Victims into perpetrators.

Many psychotherapy clients hold "victim formulations" of their problems. They conceive their problems in such a way that their source, and thus their resolution, lies outside the clients' personal control. This article details a therapeutic strategy for aiding clients with such problem formulations. This strategy includes (1) reformulating these problems into "perpetrator formulations" (i.e., reconstructions wherein the problem is portrayed as being created by actions that clients are actively perpetrating) and thus are in good positions to alter; (2) getting these reformulations accepted by clients; and (3) encouraging clients to continue to enact their problem behaviors in certain carefully prescribed ways, and thereby to gain control over them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information frameworks for conceptual engineering design

An information modeling approach is used to gain an understanding of the information and decision content of conceptual engineering design. Information frameworks are presented that attempt to represent the key decisions made during conceptual design. Elements of the frameworks are derived from results from design theory and methodology and decision theory. Using a number of products, the frameworks are demonstrated in simulated design situations. The models provide an explicit, generic and consistent perspective for identifying the information content of conceptual designs.     

Twenty-five years of Engineering Mathematics

Twenty-five years of Engineering Mathematics     

Defining Entrepreneurship: Past,Present and?

A definition of entrepreneurship is proposed as follows: Entrepreneurship is the process of doing something new and something different for the purpose of creating wealth for the individual and adding value to society.     

Differentiating between natural progesterone and synthetic progestins: clinical implications for premenstrual syndrome and perimenopause management

Critical differences between natural progesterone and synthetic progestins are often misunderstood. Synthetic progestins should not be used interchangeably with natural progesterone. This article describes their differences and the clinical implications for their use in managing premenstrual syndrome and perimenopause.     

Characterization of compartmented reservoirs deposited in a fluvial environment

We conducted a study at Stratton Field, a large gas-producing property in Kleberg and Nueces Counties in south Texas, to determine how to best integrate geophysics, geology, and reservoir engineering technologies to detect thin-bed compartmented reservoirs in a fluvially deposited reservoir system. This study documents that narrow, meandering, channel-fill reservoirs less than 20 ft (6 m) thick and as narrow as 200 ft (61 m) can be detected with 3-D seismic imaging at depths exceeding 6000 ft (1800 m) if the 3-D seismic data are carefully calibrated to subsurface stratigraphy using vertical seismic profile (VSP) control. Even though the 3-D seismic images show considerable stratigraphic detail in the interwell spaces and indicate where numerous thin-bed compartment boundaries could exist, the seismic images cannot by themselves specify which stratigraphic features are the flow barriers that create the reservoir compartmentalization. However, when well production histories, reservoir pressure histories, and pressure interference tests are incorporated into the 3-D seismic interpretation, a compartmentalized model of the reservoir system can be constructed that allows improved development drilling and reservoir management to be implemented. This study illustrates how realistic, thin-bed, compartmented reservoir models result when geologists, engineers, and geophysicists work together to develop a unified model of a stratigraphically complex reservoir system.     

Synthesis and characterization of ethoxyethyl α‐cyanoacrylate and reaction intermediates

Ethoxyethyl α‐cyanoacrylate was synthesized by first making oligo(ethoxyethyl α‐cyanoacrylate) through a condensation reaction of ethoxyethyl cyanoacetate with paraformaldehyde, followed by a depolymerization of the oligomer at an elevated temperature in an acidic atmosphere with a high vacuum. The ethoxyethyl cyanoacetate was in turn synthesized from an esterification of ethoxyethanol and cyanoacetic acid. The molecular structure of the target monomer and the corresponding intermediates were corroborated by IR and ¹H‐NMR. Solvents having a lower polarity led to the formation of oligomers having higher molecular weights. The molecular weight distribution of the oligomer revealed that the reaction of ethoxyethyl cyanoacetate with formaldehyde followed a mechanism comprising monomer activations, anionic reactions, and chain scissions. DSC thermograms demonstrated the cured ethoxyethyl α‐cyanoacrylate was nearly amorphous, containing little or low crystallinity. Mechanical testing data indicated that the cured ethoxyethyl α‐cyanoacrylate was a hard adhesive with higher toughness than the conventional ethyl α‐cyanoacrylate. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 1758–1773, 2003     

Psychologists as Leaders of Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Management Teams: A Model for Health Care Delivery.

Psychologists have the potential to improve the quality of life of chronic pain patients by intervening not only through direct services but also by using their training for promoting proactive leadership in multidisciplinary teams and in the larger health care environment. To significantly impact pain management, psychologists must not only deliver state-of-the-art care but also take an active role in directing the design, implementation, and evaluation of these programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual knowledge in the interpretation of idioms.

The authors examined how people determine the contextual appropriateness of idioms. In Experiment 1, idioms referring to the same temporal stage of a conceptual prototype were judged to be more similar in meaning than idioms referring to different temporal stages. In Experiment 2, idioms in a prototypical temporal sequence were more meaningful than idioms in sentences that violated the temporal sequence. In Experiment 3, idioms referring to the same stage of a conceptual prototype were differentiable on the basis of conceptual information. The conceptual coherence between idioms and contexts facilitated the processing speed of idioms in Experiment 4. Experiment 5 showed that speakers can recover the underlying conceptual metaphors that link an idiom to its figurative meaning. Experiment 6 showed that the metaphoric information reflected in the lexical makeup of idioms also determined the metaphoric appropriateness of idioms in certain contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Solvation Structure of Ions in Water

Molecular dynamics simulations of ions in water are reported for solutions of varying solute concentration at ambient conditions for six cations and four anions in 10 solutes. The solutes were selected to show trends in properties as the size and charge density of the ions change. The emphasis is on how the structure of water is modified by the presence of the ions and how many water molecules are present in the first solvation shell of the ions.