Word length and lexical activation: Longer is better.

Many models of spoken word recognition posit the existence of lexical and sublexical representations, with excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms used to affect the activation levels of such representations. Bottom-up evidence provides excitatory input, and inhibition from phonetically similar representations leads to lexical competition. In such a system, long words should produce stronger lexical activation than short words, for 2 reasons: Long words provide more bottom-up evidence than short words, and short words are subject to greater inhibition due to the existence of more similar words. Four experiments provide evidence for this view. In addition, reaction-time-based partitioning of the data shows that long words generate greater activation that is available both earlier and for a longer time than is the case for short words. As a result, lexical influences on phoneme identification are extremely robust for long words but are quite fragile and condition-dependent for short words. Models of word recognition must consider words of all lengths to capture the true dynamics of lexical activation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The synthesis of distillation-based separation systems

The last dozen years have produced almost 50 English language articles on the synthesis of separation systems [1]. Most work has considered separating a single relatively ideal mixture into sharply split, usually pure-component products using systems of single-feed, two-product distillation columns. Of late, the work has considered heat-integrating these columns to reduce energy consumption. Present research will very likely produce valuable results for nonsharp separations.Earlier approaches developed both algorithmic- and heuristic-based tree search algorithms for discovering the better systems of non-heat-integrated columns. New results permit the design of heat-integrated systems.The paper highlights the above developments.     

Moral Judgment and Crime Drama: An Integrated Theory of Enjoyment

The article proposes a theoretical framework in which moral reasoning about mediated crime and punishment is defined and combined with existing, affect-driven entertainment theory to yield an integrated theory of enjoyment. The authors analyze how crime dramas serve as statements about justice and then address how moral deliberation about the propriety of those statements impacts enjoyment. The authors report research findings to support the analysis of cognitive processing during crime dramas distinct from affective processing. The article also suggests future means by which the integrated theory of enjoyment can be examined.     

Effect of sinus surgery on pulmonary function in patients with cystic fibrosis

The rare case of neurilemmoma of the larynx was presented. The difficulties in histopathologic diagnosis of such tumors were emphasized. The tumor was removed by surgery from external approach.     

Determining protein loop conformation using scaling-relaxation techniques

We recently developed a rapid loop closure algorithm in which bond lengths are scaled to constrain the ends of a segment to match a known distance and then gradually relaxed to their standard values, with boundary constraints maintained. Although the algorithm predicted the Zif286 zinc-finger loop to within approximately 2 A, it had a serious limitation that made its more general use tentative: it omitted the atomic environment of the loop. Here we report an extension of the algorithm to take into account the protein environment surrounding a given loop from the outset of the conformational search and show that it predicts structure with an efficiency and accuracy that could not be achieved without continuous environmental inclusion. The algorithm should be widely applicable to structure determination when complete experimental information is unavailable.     

BRING PLANNING DOWN TO EARTH

Applying information systems strategic planning (ISSP) theory to a practical planning effort is not a straightforward endeavor, and the penalties of a misapplied planning exercise are high. IS managers do not need another conceptual framework for ISSP as much as they need a practical point of view on driving the planning effort to produce tangible, high-quality results.     

The effect of cyclic stress on the physical properties of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomer

The dynamic creep behavior of a filled poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomer was studied under cyclic stress. The stress level was chosen such that the increase in the internal temperature was small and that microcracks were not observed. This work has demonstrated that cyclic stress in combination with high temperature accelerates the degradation of the elastomer. The results suggest that because of the applied force, breaks in the load-bearing chains of the network occur. These breaks, while relieving the mechanical stress, create highly reactive ionic fragments. It is believed that because of the subsequent reactions of the ionic fragments, changes in the specific gravity, storage modulus, effective crosslink density, and length of the sample (creep) are observed. The observed decrease in the storage modulus is thought to occur because of the reaction of the ionic fragments with moisture, which results in the formation of silanol chain ends that reduce the effective crosslink density. The results also show that contrary to the prediction of the Boltzmann's Superposition Principle, the rate of creep is greatly enhanced when the sample is subjected to a sinusoidally varying dynamic load as compared to a comparable static load. The polymer weight loss was found to be linear with time and strongly dependent on the level of applied dynamic and static force. In addition, the weight loss and rate of creep were also found to be strongly dependent upon temperature.     

Psychological research on race differences.

Responds to the discussion by A. H. Yee et al (see record 1994-09250-001) of A. R. Jensen's (e.g., see record 1986-18910-001) research on racial differences in abilities and states that the references to Jensen's work are dated. Jensen notes more recent research (Jensen and P. A. Whang; see PA, Vol 81:1181 and 20927) and provides an explanation for his research focus on Black–White differences in cognitive abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Models of visual word recognition: Sampling the state of the art.

A classification of models of visual word recognition is presented that facilitates formal comparisons between models of different formats. In light of the theoretical contributions to this special section, sets of criteria for the evaluation of models and strategies for model construction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)