Biases in Social Comparative Judgments: The Role of Nonmotivated Factors in Above-Average and Comparative-Optimism Effects.

Biases in social comparative judgments, such as those illustrated by above-average and comparative-optimism effects, are often regarded as products of motivated reasoning (e.g., self-enhancement). These effects, however, can also be produced by information-processing limitations or aspects of judgment processes that are not necessarily biased by motivational factors. In this article, the authors briefly review motivational accounts of biased comparative judgments, introduce a 3-stage model for understanding how people make comparative judgments, and then describe how various nonmotivational factors can influence the 3 stages of the comparative judgment process. Finally, the authors discuss several unresolved issues highlighted by their analysis, such as the interrelation between motivated and nonmotivated sources of bias and the influence of nonmotivated sources of bias on behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An efficient implementation of SELF, a dynamically-typed object-oriented language based on prototypes

We have developed and implemented techniques that double the performance of dynamically-typed object-oriented languages. Our SELF implementation runs twice as fast as the fastest Smalltalk implementation, despite SELF's lack of classes and explicit variables.To compensate for the absence of classes, our system uses implementation-levelmaps to transparently group objects cloned from the same prototype, providing data type information and eliminating the apparent space overhead for prototype-based systems. To compensate for dynamic typing, user-defined control structures, and the lack of explicit variables, our system dynamically compilesmultiple versions of a source method, eachcustomized according to its receiver's map. Within each version the type of the receiver is fixed, and thus the compiler can statically bind andinline all messages sent toself.Message splitting andtype prediction extract and preserve even more static type information, allowing the compiler to inline many other messages. Inlining dramatically improves performance and eliminates the need to hard-wire low-level methods such as+, ==, andifTrue:.Despite inlining and other optimizations, our system still supports interactive programming environments. The system traverses internal dependency lists to invalidate all compiled methods affected by a programming change. The debugger reconstructs inlined stack frames from compiler-generated debugging information, making inlining invisible to the SELF programmer.This work has been generously supported by National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Grant #CCR-8657631, and by IBM, Texas Instruments, NCR, Tandem Computers, Apple Computer, and Sun Microsystems.This paper was originally published inOOPSLA '89 Conference Proceedings (SIGPLAN Notices, 25, 10 (1989) 49–70).     

Frequency tuning characteristics of capacitively loaded Salisburyscreen radar absorber

The frequency characteristics of a Salisbury screen radar absorber that incorporates a layer exhibiting both resistive and capacitive properties are considered. If the capacitance is fixed, the absorber thickness and hence weight may be reduced but at the expense of bandwidth. If the capacitance is variable then the absorber may be tuned via an external control signal. The practical limitations of both applications are discussed in relation to recent advances in conducting polymer materials     

The Dud-Alternative Effect in Likelihood Judgment.

The judged likelihood of a focal outcome should generally decrease as the list of alternative possibilities increases. For example, the likelihood that a runner will win a race goes down when 2 new entries are added to the field. However, 6 experiments demonstrate that the presence of implausible alternatives (duds) often increases the judged likelihood of a focal outcome. This dud-alternative effect was detected for judgments involving uncertainty about trivia facts and stochastic events. Nonnumeric likelihood measures and betting measures reliably detected the effect, but numeric likelihood measures did not. Time pressure increased the magnitude of the effect. The results were consistent with a contrast-effect account: The inclusion of duds increases the perceived strength of the evidence for the focal outcome, thereby affecting its judged likelihood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kinetic analysis of the in vitro inhibition, aging, and reactivation of brain acetylcholinesterase from rat and channel catfish by paraoxon and chlorpyrifos-oxon

In rats, the phosphorothionate insecticide parathion exhibits greater toxicity than chlorpyrifos, while in catfish the toxicities are reversed. The in vitro inhibition of brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by the active metabolites of the insecticides and the rates at which these inhibitor-enzyme complexes undergo reactivation/ aging were investigated in both species. Rat AChE was more sensitive to inhibition than catfish AChE as demonstrated by greater bimolecular rate constants (ki) in rats than in catfish. In both species, chlorpyrifos-oxon yielded higher ki's than paraoxon. The higher association constant (KA) of chlorpyrifos-oxon than paraoxon in both species and the lack of significant differences in the phosphorylation constants (kp) suggest that association of the inhibitor with AChE is the principal factor in the different potencies between these two inhibitors. In catfish, the ki of chlorpyrifos-oxon was 22-fold greater than that of paraoxon, while in rats it was 9-fold greater, suggesting that target site sensitivity is an important factor in the higher toxicity of chlorpyrifos to catfish but not in the higher toxicity of parathion to rats. No spontaneous reactivation of phosphorylated catfish AChE occurred and there were no differences in the first oder aging constants (ka) between compounds. For phosphorylated rat AChE, there were no differences in the first order reactivation constants (kr) but the ka for chlorpyrifos-oxon was significantly greater than that for paraoxon. This difference suggests that the steric positioning of the diethyl phosphate in the esteratic site is not the same between the two compounds, leading to differences in aging.     

Decentralized management of laboratory automation

It is generally believed that successful robot users have dedicated centralized robotic groups. While such a generalization holds some merit historically, the availability of newer more user-friendly robots and workstations in recent years and a more computer-literate work force today is changing the way that automation can be managed. Decentralization recognizes robots and workstations as additional tools for all analysts, not a select few. Such an approach initiates involvement and education of more staff with respect to automation. This further ushers the development of automated methods instead of the automation of manually-developed methods. Decentralization also provides local control of resources to address the priorities of a specific functional group within the department. Both a vision of the future, as well as a look at the past, should be considered when determining how to manage robotic and other means of automation. This paper discusses decentralized management of robots as currently applied and envisioned in a large pharmaceutical analytical R & D department.     

Constraints on benthic algal response to nutrient addition in oligotrophic mountain rivers

Nutrient availability has long been considered one of the most important factors regulating production of benthic algae in oligotrophic rivers; yet, empirical relationships do not have as wide an application as similar models derived for lentic systems. The aim of this research was to derive empirical relationships between nutrient concentrations and benthic algal abundance and to identify commonalities with other studies to improve our understanding of constraints on algae in oligotrophic rivers. Surveys of physical, chemical and biological attributes of oligotrophic mountain rivers in spring, summer and autumn for 2 years confirmed that small amounts of anthropogenic phosphorus (0.1–5.6 µg/L total phosphorus (TP)) resulted in 4‐ to 30‐fold increases in abundance of benthic algae and benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs). Algal accrual along a gradient in nutrient availability was not masked by grazing pressure but was positively correlated with abundance of scrapers. Epilithic abundance was highest downstream of anthropogenic nutrient sources in autumn. We concluded that benthic algal abundance in these mountain rivers was weakly correlated with phosphorus availability if light was not limiting but ultimately controlled by temperature and river discharge. Therefore, we recommend more direct measures of nutrient limitation be used to predict changes in ecological integrity at the lower end of the resource gradient. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.