Bridgewater State University

About: Bridgewater State University is a education organization based out in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 625 authors who have published 1223 publications receiving 21820 citations. The organization is also known as: BSU & Bridgewater State.

Accuracy of the thin-lens approximation in strong lensing by smoothly truncated dark matter haloes

Abstract: The accuracy of mass estimates by gravitational lensing using the thin-lens approximation applied to Navarro–Frenk–White mass models with a soft truncation mechanism recently proposed by Baltz, Marshall and Oguri is studied. The gravitational lens scenario considered is the case of the inference of lens mass from the observation of Einstein rings (strong lensing). It is found that the mass error incurred by the simplifying assumption of thin lenses is below 0.5 per cent. As a byproduct, the optimal tidal radius of the soft truncation mechanism is found to be at most 10 times the virial radius of the mass model.

"Just the Way It Is" in Student Affairs - but Not the Way It Has to Be

Abstract: After 18 years as a student affaks professional, I am now headed in a different direction. By this time next year I will be a first-year student in the master of divinity program at Boston University School of Theology. The personal lessons that I have learned about balance over the past two decades are very similar to others that appear in this issue, so I will not repeat them here. All the recommendations of the other authors are good ones, and I wish I had learned some of them sooner. Instead of focusing on personal lessons, I offer some structural observations, and - with respect, as I leave the profession - a challenge as well. Every personal story in this issue starts from the assumption that student affairs work simply requires more than most people can give and remain healthy. The hours are long and the work is frequently stressful. Of course, the work is also satisfying and rewarding in other ways, or no one would stick with it. That is "just the way it is" in student affairs, we believe, and any student affairs professional worthy of career advancement will give 110% to the cause. Make that 150% in August, October, and April. We all remember times when we just had to keep going until the work was done, and no matter that we were exhausted. The students deserved our best, and we gave it. The challenge, we assume, is to give ourselves permission to carve out a space within an overlong workweek for personal renewal. Even the summer months do not provide a respite for many of us. A friend of mine once described student affairs work during the fall and spring semesters as "driving down Highway 81 at night in a blinding rainstorm at 85 miles per hour with your headlights off." Summer is a little better, he said. It is like "driving down Highway 81 at night in a blinding rainstorm at 85 miles per hour with your headlights ON" (G. Kowalski, personal communication). While this is "the way it is" in student affairs, I do not believe that this is the way it has to be, at least most of the time, and putting the responsibility on graduate students and young professionals to balance this unbalanced equation is unethical in my view. It is the responsibility of senior administrators, I believe, to make the tough choices to bring balance into student affairs work. Student leaders and paraprofessionals are not likely to develop the skills necessary for a balanced life so long as we expect RAs to work 30-40 hours per week while successfully completing 15 credit hours of coursework. It is not likely that graduate students preparing to enter our profession will have any semblance of balance in their lives so long as we, as faculty members and GA supervisors, continue to structure study and work experiences that require 18 or more hours of work in a day. It is not likely that entry-level student activities professionals will learn to balance their personal and professional lives when we offer them no personal time, and when they spend all day, every day with people with whom they cannot ethically establish a personal relationship. It is not likely that mid level professionals will invest enough time in supportive and lasting home lives when we offer career advancement only to those who manage to complete Ph.D.s while also working more than 40 hours per week. This issue is easier to see, perhaps, when we consider another profession - medicine. Medical interns work terribly long hours for very low pay, and recent research suggests that patient care suffers because of this. The arguments that teaching hospitals advance to support the present system sound either like the psychology of hazing ("I had to do this when I was an intern, and now I get to make you do it, too") or like the economics of slavery ("We cannot afford to hire and supervise enough interns to make the hours shorter"). Each of these arguments is frequently covered by a broader assertion about education ("These new physicians should not complain about long hours; instead, they should be grateful to us because they are receiving an education that will prepare them well for their future practice of medicine"). …

Into the World of Privatized Publicity: Online Privacy on Social Network Sites

Abstract: Social network sites enable and drive users to express themselves, attract attention, and gain recognition from other people by disclosing private and sensational information about themselves to their networks as well as to the public. As a result, social network sites have affected the perception and concept of privacy. In this vein, this paper aims to discuss how to address the social transformation regarding privacy on SNS space through a systematic literature study. To this end, it reviews the current research on online privacy, particularly focusing on the logic of the users’ disclosure of personal information and changing notion of privacy. Then, we provide a new concept of privatized publicity, which has simultaneously reinforced not only individual selfpromotion but also other-oriented symbolic interactions. The conceptualization is expected to provide social media ethnographers with theoretical and methodological guidance to more thoroughly investigate the behaviors of social media users in terms of symbolic interaction. Finally, we discuss policy implications for developing SNSs.

Conformity to masculine norms predicts US men's decision-making regarding a new male contraceptive.

Abstract: Health decision-making is often explained by affective and cognitive processes, but this processing is rarely explored in relation to gender norms. We investigated how conformity to specific masculine norms is linked to the affective and cognitive processes that lead to US men's decisions regarding a new male contraceptive. US male college students (N = 151) completed an online survey. They read a description of a long-acting reversible contraceptive, then completed questionnaires measuring their affective and cognitive responses, their information-seeking and willingness-to-try the contraceptive, and their conformity to masculine norms. Participants reported less willingness-to-try the contraceptive when they endorsed masculine norms regarding men's Power Over Women and concern with Heterosexual Self-Presentation, and these effects were consistently mediated by beliefs about its negative impact on sex. Positive emotions predicted willingness-to-try and information-seeking but were unrelated to masculine norms. This broadens our understanding of how conformity to specific gender norms impacts health decision-making processes.

Increased size due to larval royal jelly exposure does not affect circadian locomotor activity or climbing ability in adult female Drosophila melanogaster.

Abstract: The effects of royal jelly (RJ) appear to be conserved in Drosophila; flies exposed of RJ exhibit increased body size, similar to queen bees. However, in flies and bees, there is evidence that increased body size can lead to impairments to locomotor activity, while RJ may have anti-fatigue properties. Canton-S and Oregon-R Drosophila larvae were raised on media containing 0% or 20% pure RJ. Climbing assays were conducted to assess vertical locomotion. Circadian locomotion was observed using Drosophila Activity Monitors. CS, but not Or-R, raised on RJ were larger compared to controls. Flies exposed to RJ exhibited entrainment and free-running rhythms. The increased size due to RJ exposure in this study had no bearing on circadian locomotor activity or climbing. These results indicate that there is variation among physiological responses to RJ among different strains, but RJ was equally ineffective in affecting locomotor behavior no matter the physiological response.