Michigan State University

About: Michigan State University is a education organization based out in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 60109 authors who have published 137074 publications receiving 5633022 citations. The organization is also known as: MSU & Michigan State.

Gender differences in sport involvement: Applying the eccles' expectancy-value model

Abstract: With the growth of the field of sport psychology has come a growing interest and concern over gender differences in achievement and participation in various sports. Why do girls and boys differ from one another in their participation rates and participation patterns in sports? Over the past 10 years, Eccles and her colleagues have put together a theoretical model for analyzing the motivational factors underlying individuals' decisions regarding achievement-related choices. This paper describes this theoretical model and uses data from two studies, one focusing on adolescents, and one focusing on elementary school-aged children, to evaluate the utility of this model for understanding gender differences in sport participation. It reaches the following conclusions: (a) the Eccles et al. model holds for sport as well as, if not better than, it does for academic subjects; (b) gender differences in children's attitudes toward sport are quite strong and emerge at a very young age; and (c) these gender d...

What Does the Narcissistic Personality Inventory Really Measure

Abstract: The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is a widely used measure of narcissism. However, debates persist about its exact factor structure with researchers proposing solutions ranging from two to seven factors. The present research aimed to clarify the factor structure of the NPI and further illuminate its nomological network. Four studies provided support for a three-factor model consisting of the dimensions of Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, and Entitlement/Exploitativeness. The Leadership/Authority dimension was generally linked to adaptive outcomes whereas the other two dimensions, particularly Entitlement/Exploitativeness, were generally linked to maladaptive outcomes. These results suggest that researchers interested in the psychological and behavioral outcomes associated with the NPI should examine correlates at the facet level. In light of the findings, we propose a hierarchical model for the structure of the NPI and provide researchers with a scoring scheme for this commonly used instrument.

Components of the Arabidopsis C-repeat/dehydration-responsive element binding factor cold-response pathway are conserved in Brassica napus and other plant species.

Abstract: Many plants increase in freezing tolerance in response to low, nonfreezing temperatures, a phenomenon known as cold acclimation. Cold acclimation in Arabidopsis involves rapid cold-induced expression of the C-repeat/dehydration-responsive element binding factor (CBF) transcriptional activators followed by expression of CBF-targeted genes that increase freezing tolerance. Here, we present evidence for a CBF cold-response pathway in Brassica napus. We show that B. napus encodes CBF-like genes and that transcripts for these genes accumulate rapidly in response to low temperature followed closely by expression of the cold-regulated Bn115 gene, an ortholog of the Arabidopsis CBF-targeted COR15a gene. Moreover, we show that constitutive overexpression of the Arabidopsis CBF genes in transgenic B. napus plants induces expression of orthologs of Arabidopsis CBF-targeted genes and increases the freezing tolerance of both nonacclimated and cold-acclimated plants. Transcripts encoding CBF-like proteins were also found to accumulate rapidly in response to low temperature in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Norstar) and rye (Secale cereale L. cv Puma), which cold acclimate, as well as in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var. Bonny Best, Castle Mart, Micro-Tom, and D Huang), a freezing-sensitive plant that does not cold acclimate. An alignment of the CBF proteins from Arabidopsis, B. napus, wheat, rye, and tomato revealed the presence of conserved amino acid sequences, PKK/RPAGRxKFxETRHP and DSAWR, that bracket the AP2/EREBP DNA binding domains of the proteins and distinguish them from other members of the AP2/EREBP protein family. We conclude that components of the CBF cold-response pathway are highly conserved in flowering plants and not limited to those that cold acclimate.

Multilayered Nanoarchitecture of Graphene Nanosheets and Polypyrrole Nanowires for High Performance Supercapacitor Electrodes

Abstract: A novel nanoarchitecture is developed by combining the nanostructured conductive polymer polypyrrole with highly electrically conductive graphene nanosheets in a multilayered configuration to achieve high specific capacitance and low electronic resistance for supercapacitor electrode applications. The fibrous network of polypyrrole nanowires with high electrolyte ionic accessibility was interspersed with electrically conductive monolayers of highly aligned large sized graphene nanosheets as a series of current collectors within the macroscopic configuration for enhanced electronic charge transport inside the electrode. A fabrication method relying on capillary force driven self-assembly coupled with the strong van der Waals attraction between highly aromatic graphene basal plane and π conjugated conductive polymer chains was employed to create a 100% binder free multilayered composite structure of these two distinct nanoscale elements to construct the electrode. This multilayer composite electrode exhibit...