The role of perspective in the accessibility of goals during reading.

An implicit assumption of several causal reasoning models is that readers adopt the goals of a narrative's protagonist during text comprehension. In apparent violation of this assumption, readers participating in Experiment 1 of the present study drew inferences relevant to a protagonist's goal even when that goal was already satisfied from the perspective of the protagonist. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants were explicitly asked to view the text situation from the point of view of the protagonist. In this case, the goals of the reader and the protagonist should be the same. In these experiments, participants focused on the goals of the protagonist only when those goals had not been satisfied from the perspective of the protagonist. These results are discussed in terms of reader- and character-based perspectives and in terms of text characteristics that cue perspective taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived stress management skill mediates the relationship between optimism and positive mood following radical prostatectomy.

This study evaluated relations among optimism, perceived stress management skills (PSMS), and positive mood in 46 men who had surgical treatment for localized prostate cancer. The authors found that optimism, PSMS, and positive mood scores were positively correlated. Positive mood was unrelated to demographic and disease-related control variables. In a hierarchical regression model controlling for PSMS, the relationship between optimism and positive mood became nonsignificant, whereas PSMS remained a correlate of positive mood. Results suggest that the relationship between optimism and positive mood may be mediated by belief in being able to use stress management techniques effectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual damage-sensitive features for structural health monitoring: Laboratory and field demonstrations

The use of damage-sensitive features to evaluate structural condition or health is a very critical aspect of structural health monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of two different damage-sensitive features for detecting damage. Different damage scenarios are simulated on a large-scale laboratory structure and a three-span highway bridge for demonstration. The features presented in this paper are the modal flexibility-based deflection and curvature both of which are obtained directly from dynamic properties. In the literature, flexibility associated with mode shapes and mode shapes curvatures have been mostly explored. In this study, multi-input–multi-output dynamic data are used to obtain modal flexibility, which is a close approximation to the actual flexibility. A main novelty is that the curvature is calculated from the deflected shapes using the modal flexibility as opposed to using modal vectors. In this paper, the theory of the methodology is explained and then experimental studies and results are presented. For the experimental studies, the laboratory specimen and the three-span bridge were gradually damaged. It is shown that both deflection and curvature are conceptual and physically meaningful features for damage detection and localization. The issues and the requirements for these features to perform successfully are also presented.     

Revisiting the need for formal education in visualization.

Defining visualization education is still a work in progress. Visualization education is not just a subject within computer science. Computer scientists are not always the appropriate choice to teach visualization courses on their own. Visualization is not just mastering a set of concepts but acquiring skills. Student should learn by doing, either using one tool or a variety of tools, depending on the course's focus.     

On the Undecidability of Implications between Embedded Multivalued Database Dependencies

The implication and finite implication problems for embedded multivalued database dependencies are both shown to be algorithmically undecidable. The proof is by an interpretation of semigroup word problems via systems of permuting equivalence relations into database dependencies. In contrast, it is shown that for each fixed premise H one has a decision procedure for implications H F.     

Maintaining global coherence during reading.

Previous research demonstrated a contradiction effect: Although text currently being processed was locally coherent, readers were aware of inconsistencies between a protagonist's actions and characteristics of the protagonists that were described earlier in the text and subsequently backgrounded. In the present experiments, not only the critical characteristics but also the protagonist were backgrounded. When the protagonist was reintroduced into the narrative in the context of carrying out an inconsistent action, the contradiction effect again occurred. In Exps 1–3, we examined the effects of several variables on the onset of the effect. In Exp 4, we presented probes at various points in the passage with results that supported the conclusion that the critical characteristics had been backgrounded before the sentence that contradicted them. Results are discussed in terms of several recent models in which currently active representational elements serve as retrieval cues for other inactive, but highly related, elements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CMOS on FZ-high resistivity substrate for monolithic integration ofSiGe-RF-circuitry and readout electronics

The choice of a highly resistive substrate for silicon millimeter-wave integrated circuits (SIMMWIC) imposed by the requirement of low RF-substrate losses requires the adaptation of a CMOS process on float zone silicon (FZ). A comparison of n- and p-channel devices realized on high resistivity substrate (p-type, 5000 Ω·cm) and standard CMOS substrates (CZ, n-type, 4-6 Ω·cm) is given. Using careful process design, we obtained device characteristics on FZ-substrates that are closely similar to those on standard material, thus allowing direct transfer of existing circuit designs     

Erfolgsfaktoren bei der Einführung von Wissensmanagementsystemen in die Praxis

Neben der Gestaltung technischer Systeme zur Unterstützung des Wissensmanagements ist die Ausgestaltung organisatorischer Ma?nahmen gleichbedeutend wichtig.     

Do You Know What I Know? A Shared Understandings Perspective on Text‐Based Communication

This article illustrates how the hermeneutic analysis of text illuminates how shared understandings affect our interpretations of lean communication in distributed work environments. It is proposed that in contrast to the pessimistic conclusions of media richness theory that lean communication channels cannot support complex or equivocal work tasks, miscommunications are not the result of technology, but rather occur due to a lack of shared understandings among the individuals communicating. An illustrative case study based on fieldwork in franchise organizations is presented to demonstrate the possibilities for how the hermeneutic analysis of coherence, invention, intention, and reference can be used to discover how workers create and recreate shared understandings through text.     

Pressure infiltration of boron nitride preforms with molten aluminum

The infiltration of compacted cubic BN (cBN) with molten aluminum has been investigated as a potential route for a cheap and easy method of manufacturing cBN/metal composites. CBN compacts have been infiltrated with molten Al at a temperature between 670 and 800 °C and pressure of 15 MPa in vacuum. At these temperatures no pronounced interactions between hexagonal and cubic BN with Al was observed, allowing the complete infiltration of cBN with 12 μm mean grain size. After infiltration at 800 °C, the temperature was increased without pressure to convert aluminum into borides and AlN. The hardness of the resulting materials depends on the content of hexagonal, cubic BN and the rate of conversion of Al into borides and AlN. The infiltration height of less than 1 mm obtained from infiltrating the 3 μm cBN powder green compacts gave a hardness of 22.0 ± 0.6 GPa after heat treatment.