Accounting for the use of behavior technologies in social psychology.

Considerable scholarly effort in social psychology is devoted to the development of techniques that change behavior. In this article, the social and political forces that have guided the development of these techniques are examined. Also, ethical and psychological issues associated with the use of behavior technologies are discussed. These issues arise from the fact that to change behavior, it must first be controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oxidation of Silicon Carbide in Environments Containing Potassium Salt Vapor

At high temperatures in clean oxidizing environments, SiC forms a very protective SiO₂ film, but, in environments containing low levels of gaseous alkali salt contaminants or where condensed salts may deposit on the surface, the resistance of the film is significantly reduced. Oxidation kinetics of SiC were measured by continuous thermogravimetric analysis in a controlled environment containing CO₂, H₂O, and O₂ plus low levels of potassium-containing salts. Potassium was found to be incorporated into the SiO₂ scale and to significantly change its transport properties and its morphology. The rate of scale formation was found to increase directly in proportion to K in the scale. A change in mechanism was observed when water vapor was added to the reacting gas stream.     

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies of Silicon Carbide Polytypes

The ²⁹Si MAS NMR spectra of the 2H, 4H, 6H, and 3C polytypes of silicon carbide are presented. An attempt is made to correlate differences in the chemical shifts with local atomic environment. The results of the analysis of the spectra of pure polytypes are used as a basic for the interpretation of the spectra of mixed polytypes and a discussion of the crystallinity and impurity levels of different samples. Carbon-13 chemical shifts obtained from spectra of the same polytypes are also tabulated.     

Casual reasoning in planning1

Reasoning about actions necessarily involves tracking the truth of assertions about the world over time. The SIPE planning system retains the efficiency of the STRIPS assumption for this while enhancing expressive power by allowing the specification of a causl theory. Separation of knowledge about causality from knowledge about actions relieves operators of much of their representational burden and allows them to be applicable in a wide range of contexts. The implementation of causal theories is described, together with examples and evaluations of the system's expressive power and efficiency.     

Landmark-based spatial memory in birds (Parus atricapillus and Columba livia): The use of edges and distances to represent spatial positions.

Birds' use of landmarks to identify spatial locations was examined. Black-capped chickadees (Parus atricapillus) and pigeons (Columba livia) searched for hidden food on a 120-cm–2 tray. In each task the target was near an edge with a nearby landmark. On occasional unrewarded tests the landmark was either left in its usual position, shifted parallel to the edge, shifted perpendicular to the edge, or shifted diagonally. On diagonal landmark shifts the birds shifted their searching more in the parallel direction than in the perpendicular, which violates the predictions of the vector sum model (K. Cheng, 1989). In some cases the birds maintained their searching at a constant perpendicular distance under all landmark shifts. This suggests that perpendicular distance to an edge forms an element in determining where to search on the basis of landmarks. Chickadees and pigeons performed similarly, which suggests similarity in the way they encode locations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rapid assessment of infant predictors of adult IQ: Midtwin-midparent analyses.

Assessed infant predictors of adult IQ with same-sex infant twins (114 pairs) and their parents. The midtwin–midparent design permits the rapid assessment of infant measures to predict later behavior, because the midparent score serves as a proxy for the infant's potential score at maturity. At 5, 7, and 9 mo, Ss were observed on the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence, hand preference, vocalizations, selected Bayley Scales of Infant Development items, and a modified Bayley Infant Behavior Record. At 8 mo, Ss received the Visual Expectation Paradigm and an auditory discrimination task. Their parents received the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R). Some infant measures, indicative of information processing, language ability, and temperament, predicted midparent IQ. This study extended and partially replicated findings from a previous midtwin–midparent cohort (L. F. DiLalla et al; see record 1991-04066-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)