Need-For-Approval and Physical versus Social Reality Effects on Judgemental Shifts

Since the recent emergence of conformity research, few investigations have attempted to relate judgmental shifts to both relevant personality dimensions and different psychological situations, i.e., physical and social reality. The E studied the effects of need-for approval, internal versus external locus of reinforcement, pressure,and physical versus social reality on judgmental shifts. A completely crossed-factorial design with two levels of each factor was used. The criterion was the mean number of judgmental shifts, with the latter being defined as a shift in judgment from an initial position about a stimulus object to an alternative position. The Ss were 160 female introductory psychology students. Experimental groups (n=5) were tested via a modified Crutch‐Field apparatus in the presence of the E. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: physical reality-high pressure; physical reality-low pressure; social reality-high pressure; and social reality-low pressure. The physical reality task necessitated a judgment as to the larger of two clusters of dots on each of nine trials. The task of social reality required a judgment on each of nine trials as to whether or not pictures of men, some having been described as convicted murderers, were infact convicted murderers. High pressure was defined as the apparent disagreement of three and agreement of one member about a judgment, or disagreement by all four members of the group. Low pressure was composed of three agreeing and one disagreeing member of the group or four agreements. Analysis of variance revealed that I-E and pressure were significant main effects. Analysis of simple main effects showed that pressure was significant for both reality levels, need-for-approval was significant for I-E, and that I-E was significant for high need-for-approval JBs, and social reality. The major findings were: 1. Low need-for-approval Ss do not differ in number of judgmental shifts in either reality. 2. High and low need-for-approval Ss do not differ inmean number of judgmental shifts in physical reality when exposed to high pressure. 3. Social reality does not seem to create a difference between high and low need-for-approval Ss in judgmental shifts under a condition of high pressure. 4. No distinction between the psychological relevance of social and physical reality was found for high need-for-approval Ss. The investigator concluded that further research is needed to find personality correlates of judgmental shifting behavior, and that there should be more work done in an attempt to delineate the dimension called social reality

Families Hardest Hit: The Impacts of Welfare Reform on Homeless Families

A 1999 survey of 481 families living in homeless shelters in Chicago gathered information about the impacts of welfare reform on these families' lives. The results indicate that families are becoming homeless because of changes in welfare law that have led to an increase in lost benefits and a policy of pushing people into work without proper preparation or adequate supports

Characterization of polyether-poly(methyl methacrylate)-lithium perchlorate blend electrolytes

Em publicaçãoSolid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) systems based on interpenetrating blends of poly(ethylene oxide-co-propylene oxide) and poly(methyl methacrylate) host matrices, with lithium perchlorate as guest salt, were prepared. These electrolytes were presented as free-standing films, and their thermal and electrochemical properties were characterized by conductivity and electrochemical stability measurements. The properties of the interpenetrating blends of poly(ethylene oxide-co-propylene oxide) and poly(methyl methacrylate) host matrices as the electrolyte component of a solid-state electrochromic device are reported and the results obtained suggest that this electrolyte provides an encouraging performance in this application. The most conducting electrolyte composition of this SPE system is the formulation designated as SPE2-0PC (5.01x10-4 S cm-1 at about 57ºC). The lowest decomposition temperature was registered with the SPE6-15PC composition (233ºC). The average transmittance in the visible region of the spectrum was above 41% for all the samples analyzed. After coloration the device assembled with 71 wt% PC presented an average transmittance of 15.71% and an optical density at 550nm of 0.61.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Narrowly distributed crystal orientation in biomineral vaterite

Biominerals formed by animals provide skeletal support, and many other functions. They were previously shown to grow by aggregation of amorphous nanoparticles, but never to grow ion-by-ion from solution, which is a common growth mechanism for abiotic crystals. We analyze vaterite CaCO3 multi crystalline spicules from the solitary tunicate Herdmania momus, with Polarization dependent Imaging Contrast PIC mapping, scanning and aberration corrected transmission electron microscopies. The first fully quantitative PIC mapping data, presented here, measured 0{\deg} 30{\deg} angle spreads between immediately adjacent crystals. Such narrowly distributed crystal orientations demonstrate that crystallinity does not propagate from one crystal to another 0{\deg} angle spreads, nor that new crystals with random orientation 90{\deg} nucleate. There are no organic layers at the interface between crystals, hence a new, unknown growth mechanism must be invoked, with crystal nucleation constrained within 30{\deg}. Two observations are consistent with crystal growth from solution: vaterite microcrystals express crystal faces, and are smooth at the nanoscale after cryo fracture. The observation of 30{\deg} angle spreads, lack of interfacial organic layers, and smooth fracture figures broadens the range of known biomineralization mechanisms and may inspire novel synthetic crystal growth strategies. Spherulitic growth from solution is one possible mechanism consistent with all these observations.Comment: Chemistry of Materials 201

Nacre tablet thickness records formation temperature in modern and fossil shells

Nacre, the iridescent outer lining of pearls and inner lining of many mollusk shells, is composed of periodic, parallel, organic sheets alternating with aragonite (CaCO_3) tablet layers. Nacre tablet thickness (TT) generates both nacre's iridescence and its remarkable resistance to fracture. Despite extensive studies on how nacre forms, the mechanisms controlling TT remain unknown, even though they determine the most conspicuous of nacre's characteristics, visible even to the naked eye. Thermodynamics predicts that temperature (T) will affect both physical and chemical components of biomineralized skeletons. The chemical composition of biominerals is well-established to record environmental parameters, and has therefore been extensively used in paleoclimate studies. The physical structure, however, has been hypothesized but never directly demonstrated to depend on the environment. Here we observe that the physical TT in nacre from modern and fossil shallow-water shells of the bivalves Pinna and Atrina correlates with T as measured by the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer. Based on the observed TT vs. T correlation, we anticipate that TT will be used as a paleothermometer, useful to estimate paleotemperature in shallow-water paleoenvironments. Here we successfully test the proposed new nacre TT thermometer on two Jurassic Pinna shells. The increase of TT with T is consistent with greater aragonite growth rate at higher T, and with greater metabolic rate at higher T. Thus, it reveals a complex, T-dependent biophysical mechanism for nacre formation

Acts of communion: encountering taste in Reckless Sleepers’ The Last Supper

An article about the aesthetics, politics and dramaturgy of taste implicit in Reckless Sleepers’ The Last Supper (2003). The authors explore notions of gustatory taste and the multi-sensory potential of serving food in performance and the ethics of (mis)representation of real life events; the assassination of the Romanovs and Che Guavara proving to be the most unreliable narratives. The piece sits between fact and fiction, the found and the fabricated, and is punctuated with the arrival of the real last suppers of convicted felons. The work speaks from a primarily western religious perspective, inspired by Da Vinci’s Last Supper (1498) and the act of communion that takes place in church services. In this way, it leans towards an occidental, spiritual notion of taste, where transubstantiation allows the rice paper script to become both the body of Christ and the symbol of his own last supper. Nietzsche’s notion of intoxication comes into play as performers and audience share wine, or blood, and drink to absent friends. The article proposes that the piece enacts a dramaturgy much like a meal, where conversation ebbs and flows, and a sense of togetherness, or act of communion, is engendered. The authors posit that the tacit contract with the audience is redrawn by food as both an aesthetic and dramaturgical encounter. As such, it becomes an invocation (or intoxication) of taste, mortality and last-ness that continues to resonate thirteen years after its devising. Both Pinchbeck and Westerside wrote about this performance when they first saw it at the same venue in 2006, both conducted interviews with members of the Reckless Sleepers, Mole Wetherell and Tim Ingram, for their ongoing research into dramaturgy, aesthetics and taste in contemporary performance. Now this research is woven together into a tapestry of reflections on the piece, a pentimento of memories

Systematic Computational and Experimental Investigation of Lithium-Ion Transport Mechanisms in Polyester-Based Polymer Electrolytes

Understanding the mechanisms of lithium-ion transport in polymers is crucial for the design of polymer electrolytes. We combine modular synthesis, electrochemical characterization, and molecular simulation to investigate lithium-ion transport in a new family of polyester-based polymers and in poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). Theoretical predictions of glass-transition temperatures and ionic conductivities in the polymers agree well with experimental measurements. Interestingly, both the experiments and simulations indicate that the ionic conductivity of PEO, relative to the polyesters, is far higher than would be expected from its relative glass-transition temperature. The simulations reveal that diffusion of the lithium cations in the polyesters proceeds via a different mechanism than in PEO, and analysis of the distribution of available cation solvation sites in the various polymers provides a novel and intuitive way to explain the experimentally observed ionic conductivities. This work provides a platform for the evaluation and prediction of ionic conductivities in polymer electrolyte materials

Ultrafast domain dilation induced by optical pumping in ferromagnetic CoFe/Ni multilayers

Ultrafast optical pumping of systems with spatially nonuniform magnetic textures is known to cause far-from-equilibrium spin transport effects, such as the broadening of domain-walls. Here, we study the dynamics of labyrinth domain networks in ferromagnetic CoFe/Ni multilayers subject to a femtosecond optical pump and find an ultrafast domain dilation by 6% within 1.6 ps. This surprising result is based on the unambiguous determination of a harmonically-related shift of ultrafast magnetic X-ray diffraction for the first- and third-order rings. Domain dilation is plausible from conservation of momentum arguments, whereby inelastic scattering from a hot, quasi-ballistic, radial current transfers momentum to the magnetic domains. Our results suggest a potentially rich variety of unexpected physical phenomena associated with far-from-equilibrium inelastic electron-magnon scattering processes in the presence of spin textures