Joint effect of feedback and goal setting on performance: A field study of residential energy conservation.

The facilitating motivational effect of feedback on performance has been attributed by some to difficult goals set in response to feedback. The present experiment attributes this effect to the presence of both a difficult goal and feedback about performance in relation to that goal. 80 families were asked to set a goal to reduce their residential electricity consumption for several weeks during the summer, half of them by 20% (a difficult goal) and half by 2% (an easy goal). Within each of these groups, half of the families were given feedback 3 times/wk about their consumption. 20 more families served as a control group. As predicted, the 20%-feedback group conserved the most (13.0–25.1%) and was the only one that consumed significantly less electricity than the control. It is concluded that improved performance was a result of the joint effect of feedback and goal setting. The implications of the present research for a national residential conservation strategy are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol consumption as a self-handicapping strategy in women.

Assessed whether women self-handicap with alcohol consumption prior to engaging in a social evaluation task, which may be more relevant to their self-esteem than the intellectual tasks used in past self-handicapping studies on substance use. 113 women (aged 19–32 yrs), who were evaluated as normal drinkers, performed either a solvable or an insolvable social judgment task and then received either success feedback or no feedback. Ss received access to alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages while awaiting a retest. The study terminated before the retest. The self-handicapping hypothesis that noncontingent success would produce relatively greater alcohol consumption was not supported. Regardless of feedback, insolvable test Ss consumed more alcohol than did solvable test Ss. Findings suggest that the hypothesis may be limited as a general model of alcohol consumption in both sexes. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

锌电解高电流密度运行时的相应措施

当前各湿法炼锌厂锌电解用电几乎都实行峰、谷、平，这是因为锌电解是用电大户，每产lt锌，直流电需3000—3200KWh，为避免和居民用电发生冲突，在用电高度集中地区，谷期一般都采用高电流密度，这样才能保证产量。另一个原因是谷期电价是峰期的三分之一，在谷期采用尽可能高的电流密度，可以大大降低用电成本。本文就高电流密度运行时的各措施做进一步阐述。     

Effects of monetary rebates, feedback, and information on residential electricity conservation.

Assigned 129 participant households in Texas during the summer to 1 of 5 experimental conditions: A high monetary rebate condition in which Ss received conservation information, weekly written feedback on their electricity use, and monetary rebates amounting to a 240% price change in electricity; a low monetary rebate condition with the same structure as the high rebates except payments amounted to a 50% price change; a weekly feedback condition in which Ss also received information but no rebates; an information condition; and a control condition. The dependent measure was percentage reduction in electricity use based on actual weekly meter readings by the research staff. Only the high rebate condition significantly curtailed electricity use by about 12% over the course of the study. Elasticity estimates suggested limited responsiveness in electricity consumption to price changes. Questionnaire data showed a pattern in which actual reduction in electricity was associated with planning a conservation program, attending to feedback, and modifying air conditioning use. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gap Analysis of Homeowners’ Expectations of Smart Features in Intelligent Condominiums

While smart features have been incorporated in private condominiums, it is unclear if these features are appropriate and satisfactorily used by homeowners. The concern of this study is that for all good intent and purposes, the smart features designed into intelligent condominiums by developers may not be what homeowners need, i.e., there could be gaps between homeowners’ expectations and developers’ perceptions of what these expectations are. The aims of this study are, therefore, to (1) examine the kinds of intelligent systems available that are most appropriately used in condominiums, and (2) assess the needs of homeowners to determine their satisfaction level from using smart features provided in their intelligent condominiums. Seven smart features that are commonly provided in intelligent condominiums in Singapore were identified. A survey was conducted in Singapore with homeowners and developers, which suggests that smart fire protection and security systems were deemed most appropriate by homeowners. However, homeowners were generally not very satisfied with the performance of these smart features. A gap analysis of the survey findings suggests that there were discrepancies between homeowners’ expectations and developers’ perceptions of homeowners’ expectations. This suggests a need for developers to allocate their resources more effectively in the future to meet homeowners’ needs.     

Mood and alcohol consumption: An experience sampling test of the self-medication hypothesis.

In this investigation the authors applied the experience sampling method to prospectively test the self-medication hypothesis. In vivo reports gathered in the context of daily life demonstrated that nervousness was the only negative mood state to predict increases in alcohol consumption later in the course of the day. Further examination of this within-person relationship demonstrated that men were more likely to consume alcohol when nervous than were women, but this association was unrelated to family history of alcoholism, problem drinking patterns, or trait anxiety and depression. Consistent with the self-medication hypothesis, cross-sectional analyses also confirmed that alcohol consumption was generally associated with lower levels of nervousness; this effect varied by several demographic and clinical variables. These findings are discussed in terms of the diversity of reasons for alcohol consumption and their potential for explaining problem drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance and energy conservation.

Examined whether high consumers of electricity placed in a cognitively dissonant situation would conserve electricity over a 4-wk period. 272 households in Perth, Western Australia, owning ducted air conditioning and consuming above-average amounts of electricity were included in the study. Four experimental groups were compared. The 4 groups were as follows: (a) the dissonance plus tips plus feedback group, who were informed of an inconsistency between their previously measured attitudes toward conservation and actual high consumption of electricity; (b) the feedback plus tips group, who were notified that they were high consumers of electricity; (c) the tips-only group, who were sent information on ways to conserve electricity (also sent to Groups 1 and 2); and (d) the control group, who were sent a thank-you letter for participating in the study. It was found, in keeping with bolstering behavior predictions of cognitive dissonance theory, that the dissonance group conserved more electricity than all other groups in the 1st 2-wk measurement period. For the 2nd 2-wk measurement period, the dissonance group differed only from the control group. Self-reported behavior change and number of requests for additional conservation materials were not reliable indicators of actual conservation behavior. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

攀长钢公司电气设备的节能措施

对于类似攀长铜这种特种钢冶金企业,其电能消耗比重较大。在电能输送、变电、使用和能量转化过程中主要涉及了变压器、电机及其控制系统、供电线路和照明系统等设备和设施。这些设备和设施在使用过程,都会消耗部分电能转化为热能消散在介质中（如铁损和铜损）,而这些部分无效做功消耗的电能就是我们节能工作的中心,其大小与变压、供电、用电设备的材质、制作工艺、控制方式等技术因素有关,在分析了无效做功的产生原理,可针对性的采取措施减少这部分无效做功消耗的电能。     

Dissociating the conditioning and the anorectic effects of estradiol in female rats.

The present series of experiments challenges the ability of the hormone estradiol to act as an unconditioned stimulus in the conditioned taste avoidance (CTA) learning paradigm. We hypothesize that reductions in sucrose consumption observed after pairing it with estradiol are not indicative of associative learning, but due to the unconditioned expression of estradiol’s anorectic effects during the time of CTA assessment. Three experiments in which a sucrose solution was paired with estradiol were conducted to test this hypothesis. Experiment 1 demonstrated that female rats expressed a reduction in post-pairing sucrose consumption even though the anorectic effects of estradiol had subsided. Experiment 2 showed that although a low dose of estradiol produced anorexia, it did not elicit post-pairing reductions in sucrose consumption. Experiment 3 revealed that contingent pairing was a requirement for post-pairing reduction in sucrose consumption even when testing was done at a time when anorexia is expressed. These findings demonstrate the dissociability of the conditioning and anorectic effects of estradiol, providing evidence against the hypothesis. The results are discussed in terms of independent neural mechanisms underlying the disparate behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improvement in Strength and Moduli of Coal Ash Stabilized with Bentonite and Compacted at Various Unit Weights

With the increasing demand for electricity on one hand and the depleting resources of natural gas and oil on the other, the coal industry has been working hard for satiating the demand. The use of the fossil fuel to produce electricity may be cheaper but it has its own limitations because of the amount of nondegradable waste that it generates as a byproduct. Although coal is being primarily used to produce electricity, researchers are striving to develop cost effective and environmentally safe uses of coal combustion products. The use of bottom ash generated from burning of pulverized coal to produce electricity amended with various admixtures as a structural fill and low hydraulic conductivity barriers has been studied by several researchers. In general, the fill material in the field is compacted close to the maximum dry unit weight obtained from a standard Proctor test. In this investigation, change in the strength and stiffness of PCC bottom ash samples amended with varying amount of bentonite and compacted to various dry unit weights was studied. The stiffness was measured in terms of secant modulus at maximum stress, secant modulus at half of the maximum stress, and initial tangent modulus. The results presented show that both the strength and secant moduli of the mixtures increased with the increase in the unit weight. The initial tangent modulus of the mixtures also increased with the increase in dry unit weight, but beyond a unit weight of approximately 15?kN/m3 (100?pcf), the change in the initial tangent modulus was observed to be negligible.     

Examination of age-related deficits on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

Adult age differences in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) measures were examined before and after statistical control of age-related differences in measures of feedback usage, working memory, and perceptual-comparison speed. The proportion of age-related variance associated with a summary measure of WCST performance was greatly reduced after controlling for measures of feedback usage, working memory, and perceptual-comparison speed. Furthermore, the age-related variance associated with the feedback-usage measure was reduced after controlling for working memory and perceptual-comparison speed measures. These results are consistent with the idea that age-related performance differences in the WCST are partially mediated by adult age differences in feedback usage and that age differences in feedback usage are mediated by age differences in working memory, which are in turn mediated by age-related reductions in processing speed, indexed by measures of perceptual-comparison speed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

我国大中型电弧炉炼钢技术现状调研和分析研究

通过在钢铁企业调研，收集整理了1997～2001年我国部分大中型电弧炉炼钢运行的技术经济指标数据；25家冶金企业的38台电弧炉，技术经济指标为冶炼电耗、电极消耗、出钢至出钢时间、变压器日利用系数等12项指标，共计数据2280个，采用SAS统计分析软件对数据进行了统计分析，1997～2001年全国电弧炉指标中，电耗、电极消耗逐年降低，日历作业率、变压器日利用系数逐年提高，电弧炉指标中电耗与出钢至出钢时间之间明显正相关，电耗与变压器日利用系数之间明显负相关。变压器日利用系数（Ccd）、出钢至出钢时间（t）对电耗（E）的影响显著，线性回归方程为E=428.74-4.52Ccd 0.91t。     

RK-EF法镍铁合金生产理论电耗计算

文章就RK-EF法镍铁生产的理论电耗进行了计算。计算结果表明,通过与传统冷装法比较,RK-EF法冶炼镍铁合金单位镍点的理论电耗为275 kWh,比传统冷装法降低了24%,说明RK-EF法冶炼镍铁合金能明显降低冶炼电耗;同时发现,炉渣显热与烟气显热占总支出热量的57%以上,研究如何利用这部分热能对降低镍铁合金冶炼成本及节能降耗将有重要影响。     

贵州焦在高碳锰铁生产中的应用实践

为改善冶炼炉况,提高技术经济指标,介绍了在高碳锰铁生产中全部使用贵州焦代替云南焦作为还原剂的应用,从电阻率和化学特性上进行了对比,结果表明：采用贵州焦,电炉不再产生翻渣现象、产品回收率和平均日产量均得到提高,冶炼单位电耗及焦耗下降,产品中硅的质量分数得到提高.     

Oral contraceptives alter circadian rhythm parameters of cortisol, melatonin, blood pressure, heart rate, skin blood flow, transepidermal water loss, and skin amino acids of healthy young women

This study investigated the usage consumption pattern and chemical composition of fermented foods consumed in 191 rural households (1030 individuals) in Emene. The result showed that fermented foods were widely used and consumed by most age groups (under 2 years to adults) because of poor socioeconomic status. Fermentation period varied with type of food and was mostly carried out as a means of detoxifying certain foods. Generally, fermented foods contributed substantially to the daily caloric (46.3 to 79.9% for males and 57.5 to 78% for females); calcium (33.8 to 63.5% for males and 48.3 to 55.4% for females); iron (34.4 to 58.6% for males and 47.4 to 74.6% for females); and thiamin (23 to 58.5% for males and 37.5 to 60% for females) intakes. The contributions of fermented foods to protein (10 to 40.7%) and ascorbic acid (1.9 to 18.7%) intakes were however, low. When compared with the FAO recommendations, the daily intakes of protein, calcium, riboflavin, niacin and ascorbic acid by the subjects were low due to large consumption of starchy root crops. Poor financial status was the most limiting factor to adequate nutrient intake. Such results point out the need for nutrition education related to improved methods of preparation and food selection.     

唐钢高炉煤气高效利用生产实践

为降低能源成本,增加发电量,2010年唐钢炼铁厂北区新建1套25 MW发电机组和1座75 t/h锅炉。为满足新建锅炉高炉煤气用量的需要,系统分析了各工序高炉煤气的使用情况,针对高炉煤气使用过程中普遍存在的利用效率低的问题,提出改进措施,达到了高炉煤气的供需平衡,实现了预期目标。     

Why do people need self-esteem? Converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function.

Three studies were conducted to assess the proposition that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that raising self-esteem would reduce anxiety in response to vivid images of death. In support of this hypothesis, Ss who received positive personality feedback reported less anxiety in response to a video about death than did neutral feedback Ss. In Studies 2 and 3, it was hypothesized that increasing self-esteem would reduce anxiety among individuals anticipating painful shock. Consistent with this hypothesis, both success and positive personality feedback reduced Ss' physiological arousal in response to subsequent threat of shock. Thus, converging evidence of an anxiety-buffering function of self-esteem was obtained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic and temporarily activated causal uncertainty beliefs and stereotype usage.

In 3 studies, we examined the hypothesis that the effects of stereotype usage on target judgments are moderated by causal uncertainty beliefs and related accuracy goal structures. In Study 1, we focused on the role of chronically accessible causal uncertainty beliefs as predictors of a target's level of guilt for an alleged academic misconduct offense. In Study 2, we examined the role of chronic causal uncertainty reduction goals and a manipulated accuracy goal; in Study 3, we investigated the role of primed causal uncertainty beliefs on guilt judgments. In all 3 studies, we found that activation of causal uncertainty beliefs and accuracy concerns was related to a reduced usage of stereotypes. Moreover, this reduction was not associated with participants' levels of perceived control, depression, state affect, need for cognition, or personal need for structure. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the model of causal uncertainty and, more generally, in terms of the motivational processes underlying stereotype usage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trends in registered psychiatric morbidity and forecasting psychotropic drug needs in Bulgarian hospitals

Registered psychiatric morbidity in Bulgaria as a whole and particularly in Plovdiv, the second largest region of the country, was assessed. Three aspects of psychotropic drug usage were analysed, namely, changes in registered psychotropic drugs, the prescribed daily dose (PDD) values for 2 years, and the preferred therapeutic schemes, and drug usage and needs in a psychiatric hospital with 365 beds. This was done by time series analysis for evaluation of psychiatric morbidity and drug consumption data, calculation of PDD for psychotropic medicines, and, based on a modification of the World Health Organization's morbidity method, assessment and prediction of drug use and needs in Plovdiv hospital. The results indicated that the registered morbidity had increased by 4% over the period 1989-93 to 2,427 psychiatric patients per 100,000 people. The increased consumption of especially benzodiazepines and sedative medicines was analyzed. Diazepam was prescribed the most often (91.1%), followed by levomepromazine (86.4%), haloperidol (82.7%), etc. Future drug consumption in Plovdiv hospital is expected to decrease because therapeutic practice in hospitals has been revised and improved on the basis of the World Health Organization's recommendations.     

热轧过程中加热炉炉温优化控制方法

为了有效地解决当前加热炉能源消耗高、控制精度差、控制滞后等问题,针对步进式加热炉的工艺特点,提出了加热炉燃烧过程的智能控制策略,即模糊RBF网络自学习和自寻优功能,并结合动态PID反馈补偿策略。经试验表明,该系统不仅保证了在工况波动下的炉温控制精度,提高升降温速度,减少吨钢燃耗、电耗和钢坯烧损,而且提高了加热炉的生产能力。