Examining Associations Among Emotional Intelligence,Creativity, Self-efficacy,and Simultaneous Interpreting Practice Through the Mediating Effect of Field Dependence/Independence: A Path Analysis Approach

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a cognitively complex activity due to the concurrent nature of receiving and producing messages. Previous research confirms...     

Efficiently checking propositional refutations in HOL theorem provers

This paper describes the integration of zChaff and MiniSat, currently two leading SAT solvers, with Higher Order Logic (HOL) theorem provers. Both SAT solvers generate resolution-style proofs for (instances of) propositional tautologies. These proofs are verified by the theorem provers. The presented approach significantly improves the provers' performance on propositional problems, and exhibits counterexamples for unprovable conjectures. It is also shown that LCF-style theorem provers can serve as viable proof checkers even for large SAT problems. An efficient representation of the propositional problem in the theorem prover turns out to be crucial; several possible solutions are discussed.     

Effects of spatial configurations on visual change detection: An account of bias changes

In order to determine whether people encode spatial configuration information when encoding visual displays, in four experiments, we investigated whether changes in task-irrelevant spatial configuration information would influence color change detection accuracy. In a change detection task, when objects in the test display were presented in new random locations, rather than identical or different locations preserving the overall configuration, participants were more likely to report that the colors had changed. This consistent bias across four experiments suggested that people encode task-irrelevant spatial configuration along with object information. Experiment 4 also demonstrated that only a low-false-alarm group of participants effectively bound spatial configuration information to object information, suggesting that these types of binding processes are open to strategic influences.     

The Sin of Ian McEwan's Fictive Atonement:Reading his Later Novels

Ian McEwan is arguably the best living British novelist. His most successful novel, Atonement , was recently made into an internationally successful film. And indeed, through analysis of his novels, it is clear that Ian McEwan believes literature—precisely as fictive—might very well bear the task of atonement for postmodernity. His novels, though, are patently hopeless, (even as they are truly well-written). Because McEwan doesn't accept or see the causes of sin as such—formally understood as rebellion against the Creator—his diagnostic aesthetic of our postmodern malaise is incomplete and ineffectual. The literary or fictive atonement that he would achieve through his novels does not satisfy. This article aims to lay bare the philosophico-literary characteristics of Ian McEwan's later novels. The ultimate goal of this critical reading, though—tending toward an "evangelical lection"—is to transfigure McEwan's imaginative and creative virtuosity for otherwise disappointed Christian readers, precisely by envisioning his novels in the dark light of their redemptive deficit. Thus, the literary or fictive atonement that Ian McEwan's atheism cannot achieve might be saved apropos the Judeo-Christian revelation of divine atonement.     

Aging persons' estimates of vehicular motion.

Estimated arrival times of moving autos were examined in relation to viewer age, gender, motion trajectory, and velocity. Direct push-button judgments were compared with verbal estimates derived from velocity and distance, which were based on assumptions that perceivers compute arrival time from perceived distance and velocity. Experiment 1 showed that direct estimates of younger Ss were most accurate. Older women made the shortest (highly cautious) estimates of when cars would arrive. Verbal estimates were much lower than direct estimates, with little correlation between them. Experiment 2 extended target distances and velocities of targets, with the results replicating the main findings of Experiment 1. Judgment accuracy increased with target velocity, and verbal estimates were again poorer estimates of arrival time than direct ones, with different patterns of findings. Using verbal estimates to approximate judgments in traffic situations appears questionable.     

Relative and absolute reinforcement frequency as determinants of choice in concurrent variable interval schedules

Rats were trained under concurrent schedules consisting of two equal variable interval component shedules providing sucrose solutions of different concentrations (0.6 M, 0.2 M; 50 μl in each case) as the reinforcers. The mean interreinforcement interval specified by the schedules was varied from 10 to 640 sec. Absolute response rate in each component was an increasing hyperbolic function of reinforcement frequency. Relative response rate and relative time allocation revealed a consistent preference for the more concentrated solution; neither measure of preference was systematically related to reinforcement frequency. The results are consistent with Baum and Rachlin's (1969) extension of the matching law, and with a derivation of the matching law from the hyperbolic relation between absolute response rate and reinforcement frequency in variable interval schedules (Herrnstein, 1970).     

Uterus Transplantation: The Ethics of Using Deceased Versus Living Donors

Research teams have made considerable progress in treating absolute uterine factor infertility through uterus transplantation, though studies have differed on the choice of either deceased or living donors. While researchers continue to analyze the medical feasibility of both approaches, little attention has been paid to the ethics of using deceased versus living donors as well as the protections that must be in place for each. Both types of uterus donation also pose unique regulatory challenges, including how to allocate donated organs; whether the donor / donor's family has any rights to the uterus and resulting child; how to manage contact between the donor / donor's family, recipient, and resulting child; and how to track outcomes moving forward.     

Eugenol as an anti-stress agent: modulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and brain monoaminergic systems in a rat model of stress

Stress is the leading psychopathological cause for several mental disorders. Physiological and psychological responses to stress are mediated by the hypothalamic?pituitary?adrenal (HPA), sympathoadrenal system (SAS), and brain monoaminergic systems (BMS). Eugenol is reported to substantially modulate brain functions by regulating voltage-gated cation channels and release of neurotransmitters. This study was designed to evaluate the anti-stress effect of eugenol in the 4-h restraint model using rats. Ulcer index was measured as a parameter of the stress response. HPA axis and the SAS were monitored by estimating plasma corticosterone and norepinephrine (NE), respectively. Analysis of NE, serotonin (5-HT), dopamine, and their metabolites in discrete brain regions was performed to understand the role of BMS in the anti-stress effect of eugenol. Stress exposure increased the ulcer index as well as plasma corticosterone and NE levels. Eugenol pretreatment for 7 days decreased the stress-induced increase in ulcer index and plasma corticosterone but not NE levels, indicating a preferential effect on the HPA axis. Furthermore, eugenol showed a ?U?-shaped dose?response curve in decreasing ulcer index and plasma corticosterone levels. Eugenol also reversed the stress-induced changes in 5-HT levels in all brain regions, whereas NE levels were reversed in all brain regions except hippocampus. These results suggest that eugenol possesses significant anti-stress activity in the 4-h restraint model and the effect is due to modulation of HPA and BMS.     

Meaning of work among a sample of Kuwaiti workers

The study tested the meaning of work among 340 Kuwaiti workers in the public sector. A questionnaire was constructed to measure meaning of work by drawing 46 items from existing scales and from the meaning of work literature. They were put together, translated into Arabic, and adapted to be relevant to Kuwaiti society. Analysis showed the developed scale has acceptable reliability and validity coefficients for Kuwaiti workers. Also, Kuwaiti workers gave priority to extrinsic rewards from work, then intrinsic rewards, whereas Work Centrality had the lowest priority. Sex, occupation, and the intention not to change one's job in the future were significantly related to the meaning which these workers attributed to their work.