Insiders Behaving Badly

This column goes beyond previous insider analyses to identify a framework for a taxonomy of insider threats including both malicious and inadvertent actions by insiders that put organizations or their resources at some risk. The framework includes factors reflecting the organization, the individual, the information technology system, and the environment.     

Lexical Influences in Audiovisual Speech Perception.

Phoneme identification with audiovisually discrepant stimuli is influenced hy information in the visual signal (the McGurk effect). Additionally, lexical status affects identification of auditorily presented phonemes. The present study tested for lexical influences on the McGurk effect. Participants identified phonemes in audiovisually discrepant stimuli in which lexical status of the auditory component and of a visually influenced percept was independently varied. Visually influenced (McGurk) responses were more frequent when they formed a word and when the auditory signal was a nonword (Experiment 1). Lexical effects were larger for slow than for fast responses (Experiment 2), as with auditory speech, and were replicated with stimuli matched on physical properties (Experiment 3). These results are consistent with models in which lexical processing of speech is modality independent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Plasticity of feature-based selection in triple-conjunction search.

Two experiments examined the disruption of feature-based selection in triple-conjunction search at multiple target transfers. In Experiment 1, after 10 training sessions, a new target possessing previous distractor features was introduced. This produced disruption in RT and fixation number, but no disruption in feature-based selection. Specifically, there was a tendency to fixate objects sharing the target's contrast polarity and shape and this did not change even upon transfer to the new target. In Experiment 2, 30 training sessions were provided with three target transfers. At the first transfer, the results replicated Experiment 1. Subsequent transfers did not produce disruption on any measure. These findings are discussed in terms of strength theory, Guided Search, rule-based approaches to perceptual learning, and the area activation model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

用于部件检验的快速声学方法——一种测量外购部件内的关键材料性能的新技术。

传统上．声学显微镜用于寻找组件中的分层等内部缺陷。现在．它们被用作快速的材料表征工具来检验外购部件。这类检验是供应链管理的重要内容．对于任何组装公司都非常关键．尤其是无晶圆厂设计公司（fabless）。     

Efficacy evaluation of a 4% chlorhexidine gluconate as a full-body shower wash

A 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (Xttrium Laboratories, Chicago, Ill.) was used in a shower bath application to evaluate its merits in reducing resident skin microorganisms. Five volunteers completed a 14-day microbial stabilization period, a 7-day baseline period, and a 5-day test period. Subjects followed a standard protocol, performed five shower washes and were sampled at both the abdominal and inguinal regions immediately after the shower wash as well as at 3 and 6 hours later on days 1, 2, and 5. Chlorhexidine gluconate provided significant microbial reductions from baseline, with greater reductions noted as the study progressed. Use of chlorhexidine gluconate in a shower wash application in conjunction with a preoperative skin-preparation procedure may reduce the probability of surgically associated infections.     

Behavioral and computational models of spatial attention.

Pigeons pecked for food in a spatially cued choice reaction time (RT) task. A brief (50-msec) white light appeared on a left or right key and probabilistically predicted the location (on either the left or right key) of a subsequent target stimulus. The time between cue and target onset (stimulus onset asynchrony), the base rate of left cues, and the probability that the cue correctly predicted the target (cue validity) were experimentally varied. The mean RT to respond to the target key was faster on correctly cued trials (defining a validity effect), decreased for both valid and invalid trials as stimulus onset asynchrony increased (defining an alerting effect), showed a variety of base-rate effects, and did not depend on cue validity. It is shown with a computational-processing model that dynamic interactions of short-term and associative memory processes are sufficient to produce these attention-like empirical phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of infrared reflectance spectroscopy to the analysis of milk and dairy products

A method for the rapid, simultaneous determination of protein, fat, carbohydrate, non-protein nitrogen and total solids in milk and liquid dairy products by infrared reflectance spectroscopy is presented. The method is calibrated against known standards obtained by conventional, time-consuming wet chemical methods but, once calibrated, can be operated routinely by non-skilled personnel. The method is sensitive and accurate down to 0·5% w/v and can be applied to most liquid samples without any need for prior preparation.     

AbdB-like Hox proteins stabilize DNA binding by the Meis1 homeodomain proteins

Recent studies show that Hox homeodomain proteins from paralog groups 1 to 10 gain DNA binding specificity and affinity through cooperative binding with the divergent homeodomain protein Pbx1. However, the AbdB-like Hox proteins from paralogs 11, 12, and 13 do not interact with Pbx1a, raising the possibility of different protein partners. The Meis1 homeobox gene has 44% identity to Pbx within the homeodomain and was identified as a common site of viral integration in myeloid leukemias arising in BXH-2 mice. These integrations result in constitutive activation of Meis1. Furthermore, the Hoxa-9 gene is frequently activated by viral integration in the same BXH-2 leukemias, suggesting a biological synergy between these two distinct classes of homeodomain proteins in causing malignant transformation. We now show that the Hoxa-9 protein physically interacts with Meis1 proteins by forming heterodimeric binding complexes on a DNA target containing a Meis1 site (TGACAG) and an AbdB-like Hox site (TTTTACGAC). Hox proteins from the other AbdB-like paralogs, Hoxa-10, Hoxa-11, Hoxd-12, and Hoxb-13, also form DNA binding complexes with Meis1b, while Hox proteins from other paralogs do not appear to interact with Meis1 proteins. DNA binding complexes formed by Meis1 with Hox proteins dissociate much more slowly than DNA complexes with Meis1 alone, suggesting that Hox proteins stabilize the interactions of Meis1 proteins with their DNA targets.