Supervision of psychological assessment: A developmental model.

The supervision of assessment has been greatly neglected in the literature. A model of supervisee development, from novice to master assessor, is presented. The model focuses on the development of the ability to integrate data into a coherent formulation of the person being tested. Appropriate supervision depends on a matching of the supervisor's behavior to the supervisee's needs, as specified by the supervisee's current level of development. This development is dramatized by improvements in interpreting specific data points and in the recognition of larger patterns in the data. This skill acquisition occurs within the affective context of the supervisor–supervisee relationship as the interaction elicits both inter- and intrapersonal issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of charged tail groups of self-assembled monolayers on electrodeposition of polyaniline

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of thiols with three different tail groups, −COOH, −SO₃Na, and −NH₂, were used to modify the Au substrates for electrodepositing polyaniline (PANI). Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) results indicated a slower rate of deposition of PANI on a SAM surface consisting of positively charged amine groups compared to polymerization on bare gold and on a SAM of carboxyl acid groups. The properties of the SAM layers are dependent on the pH value of the solutions, and are effective only at very low pH values (pH < 2). A layer of the positively charged amino groups in acidic solution acted as a barrier for electron transfer in electro-oxidation of aniline monomer. The positively charged SAM of amine groups also increased repulsion between the coupled aniline species and the electrode surface and in this way hindered electrodeposition. Modification of the surface with pre-patterned SAMs have been demonstrated to be a convenient and practical way to fabricate selectively deposited thin films of polyaniline.     

Fast,automatic character animation pipelines

Humanoid three‐dimensional (3D) models can be easily acquired through various sources, including through online marketplaces. The use of such models within a game or simulation environment requires human input and intervention in order to associate such a model with a relevant set of motions and control mechanisms. In this paper, we demonstrate a pipeline where humanoid 3D models can be incorporated within seconds into an animation system and infused with a wide range of capabilities, such as locomotion, object manipulation, gazing, speech synthesis and lip syncing. We offer a set of heuristics that can associate arbitrary joint names with canonical ones and describe a fast retargeting algorithm that enables us to instill a set of behaviors onto an arbitrary humanoid skeleton on‐the‐fly. We believe that such a system will vastly increase the use of 3D interactive characters due to the ease that new models can be animated.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal proportion of studded tyres in traffic flow to prevent polishing of an icy road

Studded tyres can significantly wear the road surface and increase particle emissions from the road surface, which has a negative impact on air quality in urban areas. However, road wear might have a positive aspect by roughening the road surface and thus preventing polishing. As a consequence, other vehicles than the ones using studded tyres might also benefit from the usage of studded tyres. The impact of the proportion of studded tyres in the traffic flow on the tyre–ice friction coefficient was studied with a fleet of real cars in a closed environment under strict procedural control. The results show that a proportion of 25–50% studded tyres in the traffic flow is enough to prevent ice from developing in a manner that is critically slippery for non-studded winter tyres. It was also observed that the visual appearance of the ice surface does not indicate if the ice has become more slippery or not.     

Prediction of Residual Stresses Using Partial Least Squares Regression on Barkhausen Noise Signals

Residual stresses are quantitatively predicted based on the Barkhausen noise measurement with a partial least squares regression model. The measurements are taken from two sets of case-hardened samples. The benefits of using certain feature elimination strategies prior model identification are also studied. The elimination methods applied are correlation-based elimination, uninformative variable elimination and successive projections algorithm. The results show that the best predictions are usually obtained when the successive projections algorithm is applied. The prediction accuracy of the best models found shows that partial least squares models can be successfully used for prediction of material properties based on the Barkhausen noise measurement.     

Epicardial fat thickness is associated with impaired coronary flow reserve in hemodialysis patients

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Epicardial fat tissue (EFT) is a new risk factor in CVD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between EFT and coronary artery flow reserve (CFR), which is an early indicator of endothelial dysfunction in coronary vessels of HD patients. We performed a cross‐sectional study including 71 chronic HD patients and 65 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls. Epicardial fat tissue was significantly higher in HD patients when compared to healthy controls (6.53 ± 1.01 mm vs. 5.79 ± 1.06 mm, respectively, P < 0.001). On transthoracic Doppler echocardiography, CFR values were significantly lower in HD patients when compared to healthy controls (1.73 ± 0.11 vs. 2.32 ± 0.28, P < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed CFR values to be inversely correlated with EFT (r = ?0.287, P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to define independent determinants of EFT in HD patients. Artery flow reserve, age, body mass index and total cholesterol levels were independently correlated with EFT thickness. This study demonstrated that EFT was significantly higher among HD patients compared to healthy controls. In addition, this study was the first to demonstrate an inverse correlation between EFT and CFR in this patient population.     

Potential contribution of the forest sector to carbon sequestration in Finland

Although Finland's forest resources have been utilized intensively, the size of the total volume of the growing stock has increased since the mid-1960s, and hence increasing amounts of carbon have been sequestered by forests. The net sequestration by forests has also been substantial when compared with the CO₂ emissions resulting from energy generation and consumption based on fossil fuels and peat. It is also important, from the point of view of mitigating the effects of climate change, to assess how the sequestration capacity of forests may change under changing climatic conditions. This paper presents the results of a study assessing the development of the forest and wood-product carbon budget for Finland, based on regionally measured data, detailed dynamic models, and recent predictions concerning the changing climate. At the starting point for the simulation (1990), nearly 90% of the forest sector's carbon storage was found in the forest. Regular management transferred carbon from forests to wood products. Under the current climatic conditions, the simulated forest carbon storage increased 45% by the year 2100, and the wood-product storage by 320%, as a consequence of continuous production. Under changing climate conditions, the forest carbon storage increased, but started to decline when the temperature increase exceeded 2.5°C within 40 years.     

Optical and thermal properties of compound parabolic concentrators

Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPC) are relevant for solar energy collection because they achieve the highest possible concentration for any acceptance angle (tracking requirement). The convective and radiative heat transfer through a CPC are calculated, and formulas for evaluating the performance of solar collectors based on the CPC principle are presented. A simple analytic technique for calculating the average number of reflections for radiation passing through a CPC is developed; this is useful for computing optical losses. In most practical applications, a CPC will be truncated because a large portion of the reflector area can be eliminated without seriously reducing the concentration. The effects of this truncation are described explicitly. The paper includes many numerical examples, displayed in tables and graphs, which should be helpful in designing CPC solar collectors.     

Synthesis of cobalt nanoparticles to enhance magnetic permeability of metal–polymer composites

Metallic cobalt nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrogen reduction method. Particles were coated in situ with carbon by adding ethene to reaction flow. Particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray emission, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and BET method. The observed cobalt particle size distributions in different cobalt batches produced with unvarying reaction parameters was reproducible: The mean diameter of primary cobalt particle varied only 5% from the mean value of 76 nm in different batches. Increased carbon precursor concentration decreased mean diameter of cobalt particles to 17 nm. The produced nanoparticles were used as filler material in 0–3 type metal–polymer composites. Composite samples with varying filler loading were fabricated with mixing extrusion and injection moulding techniques. The magnetic properties of the fabricated composites were measured up to 1 GHz. In order to analyse the particle distribution in composite matrix and its effect on magnetic properties the microstructure was studied.