Effect of heterogeneous solute distribution on the anomalous thermomechanical response of Cu–Ni alloy single crystals below 50 K

The anomalous temperature dependence of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) of Cu–Ni alloys observed below a certain temperature, T _o?=?50?K, has been accounted for by introducing a stress-concentration factor f(T)?=?[(T?′?+?T _o)/(T?′?+?T)] in the monotonic CRSS–T formulation of the kink-pair nucleation model of solid-solution hardening. The empirical constant T?′ is found to depend not only on the solute concentration, c, but also on the nature of the solute distribution in the host lattice. It is found that the solute distribution is random for c?≤?14 at.% Ni in the Cu lattice and for c?≤?20 at.% Cu in the Ni lattice, whereas some sort of local ordering occurs for all other values of solute concentration.     

Inclusive Leadership and Innovative Work Behavior: Examination of LMX Perspective in Small Capitalized Textile Firms

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between inclusive leadership, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and innovative work behavior (IWB) in employees of small capitalized textile firms of Pakistan. We hypothesized that LMX mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and IWB. We collected data from 150 supervisors–subordinate dyads to test our hypotheses. We selected small capitalized firms because they are more innovative and change-oriented in order to enhance their innovativeness. Moreover, these firms enjoy the benefits of lack of bureaucracy and low resistance to change. Therefore, employees are better able to experience a close relationship with entrepreneurial leaders who tend to be inclusive, in order to facilitate the process of innovation. In line with these facts, our results also suggest that inclusive leadership is positively related with IWB and LMX partially mediates this relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed.     

Machiavellianism scores and self-rated performance of automobile salespersons

Machiavellianism (Mach-B) was positively correlated with self-reported number of vehicles sold and income in two samples of 80 car salespersons. The Mach-B scale showed higher internal consistency and significant relationship with sales performance. The Mach IV scale, used for one of two samples, showed low internal consistency and a nonsignificant relationship with performance. The results provided partial support for earlier findings. Research designed to clarify this finding is required.     

Cross-cultural Variation in the Importance of Psychological Characteristics: A Seven-country Study

The Psychological Importance (PI) of personality traits is defined as the degree to which they provide information useful in understanding and predicting behaviour. University students from 7 countries (Chile, China, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, and the United States) rated the PI of each of the 300 items of the Adjective Check List along a 5-point scale. PI was shown to be a meaningful (i.e. reliable) concept in each country. Comparisons of PI ratings between pairs of countries indicated correlations ranging from 0.23 to 0.73, with a mean of 0.49 among the 7 countries. A variety of additional analyses indicated that six of the seven countries tended to group themselves into two clusters: (1) China, Nigeria, and Pakistan; and (2) Chile, Norway, and the United States. In the second cluster, trait importance had a curvilinear relationship to trait favourability (i.e. both good and bad traits may be important) whereas in the first cluster trait importance and favourability had a linear relationship (i.e. only good traits may be important). The findings were suggestive of substantial cross-cultural differences in the importance assigned to psychological traits.     

The effects of interactive staff training on staff programing and patient aggression in a psychiatric inpatient ward

Interactive staff training (IST) uses principles of organizational psychology to help line-level staff members design and implement social learning programs for severely mentally ill inpatients. IST is a training package that includes assessment of staff perceptions regarding programatic needs, selection of appropriate social learning strategies to meet these needs, appointment of a program committee from within the ward to champion development of the social learning strategy, and participative decision making about aspects of the social learning strategy. Staff on an extended care ward at a state hospital participated in IST for 15 months as part of a pilot study of its effects. Ongoing examination of ward programing showed that IST significantly increased staff and patient participation in rehabilitation programing and decreased the rate of physical restraints and aggression-related. Changes in staff attitudes about rehabilitation programing were noted on a subsample of IST participants. Implications for more controlled research into IST are discussed.     

Scaling the Security Staircase

Building on the U.N. human security taxonomy of 1994, this article aims to explore the constructability of a reliable, valid, parsimonious, useful measure of human security that is relevant to contemporary environments and situations? A seminal 1994 U.N. report, Human Security in Theory and Practice, outlined seven types of human security (personal, health, food, community, economic, environmental, political). A quarter-century on, we added two more, cyber and national security, and tested if a single measure could capture all nine security concerns. A national sample of N = 1033 New Zealanders completed a brief online measure in which participants reported yes or no to experiencing each type of security and basic demographics. Guttman scaling placed these needs in an ascending order of difficulty. Analogous to a staircase, security may be scaled from personal up to political security (coefficient of reproducibility = .88), with three distinct but interrelated flights: (1) proximal (personal, health, food security); (2) social (cyber, community, economic, environmental); and (3) distal (national, political). We confirmed this nine-step, three-flight measure in our sample (Χ² = 81.72; df = 24; RMSEA = .048, 90%CI [.037, .06]; CFI = .976; TLI = .964; SRMR = .028). The measure showed configural, metric, scalar, and factorial invariances (across random-split subgroups). Ethnic groups and the precariously employed scored significantly differently, in coherent ways, on the security staircase scale.     

Psychometric Properties of Two Bicultural Attitude Scales: An Update

The purpose of this paper is to report evidence of psychometric properties of two Bicultural Attitude Scales (BASs) developed by the author. The paper provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the two versions of the BAS (i.e., Parents version and Children versions) based on two studies. The first study was conducted on a sample of 66 Bangladeshi immigrant parents (33 mothers and 33 fathers) living in the USA. The measuring instrument was the Parents version of the BAS. Results showed a high factorial validity structure of the scale—the values ranged from .62 to .96—and high internal consistency reliability of the scale—the alpha coefficient was .80. The second study was conducted on a 412 Bangladeshi ethnic minority young adults (40 % women and 60 % men). Children version of the BAS was used in this study. The study revealed significantly high factorial validity—factor loading values ranged from .34 to .65—and a significantly high internal consistency reliability of the scale—the alpha coefficient was .86.     

A neural basis for the development of inhibitory control

The present study explores the neural basis of the development of inhibitory control by combining functional neuroimaging with a parametric manipulation of a go–nogo paradigm. We demonstrate how the maturation of ventral fronto–striatal circuitry underlies the development of this ability. We used event–related fMRI to examine the effect of interference on neural processes involved in inhibitory control in children and adults. Nogo trials were preceded by either 1, 3 or 5 go trials and then compared to one another. Both children and adults showed an increase in errors with increasing interference. Successful response inhibition was associated with stronger activation of prefrontal and parietal regions for children than for adults. In adults, activation in ventralprefrontal regions increased with increasing interference from go trials. Unlike adults, the circuitry appeared to be maximally activated in children when suppressing a behavioral response regardless of the number of preceding responses. Furthermore, activation in ventral fronto–striatal regions correlated with both age and performance. These findings suggest that immature cognition is more susceptible to interference and this is paralleled by maturational differences in underlying fronto–striatal circuitry.     

An exploratory study of the facets of Type A personality and scores on the Machiavellian Behavior (MACH-B) Scale

The relationship of two facets of Type A personality, Achievement Striving and Impatience-Irritability, with Mach-B scores was investigated. Mach-B scores were not correlated with Achievement Striving and were positively correlated (r = .37; p < .01) with Impatience-Irritability in a sample of 51 hospital employees including physicians (n = 12), nurses (n = 12), administrative staff (n = 13), and custodial services employees (n = 14).