The rural psychologist as generalist: A challenge for professional identity.

Discusses how the psychologist who practices in a rural mental health facility performs many tasks identical to those done by other mental health professionals. While a nonpluralistic and financially constrained mental health system is best served by flexible professionals with a wide range of skills, psychologists in such a setting must utilize their unique training to establish their identity among the service providers. The unique identity of the psychologist is found in the heritage, perspective, and methodology of psychology and not just in clinical activity. Psychologists should begin to develop their methodology by using the larger university context in which they were trained and thereby establish themselves also as researchers and community psychology practitioners. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal interaction analysis of empathic and nonempathic responses of therapists.

Analyzed 100 5-min samples from 35 tape-recorded psychotherapy sessions and rated them on empathic understanding. Silence behaviors appear to be indicative of high levels of therapist empathy. Of the 5 therapist verbal behaviors that together formed the best discriminators between groups of empathy ratings, only 1 talk behavior appeared. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High power efficient dye amplifier pumped by copper vapor lasers

An extensive study has been performed on a dye amplifier pumped by copper vapor lasers. The amplifier utilizes a transverse pumping configuration in which the dye flow, pump beam, and dye extraction beam are mutually orthogonal. The operating characteristics of the amplifier have been studied using four dye-solvent systems which span the wavelength range continuously from 560 to 690 nm. Optimum conversion efficiencies of 18-30 percent at output powers of 0.41-0.76 W have been measured from the four dyes at a 6 kHz pulse repetition rate. The efficiencies and output powers were limited only by the available copper laser pump power. Analytic expressions have been obtained for the amplifier power gain and efficiency using a rate equation treatment of the system dynamics. Excellent agreement is obtained between the predicted and measured amplifier gain characteristics for rhodamine 6G.     

Improving myoelectric pattern recognition robustness to electrode shift by changing interelectrode distance and electrode configuration

Pattern recognition of myoelectric signals for prosthesis control has been extensively studied in research settings and is close to clinical implementation. These systems are capable of intuitively controlling the next generation of dexterous prosthetic hands. However, pattern recognition systems perform poorly in the presence of electrode shift, defined as movement of surface electrodes with respect to the underlying muscles. This paper focused on investigating the optimal interelectrode distance, channel configuration, and electromyography feature sets for myoelectric pattern recognition in the presence of electrode shift. Increasing interelectrode distance from 2 to 4 cm improved pattern recognition system performance in terms of classification error and controllability (p < 0.01). Additionally, for a constant number of channels, an electrode configuration that included electrodes oriented both longitudinally and perpendicularly with respect to muscle fibers improved robustness in the presence of electrode shift (p < 0.05). We investigated the effect of the number of recording channels with and without electrode shift and found that four to six channels were sufficient for pattern recognition control. Finally, we investigated different feature sets for pattern recognition control using a linear discriminant analysis classifier and found that an autoregressive set significantly (p < 0.01) reduced sensitivity to electrode shift compared to a traditional time-domain feature set.     

Performance of dairy cows in midlactation fed high quality grass pasture and concentrate at three percents of energy requirements

Thirty multiparous cows rotationally grazed high quality grass pastures (predominantly Dactylis glomerata and Poa pratensis) for 140 days. Stage of lactation was 54 to 192 days at beginning of trial. Cows were offered concentrates to supply 33, 66, or 100% of requirements for net energy for lactation above maintenance; daily intakes by the three groups averaged 3.5, 7.7, and 11.5 kg. Refusal of concentrate tended to increase with supplementation. Average milk production was 19.2, 20.4, and 21.5 kg. When individual yields were compared with an initial 2-wk period prior to trial, there was no difference in decline in milk flow, except for one 28-day period in midsummer when decline by the 33% group was greater than that by the 100% group. Milk fat yields were similar. Milk protein yields by the 100% group were significantly higher than those by the 33% group. Body weight changes were similar among groups. Quality of forage was high, and yields were adequate. Changes in milk flow attributable to movement of cows to fresh pastures were +1.35 kg per cow daily. Variations in in vitro dry matter disappearance, crude protein, and dry matter of forage were positively associated with changes in milk flow.     

His64(E7)-->Tyr apomyoglobin as a reagent for measuring rates of hemin dissociation

To develop an assay for hemin dissociation, His64(E7) was replaced by Tyr in sperm whale myoglobin producing a holoprotein with a distinct green color due to an intense absorption band at 600 nm. Val68(E11) was replaced by Phe in the same protein to increase its stability. When excess Tyr64-Val68 apoglobin is mixed with either metmyoglobin or methemoglobin, the solution turns from brown to green, and the absorbance changes can be used to measure complete time courses for hemin dissociation from either holoprotein. This assay has been used to measure rates of hemin dissociation from native metmyoglobin, four myoglobin mutants (Ala64(E7), Ala68(E11), Phe68(E11), and Glu45(CD3)), native methemoglobin, valence hybrid hemoglobins, and two mutant hemoglobins ((alpha(Gly-E7)beta(native))2, and (alpha(native)beta(Gly-E7))2). Two kinetic phases were observed for hemin dissociation from native human hemoglobin at pH 7.0 and 37 degrees C. Valence and mutant hybrid hemoglobins were used to assign the faster phase (k = 7.8 +/- 2.0 h-1) to hemin dissociation from ferric beta subunits and the slower (k = 0.6 +/- 0.15 h-1) to dissociation from alpha subunits. The corresponding rate for wild-type metmyoglobin is 0.007 +/- 0.004 h-1.     

Standards of weight and height for Ayrshire, brown Swiss, and milking shorthorn heifers

To develop a modern appraisal of growth for Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, and Milking Shorthorn dairy heifers, data on heart girth and height at withers were collected from 1279 Ayrshire heifers (33 herds), 1819 Brown Swiss heifers (46 herds), and 565 Milking Shorthorn heifers (20 herds), ages 1 to 25 mo, in herds located throughout the US. Means and standard deviations were determined for height and heart girth for each month of age. Third-order regressions on age were fitted to the means to describe height and heart girth. Estimated mean height and heart girth at 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo, in centimeters, were for Ayrshire 98.7 and 118.4, 114.4 and 145.9, 122.8 and 163.2, and 127.6 and 176.4; for Brown Swiss 102.6 and 122.3, 199.4 and 151.3, 128.7 and 168.8, and 134.0 and 182.0; and for milking Shorthorn 98.0 and 119.4, 113.6 and 148.6, 122.6 and 166.6, and 127.7 and 179.9, respectively. These data can be useful to evaluate the heifer rearing program with respect to the growth rates of heifers on an individual farm.     

Differences in morning and evening sample milkings and adjustment to daily weights and percents

Dairy Herd Improvement Association sample-day data were analyzed 1) to explain variation of month-to-month differences of single milking yields and fat percents and 2) to develop adjustment factors for estimating daily yield and fat tests from a single milking. Prior to analyses, single sample data were adjusted for month-to-month differences determined from standard two sample data. Guernsey and Holstein data involving 1,632 and 16,784 cows were available in the single sample files. Analyses were separate for Guernseys and Holsteins and for yield and test. Regression equations involving from 13 to 16 independent variables accounted for proportions of variance of the dependent variable ranging from .31 to .48 for the four combinations of breed and trait. Regression equations for adjustment of Dairy Herd Improvement Association single sample data were developed. Each equation included only two independent variables for adjustment purposes. Those equations developed from Holstein data have been implemented by the Pennsylvania Dairy Herd Improvement Association to adjust single sample data for all breeds.     

Heritability of intramammary infections at first parturition and relationships with sire transmitting abilities for somatic cell score,udder type traits,productive life,and protein yield

The objective of this study was to determine the relationships among daughter intramammary infections at first parturition and sire transmitting abilities for somatic cell score, udder type traits, productive life, and protein yield. Quarter milk samples from 958 daughters (in eight Pennsylvania herds and one Nebraska herd) of 182 Holstein sires were collected within a few days of first calving and cultured to determine intramammary infection status. A total of 446 cows had intramammary infections in 835 quarters at first parturition. Incidence of intramammary infections at first parturition and the proportion of quarters infected per cow were regressed on age at first calving, days in milk at sample collection, herd-season of calving (a classification variable), and sire transmitting abilities taken one at a time. Linear effects, non-linear effects, and odds ratios were estimated for sire transmitting abilities. Separate, preplanned analyses were conducted on data from one herd that gave all heifers an intramammary antibiotic infusion in each quarter 30 d prior to the expected calving date. Separate analyses were also conducted on dependent variables that considered intramammary infections at first parturition from: all organisms, coagulase-negative staphylococci, coliform species, streptococci other than Streptococcus agalactiae, and the most common environmental organisms (coliform species and streptococci other than Streptococcus agalactiae). Daughters of sires that transmit the lowest somatic cell score had the fewest intramammary infections at first parturition. Daughters of sires that transmit longer productive life, shorter teats, and closely spaced front teats had fewer intramammary infections at first parturition. Selection for lower somatic cell score, longer productive life, shorter teats, or closely spaced front teats may reduce the incidence of intramammary infections at first parturition.