Leveraging sponsorships on the Internet: Activation, congruence, and articulation

This paper considers how the Internet can be used to leverage commercial sponsorships to enhance audience attitudes toward the sponsor. Definitions are offered that distinguish the terms leverage and activation with respect to sponsorship-linked marketing; leveraging encompasses all marketing communications collateral to the sponsorship investment, whereas activation relates to those communications that encourage interaction with the sponsor. Although activation in many instances may be limited to the immediate event-based audience, leveraging sponsorships via sponsors' Web sites enables activation at the mass-media audience level. Results of a Web site navigation experiment demonstrate that activational sponsor Web sites promote more favorable attitudes than do nonactivational Web sites. It is also shown that sponsorsponsee congruence effects generalize to the online environment, and that the effects of sponsorship articulation on audience attitudes are moderated by the commerciality of the explanation for the sponsor-sponsee relationship. Importantly, the study reveals that attitudinal effects associated with variations in leveraging, congruence, and orientation of articulation may be sustained across time.

Researching with and for young children : congruence and authenticity in methodology

Early childhood educators insist on recognition of young children’s personal agency and have identified that young children experience life more holistically than any other age group. This paper identifies the irony that, despite clear evidence that artistic expression is essential to development in young children, to date, the field of art in early childhood education has rarely embraced phenomenology which would appear to be an ideal means of illuminating young children’s experiences. We exemplify the importance of congruence and authentic artistic experience with a study into young children’s experiences of displaying their art. We describe the central features of Giorgi’s (1985a, 1985b) approach to phenomenological psychology and assert its appropriateness not only on the grounds that it is an empirical, clear and concise way of uncovering human experience, but also because it is congruent with current understandings of early childhood and reveals the children’s authentic experiences of themselves as artists.

Does 'fit' matter in nonprofits? Exploring value congruence, role stressors and employee health

The number of employees working in nonprofit organisations has grown significantly. These employees are often motivated to join these organisations by a strong desire to fulfil the particular vision and mission of that nonprofit (such as helping the community). While the effects of employee organisation value congruence on job-related attitudes are reasonably well documented, little consideration has been given to the nonprofit context and also perceptions of work stressors and health outcomes. A sample on nonprofit employees from a human services organisation (N = 181) was surveyed with results suggesting that value congruence was related to lower perceptions of role stressors. The results further revealed that value congruence was related to less favourable employee health in some circumstances. Outcomes are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical importance.

Health promotion in palliative care : the case for conceptual congruence

This article provides a critical review of the literature relevant to the conceptual foundations of health promoting palliative care. It explores the separate emergence and evolution of palliative care and health promotion as distinct concerns in health care, and reviews the early considerations given to their potential convergence. Finally, this article examines the proposal of health promoting palliative care as a specific approach to providing end of life care through a social model of palliative care. Research is needed to explore the impact for communities, health care services and policy when such an approach is implemented within palliative care organisations.

Value congruence and job-related attitudes in a nonprofit organization: A competing values approach

Researchers have highlighted the importance of the nonprofit sector, its continued growth, and a relative lack of literature particularly related to nonprofit organizational values. Therefore, this study investigates organizational culture in a human services nonprofit organization. The relationship between person-organization value congruence and employee and volunteer job-related attitudes is examined (N = 227). Following initial qualitative enquiry, confirmatory factor analyses of the Competing Values Framework and additional values revealed five dimensions of organizational values. The relationship between value congruence, and employee and volunteers' job-related attitudes was examined using polynomial regression techniques. Analyses revealed that for employees, job-related attitudes were influenced strongly by organization values ratings, particularly when exceeding person ratings of the same values. For volunteers, person value ratings exceeding organization value ratings were especially detrimental to their job-related attitudes. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.

Novel risk loci for rheumatoid arthritis in Han Chinese and congruence with risk variants in Europeans

Objective To investigate differences in genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Han Chinese as compared with Europeans. Methods A genome-wide association study was conducted in China with 952 patients and 943 controls, and 32 variants were followed up in 2,132 patients and 2,553 controls. A transpopulation meta-analysis with results from a large European RA study was also performed to compare the genetic architecture across the 2 ethnic remote populations. Results Three non-major histocompatibility complex (non-MHC) loci were identified at the genome-wide significance level, the effect sizes of which were larger in anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive patients than in ACPA-negative patients. These included 2 novel variants, rs12617656, located in an intron of DPP4 (odds ratio [OR] 1.56, P = 1.6 × 10 -21), and rs12379034, located in the coding region of CDK5RAP2 (OR 1.49, P = 1.1 × 10-16), as well as a variant at the known CCR6 locus, rs1854853 (OR 0.71, P = 6.5 × 10-15). The analysis of ACPA-positive patients versus ACPA-negative patients revealed that rs12617656 at the DPP4 locus showed a strong interaction effect with ACPAs (P = 5.3 × 10-18), and such an interaction was also observed for rs7748270 at the MHC locus (P = 5.9 × 10-8). The transpopulation meta-analysis showed genome-wide overlap and enrichment in association signals across the 2 populations, as confirmed by prediction analysis. Conclusion This study has expanded the list of alleles that confer risk of RA, provided new insight into the pathogenesis of RA, and added empirical evidence to the emerging polygenic nature of complex trait variation driven by common genetic variants. Copyright © 2014 by the American College of Rheumatology.

Congruence in QTL for adventitious rooting in Pinus elliottii x Pinus caribaea hybrids resolves between and within-species effects

Targeting between-species effects for improvement in synthetic hybrid populations derived from outcrossing parental tree species may be one way to increase the efficacy and predictability of hybrid breeding. We present a comparative analysis of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) which resolved between from within-species effects for adventitious rooting in two populations of hybrids between Pinus elliottii and P. caribaea, an outbred F1 (n=287) and an inbred-like F2 family (n=357). Most small to moderate effect QTL (each explaining 2-5% of phenotypic variation, PV) were congruent (3 out of 4 QTL in each family) and therefore considered within-species effects as they segregated in both families. A single large effect QTL (40% PV) was detected uniquely in the F2 family and assumed to be due to a between-species effect, resulting from a genetic locus with contrasting alleles in each parental species. Oligogenic as opposed to polygenic architecture was supported in both families (60% and 20% PV explained by 4 QTL in the F 2 and F1 respectively). The importance of adventitious rooting for adaptation to survive water-logged environments was thought in part to explain oligogenic architecture of what is believed to be a complex trait controlled by many hundreds of genes.

Cubic Sieve Congruence of the Discrete Logarithm Problem, and fractional part sequences

The Cubic Sieve Method for solving the Discrete Logarithm Problem in prime fields requires a nontrivial solution to the Cubic Sieve Congruence (CSC) x(3) equivalent to y(2)z (mod p), where p is a given prime number. A nontrivial solution must also satisfy x(3) not equal y(2)z and 1 <= x, y, z < p(alpha), where alpha is a given real number such that 1/3 < alpha <= 1/2. The CSC problem is to find an efficient algorithm to obtain a nontrivial solution to CSC. CSC can be parametrized as x equivalent to v(2)z (mod p) and y equivalent to v(3)z (mod p). In this paper, we give a deterministic polynomial-time (O(ln(3) p) bit-operations) algorithm to determine, for a given v, a nontrivial solution to CSC, if one exists. Previously it took (O) over tilde (p(alpha)) time in the worst case to determine this. We relate the CSC problem to the gap problem of fractional part sequences, where we need to determine the non-negative integers N satisfying the fractional part inequality {theta N} < phi (theta and phi are given real numbers). The correspondence between the CSC problem and the gap problem is that determining the parameter z in the former problem corresponds to determining N in the latter problem. We also show in the alpha = 1/2 case of CSC that for a certain class of primes the CSC problem can be solved deterministically in <(O)over tilde>(p(1/3)) time compared to the previous best of (O) over tilde (p(1/2)). It is empirically observed that about one out of three primes is covered by the above class. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evidence of host specificity and congruence between phylogenies of bitterling and freshwater mussels

Evidence of host specificity and congruence between phylogenies of bitterling and freshwater mussels. Zoological Studies 45(3): 428-434. Bitterling (Cyprinidae: Acheilognathinae) are freshwater fishes with a unique spawning relationship with freshwater mussels on whose gills they lay their eggs. During the breeding season of bitterling fishes, we collected 843 mussels belonging to 16 species from Lake Qinglan, central China and examined their gill chambers for the presence of bitterling larvae. Three species of bitterling larvae were identified; Acheilognathus tonkinensis, Ach. cf. meridianus, and Ach. barbatulus, in 3 species of mussel: Unio douglasiae, Lamprotula caveata, and L. tortuosa, suggesting host specialization. Using our own and other published data, we compared the respective phylogenies of bitterling and mussels, but failed to show clear congruence. However, broad specializations are evident, with Acheilognathus and Tanakia showing preferences for mussels with a relatively simple gill structure (Ableminae), and Rhodeus spp. showing preferences for mussels of the Anodontinae and Unioninae, which have more-complex gill structures.

Rain dances in the dry season: overcoming the religious congruence fallacy

Religious congruence refers to consistency among an individual’s religious beliefs and attitudes, consistency between religious ideas and behavior, and religious ideas, identities, or schemas that are chronically salient and accessible to individuals across contexts and situations. Decades of anthropological, sociological, and psychological research establish that religious congruence is rare, but much thinking about religion presumes that it is common. The religious congruence fallacy occurs when interpretations or explanations unjustifiably presume religious congruence. I illustrate the ubiquity of religious incongruence, show how the religious congruence fallacy distorts thinking about religion, and outline an approach to help overcome the fallacy.

Congruence between nuclear and mitochondrial genes in Demospongiae: A new hypothesis for relationships within the G4 clade (Porifera: Demospongiae)

The current morphological classification of the Demospongiae G4 clade was tested using large subunit ribosomal RNA (LSU rRNA) sequences from 119 taxa. Fifty-three mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) barcoding sequences were also analysed to test whether the 28S phylogeny could be recovered using an independent gene. This is the largest and most comprehensive study of the Demospongiae G4 clade. The 28S and CO1 genetrees result in congruent clades but conflict with the current morphological classification. The results confirm the polyphyly of Halichondrida, Hadromerida, Dictyonellidae, Axinellidae and Poecilosclerida and show that several of the characters used in morphological classifications are homoplasious. Robust clades are clearly shown and a new hypothesis for relationships of taxa allocated to G4 is proposed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.