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The Estirando el chicle [Stretching the chewing gum] audiovisual podcast is analyzed as a success story that focuses on the connection between the program and its social audiences to determine whether elements of parasociality exist. The case study method is used, with a mixed design that combines discourse analysis and content analysis to understand: 1) the discursive strategies used by the creators, searching for a co-orientation effect with their audience, and 2) whether fandom expresses the existence of parasociality on Youtube. The results show that the hosts use five strategies to be perceived as authentic and to connect with their audience: self-revelation, the “behind-the-scenes” narrative subgenre, visibility of mental health issues, rejection of the aspirational discourse of influencers, and the simulation of interaction. As regards signs of parasociality among the fandom, it is found that 63.8% of comments address the hosts with familiarity, 14.4% of the texts express affectivity belonging to the primary group, and the gratifications from the podcast obtained are entertainment (46.5%), the sense of belonging to the community (18.9%), self-expression (11%), identification (4.7%), and an improvement in some aspect of their life (4.7%).

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On the network level, a condition index is used to describe the pavement distress information that could be utilized for the treatment of pavement conditions in the future. The aim of the present research was to determine the most effective index that suits the network of Jazan—a major city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this study, four indices, including (1) present serviceability rating (PSR), (2) present serviceability index (PSI), (3) international roughness index (IRI), and (4) urban distress index (UDI) were investigated. A comparison between the four indices has been made to determine the most effective index to be adopted by the municipality of Jazan for planning and management of urban roads in the city. The study includes the data of 10 urban major roads in the city of Jazan, consisting of 18 pavement sections with a total length of 33 km. In the investigation, it was found that the correlation between UDI and PSI in measuring the pavement condition is very high (85%), which indicates the reliability of these indices in the measurement of the pavement conditions. Hence, the study recommends the PSI as a first choice as it gives reliable information about the pavement condition for urban flexible pavements by using three distresses (cracking, patching, and rutting) only. Also, UDI has been recommended as the second choice, which requires the survey of all pavement distresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pavement serviceability index (PSI) is one of the pavement performance measures that have been originally used in the AASHO (currently AASHTO) road test to evaluate the pavement condition. The PSI is highly correlated with roughness index which is currently used in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design method to predict pavement performance. Therefore, PSI is still considered an important index used for pavement performance evaluation. Experimental PSI models based on regression analysis were developed in this research study. The study involved thirty-five asphalt pavement sections with a 366-m (1200 ft) length representing thirty-five rural highways. Pavement distresses, including linear and fatigue cracking, rut depth, raveling, patching, debonding and potholes were measured. In addition, the present serviceability rating (PSR) and the roughness (measured by the slope variance (SV)) were obtained. The ride quality on a scale from 0 to 5 was used to provide the PSR, where 5 is the highest rating and 0 is the lowest rating. Two PSI regression models were developed that can be used for rough pavements (SV ≥ 500) and smooth pavements (SV = 500), respectively. The most significant variables affecting the PSI were found to be rut depth, debonding and potholes (merged in one variable). Linear cracking and rut depth were found to be the second significant variable affecting PSI for rough pavements and smooth pavements, respectively. On the other hand, the slope variance had a relatively higher effect on the PSR of smooth pavements than that of rough pavements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines parasocial relationships (PSRs), perceived credibility Infowars host Alex Jones, and viewing frequency. Through our sample of Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) users (N = 584), we explored which attributes of PSRs are related to perceived credibility of Alex Jones and viewing propensity. Variety in PSR imaginative sequences predicts perceived credibility, and valence predicts viewing. Demographics, particularly age, education, and help predict the influence of these particular attributes of PSR on viewing, while race (and education to some extent) influences how valence, variety, and specificity predict perceived credibility. This research highlights the value of parasocial research as scholars navigate our media landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]