Frontiers of current research: Section introduction.

This article introduces the special section in the current issue of the American Psychologist. The articles in this section appear in two groups. The first is titled "Developmental Perspectives"; the second is titled "Learning and Teaching." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Compressed Data Structure for Surface Representation

One of the standard methods of simplifying the task of obtaining a shaded image of a solid object is to represent it by a polyhedron. Another method is to use sculptured surface modelling which represents surfaces by collections of surface patches. Using either method the surfaces can be approximated by facets, which are simple to shade according to photometry information.
To obtain a smooth image in regions of high curvature, the surface would typically be required to have hundreds or thousands of facets. Because of the large number of facets involved, it is extremely important that geometrical and topological information is stored in an efficient manner. This information must include all that is required for an unambiguous representation of the solid(s) in question.
The compressed data structure (CDS) is suitable for this purpose, and is capable of defining the majority of surfaces. The structure is intended to minimise the amount of data stored, with as much information as possible being implied. The CDS can be easily generated knowing the order of the vertices defining the surface.     

Jumping ship: Who benefits from an external labor market career strategy?

The authors evaluated a sample of 610 managers working in 20 Fortune 500 companies in a longitudinal study to test hypotheses about male and female managers' compensation associated with internal and external labor market strategies. Both managers' gender and their labor market experience were hypothesized to affect their total cash compensation. Data confirmed hypotheses, but analyses of differences between male and female managers showed that only the male managers benefited from an external labor market strategy. Female managers who used an external labor market strategy did not receive greater compensation than female managers who used an internal labor market strategy. The discussion focuses on why female managers do not receive the same benefit from an external labor market strategy as male managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flexible monitoring. Bringing technology to the patient

Flexible monitoring helped to establish an intermediate care unit, close an intensive care unit (ICU) and reduce cost by decreasing length of stay (LOS) and matching patients to appropriate care. These efforts saved the hospital $3,260,215 over the first year while maintaining positive patient outcomes.     

Polymer aqyeous solutions as quenching media. I. Polyvinylpyrrolidone

The cooling power of aqueous solutions of polyvinylpyrrolidone are studied with a silver standard sample by using two apparatuses quench with injection and quench with agitation. The dependences of the cooling rates at each temperature on polymer concentration and solution viscosity are established and empirical laws of variation are given.     

Delay of gratification: Some longitudinal personality correlates.

Two brief laboratory tasks measuring delay of gratification in different ways were administered to 116 4-yr-old children. Personality data were available on these children separately at ages 3, 4, 7, and 11 yrs in the form of California Child Q-Set ratings by independent sets of teachers and examiners. The 2 delay-of-gratification measures were used to generate a more broadly based index of delay of gratification, and this index was correlated with the personality ratings available at the 4 ages. Boys who delayed gratification tended to be described as deliberative, attentive, reasonable, reserved, cooperative, and able to modulate motivational and emotional impulse. Boys who did not delay gratification, by contrast, were irritable, restless, aggressive, and generally not self-controlled. Girls who delayed gratification were consistently described as intelligent, resourceful, and competent. Girls who did not delay tended to go to pieces under stress; to be victimized by other children; and to be easily offended, sulky, and whiny. Findings are interpreted in terms of the constructs of ego control and ego resiliency and the differential socialization of the sexes. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recognition memory in preschool children.

Tested 18 males and 18 females from each of 2 age groups (mean ages, 37 and 53 mo) on a recognition test under each of 3 conditions: (a) verbal only, (b) visual only, and (c) verbal-visual. Correct recognition was obtained for all Ss. Older Ss, however, performed significantly better than younger. Neither age group benefited from E-provided labels; performance in the visual-only and visual-verbal conditions was comparable. It is concluded that the development of mechanisms other than verbal mediator production must account for any age-related improvement in recognition performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control and college women's role expectations.

Hypothesized that college women's locus of control orientations would be related to their role expectations, with women with an external locus of control having lower aspirations, more conservative sex-role ideologies, and less involvement in career planning than women with an internal locus of control. 116 female college juniors and seniors completed a career expectation scale, the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Control Scale (ANSIE), and an index of sympathy for women's liberation ideology. Regression analyses using ANSIE scores as the predictor variable supported the hypotheses. Compared to Ss with internal orientations, Ss with external orientations expected to have less commitment to their careers, to work for a smaller portion of their lives, and to feel more discomfort due to violating sex-role stereotypes. In addition, Ss with a more external orientation reported less career planning activity, less positive feelings about their future careers, and more conservative views on women's liberation ideology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the reproducibility of Tg measurements on polystyrene using d.s.c.

In determining the reproducibility of T_g data of a standard polystyrene measured by differential scanning calorimetry (d.s.c.), the effects of d.s.c. trace interpretation method, extrapolation to zero scan rate, polymer sample form, a thermal treatment and a thermal cycling procedure on the results were examined. The results showed that data from scanning at 8°C/min are preferred to those from extrapolation to zero scan rate while the overall reproducibility was unaffected by the d.s.c. trace interpretation method used. However, the onset of the transition step was selected to define T_g in this work. Similarly, no differences in the reproducibility of data were noted between the overall results for granular or sheet samples, although certain treatments of specific samples did produce changes in some instances. The mean value for T_g at 8°C/min was found to be 102.3°C. Imposing the thermal treatment on the samples did not significantly alter the reproducibility of the results whereas in contrast, cycling markedly improved the reproducibility of sheet sample data but left that of granules unaffected.     

Scanner design

The scanner is a subroutine which is frequently called by an application program like a compiler. The primary function of a scanner is to combine characters from the input stream into recognizable units called tokens. A method has been presented in this paper for designing such a scanner, also frequently referred to as a lexical analyser in the current literature. The major steps involved in this design process are: identification of tokens, construction of a state diagram, building driver tables and finally writing a scanning routine. The rules for generating the driver tables are described and an algorithm for the scanner, utilizing these driver tables, is included. The method has been successfully used to build the system scanner for a user oriented plotting language. It is concluded that the method is well defined, gives rise to a modular design and as such easily lends itself to language extensions.