Data selection and responsible conduct: Was millikan a fraud?

This paper addresses a problem in reporting scientific research. The problem is how to distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable data selection. Robert Millikan is notorious for an infamous remark that he used all his data when in fact he had used a selection. On this basis he has been accused of fraud. There is a tension here — historians and his defenders see his selection as understandable and legitimate, while current statements about the Responsible Conduct of Research imply his selection was illegitimate. This paper discusses two main issues that arise in assessing his conduct, whether he was intentionally misleading and whether he actually did mislead the scientific community about some facts of nature. It is argued that he was not intentionally misleading, and that it is unlikely that he misled the scientific community.     

IS THE SELF-CONCEPT A HABITUAL REFERENT IN JUDGMENTS OF SIMILARITY?

Abstract— People typically provide higher similarity ratings in response to the question "How similar is the typical preppie to you?" than to the question "How similar are you to the typical preppie?" Observed asymmetries in comparisons of the self and person prototypes have been offered as evidence that the self-concept acts as a habitual reference point in social judgment However, such a task does not test the habitual placement of a concept in the referent position of a comparison. In this study, participants judged the similarity between the self and person prototypes in response to linguistic (forced directional) queries or to spatial (nonforced) queries in which the self was positioned above or below the person concept Participants also rated pairs of familiar and unfamiliar countries in a similar manner, to replicate and extend the work of Tversky (1977) Expected asymmetries were observed in forced comparisons. The self and the familiar country were seen as more similar to other people and less familiar countries, respectively, when the former concepts served as the referent of a comparison than when they served as the subject Asymmetries were not observed in the nonforced conditions, and mean similarity in these conditions was of the same magnitude as in the forced condition in which the more familiar stimulus was the referent of the comparison. This result provides the first direct evidence that the self serves as a habitual referent in similarity judgments     

Pharmacological dissociation of memory: anisomycin, a protein synthesis inhibitor, and leupeptin, a protease inhibitor, block different learning tasks

Inhibition of protein synthesis by anisomycin for a short duration impairs memory of a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task in rats. Memory of escape conditioning involving eight trials is disrupted only if the duration of protein synthesis is prolonged by repeated injections. In marked contrast, olfactory memory of rats trained on two odor discriminations is not affected by anisomycin even if the duration of inhibition is prolonged and the number of trials is reduced to a minimum. In previous work, leupeptin, a thiol proteinase inhibitor, was shown to impair olfactory discrimination learning, but left inhibitory and avoidance conditioning intact. Together, these results provide a pharmacological double dissociation of memory, and suggest that the same chemistries, or mixtures of chemistries, may not be involved in all types of memory.     

Exploration and avoidance in rats with lesions in amygdala and piriform cortex

Lesions localized to specific areas of the amygdala and overlying cortex in rats produced differential effects in several behavioral tasks. Three different types of lesions were tested: central, basolateral, and cortex lateral to the amygdala. Lesions restricted to the central nucleus produced increased activity on all parameters studied in an open-field test, but the other two groups were not changed. In one-way active avoidance all three groups with lesions showed deficits. The most pronounced change was observed in the central group. All groups showed the same degree of retention loss, but in forced extinction of one-way active avoidance after retraining, the cortical and basolateral groups were most defective. A fear-reduction hypothesis is proposed for the central lesion. The basolateral and cortical areas may be more specifically involved in passive avoidance behavior.     

Differential indications for desipramine--results of a controlled multiclinical study]

The antidepressants desipramine and imipramine were compared within the framework of a multiclinical study performed under the conditions of a controlled clinical experiment. There has been found a time-different remission of affective symptoms, which was not detectable for the inhibition of drive. The tachythymoleptic action of desipramine is discussed with reference to these results. Evaluation of the possibility of controlling affects shows different ranges of activity of desipramine and imipramine, with desipramine influencing especially negative psychoenergetic symptoms in the area of drives and emotions and imipramine, restrictive symptoms in addition to differential phenomena of the psychomotor expression.     

Why child neuropsychiatry?]

The author gives a brief survey of the development of Child-Neuropsychiatry in the G.D.R. and subsequently gives reasons for the decision in favor of the unity of neurology and psychiatry as applied to children and juveniles, which is in contrast to developments in other countries. In addition to hygienic, economic, organizational, and medical considerations, this decision was also determined by the fact that a Child-Neuropsychiatrist must, in his practical work as a subspecialist, be able to head a multiprofessional team and, thus, help assure optimum development of a child's personality.     

Maternal employment and socioeconomic status as factors in daughters' career salience: Some substantive refinements

Research on children of working mothers has indicated that an important relationship exists between maternal employment and subsequent career salience of female offspring. Effects caused by socioeconomic factors have been noted in this relationship but have not been examined either systematically or over time. In the present study, socioeconomic differences were controlled for examination of longitudinal data on established critical factors in career salience of female college graduates. Multiple regression models were estimated for three points in time, covering an eight-year period, for subsamples of single and married women. Details about mother's employment history, respondent's recollection of the attitudes of family members concerning that employment, and indicators of daughter's sex-role ideology were independent variables. Maternal employment was significantly related to both single and married daughters' career salience but in opposite directions and accounted for only a minimum of the observed variance. Related maternal employment variables are associated with career salience of single women early in their postbaccalaureate careers and are not associated with the career salience of married women until somewhat later. Sex-role ideology was important for the career salience of married women but not for single women. The importance of a generalizable context for these findings is discussed.Support for this research was provided in part by a grant from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School and NIMH Grant Number MH-13112 to the Departments of Sociology and Psychiatry, Duke University. This research was based on a part of the author's doctoral dissertation.     

The treatment of epilepsies with Convulsofin

The testing of Convulsofin carried out in 220 patients at 14 clinics over a period of six months confirms the international experience gained with valproic acid and sodium valproinate. The main field of application of Convulsofin according to the experience gained will again be the treatment of fits in generalised primary epilepsy for which it permits to carry out a monotherapy to a remarkable extent. The favourable effect of the preparation in photosensitivity could be confirmed. Also in generalised secondary epilepsy and in fits of partial epilepsy. Convulsofin is partly effective, so that it can recommended as a co-medication in the treatment of therapy-resistant forms of these epilepsies which are difficult to treat. Decrease in thrombocytes, transient increase in serum transaminases, gastrointestinal disorders, loss of hair and undesired increases in body-weight were the more frequently occurring side-effects.