Telling tales: Aging, working memory, and the narrative cohesion of story retellings.

This study investigated adult age differences in the cohesion of narrative retellings in both the reference and conjunction discourse systems and explored the role of information-processing factors in accounting for any such differences. Twenty Ss in each of the age groups 18–25, 26–55, and 60–87 either read a story or its parallel cartoon version, then retold it twice. Stories were coded for recall, clarity of referencing, and types of propositional connectives. We also obtained Daneman's (1980) measure of sentence memory span. The oldest group scored significantly lower on the memory span measure, recalled less story information, and made more referential errors in retellings. There were no age differences in complexity of conjunction usage. Working memory span scores partly accounted for the differences observed in referential quality both within and between age groups. Results are generally consistent with an information-processing account of story telling and aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interface reliability assessments for copper/low-k products

Multiple new materials are being adopted by the semiconductor industry at a rapid rate for both semiconductor devices and packages. These advances are driving significant investigation into the impact of these materials on device and package reliability. Active investigation is focused on the impact of back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing on Cu/low-k reliability. This paper discusses Cu/low-k BEOL interfacial reliability issues and relates key items from the assembly process and packaging viewpoint that should be managed in order to prevent adverse assembly impact on BEOL interfacial reliability. Reliability failure mechanisms discussed include interface diffusion-controlled events such as the well-known example of Cu electromigration (EM), as well as stress-migration voiding. Interface defectivity impact on dielectric breakdown and leakage is discussed. Lastly, assessments of assembly impact on these Cu/low-k interfacial concerns are highlighted.     

The benefits of legislation requiring parental involvement prior to adolescent abortion.

Summarizes evidence on adolescent pregnancy that supports the position that mandatory parental involvement legislation is beneficial for the adolescent, her family, and her family unity. D. B. Larson et al affirm an adolescent's decision about her pregnancy but also assume that other individuals, such as parents, have a responsibility and right to contribute to those decisions. The potential cost to the adolescent is not mentioned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narcissistic issues in therapists: Diagnostic and treatment considerations.

Examines narcissistic issues with which therapists are likely to struggle, including extreme audience sensitivity, pathological parentification, perfectionism, and impostor feelings. It is suggested that many therapists were, as children, raised by narcissistic parents, and these children learned to respond to parental needs at the expense of their own development. Unresolved narcissistic issues may contribute to therapist burnout as well as to a tendency to vicariously gratify needs through one's clients. An object relations approach to treatment emphasizes resolving dependency conflicts and developing more resilient self-esteem. Clients are provided insight through interpretations and a corrective interpersonal experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual units in the acquisition of visual categories.

A series of experiments provided evidence that the representational structure of categories comprising dot patterns is based on pattern parts and pattern configuration rather than on pattern elements. Similarity judgments and postacquisition classification data could not be explained in terms of element-level perceptual units, even for categories of dot patterns with 7 of their 8 dots in the exact same relative location. The importance of higher order perceptual units was indicated by evidence that long-term retention of information specific to previously learned category exemplars, which is typical of natural objects, can also be obtained for artificial dot patterns, providing their structure reflects perceptual characteristics identified in Tversky and Hemenway's (1984) study of natural objects: Members of the same category had to be perceptually distinctive at the pattern configuration level and perceptually similar at the level of pattern parts. The level of within-category similarity for a set of categories (relative to between-categories similarity) did not predict whether item-specific information would be retained; long-term retention appears to require both within-category similarity and dissimilarity, but at different levels of perceptual structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Acquisition of Automation Subject to Diminishing Returns

In this paper, it is assumed that the purchase of automation has the effect of reducing the per unit production and in-process inventory costs. The optimal dynamic mix of automation and manual output is derived to minimize the cost incurred over the planning horizon due to (1) deviating from the future goal levels of output, (2) production, (3) inventory, (4) changing the level of manual output, and (5) acquiring automation. The cost of purchasing automation and the effectiveness of automation on reducing the per unit. production and in-process inventory costs are expressed as functions of time to include the impact of learning or anticipated technological advancement. Furthermore, the effectiveness of automation on reducing the per unit production and in-process inventory costs is assumed to decrease as the level of automation held by the organization increases due to diminishing returns. We show that it is rarely optimal to increase automation without simultaneously modifying the level of manual output. In addition, a numerical solution algorithm is presented to compute the optimal times and levels of changes in automation and manual output.     

Susceptibility of meat lactic acid bacterla to antibiotics

In APT broth culture penicillin was more inhibitory to frozen-thawed meat lactic acid bacteria (MIC of 1·3 to 5·0 μg ml⁻¹) than, in decreasing order of inhibition, chlortetracycline, neomycin and streptomycin. Streptomycin, chlortetracycline and neomycin inhibited the fermentative activity of P. pentosaceus more than penicillin and neomycin was most inhibitory to L. plantarum. The fermentative activity of P. pentosaceus, in meat, was inhibited by antibiotics more than that of L. plantarum (90 vs 30%).     

Mental and physical health of spouse caregivers: The role of personality.

Although personal resources of caregivers, such as coping skills and social support, have been shown to be important in understanding caregiver stress and health outcomes, personality traits have not previously been considered. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the personality traits of neuroticism and dispositional optimism and mental and physical health outcomes. It was predicted that personality would have direct effects, and indirect effects through perceived stress, on health outcomes. Participants were spouse caregivers of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Results show that neuroticism and optimism were significantly related to mental and physical health. Furthermore, neuroticism had significant direct effects on all of the health outcomes, and substantial indirect effects, through perceived stress, on mental health outcomes. Optimism showed stronger indirect than direct effects on all health outcomes. These findings demonstrate the importance of including personality of the caregiver in theoretical and empirical models of the caregiving process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)