How Much Can Positive Media Affect People’s Opinions of Biotechnology?
Abstract By Georgina Anderson
Agricultural Biotechnology
In recent years, agricultural biotechnology has been viewed in a very negative light by the general public. A lack of education about important advances in this field is partially responsible for the public’s opinions. How easily are people reassured of the safety of agricultural biotechnology’s contribution to the nation’s food supply? This research project is trying to answer this question. By measuring volunteers’ attitudes toward agricultural biotechnology. The volunteers will have access to a series of readings about agricultural biotechnology in the nation’s food supply, and then the volunteers will take a second survey measuring their opinions of agricultural biotechnology after being educated in the basic ideas of agricultural biotechnology and how it relates to the nation’s food supply.Readers of the Advocate-Messenger newspaper in Danville, KY are being asked to take part in an internet survey about their opinions toward biotechnology. The survey utilizes Likert-like questions as well as open-ended qualitative questions to assess participants’ positive or negative opinions of biotechnology, their perceived current knowledge of biotechnology, as well as standard demographic questions such as age, education level and occupation. Volunteers are then being directed to a series of four articles that will be published in the newspaper. These articles focus on historical and recent advances in biotechnology, as well as some of the major debates about biotechnology. A post-test will be given. The post-test’s questions will be identical to those asked on the pre-test, with the addition of questions pertaining to how many of the published articles the volunteers read.
The quantitative data collected will be analyzed using the SSPS Data Analysis Software. The qualitative data collected will be analyzed to determine the major themes and concerns of the participants relating to the study.
A follow-up article will be published in the Advocate- Messenger Newspaper to inform volunteers and other newspaper readers of the results of the study. A scholarly paper based on this study will be submitted to the Anthropologists and Sociologists of KY 2003 Annual Meeting. The information gathered in this study could be used to create programs to educate the public so that people understand what biotechnology is really about and what major advances have been made in this field resulting in more and higher quality food being available to consumers world wide.Developmental Changes in Media Use in ADHD and Comparison Children
Abstract By Rebecca Dayle Ashby
Psychology and Education
Many parents and professionals are confronting the challenges of raising and educating children who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The role of media habits in the lives of these children is a particularly controversial issue that has recently incurred much debate. While many parents report that television is one of the few activities that can sustain their child’s attention, some experts postulate that the rapid pace of television may worsen, if not cause, ADHD symptomatology.Although the media habits of these children may pose a significant concern, little empirical research on this subject exists. This current study recognizes that in order to aptly report about the media habits of children with ADHD and those without the disorder, a few central questions must be answered. First, are the media habits of children with ADHD significantly different than those of comparison children? For instance, does television viewing replace reading among children with ADHD? Second, do parental beliefs about reading and television differ between these groups and are those parental beliefs manifested in their child’s media use? Third, are the media habits of children with ADHD and non-referred children different across age groups? In addition to examining these questions, the longitudinal design of this study also allows us to investigate the ways in which media habits change and develop in specific groups over time. Participants in this study include the families of approximately ninety-five children diagnosed with ADHD and the families of approximately one hundred and fifty comparison children.
When parents initially brought their children to the lab to participate in the ongoing television viewing and language development research project, they completed a “media habits questionnaire” that assessed a number of variables relevant to their child’s reading and television habits and environment. The current study primarily seeks to examine the relation between that questionnaire and a new but similar “home habits questionnaire.” Data have already been collected and entered for the majority of the participants and those data are being analyzed. Preliminary results obtained from this study are currently being developed into a poster that will be submitted for presentation to the Society for Research in Child Development biennial conference.
The Effects of stress on the Liverwort, Marchantia Injlexa
Abstract By Jacob Ball
BiologyDuring the summer of 2003, work began on an experiment to determine the growth patterns of the bryophyte, Marchantia injlexa. M. injlexa is found along streams, ranging from Tennessee to Northern Venezuela. This plant produces offspring via sexual reproduction (by spores) and via asexual reproduction (by gemmae within cupules).
When the experiment to determine the growth patterns of M. injlexa began, a sub-culture of the plant was also set-up in a growth chamber to further examine growth patterns. While growing this sub-culture in July of 2003, the observation was made that when M injlexa encounters cold stress it responds by producing gemmae. Due to a malfunction in the growth chamber, the plants were subjected to a temperature of 0o Celsius for a period of approximately 12 hours. After the malfunction was corrected, and a period of time had passed, the plants had all produced cupules containing gemmae. Before the plants were exposed to the freezing temperature, none of them had gemmae producing structures. The objectives of the proposed study are to specifically test if cold and other relevant stressors induce plants to reproduce asexually. Other stressors that will be tested are breaking and drought.
Current Progress and Future Plans
Currently, over 300 sample plants chosen from various random genotypes are growing in the greenhouse space provided by the University of Kentucky and Dr. N. Mcletchie. The results of a preliminary experiment on a greatly reduced sample size have thus far been promising, with cupules produced in a number of the plants. Once the plants have had adequate time to grow and recover from the initial stress of being relocated for this study, testing will begin on a much larger sample consisting of over 250 plants.
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