Providing information to clients about psychological tests: A survey of attorneys' and law students' attitudes.

Surveyed 70 practicing attorneys and 150 law students to determine the extent to which they felt it was their responsibility to inform clients they referred for psychological testing about the testing process and about the validity scales on tests. Results showed that almost 50% of the attorneys and over 33% of the students believe that clients referred for testing always or usually should be informed of validity scales on tests. These results suggest that many test takers, particularly in forensic settings, may have information about validity scales that facilitates their giving biased responses without detection. Psychologists doing forensic evaluations should be alert to this possibility and should consider using more than one approach to detect response distortions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral and pharmacologic approaches to smoking cessation

Cigarette smoking continues to be the single, most preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. For individuals who have cancer, continuing to smoke negatively impacts their treatment, survival, and risk for second primary tumors. This review of behavioral and pharmacological approaches to smoking cessation focuses on the recent comprehensive review of cessation interventions by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), as well as on new developments in the field. An intervention model is outlined that provides oncologists with a brief and easily implemented method of systematically treating patients who smoke. By assessing patient smoking status, advising smoking patients to quit, and proactively assisting their patients in quitting, oncologists can significantly influence patient health and fulfill their professional and ethical responsibility to address this life-threatening behavior.     

Simulationsmodell zur Bestimmung der magnetischen Eigenschaften von Transformatorkernen bei nichtharmonischer Erregung

Übersicht Ausgehend von der modellmäßigen Domänenstruktur ferromagnetischer Werkstoffe werden für den Bereich einer 180°-Blochwand die Kräfte zwischen magnetischen Elementardipolen untereinander und gegenüber einem äußeren Magnetfeld berechnet und so die Blochwanddynamik erfaßt. Da nicht alle benötigten Parameter aus der atomaren Struktur des Werkstoffs ableitbar sind, werden die freien Parameter durch Anpassung der Simulation an eine z.B. B-H-Messung 50 Hz festgelegt. Ziel dieses so kalibrierten Modells ist es, Aussagen zum Werkstoffverhalten in Betriebsbereichen zu liefern, die durch normgerechte Werkstoffbewertung nicht abgedeckt und für den praktischen Einsatz von Interesse sind. Als Anwendungsbeispiel wird die B-H-Charakteristik eines Transformatorkerns bei Impulserregung simuliert. Obwohl die Übereinstimmung mit Messungen gut ist, weisen detailliertere Betrachtungen auf eine verbesserungsfähige Verlustmodellierung hin.

---

Simulation model to determine the magnetic properties of transformer cores for non-harmonic excitation

Contents Employing the modelled domain structure in ferromagnetic material, for the area of a 180° blochline the forces between the atomic magnetic dipoles and by an outer magnetic field are calculated and so the dynamic properties of the blochline are considered. Because not all required parameters can be derived from the atomic structure of the material, the remaining parameters are set by adapting the simulation to measured values e.g. for 50 Hz. The aim of the so calibrated model is to determine the behaviour of the material for working conditions, which cannot be investigated by standardized measurings but are of special interest. As an example of application the hysteresis loop of a pulse stressed transformer core is simulated. Although the correspondence with the measured values is quite good, on closer inspection an improvable loss modelling is indicated.

     

Evaluating reactivity to ecological momentary assessment during smoking cessation.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) consists of assessing phenomena in real time in the natural environment. EMA allows for more fine-grained analyses of addictive behavior and minimizes threats to internal validity, such as recall biases and errors. However, because of the intensive monitoring involved in EMA, measurement reactivity is a concern. To test whether EMA with palmtop personal computers induces reactivity, the authors compared smoking-related outcomes between smokers using EMA and those not using EMA during a quit attempt. The use of no-EMA control groups has been rare in reactivity investigations to date. The EMA protocol included event-contingent assessments (smoking episodes, urge episodes) and random assessments. Outcomes included biologically confirmed abstinence and self-report measures of withdrawal, self-efficacy, motivation, affect, and temptations. Participants were smokers motivated to quit (N = 96). They were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: EMA for the week preceding a planned quit date, EMA for the week following the quit date, and no EMA. Abstinence rates did not differ between the groups at Day 7 or at Day 28 postcessation. For the 20 subscales assessed at each of 3 assessment times, there were significant differences between participants with and without EMA experience for 3 subscales at the 1st of 3 assessment times, and significant differences for 3 different subscales at the 3rd assessment time. These differences suggest some reactivity to EMA, although the inconsistent pattern across time indicates that further research is needed to definitively conclude that EMA induces reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Olfactory and auditory event-related potentials in Huntington's disease.

The influence of Huntington's disease (HD) on the olfactory event-related potential (OERP), an electrophysiological measure of olfactory information processing, has not been reported to date. In the present study, olfactory and auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded monopolarly from Fz, Cz, and Pz electrode sites in 8 patients with HD and 8 age- and gender-matched control participants. Results demonstrated that individuals with HD were delayed compared with controls on the P3 component of the OERP (p     

Polysomnographic sleep measures in patients with uremic and idiopathic restless legs syndrome

In the present study, the nocturnal electroencephalographic sleep pattern, the number of periodic leg movements (PLM) during sleep and wakefulness, and the subjective sleep parameters of patients with uremic (n = 10) and idiopathic (n = 17) restless legs syndrome (RLS) were compared. The main finding was that the total number of PLM (p = 0.019), the PLM index (p = 0.018), and the PLM index while awake (p = 0.003) were significantly higher in patients with uremic RLS compared with patients who had idiopathic RLS. Additionally, both groups showed a distinct time-of-night pattern of PLM activity. Polysomnographic measures of sleep continuity (total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, time awake) and sleep architecture (amount of nonrapid eye movement sleep stages 1, 2, 3, and 4 and the amount of rapid eye movement sleep) did not differ between uremic and idiopathic RLS patients. With regard to subjective parameters, sleep quality was estimated to be worse in uremic RLS (p = 0.033), whereas other parameters (for example, severity of RLS, quality of life) did not differ between the two groups. It is suggested that uremia itself worsens the motor symptoms of RLS, probably as a result of increased excitability.     

Facial EMG as an index of affective response to nicotine.

Negative affect reduction has been postulated to be a key feature of cigarette smoking. In the present study, facial electromyography (EMG), heart rate (HR), and skin conductance response (SCR) were used to evaluate the affective significance of acute nicotine administration and overnight withdrawal. Smokers (N = 115) attended four 90-min laboratory assessment sessions scheduled approximately 3 days apart. The sessions provided a complete crossing of 2 prelaboratory deprivation conditions (12-hr deprived vs. nondeprived) with 2 drug conditions (nicotine vs. placebo nasal spray). During each session, smokers viewed affective slides while facial EMG, HR, and SCR were recorded. Results indicated that for women, nicotine nasal spray resulted in lower corrugator EMG activity during both smoking-deprived and nondeprived sessions, compared with placebo. However, nondeprived women also showed an increase in zygomaticus EMG when given nicotine compared with placebo spray, whereas smoking-deprived women demonstrated a decrease in the zygomaticus response to nicotine compared with placebo. With men, nicotine also appeared to lower corrugator during deprivation, but not nondeprivation, compared with placebo spray, though the contrast only approached significance. With zygomaticus EMG, nicotine spray decreased men's zygomaticus responding during nondeprivation but not during deprivation, compared with placebo spray. The HR results reflected the stimulatory properties of the drug rather than nicotine's affective properties, whereas SCR was unresponsive to our experimental manipulations. The corrugator EMG results support negative reinforcement models of smoking that postulate that acute nicotine use reduces withdrawal-driven negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting relapse back to smoking: Contrasting affective and physical models of dependence.

Traditional models of physical dependence suggest that nicotine dependence should be reflected by the extent of drug exposure (e.g., smoking rate) and by evidence of physiological adaptation (e.g., withdrawal severity). An affective model suggests that nicotine dependence should be related to an individual's tendency to experience negative affect and expectations that nicotine use would ameliorate such affect. This research investigated the ability of these 2 models to predict relapse back to smoking at 6 months postquit, Logistic regression models were developed and tested in 505 heavy smokes participating in nicotine patch clinical trials. Results supported both models, but the most potent predictor of outcome was postquit negative affect, which accounted for much of the predictive validity of traditional measures of nicotine dependence. Affective reactivity appears to be a core constituent of dependence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simplifications for hydronic system models in modelica

Building systems and their heating, ventilation and air conditioning flow networks, are becoming increasingly complex. Some building energy simulation tools simulate these flow networks using pressure drop equations. These flow network models typically generate coupled algebraic nonlinear systems of equations, which become increasingly more difficult to solve as their sizes increase. This leads to longer computation times and can cause the solver to fail. These problems also arise when using the equation-based modelling language Modelica and Annex 60-based libraries. This may limit the applicability of the library to relatively small problems unless problems are restructured. This paper discusses two algebraic loop types and presents an approach that decouples algebraic loops into smaller parts, or removes them completely. The approach is applied to a case study model where an algebraic loop of 86 iteration variables is decoupled into smaller parts with a maximum of five iteration variables.     

Normative data for the F(p) Scale of the MMPI–2: Implications for clinical and forensic assessment of malingering.

Data from several clinical samples and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 standardization group are presented to familiarize the reader with response patterns of different groups on a new validity scale designed to assist in the identification of exaggeration or fabrication of psychological disturbance. Sensitivity-specificity analyses are included along with suggestions for use of the F(p) Scale with other validity scales. Cautions about setting single cutoff scores are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)