Congruence and vocational identity: Outcomes of career counseling with persuasive power.

A study with 84 female and 52 male community-college students with specific occupational choices tested whether congruence between occupational choice and inventoried interests and vocational identity are related to typical career counseling outcomes. Ss completed the Self-Directed Search congruence scale, a vocational identity scale, several scales from the Career Development Inventory, and the IPAT. Ss were categorized as congruent or not congruent and high or low in vocational identity. ANOVA tested whether the Ss differed on estimated career management skill, general and specific career information, decision making, and anxiety. Analyses were not significant for males but showed that females higher in identity estimated higher career maturity. Females high in congruence reported less anxiety, and females high in both congruence and identity had higher career decision-making skills and tended to have more general information. Findings suggest that congruence not accompanied by a sense of vocational identity is a transitional state, whereas high identity without congruence reflects an incomplete evaluation of self in relation to career. Implications for using congruence and vocational identity as outcome measures of counseling are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Follicle-stimulating hormone induces dose-dependant stimulation of immunoreactive inhibin secretion during the follicular phase of the human menstrual cycle

To determine whether FSH is a physiological regulator of the serum immunoreactive inhibin (INH) concentration during the follicular phase of the normal menstrual cycle, purified FSH (Metrodin) was administered in doses of 100 IU (n = 6), 150 IU (n = 5), and 200 IU (n = 5) to normal, regularly cycling volunteers between days 3-7 of the menstrual cycle. A control group (n = 5) received normal saline. There was a linear dose-related increase in serum INH (and in serum FSH) in response to the three doses of FSH, with 200 IU leading to a 107% increase in INH and a 68% increase in FSH. Serum estradiol rose in response to the two higher doses of FSH. There was a significant correlation between the actual increases in INH and estradiol (r = 0.53; P < 0.01). It was concluded that FSH stimulates INH in the follicular phase of the normal menstrual cycle, consistent with a physiological role for FSH in the regulation of granulosa cell production of inhibin.     

The effects of rounding on memory for numbers in addition problems.

Recall and recognition of the sums of addition problems were tested using rounded or exact numbers. In Exp 1, 53 Ss were instructed to remember five-digit sums. Recall and recognition were greater for rounded than for exact numbers. In Exp 2, 60 Ss were informed at test to recall only the first two digits. Again, rounded numbers were better remembered. In Exp 3, half of the 72 Ss were informed in advance that they would be tested on only the first two digits. The rounding effect persisted in recognition for these Ss. The advantage for rounded numbers is attributed to less difficult processing requirements which makes more time available for memory processes. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking individual development and social changes.

In this article we argue for the need to develop a more adequate understanding of the connections between psychological research subjects' experience of social history and their personality development. We present the outlines of a general model according to which individuals' relative receptivity to the impact of social events is mediated by their life stage. Secondary analyses based on several data sets illustrate how women's work and family lives may be understood in terms of the general model. These analyses include data collected over the past 40 years from women in birth cohorts ranging from World War I to the baby boom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intelligence and inspection time: Achievements, prospects, and problems.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the inspection-time measure to the wider psychological community. Inspection time is, to date, the only single information-processing index that accounts for approximately 20% of intelligence-test variance. We argue that inspection time, because of its much-replicated correlation with IQ and its potential for theoretical tractability, has more potential for our understanding of individual differences in cognitive ability than other indexes of human information processing. The nature of inspection time and its measurement are described, studies correlating inspection time and IQ-type scores are summarized, and the difficulties of explaining this correlation are highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A large strain plasticity model for implicit finite element analyses

The theoretical basis and numerical implementation of a plasticity model suitable for finite strains and rotations are described. The constitutive equations governing J ₂ flow theory are formulated using strains-stresses and their rates defined on the unrotated frame of reference. Unlike models based on the classical Jaumann (or corotational) stress rate, the present model predicts physically acceptable responses for homogeneous deformations of exceedingly large magnitude. The associated numerical algorithms accommodate the large strain increments that arise in finite-element formulations employing an implicit solution of the global equilibrium equations. The resulting computational framework divorces the finite rotation effects on strain-stress rates from integration of the rates to update the material response over a load (time) step. Consequently, all of the numerical refinements developed previously for small-strain plasticity (radial return with subincrementation, plane stress modifications, kinematic hardening, consistent tangent operators) are utilized without modification. Details of the numerical algorithms are provided including the necessary transformation matrices and additional techniques required for finite deformations in plane stress. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the realistic responses predicted by the model and the robustness of the numerical procedures.     

Preparation and characterization of MgO powders having Ca or Ba as surface dopants

The tendency of large dopant cations towards surface segregation has here been utilised to prepare high surface area MgO powders carrying Ca²⁺ or Ba²⁺ as surface impurities in amounts equivalent to 0.2 to 5 monolayers of CaO or BaO. Computational approaches had pointed to possibilities for reconstruction of such impurity monolayers into “rumpled” arrangements as a means of minimizing their energies: the rumpled arrangement favoured for Ca²⁺/MgO would have alternate oxygen anions displaced outward from the original (100) plane, whereas that favoured for Ba²⁺/MgO would involve large outward displacement of alternate Ba²⁺ ions. Ions displaced in that way would necessarily feature lower coordination to counter-ions than species on non-rumpled surfaces, and hence could be expected to exhibit higher surface reactivity and/or catalytic activity. This paper presents results of experiments aimed at: (i) preparation of powdered MgO materials having monolayer amounts of CaO or BaO segregated upon their surfaces; and (ii) testing whether such monolayer-doped Ca²⁺/MgO and Ba²⁺/MgO materials exhibit physical and/or chemical properties indicative of the “rumpling” favoured by computations. Chemical comparisons made between surface reactivities of Ca²⁺/MgO and Ba²⁺/MgO versus the pure MgO support include: lability of surface oxide ions, as manifested in ease of heterophase oxygen isotope exchange at 623–873 K, and relative activities for oxidative coupling of methane at 923–958 K. Physical comparisons include: extent and spectral distribution of surface-sensitive luminescence; BET surface areas; X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.