The Underlying Process of Prosocial Behavior Among Soldiers: A Terror Management Theory Perspective

The mortality salience (MS) hypothesis postulates that anxiety elicited by mortality awareness leads people to develop negative emotions toward those who hold values inconsistent with their worldview faith. We explored this hypothesis in a sample of 76 Israeli combat soldiers, who were asked to reflect on either their mortality or dental pain. Subsequently, participants reported their motivation to help a father in need who was either an Arab (outgroup) or a Jewish Israeli (ingroup), as well as their perceptions of threat by Arab Israelis. Regression analysis indicated that mortality reminders intensified soldiers’ perception of threat by the outgroup, leading to an increased desire to assist a Jewish-Israeli father, and a decreased motivation to help an Arab-Israeli one. The findings demonstrate the pronounced effects of MS on soldiers involved in frequent combat actions in terms of evoking negative emotions leading to reluctance to help unarmed civilian outgroup members. Recommendations for soldiers’ pre-deployment psychoeducation sessions are provided.

EXPRESS: The Upside of Negative: Social Distance in Online Reviews of Identity-Relevant Brands

Conventional wisdom in marketing emphasizes the detrimental effects of negative online reviews for brands. An important question is whether some firms could more effectively manage negative reviews to improve brand preference and outcomes. To address this question, our research examines how customers respond to online reviews of identity-relevant brands in particular, which have been overlooked in the online reviews literature. Eight studies (field data and experiments featuring consequential and hypothetical behaviors) show that negative online reviews may not be so detrimental for identity-relevant brands, especially when those reviews originate from socially distant (but not socially close) reviewers. This occurs because a negative review of an identity-relevant brand can pose a threat to a customer’s identity, prompting the customer to strengthen their relationship with the identity-relevant brand. To document the underlying process, we show that this effect does not emerge when the review is positive or the brand is identity-irrelevant. Importantly, we identify circumstances when negative reviews can actually produce positive outcomes (higher preference) for identity-relevant brands over no reviews or even positive reviews. By demonstrating the upside of negative reviews for identity-relevant brands, our findings have important implications for marketing theory and practice.

Electroencephalography as a Non-Invasive Biomarker of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Forgotten Candidate to Substitute CSF Molecules?

Biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis are crucial in clinical practice. They should be objective and quantifiable and respond to specific therapeutic interventions. Optimal biomarkers should reflect the underlying process (pathological or not), be reproducible, widely available, and allow measurements repeatedly over time. Ideally, biomarkers should also be non-invasive and cost-effective. This review aims to focus on the usefulness and limitations of electroencephalography (EEG) in the search for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers. The main aim of this article is to review the evolution of the most used biomarkers in AD and the need for new peripheral and, ideally, non-invasive biomarkers. The characteristics of the EEG as a possible source for biomarkers will be revised, highlighting its advantages compared to the molecular markers available so far.

On Nonparametric Conditional Quantile Estimation for Non-stationary Random

A kernel conditional quantile estimate of a real-valued non-stationary spatial process is proposed for a prediction goal at a non-observed location of the underlying process. The originality is based on the ability to take into account some local spatial dependency. Large sample properties based on almost complete and \(L^q\)-consistencies of the estimator are established. A numerical study is given in order to illustrate the performance of our methodology.

Changing the blame game: Does the presence of a pay ratio disclosure impact nonprofessional investors’ reactions to CEOs’ internal attributions for poor firm performance?

We conduct two experiments to investigate how the presence of the CEO pay ratio, a recently mandated disclosure, influences nonprofessional investors’ reactions to a CEO’s internal attributions for poor firm performance. Results of our first experiment suggest that relative to blaming oneself, blaming other firm employees for poor firm performance more effectively absolves a CEO from responsibility for poor firm performance and damages perceptions of the CEO’s trustworthiness less when a pay ratio disclosure is present versus absent. These perceptions, in turn, affect investors’ support for the CEO’s compensation and the company’s attractiveness as an investment. Our second experiment provides evidence of the underlying process, showing the pay ratio disclosure and the CEO’s attribution to other employees affects the perceived status of a CEO. Together, our findings inform managers about the impact of their attributions for poor firm performance and regulators about potential unintended consequences of pay ratio disclosures.

Complementary Approaches Towards a Universal Model of Glacier Surges

Although many convincing, diverse, and sometimes competing models of glacier surging have been proposed, the observed behavior of surging glaciers does not fit into distinct categories, and suggests the presence of a universal mechanism driving all surges. On the one hand, recent simulations of oscillatory flow behavior through the description of transient basal drag hint at a fundamental underlying process. On the other hand, the proposition of a unified model of oscillatory flow through the concept of enthalpy adopts a systems based view, in an attempt to rather unify different mechanisms through a single universal measure. While these two general approaches differ in perspective, they are not mutually exclusive, and seem likely to complement each other. A framework incorporating both approaches would see the mechanics of basal drag describing ice flow velocity and surge propagation as a function of forcing by conditions at the glacier bed, in turn modulated through the unified measure of enthalpy.

Uncertain max-autoregressive model with imprecise observations

Uncertain time series analysis has been developed for studying the imprecise observations. In this paper, we propose a nonlinear model called uncertain max-autoregressive (UMAR) model. The unknown parameters in model are estimated by the least squares estimation. Then the residual analysis is presented. In many cases, there are some outliers in the time series due to short-term change in the underlying process. The UMAR model offers an alternative for detecting outliers in the imprecise observations. Based on the previous theoretical results, the UMAR model is used to forecast the future. Finally, an example suggests that the new proposed time series model works well compared to the uncertain autoregressive (UAR) model.

The influence of contagious disease threat on general risk-taking tendency

We conducted two studies to investigate the effects of the threat of a contagious disease on people's tendency to engage in risk-taking behaviors that are not directly related to the disease, such as investment decisions. In Study 1 we demonstrated that individual differences in germ aversion influenced risk-taking tendency. Participants with relatively high germ aversion were less likely than were those with relatively low germ aversion to engage in risk-taking behaviors encompassing the ethical, investment, gambling, recreational, health, and social domains. In Study 2 we replicated the results of Study 1 in a different setting and examined the underlying process by which perceived disease threat inhibits risk taking. The findings suggest that the threat of disease-induced negative affect decreased risk-taking tendencies. This implies that precautionary behavior activated by disease-threat salience can extend beyond the health domain to a broader range of situations.

A hybrid neuro-wavelet approach to electric arc furnace modeling.

This thesis proposes a hybrid neuro-wavelet based approach for modeling the dynamic voltage-current characteristics in electrical arc furnaces. This method uses the data obtained from an operational electrical arc furnace exclusively to describe the underlying process, and unlike conventional mathematical techniques it does not rely on presumed model structures or simplified assumptions. A comparison between the results that proceeded from the proposed method and the actual measurements has been made. The proposed method is demonstrated to be capable of modeling the EAF's dynamic voltage-current behaviour accurately.