Florida Atlantic University

About: Florida Atlantic University is a education organization based out in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 7788 authors who have published 19830 publications receiving 535694 citations. The organization is also known as: FAU & Florida Atlantic.

Reviewing the reviewers: The impact of individual film critics on box office performance

Abstract: Critics and their opinions or critical reviews play a major role in many markets. Marketing research on how critics impact product performance has so far examined an aggregate critic effect. An obstacle in studies examining the relationship of aggregate critical opinion and product sales is the close association between the intrinsic quality of a product and the aggregate opinion regarding the product. Our analysis parses out these two effects, allowing us to distinguish individual critics who are simply good at identifying products with popular appeal from those who act as opinion leaders and engender early product sales. The role of critics is especially prominent in the film business, in which one finds multiple expert opinions about each movie and where critics’ endorsements are used in advertising. In the context of the motion picture industry, our research investigates the impact of individual film critics on the market performance of movies, where specific key critics and reviewers may serve as market gatekeepers, and where various critics may have different types of impacts on product performance.

Older sibling influences on the language environment and language development of toddlers in bilingual homes

Abstract: Two separate studies examined older siblings' influence on the language exposure and language development of U.S.-born toddlers who were being raised in bilingual homes. The participants in Study 1 were 60 children between 16 and 30 months who had heard English and another language at home from birth; 26 had older siblings and 34 did not. The participants in Study 2 were 27 children, assessed at 22 and 30 months, who had heard English and Spanish from birth; 14 had school aged older siblings and 13 did not. Both studies found that older siblings used English more in talking to the toddlers than did other household members and that toddlers with older siblings were more advanced in English language development. Study 2 also found that the presence of a school aged older sibling increased mothers' use of English with their toddlers and that toddlers without a school aged older sibling were more advanced in Spanish than the toddlers with a school aged older sibling. These findings contribute to a picture of the complex processes that shape language use in bilingual homes and cause variability in young children's bilingual development.

A stochastic theory of fatigue crack propagation

Abstract: A new mathematical theory is proposed to analyze the propagation of fatigue crack based on the concepts of fracture mechanics and random processes. The time-dependent crack size is approximated by a Markov process. Analytical expressions are obtained for the probability distribution of crack size at any given time and the probability distribution of the random time at which a given crack size is reached, conditional on the knowledge of the initial crack size. Examples are given to illustrate the application of the theory, and the results are compared with available experimental data.

Newborns of mothers with depressive symptoms are physiologically less developed

Abstract: Sixty-three infants of mothers with depressive symptoms were compared on physiology and behavior to infants of nonsymptomatic mothers. The newborns of depressive mothers had greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left hemisphere activation), lower vagal tone, and less optimal scores on the Brazelton, suggesting that maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy may be contributing to newborn neurobehavioral functioning.