Defining Information Security

Science and Engineering Ethics - This article proposes a new definition of information security, the ‘Appropriate Access’ definition. Apart from providing the basic criteria for a...     

Predictors of improvement in an open-trial multisite evaluation of emotion regulation group therapy

Emotion regulation group therapy (ERGT) is a novel treatment specifically targeting deliberate non-suicidal self-harm (DSH) in individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Identifying robust predictors of positive response to ERGT could aid clinicians in treatment selection; however, to date, only one such study has been conducted. Thus, we aimed to replicate previously identified predictors of treatment response to ERGT by investigating demographic, clinical, and diagnostic predictors in 95 women with BPD or subclinical BPD who had participated in an open-trial evaluation of ERGT. Outcomes evaluated were frequency of DSH and emotion dysregulation. Assessments were conducted at pretreatment, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up. Multilevel mixed linear models and multilevel negative binomial generalized estimated equations were used to identify significant interactions between the predictors and outcomes.

We found that greater pretreatment DSH frequency was associated with greater improvements in DSH during treatment (b = 0.998, SE = 0.00, p = 0.03) and follow-up (b = 0.997, SE = 0.00, p < 0.01) and that greater BPD severity was associated with greater improvements in DSH during treatment (b = 0.84, SE = 0.06, p = 0.02) and in emotion dysregulation at follow-up (b = ?3.05, SE = 1.47, p = 0.04). Co-occurring disorders were associated with poorer treatment response during follow-up. Results were generally consistent with a previous study of the predictors of response to ERGT. The findings provide further support for the utility of this treatment across a range of BPD patients, including patients with severe DSH and BPD.     

A comparison of AME and CR100 for scaling perceived exertion

In psychophysical studies of the relation between perceived magnitude and physical stimulus, interest has focused on the preciseness of growth functions. Very little interest has been devoted to natural levels of an "absolute" character and to the validity of direct measurements. In this article, the Category (C)-Ratio (R) (CR) scaling methodology, developed by Borg (1973, 1977, 1982) is presented together with a new CR scale: the CR100 scale. In an experiment on perceived exertion, CR100 was compared with Absolute Magnitude Estimation (AME). Perceived exertion has the advantage of having easily measured physiological variables that can function as validity criteria. 32 persons (16 men and 16 women) participated as subjects on two different occasions, and the presentation order was counterbalanced. Results from CR100 and AME could be described equally well with psychophysical functions. The exponents obtained with CR100 were n = 1.60 for women and n = 1.69 for men, and the corresponding exponents for AME were n = 1.60 for women and n = 1.46 for men (with a "noise" constant included in the function). ANOVA showed that CR100 could make the predicted differentiation between sexes, whereas AME could not. This drawback with AME was also found when using the methods to predict working capacity.     

Determinants of picture naming times in Icelandic

Numerous studies have found that word frequency has a significant effect on the time it takes to name an object or read a word. Recently, claims have been made that this frequency effect is perhaps more correctly interpreted as an age of acquisition effect. This paper reports an experiment in which naming times in Icelandic for 175 stimuli from the Snodgrass and Vanderwart picture set were determined. A multiple regression analysis of naming times against a number of independent factors showed that objective age of acquisition was the strongest predictor of naming time, with familiarity and name agreement also showing a significant effect. The effect of word frequency was, however, not significant. Possible reasons for this are discussed.     

Effects of displayed emotion on attitude and impression formation in visual speech-reading

In two experiments on visual speech-reading, with a total of 132 normal-hearing participants, the effects of displayed emotion and task specificity on speech-reading performance, on attitude toward the task and on person impression were explored, as well as associations between speech-reading performance, attitude, and person impression. The results show that displayed emotion increased speech-reading performance and attitude ratings, and that the actor was perceived as more extraverted both when displaying emotions, and when his speech was high in specificity The main conclusion was that displayed emotion enhances speech-reading performance by providing information that is useful to the speech-reader.     

Defense mechanisms and morality: a link between isolation and moralization

The relationship between morality and perceptual defense mechanisms was studied. Three new scales were constructed to measure different aspects of morality: moralism (the tendency to evaluate everything in terms of right and wrong), conscience (strength of feelings of right and wrong) and reparation (inclination to repair the damage one has caused). Perceptual defense mechanisms were measured with Kragh's Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). Three hypotheses about relationships between morality and defense mechanisms, derived from psychoanalytical literature, were tested on 54 male University students. Results show positive correlations between the defense mechanism isolation of affect and moralism, and between identification with the aggressor and reparation. Total amount of perceptual defense correlated positively with moralism. It is argued that the psychological study of morality should take unconscious processes into consideration.     

Differences in the justification of choices in moral dilemmas: effects of gender, time pressure and dilemma seriousness

The effects on moral reasoning of gender, time pressure and seriousness of the issue at hand were investigated. In Experiment 1, 72 university students were presented with moral dilemmas and asked what actions the actors involved should take and to justify this. Women were found to be more care-oriented in their reasoning than men, supporting Gilligan's moral judgment model. Both time pressure and consideration of non-serious as opposed to serious moral dilemmas led to an increase in a justice orientation compared with a care orientation in moral judgments. In Experiment 2, a similar task was given to 80 persons of mixed age and profession, and the participants' moral reasoning was coded in terms of its being either duty-orientated (duty, obligations, rights) or consequence-oriented (effects on others). Men were found to be more duty-oriented than women, and time pressure to lead to a greater incidence of duty orientation.     

Adolescents' use of tobacco and alcohol: correlations with habits of parents and friends

Correlations for use of tobacco and alcohol of a Finnish sample of 321 adolescents (164 boys, 157 girls; age range 12-16 years) and those of their mothers, fathers, and best friends showed adolescents' use of both tobacco and alcohol correlated more with use by their friends than with parental use. The r for tobacco smoking was higher with maternal than with paternal smoking.