Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Online dating can be the foundation of a healthy relationship if users disclose certain information to their partner at the right time.

Click here to view an online magazine on online dating.
The formation of romantic relationships online is extremely prevalent in today’s society. Research from relationship psychologists have found that one of the main factors in determining the success in a relationship is self-disclosure. Therefore, online dating can be a beneficial way to find a significant other if both sides can find a medium that discloses enough truthful information to create intimacy while also not releasing too much information that could potentially harm an individual’s vulnerability.

Many different personality types find online dating an alluring way to meet others, and there may even be a specific qualities a person has that leads them online.
Dr. Ryan Curtis, relationship psychology professor at the University of Maryland, explains what exactly people are looking for in online dating.



Essentially, anyone who is ready to have an intimate relationship could seek out online dating. According to researchers, people who have a high sensitivity towards being rejected may also be more comfortable in an online setting because they are more readily able to sort through people who they think will likely reject them, and also be cautious towards potential partners.

If partners aren’t honest with each other from the beginning, it could be detrimental to the relationship.

When self-presenting online, most people end up exaggerating their personalities and creating personas that recognize who they want to be rather than who they are. The online community fosters the capability for controlling one’s identity; therefore people are likely to be less honest with their potential significant other. Researchers questioned people who lied about mundane things like whether they smoked, had kids, physical appearance, etc., they found that participants justify them as mere exaggerations rather than displacements of their true self. These people also engaged in rationalizing techniques such as explaining that others were doing the same exact thing and explained how crucial it was to attract a large pool of dates from which they could choose from.

Ironically, both of these rationales go hand in hand, as people end up choosing from a large selection of dates that are just as likely to lie about their identities as the person choosing. Self-presentation allows for a sense of power (an individual can portray themselves as whoever they wish) but also when used in the wrong light can be a weak method for creating intimacy over the internet. If two people are both engaging in presenting their best selves, then there is no basis for trust and the relationship cannot flourish.

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Vedran Lekic's early accomplishments and expanding influence on the growing field of neutrino geology hopes to seismically map out the earth.

Lekic is now one of five alumni faculty members who have received the award while at this university, and he will be given access to unrestricted funds of $875,000 over a five-year period to support his extensive research on Earth’s inner structure.

Now that a large fund has been granted to his work, he hopes to spend more time plotting the seismic information in graphs and models so that he may better understand the Earth, Lekic said.

Lekic's past accomplishments fuel his future endeavors in redefining seismic technology.

Lekic has already used the seismic information to investigate why and how the crust moves over the Earth’s mantle. As of now, the deepest any machine has been able to dig was about 12 kilometers into the Earth’s crust, a minuscle fracture of the roughly 6,730 kilometers it takes to get to the Earth’s core. Using the seismic information helps geologists see the shapes and sizes of the Earth’s layers.

Lekic has received several other early career awards besides the Packard Fellowship.



In recognition of his efforts to integrate computer science and geological studies, Lekic joined the ranks of 17 other early career U.S. scientists and engineers who were awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering last week.

Lekic’s research is based on ground vibration recordings, which he and his students use to detect the scattering of seismic waves across the North American tectonic plate. In conjunction with the National Science Foundation’s EarthScope Facility network, the data is collected from the 49 states and Puerto Rico and makes up about 3.8 million square miles, Lekic said.

As a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkley, Lekic formulated higher-resolution images of the Earth’s mantle structure, stemming from his creation of a global seismic velocity model. Not only is the model able to give geologists a better understanding of plate tectonics, but it also helps explain the movement of continental plates and their evolution, Lekic said.

From this data, Lekic is creating a map that will not only cover all 48 contiguous states, Alaska and Puerto Rico, but also dive deep into the Earth’s crust and core.

Breaking research in the field of neutrino geoscience demonstrates a new way to analyze the earth and its layers.

Other than his seismology research contributions, Lekic is also a forerunner in the new geological field of neutrino geoscience.



Neutrinos are a type of electrically neutral subatomic particle that are created during radioactive decay or some kinds of nuclear reactions. The particle, which was only discovered geologically in 2005 and physically detected for the first time last year, moves through every kind of object, McDonough said.

“It sounds magical; it’s like a particle that exists but you can’t really see,” Lekic said of neutrinos.

Lekic's plan to map out the earth is analogous to an ultrasound and will allow researchers to "see through" the earth.

Lekic and McDonough are attempting to harness that energy to create another way to build a model of the Earth.

“What we do is comparable to how an ultrasound let’s us see through our bodies,” Lekic said. “But this lets us see through the Earth.”

Nearly 2 million data lines fill the screen of Vedran Lekic’s computer every day, each representing seismic waves that are detected from of the more than 1,700 seismic stations around the U.S.

“We are both interested in the energy that moves the tectonic plates and creates the magnetic shield around the planet,” geology professor William McDonough said.

“EarthScope is kind of like our Apollo mission, but not as costly,” Lekic said.



Sunday, October 19, 2014

Online dating proves successful when marriage is being the intention, but proves failure for casual dating.

In the past decade, online dating has become increasingly more popular in the quest to find a significant other. One in ten million Americans have reported using online dating, and two thirds of those report going on a date with someone that they met online.  Websites such as E-Harmony and Match.com are extremely popular among people who seek to use online dating’s many tools in connecting people.

Researchers surveyed relationships rooting from the internet over long periods of time.

In a study done by Dr. Aditi Paul in 2014, the success of relationships among 4,002 respondents were measured using the longitudinal survey, “How Couples Meet and Stay Together,” or HCMST. The surveys were taken in three waves: Wave I was taken at the start, Wave II was taken after one year and Wave III was taken after three years. It essentially asked the participants questions about their perceived success of their relationships. The researchers ended up finding that relationships that started online were less likely to be successful in marriage than their offline counterparts.

Casual romantic relationships can flourish online.

The majority of people using online dating tend to be looking for casual dating relationships, and these are proved to thrive in an online setting. 67% of the couples met online were in romantic, non-marital relationships. Therefore, it is important to use online dating at the discretion that a user will be less likely to find a successful long-term relationship that leads to marriage, however for a basic level of companionship, it can be a wonderful pathway for connecting two people.

There are three phenomena that explain the gap in relationships that are rooted in online dating versus those started in the real world.

It is astonishing that data can predict the patterns in relationships based on where they are started. One reason that marital relationships aren’t as successful when coming from the online world is because of the large number of options that are available to the participant at any given instant. People don’t put as many expectations into a possible online relationship, because they have thousands of other alternatives at their fingertips. *comparison level visual

The amount of time that it takes for a relationship to develop online is dramatically longer than in real life. The process involves making up a profile, looking through others’ profiles, matching, chatting online and assuming all of these steps happen without a hitch, meeting in real life. Online relationships do not mature as quickly as offline ones because of this lengthy process. However, this also explains why they do well for casual relationships that don’t need to make it into a sophisticated stage to be successful.

Online daters are more cautious about how their relationships develop, because establishing a level of trust can be difficult through a computer screen. It is more difficult to understand someone’s real identity without communicating face-to-face. Therefore, partners are cautious when disclosing information because they are weary of who they are talking to on the other side of the web.

Online dating can be quite useful if each participant knows what he or she are looking for.

Essentially, don’t go looking for a wedding when creating an online dating profile. People are less likely to get married if they met online, and if they get married, are less likely to stay together in a happy relationship. When logging on to eHarmony, seeking a casual relationship will provide a more successful basis for finding a relationship partner.



Friday, October 3, 2014

Personalization on Social Media Sites Based On Usage

Social media sites are increasingly becoming more personalized by tracking what sites each person uses the most. People spend the most time on Facebook per day due to the fact that Facebook creates filter bubbles that personalize information that is relevant to the individual, while leaving seemingly irrelevant information out. Pinterest is a close second, because it displays unique crafts and recipes based on the user's preferences. Tumblr comes in third, with its uniqueness in the fact that out of all of these social media websites it displays the most visuals per post. Personalization isn't automatically implemented into Tumblr as users can choose who they wish to follow, only providing suggestions for users. Twitter follows a similar concept, as users can also choose who they want to follow. Ultimately, websites that are personalized automatically are often spent more time on.


Sunday, September 28, 2014

Teenagers and Communication: Who Uses What, More?

High school students use computer tools differently in an academic setting. More college students use presentation tools more in college than in high school, the use of RSS Feeds coming in a close second. Rarely are video, audio and social bookmarking used.

Social media and cell phones are much more highly used in daily life for teenagers than any other platform. This is likely because of the immediate gratification and constant feeling of being "plugged in" that having a cell phone and being on Facebook provide.