Paying to belong: When does rejection trigger ingratiation?

Societies and social scientists have long held the belief that exclusion induces ingratiation and conformity, an idea in contradiction to robust empirical evidence linking rejection with hostility and aggression. The classic literatures on ingratiation and conformity help resolve this contradiction by identifying circumstances under which rejection may trigger efforts to ingratiate. Jointly, findings from these literatures suggest that when people are given an opportunity to impress their rejecters, ingratiation is likely after rejection experiences that are harsh and that occur in important situations that threaten the individual's self-definition. Four studies tested the hypothesis that people high in rejection sensitivity and therefore dispositionally concerned about rejection will utilize opportunities to ingratiate after harsh rejection in situations that are self-defining. In 3 studies of situations that are particularly self-defining for men, rejection predicted ingratiation among men (but not women) who were high in rejection sensitivity. In a 4th study, harsh rejection in a situation particularly self-defining for women predicted ingratiation among highly rejection-sensitive women (but not men). These findings help identify the specific circumstances under which people are willing to act in socially desirable ways toward those who have rejected them harshly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seniors and Information Technology in China

Technology, particularly information technology (IT), is changing rapidly and offers many advantages for users. IT has the potential to improve one’s quality of life, but only if used. Research has shown that, in most developed and developing nations, senior use of IT lags behind that of other segments of society. This “gray divide” is a concern for government, business, and others. Concern about senior adoption and use of IT has been the motivation for numerous studies and is the motivation for this study of Chinese seniors. This exploratory study examines urban Chinese seniors’ IT use, computers and mobile phones in particular, but also their attitudes and behaviors as they relate to the use of those devices. More specifically it examines several potential factors that motivate or hinder senior’s use of information technology, including self-efficacy, satisfaction, comfort with technology, and both positive and negative attitudes. This study provides some insight into the quantity and diversity of Chinese senior technology use in urban China. Particularly noteworthy, the study found that technology ownership was quite high, and in general the Chinese seniors studied had positive attitudes and beliefs concerning information technology. This is generally good news for the Chinese government, which must efficiently provide services for the growing population of Chinese seniors, as well as for businesses that wish to capitalize on one of the largest senior populations in the world.     

A longitudinal examination of computer self-efficacy change trajectories during training

Computer self-efficacy (CSE) is known to enhance individual competence and performance in learning and using technology as well as improve technology attitudes and beliefs. Using longitudinal studies, CSE increases over time during organizational technology training. While these studies have been instrumental in our understanding of how self-efficacy operates in organizations, some critical questions remain unanswered. In particular these studies cannot answer how long it takes for one’s CSE to increase during training, nor can it describe the shape of the change trajectory (linear? some other shape?). The answers to these questions will provide organizations a much clearer perspective on training expectations, understanding when benefits from training through enhanced CSE might be expected, and when to start and ramp up/down training efforts. This study examines these issues by collecting repeated waves of data from 230 respondents in a technology lab training setting and using a relatively new structural equation modeling technique, latent growth modeling. Findings suggest that it takes about 2 months of training for individuals to display significant increases in CSE, and that the growth trajectory for CSE in non-linear. In the proposed model, anxiety is a significant predictor of CSE change, while CSE change significantly predicted software-specific self-efficacies.     

DES-GENERATED CHECKSUMS FOR ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES

Secrecy and authentication are two important features of a secure communication system. Public Key Cryptosystems, based, e.g., on the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithm, provide a very elegant solution to the problem of authenticity verification or true electronic signatures. Practical problems, however, mainly the lack of execution speed, prevent a straightforward application. In order to sign a long message it is much faster to first calculate a short digest or checksum and then sign the compressed message. For this checksum calculation the fast, inexpensive and extensively tested Data Encryption Standard (DES) can be used. But care must be taken that this additional processing step does not introduce any weakness into the signature scheme. This paper investigates two DES-based hashing methods. It is shown that neither method seems to introduce any statistical regularities in the generated checksums. The “Cipher/Message to Plain Feedback,” however, is not secure under a modification compensation attack. It is further shown how the second method, the “Cipher to Plain Feedback” proposed by Davies and Price, can be broken by a “meet in the middle attack.” This checksum method, however, can be used safely with a slight modification.     

The aging effect of the thermoelectric power of thin copper films

The thermoelectricpower, referenced to bulk copper, of thin films of copper about 150 Å thick was measured by preparing a thin film bridge between two copper wires which served as leads. This arrangement produces two junctions between the thin film copper and the bulk copper. The two junctions were maintained at a temperature difference which was measured using a calibrated copper-constantan thermocouple. It was found that the thin film-to-bulk thermoelectric power varies with time and can be fitted to an equation of the form

$\text{S = S}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>F</mtext>}}\text{(1?}\text{e}{}^{\mathrm{-\lambda t}}\text{)}$

where λ depends on temperature. The constant λ in the equation has values very close to those found from thin film resistance aging measurements, suggesting that the same mechanism is responsible for both aging phenomena. The heated junctions is negative, in agreement with a simple electron diffusion model of thermoelectric power.     

Application of principal component analysis to the prediction of lucerne forage protein content and in vitro dry matter digestibility by NIR spectroscopy

Application of principal component regression (PCR) was proposed for the development of a prediction equation of forage composition by near infra-red spectroscopy. PCR involves two steps: (a) the creation of new synthetic variables by principal component analysis (PCA) of spectral data, and (b) multiple linear regression with these new variables. Results obtained by this procedure have been compared with those generated by the conventional application of multiple linear regression (MLR) on spectral data. The comparison used the determination of protein content and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) in 345 samples of lucerne forages. For protein determination, results of both procedures were quite similar (correlation coefficients: 0.978 and 0.980; standard errors of calibration: 0.86 and 0.84% DM; standard errors of prediction: 0.81 and 0.80% DM respectively for MLR and PCR prediction equations). The same was observed for IVDMD determination (correlation coefficients: 0.942 and 0.951; standard errors of calibration: 1.89 and 1.71% DM; standard errors of prediction: 2.22 and 2.22% DM, respectively). A large number of PCA variables were necessary for an accurate prediction of both constituents. The influence of the number of regression terms introduced in the PCR equation has been studied. The criterion for stopping the introduction of new terms in PCR did not seem as critical as in MLR.     

Quantitation of Lamb Content in Mixtures with Raw Minced Beef Using Visible, Near and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy

Samples of beef (32), lamb (33) and 5%, 10% and 20% (w/w) lamb-in-beef mixtures (33 each) were minced and reflectance scanned in the visible, near and mid-infrared spectral regions. Partial least squares (PLS) regression models were developed to predict percentage lamb content using each spectral region alone and combinations of all three. The most accurate models combined mid-IR (800-2000 cm^-1) and near IR (1100-2498 nm) spectral data following 2^nd derivatization; standard errors of prediction of 0.91% (0–20% range in lamb content) and 4.1% (0–100% range in lamb) were obtained. This technique may be useful for screening such meat mixtures.     

Lockout energy control placarding for power distribution equipment

The use of lockout techniques is required in most facilities, including power distribution facilities, but is often established in many different ways. Often times flags, tags, the instructions of a system operator, or other means are utilized in power distribution facilities to approximate the same level of safety is afforded by use of actual physical locks. Extensive training is required to maintain the integrity of these alternate systems, but the chance of error is greater than in the systems where locks are used. Use of personal locks also squarely places the responsibility of achieving the electrically safe condition of the equipment upon the worker or employee. The tool discussed in this article, called a placard, has been used in some industrial facilities to enhance the federal requirements of a lockout energy control program. This tool has been applied to power distribution equipment. This article discusses the development and implementation of placards along with the advantages and difficulties encountered during the process