bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The orbitofrontal cortex and response selection
Authors: Young James J. , Shapiro Matthew L.
Published: December 2011

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) function is often characterized in terms of stimulus–reward mapping; however, more recent evidence suggests that the OFC may play a role in selecting and representing extended actions. First, previously encoded reward associations in the OFC could be used to inform responding in novel but similar situations. Second, when evaluated in tasks requiring the animal to perform extended actions, response selective activity can be recorded in the OFC. Finally, the interaction between the OFC and hippocampus illustrates OFC's role in response selection. The OFC may facilitate reward‐guided memory retrieval by selecting the memories most relevant to achieve a goal. This model for OFC function places it within the hierarchy of increasingly complex action representations that support decision making.
Buy Smart, Time Smart: Are Takeovers Driven by Growth Opportunities or Mispricing?
Authors: Van Bekkum Sjoerd , Smit Han , Pennings Enrico
Published: December 2011

Excessively high pricing by bidders and targets can be explained by new growth opportunities created by the merger or by irrational overpricing in financial markets. We integrate both explanations through a new decomposition of firm value and investigate whether it is “true” growth value or mispricing that drives takeover waves. We find that “bidders buy smart.” Bidders primarily have high market values because of growth opportunities and overpricing, and select targets that are less overpriced with similar fundamental growth value. Bidders also seem to “time smart.” Takeover activity increases when bidders are more overpriced, in order to cushion against price corrections.
Elevated expression of Rad18 regulates melanoma cell proliferation
Authors: Wong Ronald P.C. , Aguissa‐Touré Almass‐houd , Wani Aijaz A. , Khosravi Shahram , Martinka Michal , Martinka Magdalena , Li Gang
Published: December 2011

The E3 ligase Rad18 is a key regulator for the lesion bypass pathway, which plays an important role in genomic stability. However, the status of Rad18 expression in melanoma is not known. Using melanoma tissue microarray (TMA), we showed that nuclear Rad18 expression was upregulated in primary and metastatic melanoma compared to dysplastic nevi. Rad18 expression was significantly reduced in sun‐exposed sites compared to the sun‐protected sites. Strong Rad18 expression correlated with worse 5‐year patient survival and was an independent prognostic factor for melanoma found in the sun‐protected sites. Furthermore, we showed that melanoma cell proliferation and the expression of pAkt and cyclin D1 were reduced upon Rad18 knockdown. We, for the first time, showed that Rad18 is significantly increased in melanoma and predicts the poor outcome for melanoma in the sun‐protected sites. Rad18 is involved in the regulation of melanoma cell proliferation, which can be exploited in designing new strategy for melanoma treatment.
Effects of temperature, illumination and node position on stem propagation of Miscanthus × giganteus
Authors: Boersma Nicholas N. , Heaton Emily A.
Published: December 2011

The sterile triploid Miscanthus × giganteus is capable of yielding more biomass per unit land area than most other temperate crops. Although the yield potential of M. × giganteus is high, sterility requires all propagation of the plant to be done vegetatively. The traditional rhizome propagation system achieves relatively low multiplication rates, i.e. the number of new plants generated from a single‐parent plant, and requires tillage that leaves soil vulnerable to CO2 and erosion losses. A stem‐based propagation system is used in related crops like sugarcane, and may prove a viable alternative, but the environmental conditions required for shoot initiation from stems of M. × giganteus are unknown. A study was conducted to investigate the effect of temperature, illumination and node position on emergence of M. × giganteus shoots. Stems of M. × giganteus were cut into segments with a single node each, placed in controlled environments under varied soil temperature or light regimes and the number of emerged shoots were evaluated daily for 21 days. At temperatures of 20 and 25 °C, rhizomes produced significantly more shoots than did stem segments (P = 0.0105 and 0.0594, respectively), but the difference was not significant at 30 °C, where 63% of stems produced shoots compared to 80% of rhizomes (P = 0.2037). There was a strong positive effect (P = 0.0086) of soil temperature on emergence in the range of temperatures studied here (15–30 °C). Node positions higher on the stem were less likely to emerge (P < 0.0001) with a significant interaction between illumination and node position. Planting the lowest five nodes from stems of M. × giganteus in 30 °C soil in the light resulted in 75% emergence, which represents a potential multiplication rate 10–12 times greater than that of the current rhizome‐based system.
Primary Care Providers’ Views Regarding Assessing and Treating Suicidal Patients
Authors: Graham Ryan D. , Rudd M. David , Bryan Craig J.
Published: December 2011

Primary care providers (PCPs) usually do not explore patient suicidality during routine visits. Factors that predict PCP attitudes toward the assessment and treatment of suicidality were examined via an online survey of 195 practicing PCPs affiliated with medical schools in the United States. PCPs who perceived themselves as competent to work with suicidal patients were more willing to assess and more willing to treat suicidal patients, with the perception of competency fully explaining the relationship between training and willingness to treat. Female gender predicted lower self‐perceived competency, while in‐office access to professional mental health (MH) consultation predicted greater self‐perceived competency. Higher self‐perceived general competence predicted lower subjective valuation of access to MH consultation. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated a three‐way interaction between training, gender, and valuation of MH consultation as predictors of perceived competency, with training generally being associated with greater perceived competency to treat suicidality. Relative to their male counterparts, female PCPs have lower confidence in assessing and treating suicidality. Perceived competence in risk assessment should be given more attention in medical training because of its role in PCPs’ willingness to treat suicidality.
Nonlinear Dynamics: Theoretical Perspectives and Application to Suicidology
Authors: Schiepek Günter , Fartacek Clemens , Sturm Josef , Kralovec Karl , Fartacek Reinhold , Plöderl Martin
Published: December 2011

Despite decades of research, the prediction of suicidal behavior remains limited. As a result, searching for more specific risk factors and testing their predictive power are central in suicidology. This strategy may be of limited value because it assumes linearity to the suicidal process that is most likely nonlinear by nature and which can be more adequately described and analyzed with nonlinear dynamics. The goal of moving nonlinear dynamics from theory to practice and to real‐world phenomena can now be realized with Internet‐based monitoring systems such as the Synergetic Navigation System.
Family relationships and children's personality: A cross‐cultural, cross‐source comparison
Authors: Scott William A. , Scott Ruth , McCabe Morag
Published: December 2011

Children's self‐esteem, anxiety, interpersonal competence and hostility were assessed from 2699 high school children, their teachers and their parents in eight communities— Canberra, Brisbane, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Berlin, Hong Kong, Taipei and Osaka. Also, family harmony, parental nurturance, protectiveness and punitiveness were assessed from the children and their parents. The hypotheses that children's self‐esteem and low anxiety are associated with familial harmony and parental nurturance, poor interpersonal competence with parental protectiveness, and children's hostility with parental punitiveness were generally confirmed in all samples when the same person (child or parent) reported both independent and dependent variables. Cross‐source correlations were substantially lower, however (though often significant when averaged over cultures), suggesting that there was considerable contamination of perspective in the same‐source correlations. Children's views of the family appeared to be the more valid, on the basis of correlations with their personality characteristics, independently assessed. There was general uniformity over cultures in magnitudes of the correlations, whether based on the same or different sources of measures.
Self‐esteem and intergroup discrimination in the minimal group paradigm
Authors: Hogg Michael A. , Sunderland Jane
Published: December 2011

Social identity theory assigns self‐esteem a central motivational role in intergroup discrimination. There are two corollaries: (1) successful discrimination elevates self‐esteem, and (2) depressed self‐esteem motivates discrimination. Previous research yields contradictory findings which may partly be attributable to failure to conduct appropriate tests of the hypotheses. The present experiment tests both corollaries under conditions designed to overcome some of these limitations. Social categorization and prior transitory self‐esteem were manipulated in a 2 (group/individual) x 2 (success/failure) minimal group study. Additional control subjects run simultaneously with experimental subjects provided pre‐test self‐esteem measures to compare with experimental subjects' post‐test self‐esteem. Corollary 2 was upheld: lower self‐esteem subjects who were explicitly categorized discriminated significantly more than subjects in other conditions. Corollary 1 was not upheld: greater discrimination was not associated with higher post‐test or greater increase in self‐esteem. Some implications of these findings for the self‐esteem hypothesis in social identity theory are suggested.
Categorical effects on attributional inferences: A response‐time analysis
Authors: Macrae C. Neil , Shepherd John W.
Published: December 2011

Smith & Miller (1983), utilizing a response‐time methodology, demonstrated that perceivers make judgements of intentionality and of an actor's traits spontaneously in the comprehension of social information. In contrast, judgements of causation were shown to take significantly longer. It was argued, therefore, that causal judgements are mediated by more basic trait and intentionality inferences. These earlier findings, however, failed to consider the category membership of the actor as an important determinant of the speed with which a range of attributional inferences can be made. The present study, therefore, examined the effects of category activation on the speed with which perceivers can make various social judgements. Results supported the prediction that subjects have differential access to causal information depending upon the categorical consistency of behaviour.
Values and judgements of wage differentials
Authors: Dickinson Julie
Published: December 2011

This study examined the relationship between value priorities as assessed by the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) and judgements of wage differentials. Students completed the RVS and judged the fairness of the wages for a number of jobs. Judgements of fairness were related to differences in value priorities but the justifications provided did not relate to these value priorities or draw on similar systems. The results are discussed in relation to the question of whether or not values are systematically organized, core cognitive constructs.
Toward an assessment of social identity: The structure of group identification and its effects on in‐group evaluations
Authors: Karasawa Minoru
Published: December 2011

Two studies were conducted to explore relations among different aspects of group identification and their effects on in‐group evaluations. Two aspects of identification were differentiated, namely, identification with the group membership (IDgroup) and with other group members (IDmember). The first of these was assumed to be further divided into its cognitive and affective subcomponents. An identification scale was developed and administered to students of a Japanese vocational school. Factor analyses in Studies 1 and 2 distinguished IDgroup and IDmember, but the cognitive and affective components of the former were not separated. Experimental studies concurrently undertaken confirmed many of the predictions and contentions by social identity theorists. Of particular importance was the result from Study 1 that members with low IDgroup deprecated the in‐group when their negative social identity became salient, whereas those with high IDgroup (but not IDmember) did not. Both theoretical and applied implications are discussed.
Gazing in triads: A powerful signal in floor apportionment
Authors: Kalma Akko
Published: December 2011

This article deals with three experiments which revealed a special gazing pattern at the end of a speaker's turn in three‐person groups. This gazing pattern appears to perform a definite function with regard to turn taking. In the first experiment a fine‐grained, etho‐logically oriented description was obtained of the non‐verbal behaviour of 120 adult male subjects who participated in triadic discussion groups. Using sequential analysis, distinctive non‐verbal behaviour patterns were found. In addition we looked for differences between the non‐verbal behaviour of subjects who were the emergent leaders in their group and subjects who had the lowest position of influence. One of the most interesting differences is that leaders were more likely to show a ‘prolonged gaze’ pattern at the end of an utterance, as if inviting someone else to take the floor. In the second experiment the ‘prolonged gaze’ was defined more precisely. In this experiment the position of influence of 30 male subjects was manipulated by assigning roles in three‐person groups. It appeared that appointed leaders were more likely to show the ‘prolonged gaze’ pattern than persons who were not appointed leaders. In the third experiment the behaviour of 23 triads engaged in free discussions was registered. In order to obtain more general results both male and female groups were used. The ‘prolonged gaze’ was constructed from its observed component parts by a computer. Floor switches during three hours of triadic discussions showed that the person who displayed a ‘prolonged gaze’ would yield the floor, and that the receiver of the gaze was the most likely to take the floor. Therefore, the ‘prolonged gaze’ can be considered as a powerful yielding signal in turn taking.
Prototypicality, conformity and depersonalized attraction: A self‐categorization analysis of group cohesiveness
Authors: Hogg Michael A. , Hardie Elizabeth A.
Published: December 2011

The affective component of group cohesiveness is reconceptualized in terms of a distinct group‐based form of attraction: social attraction. It is hypothesized, from self‐categorization theory, that under conditions of self‐conception based on social as opposed to personal identity the basis and structure of attraction within a group becomes depersonalized in terms of the group prototype. Four‐person single‐sex groups made autokinetic judgements under conditions designed to accentuate individuality (low salience) or group membership (high salience). Females behaved as predicted. They manifested depersonalized attraction associated with self‐categorization in group terms, indicated by greater convergence on the group norm in the high salience condition. For males depersonalized attraction occurred in the low salience condition and was linked to convergence on some, not all, measures. The results are discussed in terms of subjective uncertainty, which was abnormally and inexplicably high among low salience male groups, and differences between this and an earlier naturalistic study by Hogg & Hardie (1991). In the light of this discussion it is concluded that the data for both sexes conform to a self‐categorization analysis of social attraction.
Local and global aspects of temporal patterning in the conversations of adults
Authors: Elias Gordon , Broerse Jack
Published: December 2011

A randomization procedure was used to examine local and global aspects of patterning in the conversations of 25 pairs of students. This procedure involved reorganizing the binary events constituting the partners' individual records, and then combining these events to produce randomized dyadic records of each conversation. Comparisons between the observed and randomized records indicated an overall tendency in all dyads to avoid covocalization (simultaneous talk). Notwithstanding this overall tendency, there were gender‐related differences between groups; dyads containing female participants tended to covocalize more frequently, and for longer durations, than male—male dyads. There was also a tendency for participants to respond promptly to the talk of their partners. We interpret these results as indicating that systematic variation in the use of covocalization may occur at local levels within the constraints set by information‐processing requirements at global levels.
Do people believe behaviours are consistent with attitudes? Towards a cultural psychology of attribution processes
Authors: Kashima Yoshihisa , Siegal Michael , Tanaka Kenichiro , Kashima Emiko S.
Published: December 2011

In individualistic English‐speaking cultures such as Australia, the United Kingdom, or the United States, attitudes and behaviours are often believed to be consistent. By contrast, in the Japanese culture, people may be primarily conceptualized as embedded within social contexts; the belief in consistency between attitudes and behaviour (the ABC belief) may be less strong and behaviours seen to be less consistent with attitudes. In this paper, we report two studies designed to examine the hypothesis that the strength of ABC beliefs underlies inferences in attributions of behaviour to attitudes. In Study 1, the relation of ABC beliefs to attitude attributions was examined in a sample of Australian undergraduate students. In Study 2, ABC beliefs and attitude attributions were compared in Australia and in Japan. As predicted, the ABC beliefs of Australians were related to the extremity of attributions for unconstrained behaviours and the Australians had stronger ABC beliefs than the Japanese. The results are discussed in relation to global cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism.
An attributional and value analysis of deservingness in success and failure situations
Authors: Feather N. T.
Published: December 2011

Hypotheses about deservingness and affect were tested in the context of an achievement situation in two studies that involved either a success outcome or a failure outcome. The degree to which a person deserved the outcome and affective reactions relating to the outcome were assumed to be related to attributions of responsibility for the outcome and also to whether positively (or negatively) valued behaviours led to positively (or negatively) valued outcomes. The two studies involved a total of 689 high school students, each of whom responded to a hypothetical scenario that contained information about the causes of a stimulus person's initial achievement status, whether the stimulus person was usually a high or average performer, and whether the stimulus person maintained performance or obtained a very low grade in a final important examination. The results were consistent with hypotheses and they provided new information supporting an attributional and value interpretation of deservingness and affect.
The structure of attitudes to a single object: Adapting Criterial Referents Theory to measure attitudes to ‘woman’
Authors: Smith Mandy , Walker Iain
Published: December 2011

Kerlinger's (1984) Criterial Referents Theory (CRT) is a theory of the structure of political attitudes to many objects. We modify and develop the theory to provide an account of the structure of attitudes to a single object—the social category ‘woman’. A three‐level hierarchical structure was proposed, spanning from principles (similar to Kerlinger's ‘ideologies’) through identities to behavioural referents. An 80‐item scale was used to examine this hypothesized structure. Factor analysis of data from 239 subjects revealed a second‐order factor structure which confirmed our structural hypotheses. Subscales constructed from the scale were related to scores on the Women in Society Questionnaire and to scores from a sentence‐completion task. The results clearly indicate that existing ‘attitudes to women’ scales, which assume a bipolar unidimensional structure, are inadequate, and that CRT is capable of accommodating structures of attitudes to single objects.
Attributions for objective outcome and subjective appraisal of performance: Their relationship with emotional reactions in sport
Authors: Biddle Stuart J. H. , Hill Andrew B.
Published: December 2011

Participants in a regional squash league (N = 74) were studied to ascertain the nature of relationships between attributions and emotions in sport. Attributions were assessed for objective outcome (win/loss) and subjective appraisal of performance (satisfied/dissatisfied). In addition, players were assessed on performance satisfaction, outcome importance and performance importance, as well as 16 emotions. Factor analyses yielded three factors for both outcome and performance attributions (personal sport ability, unstable and opponent). A factor analysis on emotion ratings produced three factors: positive self‐esteem, relaxation and surprised incompetence. Multiple regression analyses revealed that for winners, emotions were generally related to performance satisfaction rather than attributions, while for losers emotion was best predicted by unstable attributions and perceived importance. Players satisfied with their performance reported greater positive self‐esteem after unstable attributions, while emotion for dissatisfied players was best predicted by opponent attributions or perceived importance. Results are discussed in the context of Weiner's (1985, 1986) propositions on causal search, Vallerand's (1987) intuitive‐reflective appraisal model of sport emotion, and the structure of attributions in sport.
Knowledge‐based causal inference: Norms and the usefulness of distinctiveness
Authors: Smith Richard H. , Hilton Denis J. , Kim Sung Hee , Garonzik Ron
Published: December 2011

Research on Kelley's (1967, 1972) covariation model of causal attributions has typically overlooked the effects of subjects' prior knowledge of norms on causal judgements. The present studies were designed to show that such norms are important in part because they help govern the usefulness of distinctiveness information for making such attributions. Study 1 revealed that distinctiveness information is considered more useful for answering causal questions when it involves a low base rate event compared to when it involves a high base rate event. Study 2 showed that distinctiveness information involving a low base rate event makes dispositional attributions more likely. The results are discussed in terms of how they question the common belief that consensus information is underused in causal attributions and in terms of how various forms of social judgment appear affected by the inconspicuous yet influential presence of norms.
Judgements about victims and attackers in depicted rapes: A review
Authors: Pollard Paul
Published: December 2011

This paper reviews the effects on subjects' judgements of a variety of factors that have been included in experimental depictions of rape. The focus is on attribution of responsibility or fault to the victim or attacker and related judgements, particularly regarding guilt and sanctions. Generally, females make more pro‐victim judgements than do males, and people with non‐traditional sex‐role attitudes make more pro‐victim judgements than do holders of more traditional views. Other factors covered are various victim characteristics, victim‐attacker acquaintance, resistance, and victim attire and a range of behaviours prior to the attack. There are limits to generalization due to populations studied and methods used, and the observed effects of several factors are either minimal or inconsistent. However, some factors have reliable effects on judgements, which it is argued are explainable in terms of their link with traditional beliefs about women's rights and roles. Males have often been found to be more susceptible to these effects. In particular, it appears that if a female engages in any behaviour deemed to be ‘incautious’ that results in victimization then she may be perceived to be at fault, even though these behaviours would be ‘legitimate’ for males, and that prior romantic involvement with the attacker mitigates the perceived seriousness of, and may even be seen as supplying justification for, a sexual attack. The existence of these attitudes implies that rape may be tacitly condoned in many situations.
The relationship between causal attributions and judgements of the typicality of events described by sentences
Authors: Corrigan Roberta
Published: December 2011

Three experiments examined the influence of causal attributions on people's judgements of what is a typical event, as reflected in their judgements of what is a typical sentence. In Expt 1, college students judged the typicality of an event depicted by a sentence. In Expt 2, students judged which of two participants caused the action or state depicted in a sentence. In both experiments, the animacy of the participants interacted with different classes of action or experiencer verbs in similar ways to influence prototypicality judgements or causal attributions. There was a positive correlation between the degree of causality attributed to an event participant and the perceived typicality of the event. In Expt 3, students judged the prototypicality of the same sentences after they read an antecedent sentence that emphasized either the target sentence subject or object as causal agent. Manipulating the attribution of causality in this way influenced judgements of prototypicality, even though causal judgements were not explicitly demanded in the experiment. A particular type of world knowledge, causal knowledge about who does what to whom, seems to be particularly influential in our understanding of the sentence events described in this research. Even without context, causal attributions influence our view of the typicality of an event. With an appropriate context, the influence is accentuated.
The Personal Attributes Questionnaire in Britain: Establishing construct validity
Authors: McCreary Donald R. , Steinberg Maria
Published: December 2011

The Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) is a self‐report survey which was designed to measure the degree to which an individual has internalized instrumental and expressive gender‐role attributes. Originally developed and validated in the United States, researchers have begun to utilize this instrument in other cultures without sufficiently examining the effect that cross‐cultural factors may have on its construct validity. This study examines the emergent factor structure of the PAQ in a large, heterogeneous sample of British adults. While other non‐British studies have empirically confirmed the validity of the PAQ's two‐factor (instrumental and expressive) operationalization, the present analyses support a three‐component interpretation of the instrument. The findings indicate that the PAQ's expressivity scale is relatively homogeneous and unidimensional, but suggests that the instrumentality scale is tapping two distinct concepts. Explanations for the emergence of this three‐component solution were explored.
Group and organizational learning curves: Individual, system and environmental components
Authors: Argote Linda
Published: December 2011

This paper reviews evidence on group and organizational learning curves and examines whether there is evidence for the presence of a system learning curve at the level of the group or organization that is distinct from the learning curves of individual members. The extent to which group or organizational learning curves can be explained by learning from the experience of other groups or organizations in the focal unit's environment is also examined. Properties of group and organizational learning curves are described.
Effectiveness of informational and normative influences in group decision making depends on the group interactive goal
Authors: Rugs Deborah , Kaplan Martin F.
Published: December 2011

Male or female subjects believed they were exchanging notes with four other members of a decision‐making group of the same gender. Notes were contrived to exert either normative or informational influences. Instructions stressed either task goals, in which attaining the optimum, most correct decision was important, or group goals, which stressed group relations, mutual consideration and harmony. As predicted, group goals facilitated greater normative influence, and task goals facilitated greater informational influence. A form of influence is most effective when it is congruent with the interactive goal of the group, supporting Kaplan's (1987, 1989) model of conditions determining influence processes in groups. Contrary to predictions, gender did not interact with the interactive goal/influence type conjunction. The effect of the interactive goal on the impact of normative or informational influence was particularly striking, and furnishes a strong test of the hypothesis, given the minimal nature of group interchange in this study.
The analysis of designs in which individuals are in more than one group
Authors: Kenny David A. , Hallmark Bryan W. , Sullivan Patrick , Kashy Deborah A.
Published: December 2011

The design and analysis of data when individuals are in more than one group are discussed. In the generations design, the group members change across time in a pattern that mimics the birth and death of members in families. We present a regression‐based approach to the estimation of conformity and stability parameters. In a rotation design, people interact in multiple groups and multiple sessions and each group involves a different set of partners. For two different types of rotation designs, we present a variance decomposition approach. For all designs discussed, we illustrate the analysis with results from actual studies.
A field study of social comparison processes in ability evaluation*
Authors: Foddy Margaret , Crundall Ian
Published: December 2011

First‐year psychology students (N = 213) recorded details of spontaneous comparison with peers two weeks prior to submission and one week after return of their laboratory reports, for three successive assignments. Results showed that students did make comparisons, particularly after receiving feedback about their performance, but that a sizable minority did not compare at all despite numerous opportunities to do so. Over the three reports, the frequency of comparison prior to evaluation decreased; comparisons after feedback were more frequent, and increased over reports. While comparison with others similar in ability was the most frequent choice, comparison with dissimilar, better others was also common, particularly after objective feedback had been received. The impact of comparison was not generally as predicted by social comparison theory. Although certainty in predicting grades increased over time, it was not as a function of comparison; nor did accuracy increase with increased comparison. Satisfaction with grades varied directly with level of performance. There was a marked lack of interest in downward comparison; regardless of ability level, subjects expressed a desire for additional comparison with better others. The study highlights the importance of longitudinal studies of spontaneous comparison to test the relationship between initial uncertainty, choice of comparison others, and their impact on ability assessments.
Constructive processes in person cognition
Authors: Fiedler Klaus
Published: December 2011

The notion of constructive memory processes is imported from research on eyewitness memory to the area of social cognition. Mere questioning about the applicability of personality attributes to a target person is shown to affect subsequent memory‐based judgements of that person. These constructive influences are to be distinguished, conceptually, from the global notion of priming effects. In Expt 1, the target person was first described as an extravert; afterwards, subjects had to indicate whether either desirable aspects of extraversion (self‐confidence) or undesirable aspects (exhibitionism) apply to the target or not. Mere questioning resulted in a congruent judgement bias towards the questioned attributes that did not generalize to a global halo effect. Experiment 2 replicated the basic finding and demonstrated that this phenomenon is independent of a generation effect (i.e. the memory advantage of self‐generated inferences). These results are interpreted in terms of (a) a refraining of the categorical distribution representing the information about the target person in memory and (b) a regressive tendency to assume intermediate default values rather than extreme values for questioned attributes under uncertainty. Alternative explanations in terms of demand effects or a conformation bias cannot provide sufficient accounts. The relevance of constructive processes to understanding self‐fulfilling prophecies and other phenomena in social interaction is discussed.
High skin temperature and hypohydration impair aerobic performance
Authors: Sawka Michael N. , Cheuvront Samuel N. , Kenefick Robert W.
Published: December 2011

This paper reviews the roles of hot skin (>35°C) and body water deficits (>2% body mass; hypohydration) in impairing submaximal aerobic performance. Hot skin is associated with high skin blood flow requirements and hypohydration is associated with reduced cardiac filling, both of which act to reduce aerobic reserve. In euhydrated subjects, hot skin alone (with a modest core temperature elevation) impairs submaximal aerobic performance. Conversely, aerobic performance is sustained with core temperatures >40°C if skin temperatures are cool‐warm when euhydrated. No study has demonstrated that high core temperature (∼40°C) alone, without coexisting hot skin, will impair aerobic performance. In hypohydrated subjects, aerobic performance begins to be impaired when skin temperatures exceed 27°C, and even warmer skin exacerbates the aerobic performance impairment (–1.5% for each 1°C skin temperature). We conclude that hot skin (high skin blood flow requirements from narrow skin temperature to core temperature gradients), not high core temperature, is the ‘primary’ factor impairing aerobic exercise performance when euhydrated and that hypohydration exacerbates this effect.
Assessment of gastric emptying and duodenal motility upon ingestion of a liquid meal using rapid magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Teramoto Hidemi , Shimizu Toshiyasu , Yogo Hideto , Nishimiya Yuuta , Hori Shinji , Kosugi Takashi , Nakayama Shinsuke
Published: December 2011

Gastric emptying is achieved by co‐operation between gastric and duodenal motor activity. Therefore, evaluation of gastric emptying and its associated mechanisms would benefit clinical therapy as well as medical research. Healthy volunteers underwent rapid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the abdomen along the coronal plane after ingestion of a liquid meal. The gastric fundal and duodenal areas were quantified semi‐automatically by self‐developed segment software. The average gastric fundal area determined by the serosal end in 40 sequential images was reduced to ∼81% 30 min after and to ∼70% 60 min after ingestion of a liquid meal. The average duodenal area also decreased to ∼86% after 30 min and to 83% after 60 min. In contrast, changes in the centre of gravity increased to about fivefold after 30 min and to about threefold after 60 min. The mean velocity of the duodenal wall mimicked changes in the centre of gravity. The application of metoclopramide, a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist, accelerated gastric emptying, presumably due to facilitated duodenal activity even immediately after liquid meal ingestion. The ingestion of water caused fast gastric emptying in 30 min, accompanied by high duodenal motility, but it ceased after 60 min, presumably reflecting complete gastric emptying. A rapid MRI scan visualized the association between gastric emptying and duodenal motility that could be modified by calories and dopaminergic neurotransmission. Changes in the centre of gravity and mean velocity of the duodenal wall appear to quantify the motility obtained from cine MRI accurately.
Chest wall dynamics during voluntary and induced cough in healthy volunteers
Authors: Smith Jaclyn A. , Aliverti Andrea , Quaranta Marco , McGuinness Kevin , Kelsall Angela , Earis John , Calverley Peter M.
Published: December 2011

Non‐technical summary  Cough is the commonest symptom for which people seek medical advice and has significant impact upon quality of life. Moreover ineffective coughing is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A better understanding of cough mechanics is important for dealing with the complications of both excessive and impaired cough. This study investigates how the mechanical changes during coughing are influenced by the amount of air inhaled prior to coughing (operating volume), examining chest and abdominal motion, pressures and flow. We have shown that operating volume is the most important determinant of the flow achieved and volume expelled during single voluntary coughs and peals of voluntary coughs. Coughs within a peal appear to have a different motor pattern, producing similar pressures and flows but more rapidly than single coughs and therefore may be more efficient. Future studies investigating cough mechanics should control for the influence of operating volume.
VAMP8 is a vesicle SNARE that regulates mucin secretion in airway goblet cells
Authors: Jones Lisa C. , Moussa Lama , Fulcher M. Leslie , Zhu Yunxiang , Hudson Elizabeth J. , O’Neal Wanda K. , Randell Scott H. , Lazarowski Eduardo R. , Boucher Richard C. , Kreda Silvia M.
Published: December 2011

Non‐technical summary  Mucin secretion in the lung is regulated by the soluble N‐ethylmaleimide‐sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) exocytotic core, which has not been defined in airway goblet cells. In this study, the SNARE vesicle‐associated membrane protein 8 (VAMP8) was found to be expressed in human airway epithelial goblet cells. VAMP8 knockdown by RNA interference techniques reduced airway epithelial mucin secretion induced by PAR agonists, neutrophil elastase and ATP. Basal (non‐agonist elicited) mucin secretion was also reduced as a result of VAMP8 knockdown. Importantly, mucin secretion was reduced in the lungs of VAMP8 knockout mice compared to wild‐type littermates. Our data suggest that VAMP8 is an essential SNARE in airway mucin granule exocytosis. Reduction of VAMP8 activity/expression may provide a novel therapeutic target to ameliorate airway mucus obstruction in lung diseases.
A Partitioning Scheme for a Switched Feedback Control Law in Two Agent Pursuit-Evasion Scenarios
Authors: Goode Brian J. , Kurdila Andrew J. , Roan Michael J.
Published: December 2011

A switched feedback control law is derived for an autonomous pursuing agent that attempts to intercept an evading agent whose dynamics are initially unknown. The model of the pursuer’s dynamics is known perfectly, and the evader is modeled as a disturbance. A new method is presented to efficiently update the pursuer’s control law as measurements of the parameters that govern the evader’s dynamics are received. Using a graph theoretical approach, the control law updates are limited to specific partitions of the state space, which eliminate many unneeded calculations. Results show increases in the time efficiency of the update calculations compared to traditional control law generation methods with a minimal loss in accuracy. An 11.6% overall decrease in calculation time over traditional methods and a 1% error rate compared to the true solution is achieved when solving the homicidal chauffeur game. We show how actual gains in time efficiency depend on the specific application of the controller and the size of the state space grid approximation. Both the theoretical development and implementation of the switched feedback controller are discussed.
Large Strain Mechanical Behavior of HSLA-100 Steel Over a Wide Range of Strain Rates
Authors: Alkhader Maen , Bodelot Laurence
Published: December 2011

High-strength low alloy steels (HSLA) have been designed to replace high-yield (HY) strength steels in naval applications involving impact loading as the latter, which contain more carbon, require complicated welding processes. The critical role of HSLA-100 steel requires achieving an accurate understanding of its behavior under dynamic loading. Accordingly, in this paper, we experimentally investigate its behavior, establish a model for its constitutive response at high-strain rates, and discuss its dynamic failure mode. The large strain and high-strain-rate mechanical constitutive behavior of high strength low alloy steel HSLA-100 is experimentally characterized over a wide range of strain rates, ranging from 10−3 s−1 to 104 s−1. The ability of HSLA-100 steel to store energy of cold work in adiabatic conditions is assessed through the direct measurement of the fraction of plastic energy converted into heat. The susceptibility of HSLA-100 steel to failure due to the formation and development of adiabatic shear bands (ASB) is investigated from two perspectives, the well-accepted failure strain criterion and the newly suggested plastic energy criterion [1]. Our experimental results show that HSLA-100 steel has apparent strain rate sensitivity at rates exceeding 3000 s−1 and has minimal ability to store energy of cold work at high deformation rate. In addition, both strain based and energy based failure criteria are effective in describing the propensity of HSLA-100 steel to dynamic failure (adiabatic shear band). Finally, we use the experimental results to determine constants for a Johnson-Cook model describing the constitutive response of HSLA-100. The implementation of this model in a commercial finite element code gives predictions capturing properly the observed experimental behavior. High-strain rate, thermomechanical processes, constitutive behavior, failure, finite elements, Kolsky bar, HSLA-100.
Visual Scale Factor for Speed Perception
Authors: Colombet Florent , Paillot Damien , Mérienne Frédéric , Kemeny Andras
Published: December 2011

Speed perception is an important task depending mainly on optic flow that the driver must perform continuously to control his/her vehicle. Unfortunately, it appears that in some driving simulators speed perception is under estimated, leading into speed production higher than in real conditions. Perceptual validity is then not good enough to study driver’s behavior. To solve this problem, a technique has recently seen the light, which consists of modifying the geometric field of view (GFOV) while keeping the real field of view (FOV) constant. We define our visual scale factor as the ratio between the GFOV and the FOV. The present study has been carried out on the SAAM dynamic driving simulator and aims at determining the precise effect of this visual scale factor on the speed perception. Twenty subjects have reproduced two speeds (50 and 90 km/h) without knowing the numerical values of these consigns, with five different visual scale factors: 0.70, 0.85, 1.00, 1.15, and 1.30. We show that speed perception significantly increases when the visual factor increases. A 0.15 modification of this factor is enough to obtain a significant effect. Furthermore, the relative variation of the speed perception is proportional to the visual scale factor. Besides, the modification of the geometric field of view remained unnoticed by all the subjects, which implies that this technique can be easily used to make drivers to reduce their speed in driving simulation conditions. However, this technique may also modify perception of distances.
Applied Motion Cueing Strategies for Three Different Types of Motion Systems
Authors: Fischer Martin , Sehammar Håkan , Palmkvist Göran
Published: December 2011

Simulators with motion systems are used to give the driver a motion feedback. The type of the motion system and its related motion envelope is a major factor for the ability to present certain motion cues. This paper describes algorithms for three types of motion systems with the focus on a new algorithm for 8-degree-of-freedom systems. As new features compared to other algorithms for this type of motion system consequent complementary splitting into low-, mid-, and high-frequent signals and cross-system washout compensation are introduced. Parameter tuning effects according to washout and signal splitting filter frequency variations are shown and analyzed.
E1210, a New Broad-Spectrum Antifungal, Suppresses Candida albicans Hyphal Growth through Inhibition of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Biosynthesis
Authors: Watanabe Nao-aki , Miyazaki Mamiko , Horii Takaaki , Sagane Koji , Tsukahara Kappei , Hata Katsura
Published: December 2011

Continued research toward the development of new antifungals that act via inhibition of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) biosynthesis led to the design of E1210. In this study, we assessed the selectivity of the inhibitory activity of E1210 against
Candida albicans
GWT1
(Orf19.6884) protein,
Aspergillus fumigatus
GWT1
(AFUA_1G14870) protein, and human
PIG-W
protein, which can catalyze the inositol acylation of GPI early in the GPI biosynthesis pathway, and then we assessed the effects of E1210 on key
C. albicans
virulence factors. E1210 inhibited the inositol acylation activity of
C. albicans
Gwt1p and
A. fumigatus
Gwt1p with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC
50
s) of 0.3 to 0.6 μM but had no inhibitory activity against human Pig-Wp even at concentrations as high as 100 μM. To confirm the inhibition of fungal GPI biosynthesis, expression of
ALS1
protein, a GPI-anchored protein, on the surfaces of
C. albicans
cells treated with E1210 was studied and shown to be significantly lower than that on untreated cells. However, the
ALS1
protein levels in the crude extract and the
RHO1
protein levels on the cell surface were found to be almost the same. Furthermore, E1210 inhibited germ tube formation, adherence to polystyrene surfaces, and biofilm formation of
C. albicans
at concentrations above its MIC. These results suggested that E1210 selectively inhibited inositol acylation of fungus-specific GPI which would be catalyzed by Gwt1p, leading to the inhibition of GPI-anchored protein maturation, and also that E1210 suppressed the expression of some important virulence factors of
C. albicans
, through its GPI biosynthesis inhibition.