Extraction methods and some physical properties of mesquite (Prosopis chilensis (Mol) Stuntz) seed gum

To evaluate the potential use of mesquite (Prosopis chilensis (Mol) Stuntz) seed gum, the behaviour of the gum was studied using two extraction methods (alkaline and acid), different pH values, two concentrations (0.2 and 0.4% w/v) and different temperatures. The capacity of the gum to stabilise food foams was also evaluated. The alkaline extraction yield (24.9%) was higher than the acid extraction yield (17.7%). Owing molecular to hydrolysis caused by the acid, acid extraction resulted in a lower protein content. Gum from acid extraction had a higher viscosity than that from alkaline extraction at all temperatures investigated (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C). There were no significant differences between the viscosities of mucilage dispersions at the different values of pH studied (3.0, 4.0 and 5.0). The addition of extracted mesquite gum (obtained by either method and at either concentration studied) to egg white foam provided a higher stability and decreased the liquid drainage and collapse of the foam. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

The BSRI and gender schema theory: A reply to Spence and Helmreich.

In their comment on gender schema theory, J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich (see PA, Vol 66:00000) discuss neither gender schema theory itself nor the data that are presented as evidence for the theory. Contrary to their contention, (a) there is no logical contradiction in using the 2-dimensional Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) for research on the unidimensional concept of gender-schematic processing because the BSRI is only a tool for identifying sex-typed individuals; and (b) the evidence indicates that the BSRI taps different things for different people. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence-based parent and family interventions in school psychology: State of scientifically based practice.

The purpose of this special issue was to examine the scientific base that supports the use of parent and family interventions that are implemented in schools or coordinated with school settings, and to demonstrate a change in the school-related behaviors and learning problems of children and youth. Reviews have been conducted in the six sub-domains: parent education, parent involvement, parent consultation, family-school collaboration/partnership, family systems therapy and parent training, and early childhood family-focused interventions. To our knowledge this is the first time standard criteria have been applied across these subdomains to examine the empirical base for the broader family and parent intervention domain. From this review, it would be erroneous to conclude that there is no evidence for the use of parent and family interventions as methods for changing the school-related behavior and learning problems of children and youth. From this review, it is evident that parent and family interventions are multidimensional. In this review, we asked the question, "Do we find evidence that parent and family interventions change children's behavior and learning at school?" Our answer is "yes, but." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activity and Imagined Activity Can Enhance Young Children's Reading Comprehension.

The Indexical Hypothesis suggests a new method for enhancing children's reading comprehension. Young readers may not consistently "index," or map, words to the objects the words represent. Consequently, these readers fail to derive much meaning from the text. The instructional method involves manipulating toy objects referred to in the text (e.g., a barn, a tractor, a horse, in a text about a farm) to simulate the actions described in the text. Correctly manipulating the objects forces indexing and facilitates the derivation of meaning. Both actual manipulation and imagined manipulation resulted in markedly better (compared with rereading) memory for and comprehension of the text material, thereby lending strong support to the Indexical Hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wielding a Double‐Edged Sword: The Use of Inquiries at Times of Crisis

Inquiries are often seen as a useful tool to deal with a crisis. By installing an inquiry, crisis managers show that they are in control of the crisis response. Moreover, they can hope that by the time the inquiry publishes its report a new topic has caught the attention of media and Parliament and reform measures do not need to be taken to end the crisis ( McConnell, 2003 ). Following a series of riots in British prisons in 1990, the Home Secretary installed an inquiry. By the time the Woolf inquiry published its report, media and Parliamentary attention for the British Prison Service was indeed dwindling. Normally, this low level of attention would provide political actors room to end the crisis with mere small measures and no need for reform. Yet in this case, and contrary to the dominant view on how inquiries influence the crisis management process, the Woolf inquiry provided an unexpected impetus to the crisis managing process, resulting in institutional reform of the British Prison Service (or to be more accurate, the Prison Service of England and Wales). This article shows how an inquiry can have an unexpected effect for political actors managing the crisis by introducing a new way of defining the problem at hand.     

Outsourcing - A legal perspective on contract critical success factors

This article provides a checklist of the critical success factors in achieving a successful outsourcing contract.     

Recipient's mood, relationship type, and helping.

We conducted two studies to examine how a potential helper is affected by having a communal orientation toward a relationship with a potential recipient and by the potential recipient's sadness. We hypothesized that (a) having a communal orientation would increase helping and that (b) people high in communal orientation, but not others, would respond to a potential recipient's sadness by increasing helping. These hypotheses were tested in two studies. In Study 1, individual differences in communal orientation toward relationships were measured by using a new communal orientation scale reported for the first time in this article. In Study 2, manipulations were used to lead subjects to desire either a communal or an exchange relationship with another person. In both studies, subjects were exposed to a sad person or to a person in a neutral mood whom they were given a chance to help. As hypothesized, in both studies communally oriented subjects helped the other significantly more than did others. Also as hypothesized, in both studies communally oriented subjects but not others, increased helping in response to the other person's sadness although this effect reached statistical significance only in the second study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pragmatic modeling: toward a robust natural language interface

One of the most important ways in which an information-provider can assimilate an information-seeking dialogue is by inferring the underlying task-related plan motivating the information-seeker's queries. This paper presents a strategy for hypothesizing and tracking the changing task-level goals of an information-seeker and building a model of his task-related plan as the dialogue progresses.
Naturally occurring utterances are often imperfect. The information-provider often appears to use acquired knowledge about the information-seeker's underlying task-related plan to remedy many of the information-seeker's faulty utterances and enable the dialogue to continue without interruption. This paper presents a strategy for understanding one kind of defective utterance. Our approach relies on the information-seeker's inferred task-related plan as the primary mechanism for suggesting how an utterance should be understood, thereby considering only interpretations that are relevant to what the information-seeker is trying to accomplish. If multiple interpretations are suggested, relevance to the current focus of attention in the dialogue and similarity to the information-seeker's actual utterance are used to select the interpretation that is most likely to represent his intended meaning or satisfy his needs.     

Education and the "woman question."

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 39(1-2) of Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne (see record 2009-19704-001). The name of Kirstin Maxwell was inadvertently omitted from the list of students acknowledged at the end of die article. The corrected list is provided in the erratum.] Explores the "woman question," the 19th century debate about whether the rights and freedoms available to men should be extended to women, within the context of the post-secondary education system. Examples of the historical arguments in support of the exclusion of women are outlined followed by a more contemporary analysis of gender differences in graduate education with a particular focus on access, graduation rates and time to completion of graduate degrees. The "chilly climate" construct is presented as a possible explanation for the alleged gender differential on these latter 2 variables. According to this model, the structures and operation of academic institutions embody significant elements of systemic discrimination and micro-inequities which disadvantage women. A series of 6 studies are described by which various aspects of the chilly climate (i.e., mentoring and supervision, sexual harassment) are explored in terms of the effects on attrition and time to completion. Paradoxically, although the research reveals a failure of educational institutions to fully resolve the woman question, women continue to operate effectively under conditions of inequity. The paper concludes with speculations about the future constructions and deconstructions of this debate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fifteen-month follow-up of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder and psychological trauma.

The present study is a 15-month follow-up of the effects of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy on the functioning of 66 participants, 32 of whom were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prior to treatment. PTSD participants improved as much as those without the diagnosis, with both groups maintaining their gains at 15 months. At 15-month follow-up, the three 90-min sessions of EMDR previously administered (S. A. Wilson, L. A. Becker, & R. H. Tinker, 1995) produced an 84% reduction in PTSD diagnosis and a 68% reduction in PTSD symptoms. The average treatment effect size was 1.59; the average reliable change index was 3.37. Implications of the maintenance of EMDR treatment effects are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)