W. Miller Usdane: 1914–1979.

Presents a eulogy given by James F. Garrett at the memorial service for Bill Usdane on May 7, 1979 in Washington D.C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems

In October 2005, the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center and T.J. Watson Research Center hosted a symposium on “cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems”. The central premise of the symposium was the recognition that cognitive and learning difficulties have a profound impact on a person’s ability to interact with information technology (IT) systems, but that little support is currently being offered by those systems. By bringing together internationally renowned experts from a variety of different, but complementary, research fields, the symposium aimed to provide a complete overview of the issues related to this topic. This paper summarises the discussions and findings of the symposium.     

Characterisation of potential health promoting lipids in the co-products of de-flossed milkweed

The floss and oil of the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) seeds are currently used to produce comforters/pillows and skin care products, respectively. As an outcome of these products, copious quantities co-products (pressed seed meal and pod biomass) are disposed of each year despite the presence of potential health benefitting lipids. The objective of this project was to determine the feasibility of developing the lipid fraction from of these co-products for the fast growing dietary human health market. Although certain types of lipids were affected by the extraction solvent used (hexane and diethyl ether) as were overall amounts, analysis of the each extract showed novel lipid profiles with several potential health benefitting agents present at levels comparable to or exceeding those present in other typically consumed dietary oils or food systems (vitamin E, carotenoids, sterols and unsaturated free fatty acids, particularly the both omega 7-fatty acids).     

A New Era of Minimal Effects? A Response to Bennett and Iyengar

This article takes up Bennett and Iyengar's (2008) call for debate about the future of political communication effects research. We outline 4 key criticisms. First, Bennett and Iyengar are too quick to dismiss the importance of attitude reinforcement, long recognized as an important type of political media influence. Second, the authors take too narrow a view of the sources of political information, remaining fixated on news. Third, they offer an incomplete portrayal of selective exposure, exaggerating the extent to which individuals avoid attitude-discrepant information. Finally, they lean toward determinism when describing the role technologies play in shaping our political environment. In addition, we challenge Bennett and Iyengar's assertion that only brand new theory can serve to help researchers understand today's political communication landscape. We argue that existing tools, notably the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), retain much utility for examining political media effects. Contrary to Bennett and Iyengar's claims, the ELM suggests that the contemporary political information environment does not necessarily lead to minimal effects.     

Destructive testing of defective weldments: Fracture mechanics predictions of failure loads and defect criticalities compared with experimental results

Thirty welded test plates containing discrete artificial defects were tested to destruction under controlled four point bending, and the failure loads recorded. The defect parameters, length, height and depth, were measured from the resulting fracture surfaces. Prior to destructive testing, the defective welds had been ultrasonically inspected, in two separate UT programmes, by a number of independent operators. Both actual and predicted defect sizes were used in conjunction with the Design Curve approach of British Standard PD 6493 to calculate failure stresses for each of the test plates. In addition, the Failure Assessment Diagram of the Central Electricity Generating Board (UK) R-6 document was used to establish defect criticality, of both the actual and the predicted defect parameters.

The results obtained indicate that there appeared to be some tolerance in both assessment routes to the significant variability observed in the ultrasonic defect size predictions. However, precise predictions of failure stress levels and defect criticalities are only possible when defects are accurately sized.     

Multiple measures of hand-use lateralization in the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).

Evaluated a free-ranging matriline of 13 ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) from videotaped records for lateralized hand use with 2 tasks and 4 measures: food reaching, feeding posture, duration of food holding, and manipulation of food between mouth and hand while eating. Binomial z scores determined 7 lemurs to be left preferent in reaching, 3 right, and 3 ambipreferent. Ideographic analyses suggested possible sex-linked and early experience twin effects. When compared to right and ambipreferent lemurs, left reach preferent lemurs used the left hand more but bimanuals grasped less in food holding and also engaged in less hand-mouth food manipulation. The tendency to manipulate food was not correlated with bimanual holding but was inversely related to left hand holding and directly related to right hand holding. These patterns are discussed as possible precursors of human bimanual manipulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge, strategy, and motivational contributions to preschool children's object recall.

This study examined the contributions of four individual difference predictors to preschool children's recall for object names. Measures of object knowledge (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test [PPVT]), conceptual tempo (the Kansas Reflection-Impulsivity Scale for Preschoolers [KRISP] error scores), strategic study period activities, and teacher ratings of children's mastery motivation were used to predict recall scores of 3- and 4-year-old children. KRISP-error scores, strategic study activities, and motivation ratings were found to be significant correlates of recall. Motivation ratings entered a regression prediction equation first, followed by the strategic study activity measure, yielding a multiple correlation of .62. These predictors were unrelated, suggesting that motivational factors contributed to young children's recall proficiency directly, perhaps through greater task involvement and analysis and more effortful retrieval activity, and do not mediate strategic study behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of a coded 8 PSK modem using digital signal processors

A prototype 64 kb/s coded eight phase shift key (C8PSK) modem has been successfully developed using a combination of conventional analogue circuitry and software-based digital signal processing. The C8PSK scheme is fully compatible regarding interference criteria with existing satellite FDMA access requirements and offers more efficient use of the satellite resource than conventional quaternary PSK (QPSK) systems. The C8PSK unit may either maintain channel performance with a lower satellite power requirement or improve the user bit error rate (BER) without the need for extra satellite power or bandwidth. The prototype modem was developed in a general way so that other PSK modulation schemes could be accommodated by replacing PROM units. Software processing also allows adaptive operation which adjusts the processing technique to optimize operation for a degraded signal-to-noise environment.     

Moral disengagement in ethical decision making: A study of antecedents and outcomes.

This article advances understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of moral disengagement by testing hypotheses with 3 waves of survey data from 307 business and education undergraduate students. The authors theorize that 6 individual differences will either increase or decrease moral disengagement, defined as a set of cognitive mechanisms that deactivate moral self-regulatory processes and thereby help to explain why individuals often make unethical decisions without apparent guilt or self-censure (Bandura, 1986). Results support 4 individual difference hypotheses, specifically, that empathy and moral identity are negatively related to moral disengagement, while trait cynicism and chance locus of control orientation are positively related to moral disengagement. Two additional locus of control orientations are not significantly related to moral disengagement. The authors also hypothesize and find that moral disengagement is positively related to unethical decision making. Finally, the authors hypothesize that moral disengagement plays a mediating role between the individual differences they studied and unethical decisions. Their results offer partial support for these mediating hypotheses. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for future research and for practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)