Normative data for normative comparisons.

Normative comparisons are a procedure for evaluating the clinical significance of therapeutic interventions. Although a step-by-step statistical methodology for conducting normative comparisons has been reported elsewhere (P. C. Kendall, A. Marrs-Garcia, S. R. Nath, & R. C. Sheldrick, 1999), questions regarding the collecting of normative data remain. For this study, all treatment outcome studies published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology from 1988 to 1997 were examined and reviewed, and the 5 most commonly used outcome measures were identified. For these outcome measures, multiple sources of normative data were located. Although we identified a dearth of normative data on measures used for treatment outcome, results discussed here nevertheless provide information that may be of use to therapy outcome evaluators when conducting normative comparisons. In addition, equations to determine the minimum sample size needed in a normative sample for a given treatment outcome study are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention and luminance detection: Effects of cues, masks, and pedestals.

Three experiments investigated the effects of attention on the detection of luminance targets in a spatial-cuing paradigm. Gabor patch stimuli of 30, 60, or 90 ms duration, equated for detectability, were presented (a) against a uniform field with a checkerboard backward mask, (b) atop a 15% luminance pedestal with a backward mask, or (c) atop a luminance pedestal with no backward mask. Signal detection analysis showed that detection sensitivity was significantly enhanced at attended locations for all observers when backward masks were used, both when targets were presented against a uniform field and when a pedestal was used. However, when no masks were used there was no cuing advantage of any kind. The results show that the cuing effect in simple detection depends on the use of backward masks, a finding that resolves the inconsistencies previously associated with studies of this type. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self‐sustained oscillations in opposed impinging jets in an enclosure

The flow of jets in confining enclosures has significant application in many engineering processes. In particular, the impingement of axisymmetric jets in a confined space has been examined using flow visualization, laser Doppler anemometry, and numerical simulations. Several flow regions were found; stable steady, regular oscillatory, and irregular oscillatory. Initially, a steady flow field existed for all arrangements for Re_d < ?90 (based on the nozzle diameter d, the fluid kinematic viscosity v and the volumetric flow rate Q through the nozzle (Q = πd²/4U_avg)) but subsequent increments in the fluid velocity caused a regularly oscillating flow field to emerge. The onset of the oscillations and the upper limit of finite oscillations were found to be a function of the Re_d, and the nozzle diameter to chamber dimension ratio. Steady numerical simulations predicted the steady flow field well and good agreement was obtained in unsteady simulations of the oscillating flow field. The oscillating flow field is considered to be a class of self‐sustaining oscillations where instabilities in the jet shear layer are amplified because of feed back from pressure disturbances in the impingement region.     

DDR DRAM削减膝上计算机功耗

看第一眼,你觉得PC100／133与DDRDRAM在省电方面似乎没有什么两样,但仔细分析以后,你会发现DDR是更好的选择。为了探索更高的性能和更低的功耗,膝上计算机的设计正开始从SDRAM（PC10O／133）转向双速率（Doub卜DataRate,DDR）的DDRDRAM。在采用新的DDR做设计时,有几个因素是系统工程师必须考虑的,其中主要的因素是功耗问题。影响设计和布局布线的新结构特点也必须加以考虑。同样重要的是对成本与性能特性的理解。DDR功率分析比较两种不同的存储器系统的功耗是很有意义的,其中一个采用PC133SDRAM,另～个采用266M…     

Optical characterization of a new donor–acceptor type conjugated polymer derived from 3,4-diphenylthiophene

A new donor–acceptor type poly{2-(3,4-didecyloxythiophen-2-yl)-5-[3,4-diphenyl-5-(1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)thiophen-2-yl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole} (P1) has been designed and synthesized starting from thiodiglycolic acid, 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-dione, and diethyl oxalate through multi-step reactions using precursor polyhydrazide route. The charge-transporting and linear optical property of the polymer has been investigated by cyclic voltammetric, UV–visible, and fluorescence emission spectroscopic studies. The UV–visible absorption spectrum of polymer in thin film form showed maxima at 420 nm. The polymer displayed bluish-green fluorescence both in solution and thin film form. The optical band gap is determined to be 2.27 eV. Third-order nonlinear optical property of the new polymer has been investigated at 532 nm using single beam Z-scan and degenerate four wave mixing (DFWM) techniques with nanosecond laser pulses. The absorptive nonlinearity observed for the polymer P1 is of optical limiting type, which arises due to an “effective” three-photon absorption (3PA) process. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) of the polymer is found to be 0.831 × 10^–12 esu. Both linear and nonlinear optical studies revealed that the new polymer (P1) is a promising material for applications in photonic devices.     

Langmuir-Blodgett films of C60 and C60O on Silicon: Islands, rings and grains

We show that monolayer-high islands of C₆₀ and C₆₀O can be transferred from Langmuir films on a water or phenol sub-phase to oxide-terminated Si(111) substrates. Faceted islands, in some cases incorporating a foam-like morphology reminscent of that previously observed for Langmuir films at the water-air interface using Brewster angle microscopy, are formed and transferred using small amounts (100-400 μl) of low concentration (of order 10^− 5M) solutions of C₆₀ (or C₆₀O) with low target pressures (~ 10 mN/m). However, worm-like monolayer domains are also observed under identical experimental conditions, indicating the key role that inhomogeneous solvent evaporation plays in the formation of two-dimensional fullerene aggregates on the subphase surface. While Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers of C₆₀ and C₆₀O are both granular, there are significant morphological differences observed between the molecular thin films. In particular, C₆₀O multilayers contain a relatively high density of ring (or “doughnut”) features with diameters in the 100-300 nm range which are not observed for C₆₀. We attribute the origin of these features to dipolar or hydrogen bonding-mediated interactions between the C₆₀O molecules at the water surface.     

A randomized controlled trial study of the ABRACADABRA reading intervention program in grade 1.

This study reports a randomized controlled trial evaluation of a computer-based balanced literacy intervention, ABRACADABRA (http://grover.concordia.ca/abra/version1/abracadabra.html). Children (N = 144) in Grade 1 were exposed either to computer activities for word analysis, text comprehension, and fluency, alongside shared stories (experimental groups), or to balanced literacy approaches delivered by their classroom teachers (control group). Two computer-based interventions—a phoneme-based synthetic phonics method and a rime-based analytic phonics method—were contrasted. Children were taught 4 times per week for 12 weeks in small groups. There were significant improvements in letter knowledge in the analytic phonics program and significant improvements in phonological awareness, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at immediate posttest and in phonological awareness and reading fluency at a delayed posttest in the synthetic phonics program. Effect size analyses confirmed that both interventions had a significant impact on literacy at both posttests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Florida Supreme Court: Mediating senior judges must be retrained

Russ Bleemer and Philip Sutter, of New York, analyze the effects of new mediation training and disclosure rules in Florida targeted at state judges on senior status. Also, the Federal Interagency ADR Working Group releases for comment three new practice guides, with implications for anyone doing business with the government, and a followup item discussing the latest on California's arbitrator ethics standards, which are about to be revised.     

Characterization of fine particle sources in the Great Smoky Mountains area

A source apportionment study to characterize sources of fine particles in the Great Smoky Mountains area was conducted analyzing ambient PM(2.5) (particulate matter< or =2.5 microm in aerodynamic diameter) speciation data collected at a Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) monitoring site. A total of 1442 samples collected between March 1988 and December 2003 analyzed for 30 elemental species were analyzed with the application of the positive matrix factorization (PMF). Eight major sources were extracted: summer-high secondary sulfate (55%), carbon-rich secondary sulfate (16%), summer-low secondary sulfate (2%), gasoline vehicle emissions (13%), diesel emissions (1%), airborne soil (6%), industry (5%), and secondary nitrate (2%). The contributions from the carbon-rich secondary sulfate particles are likely a combination of local and regional influences of the biogenic as well as anthropogenic secondary particles. The compositional profiles for gasoline vehicle and diesel emissions are similar to those identified in other US areas. Backward trajectories indicate that the high impacts of airborne soil were likely caused by Asian and Saharan dust storms. This study would assist in the implementation plan development for attaining the air quality standards for PM(2.5), regional haze rule planning, and source-specific community epidemiology.     

Physical,Thermal and Sorption Profile of Starch Obtained from Tacca leontopetaloides

The purpose of this study was to elucidate functional properties of starch granules obtained from tubers of Tacca leontopetaloides and compare them to a commercially available maize starch. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size analysis, X‐ray powder diffraction (XRPD), gravimetric moisture sorption, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize the samples. Tacca starch exhibited a monomodal distribution of irregularly shaped granules with a mean particle size of 2.64 µm. The spherulites of both samples indicated an A‐type pattern, with the degree of crystallinity estimated to be 35% for tacca starch and 38% for maize starch. The moisture sorption profile of both samples was analyzed according to the Guggenheim, Anderson and de Boer (GAB) equation. GAB analysis estimated the monolayer coverage for tacca and maize starch to be 0.0928 g/g and 0.0856 g/g, respectively. The gelatinization parameters of tacca starch were found to be 65.57 – 68.56 – 73.10°C while that of maize starch were 67.30 – 70.97 – 76.25°C. The results of DSC studies indicate that the associative forces that stabilize the granule structure in tacca starch are weaker than those in maize starch. The results obtained in this study establish the fundamental characteristics of tacca starch and suggest that further exploration of its potential for use in a variety of fields is warranted.