The Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal, Self-Concept Consistency, and Well-Being.

Examination of the assumptions underlying consistency perspectives in social and personality psychology reveals that they are based on an independent, individualistic view of the self. If the self is constructed as relational or interdependent with others, consistency may be less important in social behavior and well-being. Using a variety of measures of well-being, the studies showed that there is a weaker relation between consistency and well-being for individuals with a highly relational self-construal than for those with a low relational self-construal. Study 3 examined the association between the self-construal, consistency, authenticity, and well-being. These findings reveal the importance of a cultural analysis of theories of the self, personality, and well-being for further theory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In-kind and out-of-kind penalties: Preference and valuation.

Utilitarian and economic theories of deterrence hold that the relation of the penalty to the misdeed should be irrelevant. In 5 experiments using hypothetical cases, judgments of penalties depended on whether this relation was in kind (IK) or out of kind (OK). When victims were identifiable, IK penalties were higher than OK and preferred to OK. Subjects seemed to confuse penalties and compensation. When there were no identifiable victims (e.g., environmental damage), IK penalties were preferred, but OK penalties were higher. Here, OK judgments were more uncertain, and subjects preferred to err on the side of overpunishing. The results can be explained in terms of overgeneralization of usually useful heuristics. Alternative hypotheses concerning aggression and scale compatibility are rejected. The findings have implications for the setting of penalties in legal cases (e.g., the Exxon Valdez) and for lay theories of punishment in nonlegal settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling the thin-slab continuous-casting mold

A three-dimensional mathematical model has been developed to compute the thermomechanical state in the mold of thin-slab continuous casters. The thin-slab mold differs from those used in conventional slab casters in that the upper portion of the broad side walls defines a funnel-shaped chamber which allows the nozzle to be submerged into the liquid metal. The chamber converges with distance down the mold, reducing to the rectangular cross section of the finished casting near the mold exit. The new mold, along with casting speeds up to 6 m/min, allows slabs to be cast 50–60 mm thick, compared with 150 to 350 mm in conventional continuous slab casting. However, the mold shape and high casting speed lead to higher mold temperatures and shorter mold life than are found in conventional slab casters. In this article, we develop mathematical models of the process to determine the role of various process parameters in determining the mold life. Finite-element analysis is used to determine the temperatures in the mold and cast slab, and these data are then used in an elastic-viscoplastic analysis to investigate the deformation of the mold wall in service. Cyclic inelastic strains up to 1.75 Pct are found in a region below the meniscus along the funnel edge. These large strains result from the combination of locally high temperatures coupled with geometric restraint of the mold. The deformation leads to short mold life because of thermal fatigue cracking of the mold. The computed locations and time to failure of the mold in fatigue agree very well with observations of the appearance of mold surface cracks in an operating caster. The models are also used to develop an improved mold design. Formerly Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL     

News Media Use and Adolescents' Attitudes about Nuclear Issues: An American-Soviet Comparison

Both Soviet and American youth show a great concern about the possible effects of nuclear war, with heavy media users in both countries more optimistic, but the relation was stronger among Soviet students.     

Partial oxidation of methane towards hydrogen production over a promising class of catalysts: Rh supported on Ti-modified MgO

The partial oxidation of methane over the supported Rh (0.8 wt.%) catalysts was investigated. Two kinds of supports were used, MgO and Ti-modified MgO (prepared by grafting technique). Among the Ti-modified MgO supports, two different compounds were used as source of Ti: inorganic (chloride) and organic (alkoxide). The catalytic performance of Rh-supported catalysts depends on the support and varies in the sequence: Ti-MgO/I > Ti-MgO/O > MgO. Ti-containing catalysts exhibited higher activity and selectivity compared to MgO, which is especially noticeable at low temperature. Possible explanations for the phenomena observed were proposed on the basis of characterization results.     

Effect of Lateral Cracks on Fracture Toughness Determined by the Surface-Crack-in-Flexure Method

The surface-crack-in-flexure (SCF) method uses a Knoop indenter to create small, semielliptical surface precracks in beam specimens. Lateral cracks may interfere with the primary median crack and cause errors of up to 10% in determination of fracture toughness, particularly for materials for which the fracture toughness is ∼3 MPa·m^1/2 or less. Although the residual-stress-damage zone is ground or polished away by hand by removing 4.5–5 times the indentation depth, this amount may not be sufficient to completely remove the lateral cracks in low-fracture-toughness materials. A series of tests were conducted on sintered alpha silicon carbide with different amounts of material removed after indentation. Once the lateral cracks were fully removed, the SCF results concurred with single-edged-precracked-beam and chevron-notched-beam data collected in accordance with ASTM Designation C1421. A simple remedy for the SCF method is to examine the outer ground surface for remnants of lateral cracks before fracture and to remove more material if necessary.     

Burned area forecasting using past burned area records and Southern Oscillation Index for tropical Africa (1981-1999)

An 18-year time series of monthly NOAA-AVHRR Pathfinder Land burned area was analyzed for the region of tropical Africa, from July 1981 to June 1999. The transition period between NOAA-11 and NOAA-14 platforms from July 1993 to June 1995 was not included due to missing and outlier data. Stability of the time series was addressed for the input variables in the burned area algorithm, reflectance and temperature channels.A Seasonal AutoRegressive Integrated Moving-Average (SARIMA) model was developed for forecasting potential burned area. The SARIMA model identified an autoregressive regular term with 1-month lag and an autoregressive 12-month seasonal term with one season (12 months) component. A cross-correlation between Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and burned area was statistically significant predictor variable in a time series with 20-month lag. Results show that the SARIMA model with this predictor improved both, fitting and forecasting, residual variance, by 4.1% and 5.6%, respectively, thereby, demonstrating potential relationship between SOI and burned area for the study region. Forecasting was estimated by considering only the first 16 years of the monthly burned area in the time series, from July 1981 to June 1997. The prediction for the following 24 months (from July 1997 to June 1999) was within the 95% confidence level indicating that the forecast was a valid characterization of the modeled process.     

Incremental wrapper-based gene selection from microarray data for cancer classification

Gene expression microarray is a rapidly maturing technology that provides the opportunity to assay the expression levels of thousands or tens of thousands of genes in a single experiment. We present a new heuristic to select relevant gene subsets in order to further use them for the classification task. Our method is based on the statistical significance of adding a gene from a ranked-list to the final subset. The efficiency and effectiveness of our technique is demonstrated through extensive comparisons with other representative heuristics. Our approach shows an excellent performance, not only at identifying relevant genes, but also with respect to the computational cost.     

The minimum dosage of praziquantel in the treatment of Taenia saginata, 1986-1993

Patients who have a unicornuate uterus with a noncommunicating rudimentary horn that contains an endometrial cavity are at risk for endometriosis and obstetric complications. As in this case, resection of the rudimentary horn can be performed laparoscopically without increased risk to the patient and with some potential benefit.