Cynicism and Social Trust in the New Media Environment

This article, with minor modifications, was the author's presidential speech to the International Communication Association conference, May 2001. It summarizes trends in social trust, trust in government, media, and other social institutions and evaluates the news and entertainment media's roles in these trends. Alternatives to causal accounts are proposed, including variations on genetic or "memetic" forms of explanation for media influences on macrosocial trends.     

Effects of Online Comments on Smokers' Perception of Antismoking Public Service Announcements

On YouTube antismoking PSAs are widely viewed and uploaded; they also receive extensive commentary by viewers. This study examined whether such evaluative comments with or without uncivil expressions influence evaluations by subsequent viewers. Results showed PSAs with positive (i.e. antismoking) comments were perceived by smokers as more effective than PSAs with negative (prosmoking) comments. Smokers in the no‐comment condition gave the highest perceived effectiveness score to PSAs. Smokers' readiness to quit smoking moderated the effect of comments on PSA evaluation. Smokers reading negative uncivil comments reported more negative attitude toward quitting and a lower level of perceived risk of smoking than those reading negative civil comments but positive civil and positive uncivil comments did not elicit different responses.     

Engineered articular cartilage: influence of the scaffold on cell phenotype and proliferation

Articular cartilage defects do not heal. Biodegradable scaffolds have been studied for cartilage engineering in order to implant autologous chondrocytes and help cartilage repair. We tested some new collagen matrices differing in collagen type, origin, structure and methods of extraction and purification, and compared the behavior of human chondrocytes cultured on them. Human chondrocytes were grown for three weeks on four different equine type I collagen matrices, one type I, III porcine collagen matrix and one porcine type II collagen matrix. After 21 days, samples were subjected to histochemical, immunohistochemical and histomorphometric analysis to study phenotype expression and cell adhesion. At 7, 14 and 21 days cell proliferation was studied by incorporation of [3H]-thymidine. Our data evidence that the collagen type influences cell morphology, adhesion and growth; indeed, cellularity and rate of proliferation were significantly higher and cells were rounder on the collagen II matrix than on either of the collagen I matrices. Among the collagen I matrices, we observed a great variability in terms of cell adhesion and proliferation. The present study allowed us to identify one type I collagen matrix and one type II collagen matrix that could be usefully employed as a scaffold for chondrocyte transplantation.     

Force-distance curves by AFM

Since 1989, the atomic force microscope (AFM) has emerged as a useful tool in studying surface interactions by means of force-distance curves, and a great deal of work has been carried out on both its theoretical and experimental issues. AFM is able to acquire force-distance curves from every kind of surface, with high lateral (1 Å), vertical (0.1 Å) and force (1 pN) resolution. Moreover, the study of force-distance curves provides a deeper knowledge of the physics of contact, and hence of all the phenomena connected with AFM imaging techniques. In this article, we review force-distance curve theory, and show through curves acquired with a home-made microscope the main surface interactions that can be revealed     

The Impact of Political Talk Radio Exposure on Attributions About the Outcome of the 1996 U.S. Presidential Election

This study investigates the media's potential to affect audiences' interpretations of news events. It compares perceptions of the causes of the 1996 presidential election outcome across four media consumption groups: listeners to the program of Rush Limbaugh, listeners to other political talk radio, consumers of mainstream news media, and nonconsumers of news media. Limbaugh listeners were more likely to discount substantive election explanations than were consumers of other types of political talk radio, consumers of mainstream news media, and nonconsumers of news media. These differences in interpretation parallel differences between the content of his program and that of other media.     

Behavioral and judged coordination in adult informal social interactions: Vocal and kinesic indicators.

Coordination in social interaction means that persons adjust their actions to those of their partners. Common methods for measuring coordination include judgments and behavioral covariation. 16 1-min segments of videotaped interactions were chosen (8 high and 8 low in behavioral coordination). In Study 1, 51 people judged the 16 segments, rating each for coordination. Study 2 (n?=?17) used different items. Study 3 (n?=?22) replicated Study 2 without sound and with a mosaic pattern imposed on the faces. Results indicated judges were reliable, able to distinguish high from low coordination interactions on the basis of 1-min slices for male but not female dyads. Segments judged to be coordinated had partners smiling in synchrony but with complementary patterns of gazing and gesturing. Both measures correlated with conversational satisfaction, but only behavioral coordination predicted attraction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distorting Genetic Research About Cancer: From Bench Science to Press Release to Published News

This study considered genetic research relating to cancer outcomes and behaviors, specifically investigating the extent to which claims made in press releases (N = 23) and mainstream print media (N = 71) were fairly derived from their original presentation in scholarly journals (N = 20). Central claims expressing gene–outcome relationships were evaluated by a large pool (N = 40) of genetics graduate students. Raters judged press release claims as significantly more representative of material within the original science journal article compared with news article claims. Claims originating in news articles which demonstrated contact with individuals not directly involved in the research were judged by experts to be more representative of the original science than those that demonstrated contact with individuals directly involved in the research.