The psychologist as whistle blower: A case study.

Psychologists who practice as salaried employees may, on occasion, find that their professional responsibilities to their clients are in conflict with the demands of their organization. This problem is illustrated in the firing of a VA psychologist who objected, first internally and then publicly, to VA policies that he believed jeopardized the health and well-being of his patients. The responses of the VA, the Civil Service Commission, professional associations, and others to this incident show a series of threats to the integrity of professional practice in institutional settings. Vigorous effort, therefore, is called for to safeguard psychology's status as a profession and the ability of its practitioners to act in the public interest. Suggestions are offered for achieving this goal. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retaliation against whistle blowers: Predictors and effects.

Examined the power–dependency relationships between "whistle blowers" and their employers through the regression analyses of survey data from 636 employees of federal agencies who had reported evidence of official wrongdoing. Ss reported that they were more likely to suffer retaliation if they lacked the support of their supervisors and managers. Retaliation was also more severe if the wrongdoing was serious and if the S used channels outside the organization to report the incident. Following severe retaliation, Ss were likely to file official complaints about the retaliation and to leave their jobs involuntarily. Other predictors of reactions to retaliatory action are discussed. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying epidemiological principles to ergonomics: a checklist for incorporating sound design and interpretation of studies

A radiologic and tomographic study was made of the cranioencephalic topography of canary goats of medium weight and size. In a first step, the exocranialis references corresponding to an axis designed at the level of the meatus acusticus externus and parallel to the basicranial axis were anatomically and radiologically defined. Conventional stereotaxic techniques were then used to reach the standard position of the head in order to obtain macroscopical cross sections at different levels perpendicular to the base of the cranium. In a second step, a tomographic study was made to confirm the design of the axis.     

Phonological loop and intermittent activity: A whistle task as articulatory suppression.

Examined whether the effect of articulatory suppression is due to the activation of an irrelevant phonology or to intermittent articulatory movements. In Exp 1, 24 undergraduates were tested for serial recall of visually presented letter sequences that were either phonologically similar or dissimilar, and had to remember each of the letter sequences under a no-suppression control or a suppression condition. In the suppression condition, half of the Ss were engaged in an intermittent speech suppression and the other half were in an intermittent whistle suppression task. The phonological similarity effects appeared in the control condition, but not in the suppression condition, irrespective of the type of suppression. In Exp 2, the phonological similarity effect again disappeared in the intermittent whistling condition, but not in the condition in which the 15 undergraduates required to engage a continuous whistling task. The results suggest that the effect of articulatory suppression was due to intermittent articulatory activity rather than the activation of an irrelevant phonology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

电子商务的产生与发展

通过对电子商务产生和发展的研究,分析电子商务对社会的影响,探讨其未来发展趋势。     

The diaphragm and respiratory muscles

A rapid procedure for the purification of the redox-regulated chloroplast fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase [EC 3.1.3.11] from spinach leaf extract to homogeneity is described. No thiol-reducing agents were present during the purification and the enzyme is > 99% in the oxidized form. A rapid procedure to reduce and activate the Fru-1,6-P2ase by dithiothreitol in the absence of thioredoxin is described. Reduction activates the enzyme up to several hundred-fold when assayed at pH 8.0 with 2 mM Mg2+. The activity of the purified oxidized enzyme is unusually sensitive to changes in Mg2+ and H+ concentration. Tenfold changes in Mg2+ or H+ concentration lead to > 100-fold increases in activity. The recoveries of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase activity as determined by the activity of the oxidized enzyme at pH 8.0/20 mM Mg2+; pH 9.0/2 mM Mg2+; pH 8/2 mM Mg2+ plus 0.1 mM Hg(II) or of the reduced enzyme at pH 8.0/2 mM Mg2+ are similar (approximately 40%) indicating that the major proportion of these activities in a leaf extract is catalyzed by the same enzyme. Moreover, antibodies raised against the purified enzyme inhibit all of the above activities in crude leaf extracts. The kinetic properties of the purified enzyme suggest that the oxidized Mg(2+)-dependent enzyme can play no significant role in photosynthetic carbon assimilation. A survey of some kinetic properties of Fru-1,6-P2ase activity in extracts of various photosynthetic organisms reveals that all 11 species examined possess a redox- and pH/Mg(2+)-stimulated Fru-1,6-P2ase, whereas Fru-1,6-P2ase in extracts of Taxus baccata (a gymnosperm), Chlorella vulgaris (a green alga), and the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum were not activated by Hg(II). The heat stability that proved useful in the purification of the spinach enzyme was conserved in both angiosperms and gymnosperms. The oxidized enzyme (which normally has no thiol groups accessible to 5,5'-dithio-bis[2-nitrobenzoic acid]) but not the reduced enzyme can be stimulated many hundred-fold by addition of extraordinarily low concentrations of Hg(II) to a complete assay mixture. With the aid of EDTA as a Hg(II) buffer, half-maximal stimulation was achieved at 2 x 10(-16) M free Hg(II). Methylmercury also stimulates the enzyme many hundred-fold at very low concentrations. The concentration for half-maximal stimulation by methylmercury was determined with a cyanide buffer to be approximately 10(-16) M. This, together with the high affinity of the enzyme for Hg(II), suggests that Hg(II) stimulates the enzyme by binding to an enzyme thiol group that be comes exposed in the catalytically active enzyme, thereby stabilizing the oxidized enzyme in an active conformation. By contrast, in the absence of Fru-1,6-P2 and either Mg2+ or Ca2+, Hg(II) (even at 2 x 10(-16) M) rapidly inactivates the oxidized Fru-1,6-P2ase. This inactivation is similar to the inactivation of Fru-1,6-P2ase that occurred at high pH (> 9) and which is also prevented by Fru-1,6-P2 and either Mg2+ or Ca2+. Although the Hg(II)- and high pH-inactivated oxidized enzyme has no activity, both forms of the enzyme can be activated by reduction. The usefulness of buffers to maintain low, defined Hg(II) and organic mercurial concentrations is discussed.     

The sound of the wind that's blowing.

Discusses the need (a) for a better public understanding of the logic and intuitive character of science and (b) for a broader and more humane outlook from the scientific community. The concept of the ethical neutrality of science is rejected, and the extent of involvement of modern society with science and technology is outlined. Some consequences of political and social decisions which are based on inadequate comprehension of science and technology are described. Finally, measures are suggested to improve public understanding of science specific reforms; (both in the education of scientists and of students in general) are proposed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The hearing organ: active sound amplifier and highly sensitive measuring system

The present paper provides a brief review on topical issues of auditory physiology. Recent data on transduction mechanism and adaptation in hair cells as well as on the possible role of outer hair cells in amplifying basilar membrane motion are presented. Strategies of present physiological research in dealing with sensorineural deafness are discussed.     

Duration of sound prolongation and sound/syllable repetition in children who stutter: preliminary observations

The purpose of this study was to measure the duration of sound prolongations and sound/syllable repetitions (stutterings) in the conversational speech of school-age children who stutter. The relationships between duration and (a) frequency and type of speech disfluency, (b) number and rate of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable repetition, (c) overall speech rate, and (d) articulatory rate were also examined. Results indicated that for the children in this study the average duration of stuttering was approximately three-quarters of a second, and was not significantly correlated with age, length of post-onset interval, or frequency of speech disfluency. In addition, findings can be taken to suggest that part of the clinical significance of stuttering duration for children who stutter might lie in its relationship to the amount of sound prolongations these children produce, as well as their articulatory rate during fluent speech.     

Embodied auditory perception: The emotional impact of approaching and receding sound sources.

Research has shown the existence of perceptual and neural bias toward sounds perceived as sources approaching versus receding a listener. It has been suggested that a greater biological salience of approaching auditory sources may account for these effects. In addition, these effects may hold only for those sources critical for our survival. In the present study, we bring support to these hypotheses by quantifying the emotional responses to different sounds with changing intensity patterns. In 2 experiments, participants were exposed to artificial and natural sounds simulating approaching or receding sources. The auditory-induced emotional effect was reflected in the performance of participants in an emotion-related behavioral task, their self-reported emotional experience, and their physiology (electrodermal activity and facial electromyography). The results of this study suggest that approaching unpleasant sound sources evoke more intense emotional responses in listeners than receding ones, whereas such an effect of perceived sound motion does not exist for pleasant or neutral sound sources. The emotional significance attributed to the sound source itself, the loudness of the sound, and loudness change duration seem to be relevant factors in this disparity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The functional anatomy of sound intensity discrimination

The human neuroanatomical substrate of sound intensity discrimination was investigated by combining psychoacoustics and functional neuroimaging. Seven normal subjects were trained to detect deviant sounds presented with a slightly higher intensity than a standard harmonic sound, using a Go/No Go paradigm. Individual psychometric curves were carefully assessed using a three-step psychoacoustic procedure. Subjects were scanned while passively listening to the standard sound and while discriminating changes in sound intensity at four different performance levels (d' = 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5). Analysis of regional cerebral blood flow data outlined activation, during the discrimination conditions, of a right hemispheric frontoparietal network already reported in other studies of selective or sustained attention to sensory input, and in which activity appeared inversely proportional to intensity discriminability. Conversely, a right posterior temporal region included in secondary auditory cortex was activated during discrimination of sound intensity independently of performance level. These findings suggest that discrimination of sound intensity involves two different cortical networks: a supramodal right frontoparietal network responsible for allocation of sensory attentional resources, and a region of secondary auditory cortex specifically involved in sensory computation of sound intensity differences.     

日本弹簧生产与标准化的动向

介绍了弹簧的生产动向、技术动向、弹簧技术研究会的活动情况,阐述了小型弹簧的动向、大型弹簧的动向,对了解弹簧行业形势及用钢要求有一定借鉴作用.     

The role of perception in the sound change of velar palatalization

Voiceless velar stops may become palatoalveolar affricates before front vowels. This sound change is not only one of the most common types of palatalization, but is a very common sound change in the world's languages. Nevertheless, we do not have an adequate understanding of how this sound change takes place. Three experiments reported here test the hypothesis that velar palatalization is the result of listeners' on-line perceptual reanalysis of fast rate speech. It is shown that velars before front vowels are both acoustically and perceptually similar to palatoalveolars. This supports the proposal that velar palatalization is perceptually conditioned.     

Sensitivity of the mouse to changes in azimuthal sound location: Angular separation, spectral composition, and sound level.

Auditory spatial acuity was measured in mice using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex as the indicator response for stimulus detection. The prepulse was a “speaker swap” (SSwap), shifting a noise between two speakers located along the azimuth. Their angular separation, and the spectral composition and sound level of the noise were varied, as was the interstimulus interval (ISI) between SSwap and acoustic startle reflex elicitation. In Experiment 1 a 180° SSwap of wide band noise (WBN) was compared with WBN Onset and Offset. SSwap and WBN Onset had near equal effects, but less than Offset. In Experiment 2 WBN SSwap was measured with speaker separations of 15, 22.5, 45, and 90°. Asymptotic level and the growth rate of PPI increased with increased separation from 15 to 90°, but even the 15° SSwap provided significant PPI for the mean performance of the group. SSwap in Experiment 3 used octave band noise (2–4, 4–8, 8–16, or 16–32 kHz) and separations of 7.5 to 180°. SSwap was most effective for the highest frequencies, with no significant PPI for SSwap below 8–16 kHz, or for separations of 7.5°. In Experiment 4 SSwap had WBN sound levels from 40 to 78 dB SPL, and separations of 22.5, 45, 90, and 180°: PPI increased with level, this effect varying with ISI and angular separation. These experiments extend the prior findings on sound localization in mice, and the dependence of PPI on ISI adds a reaction time-like dimension to this behavioral analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change of intensity fails to produce an irrelevant sound effect: Implications for the representation of unattended sound.

Sequences of changing sounds that are irrelevant to the task at hand disrupt serial recall appreciably even though participants are instructed to ignore the sounds. Three experiments, which compared the effect of changing token identity with that of changing intensity in the 55- to 85-dB(A) range, were conducted. Although serial recall was impaired by changes in token identity, no disruptive effects of a change in intensity were found. This was replicated using speech and nonspeech. Overall, the absence of a changing intensity effect was based on an analysis of the performance of 115 participants in a design whose power was .98. This outcome suggests that the representation of intensity in preattentive processing of auditory stimuli is somewhat different from that of other acoustic features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)