Analytic methods for modeling longitudinal data from rolling therapy groups with membership turnover.

Interventions for a variety of emotional and behavioral problems are commonly delivered in the context of treatment groups, with many using rolling admission to sustain membership (i.e., admission, dropout, and discharge from group are perpetual and ongoing). The authors present an overview of the analytic challenges inherent in rolling group data and outline commonly used (but flawed) analytic and design approaches to addressing (or sidestepping) these issues. Moreover, the authors propose use of latent class pattern mixture models (LCPMMs) as a statistically and conceptually defensible approach for modeling treatment data from rolling groups. The LCPMM approach is illustrated with rolling group data from a group-based alcoholism pilot treatment trial (N = 128). Different inferences were made with regard to treatment efficacy under LCPMM vs. the commonly used standard group-clustered latent growth model (LGM); coupled with other preliminary findings in this area, inferences from LGMs may be overly liberal when applied to data from rolling groups. Continued work on data analytic difficulties in groups with membership turnover is critical for furthering the ecological validity of research on behavioral treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neural components of social evaluation.

Evaluative responses appear to involve 2 seemingly distinct sets of processes: those that are automatically activated and others that are more consciously controlled. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the authors investigated the brain systems associated with automatic and controlled evaluative processing. Participants made either evaluative (good-bad) or nonevaluative (past-present) judgments about famous names. Greater amygdala activity was observed for names rated as "bad" relative to those rated as "good," regardless of whether the task directly involved an evaluative judgment (good-bad) or not (past-present). Good-bad judgments resulted in greater medial and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity than past-present judgments. Furthermore, there was greater ventrolateral PFC activity in good-bad judgments marked by greater ambivalence. Together, these findings indicate a neural distinction between processes engaged for automatic and controlled evaluation. Whereas automatic processes are sensitive to simple valence, controlled processes are sensitive to attitudinal complexity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of Highway Bridge Upgrading by Dynamic Testing and Finite-Element Model Updating

The Land Transport Authority of Singapore has a continuing program of highway bridge upgrading for refurbishing and strengthening bridges to allow for increasing vehicle traffic and increasing axle loads. One subject of this program has been a short-span bridge taking a busy main road across a coastal inlet near a major port facility. Experiment-based structural assessments of the bridge were conducted before and after upgrading works including strengthening. Each assessment exercise comprised three separate components: (1) a strain and acceleration monitoring exercise lasting approximately one month; (2) a full-scale dynamic test carried out in a single day without closing the bridge; and (3) a finite-element model updating exercise to identify structural parameters and mechanisms. This paper presents the dynamic testing and the modal analysis used to identify the vibration properties and the quantification of the effectiveness of the upgrading through the subsequent model updating. Before and after upgrade, similar sets of vibration modes were identified, resembling those of an orthotropic plate with relatively weak transverse bending stiffness. Conversion of bearings from nominal simple supports to nominal full fixity was shown via model updating to be the principal cause of natural frequency increases of up to 50%. The utility of the combined experimental and analytical process in direct identification of structural properties has been proven, and the procedure can be applied to other structures and their capacity assessments.     

Interstate forensic psychology consultations: A call for reform and proposal of a model rule.

Forensic psychology has made important gains in professional recognition and stature in the courts, resulting in increasing demands for mobility of expertise. Current regulations regarding the interjurisdictional temporary forensic practice of psychology, however, are characterized by variability of regulations, ambiguity and inaccessibility, and continuing total barriers. A uniform, well-reasoned policy is needed. A conceptual basis for such a policy is provided by a discussion of licensing rationales and the application of these to forensic practice. Uniformity, public and professional protection, and practicability are identified as fundamental regulatory criteria. A Model Rule Regarding the Temporary Forensic Practice of Psychology is proposed for adoption by state licensing boards on a nationwide basis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partner violence before and after individually based alcoholism treatment for male alcoholic patients.

This study examined partner violence in the year before and the year after individually based, outpatient alcoholism treatment for 301 married or cohabiting male alcoholic patients and used a demographically matched nonalcoholic comparison sample. In the year before treatment, 56% of the alcoholic patients had been violent toward their female partner, 4 times the rate of 14% in the comparison sample. In the year after treatment, violence decreased significantly to 25% of the alcoholic sample but remained higher than in the comparison group. Among remitted alcoholics after treatment, violence prevalence of 15% was nearly identical to the comparison sample and half the rate among relapsed patients (32%). Thus, partner violence decreased after alcoholism treatment, and clinically significant violence reductions occurred for patients whose alcoholism was remitted after treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles for Psychologists in End-of-Life Care: Emerging Models of Practice.

Professional psychologists are increasingly likely to encounter opportunities to work with patients and families facing end-of-life issues. Psychologists can provide psychological assessment, intervention for patients and families, consultation with and support of health care team members, grief therapy, and program development and evaluation. Psychological services are useful for healthy individuals who wish to make thoughtful plans about their own future care, patients with life-limiting illnesses, families stressed by providing end-of-life care, bereaved individuals, and health care providers who face issues of burnout and strain. Several challenges for psychologists working in end-of-life care are noted, including training, development of clear roles, and reimbursement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Absence makes the adaptations grow fonder: Proportion of time apart from partner, male sexual psychology, and sperm competition in humans (Homo sapiens).

Sperm competition occurs when the sperm of multiple males concurrently occupy the reproductive tract of a female and compete to fertilize an egg. We used a questionnaire to investigate psychological responses to the risk of sperm competition for 237 men in committed, sexual relationships. As predicted, a man who spends a greater (relative to a man who spends a lesser) proportion of time apart from his partner since the couple's last copulation reported (a) greater sexual interest in his partner, (b) greater distress in response to his partner's sexual rejection, and (c) greater sexual persistence in response to his partner's sexual rejection. All effects were independent of total time since the couple's last copulation and the man's relationship satisfaction. Discussion addresses limitations of the current research and situates the current results within the broader comparative literature on adaptation to sperm competition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An efficient implementation of SELF, a dynamically-typed object-oriented language based on prototypes

We have developed and implemented techniques that double the performance of dynamically-typed object-oriented languages. Our SELF implementation runs twice as fast as the fastest Smalltalk implementation, despite SELF's lack of classes and explicit variables.To compensate for the absence of classes, our system uses implementation-levelmaps to transparently group objects cloned from the same prototype, providing data type information and eliminating the apparent space overhead for prototype-based systems. To compensate for dynamic typing, user-defined control structures, and the lack of explicit variables, our system dynamically compilesmultiple versions of a source method, eachcustomized according to its receiver's map. Within each version the type of the receiver is fixed, and thus the compiler can statically bind andinline all messages sent toself.Message splitting andtype prediction extract and preserve even more static type information, allowing the compiler to inline many other messages. Inlining dramatically improves performance and eliminates the need to hard-wire low-level methods such as+, ==, andifTrue:.Despite inlining and other optimizations, our system still supports interactive programming environments. The system traverses internal dependency lists to invalidate all compiled methods affected by a programming change. The debugger reconstructs inlined stack frames from compiler-generated debugging information, making inlining invisible to the SELF programmer.This work has been generously supported by National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Grant #CCR-8657631, and by IBM, Texas Instruments, NCR, Tandem Computers, Apple Computer, and Sun Microsystems.This paper was originally published inOOPSLA '89 Conference Proceedings (SIGPLAN Notices, 25, 10 (1989) 49–70).