Expressed emotion, social skill, and response to negative affect in schizophrenia.

Examined social skills and social perception of 48 schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder patients (aged 18–55 yrs) in response to negative affect as a function of family expressed emotion (EE). Ss participated in a role-play test, a social perception test, and a problem-solving discussion with a family member and were assessed on several measures of symptomatology. EE of family members was evaluated with the Camberwell Family Interview. On the role-play test, Ss with less critical relatives became more assertive in response to increased negative affect from a confederate portraying either a family member or friend, but Ss with highly critical relatives did not. Ss with highly critical relatives were also less assertive when confronted with negative affect from a confederate portraying a family member rather than a friend. The behaviors of both relatives and Ss during a family problem-solving interaction were related to the EE dimensions of criticism, emotional overinvolvement, and warmth. Patient gender was also related to family problem solving but was independent of EE. S's ratings of affect on a videotaped social perception task were not related to family EE, and there were few differences in psychopathology between Ss with high and low EE relatives.… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flow dynamics or ‘quaking’ in gravity discharge from silos

This paper reviews the characteristics of pulsating or cyclic flow of bulk solids during gravity discharge in bins and silos. The dynamic load phenomenon is often referred to as “silo quaking” and is influenced by various factors related to the type of flow pattern developed in the bin and the flow properties of the bulk material. Of particular relevance is the influence of ‘slip-stick’ during shear flow, and the velocity at critical sections in the silo during discharge. An overview of recent and current research on this subject is presented.     

National and regional corporate spatial structure

Much is known about the macro-impacts of business activities on national and regional economies; however, comparatively little is known at the micro level about the impact spatial agglomeration of corporate wealth and performance has on urban systems. This paper reports on a collaborative research project between the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and Dun and Bradstreet, an international financial credit agency, to analyse the spatial implications of corporate structure in metropolitan regions. This paper analyses spatial patterns of medium to large businesses in three Australian State capital cities at the postcode level in order to assess the agglomeration of corporate capital, sales, and performance. The research indicates that ratio analysis can provide a useful insight into the competitiveness of metropolitan regions and the control corporate headquarters have over decision making and investment processes. The findings of this research are of special interest to capital markets, business and urban researchers in the Asia Pacific Region. Received: September 1997/Accepted: September 2001     

Bestimmung von Haselnußprotein (Corylin) mit Hilfe der Elektroimmundiffusion nach Laurell

European Food Research and Technology - Bei Bestimmungen des Proteingehalts von Haselnüssen in verschiedenen Handelsprodukten wie Nuß-Nougatcremes and Nußmus mit der...     

Psychosocial characteristics of adolescents who refuse cancer treatment.

Examined psychosocial variables by comparing 10 13–17 yr old adolescents (and their mothers) who had refused cancer treatment with a group of 10 consenting adolescents who were matched on age and demographic and illness variables. Adolescents completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and measures of family characteristics, locus of control, religion, hopelessness, impact of event, and satisfaction with physician. Mothers completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and measures of coping and religion. Adolescent refusers scored lower on state anxiety and subjective distress but scored higher on trait anxiety, religiosity, and external locus of control. Their mothers also scored higher than did the consenting-group mothers on religiosity and trait anxiety. It is suggested that refusers are prone to anxiety and cope with their present distress by maintaining the belief that their lives are determined by fate or religious convictions. An intervention approach that fosters mastery over the cancer experience is advocated. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cost-effectiveness of self-help smokeless tobacco cessation programs.

This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of two low-intensity programs for quitting smokeless tobacco, based on results of a randomized trial with 1,069 volunteer participants. Cost data were collected for two levels of intervention: manual only (a self-help manual) and assisted self-help (the manual plus a videotape and two supportive phone calls from tobacco cessation counselors). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated for assisted self-help vs. quitting on one's own, using the manual-only quit rate and data from another study as alternative proxies for no intervention. A threshold analysis was conducted to determine the spontaneous quit rate at which the manual-only intervention becomes more cost-effective than assisted self-help. The cost to provide and receive the assisted self-help intervention averaged US $56 per participant vs. $20 for the manual-only intervention (societal perspective, Year 2000 dollars). Estimates for incremental cost per quit for the assisted self-help intervention ranged from $922 to $1,758, depending on the proxy used for no intervention. The manual-only intervention was more cost-effective than assisted self-help if quitting among motivated chewers who do not receive treatment does not exceed 3.4%. Support from a wife or partner added little cost to a quit attempt for male chewers ($3-$4). Providing a manual, video, and brief phone counseling to smokeless tobacco users who want to quit is a reasonable use of health care resources. The self-help quitting guide also may be a cost-effective treatment, but it remains to be demonstrated whether it is more effective than quitting on one's own.     

An LP-based heuristic procedure for the generalized assignment problem with special ordered sets

The generalized assignment problem with special ordered sets (GAPS2), is the problem of allocating n tasks to m time-periods, where each task must be assigned to a time-period, or shared between two consecutive time-periods. For reasonably large values of m and n the NP-hard combinatorial problem GAPS2 becomes intractable for standard mathematical programming software, hence there is a need for heuristic algorithms to solve such problems. It will be shown how an LP-based heuristic developed previously for the well-established generalized assignment problem can be modified and extended to solve GAPS2. Encouraging results, in terms of speed and accuracy, in particular when compared to an existing heuristic for GAPS2, are described.     

New HPLC Method to Determine Ethyl Carbamate in Alcoholic Beverages Using Fluorescence Detection

ABSTRACT: A new methodology to the quantification of ethyl carbamate (EC) has been developed. This method allows the analysis by HPLC of ethyl carbamate in samples of wine, fortified wine, and wine brandy, by a pre-column derivatization with 9-xanthydrol, and fluorescence detection. This does not require previous sample extraction or concentration. The method presents an average recovery of 96% among samples studied, a detection limit of 4.2μg/L, and an average intermediate precision of 6.3%. The comparison of the results obtained for EC analysis on the same wine brandy samples by GC/MS and HPLC are statistically indistinguishable with 97.5% probability. The results of the analysis of 42 samples are presented.     

Development and characterization of magnetorheological polymer gels

Magnetorheological materials have been used in many applications in recent years. To develop new materials, polyurethane and silicone polymer gels were investigated. Rheology is qualitatively controlled for each system by controlling the concentration of reactants and diluents. The resulting polymers have solid, gel, or liquid states, depending on the crosslinking and dilution. The gels were characterized through kinetic analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used with analysis methods to find the kinetic properties for diluted and undiluted polyurethane systems. Heat of reaction, order of reaction, preexponential constant, and activation energy were obtained from the experimental DSC data. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 84: 2733–2742, 2002