It takes two to mimic: Behavioral consequences of self-construals.

The present studies demonstrated the moderation of self-construal orientation on mimicry. Recent research has indicated that an interdependent self-construal is associated with assimilation of the other to the self whereas an independent self-construal is associated with minimizing the influence of others on the self (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991; D. Stapel & W. Koomen, 2001). Therefore, the authors hypothesized that an interdependent self-construal would be associated with more mimicry than an independent self-construal. When self-construal orientations were experimentally primed. as in Studies 1 and 2, independent self-construals produced less nonconscious mimicry than interdependent self-construals. When self-construals were examined as cultural differences with either a chronically dominant independent (Americans) or interdependent (Japanese) construal of the self, these results were replicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Labor-Management Cooperation and Customer Satisfaction

The satisfaction that a customer has with the construction product and construction services provided by a contractor has a direct influence on the customer’s willingness to select that contractor for future work. Labor and management working together have the opportunity to influence customer satisfaction. Activities at the contractor/craft worker level, the contractor/local union level, and the contractor association/local union level have the greatest potential to influence customer satisfaction. A precisely defined plan incorporating labor-management activities targeted at specific satisfaction factors will have the greatest likelihood of creating high customer satisfaction.     

Limitations on the uses of multimedia exposure measurements for multipathway exposure assessment--Part II: Effects of missing data and imprecision.

Multimedia data from two probability-based exposure studies were investigated in terms of how missing data and measurement-error imprecision affected estimation of population parameters and associations. Missing data resulted mainly from individuals'refusing to participate in certain measurement activities, rather than from field or laboratory problems; it suggests that future studies should focus on methods for maximizing participation rates. Measurement error variances computed from duplicate-sample data were small relative to the inherent variation in the populations; consequently, adjustments in nonparametric percentile estimates to account for measurement imprecision were small. Methods of adjustment based on lognormality assumptions, however, appeared to perform poorly.     

MRI fuzzy segmentation of brain tissue using neighborhood attraction with neural-network optimization.

Image segmentation is an indispensable process in the visualization of human tissues, particularly during clinical analysis of magnetic resonance (MR) images. Unfortunately, MR images always contain a significant amount of noise caused by operator performance, equipment, and the environment, which can lead to serious inaccuracies with segmentation. A robust segmentation technique based on an extension to the traditional fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is proposed in this paper. A neighborhood attraction, which is dependent on the relative location and features of neighboring pixels, is shown to improve the segmentation performance dramatically. The degree of attraction is optimized by a neural-network model. Simulated and real brain MR images with different noise levels are segmented to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed technique compared to other FCM-based methods. This segmentation method is a key component of an MR image-based classification system for brain tumors, currently being developed. Index Terms-Improved fuzzy c-means clustering (IFCM), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), neighborhood attraction, segmentation.     

Midplane-symmetry breaking in the flow between two counter-rotating disks

This paper considers the axisymmetric steady flow driven by exact counter rotation of two co-axial disks of finite radius. At the edges of the rotating disks one of three conditions is (typically) imposed: (i) zero velocity, corresponding to a stationary, impermeable, cylindrical shroud (ii) zero normal velocity and zero tangential fluid traction, corresponding to a (confined) free surface and (iii) an edge constraint that is consistent with a similarity solution of von Kármán form. The similarity solution is valid in an infinite geometry and possesses a pitchfork bifurcation that breaks the midplane symmetry at a critical Reynolds number. In this paper, similar bifurcations of the global (finite-domain) flow are sought and comparisons are made between the resulting bifurcation structure and that found for the similarity solution. The aim is to assess the validity of the nonlinear similarity solutions in finite domains and to explore the sensitivity of the solution structure to edge conditions that are implicitly neglected when assuming a self-similar flow. It is found that, whilst the symmetric similarity solution can be quantitatively useful for a range of boundary conditions, the bifurcated structure of the finite-domain flow is rather different for each boundary condition and bears little resemblance to the self-similar flow.     

The accuracy of self-monitoring and its relationship to self-focused attention in dysphoria and clinical depression.

The accuracy with which dysphoric (Study 1) and clinically depressed (Study 2) individuals make self-regulatory judgments about their own performance in the absence of external feedback and the extent to which this relates to trait self-focused attention (SFA) were examined. Relative to objective criteria, both dysphoric and depressed participants showed a positive judgment bias, overestimating the number of trials they had performed correctly. Relative to control participants, the dysphoric and depressed groups showed a reduction in the extent of this positive bias in that they judged error trials more accurately and correct trials less accurately. Although the dysphoric and depressed groups both reported elevated trait SFA, this did not correlate significantly with accuracy of self-judgment on the performance-monitoring task. Implications for self-regulation models of depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Douglas W. Bray (1918-2006).

Presents an obituary for Douglas W. Bray, the inventor of the modern-day assessment center, a method used by thousands of organizations around the world to identify the best people for critical roles and to guide individuals in optimizing their talents. Bray's death in Englewood, New Jersey, on May 9, 2006, ended the extraordinary career of a pioneer in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology who optimized the interplay of research and application. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Certification and Accreditation in Civil Engineering

Certification has been common for technicians for many years but specialty certification is rapidly becoming important to engineering practitioners in addition to or as a substitute for licensure in some fields. Certification and accreditation are closely related but there are also important differences. International standards now exist for accreditation of certification programs and could provide the basis for mutual recognition of specialty certification worldwide. ASCE should seek international accreditation of its specialty certification programs and play an appropriate role in defining international standards related to specialty certification and assessment of conformity to those standards.