Affective Reactivity in Language: The Role of Psychophysiological Arousal.

Several studies have found that individuals with schizophrenia and their relatives, as well as healthy controls, exhibit greater language disturbance when discussing affectively negative as compared to positive or neutral topics. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that negative emotion impairs language production, at least in part by increasing physiological arousal. The authors had 35 healthy adults produce speech in response to affectively negative, positive, and neutral questions while the authors recorded heart rate and skin conductance. Participants displayed greater amounts of reference errors, higher heart rates, and a higher frequency of nonspecific skin conductance responses when discussing affectively negative as compared to positive or neutral topics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Properties of azo‐dye alignment layer on plastic substrates

Abstract— The alignment properties of the azo‐dye photo‐alignment material SD‐1/SDA‐2 on plastic substrates are investigated. Important liquid‐crystal cell parameters, such as azimuthal and polar anchoring energy, pretilt angle, voltage holding ratio, and the corresponding electro‐optical properties are presented. Excellent alignment with high anchoring energy can be achieved with a polarized UV dose less than 1.0 J/cm². A reflective six‐digit flexible passive‐matrix‐driven TN‐LCD for smart‐card applications showing excellent electro‐optical properties is demonstrated.     

High-Resolution Spherical Quantization of Sinusoidal Parameters

Sinusoidal coding is an often employed technique in low bit-rate audio coding. Therefore, methods for efficient quantization of sinusoidal parameters are of great importance. In this paper, we use high-resolution assumptions to derive analytical expressions for the optimal entropy-constrained unrestricted spherical quantizers for the amplitude, phase, and frequency parameters of the sinusoidal model. This is done both for the case of a single sinusoid, and for the more practically relevant case of multiple sinusoids distributed across multiple segments. To account for psychoacoustical effects of the auditory system, a perceptual distortion measure is used. The optimal quantizers minimize a high-resolution approximation of the expected perceptual distortion, while the corresponding quantization indices satisfy an entropy constraint. The quantizers turn out to be flexible and of low complexity, in the sense that they can be determined easily for varying bit rate requirements, without any sort of retraining or iterative procedures. In an objective comparison it is shown that for the squared error distortion measure, the rate-distortion performance of the proposed method is very close to that of the theoretically optimal entropy-constrained vector quantization. Furthermore, for the perceptual distortion measure, the proposed scheme is shown to objectively outperform an existing sinusoidal quantization scheme, where frequency quantization is done independently. Finally, a subjective listening test, in which the proposed scheme is compared to an existing state-of-the-art sinusoidal quantization scheme with fixed quantizers for all input signals, indicates that the proposed scheme leads to an average bit rate reduction of 20%, at the same subjective quality level as the existing scheme     

Counting methods are decisive for rankings based on publication and citation studies

Summary For all rankings of countries research output based on number of publications or citations compared with population, GDP, R&D and public R&D expenses, and other national characteristics the counting method is decisive. Total counting (full credit to a country when at least one of the authors is from this country) and Fractional Counting (a country receives a fraction of full credit for a publication equal to the fraction of authors from this country) of publications give widely different results. Counting methods must be stated, rankings based on different counting methods cannot be compared, and Fractional Counting is to be preferred.     

A Low-Impedance Uninterruptible Power Technology for Nonlinear Critical Loads

New-generation mainframe computer complexes serving time-critical industrial and commercial users have introduced new problems for facilities engineers. Harmonic currents induced by switching computer power supplies badly distort the output waveform of high-impedance power sources. The resultant source current output will typically be out of required tolerance and can directly relate to unwanted voltage drops, data inaccuracies, and impaired load reliability. Conventional uninterruptible power supply systems offer load voltage continuity but suffer a trade-off in extremely high impedance compared to utility. This trade-off may no longer be well tolerated. A new UPS technology that demonstrates dramatically lower input-to-output impedance than was possible formerly will be evaluated. The system is based primarily on a unique rotating device employing a common stator for both motor and generator functions. Data will be presented on system reliability, efficiency, load isolation, and current-voltage dynamics.     

Conductivity and expansion at high temperature in Sr0.7La0.3TiO3−α prepared under reducing atmosphere

Sr_0.7La_0.3TiO_3−α specimens were prepared in reducing atmosphere, and the structural and electrical properties were studied. The lattice parameter of Sr_0.7La_0.3TiO_3−α at room temperature was larger than that expected from Vegard’s law between SrTiO₃ and LaTiO₃ due to the reductive expansion. The conductivity of this specimen was 100 S cm⁻¹ at 1000°C, p_O2 = 10⁻¹³ Pa. However, the conductivity was not preserved after an oxidation-reduction cycle. Over p_O2 = 10² Pa, the conductivity drastically dropped with increasing p_O2. The thermal expansion coefficient of Sr_0.7La_0.3TiO_3−α was 11.8 × 10⁻⁶ K⁻¹ in 9% H₂/N₂ (room temperature – 1000°C). In this Sr_0.7La_0.3TiO_3−α, the chemical expansion on oxidation reached Δl/l_o = 0.51%, when changing p_O2 from 10⁻¹¹ Pa to 2 × 10⁴ Pa (air) at 1000°C.     

Selected characteristics of psychologists and psychological assessment in five settings: 1959–1982.

Surveyed 458 psychologists in psychiatric hospitals, community mental health centers and clinics, centers for the developmentally disabled and mentally retarded, counseling centers, and Veterans Administration medical centers to determine if the pattern of psychological service delivery has changed since B. Lubin and A. W. Lubin's (1972) national survey. Results reveal changes in areas such as the assessment function of psychologists, referral questions, and referral sources and support Lubin and Lubin's conclusion that surveys of psychological assessment should report individual rather than composite results for these 5 settings. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contributions of social science to innovation and productivity.

Argues that the current debate on national productivity and innovation has largely ignored the contributions of social science. In the present article, 3 trends and developments are considered: social science as a decision aid, social science as a source of social technology, and social science as a tool for understanding innovation and productivity. Major inhibiting factors in the use of social science include its nonproprietary nature, the disaggregation of social science support, and the isolation of social science from decision making. The continued de-emphasis of social science research is seen as harmful for the nation's knowledge base and for its efforts to achieve economic and technological revitalization. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deno oxidation. Isolation of high-molecular-weight aliphatic material from coals and further model compound studies/

Long-chain aliphatic materials present in coals are not completely oxidized using the procedure described by Deno (Fuel 1978, 57, 455). They are adsorbed on the filter cake during the work-up procedure and can be isolated by extracting the filter cake. The amounts present are similar to those observed by Hayatsu et al. (Fuel in press). Also-phenol is not completely oxidized under these conditions, but gives products with m/e as high as 310. Products from the oxidation of phenol include ethane and propane tricarboxylic acids and benzene tri- and tetracarboxylic acids.     

Improved algorithm for probe-corrected spherical near-field/far-field transformation

The technique for computation of antenna far fields from spherical near-field measurements has been improved, allowing large antennas to be treated. The efficiency and accuracy is demonstrated for an antenna without rotational symmetry and about 50 wavelengths in diameter.