Secondary organic aerosol formation by irradiation of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene-NOx-H2O in a new reaction chamber for atmospheric chemistry and physics

A new environmental reaction smog chamber was built to simulate particle formation and growth similar to that expected in the atmosphere. The organic material is formed from nucleation of photooxidized organic compounds. The chamber is a 27 m3 fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) bag suspended in a temperature-controlled enclosure. Four xenon arc lamps (16 kW total) are used to irradiate primary gas components for experiments lasting up to 24 h. Experiments using irradiations of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene-NOx-H2O at similar input concentrations without seed particles were used to determine particle number and volume concentration wall loss rates of 0.209+/-0.018 and 0.139+/-0.070 h(-1), respectively. The particle formation was compared with and without propene.     

Effect of counselor technique on Mexican-American and Anglo-American self-disclosure and counselor perception.

A counseling analog study examined the effects of 3 interviewing techniques on 124 Mexican-American and Anglo-American undergraduates' willingness to self-disclose and perception of the counselor. The interviewing techniques manipulated were probing, disclosing, and reflecting. No differences across intervention techniques were found on the total scores of the disclosure questionnaire. Females disclosed less than males on the Body subscale of the disclosure questionnaire, but no ethnic differences in willingness to disclose were found. There were no differences in scores on the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI). Significantly more Ss in the probing than the reflecting condition indicated they would return for a 2nd interview. A positive correlation between willingness to disclose and scores on the BLRI was found. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group psychotherapy with mastectomy patients.

Compared 20 women who participated in 10 weekly sessions of group psychotherapy with 20 women placed on a waiting list after they had mastectomies. Ss were matched on age (33–65 yrs old), marital status, time since surgery, prognosis, and SES. A structured, scaled interview was used to assess maladjustment, and 2 inventories were used to assess therapy outcome; all Ss were administered all measures before the treatment program began, when it finished 10 wks later, and 4 wks after the end of treatment. Results show that over the course of the therapy period, both groups showed changes in a positive direction; however, Ss in the treatment group showed significantly greater improvement. In the 4-wk follow-up period Ss in the treatment group continued to show significant positive change. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological correlates of blood pressure.

As a physiological measure of emotion, blood pressure has been relatively neglected in recent years. This review considers 3 questions: Do certain stimuli produce replicable changes in blood pressure? Do cognitive states influence blood pressure reactivity? Is there a causative relationship between personality and high blood pressure? Available research indicates that the 1st 2 questions can be answered affirmatively, though there are a number of methodological problems yet to be resolved. No direct evidence is available for the 3rd question and tangential studies offer conflicting results. (78 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of therapists' training on group therapeutic outcome.

The outcome of group therapy for psychotic patients was used as the dependent variable in assessing the comparative efficacy of trained and untrained therapists. The latter were undergraduate students with no training or experience in psychotherapy. For this reason, their role in psychotherapy was viewed as analogous to that of a placebo in studies assessing drug effects. Changes in psychological test performance of 295 patients before and after 5 mo. of group therapy served as the criterion of therapeutic behavior change. By comparison to an untreated control group the lay therapists achieved slightly better results than psychiatrists and psychiatric social workers doing group therapy with similar patients. Caution is urged in extending the implications of these results beyond group therapy with schizophrenic patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heat storage in eutectic alloys

Classical thermodynamic equations based on the regular solution approximation yield enthalpic changes for eutectic transformation that agree roughly with values measured for several binary and ternary alloy systems by differential scanning calorimetry or differential thermal analysis. Restricting measurements to binary and ternary alloys of the relatively plentiful elements Al, Cu, Mg, Si and Zn, it has been verified that the best heat storage densities on a mass or volume basis are obtained with alloys rich in Si or Al, elements that have large heats of fusion. Several of these alloys have the highest heat-storage density reported for phase change materials that transform between 780 and 850 K. The Mg₂Si-Si eutectic, which has outstanding storage density at 1219 K, illustrates the utility of ordered intermetallic phases with large heat of formation that dissolve in the eutectic liquid to contribute to the entropy change.     

Issues bearing on recommendations from the Behavioral and Social Sciences Survey Committee.

Describes a survey by the Behavioral and Social Sciences Survey Committee, appointed jointly by the National Academy of Sciences and the Social Science Research Council, of departments in American universities granting the PhD degree. Research being done in professional schools is described as well as the behavioral and social science research in government and industry. Recommendations are made for increasing the scope of the social sciences to enhance their pertinence to social problems. Suggestions include the development of social indicators, a privately developed annual report, and an eventual Council of Social Advisers. Universities may have to develop new forms of organization to train professional research workers required to meet the new opportunities possibly graduate schools of applied behavioral science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The kinetics of the gaseous extraction of gallium from mica

The gaseous reduction of gallium in white mica has been studied using natural gas as the reducing gas. From a study at three temperatures, the initial extraction was observed to be linear with time and independent of particle size. The results suggest that delamination of the mica lattice is important. The measured activation energy for the loss of gallium from the white mica is 184 × 21 kJ mol^?1.