Relations between hormone levels and observational measures of aggressive behavior of young adolescents in family interactions.

Relations between hormone levels and aggressive behavior of adolescents in family interactions were examined in 30 boys and 30 girls, 9 to 14 years of age. The adolescents represented all five stages of pubertal development (Tanner criteria). Circulating levels of gonadotropins (luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone), gonadal steroids (testosterone and estradiol), adrenal androgens (dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, and androstenedione), and testosterone-estradiol binding globulin were assessed. These hormones are responsible for growth and sexual development during puberty and correlate with Tanner stage. The behavioral measures described the adolescents' expressions of anger and attempts to control or defy their parents and were based on videotaped family interactions during problem-solving tasks. On the basis of multiple regression analyses, higher estradiol and androstenedione levels were associated with higher degrees of aggressive behaviors for girls. Findings were sparse for boys. Findings are discussed in terms of (a) effects of degree of stability of hormone levels on detection of hormone-behavior relations, (b) organizing and activating influences of hormones on behavior, and (c) other mechanisms possibly underlying the relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phase Constitution and Mechanical Properties of Carbides in the Ta–C System

Carbides in the Ta–C system were prepared by hot-pressing mixed powders of TaC and Ta in C/Ta atomic ratios of 1.0, 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, and 0.6 at 1800°C for 2 h. The compositions, 1.0, 0.9, and 0.8, produced single face-centered-cubic (fcc) TaC _y phase with C/Ta ratios essentially the same as the starting compositions and densities exceeding 96.5% of theoretical. Grain size decreased with increasing carbon deficiency with a corresponding increase in Vickers hardness from 13.5 to 20 GPa. The flexural strength, however, decreased from 650 to 500 MPa due to a decrease in fracture toughness from 5.3 to 3.8 MPa√m. The compositions 0.7 and 0.6 produced two carbide phases, fcc TaC _y and rhombohedral ζ-Ta₄C_{3− x} phase in the 0.7 composition and ζ-Ta₄C_{3− x} and hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) α-Ta₂C phase in the 0.6 composition. Fracture toughness measured by single-edge-precracked-beam technique was exceptionally high (12.7±0.7 MPa√m) for the 0.6 composition with a high weight percent of the ζ-Ta₄C_{3− x} phase (∼83 wt%). The fracture surface was highly faceted with multiple cleavage crack planes and steps.     

"Double-blind photoarray administration as a safeguard against investigator bias": Correction to Phillips et al. (1999).

Reports an error in Double-blind photoarray administration as a safeguard against investigator bias by Mark R. Phillips, Bradley D. McAuliff, Margaret Bull Kovera and Brian L. Cutler (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1999[Dec], Vol 84[6], 940-951). On page 947, the graphs within Figure 1 were incorrectly labeled. The corrected figure appears in this erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1999-15531-009.) This experiment examined whether a photoarray administrator's knowledge of a suspect's identity increased false identification rates. Fifty participant–administrators (PAs) presented 50 participant–witnesses (PWs) two perpetrator-absent photoarrays following a live staged crime involving two perpetrators. For one photoarray per trial, the experimenter revealed the suspect's identity to the PA. Each PA presented the photoarrays sequentially or simultaneously in the presence or absence of an observer. When the observer was present, PA knowledge of the suspect's identity had a biasing effect in sequential photoarrays only. This pattern did not emerge when the observer was absent. The experimental manipulations did not affect PAs' and PWs' ratings of photoarray fairness or PWs' ratings of pressure to make an identification. These data suggest that only administrators who are blind to the suspect's identity should present sequential photoarrays. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical influence in phonetic decision making: Evidence from subcategorical mismatches.

In 5 experiments, listeners heard words and nonwords, some cross-spliced so that they contained acoustic-phonetic mismatches. Performance was worse on mismatching than on matching items. Words cross-spliced with words and words cross-spliced with nonwords produced parallel results. However, in lexical decision and 1 of 3 phonetic decision experiments, performance on nonwords cross-spliced with words was poorer than on nonwords cross-spliced with nonwords. A gating study confirmed that there were misleading coarticulatory cues in the cross-spliced items; a sixth experiment showed that the earlier results were not due to interitem differences in the strength of these cues. Three models of phonetic decision making (the Race model, the TRACE model, and a postlexical model) did not explain the data. A new bottom-up model is outlined that accounts for the findings in terms of lexical involvement at a dedicated decision-making stage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Useless prime implicants of incompletely specified multiple-output switching functions

In the process of finding a minimal sum representation for an incompletely specified multiple-output switching function, there often occur certain types of prime implicants, referred to as useless, which can be discarded because of the presence of the don't-cares. This paper presents a correction to the definition of useless given by Tison and extends the definition to other notations. A procedure for removing useless prime implicants quickly is presented for the case when multiple-output prime implicants are derived from minterms. The deletion of useless prime implicants can, in many cases, speed up any procedure for finding a minimal sum that begins with the multiple-output prime implicants in both hand calculation and in computer implementation.This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MCS-77-09744.