Showing papers by "Boise State University published in 1984"

Phonological Access to the Mental Lexicon in a Target Discrimination Task

Abstract: Summary A phonological route to the mental lexicon was demonstrated in two experiments. Each involved a target discrimination task in which the target was the first or last letter of a quadrigram. Half the quadrigrams were pseudohomophones (identical in sound but not in spelling to an English word) and the other half were nonhomophones (pronounceable but neither spelled like nor sounding like any English word). In Experiment 1 each pseudohomophone had a nonhomophone counterpart produced by changing only the letter on the opposite end of the string from the target. In Experiment 2 the nonhomophone counterparts were produced by changing only the letter next to the one on the opposite end of the string from the target; thus the extreme letters were the same for both types of quadrigrams. Performance was significantly better on pseudohomophones than on nonhomophones in both experiments.

Monitoring of formic acid in urine of humans exposed to low levels of formaldehyde

Abstract: This study documented the formaldehyde exposures of a group of veterinary medicine students. It also investigated the feasibility of biologically monitoring the exposures. The biological monitoring was based on the fact that the formaldehyde is metabolized in the body to formic acid, and may then be excreted in the urine. Therefore, exposures to formaldehyde could theoretically create a shift in the formic acid levels in the urine. Normal baseline levels of urinary formic acid were first established for each subject. The baselines of most students were quite variable. Very few exhibited a “tight variability” in their baseline. Next, three sets of pre- and post-exposure urine samples were taken. A series of paired t-tests were run on these “pre” and “post” sets. The results indicated that no significant formic acid shift was seen. A subset of the samples was “corrected” for specific gravity. However, this adjustment did not have an effect upon the relative formic acid levels. In addition, no significant fo...

Shape Evolution and Fabric in a Boulder Beach, Monument Cove, Maine

Abstract: Unequal spacing of nearly vertical joints and sheeting in hornblende granite at Monument Cove, Maine, forms large tabular blocks which accumulate as talus on the backbeach. The blocks are subsequently rounded by wave action to form a pocket boulder and cobble beach. Measurements of the talus blocks and boulders indicate that the initial structurally controlled, bladed and elongate habits are manifested in the boulders; however, as abrasion progresses, more compact (spherical) and more platy (discoidal) boulders evolve. The data suggest that the greatest change is toward compactness and that the ultimate clast shape at Monument Cove would be spherical. The orientations of the L-I planes and the L-axes of the rounded clases were also measured. The L-I planes are well oriented, dipping m inly offshore. The L-axes orientations form three main clusters, one subparallel to the shoreline, one down the dip of the beach, and one oblique to the shoreline. The latter two clusters lie within the modal dip of the L-I planes.

Nontarget columns and parafoveal target identification: some limits on previously observed effects.

Abstract: Three experiments were conducted to determine limits to the phenomenon in which a column of nontargets to the foveal side of a parafoveally presented target is more detrimental to identification than a column to the target's peripheral side, while a single nontarget to the peripheral side is more disruptive. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that proximity of nontarget characters in a column is not sufficent to produce the difference in the effect of the position of nontarget columns and single nontargets. Physical features of characters in the column allowing closure emerged as important to the effect of its position on target identification. Experiment 3 confirmed the findings of the first two experiments and showed, in addition, that performance is better with nontarget columns than with single nontargets because characters in the columns exert lateral interference on one another and thereby release such interference on the target.

Economic Democracy: The Rawls-Vanek-Sraffa Connection

Abstract: these three authors, and that together they form the skeletal outline of a formal theory of economic democracy. Moreover, the Rawls-Vanek-Sraffa model of economic democracy (hereafter referred to as the RVS model) suitably represents two sepa? rate intellectual traditions which are beginning to show some signs of convergence. One is a logical extension of liberal ideology and is termed radical liberalism. The other is a branch of democratic socialism. The apparent convergence of these two ideological strains is the result of certain historical tendencies. The continued instability of most capi? talist nations, the increasing popularity of socialist politics in France, Greece, Finland, and elsewhere, and the diminishing popularity of Soviet domestic and foreign policies, especially among Marxist theorists, have contributed to increasing dissatisfaction with both traditional liberalism and etatist socialism. The RVS model is one which seems to represent the interests of those who have escaped both of these ortho? doxies. The next two sections of this paper will tie the works of Rawls, Vanek and Sraffa together. It will be seen that a Rawlsian theory of justice provides the ethical foundation for economic democracy. The work of Vanek provides the formal microeconomic basis of a self-managed sec? tor, while the work of Sraffa provides the formal macroeconomic basis of a planned participatory sector. The final section will evaluate the possibility of the U.S. moving in the direction suggested by the RVS model.

Directional letter-by-letter analysis and the word-superiority effect

Abstract: Manipulations were introduced in three experiments to produce letter-by-letter analysis of orthographic (CVC) and nonorthographic (CCV or VCC) trigrams. Letters in the trigrams were presented in a different form (normal orientation and order, normal orientation but reversed order, reversed orientation but normal order, or reversed orientation and order) to each of four groups in the first experiment, and in each of the two normal orientation forms to different groups in the second experiment. Subjects both detected the presence or absence of a target letter and classified each trigram as a word or nonword. Additional changes were introduced in the third experiment to ensure that letters were being analyzed in the desired order. Performance was consistently better on orthographic trigrams, but only if the letters were oriented normally. This word-superiority effect (WSE) was related to feature testing that may be carried out letter by letter, with more efficient testing on words. Failiar orientation of letter features seems to be necessary; otherwise, testing becomes so difficult that there is no WSE. However, testing apparently is not finished on a given letter before it is begun on the next.

Field validation study of the MDA Instant Working Level Meter in a high gamma background mine environment.

Abstract: Accurate and reproducible radon daughter measurements are essential to protect workers in the mining industry and assure compliance with federal regulations. The precision and accuracy of the MDA® Model 811 Instant Working Level Meter (IWLM) has been questioned when it is used in a high gamma environment of an underground uranium mine due to the increased statistical uncertainty associated with the background radiations. Comparative side by side sampling at a single underground mine station exhibiting a 3.0 mR/h “gamma background” was conducted utilizing the IWLM, the Kusnetz and the Tsivoglou methods. A total of fifty sets of samples were taken, with half using an unshielded IWLM and the other half using a lead shield to reduce the effect of the high gamma background radiation. IWLM, Kusnetz and “baseline” Tsivoglou measurements were then analyzed. A significantly large error was associated with the IWLM in both the shielded and unshielded data groups.