Showing papers by "Stony Brook University published in 1975"

Origin of Ross Island basanitoids and limitations upon the heterogeneity of mantle sources for alkali basalts and nephelinites

Abstract: Primary basanitoids from Ross Island, Antarctica have REE patterns and Pb isotope ratios similar to those for primary alkali basalts and nephelinites on ocean islands. The lead data from all volcanics on Ross Island have a spread of 4% in the 206/204 ratio and give a two-stage model lead age of 1500 m.y. The age is interpreted to be the time since the development of the chemical heterogeneity of the mantle source, presumably during an earlier melting process.

Schizophrenic performance when distractors are present: attentional deficit or differential task difficulty?

Abstract: Studies purporting to demonstrate an attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia have usually compared the performance of patient and control subjects in both a neutral and a distractor condition (e.g., Lawson, McGhie, & Chapman, 1967; Rappaport, 1967). Schizophrenics typically perform less adequately than the controls in both conditions. This result alone is not particularly surprising given the general inefficiency of schizophrenic s. More important is the finding that the decrement in schizophrenic performance is significantly greater in the distractor condition. This differential deficit has been taken to mean that the specific ability mediating performance on the distractor task (i.e., attention) is a particularly important area of loss, and one that may be central to our understanding of the disorder.

Evolution of the mantle: Geochemical evidence from alkali basalt

Abstract: A careful consideration of the heterogeneities in the trace-element concentrations and lead and strontium isotope ratios for primary alkali basalt and nephelinite shows that the isotopic heterogeneities reflect real geochemical heterogeneities of their mantle source that have existed variously from about 1,000 to 3,000 m.y. ago. It is suggested that at present there is not mantle-wide convection and that the mantle source for alkali basalt is deeper than the presently convecting mantle. During Archean time, mantle convection was much deeper than at the present time, and this deeper convection led to hot-line tectonics that may have determined the tectonic style found in Archean greenstone belts.

Fuzzy Neural Networks

Abstract: In this paper, the McCulloch-Pitts model of a neuron is extended to a more general model which allows the activity of a neuron to be a “fuzzy” rather than an “all-or-none” process. The generalized model is called a fuzzy neuron. Some basic properties of fuzzy neural networks as well as their applications to the synthesis of fuzzy automata are investigated. It is shown that any n-state minimal fuzzy automatan can be realized by a network of m fuzzy neurons, where ⌈log2n⌉

Effect of irrational beliefs on emotional arousal.

Abstract: This article studied the relationship between the tendency to hold certain irrational beliefs and the likelihood of becoming emotionally aroused in various types of situations. The first experiment was correlational and found a positive relationship between irrational beliefs and paper-and-pencil measures of interpersonal, examination, and public speaking anxiety. The second experiment focused on one specific irrational belief—the overriding importance of social approval—and investigated the likelihood of emotional arousal occurring among individuals who ascribed to this belief. When asked to imagine themselves in social situations that might be interpreted as involving rejection by others, subjects holding this belief reported feeling significantly more anxious and angry than those who did not. Both the theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Psychodynamic theorists have long recognized the importance of cognitive and symbolic activities as a determinant of emotional arousal. Although the general psychodynamic paradigm has come under heavy criticism by social learning theorists, such criticism is due less to the emphasis on cognitive factors than to the highly inferential and nonverifiable constructs employed in such attempts to understand human behavior. In fact, numerous social learning theorists (Bandura, 1969; Dollard & Miller, 19SO; Mowrer, 1960; Rotter, 1954; Staats & Staats, 1963) have placed great emphasis on the importance of cognitive processes as a significant determinant of emotional arousal. The acknowledgment by social learning theorists that cognition may mediate emotion does not necessarily negate the possibility that emotional arousal may occur without the existence of any mediating processes. Thus, Bandura (1969) has suggested that emotional behavior in humans may be divided into two types: The overall evidence would seem to indicate that emotional behavior may be controlled by two different stimulus sources. One is the emotional arousal self-generated by symbolic activities in the form of

Behavior Therapy: Application and Outcome

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Behavior Therapy: Introduction and Overview. 2. Assessment. II. BEHAVIOR THERAPY WITH CHILDREN AND MARITAL PROBLEMS. 3. Fears and Phobias. 4. Enuresis and Encopresis. 5. Developmental Disabilities. 6. Conduct Problems: Aggression and Hyperactivity. 7. Delinquency. 8. Marital Therapy. III. BEHAVIOR THERAPY WITH ADULTS. 9. Anxiety Disorders I. 10. Anxiety Disorders II. 11. Depression. 12. Psychosexual Disorders. 13. Eating Disorders. 14. Alcohol Abuse, Alcoholism, and Cigarette Smoking. 15. Behavioral Medicine. 16. Schizophrenic Disorders. IV. EVALUATION, ETHICAL, AND CLINICAL ISSUES. 17. Clinical Research and the Evaluation of Treatment Outcome. 18. Ethical Issues in the Practice of Behavior Therapy. 19. Clinical Issues and Strategies in the Practice of Behavior Therapy.

Lead and strontium isotopes in post-glacial basalts from Iceland

Abstract: We report here our Pb and Sr isotopic study of some post-glacial basalts (less than 12,000 yr old) from the southern part of Iceland, and use our new data to evaluate various proposed models for the genesis of volcanic rocks on Iceland. The interpretation for Icelandic rocks is also extended to the genesis of volcanic rocks on other oceanic islands of the world.

A Criminogenic Market Structure: the Automobile Industry

Abstract: Sociologists have come under attack for ignoring the role powerful elites play in controlling society's central master institutions by establishing policies which set structural conditions that cause other (lower level) people to commit crimes. This study suggests how one elite, automobile manufacturers, creates a “criminogenic market structure” by imposing on their new car dealers a pricing policy which requires high volume and low per unit profit While this strategy gives the manufacturer increased total net aggregate profit (by achieving economies of scale and by minimizing direct competition among oligopolist “rivals”), it places the new car dealer in a financial squeeze by forcing him to constantly free-up and continuously re-cycle capital into fixed margin new car inventory. This squeeze sets in motion a downward spiral of illegal activities which (1) inclines the new car dealer to engage in compensatory profit taking through fraudulent service operations, (2) under certain conditions, generates a “kickback” system which enables used car managers of new car dealerships to exact graft from independent used car wholesalers, and (3) forces the independent used car wholesaler into illegal “short-sales” in order to generate unrecorded cash for kickback payments.

Limit on the photon mass deduced from Pioneer-10 observations of Jupiter's magnetic field

Abstract: Analysis of the Pioneer-10 data on Jupiter's magnetic field, in which the mass of the photon was treated as a free parameter. An upper limit of 8 to the negative 49th grams was set for the photon mass. This is the smallest limit so far obtained from direct measurements.

Experimental studies of consumer demand behavior using laboratory animals

Abstract: Using laboratory animals as subjects, two series of experimental studies of consumer demand behavior are reported. The experiments show that laboratory animals will change consumption patterns in response to changes in the budget set, consuming more of the lower priced commodities and less of the higher priced commodities. Large rotations in the budget line for essential commodities resulted in severe disruption of consumer behavior. The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of using non-human subjects in laboratory studies of economic behavior.

Autoradiographic localisation of α-bungarotoxin-binding sites in the central nervous system

Abstract: SNAKE α-toxins have high specificity and affinity for nicotinic receptors, and have been used widely for the characterisation of peripheral acetylcholine receptors of electric organs and skeletal muscle. In some cases autoradiography has shown the extent and local distribution of bound neurotoxins1–5. Although α-bungarotoxin (α-BTX) does not pass the blood-brain barrier and therefore does not enter the central nervous system (CNS) to a measurable extent6, central nicotinic acetylcholine receptors may bind α-toxins in vitro, and several investigators have used this toxin to characterise brain receptors7–9. Its specificity for central nicotinic receptors has been inferred not only from its peripheral action, but also from cytological and pharmacological observations: binding activity is highest in synaptosomal preparations, and is inhibited by various nicotinic drugs. Studies on the localisation of toxin-binding sites in brains, not so far reported, would be valuable, not only to corroborate neurotoxin specificity, but also to provide information on the regional distribution of nicotinic receptor sites in the CNS.

The relation between size and apparent heaviness

Abstract: A formula for the size-weight illusion was derived from the Stevens and Rubin (1970) finding that heaviness functions form a family of power functions that converge at a common point in the vicinity of the heaviest weight that can be lifted. Magnitude estimations of the apparent heaviness of 42 plastic cylinders varying in size and weight were obtained from 20 subjects, who were allowed to use both hands to lift the weights. It was predicted that this would increase the maximum weight that could be lifted, which would, in turn, enhance the magnitude of the illusion (the dependence of heaviness on size). The results supported this and other predictions of the model concerning the dependence of the illusion on weight as well as volume.

The Quality of Life in Large American Cities: Objective and Subjective Social Indicators

Abstract: The concept of ‘quality of life’ as a tool of comparative social indicators research is analyzed. Inter-city comparisons of objective and subjective measures of well being are presented and the distinctiveness of these two dimensions of the quality of life is documented. The paper concludes with some observations on the implications that this distinctiveness has for the use of the concept ‘quality of life’ in future social indicators research.

Classical one-dimensional Heisenberg magnet in an applied field

Abstract: We present theoretical results for the thermodynamic properties and time-independent spin-spin correlation functions for the classical Heisenberg magnetic chain in an applied magnetic field. The calculations are performed by numerical solution of the transfer-matrix integral equation. In addition, approximate variational procedures and low-temperature expansions yield some analytic results. The procedures used are applicable to any near-neighbor interaction for classical spins in a linear chain. The most unusual behavior found is for antiferromagnetic coupling, where the specific heat shows oscillations as a function of field, and the longitudinal uniform susceptibility and the transverse staggered susceptibility increase with field for low fields.

Acute mania. Clinical and genetic study of responders and nonresponders to treatments.

Abstract: We examined the relationships among family history of psychiatric illness, demographic and historical variables, clinical course and presentation, and treatment response for 58 patients satisfying research criteria for mania. Nearly two thirds of the group had excellent responses to somatic treatment, particularly lithium ion, while one third had poor responses to lithium carbonate, neuroleptics, or electric convulsive therapy. Responders frequently exhibited euphoric moods, grandiose delusions, and tended to have cyclothymic premorbid personalities. Nonresponders were rarely euphoric, frequently exhibited incomplete auditory hallucinations, and tended to have formal thought disorder and depressive-withdrawn premorbid personalities. Responders tended (nonsignificant) to have greater genetic loading for affective illness and alcoholism. We could not distinguish the two groups by their age at illness onset, duration of illness, or number of illness episodes per ill patient year.

The Unmaking of the Mediterranean Trade Hegemony: International Trade Rivalry and the Commercial Revolution

Abstract: The shift in the locus of European trade from the markets of the Mediterranean to the North Atlantic overthrew a centuries old pattern of commerce and established the basis for the predominant role of North Atlantic Europe in the era of industrialization. While the expression “commercial revolution” no longer has quite the currency that it once enjoyed, students of the early modern economy have not been negligent about trying to understand the causes of the commercial shift. The impact of entrepreneurship and Weltanschauung, capital accumulation, technical innovation in shipping and industry, and the economic and political organization of nation-states have all received attention from students of the age.

The role of regression and range effects in determination of the power function for electric shock

Abstract: A scale for the apparent intensity of electric shock applied to the forearm was derived from cross-modality matching functions relating noise level, number, and force of handgrip to both line length and shock. For each response mode, the effects of psychophysical regression were estimated from the line judgments and used to make adjustments in the corresponding shock judgments. For shocks ranging from (1.0 to 5.5 mA, combined estimates of subjective magnitude were found to grow as the 2.26 power of the stimulating current.

Accretion of the ordinary chondrites

Abstract: The narrow size distributions of silicate and metal particles in 19 unequilibrated ordinary chondrites and other textural properties of these meteorites strongly suggest that chondritic material was sorted before or during its accumulation in parent bodies. Gravitational sorting during accretion is possible, but the conditions which it requires are implausible. Aerodynamic sorting - exclusion of small and/or low-density particles from a planetesimal moving through a mixture of gas and dust - can account for the textures of ordinary chondrites. It may also explain observed variations of siderophile element contents among and within the three groups of ordinary chondrites.

Is language acquired through imitation

Abstract: The role of imitation in language acquisition is examined, including data from the psycholinguistic, operant, and social learning areas. From the psycholinguistic data, four empirical statements have been extracted: (1) there is no evidence that spontaneous imitations of adult speech influence grammatical development, (2) imitation of speech does not appear to occur with frequency beyond age 3 years, (3) speech and hence imitation are not necessary for the comprehension of linguistic structures, and (4) most utterances of a child are novel and therefore could not have been exactly modeled. The first and second propositions are seen to be based on a too restrictive definition of imitation-immediate and exact copying. Selective imitation-a functional relationship involving similarity of a particular form or function of the model's responses-is proposed as an alternative, thus leaving the validity of statements (1) and (2) in question. Concerning assertion (4), certain data from the operant literature are presented as evidence of the compatibility of novel responding and modeling, imitation, and reinforcement. Finally, it is proposed that statement (3) suggests a mechanism by which selective imitation can be understood. A three-stage process is proposed in which comprehension of a grammatical form sets the stage for selective imitation of that structure, which leads in turn to spontaneous production. Thus imitation is a process by which new syntactic structures can be first introduced into the productive mode.