Attitudes as adjustments to stimulus, background, and residual factors.

"Statements concerning war and peace were judged under simulated group conditions and in an alone condition… . When individuals are exposed to the opinions of others with regard to statements concerning war and peace, it is found that their own expressed attitudes shift more or less markedly toward group opinion. It is also found that the more frequently individuals respond to background influences, the larger is their shift toward or away from the group. Both the frequency and amount of shift from alone opinion toward background judgments correlate with degree of submissiveness as measured by the Allport A-S Reaction Study." 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Software support for the construction of syntactic pattern recognisers by a research engineer

Syntactic pattern recognition is introduced and it is suggested that a research engineer will probably be less familiar with the language theory underlying syntactic pattern recognition than with the statistical ideas connected with decision theoretic methods. For this reason application of syntactic pattern recognition will only develop if software support is provided. The steps of grammatical inference, recogniser construction and recogniser optimisation are outlined. They are included in a scheme by which, working interactively and iteratively, a syntactic pattern recogniser can be produced. Some comments on an implementation are given.     

Interpretation of persuasive messages as a function of prior immunization.

2 experiments were conducted in which passive immunization was achieved by providing Ss with counterarguments against presuasive messages to which they were later exposed. In both studies, this procedure produced a significant tendency to displace the perceived content of the "change" message toward the stand advocated in the immunization message. These results were tentatively attributed to the Ss' attempts to minimize the discrepancy between the opposing statements, both of which appeared to emanate from prestigeful sources. Judgments were not affected by active immunization, a procedure in which Ss attempted to refute (in writing) weakened versions of the change message to which they were later exposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An adaptive rate algorithm for FH/BFSK signaling

The authors present a feedback rate control technique for FH/BFSK (frequency-hop/binary phase-shift keying) signaling over a jammed flat-flat fading channel. An algorithm is developed for tracking the channel fade level, dynamically adjusting the transmitted data rate, and mitigating the effects of partial-band noise jamming. Simulation studies indicate that improvements of about 2 dB can be obtained in the coded performance with the proposed adaptive rate system, when compared to a nonadaptive system operating over the same communication medium with identical power and bandwidth resources     

Long-chain n−3 polyunsaturated fatty acid incorporation into human atrium following fish oil supplementation

Recent studies have demonstrated that long-chain n−3 PUFA (LCn-3PUFA) are beneficial in reducing the risk of cardiac arrhythmias. This study was conducted to determine the extent of incorporation of LCn-3PUFA into human atrium following supplementation with a fish oil concentrate high in LCn-3PUFA. Volunteers preparing for coronary bypass surgery were randomized either to the treatment group (n=8), receiving 6 g/d of fish oil concentrate (4.4 g of LCn-3PUFA), or the placebo group (n=9), receiving 6 g/d of olive oil for a minimum period of 6 wk. Blood samples were collected prior to commencement of treatment, and preoperatively before bypass surgery. Atrial biopsies were obtained during surgery. The plasma and atrium samples were analyzed by GC following trans-methylation to determine FA profile. Post-supplementation, the treatment group had significantly higher plasma levels of 20∶5n−3, 22∶5n−3, and 22∶6n−3 than the placebo group. Analysis of the atrium total lipids revealed a significant increase in the proportion of 20∶5n−3 following fish oil supplementation. There was no significant difference in the concentration of 22∶5n−3 and 22∶6n−3 in the atrium total lipids; however, an upward trend was observed in subjects receiving fish oil supplementation. In the phospholipid fraction of the atrium, both 20∶5n−3 and 22∶6n−3 increased, whereas 20∶4n−6 levels decreased. This study demonstrates for the first time that short-term supplementation with fish oil concentrate results in significant incorporation of LNc-3PUFA with a concomitant depletion of the eicosanoid substrate (20∶4n−6) in the human atrium.     

Lubrication of Steel/Steel Contacts by Choline Chloride Ionic Liquids

There is a growing interest in the use of ionic liquids to provide lubrication for challenging contacts. This study is an initial assessment of the application of two ionic liquids based on choline chloride cations to be used as ionic liquid lubricants for engineering contacts, in this case steel on steel. These ionic liquids, termed ethaline and reline, have anions of ethylene glycol and urea, respectively, and are available at relatively low costs and in high quantities. In order to assess the lubrication performance of the ionic liquids, lubricated reciprocating sliding wear tests were conducted between M2 tool steel samples and a steel stylus. Initial tests conducted at a sliding speed of 0.005 m s^?1 and 30 N showed that ionic liquids could provide low friction lubrication, comparable to that of SAE 5W30 friction modifier free engine oil under the same test conditions; however, lubrication was lost after short sliding distances. Further testing with higher sliding speed/lower load and varying sample surface textures showed that ionic liquid lubrication could be better maintained in high-speed/low-load testing and by increasing the roughness and therefore surface area of the sample. It was also observed that the choline chloride/urea ionic liquid formed a residual film when tested on iron silicate peened samples, and that this film may promote lubrication.     

Optimisation of steel–composite connections for structural marine applications

Parametric variation and optimisation using genetic algorithms employing single and multi-objective functions are proposed for the optimisation of a structural steel/composite connection. The joint in marine applications is the connection between the steel hull and the composite superstructure of a naval vessel. A baseline joint is defined and all parametric variations and optimised joints are compared to this. The parametric results provided design curves of the joint performance determined from the weight, Von Mises stress in the adhesive and the global stiffness indicating performance sensitivity to specific changes in the joint geometry.

The results indicated that the parametric variations can lead to an improvement in the performance but high levels of human interaction are required to make a combined improvement to the performance. The use of genetic algorithms provided an efficient method of searching the design space for an optimal joint. The single objective function provides an excellent reduction in the weight and maintaining or improving the performance of the joint to in-plane compressive loading. The use of the multi-objective function whereby a weighting was applied to the weight, stress and stiffness performance criteria proved extremely successful in further optimising the joint. The use of genetic algorithms has been demonstrated to efficiently search the complex design space of a structural connection and the use of multi-objective functions as the most effective selection method.     

The relationship between coping styles, performance, and responses to stressful scenarios in police recruits.

This study investigated the relationship between coping styles and police recruits' stress responses and performance during a stressful event and the relationship between coping styles and traumatic symptoms. Recruits participated in a simulated stressful policing situation and were scored by expert raters. Distress measures included biological and psychological indicators of stress. Coping styles were associated with subjective and physiological distress but not with performance. Different coping styles were associated with different patterns of traumatic symptoms in the participants. Police recruits appear to rely on their training and skill sets in stressful situations regardless of how they manage their emotional response. Furthermore, the results suggest that different posttraumatic stress disorder manifestations may represent different pathologies, each associated with a different style of coping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amorphous Boron Nitride: A Universal,Ultrathin Dielectric For 2D Nanoelectronics

Next‐generation nanoelectronics based on 2D materials ideally will require reliable, flexible, transparent, and versatile dielectrics for transistor gate barriers, environmental passivation layers, capacitor spacers, and other device elements. Ultrathin amorphous boron nitride of thicknesses from 2 to 17 nm, described in this work, may offer these attributes, as the material is demonstrated to be universal in structure and stoichiometric chemistry on numerous substrates including flexible polydimethylsiloxane, amorphous silicon dioxide, crystalline Al₂O₃, other 2D materials including graphene, 2D MoS₂, and conducting metals and metal foils. The versatile, large area pulsed laser deposition growth technique is performed at temperatures less than 200 °C and without modifying processing conditions, allowing for seamless integration into 2D device architectures. A device‐scale dielectric constant of 5.9 ± 0.65 at 1 kHz, breakdown voltage of 9.8 ± 1.0 MV cm^?1, and bandgap of 4.5 eV were measured for various thicknesses of the ultrathin a‐BN material, representing values higher than previously reported chemical vapor deposited h‐BN and nearing single crystal h‐BN.