Turning up the contrast: Self-enhancement motives prompt egocentric contrast effects in social judgments.

Contrast effects occur when people judge the behavior and attitudes of others relative to their own. We tested a motivational account suggesting that these effects arise because people tailor their judgments of others to affirm their own self-worth. Consistent with that interpretation, participants displayed more egocentric contrast in their judgments of another person's intelligence (i.e., their evaluation of his score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test was more negatively related to their own score) after their self-esteem was threatened than after it was bolstered (Studies 1 and 2). High-self-esteem individuals displayed more judgmental contrast overall than did their low-esteem counterparts (Study 2). Strongly pro-choice participants whose esteem was threatened also displayed more contrast in their judgments of another person's attitude on abortion, relative to esteem-bolstered participants (Study 3). Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for theory on social comparison, self-affirmation, and social judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Must shrinking cities be distressed cities? A historical and conceptual critique

ABSTRACT

Regardless of the fast-growing popularity of shrinking cities in the literature, certain misconceptions persist. Urban shrinkage is often assumed to be near-synonymous with urban distress, and shrinking cities are assumed to be in need of growth. In this paper, we seek to achieve a greater conceptual clarity for both shrinkage and distress, thereby informing present debates on the topic and inviting more nuanced ones in the future. The paper is organized in three main parts. We first use a historical lens to challenge the conflation of shrinkage and distress. Western history is rife with examples of when growth—shrinkage’s opposite—was associated with distress. Second, we comment on some contradictions in the conceptual currents that underlie the idea of shrinking as distress, particularly in the United States. Third, we highlight how shrinkage may benefit cities and the people who live in them.     

Optimal utilisation level for lean product development in a multitasking context

Flow of information is of utmost importance during product development (PD) endeavours with timely feedback supporting the resolution of higher risk elements. PD task size, multitasking and resource utilisation levels of the PD system influence information flow and the value ultimately realised from the investment in PD. In this paper, a model incorporating a methodology developed using queuing theory, and in particular, results obtained for Jackson networks are extended to help engineering management to improve PD task flow and consequently become more ‘lean’. Considered factors include: optimal PD task size and multitasking (focus) level as well as the utilisation level of PD resources. Empirical data were collected from a case study company and compared to optimal values. The benefits of the proposed model and approaches are discussed.     

A role for the hippocampal formation in implicit memory: a 3-D PET study

The apparent preservation of word priming effects in amnesia has been interpreted as supporting the view that implicit memory depends on brain systems that are independent of mesial temporal lobe structures which are in part responsible for explicit memory disorders. Nevertheless, a number of studies have demonstrated word priming deficits in amnesic patients relatively to normal subjects, suggesting that such structures may also be involved in implicit memory. To determine whether one such structure, the hippocampal formation, is a component of the brain system subserving word priming, a 3-D PET study was carried out in 13 normal individuals. Encoding was carried out using the brief multiple presentation technique, a procedure that allows one to effectively circumvent contamination of implicit memory tasks by explicit memory strategies. Results revealed that word priming was indeed associated with an activation of the right hippocampal formation. This finding of an hippocampal involvement in word priming calls into question the notion of absolute dissociability between the brain systems underlying performance on various explicit and implicit memory tasks.     

Child-Related Disagreements, Verbal Aggression, and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems.

Dual-income parents (N = 122 couples) with an oldest child 18-60 months of age completed the Child-Rearing Disagreements Scale (E. N. Jouriles et al., 1991), the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2000), and the Verbal Aggression subscale of the Conflicts and Problem-Solving Scale (P. K. Kerig, 1996). Replicating the results of E. N. Jouriles et al. (1991) and extending these findings to daughters and fathers, the authors found links between child-related disagreements and parental ratings of child behavior problems in this low-risk sample. There were no links between fathers' reports of verbal aggression and child behavior problems. Among mothers, however, use of verbal aggression mediated the link between child-related disagreements and ratings of sons' internalizing problems. Verbal aggression did not moderate the link between child-related disagreements and child behavior problems for either mothers or for fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intuitive robust stability metric for PID control of self-regulating processes

Published methods establish how plant-model mismatch in the process gain and dead time impacts closed-loop stability. However, these methods assume no plant-model mismatch in the process time constant. The work presented here proposes the robust stability factor metric, RSF, to examine the effect of plant-model mismatch in the process gain, dead time, and time constant. The RSF is presented in two forms: an equation form and a visual form displayed on robustness plots derived from the Bode and Nyquist stability criteria. This understanding of robust stability is reinforced through visual examples of how closed-loop performance changes with various levels of plant-model mismatch. One example shows how plant-model mismatch in the time constant can impact closed-loop stability as much as plant-model mismatch in the gain and/or dead time. Theoretical discussion shows that the impact is greater for small dead time to time constant ratios. As the closed-loop time constant used in Internal Model Control (IMC) tuning decreases, the impact becomes significant for a larger range of dead time to time constant ratios. To complete the presentation, the RSF is used to compare the robust stability of IMC-PI tuning to other PI, PID, and PID with Filter tuning correlations.     

Design, expression, and initial characterization of MB1, a de novo protein enriched in essential amino acids

Using recently emerging protein folding principles we have designed a protein enriched in the essential amino acids methionine, threonine, lysine and leucine. Our preliminary study of consensus residues (based on charge, hydrophobicity and volume) of natural alpha-helical bundle proteins indicated that the residues M, T, K, and L could be inserted in an alpha-helical bundle structure. We therefore attempted to create a stable de novo protein, highly enriched in these essential amino acids, that would adopt the alpha-helical bundle fold. The design process was an iterative one. The consensus residues (based on the properties profile) for bundle helices were found considering the four helices taken together, helices I to IV individually, or only their N- and C-termini. Using these data, the helices in our de novo protein were designed by inserting the residues M, T, K and L as often as possible at positions where their volume, hydrophobicity and charge match the consensus found in natural bundle helices. Short sequences of strong turn formers were used to join the helices and adjust the predicted p1 to 7.7, while a number of local and global factors were used to refine our design. Further, the sequence was checked to eliminate various known protease targets in E. coli. The sequence of our de novo protein, MB1, is: MAT-EDMTDMMTTLFKTMQLLTK-SEPTA-MDEATKTATTMKNHLQNLMQK-TKNKE DMTDMATTYFKTMQLLTK-TEPSA-MDEATKTATTMKNHLQNLMQK-GVA+ ++ , where dashes separate long helices from short, turn forming linkers. A gene coding for this protein was assembled from synthetic oligonucleotides, then fused to the maltose binding protein gene under the control of a tac promoter. The fusion protein was expressed in E. coli, purified and cleaved to yield maltose binding protein and our de novo protein, MB1. MB1 was found to be helical, to have the expected molecular weight (11 kDa) and the expected content (57%) of the essential amino acids M, T, K and L.     

Detection of alpha-urease dissociation by fluorescence emission spectroscopy

alpha-Urease (E.C. 3.5.1.5) is a hexameric enzyme that can dissociate into two active trimers and further into six monomers (Hirai M., Kawa-Hirai, R., Hirai T., Ueki T. (1993) Eur. J. Biochem. 215, 55-61). We have attempted to detect these dissociation products using fluorescence emission and polarization spectroscopy. Our data suggest that the hexamer, the trimer and denatured monomer have fluorescence emission maximum at 330nm, 332nm, and 346nm, respectively, under our experimental conditions. We have also found that the conformation of urease subunits is only slightly modified upon dissociation to trimer, but drastically changed upon further dissociation leading to monomer.     

Simultaneous load-pull of intermodulation and output power undertwo-tone excitation for accurate SSPA's design

The simultaneous measurements of the third-order intermodulation and output power under two-tone excitation have been implemented on a MESFET operated in large-signal mode for load impedances spanning quasi-entirely the Smith chart, using a six-port reflectometer with variable test port impedance. An experimental comparison between single-tone and two-tone output power and power-added efficiency was performed. The experimental results show that the load-pull of the output power capability and power-added efficiency by a two-tone test are more accurate than the single-tone characterization for multi-carrier Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA's) design     

Spectroscopic investigation of structure in octarellin (a de novo protein designed to adopt the {alpha}/{beta}-barred packing)

We present here a spectroscopic structural characterizationof octarellin, a recently reported de novo protein modelledon /ß-barrel proteins [K. Go raj, A.Renard and J.A.Martial(1990) Protein Engng, 3, 259–266]. Infrared and Ramanspectra analyses of octarellin‘s secondary structure revealthe expected percentage of -helices (30%) and a higher ß-sheetcontent (40%) than predicted from the design. When the Ramanspectra obtained with octarellin and native triosephosphateisomerase (a natural /ß-barrel) are compared, similarpercentages of secondary structures are found. Thermal denaturationof octarellin monitored by CD confirms that its secondary structuresare quite stable, whereas its native-like tertiary fold is not.Tyrosine residues, predicted to be partially hidden from solvent,are actually exposed as revealed by Raman and UV absorptionspectra. We conclude that the attempted /ß-barrelconformation in octarellin may be loosely packed. The criteriaused to design octarellin are discussed and improvements suggested.