Comparative psychology: The next 100 volumes.

Comparative psychologists study the "mind" of animals by studying what animals do and what animals are capable of doing. Different investigators address questions of proximal cause, motivation, physiological mechanism, evolutionary and ontogenetic considerations, as well as functional consequences. Some use animal subjects to explore universal theories of behavior; others focus on the diversity of behavior itself. A number of theoretical positions guide the different approaches. Some theories have been proven woefully inadequate, even fatally flawed, but no discipline thrives solely on the validity of a single theory. Let us preserve the data and discard discredited hypotheses, but let us continue to advance our discipline and refrain from wallowing in remorse over erroneous earlier ideas. Ideas are exciting but data endure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress processes and the misuse of drugs in older adults.

There is increasing concern about the misuse of drugs among the elderly. We assessed misuse, including drug usage, drug interactions across pharmacologic classes, and multiple drugs in the same pharmacologic class, in a community sample of sixty-five 74-year-olds, and evaluated its relation to stress and coping processes and psychological and somatic health. Assessments were made repeatedly over a 6-month period. Results indicated that misuse was multidimensional and widespread. Misusers did not differ from nonmisusers on antecedent psychosocial variables, nor did they report more hassles or cope differently than nonmisusers. However, misusers and nonmisusers differed on their subjective experience of stressful encounters; misusers experienced their hassles as more intense, and they experienced more threat emotions and more dissatisfaction with their coping than did nonmisusers. Misuse was also associated with long-term psychological satisfaction, psychological symptoms, and somatic health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of retained austenite in stress corrosion cracking of steels

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - The ability of retained austenite to affect stress corrosion cracking susceptibility has been examined in two steels, containing mechanically stable and...     

Field and laboratory aging of polymeric cable terminations. II.Laboratory aging

For pt.I see ibid., vol.13, no.2, p.316-22 (1998). This paper presents the results of laboratory aging tests on polymeric cable terminations. The goals of the laboratory aging were two-fold: (1) develop an accelerated aging test that can simulate the changes produced in the field, and (2) provide an assessment on the magnitude of aging induced changes on the electrical performance of terminations. Monitoring leakage current and material changes during laboratory tests were useful for assessing the variations possible in aging due to experimental parameters used. It has been shown that a laboratory aging test that is based on evaluating the termination's leakage current suppression capability and the ability to withstand a moderate level of discharge activity is suitable not only for assessing the long term performance, but also for ranking the electrical performance in accordance with field exposure     

Identification of the inertia matrix of a rotating body based on errors‐in‐variables models

This paper proposes a procedure for identifying the inertia matrix of a rotating body. The procedure based on Euler's equation governing rotational motion assumes errors‐in‐variables models in which all measurements, torque as well as angular velocities, are corrupted by noises. In order for consistent estimation, we introduce an extended linear regression model by augmenting the regressors with constants and the parameters with noise‐contributed terms. A transformation, based on low‐pass filtering, of the extended model cancels out angular acceleration terms in the regressors. Applying the method of least correlation to the model identifies the elements of the inertia matrix. Analysis shows that the estimates converge to the true parameters as the number of samples increases to infinity. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the performance of the algorithm and support the analytical consistency. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Detailed study and projection of hard breakdown evolution in ultra-thin gate oxides

The mechanism responsible for post-soft breakdown leakage current increase in ultra-thin oxides depends on the nature of the conducting filament formed at the instant of dielectric breakdown. The conductance of the filament formed during soft breakdown has been observed to be either stable until hard breakdown occurs or to increase continually with time. The acceleration factors for predicting hard breakdown are different in each case. Recent experimental results suggest that the “hardness” of the first breakdown influences the type of conducting filament formed during the soft breakdown event the time in which hard breakdown subsequently occurs. Electron current-induced defect formation appears to be the driving force for the eventual hard breakdown event.     

Cigarette smoking is an independent predictor of nonadherence in HIV-infected individuals receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Current treatment guidelines for the management of HIV-infected individuals emphasize the importance of excellent adherence to antiretroviral medications. We conducted a prospective 24-week study of adherence to lopinavir/ritonavir in a group of 64 subjects using the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS). A range of demographic and clinical information, including cigarette smoking status, was collected from each participant. The overall mean adherence rate of the study cohort was 72.8% (SD = 22.2%). Current smokers took 63.5% (SD = 22.1) of prescribed doses, compared with 84.8% (SD = 15.8%) in nonsmokers (p<.001). We found no difference in adherence rates between ex-smokers and subjects who had never smoked. In a multiple linear regression model, factors independently associated with lower adherence rates included current smoking (p = .001), lower CD4+ lymphocyte count at enrollment (p = .04), and lower educational attainment (p = .04). Depression and history of illicit substance use were not associated with nonadherence. In our study cohort, current cigarette smoking was an important and significant marker of inferior adherence to antiretroviral medication.     

Performance of children with ADHD on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure: a pilot neuropsychological study

This study evaluates the performance of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) taking into consideration familiality and comorbid psychiatric and learning disorders (LD). Sixty-five children with ADHD performed at developmentally lower levels of Copy Organization and Recall Style than did 45 controls. ADHD children with LD scored significantly lower on Copy Organization than did ADHD children without LD, whereas psychiatric comorbidity and familiality had no effect. These results suggest that a developmental analysis of the ROCF identifies organizational difficulties associated with ADHD and that these impairments cannot simply be attributed to comorbidities associated with ADHD.