Numerous studies had found that creativity is not only associated with low effort and flexible processes, but also associated with high effort and persistent processes especially when defensive behavior being induced negative emotions. The important role of self-esteem is to buffer the negative emotions and low self-esteem are prone to instigate various forms of defensive behaviors. Thus, we thought that the relationships between trait creativity and executive control brain networks might be modulated by self-esteem. The resting-state electroencephalogram (RS-EEG) microstates can (...) divided into four classical types (MS1, MS2, MS3 and MS4) which can reflect the brain networks as well as the dynamic characteristic of them. Thus, Williams creative tendency scale (WCTS) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to investigate the modulating role of self-esteem on the relationships between trait creativity and the RS-EEG microstates. As our results showed, self-esteem consistently modulated the relationships between creativity and the duration and contribution of MS2 related to visual or imagery processing, the occurrence of MS3 related to cingulo-opercular networks, as well as transitions between MS2 and MS4 which was related to frontoparietal control networks. Based on these results, we thought that Moreover, individuals with low self-esteem might be more prone to influenced by negative emotions and develop low trait creativity; bottom-up information from vision or visual imagery might be beneficial to develop trait creativity for individuals with high self-esteem to improve trait creativity, while inhibition of irrelevant information could facilitate trait creativity for individuals with low self-esteem. (shrink)

The masked priming paradigm has been extensively used to investigate the indirect impacts of unconscious stimuli on conscious behaviors, and the congruency effect of priming on free choices has gained increasing attention. Free choices allow participants to voluntarily choose a response from multiple options during each trial. While repeated practice is known to increase priming effects in subliminal visual tasks, whether practice increases the priming effect of free choices in the masked priming paradigm is unclear. And it is also not (...) clear how the proportions of free choice and forced choice trials in one block will affect the free choice masked priming effect. The present study applied repeated practice in the masked priming paradigm and found that after training, the participants were more likely to be influenced by masked primes during free choice, but this training process did not alter the visibility of masked stimuli. In addition, this study revealed that when the proportions of free choice and forced choice trials were equal during the training stage, this enhanced effect by practice was the strongest. These results indicated that practice could enhance masked stimulus processing in free-choice, and that the learning effect may mainly be derived from the early selection and integrated processing of masked stimuli. (shrink)

Despite research supporting the efficacy of family therapy for adolescent depression, little research has been done to clarify the therapeutic variables that Chinese families with depressed adolescents consider helpful in family therapy. This study explored Chinese depressed adolescents’ and their parents’ perceptions of the factors promoting improvement in family therapy. Twelve Chinese families with one adolescent child fulfilling the criteria for major depressive disorder were recruited. A total of 134 family therapy sessions were conducted by 4 therapists. After therapy, semi-structured (...) interviews about the clients’ perceptions of the helpful and effective aspects of therapy were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcribed dialogues. Five overarching themes emerged: factors supporting therapeutic alliance formation, the therapist’s systemic attitude, systemic therapy direction, effective systemic therapy techniques and strategies for dealing with current issues. A trustworthy therapy alliance with a competent and supportive therapist helped depressed adolescents improve by facilitating the expression of their emotions; exploring family interactions, beliefs and emotion flows related to their symptoms; promoting their self-development; and activating their resources. The families valued the respectfulness of the therapists and their collaborative and nonauthoritative approach. Adolescents’ academic difficulties and crises received special attention. The possible clinical implementations of our findings in the design of family therapy strategies for depressed Chinese adolescents are discussed. (shrink)

Researchers have suggested that infants exhibiting baby schema are considered cute. These similar studies have mainly focused on changes in overall baby schema facial features. However, whether a change in only eye size affects the perception of cuteness across different facial expressions and ages has not been explicitly evaluated until now. In the present study, a paired comparison method and 7-point scale were used to investigate the effects of eye size on perceived cuteness across facial expressions and ages. The results (...) show that stimuli with large eyes were perceived to be cuter than both unmanipulated eyes and small eyes across all facial expressions and age groups. This suggests not only that the effect of baby schema on cuteness is based on changes in a set of features but also that eye size as an individual feature can affect the perception of cuteness. (shrink)

Cooperative innovation has become a critical method for freight logistics firms in supply chain management. The previous study has proved that relational embeddedness has a positive effect on service innovation performance. However, the influence of organizational learning capacity has been widely ignored. This study focuses on explaining the mechanism of OLC on the relationship between RE and innovation performance of freight logistics service. Firstly, a theoretical model is constructed based on Social Network Theory, and four research hypotheses are presented. Secondly, (...) a sample of 236 respondents from freight logistics firms in China is analyzed to test the hypotheses. Finally, several management implications and recommendations are suggested. The research results demonstrate that both RE and OLC have positive effects on IPFLS. Meanwhile, OLC partially mediates the relationship between RE and IPFLS. The findings provide practical guidance for managers to strengthen the relationship with partners and enhance OLC. (shrink)

Globalized workplace is increasingly moving into complex jobs requiring their employees to exhibit complex knowledge and complex skills. Though acquiring such complex skills or knowledge requires longer time, the pace of business puts pressure on organizations to accelerate the time it takes for their employees to become proficient in their jobs. This shift has challenged the conventional training and learning strategies, structure, methods, instructional design and delivery methodologies generally used by training providers and by the organizations. This paper presents the (...) preliminary research findings of a Doctorate research carried out using Grounded theory approach with over 71 in-depth interviews with leading experts in over 40 industries. Preliminary findings suggest that certain e-learning strategies and platforms hold better potential over others to successfully accelerate time-to-proficiency of individuals in leading organizations. This paper provides first look at 10 e-learning strategies and how those could be orchestrated before, during and after a formal training program to develop job-ready learners in shorter time. (shrink)

The high pace business environment poses great competition among firms. The key to an organisation’s survival is its workforce. Time taken by the workforce to reach to full proficiency in their job role takes very long in certain job roles. Thus, shortening time-to-proficiency of employees is a critical business problem for today’s organisations. This qualitative research study explored the proven practices and strategies that have successfully reduced time-to-proficiency of the workforce in various settings. A total of 93 participants from seven (...) countries participated in the research study. Bounded project case was used as sampling unit and unit of analysis in this study. This study collected 67 successful project cases with the evidence of significant reduction in time-to-proficiency of the workforce in their settings. These project cases spanned across nine economic sectors, 20 business sectors and 28 industry groups. This study revealed that project leaders across the board used six practices to successfully reduced the time-to-proficiency. The purpose of this paper is present the model of accelerated proficiency at the workplace developed in this study. (shrink)

Against the backdrop of frequent food safety problems, the importance of establishing food traceability systems has become increasingly important and urgent to address the contradiction between consumer information on safe food choices and the proliferation of problematic foods. The purpose of this study is to empirically study the influencing factors of Chinese consumers on the food traceability system in the food safety field. In this study, multiple models—push factor, pull factor, mooring factor, and switching intention—were integrated into the push-pulling-mooring theory (...) to form a conceptual PPM comprehensive model framework to study the switching intentions of two-dimensional code traceability technology for dairy products of Chinese consumers. By collecting the questionnaire survey, 305 valid questionnaires were collected from the consumers of middle- and high-end dairy products in China, and the influencing factors of thrust, pull, and mooring force were identified. The results showed that 10 of the 11 hypotheses were positive, but the impact of perceived risk on user satisfaction was negative. The important value of this study is to conduct a comprehensive empirical analysis of the key factors influencing consumer choice of traceable safe food through an integrated multi-model framework to help identify ways to establish and improve consumer willingness to use QR code traceable system products, to increase consumer confidence in the use of traceable and safe food choices. (shrink)

Online interactions have become major channels for people to obtain and disseminate information during the new normal of COVID-19, which can also be a primary platform for rumor propagation. There are many complex psychological reasons for spreading rumors, but previous studies have not fully analyzed this problem from the perspective of the interaction between official institutions and influential users. The purpose of this study is to determine optimal strategies for official institutions considering the impact of two different influential user types (...) by designing two game-theoretic models, namely “Rumor Clarification and Interaction Model” and “Rumor Verification and Interaction Model,” which can, respectively decide whether to clarify and when to clarify. The results of this article show that clarification strategies can be decided according to the characteristics of rumors and the influential user’s reactions. Meanwhile, publishing verified information prevents trolls’ “loophole advantages” and prevents reputed personalities from spreading false information due to the vague authenticity of rumors. Results also show that the verification strategy is limited by cost, period, and verification index. (shrink)

Volume 20, Issue 5, June 2020, Page 38-40.

Religious beliefs in Chinese cultural background, especially in Chinese secular society, have rarely been systematically investigated. The nonreligious-based population in China endorses certain supernatural beliefs or has related transcendent experience, even though they usually claim themselves as non-believers. Therefore, the current research examined the spirituality-prosociality association in Chinese secular background, demonstrating how spiritual connection with the transcendence related to individual secular social life. A total of 440 Chinese participants completed our questionnaires in three survey studies. The results showed that: 1) (...) for the nonreligious-based population in China, spirituality was positively connected with personal prosocial trait, prosocial attitude, and prosocial behavior; 2) the prosocial trait of compassionate love partially mediated the association between spirituality and daily prosocial expenses on time and money; and 3) personal emphasis on moral principles such as ultimate justice beliefs partially mediated the association between spirituality and interpersonal altruism in organizational settings. Limitations and future directions were discussed. (shrink)

本书简要地阐明了文学本文的创造过程,文学作品的构成及其实现过程,文学的审美价值系统及其实现过程,文学的历史发展过程。.

The race among global firms to launch its respective products and services into the market sooner than the competitors puts pressure to equip its employees with job-related skills at the pace of business. Today’s global and dynamic business requires employees to develop highly complex cognitive skills such as decision-making, problem-solving, troubleshooting to perform their jobs proficiently. Traditional training models used by some organizations lead to a very slow speed at which employees gain an acceptable level of proficiency in the targeted (...) job skills. Also, these models have long and regimented instructional development cycle. Thus, traditional models are inherently counter-productive to the business and do not enable employees and organizations for today’s business needs. Therefore, business organizations need to explore new training models and strategies that could reduce the time an employee takes to reach target proficiency in complex skills without compromising the effectiveness or outcome. A comprehensive review of the literature shows a very limited amount of academic or practitioner research on this topic. This doctorate research study aims to find various training strategies that have proven successful in organizations for accelerating proficiency of employees in complex job skills. The researcher collected data primarily through 74 in-depth interviews with 86 training experts with known work experience of reducing time-to-proficiency in various settings. A total of 105 project cases have been collected across 42 industries to date. A grounded theory approach with constant comparison method is used to guide the theoretical saturation, analyze the data and to develop a theoretical model of training strategies. This unique study revealed a range of training strategies from non-training solutions to classroom instructions to workplace training to accelerate proficiency of employees in acquiring complex skills. This paper will specifically report the preliminary findings and conceptual model of major classroom-based instructional strategies only that has been found to hold the potential to shorten time-to-proficiency of employees at the workplace. This paper will also discuss the implications of the findings for the practitioners. Results in this study confirmed that classroom-based instructional strategies need to be designed and delivered the way the work is being performed in reality by the learners. Research findings suggest a pattern of five classroom-based instructional strategies that are more successful in reducing time-to-proficiency - 1) Contextualized learning 2) Performance analysis of star performer 3) Active processing and emotional involvement 4) Access to self-guided learning resources 5) Social interconnectivity and informal learning. (shrink)

Safeguarding GenAI models against threats and aligning them with security requirements is imperative yet challenging. This chapter provides an overview of the security landscape for generative models. It begins by elucidating common vulnerabilities and attack vectors, including adversarial attacks, model inversion, backdoors, data extraction, and algorithmic bias. The practical implications of these threats are discussed, spanning domains like finance, healthcare, and content creation. The narrative then shifts to exploring mitigation strategies and innovative security paradigms. Differential privacy, blockchain-based provenance, quantum-resistant algorithms, (...) and human-guided reinforcement learning are analyzed as potential techniques to harden generative models. Broader ethical concerns surrounding transparency, accountability, deepfakes, and model interpretability are also addressed. The chapter aims to establish a conceptual foundation encompassing both the technical and ethical dimensions of security for generative AI. It highlights open challenges and lays the groundwork for developing robust, trustworthy, and human-centric solutions. The multifaceted perspective spanning vulnerabilities, implications, and solutions is intended to further discourse on securing society’s growing reliance on generative models. Frontier model security is discussed using Anthropic proposed approach. (shrink)

Reinvention of the form of expression is a conceptual approach characteristic for the evolution of all arts. This research study provides one such step forward in the advancement of scientific paper, a standard form of expression in natural sciences, toward more progressive terrains. The paper adopts the form of a theatrical play where a scientific family of four attempts to find the way around a writer’s block (Act I). Their idealess sense of confinement is overcome through arts or, more specifically, (...) through scientific research implementing the aesthetics of music as its key element. The characters record compositions differing in the degrees of consonance, rhythmicity and tonality, and play them to birds to observe their vocal and behavioral responses (Act II). They note that the birdsong volume drops significantly when the piano tunes, especially the compositionally complex ones, are played to the birds and increases signifcantly when the white noise of ocean waves is played. The bird count experiment proves indirectly that the birdsong volume reduction is an auditory response of the birds to music rather than the effect of their migrating to or away from the sound source. This science with the flavor of art elevates the characters beyond the limits of their confinement and they, exalted and uplifted, gain ideas for creative research in their own disciplines of biomedical science (Act III). They relinquish the newly gained freedom in favor of embracing love for humanity that underlies medical research and return to their confinement, where they conduct, in the coda of the paper, a series of experiments that venture beyond musicology and ornithology and fall in the domains of tissue engineering and drug delivery, but also psychology (Act III). First, sparrow nests are used as templates for tissue engineering constructs, which facilitate the growth of human fibroblastic cells better than their artificial, gridded replicas. Next, the shell of an Easter egg, predominantly calcite in composition, is used with success as a drug delivery carrier. Lastly, the bird nest drawing experiment demonstrates a greater mental health of children than that of the adults, correlating with one of the overarching points of the paper, which is to present children as a model for grownups to follow rather than the other way around. Over the course of the play, the characters discuss the value of the various fusions between art and science, question the limits of human language and repeatedly go off-topic to celebrate the freeness of the creative thinking process. The play reports on real-life research methods and scientific results through a narrative, without diminishing their empirical rigor and analytical accuracy. (shrink)

This paper studies the way supplier firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects their likelihood of being selected as new suppliers. Using a large sample of US public firms with detailed supply chain and CSR data, we provide empirical evidence that corporate customers prefer socially responsible suppliers, and that the effect is more prominent when the supplier industry is more competitive, the customer’s own CSR performance is better, or the supplier and the customer have more similar CSR focuses. Our paper contributes (...) to the literature of instrumental stakeholder theory (IST) by confirming corporate customer attraction as a desirable outcome of supplier CSR engagement. It complements the existing IST studies on customer responses by showing that CSR attracts not only final customers but also corporate customers. Moreover, by focusing on corporate customers’ revealed preferences for socially responsible suppliers, our paper also complements the stated-preference-based evidence in the literature of sustainable supply chain management. Our paper’s findings encourage supplier firm managers to invest in CSR to gain competitive advantages in the form of a higher likelihood of selection while simultaneously making positive contributions to society. (shrink)

Proactive personality is a key determinant of entrepreneurial intention. Few studies have explored the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study investigates the association between proactive personality and entrepreneurial intention and examines the mediating role of perceived entrepreneurial support and the moderating role of gender. Using a cross-sectional design, 1,515 senior students from Chinese private colleges were recruited using random cluster sampling. They completed a battery of self-reported online questionnaires on proactive personality, perceived entrepreneurial support, and entrepreneurial intention. (...) The results revealed that perceived entrepreneurial support mediates the association between proactive personality and entrepreneurial intention. Moderated mediation analysis indicated that the relationship between proactive personality and perceived entrepreneurial support and that between perceived entrepreneurial support and entrepreneurial intention are moderated by gender. Specifically, the positive association between proactive personality and entrepreneurial intention was stronger in male students, and the positive association between perceived entrepreneurial support and entrepreneurial intention was stronger in female students. This study contributes to the understanding of how proactive personality predicts entrepreneurial intention in Chinese private college students and bears implications for higher education institutions and policymakers that entrepreneurship promotion agenda should focus on improving perceived entrepreneurial support and considering the gender of students. (shrink)

Developing World Bioethics, Volume 22, Issue 3, Page 170-178, September 2022.

This article examines the interlinked impacts of gender and race on occupational prestige, segregation, and earnings. Included are occupations about which Bose and Rossi reported prestige ranks and about which the 1980 census reported earnings and relevant gender/race breakdowns. White men are used as the comparison group. Contrasted to them are the gender/race groups of white women, Black men, Black women, Asian-American men, Asian-American women, Hispanic men, and Hispanic women. Race has a more powerful impact than gender on the prestige (...) level a worker is likely to enjoy, but gender does affect prestige within particular racial groups. For segregation and earnings, the strongest effects are those of gender, although there are clear race effects too. Segregation examined in terms of the prestige of occupations in which different groups find themselves shows race and gender effects. Many researchers have pointed to the need for considering both gender and race in examining the American occupational structure. Our findings strongly support that call. (shrink)

Original and cumulative prospect theory differ in the composition rule used to combine the probability weighting function and the value function. We test the predictive power of these composition rules by performing a novel out-of-sample prediction test. We apply estimates of prospect theory’s weighting and value function obtained from two-outcome cash equivalents, a domain where original and cumulative prospect theory coincide, to three-outcome cash equivalents, a domain where the composition rules of the two theories differ. Although both forms of prospect (...) theory predict three-outcome cash equivalents very well, at the aggregate level, we find small but systematic under-prediction of cash equivalents for cumulative prospect theory and small but systematic over-prediction of cash equivalents for original prospect theory. We also observe substantial heterogeneity across subjects and types of gambles, some of which is accounted for by differences in the curvature and elevation of the weighting function across individuals. We also find differences in prediction related to whether the worst outcome is zero or non-zero. (shrink)

In order to improve the impact resistance and mechanical performance of anchor rods and satisfy the requirements for supporting rockburst roadways, the energy balance equation of the energy-absorbing support and roadway surrounding rock system is established. Moreover, to effectively prevent rockburst disasters, the energy criterion for roadway instability is derived. From the perspective of an energy-absorbing support, a yield-absorbing anti-shock anchor composed of a rod body, tray, constant resistance energy-absorbing device, and special-shaped nut is designed and developed; compared with ordinary (...) anchor rods, this rod has stronger mechanical properties for resisting impact. Theoretical and numerical simulation studies show that the energy-absorbing device has a repeatable deformation failure mode and a constant yield force. The paper also presents the principle involved in the design of anti-shock bolt supports. The energy-absorbing support not only effectively guides and controls the release and conversion of impact energy but also consumes the impact energy in the buffering process of the anchor to ensure the stability of surrounding rock and support protection system. This study aims to provide reference for roadway support design and to improve rock bolts used in rockburst roadways. (shrink)

The importance of work stress on newcomers’ organizational socialization has been a topic of substantial interest. However, the impact mechanism of different stressors on newcomers’ organizational socialization is still in the early stages of theory development. This study, based on the theory of the dual work stress model, explored how to challenge stressors and hindrance stressors impact newcomers’ organizational socialization via the mediation of job crafting. Based on the empirical data from 247 newcomers, we found that challenge stressors positively affected (...) newcomers’ organizational socialization; on the contrary, hindrance stressors would result in negative influences. In addition, leader-member exchange enhanced the positive effect of challenge stressors on newcomers’ job crafting and further moderated the indirect influence of challenge stressors on newcomers’ organizational socialization via job crafting. These findings provide a practical guide for organizations to apply stress management and promote newcomers’ socialization. (shrink)

On 19 October 2013, the Chinese government issued the Opinions on Further Regulation on Party and Political Leaders and Cadres Working Part-Time in Enterprises, also known as the 18th Decree, to regulate government officials’ employment with businesses. The 18th Decree is widely perceived as having had a significant impact on the use of independent directors with political backgrounds by firms, given the prevalence of this business practice. This paper examines the market reaction to the 18th Decree to ascertain the value (...) effect of political connections in China. We note a negative relationship between the political connections of independent directors and market reaction. We also note that the negative relationship between political connections and market reaction is moderated by ownership type and state of regional development. Specifically, we find that the negative relationship holds only for private firms in less developed regions. These results support our prediction that political connections add value to Chinese firms and that the value effect of political connection is contingent on institutional factors. (shrink)

This book transforms phenomenology, music, technology, and the cultural arts from within. Gathering contributions by performing artists, media technology designers, nomadic composers, and distinguished musicological scholars, it explores a rich array of concepts such as embodiment, art and technology, mindfulness meditation, time and space in music, self and emptiness, as well as cultural heritage preservation. It does so via close studies on music phenomenology theory, works involving experimental music and technology, and related cultural and historical issues. This book will be (...) of considerable interest to readers from the fields of sound studies, science and technology studies, phenomenology, cultural studies, media studies, and sound art theory. This book is equally relevant and insightful for musicians, composers, media artists, sound artists, technology designers, and curators and arts administrators from the performing and visual arts. (shrink)

This paper examines the impact of China’s new environmental protection law on green innovation. Using a large sample of Chinese prefecture-level cities for the 2010–2016 period and the difference-in-differences methodology, we provide strong evidence that the new environmental protection law promotes green innovation. This finding is robust to a battery of sensitivity tests. The micromechanism analysis shows that the new environmental protection law can promote green innovation by imposing stricter financial constraints on enterprises in high-pollution industries and increasing their incentives (...) for green innovation to meet green credit requirements. Further, we find that the impact of the new environmental protection law on green innovation is more prominent in prefecture-level cities with a lower level of banking competition and for prefecture-level cities with stronger intellectual property protection. Overall, these findings suggest that the new environmental protection law has played an important role in promoting green innovation in China. To improve the effect of the new environmental protection law on green innovation, the government can consider lowering banking competition and strengthening intellectual property protection. (shrink)

We propose a signaling pathway in which cell‐extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion components PINCH‐1 and kindlin‐2 sense mechanical signals from ECM and link them to proline biosynthesis, a vital metabolic pathway for macromolecule synthesis, redox balance, and ECM remodeling. ECM stiffening promotes PINCH‐1 expression via integrin signaling, which suppresses dynamin‐related protein 1 (DRP1) expression and mitochondrial fission, resulting in increased kindlin‐2 translocation into mitochondria and interaction with Δ1‐pyrroline‐5‐carboxylate (P5C) reductase 1 (PYCR1). Kindlin‐2 interaction with PYCR1 protects the latter from proteolytic degradation, (...) leading to elevated PYCR1 level. Additionally, PINCH‐1 promotes P5C synthase (P5CS) expression and P5C synthesis, which, together with increased PYCR1 level, support augmented proline biosynthesis. This signaling pathway is frequently activated in fibrosis and cancer, resulting in increased proline biosynthesis and excessive collagen matrix production, which in turn further promotes ECM stiffening. Targeting this signaling pathway, therefore, may provide an effective strategy for alleviating fibrosis and cancer progression. (shrink)

Consumers have subjective psychological expectations of the quality and brand of products before purchasing. There is a certain tolerance for products that do not meet expectations. The discomfort caused by tolerance can be smoothly carried out through “reasonable” self-comfort and explanation mechanisms. Based on the theory of rationalization defense mechanism, a 2 × 2 purchase channel matrix of online and offline purchase, online consultation, and the offline experience was constructed to explore the influence of consumers’ tolerance of product quality and (...) brand on their purchase channel choice. The results show that: consumer product tolerance positively influences consumers’ online purchasing choice; consumer product tolerance influences purchase channel choice through rationalization; and the sweet lemon mechanism mediates consumer product tolerance on online consultation and online purchase and offline experience, but the sour grapes mechanism does not mediate. (shrink)

本书包括:探求“三个规律”;打破历史周期率;发挥制度优越性;长河东流奔大海;永无止境的求索等。.

In order to usurp Party power and restore capitalism, the "gang of four" has deliberately confused Marxist theories and the people's thinking. "Bourgeois rights" under the socialist system is a question which has been greatly confused by the clique. Like [Max] Stirner who was denounced by Marx, they abused the concept of "bourgeois rights" "on any occasion" in the manner of "fleas hopping" and turned out their fantastic "rights economics.".

Neural markers, such as the mismatch negativity, have been used to examine the phonological underspecification of English feature contrasts using the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon model. However, neural indices have not been examined within the approximant phoneme class, even though there is evidence suggesting processing asymmetries between liquid and glide phonemes. The goal of this study was to determine whether glide phonemes elicit electrophysiological asymmetries related to [consonantal] underspecification when contrasted with liquid phonemes in adult English speakers. Specifically, /ɹɑ/ is categorized (...) as [+consonantal] while /wɑ/ is not specified [i.e., ]. Following the FUL framework, if /w/ is less specified than /ɹ/, the former phoneme should elicit a larger MMN response than the latter phoneme. Fifteen English-speaking adults were presented with two syllables, /ɹɑ/ and /wɑ/, in an event-related potential oddball paradigm in which both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Three types of analyses were used: traditional mean amplitude measurements; cluster-based permutation analyses; and event-related spectral perturbation analyses. The less specified /wɑ/ elicited a large MMN, while a much smaller MMN was elicited by the more specified /ɹɑ/. In the standard and deviant ERP waveforms, /wɑ/ elicited a significantly larger negative response than did /ɹɑ/. Theta activity elicited by /ɹɑ/ was significantly greater than that elicited by /wɑ/ in the 100–300 ms time window. Also, low gamma activation was significantly lower for /ɹɑ/ vs. /wɑ/ deviants over the left hemisphere, as compared to the right, in the 100–150 ms window. These outcomes suggest that the [consonantal] feature follows the underspecification predictions of FUL previously tested with the place of articulation and voicing features. Thus, this study provides new evidence for phonological underspecification. Moreover, as neural oscillation patterns have not previously been discussed in the underspecification literature, the ERSP analyses identified potential new indices of phonological underspecification. (shrink)

In [Countable thin [Formula: see text] classes, Ann. Pure Appl. Logic 59 79–139], Cenzer, Downey, Jockusch and Shore proved the density of degrees containing members of countable thin [Formula: see text] classes. In the same paper, Cenzer et al. also proved the existence of degrees containing no members of thin [Formula: see text] classes. We will prove in this paper that the c.e. degrees containing no members of thin [Formula: see text] classes are dense in the c.e. degrees. We will (...) also prove that the c.e. degrees containing members of thin [Formula: see text] classes are dense in the c.e. degrees, improving the result of Cenzer et al. mentioned above. Thus, we obtain a new natural subclass of c.e. degrees which are both dense and co-dense in the c.e. degrees, while the other such class is the class of branching c.e. degrees 113–130] for nonbranching degrees and [T. A. Slaman, The density of infima in the recursively enumerable degrees, Ann. Pure Appl. Logic 52 155–179] for branching degrees). (shrink)