Spontaneous trait transference to familiar communications: Is a little knowledge a dangerous thing?

In most social cognition research participants are presented with unattributed information about unfamiliar stimulus persons. However, in the real world it is more common for people to learn about others through social communication and to know something about those with whom they communicate. Such issues are explored in relation to spontaneous trait transference, a phenomenon in which communicators are perceived as having traits that they merely describe in others. Three studies show that even familiar communicators became associated with, and attributed, the traits implied by their remarks. Surprisingly, these effects occurred even when the implied traits were incongruent with participants' prior knowledge about these communicators. The results are discussed in terms of (a) the generalizability of social cognition research, (b) the automaticity of simple associative phenomena, and (c) the interplay of simple associative and higher level processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low-speed motion control of a mechanical system

Position control of a mechanical system at low speed in the presence of dry friction leads to a slip-stick process and steady-state errors when state feedback is used. In this article, the power transfer between servomotors and the system is analyzed using a Hamiltonian formulation. The analysis shows that power dissipation at low speed cannot be achieved efficiently using a proportional derivative error feedback, with constant gains. A sliding mode approach is proposed and evaluated for achieving accurate positioning of a servomotor in the presence of significant dry friction. Simulation results show the performance of a constant-gain sliding mode controller and of a self-adjusting sliding mode controller.     

Real-time attractors

The global properties of attractors of a class of dynamical systems are studied in the state space. The concept of real-time attractor is introduced with the view on practical applications. The abstract properties of attractors and real-time attractors are illustrated on classical examples in mechanics by computing the domains of attraction of asymptotically stable equilibria and periodic solutions using the method of point mapping. The properties of transient attractors are also studied. One of the possible applications here is to use them in generating the map of a differential game in the state space     

The interplay of controlled and automatic processing in the expression of spontaneously inferred traits: A PDP analysis.

Inferences made about actors influence subsequent processing about those actors. Three experiments conducted in the context of spontaneous trait inference (STI) making demonstrate that such influences occur can either occur via automatic processes or via controlled processes. Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated that processing goals manipulated prior to encoding actor behavior affected the extent to which STIs automatically influenced subsequent responses but did not alter the extent to which STIs influenced those responses via controlled processes. Results from Experiment 2 showed that the extent to which STIs affected subsequent responding via the action of controlled processes were more affected by a delay between exposure to an actor behavior and the response task than the extent to which STIs affected task performance via the action of automatic processes. Finally, results from Experiment 3 showed that participants' subjective experience of awareness of their trait inferences is related to estimates of the extent to which controlled processing is involved in the production of their future responses but not to estimates of the extent to which those responses are affected by automatic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of intrauterine pressure from electrohysterography using optimal linear filtering

We propose a method of predicting intrauterine pressure (IUP) from external electrohysterograms (EHG) using a causal FIR Wiener filter. IUP and 8-channel EHG data were collected simultaneously from 14 laboring patients at term, and prediction models were trained and tested using 10-min windows for each patient and channel. RMS prediction error varied between 5-14 mmHg across all patients. We performed a 4-way analysis of variance on the RMS error, which varied across patients, channels, time (test window) and model (train window). The patient-channel interaction was the most significant factor while channel alone was not significant, indicating that different channels produced significantly different RMS errors depending on the patient. The channel-time factor was significant due to single-channel bursty noise, while time was a significant factor due to multichannel bursty noise. The time-model interaction was not significant, supporting the assumption that the random process generating the IUP and EHG signals was stationary. The results demonstrate the capabilities of optimal linear filter in predicting IUP from external EHG and offer insight into the factors that affect prediction error of IUP from multichannel EHG recordings.     

Remotely sensed measurements of forest structure and fuel loads in the Pinelands of New Jersey

We used a single-beam, first return profiling LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) measurements of canopy height, intensive biometric measurements in plots, and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data to quantify forest structure and ladder fuels (defined as vertical fuel continuity between the understory and canopy) in the New Jersey Pinelands. The LIDAR data were recorded at 400 Hz over three intensive areas of 1 km² where transects were spaced at 200 m, and along 64 transects spaced 1 km apart (total of ca. 2500 km²). LIDAR and field measurements of canopy height were similar in the three intensive study areas, with the 80th percentile of LIDAR returns explaining the greatest amount of variability (79%). Correlations between LIDAR data and aboveground tree biomass measured in the field were highly significant when all three 1 km² areas were analyzed collectively, with the 80th percentile again explaining the greatest amount of variability (74%). However, when intensive areas were analyzed separately, correlations were poor for Oak/Pine and Pine/Scrub Oak stands. Similar results were obtained using FIA data; at the landscape scale, mean canopy height was positively correlated with aboveground tree biomass, but when forest types were analyzed separately, correlations were significant only for some wetland forests (Pitch Pine lowlands and mixed hardwoods; r² = 0.74 and 0.59, respectively), and correlations were poor for upland forests (Oak/Pine, Pine/Oak and Pine/Scrub Oak, r² = 0.33, 0.11 and 0.21, respectively). When LIDAR data were binned into 1-m height classes, more LIDAR pulses were recorded from the lowest height classes in stands with greater shrub biomass, and significant differences were detected between stands where recent prescribed fire treatments had been conducted and unburned areas. Our research indicates that single-beam LIDAR can be used for regional-scale (forest biomass) estimates, but that relationships between height and biomass can be poorer at finer scales within individual forest types. Binned data are useful for estimating the presence of ladder fuels (vertical continuity of leaves and branches) and horizontal fuel continuity below the canopy.     

Use of chaos in a lyapunov dynamic game

Feedback strategies of a qualitative competitive game between two players can be designed such as to influence parameters of a mechanical system to induce chaotic behavior. The purpose is to reduce the options and effects of the opponent’ s strategy. We show it on a case with dynamics specified by a nonautonomous Duffing equation with the players represented by damping and external forcing, respectively. It seems however that the conclusions can be made valid generally.     

Effects of previously experienced outcomes on the desire for choice.

Three experiments examined the effects of past choice experiences on the desire for choice. All 480 undergraduate Ss experienced both choice and no-choice trials and were asked whether they preferred to perform a 3rd set of trials under choice or no-choice conditions. Success on the choice and no-choice trials was manipulated to determine the effects of experienced outcomes on perceived choice and control, future expectancies, and the desire for choice. Exp I indicated that desire for choice is affected by past success with choice relative to their past success with no choice. Exp II suggested that perceptions of control are based primarily on past success under choice conditions and that their desire for choice is a consequence of these perceptions rather than of the objective efficacy of choice. Exp III demonstrated that breaking the link between perceptions of past control and future expectancies weakens the effects of past outcomes on the desire for choice. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)