This paper extends recent research studying biases in venture capitalist's decision-making. We contribute to this literature by analyzing biases arising due to similarity between a venture capitalist and members of a venture team. We summarize the psychological foundations of such similarity effects and derive a set of hypotheses regarding the impact of similarity on the assessement of team quality. Using data from a conjoint experiment with 51 respondents, we find that venture capitalists tend to favor teams that are similar to themselves w.r.t. the type of training and professional experience. Our results have important implications for academics and practitioners alike. (authors' abstract)

Several studies have reported a strong bias in both human and non-human species for cradling their infants to the left side of the body. Most studies suggest that the main reason this phenomenon is the predominance of the right hemisphere of the brain for the processing of emotions and its transference, through brain laterality, to the left side of the body. Many other variables, including handedness, footedness, stress and depression have also been found to have some effect on cradling side. However, no study has been published for an Arab population. Given the strong religious and cultural belief of most Arabs that only the right hand should be used for most daily tasks, this study investigated the affect on cradling side of this habit, in addition to the factors named above. 369 Saudi citizens took part in this study. 234 lived in Saudi Arabia and 135 had lived in the UK for five or more years. 267 were women and 102 were men. Each answered a questionnaire which asked about their ‘preferred’ cradling side and then the 102 men were videotaped spontaneously cradling a real infant and an infant-like doll. Unfortunately, only the male sample could be videotaped due to restrictions on filming females in Saudi Arabia. The results confirmed those of previous studies by showing a very strong bias to leftside cradling. No difference was found between males and females in cradling a doll, or between the Saudi-based sample and the UK-based sample but the bias was significantly reduced in men. Apart from the influence of gender, the factors that reduced the cradling bias for a real infant were found to be lack of experience of parenthood, depression, stress and greater age of the infant. In cradling a doll, the most influential variables were handedness, footedness and depression. Further work is required on Arab samples, especially in examining spontaneous cradling by women and its relation to depression and stress. A mother’s mental state is known to affect the health of the infant and cradling side could be a useful filter for neonatal women who might require psychiatric treatment. Further research could also shed light on gender differences in the processing of emotion.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Human Resources Management)-Dept. of Human Resources Management, Durban University of Technology, 2008. ix, 132 leaves / The research outlines the statement of the problem, motivation for the study and the related legislated requirements for all research in the field of psychological assessment. It will also take a closer look at related issues supporting the background of psychometric testing and present day themes and trends that are becoming prevalent in contemporary practice. There is an in-depth discussion on Personality which is one of the main foundation components of the Discus Behaviour Profiling System which is personality. Points on, ethics, translation, validity, reliability, test construction and cross cultural matters are also discussed. / M

Research has documented a tendency among youth to have biased interpretations of ambiguous information. For example, anxious youth are more likely to interpret ambiguous situations as negative or threatening (e.g., Cannon & Weems, 2010). Similarly, when interpreting social cues, aggressive youth exhibit hostile attribution biases more often than non-aggressive youth in response to ambiguous situations (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1996). Research suggests that youth with anxiety and aggression exhibit differential physiological reactivity in response to threat. However, research has yet to examine the linkages amongst physiological reactivity to ambiguous situations, anxiety, and aggression in adolescents. The current study had several interrelated aims. Youths’ physiological responding (i.e., heart rate and skin conductance) to a series of animated vignettes depicting ambiguous social situations was examined. Anxiety, aggression, and hostile attributional bias (HAB) were also tested as predictors of differential physiological responding to the vignettes, as well as the interrelations between anxiety and HAB and aggression and HAB. Eighty youth completed a physiological assessment in which they viewed a series of hypothetical situational vignettes while their heart rate and skin conductance were measured. Participants also completed questionnaires measuring symptoms of anxiety, aggression, and HAB. Results indicated that there was differential physiological responding to the vignettes such that participants’ heart rates showed a pattern of deceleration followed by acceleration across time. Physiological responses were predicted by HAB such that those with high HAB had higher heart rates and exhibited more pronounced deceleration and acceleration across time than those with low HAB. There was support for anxiety as a significant predictor of responses among those participants with higher levels of HAB such that heart rates remained elevated with very little deceleration across time, suggesting a pattern of physiological hyperarousal and blunted reactivity. However, aggression did not predict differential physiological responding to the ambiguous vignettes, nor did HAB moderate the association between aggression and physiological responding. These findings add to the literature by contributing to knowledge about physiological responding to ambiguous situations and associations between this link with anxiety, aggression, and HAB.

The Swedish Curriculum for the upper secondary school states that teachers should “ensure that teaching in terms of content and its organisation is typified by a gender perspective” (Skolverket 2011, p. 9). Considering that there is no further information regarding what a “gender perspective” means in reality, this sentence could be interpreted in many different ways. This study aims to explore how EFL teachers deal with linguistic gender equality, and which strategies they use to maintain a gender inclusive language in their classroom. Six interviews were conducted with EFL teachers at upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. The results indicated that the teachers thought this was an important issue to consider in teaching, and that they had well-reasoned strategies for maintaining a gender perspective. The most prominently discussed strategies were encouraging reflection and discussion on these matters, and choosing appropriate literature that either would show a variety of different perspectives, or else would question the social norm. However, concerning their own language production, some of the teachers lacked explicit strategies for maintaining a gender inclusive language, which could derive from a lack in knowledge. Thus, this essay proposes that gender inequality in language needs to be more explicitly explored, both in teacher education and in further education for employed teachers. The teachers displayed an ambition to maintain a gender equal language teaching; and would benefit from more explicit tools to realize that.

There are at least two types of response to stimuli: an automatic response that happens before conscious thought (a Type 1 response) and a deliberative, intentional response (a Type 2 response). These responses are related to behavior associated with the affective loading of the stimulus presented. Prior research has shown, for example, that a Type 1 tendency to spend more time looking at fear-provoking stimuli is associated with higher levels of general anxiety, while a Type 2 tendency to spend more time looking away from happy faces is associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Some stimuli categories elicit mixed responses, indicated by discrepant Type 1 and Type 2 responses. For example, alcoholics in recovery tend to look toward alcohol-themed pictures in the first 200 milliseconds, then look away. This suggests that alcoholics in recovery have an automatic draw to alcohol that is overridden by the conscious application of a cognitive schema to avoid alcohol. Sexual response studies to date have measured Type 1 and Type 2 responses separately; however, no study has yet measured both types of response within the same person. This study was the first to examine both Type 1 and Type 2 responses to erotic stimuli within the same individual as a test of within-individual variation of attentional responses to sexual stimuli. Results do not support a connection between either attentional bias or conflicting Type 1 and Type 2 responses and sexual desire or distress. Implications of these non-findings are discussed in theoretical and methodological contexts, and future research is suggested.

The aim of this study was to examine opinion texts and news articles concering the debate about whether or not Sweden should join Nato. The question about a Swedish Nato membership has been dead for quite a while, but a study from the SOM-institute in 2015 showed that for the first time in decades a majority of the swedees was in favour of joing Nato.   This study uses a quantative method to examine several aspects of the debate and reporting in the following news papers: Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenskan and Svenska Dagbladet. The research goes into bias, the general charateristics of the reporting and how Russia is portrayed. Russia has lately been viewed as an antagonist of Nato. Therefore, it was deemed probable that the portraying of Russia could have an impact on the way swedes percieve Nato.   The results of the study shows that the majority of the text published in relation to the topic were opinion texts. There was a general pattern were the political colour of the newspaper had some effect on the published material, but not enough that it could be deemed as being biased biased.   Russia were often portrayed in a negative tone and was also often portrayed as being a threat to other european countries.

Telemedicine offers an alternative referral strategy for fetal cardiology but is currently only used for ‘high-risk’ pregnancies. A case-study of a cost-consequences analysis comparing telemedicine to direct referral to a perinatal cardiologist is initially presented, which highlights that for high risk women for whom telemedicine was considered no cardiac anomalies were missed using either referral method. In the light of a review of the literature on the economics of telemedicine, three of the key methodological issues (of selection bias, of patient costs and using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)) are explored to demonstrate how the case study analysis could be improved. Pregnant women were selected for referral based on their characteristics and risk factors; thus the cost and effects for the two groups may have been biased. Various methods identified in the literature are applied to the case study to reduce selection bias, but the analysis presented is unable to determine which method is best, given a number of limitations including the small sample size. The analysis is extended to include estimated total patient costs. However, when patient costs are added to the total costs of pregnancy, they did not substantially increase the overall cost. The results presented provide a guideline for future researchers and pregnant women of the likely costs during pregnancy. Given that the majority of missed cardiac anomalies were amongst low risk women, a decision analytical model is developed looking at the lifetime costs and QALYs of introducing telemedicine screening for pregnant women whose unborn babies are at a low risk of congenital heart disease. The analysis shows that offering telemedicine to all low risk women is the dominant strategy. The thesis demonstrates, within the constraints of existing data, that it would be cost-effective to provide telemedicine as part of an antenatal screening programme for all low risk women, and this would help prevent future ‘missed anomalies’.

Ryanodine receptors (RyR) are intracellular channels that are intricately involved in Ca2+ release. These channels large membrane proteins~2.26MDa in size. In this multi-goal project firstly we successfully studied the gating mechanics of the RyR1 in the presence of Mg2+. We used single particle reconstruction and image processing techniques to obtain the 3D structure of the RyR1 with Mg2+. The 3D structure in the presence of Mg2+ and an ATP analog is the closest representation of human physiological conditions. The open and closed state structures of RyR1 are known. However, the physiologically closed state has not been studied before. Understanding this structure will help in the understanding of protein interactions. Our second goal was the validation of this 3D structure under different levels of noise. Validation under different noise levels analyzed the problem of noise bias is present in the field of cryo-EM and single particle reconstruction in select cases.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of disability in young people and yet there are no interventions available which reliably alter disease progression. This is despite several decades of research using the most common animal model of multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). There is now emerging evidence across the neurosciences to suggest that limited internal validity (measures to reduce bias) and external validity (e.g. using a clinically relevant animal model) may influence the translational success. Aim and objectives: To provide an unbiased summary of the scope of the literature on candidate drugs for MS tested in EAE to identify potential reasons for the failures to translate efficacy to clinical trials. My objectives were, across all of the identified publications, to: (1) describe the reporting of measures to reduce bias and to assess their impact on measures of drug efficacy; (2) assess the relationship between treatment related effects measured using different outcome measures; (3) assess the prevalence and impact of any publication bias; (4) compare findings from the above with another disease with limited translational success (Parkinson’s disease; PD). Methods: I used systematic searches of three online databases to identify relevant publications. Estimates of efficacy were extracted for neurobehavioural scores, inflammation, demyelination and axon loss. For PD experiments, we searched for dopamine agonists tested in animal models of PD with outcome assessed as change in neurobehavioural scores. I calculated normalised mean difference or standardised mean difference effect sizes and combined these in a meta-analysis using a random effects model. I used stratified meta-analysis or meta-regression to assess the extent to which different study design characteristics explained differences in reported efficacies. These characteristics included: measures to reduce bias (random allocation to group and blinded assessment of outcome), the animal species, sex, time of drug administration, route of drug administration and the number of animals per group. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plotting, Egger regression and “trim and fill”. Results: I identified 1464 publications reporting drugs tested in EAE. Reported study quality was poor: 11% reported random allocation to group, 17% reported blinded assessment of neurobehavioural outcomes, 28% reported blinded assessment of histological outcomes, and < 1% reported a sample size calculation. Estimates of efficacy measured as the reduction in inflammation were substantially higher in unblinded studies (47.1% reduction (95% CI 41.8-52.4)) versus blinded studies (33.1% (25.8-40.4). Moreover, the same finding was identified for 121 publications on dopamine agonists tested in experimental PD models where efficacy was measured as change in neurobehavioural outcomes. For EAE studies we were unable to include data from 631 publications describing original research. Usually this was because the publication did not include basic details such as the number of animals in each group (115 publications), the observed variance (592) or suitable control data (49). For each category of outcome I found evidence of a substantial publication bias. Interventions were most commonly administered on or before the induction of EAE with shorter times to treatment associated with higher estimates of efficacy for the reduction in mean severity scores (a neurobehavioural outcome). Treatment related effects were found to vary across different outcome measures with the largest effect being for the reduction in axon loss. Where neurobehavioural scores and axon loss were measured in the same cohort of animals, the concordance between efficacies in these increased with later times to treatment. Conclusions: In this, the largest systematic review and meta-analysis of animal studies in any domain, I have found that a large number of publications present incomplete data. In addition, measures to reduce bias are seldom reported, the lack of which is associated with overstatements of efficacy for both a measure of drug efficacy in EAE and experimental PD studies. Translational success may have also been affected by the majority of studies administering drugs on or before EAE induction which is of limited relevance in the clinical setting where patients do not present at that stage of disease. Moreover, my analysis of the relationship between outcome measures provides empirical evidence from systematically identified studies to suggest that targeting axon loss as later time points is most strongly associated with improvements in neurobehavioural scores. Therefore drugs which are successfully able to target axon loss at these time points may offer substantial hope for clinical success. Overall, improvements in the conduct and reporting of preclinical studies are likely to improve their utility, and the prospects for translational success. While my findings relate predominately to the animal modelling of MS and PD it is likely that they also hold for other animal research.