Political Online Information Searching in Germany and the United States: Confirmation Bias,Source Credibility,and Attitude Impacts

Before the 2013 German federal election, 121 participants completed a 2‐session online study (which paralleled a U.S. study before the 2012 presidential election). They browsed online search results pertaining to 4 political issues while selective exposure was unobtrusively measured. In a 4 × 2 × 2 (topic × issue stance × source credibility) within‐subjects design, the search results indicated either issue support or opposition, associated with low‐ or high‐credibility sources. Hypotheses were derived from cognitive dissonance, approach‐avoidance, and motivated cognition models. Findings yielded a confirmation bias. Attitude‐consistent exposure uniformly reinforced attitudes; attitude‐discrepant exposure uniformly weakened attitudes. Analyses with parallel U.S. data showed a stronger confirmation bias in the United States than in Germany.     

The Impact of Political Advertising on Knowledge, Internet Information Seeking, and Candidate Preference

Previous research has suggested that exposure to political advertising is generally informative and may even reduce information gaps between the most and least aware in society, but does not produce large shifts in candidate preference. Drawing on extant models of opinion change, we predicted that the informational benefits of political ads would vary by level of awareness, such that the most aware would experience the largest gains, especially when they are asked to make inferences about issues not explicitly discussed in the ad. Further, we predicted that the most aware would use information in advertisements as a substitute for other kinds of information seeking, while the least aware would be relatively unmotivated to seek out new information, regardless of exposure. Finally, the least aware would be more susceptible to persuasion via ads than the most aware would be. Experimental evidence confirmed these predictions.     

Just Laugh! You Don't Need to Remember: The Effects of Entertainment Media on Political Information Acquisition and Information Processing in Political Judgment

This study investigates whether the entertainment media produce different patterns of political information acquisition and information processing (i.e., online- vs. memory-based information processing) in making political judgments (i.e., evaluation of a political actor) compared to the news media. Using an adult sample (aged 18–64 years), the study adopts an experimental design using the collections of real news and entertainment programs ( The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ) on the topic of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice and Chief Justice nomination processes in addition to a baseline group exposed to science documentaries. The results indicate that compared to news media, entertainment media are less effective in acquiring factual information, particularly in retaining issue and procedure knowledge. The study, for the first time, reveals that entertainment media facilitate online-based political information processing, whereas news media promote memory-based political information processing. The implications for the methodological and theoretical development of the impact of entertainment media and for citizen competence and participation in the recent changes in the political information environment are discussed.     

Entertainment and Politics Revisited: How Non‐Escapist Forms of Entertainment Can Stimulate Political Interest and Information Seeking

This article revisits the controversial relationship of entertainment and political communication. On the basis of a theoretical integration of entertainment theory with theories of motivated information processing, we suggest that entertainment consumption can either be driven by hedonic, escapist motivations that are associated with a superficial mode of information processing, or by eudaimonic, truth‐seeking motivations that prompt more elaborate forms of information processing. Results of two experiments indicate that eudaimonic forms of emotional involvement (characterized by negative valence, moderate arousal, and feeling moved) stimulated reflective thoughts about politically relevant content, issue interest, and information seeking. This pattern was consistent across two types of entertainment stimuli (fictional films and soft news) and two types of affect manipulations (moving film music and moving exemplars).     

You Brought it on Yourself: The Joint Effects of Message Type,Stigma, and Responsibility Attribution on Attitudes Toward Medical Cannabis

This study uses a web-based randomized experiment (N = 396) to test the effects of message type (narrative vs. expository), stigma (stigmatized vs. nonstigmatized illness), and attribution of responsibility for disease (internal vs. external) on attitudes toward medical cannabis. Narrative-formatted videos produced more favorable attitudes toward medical cannabis, compared with nonnarrative videos. Effects of narratives on attitudes were mediated through transportation and identification with the protagonist. Participants who viewed narratives in which the protagonist had a stigmatized illness and was responsible for contracting the disease expressed more negative attitudes toward medical cannabis. Effects of attribution were mediated through social distance toward medical cannabis users, and moderated by stigma. Implications for narrative persuasion and public opinion regarding medical cannabis are discussed.     

基于SMC的STBC-MC-CDMA信号扩频码及信息序列盲估计

针对具有空时分组码的多载波CDMA(Space Time Block Coding Multi Carrier Code Division Multiple Access,STBC-MC-CDMA)信号扩频码及信息序列的联合估计问题,结合序贯蒙特卡罗(Sequential Monte Carlo,SMC)算法和卡尔曼滤波技术,充分利用STBC和OFDM(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)调制的正交属性,提出了一种快速的盲解扩算法.该算法通过将信号模型按不同符号路数和天线数目进行分段处理,采用卡尔曼滤波方法对均值和协方差进行迭代更新,并用一组带有权值的抽样粒子来近似建立的联合后验概率分布,根据抽样值和重要性权值大小进行参量状态估计,大大提高了算法的计算效率.理论分析和仿真结果验证了本文算法的有效性.     

基于奇异值分解的直扩信号伪码序列及信息序列盲估计方法

针对非合作扩频通信中直扩信号伪码序列的盲估计问题,在已知码片速率和伪码周期的前提下,该文提出一种基于奇异值分解的直扩信号伪码序列及信息序列的盲估计方法。该方法对接收信号构成的观测矩阵进行奇异值分解,通过左奇异向量实现伪码序列估计的盲估计。同时,通过右奇异向量可以在信号序列未同步和伪码序列未知的情况下实现信息序列的盲估计。仿真实验结果表明该算法具有精确度高、稳定性高、计算量小和观测时间短等优点。     

Unleashing the Effectiveness of Process-Oriented Information Systems: Problem Analysis, Critical Success Factors, and Implications

Process-oriented information systems (IS) aim at the computerized support of business processes. So far, contemporary IS have often fail to meet this goal. To better understand this drawback, to systematically identify its rationales, and to derive critical success factors for business process support, we conducted three empirical studies: an exploratory case study in the automotive domain, an online survey among 79 information technology professionals, and another online survey among 70 business process management experts. This paper summarizes the findings of these studies, puts them in relation with each other, and uses them to show that ";process orientation"; is scarce and ";process awareness"; is needed in IS engineering.     

Information and Arena: The Dual Function of the News Media for Political Elites

How do individual politicians use the news media to reach their political goals? This study addresses the question by proposing an actor‐centered, functional approach. We distinguish 2 essential functions (and subfunctions) the mass media have for political elites. The media are a source of information; politicians depend on it for pure information and they can profit from the momentum generated by media information. The media also are an arena elites need access to in order to promote themselves and their issues. These 2 functions offer certain politicians a structural advantage over others and, hence, are relevant for the power struggle among political elites. A systematic functional account enables comparisons of the role of the media across politicians and political systems.     

INFORMATION POTENTIAL: A Concept of the Importance of Information Sources in a Research and Development Environment

Recent research suggests that a few R & D professionals serve as communication nodes for their organizations. A study of these special communicators revealed that they were seen to have more value as information sources to their colleagues. The hypothesis, that individuals with high information source value have exposure to both a greater number of and a greater diversity of information sources, was investigated and was generally supported by research data collected by questionnaire in three separate R & D organizations.     

Consistency,availability, and partition tolerance in blockchain: a survey on the consensus mechanism over peer-to-peer networking

Annals of Telecommunications - Blockchain is a disruptive technology that relies on the distributed nature of the peer-to-peer network while performing an agreement, or consensus, a mechanism to...     

News Media,Knowledge, and Political Interest: Evidence of a Dual Role From a Field Experiment

Political knowledge and political interest are generally positively influenced by news media exposure. Yet, at the same time, knowledge and interest are among the most important predictors of news media exposure in the first place. We conduct a field experiment (N = 393) as a test of this dual function of knowledge and interest in a realistic news media choice setting. We examine whether preexisting interest and knowledge predict which individuals can be encouraged to read an unfamiliar information-rich newspaper, and if using this newspaper, in turn, has effects on interest and knowledge. Results show that interest and knowledge are predictors of compliance in the experiment. While political knowledge shows some response to the additional news exposure, interest remains stable.     

Optical Power Limiters Based on Colorless Di‐, Oligo‐, and Polymetallaynes: Highly Transparent Materials for Eye Protection Devices

The synthesis, characterization, and photophysics of a series of solution‐processable and tractable di‐, oligo‐, and polymetallaynes of some group 10–12 transition metals are presented. Most of these materials are colorless with very good optical transparencies in the visible spectral region and exhibit excellent optical power limiting (OPL) for nanosecond laser pulse. Their OPL responses outweigh those of the state‐of‐the‐art reverse saturable absorption dyes such as C₆₀, metalloporphyrins, and metallophthalocyanines that are all associated with very poor optical transparencies. On the basis of the results from photophysical studies and theoretical calculations, both the absorption of triplet and intramolecular charge‐transfer states can contribute to the enhancement of the OPL properties for these materials. Electronic influence of the type, spatial arrangement, and geometry of metal groups on the optical transparency/nonlinearity optimization is evaluated and discussed in detail. The positive contribution of transition metal ions to the OPL of these compounds generally follows the order: Pt > Au > Hg > Pd. The optical‐limiting thresholds for these polymetallaynes can be as low as 0.07 J cm^–2 at 92 % linear transmittance and these highly transparent materials manifest very impressive figure of merit σ_ex/σ_o values (up to 22.48), which are remarkably higher than those of the benchmark C₆₀ and metal phthalocyanine complexes. The present work demonstrates an attractive approach to developing materials offering superior OPL/optical transparency trade‐offs and these metallopolyynes are thus very promising candidates for use in practical OPL devices for the protection of human eyes and other delicate optical sensors.     

Implicit and Explicit Attitudes as Predictors of Gatekeeping,Selective Exposure,and News Sharing: Testing a General Model of Media‐Related Selection

Media‐related selection (MRS) is an umbrella concept for selection processes such as gatekeeping by journalists, selective exposure by audience members, and news sharing by social network site (SNS) users. Importantly, individual attitudes can influence MRS. Previous research on attitude‐based MRS has relied almost exclusively on overtly expressed evaluations (i.e., explicit attitudes) as predictors of selection outcomes. We tested whether automatic affective evaluations (i.e., implicit attitudes) can predict MRS as well. In three studies (gatekeeping, selective exposure, and news sharing), we found that journalists', audience members', and SNS users' implicit and explicit attitudes predicted selection. Thus, attitudes may exert their influence even “under the radar” of conscious awareness.     

A Gel‐Based Model of Selective Cell Motility: Implications for Cell Sorting,Diagnostics, and Screening

The ability to precisely control cell‐loaded material systems is essential for in vitro testing of novel therapeutics poised to advance to clinic. In this report, unique patterns of cell migration are devised into an in vitro gel‐in‐gel model for the purpose of obtaining cell response data to potentially therapeutic chemical agonists. The model consists of co‐cultures in a cell‐loaded microgel invading an acellular “sorting” gel. Material properties including biophysical and chemical compositions of the sorting gel are carefully controlled to guide a desired cell‐specific behavior, leading to massive tumor cell invasion by amoeboid migration mechanisms. Optical transparency enables straightforward and high‐throughput measurements of outgrowth response in the presence of either chemical and photoradiation therapy. Important dosing and drug sensitivity information are obtained with the gel‐in‐gel model using no more than a light microscope, without further need for arduous genomic or proteomic screening of the tissue samples.     

The Power of Narratives: The Effect of Entertainment Television Organ Donation Storylines on the Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behaviors of Donors and Nondonors

Drawing on theories of social learning, social representations and the organ donation model, online surveys were used to examine the impact of organ donation storylines of 4 U.S. television dramas (CSI: NY, Numb3rs, House, and Grey's Anatomy) on viewers' attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. Results revealed that viewers acquired knowledge from the content of each drama, despite the fact that some content was inaccurate. Viewers who were not organ donors prior to exposure to the dramas were more likely to decide to donate organs if the drama explicitly encouraged donation, portrayed characters revealing how they had become donors and discussed the merits of donating. Viewers were also more likely to become an organ donor if they were emotionally involved in the narrative. Implications for using dramas to educate and motivate the public were discussed.