Resource use by the petrochemical industry

A systems analysis of the petrochemical industry as it has developed since 1940 indicates that efficient use of natural resources has been good business practice in the manufacture of synthetics. Thus, efficient resource use in a plausible development criterion for projecting the industry's response to various economic and technological scenarios.     

Some sources of variance in "accurate empathy" ratings.

Recorded the initial therapy interviews of 8 psychotherapists with 54 inpatients. Interviews were rated on the accurate empathy scale by 2 raters. Estimates of the consistency of therapists from 1 segment to another within the same session and from one patient to the next suggest that accurate empathy may not be a stable quality of the therapist, as is usually assumed, but instead may reflect a dyadic or relationship variable. Thus, the usual method of assessing the interrater reliability of the scale using the number of patient-therapist combinations rather than the number of therapists alone may be defensible in spite of recent criticisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emetic and electric shock alcohol aversion therapy: Assessment of conditioning.

20 male alcoholic volunteers (mean age 42 yrs) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: emetic aversion conditioning, shock aversion conditioning, or a no-treatment control group. All Ss participated in psychophysiological assessment sessions and taste-test sessions before and after conditioning. Dependent measures all indicated that only emetic Ss acquired aversions to alcohol. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential effects of higher and lower order questions: Attention hypotheses.

Five experiments were performed with 166 undergraduate students to determine whether (a) different amounts of attention are demanded of readers during the reading of relevant segments of text prefaced by higher and lower order questions; (b) different amounts of attention are demanded of readers by higher and lower order questions following relevant segments of text, and if so, if inattention varies during the reading of text, during the reading and answering of the postquestions, or at both times; and (c) different amounts of attention are required of readers during the reading of prefatory higher and lower order questions. Findings indicate that the reaction times (RTs) of Ss to auditory probes were significantly longer during the reading of paragraphs following higher order questions than they were during the reading of paragraphs following lower order questions. When auditory probes were presented during the reading of prequestions themselves, no significant difference in RTs was observed between higher and lower order questions. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Slow reacquisition following extinction: Context, encoding, and retrieval mechanisms.

Investigated the slow reacquisition (RAQ) of responding in rats that occurs when the conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS) and unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) are paired again after prolonged extinction training. In Exp 1, an extinguished CS acquired less suppression than a novel CS during a final conditioning phase, but more suppression than CSs that had received comparable nonreinforcement without initial conditioning. In Exp 2, CS–UCS pairings resumed in the context of extinction caused the least RAQ of suppression: Pairings in a neutral context produced better RAQ, while return of the CS to the conditioning context caused an immediate renewal of responding to the CS. In Exp 3, a return of the CS to the extinction context after RAQ training caused renewed extinction performance and interfered with performance appropriate to RAQ. This effect was not due to demonstrable inhibitory conditioning of the extinction context. Results suggest that representations of conditioning and extinction (or CS–UCS and CS–no UCS relations) are both retained through extinction and that performance appropriate to either phase can be cued by the corresponding context. RAQ may thus be slow when the context retrieves an extinction memory. Similar mechanisms may also play a role in other Pavlovian interference paradigms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead.

The just world hypothesis states that people have a need to believe that their environment is a just and orderly place where people usually get what they deserve. The present article reviews the experimental research that has been generated by the just world hypothesis. Considerable attention is devoted to an experiment by M. J. Lerner and C. H. Simmons (see record 1966-11086-001). In light of the existing empirical findings, an elaboration of the initial hypothesis is offered, and it is suggested that people's need to believe in a just world affects their reaction to the innocent suffering of others. Finally, recurrent conceptual misinterpretations and methodological errors found in the literature are identified. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separation of underivatized gangliosides by ion exchange high performance liquid chromatography

A procedure is described which separates neutral glycolipids from gangliosides, and which separates the gangliosides into classes, based on their number of sialic acid residues. In addition to separation into mono-, di- and trisialoganglioside classes, there is purification of individual disialoganglioside species. The procedure uses a commercially available—NH₂ high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column, which normally is used as an adsorption column. In this method the column is modified by protonation, to pH 5.4, so that it exhibits ion exchange as well as adsorption properties. Sensitive, nondestructive detection of eluent peaks is accomplished by monitoring continuously at 210 nm, a wavelength near which underivatized glycosphingolipids have absorbance maxima and which also will clearly detect most possible contaminants. An entire run, including re-equilibration of the column, takes two hours.     

A portable stereometric camera for clinical measurement

A further case of traumatic avulsion of the upper ureter is described; it was complicated by hypertension and treated by removal of the pseudocyst. Delay in diagnosis should not be a contraindication to reconstructive surgery which should always be attempted if the kidney is functioning. The possibility of renal artery ischaemia should be considered when hypertension develops in the presence of a pseduocyst.     

Effect of training in rational decision making on the quality of simulated career decisions.

Investigated whether training in rational decision making improves the quality of simulated career decisions. 147 community college students aged 16–50 yrs were randomly assigned to either a 90-min training program in rational decision making or a placebo control. Assessment instruments were the College Board's Career Decision-Making Skills Assessment Exercise and the Career Decision Simulation. ANOVA results showed that training in rational decision making resulted in superior performance for females on one subscore of the knowledge measure (establishing an action plan). It also resulted in superior simulated career choices by females and younger males. The older males generally made poorer decisions after receiving training in rational decision making. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)