The scientific study of counseling and psychotherapy: A unificationist view.

Proposes 3 propositions that may underlie a unificationist view of research in counseling and clinical psychology and discusses contemporary questions concerning research in psychotherapy. The propositions are that (1) psychotherapy research is science, (2) psychotherapy research is part of a unified attempt to understand human behavior, and (3) all scientific tools are acceptable in the effort to understand the process of psychotherapy. These propositions advocate the integration of basic and applied research, theory, and practice and of laboratory-experimental and field-correlational methods. They offer potential answers to questions concerning the practical value of basic research, fact-finding research, laboratory studies, theory, and technological research. The unificationist view suggests that fuller development of the theoretical side of psychological science and the integration of theory with research and application are needed in the scientific study of counseling and psychotherapy. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of Advanced Cement-Based Building Products

In this study, short fiber-reinforced cement-based building products of sheets, pipes and honeycomb panels incorporating various mineral admixtures such as slag, silica fume, and metakaolin have been developed by the extrusion technique. The experimental works have shown that these products do have very good mechanical properties. Since the key point for a successful extrusion is the properly designed rheology which controls both internal and external flow properties of ext rudate, a nonlinear viscoelastic model was applied to investigate the rheology behavior of a movable fresh cementitious composite in a single screw extruder channel. The theoretical analysis is used to guide the practical manufacturing.     

Case Study: Modeling Tidal Transport of Urban Runoff in Channels Using the Finite-Volume Method

A coupled flow and pollutant transport model based on the finite-volume method is developed and applied to predict the tidal transport of urban runoff in a southern California network of flood control channels that drain to near-shore bathing waters. Urban runoff in southern California contains elevated levels of indicator bacteria that signal the presence of fecal pollution and pose a risk to human health, and model predictions are used to understand the transport of these pollutants toward the coastline. The model is based on 1D conservation equations for fluid mass, momentum, and pollutant mass that are solved in integral form along channel reaches. A 2D formulation is solved at channel junctions. The model incorporates the monotone upwind scheme for conservation laws approach to give a high-resolution, nonoscillatory prediction of water level, velocity, and pollutant concentration. Model predictions and field measurements of water level, velocity, and a conservative urban runoff tracer are presented and compare favorably. This case study demonstrates that this finite-volume method–based scheme results in an accurate, stable, nonoscillatory and computationally manageable model. The nonoscillatory behavior is particularly beneficial in this study, since runoff enters the channels in pulses that create large gradients in pollutant concentration.     

CLEAVAGE AUTOMATED: A new combinatorial chemistry tool

Liquid handling systems are in common use throughout the research chemistry industry, for a variety of fluid dispensing applications. However, few manual or automatic systems have been specifically designed for dosing highly corrosive acid/solvent mixes. Even fewer can withstand 60% Trifluoroacetic acid mixes - a standard mixture for cleavage of compound from polystyrene beads. A design is presented of such an automated dosing system. The requirements are to reduce human exposure to chemicals, remove potential for repetitive strain injury, and increase reaction plate throughput. Material choice, the use of process valves, equipment protection, and a novel plate detection system are discussed. Modifications resulting from the prototype test are discussed, along with additional improvements to the system and further research.     

Do California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) use ritualized syntactic cephalocaudal grooming as an agonistic signal?

Animal communication theory holds that many signals have evolved from nonsignal precursors. This field and laboratory study of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) provides evidence for the coexistence of such a precursor with its derived display. The precursor is an ancient, endogenously sequenced (syntactic) pattern of cephalocaudal grooming movements (CCGs) shared by all rodent suborders. The following evidence supports the hypothesis that a supernormal version of this pattern has been selected for signal function. Syntactic CCGs in the field (a) were more rigidly stereotyped than ordinary syntactic CCGs in the laboratory; (b) differed from laboratory syntactic CCGs in other ways that enhanced their conspicuousness, in part through exaggeration of the syntactic cephalocaudal pattern; (c) were associated with scent marking and social staring; and (d) were associated with intrasexual agonistic encounters that did not escalate to fighting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

低碳城市建设的社会成本研究

目前把社会成本（Social Cost）概念引入到低碳城市的碳排放控制指标与政策手段中的研究相对比较少低碳经济和低碳城市的概念也只是在过去10多年来,特别是在1997年〈京都议定书〉签订后才受到政府和社会的广泛、高度重视。政府在城市发展领域推动低碳城市的政策和行动都有其相对的社会成本和效益．因此这直接影响着社会整体的资源配置效率。社会成本分析就是要将客观而科学的工具引入到城市规划建设政策制定过程中．把有关的社会成本量化为经济价值．为决策者提供参考,以实现社会整体资源的最优化。     

Phenolic acids and related compounds as antioxidants for edible oils

A series of hydroxy aromatic acids, esters and lactones have been evaluated as antioxidants for lard at 120°C at 0·025%, 0·05% and 0·1% concentrations. Most of the compounds studied are direct biochemical precursors of chalcones and these, in turn, of various flavonoids commonly occurring in plant material.Antioxidant efficiency has been shown to be very dependent on the number of phenolic hydroxyl groups in the molecule and also to be promoted by steric hindrance. Cinnamic acids are more effective than corresponding benzoic acids, and phenylacetic and phenylpropionic acids are even more effective. 3,4-Dihydroxy chalcone is more effective than the analogous caffeic acid. In general, the presence of a carbonyl group in the molecule appears to be necessary in this series for a high level of antioxidant activity.     

Three-dimensional numerical modelling of a fast fluidized bed biomass gasifier to generate energy from wastes

The modelling of a biomass fluidized bed gasification system, one of the most effective ways to produce energy from biomass resources and wastes, has been performed in this study. The effect of the turbulence phenomena, including calculations relating to flow turbulence, chemical fuel reactions, and energy and momentum exchange between multiple solid and gas phases, has been taken into account in the current research as a novel approach. A computational fluid dynamics case study model that combines equations with comprehensive geometry has been considered. Results have been compared with published operational records of an existing power plant to validate the model. The solid particle distribution, the velocity of the mixture and gas phase, the turbulent flow viscosity ratio, and the temperature distribution in the model indicated the accuracy of the simulation performance compared with the experimental studies. The production of the molar fraction of the constituent elements of the synthesis gas has been evaluated in transient conditions. Additionally, 35 s after the process began, the system's performance was estimated, and the results indicated the average molecular weights of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane are 26%, 23%, 12.5%, and 3.3%, respectively, which presented high precision with the experimental results.     

The Effect of Nickel Electroplating on Corrosion Behavior of Metal Matrix Composites

Nickel electroplating was applied to A356.2 aluminum alloy and its composites for improving its corrosion resistance. The corrosion resistance of the A356.2 and composites reinforced with rice husk ash particulates was evaluated by potentio-dynamic polarization tests in aerated 3.5% NaCl solution. Composites were fabricated by using the liquid state processing technique. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, techniques were used for surface analysis of the coatings before the corrosion tests and optical microscope was used to study the surface morphology of the uncoated and coated specimens after polarization tests. Results demonstrated that the nickel coated specimens exhibited higher corrosion resistance than the uncoated specimens. However, it was noticed that there was no significant change in the corrosion resistance for the nickel plated composites.