Intergroup Contact, Intergroup Anxiety, and Attitudes towards the Opposing Group in Divided Society

The negative attitudes and negative emotions play a key role in maintaining the hostilities between the groups of a divided society. Evidence suggests that intergroup contact can improve or worsen intergroup attitudes. The current study examined the mediating role of intergroup anxiety on quantity of interethnic contact and acculturation attitudes and emotional responses to contradictory conflict narratives in a divided society with a background of armed conflict in the past. The study was conducted among 202 Albanians and 239 Serbs in Kosovo. The results indicate that as more as they meet members of the opposing group the less they feel intergroup anxiety and the more they show acculturation attitudes towards the opposing group among both Albanians and Serbs. However, such mediating role of intergroup anxiety was not found on emotional responses to contradictory conflict narratives, except among Serbs who live in certain enclaves. The findings are discussed in terms of context, reconciliation, and maintenance of frozen conflict.

Group Size and Protest Mobilization across Movements and Countermovements

Many social movements face fierce resistance in the form of a countermovement. Therefore, when deciding to become politically active, a movement supporter has to consider both her own movement’s activity and that of the opponent. This paper studies the decision of a movement supporter to attend a protest when faced with a counterprotest. We implement two field experiments among supporters of a right- and left-leaning movement ahead of two protest–counterprotest interactions in Germany. Supporters were exposed to low or high official estimates about their own and the opposing group’s turnout. We find that the size of the opposing group has no effect on supporters’ protest intentions. However, as the own protest gets larger, supporters of the right-leaning movement become less while supporters of the left-leaning movement become more willing to protest. We argue that the difference is best explained by stronger social motives on the political left.

Abstract P154: Win Ratio Methodology Demonstrates Consistency Of Benefit Across Different Blood Pressure Reduction Thresholds Following Renal Denervation In The Spyral Htn-on Med Pilot Study

Objective: The win ratio is a statistical methodology to evaluate clinical trial outcomes using multiple hierarchical endpoints. We applied the win ratio to patients in SPYRAL HTN-ON MED pilot study to quantify potential differences in renal denervation (RDN) efficacy utilizing different blood pressure (BP) reduction thresholds. Methods: In the SPYRAL HTN-ON MED pilot study, patients were enrolled with office systolic BP (OSBP) ≥150 mmHg and <180 mmHg, office diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, and mean 24-hour ambulatory systolic BP (ASBP) ≥140 mmHg and <170 mmHg despite 1 to 3 antihypertensive medications. Patients were randomized 1:1 to RDN or sham procedure. For the win ratio analysis, each RDN patient was compared with every sham control patient in the opposing group first according to ASBP to determine “win”, “lose” or “tie” with a threshold of 5 mmHg. Then, ties from the ASBP comparison underwent the comparison using OSBP with a threshold of 10 mmHg. Any tie for a pair comparing OSBP resulted in comparison of any reduction in anti-hypertensive medication burden. The win ratio analysis was repeated using thresholds of 3.5 mmHg for ASBP change, 5 mmHg for OSBP change and any net change in medication burden. Results: The calculated win ratio favored RDN: 2.78 (95% CI: 1.58, 5.48, p<0.001), using thresholds of 5 mmHg for ASBP change, 10 mmHg for OSBP change, and any net change in medication burden, all at 6 months. To test the sensitivity of the analysis, the BP thresholds were changed to 3.5 mmHg for ASBP and 5 mmHg for OSBP, and the win ratio analysis was repeated, resulting in a win ratio again in favor of RDN of 2.68 [1.58, 5.00], p<0.001. Conclusions: Win ratio methodology applied to the SPYRAL HTN-ON MED pilot study demonstrated that RDN was associated with a 2.6-2.8 times greater likelihood of BP or drug reduction compared with sham patients when evaluated across different BP reduction thresholds at 6 months.

Desertion and Love in Novel Gizzara (Kutunggu Kau Di Tapal Batas Kuldezen) by Fanny J.Poyk

Aims: Describe the desertion and love of characters in the novel Gizzara (I am Waiting for You at the Boundary of Kuldenzen) by Fanny J. Poyk: a critical hermeneutic study of Jurgen Habermas. Study Design: Multidisciplinary Place and Duration of Study: Graduate Program of Indonesian Bahasa and Literature Education University of Lampung, August 2019 until now Methodology: Qualitative research is some scientific activity procedures that can be used to solve problems according to different perspectives and approaches. The process of parsing and understanding the meaning of literary works is the focus of hermeneutics. Data collection techniques in this study used reading, note-taking, and literature techniques. Content analysis is used to explore the ideas expressed by writers (authors) in the form of statements, questions, and character dialogues. This technique is to understand the message of literary works. Result: Based on the discussion, Fanny has made her work as an integral part of the problems that are happening today even though it is packaged in a past dimension with dozens of characters. Desertion may occur due to the opposing group which gives a feeling of peace, comfort, and even affection and love for him. Desertion is used to escape from psychological pressure. It is different from the material pressure, Psychology requires comfort in order to live a happier and more normal life. Although, other pressures (work, family, economic, or finance) affects a person's psychology and its culmination becomes psychological pressure too. Gizzara (I am Waiting for You at the Boundary of Kuldenzen) appeared as a literary work which is not just a representation of social or cultural, but also the alienation of the people that was shown in the past. Textually and contextually, this novel displays an awareness of human unhappiness for dealing with a world as not we desire.

The Role of Social Media in Intrastakeholder Strategies to Influence Decision Making in a UK Infrastructure Megaproject: Crossrail 2

This article examines the role of social media in public stakeholder and intrastakeholder group strategies to influence decision making in the consultation stage of UK infrastructure megaprojects. The context is the consultation process on the construction of a new Crossrail 2 station in Chelsea, London, where there is resistance. Analysis of social media communication by the affected public groups and interviews with the opposing group shows different intragroup concerns, with stakeholders developing a strong identity enabled by social media. To reduce perceived lack of responsiveness, we recommend that project managers harness social media marketing principles for ongoing relationship building.

The partisan contours of conspiracy theory beliefs

The “conspiracy theories are for losers” argument suggests that out-of-power groups use conspiracy theories to sensitize minds, close ranks, and encourage collective action. Two necessary conditions of this argument are that (1) group members subscribe mostly to conspiracy theories that malign out-groups or bolster their in-group, and (2) group members must recognize whether conspiracy theories emanate from their own group, an opposing group, or are outside of partisan conflict. Using representative survey data from the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we show that conspiracy accusations follow the contours of partisan conflict: partisans accuse opposing groups, rather than co-partisans or non-partisans, of conspiring. Using MTurk data, we show that partisans can differentiate between the conspiracy theories coming from members of each party. We suggest that many conspiracy beliefs behave like most partisan attitudes; they follow the contours of partisan conflict and act as calling cards that send clear signals to co-partisans.

Female monkeys use both the carrot and the stick to promote male participation in intergroup fights

Group-level cooperation often poses a social dilemma in which joint action may be difficult to achieve. Theoretical models and experimental work on humans show that social incentives, such as punishment of defectors and rewarding of cooperators, can promote cooperation in groups of unrelated individuals. Here, we demonstrate that these processes can operate in a non-human animal species, and be used to effectively promote the production of a public good. We took advantage of the fact that intergroup fights in vervet monkeys ( Chlorocebus aethiops pygerythrus ) are characterized by episodes of intergroup aggression with pauses in-between. During pauses, females selectively groomed males that had participated in the previous aggressive episode, but aggressed male group members that had not. In subsequent (i.e. future) episodes, males who had received either aggression or grooming participated above their personal base-line level. Therefore, female–male aggression and grooming both appear to function as social incentives that effectively promote male participation in intergroup fights. Importantly, females stood to gain much from recruiting males as the probability of winning intergroup fights was dependent on the number of active participants, relative to the number of fighters in the opposing group. Furthermore, females appear to maximize the benefits gained from recruiting males as they primarily used social incentives where and when high-quality food resources, which are the resources primarily limiting to female fitness, were at stake.

Oxazolochlorins. 14.

The structure of 8-oxo-5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-7-oxaporphyrinN24-oxide, C43H28N4O3, (4B), shows thatN-oxidation of the pyrrole opposite the oxazolidone group cants the pyrrole out of the mean plane of the chromophore. This also affects the oxazolidone group, which is also slightly canted out. This conformation is qualitatively similar to that of the parentmeso-tetraphenylporphyrinN-oxide, but dissimilar to that of the porpholactoneN-oxide isomer 8-oxo-5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-7-oxaporphyrinN22-oxide, (4A), carrying theN-oxide at the oxazolidone group. While the degree of canting of theN-oxidized groups in both cases is comparable (and more pronounced than in the porphyrinN-oxide case), in (4A) the pyrrolic groups adjacent to theN-oxidized group are more affected than the opposing group. These differences in the conformational modes may contribute to rationalizing the distinctly different electronic properties of (4A) and (4B).

Web Traffic Aggregation

One reason for registering domain names is for use in funneling Web traffic to a particular destination. Procter & Gamble (P&G) owns many domain names based on generic words that can be used to funnel visitors toward P&G brands. Cough.com, germs.com, and sinus.com all currently bring visitors to a page that takes United States visitors to the single Web site, vicks.com. Vicks.com in turn promotes P&G’s Vicks-branded line of products that are associated with cough, germ, and sinus remedies. Gooogle.com, gogle.com, goolge.com, googel.com, and foofle.com are all owned by Google, used to redirect, or automatically take, visitors to a single Web site, google.com. In this way, Google is aggregating Web traffic, generated from all people who type these misspellings, to a single Web site. Unfortunately, such traffic aggregation is sometimes used in ways that can create victims. A child who uses the URL (uniform resource locator) whitehouse.com with the intention to research a school assignment on the American White House (at http://whitehouse.gov) will be taken to a Web site with adult content. Someone who believes that he or she is using the URL of a Web site devoted to gun control could end up at a Web site with a threatening message by an opposing group (cf. “Hacker Intercepts,” 2000; Montgomery, 2000). Someone who types what is thought to be the name of a popular children’s Web site might be taken to a site that tricks people into downloading malicious software (cf. Happy Trails Computer Club, 2004; “IIS Exploit,” 2004; MIT IS&T, n.d.; Spector, 2002). People might click on an index link or a personal bookmark to visit a school or church Web site, not knowing that the organization is using a new Web address, and be taken to a Web site with adult content (Markovich, 2001; cf.Bryant, 2001; Hardy, 2001).

Geweld in 'n evangelie van liefde: Die Evangelie van Johannes se perspektief op geweld teen Jesus en sy dissipels

Violence in a gospel of love: The perspective of the Gospel of John on violence against Jesus and his disciples This article is the first of two articles in which violence in the Gospel of John is discussed. In these articles strong techniques of vilification in the Gospel are pointed out, according to which the status of the opposing group is radically discredited by the Jews on the one hand, and the followers of Jesus on the other hand. In the first article violence and vilification by the Jews, or disciples of Moses against the followers and disciples of Jesus are investigated. It is argued that the central issue of the conflict revolves around the question: Where is God's presence to be found? Among the Jews or among the followers of Jesus? The conflict and violence in John could be understood against the backdrop of this important question.