaptive outcomes, though the physiological mechanisms driving these effects are unknown. Cortisol reactivity was tested as a mediator of the relation between prenatal substance exposure and/or early adversity on adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of prenatal substance exposure (N = 860). Cortisol reactivity was assessed at age 11. Among African Americans, prenatal substance exposure exerted an indirect effect through early adversity and cortisol reactivity to predict externalizing behavior, delinquency, and a positive student–teacher relationship at age 11. Decreased cortisol reactivity was related to maladaptive outcomes, and increased cortisol reactivity predicted better executive functioning and a more positive student–teacher relationship.     

Complexities and Challenges of Researching Student Completion and Non-completion of HE Programmes in Europe: a comparative analysis between England and Norway

There is a growing interest in policy research on student completion and non-continuation and bodies such as the European Commission and OECD are focusing on the subject. There is also increasing national interest in the issue in many countries and they are looking to each other for input on effective policies. However, there are significant social, economic and educational differences between national systems across Europe, making this a very challenging project. The aim of this article is to study challenges and complexities in researching student non-completion of higher educqtion programmes in Europe. We use the case of two contrasting countries — England and Norway — to help to identify some of the differences, challenges and complexities that are relevant when creating an approach for analysis that can be used more widely to explore ‘non-completion’ across different countries in Europe and beyond.     

Occupational Memory Practice and Memory Beliefs with Age

This study examined effects of intensive memory use during one's profession on metamemory beliefs. Fifty-one actors and 60 controls aged from 20 to 73 years were compared with the Metamemory Inventory in Adulthood. Both intensive job-related memory practice and younger age were associated with stronger memory self-efficacy beliefs. Irrespective of age, actors reported a higher stability of their memory with time and a higher controllability. No significant effect was found on metamemory knowledge. These findings show the relevance of the dissociation between metamemory knowledge and metamemory beliefs. Both memory practicing during occupation and age appear to influence only metamemory beliefs.     

Older Adults' Memory for Verbally Presented Medical Information

Previous research demonstrates that patients typically have difficulty remembering information presented during healthcare consultations. This study examined how older adults learn and remember verbally presented medical information. Healthy older adults were tested for recall in experimental and field settings. Participants viewed a five-minute video of a simulated healthcare consultation and completed free recall, cued recall, and recognition memory tasks. Differences in performance were observed between older and younger adults in the experimental condition on all memory tasks and in the field condition on the cued recall task; older adults tended to remember less information than younger adults. Though older adults had difficulty spontaneously recalling medical information, they were able to take advantage of cues to access verbally learned information. Findings of this study highlight the importance of developing and implementing measures to maximize the abilities of older adults to learn and remember important medical information communicated by healthcare providers.     

From Ferguson to Charleston and beyond: Talking about race and diversity in the classroom

Courses: News Reporting, Advertising, Strategic Communication, Media Studies, Introduction to Communication, Intercultural and Interracial Communication, Business Communication, and Hybrid Public Speaking.

Objectives: This module facilitates a process for students to interrogate how they relate to the public and to understand the profound implication of past policies on today’s communities, thereby engaging in productive race talk. Through five successive parts, students are better prepared for effective conversations about race and diversity by: (1) moving progressively toward understanding racial and ethnic identity formation; (2) exploring intersectionality (the oppression resulting from compounding effects of multiple identities) and relative power as it relates to broader socioeconomic, political, and environmental structures; and (3) the historicization of power, privilege, and oppression.