Individual characteristics and career exploration in adolescence

The effects of gender, age and school grade on several career exploration dimensions measured by the Career Exploration Survey were investigated. Subjects were high school students facing an imminent career decision. Regression analyses indicated that sex and grade-level were the most significant and prevailing individual characteristics related to the adolescents' career exploration behaviours, reactions and beliefs. Implications for career exploration interventions are discussed.     

Control of gait initiation

The initiation of gait from a standing posture by 6 subjects, who took controlled-length steps, was analyzed. Using an inverted pendulum model, we found that the duration of gait initiation was independent of gait velocity. This finding suggests that subjects' biomechanical constants are the determining factors for initiating movement. Both the instantaneous velocity of the center of gravity at the end of the first step (resulting in the propulsive forces measured on the ground) and the steady-state velocity (resulting in the step length and frequency) varied with step length, whereas step frequency did not. But step frequency and progression velocity were linked, for step frequency always increased in parallel with increased progression velocity. We interpret the correlation between velocity and frequency variations to be a peripheral expression of the posturodynamic control of the step parameters by the progression forces.     

Developing trends in showrooming,webrooming, and omnichannel shopping behaviors: Performance analysis,conceptual mapping,and future directions

In an omnichannel era, businesses and marketers need insights into the dynamics of customer shopping behaviors, particularly the interplay between omnichannel, showrooming, and webrooming behaviors. This study investigates the evolution and trends of the research and channel shopping behaviors (RCSB) domain, spanning from 1998 to 2022, including the Covid-19 era. The study performed a bibliometric review of 500 papers in the Scopus database. The performance analysis reveals an annual growth rate of nearly 16%, with average citations per document of 44, indicating sustained and growing research interest. Science mapping revealed five distinct cluster themes, including showrooming and webrooming in multi- and omni-channel contexts; consumer behavior in online retail and shopping; customer satisfaction and trust in multi-channel retailing; mobile commerce in a multi-channel environment; and the interplay between online shopping, channel choice, and supply chain management. Furthermore, topics, such as showrooming, e-commerce, retailing, and omnichannel retailing, remain popular before and during the pandemic, as seen in the thematic evolution. Our examination of the thematic maps revealed various topics that gained significance during the pandemic, such as multichannel, channel choice, customer experience, social commerce, purchase behavior, and covid-19. Among these, the thematic maps indicate that customer experience, channel choice, multichannel, and covid-19 are emerging and basic topics. These topics can steer research directions in the RCSB domain toward examining customer experiences using digital innovations, e-commerce (including mobile and social commerce), and omnichannel strategy and management.     

In search of a measure to investigate mental performance among children: Development of the mental speed test

Processing speed is a component of general intelligence and an indicator of learning potential. There is a need for robust measures of mental speed based on contemporary theoretical developments. The current study addressed this need by proposing a mental speed test for children aged 60 to 96 months (5 to 8 years) and examining its psychometric properties. The test included indicators of perceptual speed, memory speed, reasoning speed, and fluency-flexibility speed presented through nonverbal items administered individually using touchscreen tablets. After establishing gender non-bias and concurrent validity with a contemporary intelligence test (i.e., ASIS, r = .59) with 107 children, the next administration included 373 children. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with subtest scores revealed a single-factor structure accounting for 45% of the total variance. Additional data from 212 children were used to assess structural validity and gender bias, which showed acceptable goodness of fit, providing evidence of the validity and reliability of the new measure for further use.     

Interaction between transient change in local muscle structure and segmented leg motor responses

We investigated the interaction between transient change in the local structure of gastrocnemius muscle fibers and the segmented leg motor responses elicited by toes-up rotation of the support surface. The gastrocnemius muscle in healthy young subjects underwent a sustained 2-min, isometric stretch (Prestretch group), followed immediately by the rotations. Analysis showed that the prestretch affected the amplitude of the monosynaptic but not the automatic components of the medial gastrocnemius muscle responses (monosynaptic response: 93 +/- 20% of the mean of the last three rotations in the Prestretch group compared to 174 +/- 42% in the Control group; automatic response: 128 +/- 18% in the Prestretch group versus 123 +/- 31% in the Control group). The shortened tibialis anterior muscle response and the onset latencies of responses were not affected by prestretching the gastrocnemius muscle. The prestretch effect on the amplitude of the monosynaptic (mediated by group Ia afferents) but not the automatic gastrocnemius muscle response (mediated by group II afferents) suggests that the automatic component of the muscle response to platform rotations has a stronger supraspinal influence than the monosynaptic response and is thus less affected by local events such as prolonged stretching.     

Identity categories and transformational paths for face changes across the age spectrum

How faces change across lengthy time periods and whether the changing appearance of a face functions as an identity category was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the faces of 15 individuals were multidimensionally scaled at each of seven age epochs (roughly <6 months to 75 years of age) and correlated with the same persons, but at different ages. In Experiment 2, three individuals at each of seven age epochs were multidimensionally scaled, and analyses explored the conceptual structure and transformational path of each person within the space. The results revealed that even the earliest age epochs (<6 months) were correlated with the later epochs, except for the most extreme age, with the correlation highest at intermediate ages. Transformational paths were found that emerged and terminated at haphazard points in the space. Results are discussed in terms of principled change in categories whose members systematically change across their life cycle, including suggestions for the need to incorporate systematic change in current theories of categorization.     

Structural,elastic, electronic,phonon and thermal properties of Ir3Ta and Rh3Ta alloys

We have studied the structural, elastic, electronic, phonon and thermodynamic properties of Ir₃Ta and Rh₃Ta alloys, using ab initio calculations. For the L1₂ phase, we report the calculated lattice constants, bulk modulus and elastic constants, and these values are compared with previously published values. We also derive the elastic constants from the values of the slopes of the acoustic branches in the phonon dispersion curves. The band structures show that both materials are metallic. The phonon dispersion curves, and their corresponding total and projected densities of states, are obtained using a linear response in the framework of the density functional perturbation theory. The specific heat capacity at constant volume and different temperatures is calculated, and this aspect is discussed using the quasi-harmonic approximation.     

Why Do Women Endorse Honor Beliefs? Ambivalent Sexism and Religiosity as Predictors

Cultures of honor, such as Turkey, prioritize defending individual and family reputations, but in gender-specific ways (Nisbett and Cohen 1996). Men maintain honor via reputations for toughness, aggression, control over women, and avenging insults. Women maintain honor through obedience to men, sexual modesty, and religious piety. Honor beliefs support women’s subordination, justifying violence against them (Sev’er and Yurdakul, Violence against Women, 7, 964–998, 2001) and therefore should be challenged. Understanding honor beliefs’ ideological correlates may inform such efforts. We hypothesized that benevolent sexism, a subjectively favorable system-justifying ideology, would more strongly, positively predict Turkish women’s (versus men’s) honor beliefs; whereas hostile sexism, which is openly antagonistic toward women, would more strongly, positively predict Turkish men’s (versus women’s) honor beliefs. Additionally, due to justifications for gender inequality embedded in Islamic religious teachings, we expected Islamic religiosity to positively predict honor beliefs for both genders. A convenience sample of Turkish undergraduates (313 women and 122 men) in Ankara completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, Religious Orientation Scale, and Honor Endorsement Index. Regression analyses revealed that benevolent (but not hostile) sexism positively predicted women’s honor beliefs, whereas hostile (but not benevolent) sexism positively predicted men’s honor beliefs. Islamic religiosity positively predicted honor beliefs for both genders, but (unexpectedly) did so more strongly for men than women. We suggest that combating benevolent sexism and promoting feminist interpretations of Islamic religiosity may help to empower Turkish women to challenge honor beliefs.     

Configural and component processing in simultaneous and sequential lineup procedures

Configural processing supports accurate face recognition, yet it has never been examined within the context of criminal identification lineups. We tested, using the inversion paradigm, the role of configural processing in lineups. Recent research has found that face discrimination accuracy in lineups is better in a simultaneous compared to a sequential lineup procedure. Therefore, we compared configural processing in simultaneous and sequential lineups to examine whether there are differences. We had participants view a crime video, and then they attempted to identify the perpetrator from a simultaneous or sequential lineup. The test faces were presented either upright or inverted, as previous research has shown that inverting test faces disrupts configural processing. The size of the inversion effect for faces was the same across lineup procedures, indicating that configural processing underlies face recognition in both procedures. Discrimination accuracy was comparable across lineup procedures in both the upright and inversion condition. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.