Work characteristics, musculoskeletal disorders, and the mediating role of psychological strain: A study of call center employees.

The demands of the modern office are thought to contribute to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. For upper body and lower back disorders, these effects are hypothesized to be mediated by psychological strain. A study of 936 employees from 22 call centers supports this hypothesis. Using logistic regression and structural equation modeling, the authors found that the relationship of workload to upper body and lower back musculoskeletal disorders was largely accounted for by job-related strain. This mediating effect was less evident for arm disorders. Contrary to expectation, job autonomy had neither a direct nor a moderating effect on any musculoskeletal disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What does it mean to be angry at yourself? Categories, appraisals, and the problem of language.

According to appraisal theorists, anger involves a negative event, usually blocking a goal, caused by another person. Critics argue that other-agency is unnecessary, since people can be angry at themselves, and thus that appraisal theory is wrong about anger. In two studies, we compared anger, self-anger, shame, and guilt, and found that self-anger shared some appraisals, action tendencies, and associated emotions with anger, others with shame and guilt. Self-anger was not simply anger with a different agency appraisal. Anger, shame, and guilt almost always involved other people, but almost half of the occurrences of self-anger were solitary. We discuss the incompatibility of appraisal theories with any strict categorical view of emotions, and the inadequacy of emotion words to capture emotional experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors affecting the formation of alpha and beta polymorphs in glutaric acid aerosols

Dicarboxylic acids are prevalent in the atmosphere and frequently investigated by aerosol and atmospheric scientists. Glutaric acid, being a water-soluble dicarboxylic acid, is commonly used to model water activity in dicarboxylic acid aerosols. Different values associated with glutaric acid aerosols, specifically DRH and hygroscopic data, have been reported by several groups. We hypothesize that this variability is caused by its polymorphism. Glutaric acid exhibits dimorphism, meaning the molecule can form into two different types of crystal structures, an alpha and a beta polymorph. Glutaric acid naturally forms the beta polymorph, which is more stable. The alpha polymorph is the metastable phase. These polymorphs manifest themselves as a bimodal aerosol size distribution when analyzed by Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers or other aerosol mobility sizing methods. In this article, we discuss the formation of the nanoscale alpha glutaric acid polymorph generated from an aqueous glutaric acid solution. The formation of both polymorphs from an aqueous solution has not been documented elsewhere. We have found that the alpha polymorph forms at faster crystallization speeds, with a lower aqueous solution concentration and a lower solution flow rate into the atomizer. This identification of the presence of polymorphism in glutaric acid aerosols under common laboratory generation conditions could explain the variability present in studies associated with glutaric acid aerosols. Understanding the conditions at which the alpha polymorph is present will allow researchers to avoid it when using glutaric acid as a dicarboxylic acid standard and explain previously noted discrepancies.

Copyright © 2019 American Association for Aerosol Research     

The social psychology of eyewitness accuracy: Misleading questions and communicator expertise.

In two studies we examined the effect of questioner expertise on the error rates of subjects who were asked misleading versus unbiased questions. A total of 105 introductory psychology students watched a videotaped clip of a bank robbery and were then questioned about the crime. The questioner was represented to subjects as either highly knowledgeable or completely naive about the events the subject witnessed. One half of the subjects in each expertise condition were asked misleading questions, and the other half were asked unbiased questions. In the knowledgeable questioner conditions, misleading questions were associated with error rates significantly higher than those obtained with the unbiased questions (p?ns). These results indicate that misleading questions decrease witness accuracy when the questioner is assumed to be knowledgeable about the crime, but have no effect on accuracy when the questioner is assumed to be naive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electromyographic evidence for age-related differences in the mimicry of anger.

Although older adults have difficulty recognizing all facial emotions, they have particular difficulty decoding expressions of anger. Since disruption of facial mimicry impairs emotion recognition, electromyography of the corrugator supercilii (i.e., brow) muscle region was used to test whether there are age differences in anger mimicry. Associations between mimicry and emotion recognition were also assessed. The results indicated that although there were no age differences in anger mimicry, older (but not young) adults' corrugator responses to angry expressions were associated with reduced anger recognition. Implications for understanding emotion recognition difficulties in older adulthood are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confusion, concentration, and other emotions of interest: Commentary on Rozin and Cohen (2003).

P. Rozin and A. B. Cohen's (see record 2003-02341-009) method of sending students out to observe each other in familiar circumstances undoubtedly exaggerated the apparent prevalence of confusion, concentration, and worry. The expressions they observed probably ranged from regulatory feedback and communicative signals to expressions of the "intellectual emotions" described by C. Darwin (1872/1965). Appraisal theories can easily accommodate these affective states; there is no need to postulate new "basic emotions" unless one adheres to a rigid categorical view of emotion. Finally, Rozin and Cohen have made a valuable contribution by reminding us of the importance of emotions related to interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From abstract ideas to concrete instances: Some guidelines for choosing natural research settings.

Addresses the general problem of the translation of abstract concepts and hypotheses into concrete instances that are likely to permit a valid empirical test. Considerations that should guide the choice of a research setting include (a) the history of research and the current state of knowledge in the area, (b) the types of variables to be studied, (c) the form of the hypothesized relationship among variables, and (d) the most plausible rival hypotheses. It is argued that research settings should be chosen with the whole experimental design in mind and that the availability of appropriate controls (groups or occasions for observation) should be as important as the suitability of the treatment group. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Placing the face in context: Cultural differences in the perception of facial emotion.

Two studies tested the hypothesis that in judging people's emotions from their facial expressions, Japanese, more than Westerners, incorporate information from the social context. In Study 1, participants viewed cartoons depicting a happy, sad, angry, or neutral person surrounded by other people expressing the same emotion as the central person or a different one. The surrounding people's emotions influenced Japanese but not Westerners' perceptions of the central person. These differences reflect differences in attention, as indicated by eye-tracking data (Study 2): Japanese looked at the surrounding people more than did Westerners. Previous findings on East-West differences in contextual sensitivity generalize to social contexts, suggesting that Westerners see emotions as individual feelings, whereas Japanese see them as inseparable from the feelings of the group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antibacterial activity of chitosan-based matrices on oral pathogens

Chitosan is a well sought-after polysaccharide in biomedical applications due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability to non-toxic substances, and ease of fabrication into various configurations. However, alterations in the anti-bacterial properties of chitosan in various forms is not completely understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-bacterial properties of chitosan matrices in different configurations against two pathogens—Gram-positive Streptococcus mutans and Gram-negative Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. Two-dimensional (2-D) membranes and three-dimensional (3-D) porous scaffolds were synthesized by air drying and controlled-rate freeze drying. Matrices were suspended in bacterial broths with or without lysozyme (enzyme that degrades chitosan). Influences of pore size, blending with Polycaprolactone (PCL, a synthetic polymer), and neutralization process on bacterial proliferation were studied. Transient changes in optical density of the broth, adhesion characteristics, viability, and contact-dependent bacterial activity were assessed. 3-D porous scaffolds were more effective in reducing the proliferation of S. mutans in suspension than 2-D membranes. However, no significant differences were observed on the proliferation of A. actinomycetemcomitans. Presence of lysozyme significantly increased the antibacterial activity of chitosan against A. actinomycetemcomitans. Pore size did not affect the proliferation kinetics of either species, with or without lysozyme. NaOH neutralization of chitosan increased bacterial adhesion whereas ethanol neutralization inhibited adhesion without lowering proliferation. Mat culture tests indicated that chitosan does not allow proliferation on its surface and it loses antibacterial activity upon blending with PCL. Results suggest that the chemical and structural characteristics of chitosan-based matrices can be manipulated to influence the interaction of different bacterial species. Aparna R. Sarasam and Phoebe Brown contributed equally