DePaul University

About: DePaul University is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 5658 authors who have published 11562 publications receiving 295257 citations.

Understanding the factors influencing ski destination choice: A means-end analytic approach

Abstract: A variety of factors have been examined to understand and explain destination choice behavior, ranging from the relatively tangible attributes of products, to the intangible benefits, needs, and pe...

American Girl and the Brand Gestalt: Closing the Loop on Sociocultural Branding Research:

Abstract: This article describes an investigation of the American Girl brand that provides a more complete and holistic understanding of sociocultural branding. Recent research on emotional branding, together with prior work on brands' symbolic nature and their role as relationship partners, represents a significant shift in the way marketers think about brands and brand management. However, a full understanding of powerful and emotionally resonant brands has been elusive, in part because sociocultural branding knowledge has accumulated in a piecemeal way and lacks coherence and integrity. In addition, powerful brands are extraordinarily complex and multifaceted, but in general they have been studied from a single perspective in a single setting. On the basis of a qualitative exploration of the American Girl brand that is both deep and broad, the authors posit that an emotionally powerful brand is best understood as the product of a complex system, or gestalt, whose component parts are in continuous interp...

Natural selection for grazer resistance to toxic cyanobacteria: evolution of phenotypic plasticity?

Abstract: We studied the selection response of the freshwater grazing zooplankter, Daphnia galeata, to increased abundance of cyanobacteria in its environment. Cyanobacteria are a poor-quality and often toxic food. Distinct genotypes of D. galeata were hatched from diapausing eggs extracted from three time horizons in the sediments of Lake Constance, Europe, covering the period 1962 to 1997, a time of change in both the prevalence of planktonic cyanobacteria and levels of phosphorus pollution. We assessed whether the grazers evolved to become more resistant to dietary cyanobacteria by exposing genetically distinct clones to two diets, one composed only of the nutritious green alga, Scenedesmus obliquus (good food), and the other a mixture of S. obliquus and the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (poor food). Genotype performance was measured as the specific rate of weight gain from neonate to maturity (gj). We evaluated evolutionary change in the Daphnia population using an analysis of reaction norms based on relative (log-transformed) changes in gj. Log(gj) is a measure of the proportional effect of dietary cyanobacteria on other fitness components of theDaphnia phenotype. For comparison, we also analyze absolute (i.e., nontransformed) changes in gj and discuss the interpretations of the two approaches. Statistical results using a general linear model demonstrate a significant effect of genotype (showing differences in gj among genotypes), a significant genotype 3 food-type interaction (showing differences in phenotypic plasticity among genotypes), and, in the case of log-transformed data, a significant sediment-genotype-age3 food-type interaction. The latter shows that phenotypic plasticity evolved over the period studied. Two constraints act on response to selection in the D. galeata-Lake Constance system. First, gj on a diet containing poor food is highly correlated with gj on a diet of good food, thus evolving resistance also meant evolving an increase in gj on both diets. Second, because genotypes with a high gj also grow to a large adult body size, which in turn increases Daphnia vulnerability to fish predation, we suggest that selection only acted to favor genotypes possessing a high potential gj after cyanobacteria became prevalent. The presence of cyanobacteria depressed realized gj and led to animals of small adult body size even if their genotypes had the potential for high gj and large size. With realized gj reduced, genotypes with an inherently high value could be selected even in the presence of predatory fish. The joint action of selection by dietary cyanobacteria and vulnerability to fish predation provides an explanation for the observed evolution of resistance to poor food through reduced phenotypic plasticity.

College Sophomores in the Laboratory Redux: Influences of a Narrow Data Base on Social Psychology's View of the Nature of Prejudice

Abstract: Twenty years have passed since Sears (1986) alerted social psychologists to the many possible dangers faced by relying on a database composed mostly of students, especially with respect to the generalizability of the theoretical conclusions we come to. With a focus this time on the prejudice literature, this article examines how much has changed in our approach to whom we study. Content analyses show that prejudice researchers who publish in social psychology's major journals continue to rely heavily on student samples. Next, data are presented showing that important differences may exist between student and nonstudent participants in terms of how prejudice-related variables are expressed and used. The article concludes by raising metatheoretical concerns about the continued use of student samples both in the conclusions we arrive at as a science and in the very topics we study in the prejudice literature, with various recommendations suggested for decreasing this trend in relying on such a narrow database.

Just green enough: contesting environmental gentrification in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Abstract: While sustainability and green urbanism have become buzzwords in urban policy circles, too little analysis has focused on who gets to decide what green looks like. Many visions of the green city seem to have room only for park space, waterfront cafes, and luxury LEED-certified buildings, prompting concern that there is no place in the “sustainable” city for industrial uses and the working class. We will use the case study of Newtown Creek in Brooklyn, New York, to explore how different visions for the green city are enacted through activism and policy-making. Neighbourhood residents and business owners seem to be advocating a strategy we call “just green enough”, in order to achieve environmental remediation without environmental gentrification. Following the crash of both the financial and real estate markets, attempts to construct a sustainable city that is economically diverse and socially just seem to be taking hold. We interrogate how urban sustainability can be used to open up a space for diversity ...