Relative abundance,age structure,and body size in mudpuppy populations in southwestern Ontario

Little is known of mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) population structure and ecology; some populations in the Great Lakes are thought to be in decline. Mudpuppies are the obligate hosts for the mudpuppy mussel (Simpsonaias ambigua), a species that is endangered in Canada and in many Great Lakes states. We surveyed mudpuppies from the Sydenham River, the only known Canadian locality of the mudpuppy mussel, in order to generate information on relative density, deformity rates and population age/size structure and used this information to compare them to known mudpuppy populations from Great Lakes sites in the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and Long Point in Lake Erie. Deformity rates were elevated at some sites in the Sydenham River. The relative density of mudpuppies in the Sydenham River was lower than that of other Great Lakes sites and their age was skewed towards younger individuals. Although at lower densities than at other Great Lakes sites, the mudpuppy population in the Sydenham River appears stable and is showing signs of recruitment which bodes well for the future of the mudpuppy mussel population of the river.     

Validation of scales measuring attitudes, self-efficacy, and intention related to smoking among middle school students.

Attitudes toward smoking, self-efficacy to avoid smoking, and smoking intention, widely cited correlates of youth smoking prevention, are often measured in large-scale youth tobacco surveys. The psychometric properties of these scales have not been well studied among middle school youth. We examined the factorial, discriminate, and convergent validity of these scales among sixth to eighth graders from a convenience sample of 22 Texas middle schools (51.2% female; 51.21% White, 32.1% Hispanic, 16.9% African American, and 8.8% Other; 67.8% nonsmokers, 21.9% experimental smokers; 3.3% former smokers; and 7.6% current smokers). Confirmatory factor analysis and invariance testing suggest that smoking attitudes, self-efficacy, and intention have evidence of construct validity in this multiethnic sample, and the scales are appropriate to assess these constructs among middle school adolescents. Additional studies are needed to establish additional evidence of validity of these constructs in other middle school samples and other subgroups (e.g. current, experimental, and former smokers). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multi-criteria location planning for public facilities in tsunami-prone coastal areas

We present a model for multi-objective decision analysis with respect to the location of public facilities as schools in areas near to coasts, taking risks of inundation by tsunamis into account. A mathematical programming formulation with three objective functions is given. The first objective function is a weighted mean of a minisum and a maximum coverage criterion. The second objective function expresses risk by possible tsunami events; for quantifying this risk, a statistical model for tsunami occurrences by Kaistrenko and Pinegina is applied. The third criterion represents costs. For the solution of the multi-objective optimization problem, we propose a heuristic approach based on the NSGA-II algorithm and compare it with a decomposition technique where the region under consideration is partitioned into smaller sub-regions, and the problem is solved for each separate subregion either exactly or heuristically. Both approaches are tested on two real-life instances from southern Sri Lanka.     

Shared book reading: When and how questions affect young children's word learning.

Shared book reading, and the conversation that accompanies it, can facilitate young children's vocabulary growth. To identify the features of extratextual questions that help 3-year-olds learn unfamiliar words during shared book reading, two experiments explored the impact of cognitive demand level, placement, and an approximation to scaffolding. Asking questions about target words improved children's comprehension and production of word–referent associations, and children with larger vocabularies learned more than children with smaller vocabularies. Neither the demand level nor placement of questions differentially affected word learning. However, an approximation to scaffolding, in which adults asked low demand questions when words first appeared and high demand questions later, did facilitate children's deeper understanding of word meanings as assessed with a definition task. These results are unique in experimentally demonstrating the value for word learning of shifting from less to more challenging input over time. Discussion focuses on why a scaffolding-like procedure improves children's acquisition of elaborated word meanings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating evidence-based practice, cognitive–behavior therapy, and multicultural therapy: Ten steps for culturally competent practice.

During the past decade, 3 major developments in psychotherapy have been converging: the establishment of evidence-based practices in psychology (EBPP); enormous growth in cognitive–behavior therapy and research (CBT); and increasing recognition of the impact of multicultural influences, as highlighted in the field of multicultural therapy (MCT). Cognitive–behavioral research has produced many empirically supported treatments used in the establishment of the scientific research base of EBPP, and MCT research has provided a wealth of qualitative information that balances this scientific emphasis with recognition of the importance of culturally competent clinical judgment, expertise, and experience. This article describes the advantages and potential limitations involved in the integration of CBT and multicultural considerations, with limitations reframed as opportunities to improve the relevance and effectiveness of psychotherapy. Ten suggestions are provided for integrating multicultural considerations into the clinical practice of cognitive–behavior therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior analysis in intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have deficits in adaptive behavior, slow rates of learning, and behavior disorders that interfere with learning or place them or others at risk. Since the 1960s, researchers and clinicians in the field of applied behavior analysis have used methods based on principles of learning to increase adaptive behavior and decrease the occurrence of behavior disorders of individuals with IDD. This article provides an overview of assessment and treatment strategies used in behavior analysis to effect positive changes in the quality of life for individuals with IDD and presents an illustrative case study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sandtray therapy with a 24-year-old woman in the residual phase of schizophrenia.

Sandtray therapy is a clinical tool for helping a client express and understand his or her unconscious dynamics. It utilizes a sandtray and anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand figurines in the room for the client to select from. These figurines cover a wide range of people, situations, and objects, from the most ordinary to the mythical. The client makes a story in the sand, which the client and therapist then discuss. It is standard therapeutic wisdom that one should not use techniques involving fantasy with psychotic clients since it is typically too hard for both them and the clinician to contain those fantasies in a healthy manner. Although this is very often true, the authors offer an example of how they were able to use sandtray to great therapeutic advantage with a schizophrenic client in the residual phase of schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)