Contingent sensitivity to configuration in a nonlinear evolution system

A trans-scopic sensitivity of macroscopic failure to slight differentiation in the meso-scopic structure of a system with nonlinear evolution is reported. A periodical chain following a non-local load-sharing evolution was applied as a propotype in failure study. The results demonstrate that there is a transition region composed of globally stable (GS) and evolution induced catastrophic (EIC) modes. That is different from a critical threshold as predicted by percolation and renormalization group theories. Moreover, the EIC mode shows a distinctive sample specific behaviour. For instance, some neighbouring initial states may evolve into completely different final states, though different initial states can evolve into the same final states. As an example, a marginal configuration of EIC mode, a quasi-Fibonacci skeleton, is constructed.

Spatial exploration induces a persistent reversal of long-term potentiation in rat hippocampus

Experience-dependent long-lasting increases in excitatory synaptic transmission in the hippocampus are believed to underlie certain types of memory(1-3). Whereas stimulation of hippocampal pathways in freely moving rats can readily elicit a long-term potentiation (LTP) of transmission that may last for weeks, previous studies have failed to detect persistent increases in synaptic efficacy after hippocampus-mediated learning(4-6). As changes in synaptic efficacy are contingent on the history of plasticity at the synapses(7), we have examined the effect of experience-dependent hippocampal activation on transmission after the induction of LTP, We show that exploration of a new, non-stressful environment rapidly induces a complete and persistent reversal of the expression of high-frequency stimulation-induced early-phase LTP in the CA1 area of the hippocampus, without affecting baseline transmission in a control pathway. LTP expression is not affected by exploration of familiar environments. We found that spatial exploration affected LTP within a defined time window because neither the induction of LTP nor the maintenance of long-established LTP was blocked. The discovery of a novelty-induced reversal of LTP expression provides strong evidence that extensive long-lasting decreases in synaptic efficacy may act in tandem with enhancements at selected synapses to allow the detection and storage of new information by the hippocampus.

交易型领导的结构和作用机制研究

The Multifactor Leadership theory developed by Bass (1985) has become the new paradigm of leadership research. The empirical results of the effectiveness of transformational and transactional leadership in the literature, however, are not consentient. Researchers in China found the different structure of transformational leadership, but have not developed the transactional leadership. This study attempts to investigate three key questions in the unique Chinese socio-economic context: 1) what is the structure of transactional leadership in China? 2) What are the differences between western countries and China? And 3) what is the relationship between the transformational and transactional leadership mechanism? This study examines data collected from 3,500 participants, using Explored Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmed Factor Analysis (CFA), Hierarchical Regression Analyses, partial correlations and other statistics methods. The major finings are listed as follows： Firstly, inductive methods was used to explore the structure of transactional leadership and the result show that transactional leadership is a four dimensions structure which includes contingent reward, contingent punishment , process control and anticipated investment. Reliability analysis, item analysis, EFA and CFA show the reliability and validity of the transactional leadership questionnaire we designed is good enough, the design of the item is effectively and properly. Contrast to other researches, anticipated investment emphasis on the leader’s recessive investment for subordinate, and this kind of transaction is quite special under the Chinese culture. While the content of the contingent reward with the contingent punishment is wider than the contingent reward in the western country, and the process control is wider than the management by exception and including goal setting and the management during the process. Secondly, hierarchical regression analyses showed that transformational and transactional leadership were significant positively related with in-role performance, extra-role performance, satisfaction and leadership effectiveness while negatively related to intention to leave. The effects of transactional and transformational leadership are different. Transactional leadership could significantly predict intention to leave controlling for transformational leadership, while transformational leadership could significantly predict in-role performance, extra-role performance, satisfaction and leadership effectiveness controlling for transactional leadership. Thirdly, the income level and the rank of subordinates are the moderators between the transformational, transactional leadership and leadership effectiveness. The leadership effectiveness of transactional leadership would decrease as the rank of subordinates increased, while the leadership effectiveness of transformational leadership would increase as the rank of subordinates increased. Transactional leadership is positively related to the effectiveness when the level of the subordinate income is low, but negatively related to the effectiveness when the level of the subordinate income is high. However the income level of the subordinate could not influence the leadership effectiveness of transformational leadership.

道德强度对企业道德决策的影响及作用机制

Moral decision-making in business means the decisions involved in moral issues in business context. Moral intensity is a construct that captures the extent of issue-related moral imperative in a situation, which is one of the most important factors in the study of moral decision-making in business. Based on Issue-Contingent Model, the present study investigated the influence of moral intensity on moral decision-making in business (including moral recognition, moral judgment, and moral intent in the present study), and further focused on exploring the mechanism of moral intensity in moral decision-making in business. Recently, the studies in decision-making gave more emphasis to the role of emotions. The present study tried to include empathy into moral decision-making in business to explore the role of empathy in the relationship between moral intensity and moral decision-making in business, which would enrich and extend Issue-Contingent Model. The present study would also make up for a deficiency in the study of moral decision-making in business that overemphasized the rational reasoning and neglected the role of emotions. There were three parts in the present study. Firstly, study 1 replicated the former study and explored the relationship between perceived moral intensity and moral decision-making in business in China by questionnaire method. Secondly, study 2 focused on exploring the influence of the components of moral intensity on moral decision-making in business and empathic response by experimental method. Finally, study 3 explored the role of empathy in the relationship between moral intensity and moral decision-making in business. The results indicated that, 1.Perceived moral intensity was the significant predictor for moral decision- making in business. 2.Magnitude of consequence, social consensus, and probability of effect had significant effects on moral decision-making in business. Magnitude of consequence and probability of effect could influence empathic response significantly. 3.Empathic response played the role of mediator between moral intensity and moral decision-making in business. Empathic response completely mediated the relationship between moral intensity and moral recognition. Empathic response partly mediated the relationship between moral intensity and moral judgment, moral intent. Further analysis indicated that probability of effect and magnitude of consequence relied more on empathic response than social consensus to influence moral judgment and moral intent. Dispositional empathy could influence moral decision-making in business through perceived moral intensity and empathic response. 4.Controlled empathic levels could influence moral decision-making in business significantly. Empathic levels influenced the effect of probability of effect on moral decision-making in business, and did not influence the effect of magnitude of consequence and social consensus on moral decision-making in business. These findings not only contribute to enrich the models of moral decision- making in business, but also have significant practical applications in the training of moral decision-making in business.

视觉搜索中注意捕获的控制机制

Theories of Visual search generally differentiate between bottom-up control and top-down control. Bottom-up control occurs when visual selection is determined by the stimulus properties in the search field. Top-down control takes place when observers are able to select those stimuli that are in line with their attentional sets. Pure stimulus-driven capture and contingent capture are two main theories on attentional capture by now, in which, theory of pure capture more emphasize bottom-up control, while theory of contingent capture more emphasize top-down control. Besides those two theories, Perceptual load theory of attention provides completely new perspective to explain attentional capture. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanism of attentional capture in visual search on the basis of the existing theory of attentional capture and Perceptual load theory of attention. Three aspects of questions were explored in this study, which includes: the modulation role of perceptual load on attentional capture; the influence of search mode on attentional capture; and the influence of stimuli’s spatial and temporal characteristics on attentional capture. The results showed that: (1) Attentional capture was modulated by perceptual load in both conditions in which perceptual load manipulated either by amount of stimuli or similarity of stimuli. (2) Search mode did influence attentional capture, but more important, which was also modulated by perceptual load. (3) The spatial characteristics of congruent and incongruent distractor did influence attentional capture, specifically, the further the distractor from the target, the more interference effect the distractor had on visual search. (4) The temporal characteristics of distractor did influence attentional capture, specifically, the pattern of results from the study in which distractor were presented after the search display, were similar to those from the study in which distractors were presented before the search display. In sum, the results indicated that attentional capture are controlled not only by bottom-up factors, top-down factors but also modulated by available attention resources. These findings contribute to resolve the controversy for mechanism of attentional capture. And the potential application of this research was discussed.

企业组织领导参与决策行为研究

In the processes of Chinese economic and political reforms, making decision democratically and scientifically is one of the most important problems for the managers. Through the investigations of 319 managers from 13 companies in 3 cities of China, the participation or the behavior of influence and power sharing in managerial decision-making was systematically analyzed. The research was concerned with three aspects: (1) the descriptive study of managerial decision-making; (2) the relationship between managerial decision-making and a set of specified contingent situational factors; (3) the relationship between managerial decision-making and various outcome variables, such as job satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. The principal results of the research showed. 1. The managers used different methods of decision-making in different situations. The wildly used method by the managers was "prior consultation with subordinate". 2. Compared with the developed countries, Chinese managers tended to use more centralized methods of decision-making. In the comparisons among the different districts of China, the managers in the districts of the higher level economic and cultural development tended to use more participative methods in the processes of decision-making. 3. The behavior of managerial decision-making was influenced by the various contingent factors, such as the uncertainties of the environments, the job constraints, and the variables related to persons, etc. 4. The behavior of the managerial decision-making correlated significantly with the job satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. The more influence and power managers owned in the processes of decision-making, the more positive they evaluated their job satisfaction and organizational effectiveness.