In the mood to get over yourself: Mood affects theory-of-mind use.

Understanding others' behavior often involves attributing mental states to them by using one's "theory of mind." We argue that using theory of mind to recognize differences between one's own perspective and another's perspective is a deliberate process of inference that may be influenced by incidental mood. Because sadness is associated with more systematic and deliberate processing whereas happiness is associated with more heuristic processing, we predicted that theory-of-mind use would be facilitated by sadness compared with happiness. Two experiments supported this prediction, demonstrating that participants were more likely to utilize knowledge about others to make inferences about their mental states when they were induced to feel sad than when they were induced to feel happy. These results provide both theoretical insight into the psychological mechanisms that govern theory of mind as well as practical insight into a common source of variability in its use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of highway runoff characteristics: Comparative analysis and universal implications

This review interprets highway runoff characterization studies performed on different continents. The results are synthesized to discuss the historical trends, first flush effects of pollutants, pollutant form as dissolved vs. particulate, and to identify surrogate water quality parameters. The information presented in this review showed that: (1) variability has been observed in all quality parameters from each continent and among continents; (2) with a few exceptions the variability seems to be within the expected range; (3) inconsistent monitoring data as well as inconsistent quality assurance and quality control measures were reported among studies, which may be partially responsible for variability of water quality results; (4) compared with historic data, the concentration of total Pb decreased exponentially, which can mostly be credited to leaded gasoline phase-out regulation; (5) first flush effects of pollutants based on concentration have been reported consistently (however, mass first flush effects for pollutants have been reported inconsistently compared with concentration first flush effect); (6) most metal pollutants and phosphorus are present in both the particulate and dissolved forms; and (7) strong correlations were observed between TSS, TDS, TOC and iron (Fe) and 13 other constituents and water quality parameters (turbidity, O&G, TPH, DOC, TKN, EC, Cl, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn).     

A Comparison of State-of-the-Art Classification Techniques with Application to Cytogenetics

Several state-of-the-art techniques – a neural network, Bayesian neural network, support vector machine and naive Bayesian classifier – are experimentally evaluated in discriminating fluorescence   in situ hybridisation (FISH) signals. Highly-accurate classification of valid signals and artifacts of several cytogenetic probes (colours) is required for detecting abnormalities in FISH images. More than 3100 FISH signals are classified by each of the techniques into colour and as real or artifact with accuracies of around 98% and 88%, respectively. The results of the comparison also show a trade-off between simplicity represented by the naive Bayesian classifier, and high classification performance represented by the other techniques.     

Strong Band Gap Blueshift in Copper (I) Oxide Semiconductor via Bioinspired Route

Semiconductors have numerous applications in both science and technology. Several methods have been developed to engineer their band gap, which is one of the most important parameters of semiconductors. Here, it is shown that the incorporation of various amino acids into the crystal lattice of copper (I) oxide, akin to the way living organisms incorporate organic macromolecules into minerals during biomineralization, leads to significant shrinkage in the volume of the host unit cell and a strong blueshift in the band gap of up to ≈18%. In examining the potential location of the bio‐organic molecules within the inorganic host's lattice, a very good fit between the proposed model of incorporation and experimental findings is found. The bioinspired phenomenon of band gap widening is thought to be attributable to the void‐induced quantum confinement effect, even though observed in micrometer‐sized crystals. This hypothesis is supported by developing a tight‐binding model that is found to fit well with the experimental data. The outcome of this research could profoundly impact the fields of light‐emitting and spin‐based devices as well as opens up a new bioinspired route to tune the band gap of semiconductors.     

Utilizing digital traces of mobile phones for understanding social dynamics in urban areas

Understanding land use in urban areas, from the perspective of social function, is beneficial for a variety of fields, including urban and highway planning     

ARMA spectral estimation based on partial autocorrelations

This paper presents a new method for estimating the coefficients of autoregressive moving-average parameters of stationary time series. The method is based on computing the sample autocorrelations of the given time series and fitting an ARMA model so as to approximate the partial autocorrelations in a least-squares sense. When the given time series are characterized by spectral zeroes near the unit circle, they tend to have relatively long sequences of nonzero partial autocorrelations; hence the new method is especially effective in such cases. This paper contains a derivation of all necessary mathematical details, as well as several numerical examples illustrating the performance.     

Autofrettage—Stress distribution under load and retained stresses after depressurization

There is a long-standing interest in developing a capability to predict the distribution of retained stresses in thick-walled tubes after the removal of an internal pressure—post-autofrettage. In this paper, four different methods of calculating such stresses are presented and compared. The methods presented are based on the following assumed yield criteria and deformation conditions: (1) Tresca's yield criterion, (2) Tresca's yield criterion × 2/√3, (3) Mises' yield criterion in plane-stress, and (4) Mises' yield criterion in plane-strain.     

"Speed of scanning in primary memory in persons with dementia of the Alzheimer type": Correction.

Reports editorial errors in the original article by T. L. Boaz and D. R. Denney (Psychology and Aging, 1993[Jun], Vol 8[2], 294–300). A short segment of text was misplaced in the Results section; the corrected text is included. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1993-42036-001.) The nature of the search of primary memory by persons with a presumptive diagnosis of mild Alzheimer's disease (dementia of the Alzheimer type [DAT]) was compared with that of normal elderly and young persons using the S. Sternberg (1966) paradigm. DAT Ss evidenced a substantial deficit in the speed of scanning in primary memory and a deficit in at least one other stage of processing. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the decline in memory performance evidenced by persons with DAT may be attributable to an increase in the time requirements of mnemonic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A field study of employees' attitudes and behaviors after promotion decisions.

The impact of promotion decisions on equity, commitment, and behavioral outcomes was examined in a field setting. Workers in a service company who submitted their candidacy for promotion to either department or division heads were compared with their noncandidate counterparts (total N?=?191). Ss completed surveys after promotion decisions were made. In addition, measures of the Ss' lateness and absence before and after the promotion were available. Data analyzed by level of position (department vs division) and promotion decision (promoted, not promoted, and control) indicated that promotions resulting from self-initiated candidacies might actually produce undesirable outcomes. Failure to get a promotion was associated with feelings of inequity, a decrease in commitment, and an increase in absenteeism; positive promotion decisions increased commitment. Theoretical and organizational implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal union dynamics during a strike: A quasi-experimental study.

Hypothesized that union members on strike will (a) give a higher evaluation of the union and of the leadership, (b) evaluate the benefit package more highly after the strike, (c) become more militant against the employer during the strike, (d) report more willingness to participate in union activities, and (e) show more intraunion cohesion during the strike. Random samples of members of 9 local unions (3 each from Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) were surveyed on 4 occasions: before the 1976 bargaining, during the strike at Ford, after settlement of the national contract, and 7 mo after the strike ended. Usable responses from a questionnaire totaled 1,182 (405 strikers, 777 nonstrikers). With the exception of greater intraunion cohesion during the strike, all hypotheses were confirmed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)