Functional Projection: How Fundamental Social Motives Can Bias Interpersonal Perception.

Results from 2 experimental studies suggest that self-protection and mate-search goals lead to the perception of functionally relevant emotional expressions in goal-relevant social targets. Activating a self-protection goal led participants to perceive greater anger in Black male faces (Study 1) and Arab faces (Study 2), both out-groups heuristically associated with physical threat. In Study 2, participants' level of implicit Arab-threat associations moderated this bias. Activating a mate-search goal led male, but not female, participants to perceive more sexual arousal in attractive opposite-sex targets (Study 1). Activating these goals did not influence perceptions of goal-irrelevant targets. Additionally, participants with chronic self-protective and mate-search goals exhibited similar biases. Findings are consistent with a functionalist, motivation-based account of interpersonal perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The boundary finite element method for predicting directions of cracks emerging from notches at bimaterial junctions

The analysis of a bimaterial medium with various notch opening angles has been carried out using boundary finite element method (BFEM) under arbitrary loading conditions. Introduced as novel method for stress concentration problems at geometrical discontinuities, cracks, bimaterial notches etc., the BFEM has been proved as numerically highly efficient. This has become more and more important because wedge type construction creates stress concentrations which may lead to crack initiation in many practical situations where multi-layered composite material is used, e.g. within aerospace, ship or automobile structures. So, the computational prediction of potential directions for crack initiation is essential for the knowledge of weak regions. All the analysis results are based on the hypothesis of Erdogan and Sih and have been verified by the well established finite element method. Results for potential crack initiation angles of both homogeneous and bimaterial media are presented with multiple examples of different wedge angles and different loading combinations.     

Distributed computing for multidisciplinary design optimization using Java

The programming language Java (recently referred to as the computer language of the Web) offers substantial possibilities for the type of complex engineering problems typically encountered in multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) problems. In order to demonstrate the potential uses of Java for MDO problems, this paper presents the development of the Web Interface for complex engineering design (WICkED) software, which simulates the convergence of a decomposed complex system in a distributed computing environment and computes the sensitivity derivatives of the system with respect to the independent input variables using the GSE method or the finite difference method. In this application, one computer is designated as the server and sends out required inputs to a number of client subsystems over the Internet. A number of client computers can connect to the server and then receive the inputs necessary to calculate the solution to their model. As the code necessary to solve the model already exists at the client, only the inputs have to be sent over the network. When the client has solved the calculation, it returns the results to the server which processes the result to produce new inputs.WICkED is written entirely in the Java programming language which allows server and clients to exist on completely different computer types and in heterogeneous, distributed networks. A number of parametric studies on the behaviour of complex systems in a distributed environment are performed and the results are reported in this paper. This research serves to identify potential problems as well as advantages in using Java for MDO applications.     

Heat transfer coefficients for forced-air cooling and freezing of selected foods

To maximize the efficiency of cooling and freezing operations for foods, it is necessary to optimally design the refrigeration equipment to fit the specific requirements of the particular cooling or freezing application. The design of food refrigeration equipment requires estimation of the cooling and freezing times of foods, as well as the corresponding refrigeration loads. The accuracy of these estimates, in turn, depends upon accurate estimates of the surface heat transfer coefficient for the cooling or freezing operation. This project reviewed heat transfer data for the cooling and/or freezing of foods. A total of 777 cooling curves for 295 food items were obtained from an industrial survey and a unique iterative algorithm, utilizing the concept of ‘equivalent heat transfer dimensionality’, was developed to obtain heat transfer coefficients from these cooling curves. Nine Nusselt–Reynolds–Prandtl correlations were developed from a selection of the 777 heat transfer coefficients resulting from this algorithm, as well as 144 heat transfer coefficients for 13 food items, collected from the literature. The data and correlations resulting from this project will be used by designers of cooling and freezing systems for foods. This information will make possible a more accurate determination of cooling and freezing times and corresponding refrigeration loads. Such information is important in the design and operation of cooling and freezing facilities and will be of immediate usefulness to engineers involved in the design and operation of such systems.     

Psychological Perspectives on Hate Crime Laws.

Hate crimes are those in which the victim is selected because of his or her actual or perceived race, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or national origin. Hate crime laws have frequently been met with objections. Whereas some objections are based in constitutional law, other objections invoke a variety of psychological constructs, including attitude, motivation, behavior, emotion, and intergroup relations. These objections can be illuminated by relevant psychological theory and research. Topics addressed include the measurement of motivation and intent, and distinctions among attitudes, emotions, and behavior. Hate crimes and other crimes are compared in terms of perpetrators, type and degree of violence, psychological and physical trauma suffered by victims, and community impact. Psychologically based defense strategies used by perpetrators of hate crimes are critiqued. Hate crime laws are also discussed in terms of the political and social values they reflect. Finally, research and policy implications are outlined, including implications for prevention and intervention at the individual, community, and law enforcement levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Goal and Personality Trait Development in Emerging Adulthood.

The present research examined continuity and change in the importance of major life goals and the relation between change in goals and change in personality traits over the course of college (N = 298). Participants rated the importance of their life goals 6 times over a 4-year period and completed a measure of the Big Five personality traits at the beginning and end of college. Like personality traits, life goals demonstrated high levels of rank-order stability. Unlike personality traits assessed during the same period and in the same sample, the mean importance of most life goals decreased over time. Moreover, each goal domain was marked by significant individual differences in change, and these individual differences were related to changes in personality traits. These findings provide insights into the relatively unstudied question of how life goals change during emerging adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effective stiffness and microscopic deformation of an orthotropic plate containing arbitrary holes

Many engineering materials and structures, such as cellular structures, sandwich core structures and laminated plates with holes, can be modeled by an inclusion problem with anisotropic matrix. The paper studies the effective properties and the microscopic deformation of anisotropic plates with periodic holes by using direct and mathematical homogenization. The effective stiffnesses are calculated by different homogenization methods and the microscopic deformation of a RVE is modeled by the finite element method for the plate with arbitrarily shaped holes. All of the effective stiffness coefficients, especially stretching-shear coupling coefficients are evaluated.