Planning a reader-oriented strategy for a publishing company: a case study

Scientific research in the sector of press readability and specifically magazines is not particularly extensive. This paper suggests a framework for the development of strategic decisions based on reader satisfaction measurements. The methodology is illustrated through a real-world application, i.e. customer-oriented strategy planning for the leading monthly IT magazine in Greece. This study implements the MUSA (Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis) method to evaluate reader satisfaction, in order to support the editor in making decisions while planning his editorial strategy. Reader satisfaction was analysed based on a tree containing seven main criteria and 32 sub-criteria. Readers proved to be very satisfied and non-demanding, which results in narrower margins for efficient improvement suggestions. However, the evaluation of the MUSA results led to putting forward suggestions that could support the editor in making amendment decisions. Some of these suggestions were successfully implemented within the scope of a new strategy. This revealed the need for two separate editions, an IT magazine for pupils and students as well as an IT magazine focused on women. The decision maker received suggestions on what these new publications' features should be, deriving from the study's quantitative results. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

阿佩尔的共同责任原则

共同责任原则的提出是阿佩尔的对话伦理学(Diskursethik)的一个重要的方面,本文主要介绍共同责任的基本内涵及其证成,并进而指出共同责任是原初的责任,以及共同责任既是集体负责又是自我负责.     

杜光庭《录异记》宗教本质探析

杜光庭(850-933?)是唐末五代时期的著名道士,早年参加科举,落第后入道天台山,从此致力于道经的搜集和编撰工作,至今尚有大量道经存世。在这些留存的文献中,按道经分类,有一部分属于“记传类”或“谱录类”的神仙传记集和宣扬道门灵验的志怪作品。它们介于宗教与文学之间,既不同     

自我认知干预对教师心理健康的影响

本研究以自我、个性为内容辅以专家讲座展开了自我认知训练干预,对象为29名随机抽取的中学教师,干预实施持续了两个学期,测查工具为SCL-90、SDS、SAS.结果表明:干预后所有各项的均数均有下降,且除偏执因子外均达P<0.01显著意义水平;干预在偏执因子上效果较为一般,在"躯体化"、"恐怖"、"精神病性"、"饮食睡眠"、"敌对"、诸因子上效果良好,在强迫、人际敏感、焦虑因子上效果更为良好;总之,自我认知干预对教师心理健康具有积极影响,此影响在不同心理因子上会有不同效果.     

Time perception and time perspective differences between adolescents and adults

The present experiment aimed to investigate the differences in time perception and time perspective between subjects representing two developmental stages, namely adolescence and middle adulthood. Twenty Chinese adolescents aged 15–25 and twenty Chinese adults aged 35–55 participated in the study. A time discrimination task and a time reproduction task were implemented to measure the accuracy of their time perception. The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (Short-Form) was adopted to assess their time orientation. It was found that adolescents performed better than adults in both the time discrimination task and the time reproduction task. Adolescents were able to differentiate different time intervals with greater accuracy and reproduce the target duration more precisely. For the time reproduction task, it was also found that adults tended to overestimate the duration of the target stimuli while adolescents were more likely to underestimate it. As regards time perspective, adults were more future-oriented than adolescents, whereas adolescents were more present-oriented than adults. No significant relationship was found between time perspective and time perception.     

Agency and the Annunciation

Prior research has revealed that when healthy participants, who are not artists, are asked to draw a person who is performing an action, they are more likely to position the agent on the left and the person or object receiving this action, the patient, on the right. Thus, the goal of this study was to learn whether in works of art, such as those portraying the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary, artists would be more likely to place the angel, who is the agent, on the left of Mary, who is the patient. We found that in our sample of 604 paintings of the Annunciation by different artists that the agent Gabriel is significantly more frequently portrayed to left of Mary. Whereas this result supports the left-agent, right-patient hypothesis, the reason for this spatial bias is not entirely known, but may be related to several factors such as the learned left to right direction of reading/writing in European languages, left-versus right-sided emotional facial expressive asymmetries, a left-sided spatial attentional bias and a spatial motor-action preference of upper extremity for making abductive (left to right) movements when using the right upper extremity. Additionally, biblical explanations and theological principles may have influenced the organization of this scene.     

Ain’t sure who to blame: Metacognitive influences on appraisal–emotion processes

In this research, we propose that emotions are affected not only by appraisals, but also by a metacognitive sense of confidence versus doubt over the appraisals. Focusing on core-relational themes (CRTs), higher-order appraisals comprising the combined meaning of several appraisals, we predicted and found evidence, over two studies, that the effect of a CRT on the corresponding emotion is stronger if one feels confident about the validity of the CRT compared to feeling doubtful. In Study 1, CRT was manipulated by recall and in Study 2, CRT was manipulated in vivo. Both designs produced consistent support for the hypotheses. These findings demonstrate the need to consider metacognitive processes in understanding the effects of appraisals on emotions.     

Early Pubertal Timing as a Vulnerability to Depression Symptoms: Differential Effects of Race and Sex

Robust evidence supports that girls and boys who experience early pubertal timing, maturing earlier than one’s peers, are vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression. However, it has yet to be clarified whether early pubertal timing confers vulnerability to African American as well as to Caucasian adolescents and whether this vulnerability is specific to depressive symptoms or can be generalized to symptoms of social anxiety. In previous studies, one race or one sex was examined in isolation or sample sizes were too small to examine racial differences. Our longitudinal study consisted of a sample of 223 adolescents (M_age?=?12.42, 54.3 % female, 50.2 % African American, and 49.8 % Caucasian). At baseline, depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and pubertal timing were assessed by self-report. Nine months later, we assessed depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, body esteem, and stressful life events that occurred between baseline and follow-up. Analyses indicated that early pubertal timing interacted with stressful life events to predict increased symptoms of depression, but only for Caucasian girls and African American boys. Results were found to be specific to depressive symptoms and did not generalize to symptoms of social anxiety. Additionally, there was a significant positive indirect effect of pubertal timing on symptoms of depression through body esteem for Caucasian females.