Humor and the coronary-prone behavior pattern

The belief is widely held that humor is related to recovery from, and perhaps an increased resistance to, coronary and other stress-related diseases. Such generalizations do not typically distinguish between benign and hostile humor. In the present research, the relationship between a measure of proneness to coronary heart disease (CHD) and appreciation of hostile and nonhostile humor is examined. In two studies, one with college students and one with patients suffering from CHD, the relationship between humor preferences and the coronary-prone (Type A) behavior pattern was examined. Each subject was given the Jenkins Activity Survey as a measure of the coronary-prone personality type, and aggressive and nonaggressive jokes to rate for funniness. Hostile humor was preferred to nonhostile humor by all groups, but among those suffering from CHD, those who could be classified as “Type B’s” preferred nonhostile humor. The results indicate that those less prone to CHD appreciate both hostile and nonhostile humor, while Type A’s seem to enjoy hostile humor only.     

Transferring the technology,policy, and management concept from the Netherlands to China

The literature on policy transfer between countries and organization has seen rapid growth. Whether framed in terms of policy transfer, institutional transplantation, imitation and emulation or copying policy models and ideas, a sizeable number of determinants for success have been identified to understand why such conceptual or institutional transfers grow out to become successes or failures in their countries or organizations of adoption. What is much less common is to describe such a process through the lens of participants inside this transfer. This paper is an attempt to do just that. It will tell the story of the higher-educational concept of Technology, Policy and Management from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands to Harbin Institute of Technology in China, studied by means of participatory observation. The keys and clues for successful transplantation from the literature will subsequently be compared with the experiences from this case, and additional lessons, some of which are specific to Western-Chinese mutual learning, are formulated. Martin de Jong is associate professor of policy, organization and management at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management of Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He publishes and lectures mainly on subjects of cross-national policy transfer, cross-cultural management and transport infrastructure policy. He is also responsible for the international master program Engineering and Policy Analysis, for which he has helped to set up a Chinese counterpart with the same name. Xi Bao is professor of public management and real estate management at the School of Management and the National Centre of Technology, Policy and Management of Harbin Institute of Technology, People’s Republic of China. He is also a co-director of the National Centre of TPM in China and lectures and publishes mainly on real estate management and infrastructure policy.     

天台智顗丑学流程解构

天台宗性具善恶说,具有较为明显的泛恶倾向,且处处脱不了审丑思维。自梁、陈入隋,智顗弘法数十载,其中贯穿了对丑类恶物的审度和涵化。不光恶为丑因、恶中见丑、审丑观恶,善和美也以各种通道与丑相融互格,共同呈现出多维流动、浑化自洽的球体架构。这种圆融宽厚的丑学,反映了“末法时期”的悲悯思维,也昭示着一个恢宏多采时代的到来。     

On the flexibility and the fallibility of associative memory

We report the results of four experiments in which we explored the flexibility and fallibility of associative recognition memory. In each experiment, pairs were studied one or more times, and the task was to discriminate intact from rearranged pairs. The critical findings are that the pattern of false alarm rates was dependent on the nature of the recognition procedure (e.g., ratings vs. yes-no) and the situation in which the task was performed. The specific pattern of findings suggest that subjects adopt different recognition strategies in order to achieve a desired level of performance in the most efficient manner possible by varying the degree to which they base their decisions on familiarity versus recollected information. Implications for theories of recognition memory are discussed.     

The United States Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (2006): New challenges to balancing patient rights and physician responsibilities

Advance health care directives and informed consent remain the cornerstones of patients' right to self-determination regarding medical care and preferences at the end-of-life. However, the effectiveness and clinical applicability of advance health care directives to decision-making on the use of life support systems at the end-of-life is questionable. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) has been revised in 2006 to permit the use of life support systems at or near death for the purpose of maximizing procurement opportunities of organs medically suitable for transplantation. Some states have enacted the Revised UAGA (2006) and a few of those have included amendments while attempting to preserve the uniformity of the revised Act. Other states have introduced the Revised UAGA (2006) for legislation and remaining states are likely to follow soon.     

Local contrast and maintained generalization.

Pigeons received variable-interval reinforcement for key pecking during presentations of horizontal and vertical line-orientation stimuli, while pecks during five intermediate orientations were extinguished. Lowest peck rates were observed during presentations of negative stimuli adjacent to the positive orientations while peck rate during 45 degrees (the intermediate negative orientation) was relatively high, i.e., there were negative contrast shoulders. When peck rates were manipulated in the positive orientations, peck rate in neithboring orientations changed in the opposite direction. Contrast shoulders faded after prolonged training. A second type of contrast, local contrast, was correlated with similarity of preceding stimulus and different average peck rates during different stages of the discrimination process. The data suggest that sequential local contrast accompanying the formation of a discrimination contributes to the form of generalization gradients. Blough's model of stimulus control predicts the changes in gradient form described here, but may not accurately depict the underlying process responsible for gradient form.