Development of infants' sensitivity to surface contour information for spatial layout

The development of sensitivity to a recently discovered static-monocular depth cue to surface shape, surface contours, was investigated. Twenty infants in each of three age groups (5, 5 1/2, and 7 months) viewed a display that creates an illusion, for adult viewers, that what is in fact a frontoparallel cylinder is slanted away in depth, so that one end appears closer than the other. Preferential reaching was recorded in both monocular and binocular conditions. More reaching to the apparently closer end in the monocular than in the binocular condition is evidence of sensitivity. Infants aged 7 months responded to surface contour information, but infants aged 5 and 5 1/2 months did not. In a control study, twenty 5-month-old infants reached consistently for the closer ends of cylinders that were actually rotated in depth. As findings with other static-monocular depth information suggest, infants' sensitivity to surface contour information appears to develop at approximately 6 months.     

Individual autonomy in organizations

This paper attempts to quantify the notion of an individual's desire for autonomy in an organization. It is shown that the basis for this concept can be formulated axiomatically, and a numerical function constituting the “degree” of autonomy can be derived. The relations between the individual's basic preferences, his/her feelings of autonomy, and the individual's performance as an organization member, are also studied. In this connection the loyalty of the member to the organization becomes important, and this notion is also developed axiomatically.     

Representations of relatedness with parents and friends and autonomous academic motivation during the late adolescence–early adulthood period: Reciprocal or unidirectional effects?

Background The literature on the determinants of academic motivation indicates that social and affective processes connected to students' interpersonal relationships are central elements in understanding students' academic motivation and other school‐related outcomes. Aims The aim of this study was to answer the following questions: Does autonomous motivation drive representations of relatedness, do representations of relatedness drive autonomous motivation, or are these constructs reciprocally related over time? Sample The sample consists of 834 adolescents aged 18 years (SD = 1.88) who participated in a 3‐year longitudinal study. Results Results from the structural equation models provided good support for the effect of representations of relatedness with parents on autonomous academic motivation but no convincing support for the effect of motivation on representations of relatedness with parents. In addition, no significant effect in either direction was found between representations of relatedness with friends and autonomous academic motivation. Conclusion It might be important to inform parents that they may still have an influence on their adolescent's representations of relatedness and subsequently on his/her autonomous academic motivation even during the late adolescence–early adulthood period, a period when some parents may be tempted to believe that they can do little to motivate their offspring.     

Identity consistency and General Well-Being in college students

The study explored the relationship between Identity Consistency (IC) and General Well-Being (GWB) of the college students of Kolkata. The sample comprised of 65 (33 males, 32 females) college students. They were administered IC scale [prepared after Suh’s (2002) method] in order to obtain an index of IC and GWB was assessed using the PGI GWB Scale (Verma & Verma, 1989). For the present sample, as no significant difference have been found between males and females in any of the variables involved (i.e., IC and GWB), the two groups have been pooled together for further analyzes. Further statistical analyzes were done using correlation coefficient and linear regression. Results indicated that, IC has a significant positive correlation with GWB. Also, it was found that IC acts as a significant contributory variable for GWB.     

Are Two Reasons Better Than One? The Role of Appeal Type in Consumer Responses to Sustainable Products

In the face of the growing prevalence of multiple appeals to sustainable consumption in marketers’ sustainable product communications, we examine the efficacy, in terms of consumer reactions, of adding an extrinsic appeal (e.g., “Purchase this green product to save money!”) to an intrinsic appeal (e.g., “Purchase this green product to save the environment!”) based communication for a sustainable product. Three studies provide support for our basic assertion that, compared to an intrinsic appeal, joint appeals (i.e., an intrinsic and extrinsic appeal together) reduce consumer preference for sustainable products. As well, these studies demonstrate that this adverse effect of joint appeals is based on a lowering of consumers’ attributions of the company's sustainability efforts to intrinsic motives (e.g., to the company's genuine concern for the environment). Finally, not all consumers react adversely to joint appeals; relative to intrinsic appeals, such appeals increase, rather than decrease, the intrinsic attributions and sustainable product preferences for consumers with lower involvement with sustainable consumption.     

Applying the Mixed Rasch Model to the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale

Previous research using creativity assessments has used latent class models and identified multiple classes (a 3-class solution) associated with various domains. This study explored the latent class structure of the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale, which was designed to quantify ideational capacity. A robust state-of the-art technique called the Mixed Rasch Model (MRM) was utilized with a sample of 765 Turkish middle school students. Consistent with previous studies, 3 clear latent classes were found in this study. Class 1 represents the regular ideators class, Class 2 the idea-producers class, and Class 3 the idea-averters class. In this study the 3-class solution represents 3 different skills, rather than 3 different domains. This study showed a promising application of MRMs as an alternative to the latent class analysis (LCA) technique for researchers in the field. The study also provided further evidence for the multiple class structure found in previous creativity assessments.     

The Economic Benefits of Increased Treatment Duration and Intensity in Residential and Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Settings

This study presents estimates of the economic benefits to society from community-based substance abuse treatment. The analysis focused on the impact of length of stay and frequency of counseling on clients' crime-related and health care costs, welfare receipts, and income taxes. The results indicate that the benefits from an additional day of treatment were on average $21 for short-term residential treatment (or 29% the cost of a day of care), $13 for outpatient drug-free treatment (or 94% the cost of a day of care), and $5 for long-term residential treatment (or 9% the cost of a day of care). No benefits were found from additional counseling provided by a client's primary therapist. Withthe exception of short-term residential care, estimated increases in client earnings from longer lengths of stayexceeded the benefits to society. Our estimates do not include benefits realized during treatment or beyond the year after treatment.     

Relationship between inner dialog and ideas of reference and the mediating role of dissociation

Recent lines of research have begun to concentrate on internal dialogue and its relationship to a diversity of psychopathological phenomena present in psychotic disorders. This study was intended as a preliminary exploration of the relationship of internal dialogue, dissociation and ideas of reference. To do this, a sample of 318 students filled in an internal dialogue scale (the VISQ, McCarthy‐Jones & Fernyhough), one for dissociation (DES‐II, Carlson & Putnam) and another for ideas of reference (REF, Lenzenweger, Bennett & Lilenfeld). The results confirm the hypothesis posed in the sense that internal dialogue was positively associated with dissociation and with ideas of reference. A partial mediation effect of dissociation was also found between inner speech and ideas of reference. Lines of future research this study opens and its possible integration in a model on ideas of reference are discussed.     

《管子》治国思想的渊源探析

《管子》的治国思想强调以人为本、注重人性,礼法并用、德刑并重,发展经济、农商并重,为历代君王将相和学者所尊崇和探究。文章立足于《管子》成书的时间和空间因素,从周公和姜太公两者的治国思想探讨了《管子》治国思想的渊源,以期从历史的角度更好地理解《管子》的治国思想。     

Effects of exposure of mice to hindlimb unloading on leukocyte subsets and sympathetic nervous system activity

The hindlimb unloading (HU) rodent model was developed to simulate some of the aspects of spaceflight conditions. Our previous studies showed that exposure to HU for 48 h (h) followed by bacterial challenge, reduces the ability of mice to resist infection. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physiological changes in mice during the 48 h of exposure to HU to understand the mechanisms involved in the increased susceptibility to infection observed in mice subjected to these conditions. Female Swiss Webster mice were hindlimb-unloaded during 48 h. Blood samples, spleen and peritoneal cells were removed before and after 18 or 48 h of HU-exposure. Leukocyte subset analysis was performed in spleen and peritoneal cells by flow cytometry, and catecholamine levels were measured in plasma and whole spleen by a catecholamine enzyme immunoassay. Catecholamine levels measured in plasma and spleen were significantly greater in mice exposed to HU compared to control. This increase coincided with significant reductions in spleen size in the HU group. Flow cytometric analyses showed a significant reduction of splenic CD19 + B-cells and NK1.1+ cells in mice exposed to HU with a concomitant increase in T-cells. These results suggest that exposure to HU increases the activity of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and induces lymphocyte sub-population changes that may contribute to the deregulation of immunity seen in mice exposed to HU and, more importantly may predispose the otherwise healthy host to the subsequent reduced ability to resist infections.