The relation between 3-year-old children's skills and their hyperactivity, inattention, and aggression.

This study examines the relation between 3-year-old children's (N = 280) symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and aggression and their cognitive, motor, and preacademic skills. When the authors controlled for other types of attention and behavior problems, maternal ratings of hyperactivity and teacher ratings of inattention were uniquely and moderately associated with children's lower cognitive and preacademic skills. The few modest, simple associations between maternal ratings of aggression and children's skills were no longer significant when hyperactivity and inattention were controlled. This suggests that cognitive and preacademic problems among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms may begin to emerge as early as age 3. The results highlight the importance of examining the association between different types of behavior problems and young children's skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attenuating the effects of social stress: The impact of political skill.

This study investigates the impact of perceived social stressors on job and career satisfaction. Additionally, the authors investigate whether individuals' reported levels of political skill could attenuate the negative effects of social stressors on these outcome variables. The authors test these hypotheses with a sample of 246 alumni from a private, Midwestern university. The authors' results provide support for the hypothesized negative influence of social stressors on job and career satisfaction and indicate that political skill can moderate these relationships. Practical implications and directions for future research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Approaching the fundamental noise limit in Mo/Au TES bolometers with transverse normal metal bars

Recent efforts in the Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer/calorimeter community have focused on developing detectors whose noise properties are near the fundamental limits. These include the in-band phonon noise, the out-of-band Johnson noise, and the 1/f noise. We have investigated the noise performance of Mo/Au-bilayer TES bolometers designed for infrared detectors. These detectors use normal metal regions for the suppression of excess noise, which are oriented either parallel to (“bars”) or transverse to (“stripes”) the direction of current flow. Two nearly identical detectors, one with stripes and one with bars, were fabricated at the NASA/GSFC detector development facility. Significantly lower noise is found with the normal metal regions oriented transversely. We compare the detailed noise measurement and quantitative analysis of the noise level in each device as a function of the detector resistance. Our preliminary result is that the best detector features only moderate excess noise in both the in-band region and in the out-of-band region. This noise performance is suitable for instruments with multiplexed TES arrays, such as GSFC's FIBRE and SAFIRE.     

The Construct and Criterion Validity of Emotional Intelligence and Its Potential Utility for Management Studies.

In this study, the authors reviewed the definition of emotional intelligence (EI) and argued that El is conceptually distinct from personality. In Study 1, the authors showed that EI was related to yet distinct from personality dimensions and that it had incremental predictive power on life satisfaction. The authors examined the construct validity of self-reports and others' ratings of EI using two samples in Study 2. In a student sample, parents' ratings explained additional variance in the students' life satisfaction and feelings of powerlessness after controlling for the Big Five personality dimensions. In the work sample, peer ratings were found to be significant predictors of job performance ratings provided by supervisors after controlling for the Big Five personality dimensions. Other implications for future research on EI are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimized pulse source employing an externally injected gain-switched laser diode in conjunction with a nonlinearly chirped grating

In this paper, we demonstrate the generation of transform-limited short optical pulses, which display excellent spectral and temporal qualities by employing a novel technology, based on an externally injected gain-switched laser in conjunction with a nonlinearly chirped grating. Using this technique, 3.5-ps optical pulses exhibiting a time-bandwidth product (TBP) of 0.45 are generated, which are suitable for use in high-speed 80 Gb/s optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) communications systems. The numerical integration of a set of rate equations using suitable parameters for the devices used in the experiments were carried out to further confirm the feasibility of the proposed method for developing an optimized pulse source for high-speed photonic systems.     

Toward the objective diagnosis of psychopathology: Generalizability of modal personality profiles.

Evaluated the representativeness of 8 previously identified personality prototypes among 282 male and 129 female alcoholic inpatients (mean ages, 44.9 and 44.4 yrs, respectively), 69 male prison inmates, 79 male and female chronic psychiatric patients (mean age, 33.0 yrs), 102 male and female short-term psychiatric patients (mean age, 26.8 yrs), and 197 male and female normal undergraduates. Classification hit rates ranged from 25.0% for the college student group to 53.6% for male prison inmates, compared with 56.0% for the derivation sample of male alcoholics. These figures were substantially greater than chance, as evidenced by an average hit rate of 4.9% using randomly generated targets. Two profiles were notably pervasive across all samples. A 2nd analysis compared group average profiles using multiple discriminant analysis. Three interpreted dimensions included (a) repression vs a rebellious, antisocial syndrome; (b) general symptom severity, and (c) a dimension differentiating male from female groups. It is concluded that the present modal profiles and proposed extensions offer considerable potential for developing more effective bases for diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of participation in a simulated society on attitudes of business students.

Assessed the effects of participation in a stimulated society involving social, economic, and political factors on attitudes toward business with 129 undergraduate business students as Ss. Results of a posttreatment attitude questionnaire show that in comparison to controls, simulated-society Ss placed greater emphasis on societal goals and less emphasis on suboptimizing business practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of concept identification performance in older adults.

A sequential training procedure combining operant and cumulative learning hierarchy principles was found effective in reducing the decrement in concept identification performance typically observed in older adults. 20 male and 20 female Ss aged 63-83 yrs were given a pretest and posttest, each involving a 3-category unidimensional concept identification problem. The training and reinforced-training Ss were given 3 training sessions between pretest and posttest. Training involved a programmed learning sequence designed to facilitate the development of an effective solution strategy. Control Ss were given only the pretest and posttest, while practice Ss were given 3 additional practice sessions. Substantial improvement was found in both the training and reinforced training groups, but only slight improvement obtained in the practice and control groups. Results are consistent with recent conceptions of cognitive and intellectual development in the older adults in which performance deficits are largely attributed to experiential factors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In-storage softening of kiwi fruit: effects of delayed coolingRamollissement des kiwis au cours de l'entreposage: influence du retard de la réfrigération

Rapid softening of kiwi fruit while in storage at 0°C limits the marketing period for this crop and contributes to economic loss. The time required to bring fruit to optimum storage temperature is affected by delays between harvest and placing fruit in the cooling facility and by the completeness of cooling. Incomplete cooling of fruit in commercial forced-air coolers results in overall above-optimal average fruit temperatures for undesirable lengths of time and also results in a wide range of temperature among individual fruits. The half cooling time for palletized kiwi fruit packed in wooden trays with liners was 7 h in the coolers tested; thus seven-eighths cooling required 21 h. Delays of 24 h or more before the start of cooling accelerated the softening of fruit, enhanced soluble solids content, and increased the incidence of rotting and shrivelling during storage.