Attitudes toward employment testing: Scale development, correlates, and "known-group" validation.

We identified one global evaluative measure that did not vary by sex, age, education, or occupation subgroup. More positive attitudes were associated with the participants' being told how the tests related to job performance and being given feedback on test performance. According to a "known-groups" validation, persons failing tests and not receiving a job had more negative attitudes than those who passed and were awarded a job. Among persons who passed, there were no differences between those who had not been awarded the job and those who had. Ethical, practical, and theoretical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gustatory thalamus lesions in tbe rat: I. Innate taste preferences and aversions.

Two experiments examined the innate taste preferences and aversions of rats with electrolytic lesions of the gustatory thalamus (GT). Contrary to previous research, GT lesions had only a minor influence on intake of the 4 basic-tastes as assessed with the 24-hr, 2-bottle preference test in Experiment 1. The same lesioned rats, when tested with the same stimuli in the 15-min, single-bottle procedure in Experiment 2, showed normal consumption patterns except for sucrose intake, which was attenuated. The conflicting findings of previous and present research are considered to result from differences in lesion size. The current data suggest that the GT has a relatively minor functional role in the unconditioned acceptance or rejection of sapid stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tardive dyskinesia in a developmentally disabled population: Manifestation during the initial stage of a minimal effective dose program.

Forty individuals who were withdrawn from neuroleptic medication after the initiation of a minimal effective dose program at a residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities were evaluated. Tardive dyskinesia (TD) was assessed using the Dyskinesia Identification System Condensed User Scale (DISCUS). Half of the participants being treated with neuroleptic medication (N) were also being treated with anticonvulsant medication (AC), so 2 withdrawal groups were formed. The N only group manifested an increase in DISCUS scores after the withdrawal of neuroleptic medication, but the N?+?AC group did not. On the basis of this intriguing new finding, it was speculated that treatment with anticonvulsant medication might prevent the development or suppress the expression of TD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Greek water industry: - EU stimulates upgrading

The Greek water industry, mainly under the impetus of EU financing, is expanding. Steve Minett talked to Olof Doverholt, chairman of ITT Flygt's recently established joint-venture in Greece, about this and other aspects of the Greek market.     

Transformer ratio and pulse shaping in laser wakefield accelerator

We show that, in complete analogy to the electron-beam driven Plasma Wakefield Accelerator (PWFA), an optimal transformer ratio can be attained in the laser driven Laser Wakefield Accelerator (LWFA), by properly shaping the longitudinal profile of the driving laser pulse. The concept of transformer ratio in LWFA is introduced and the optimal laser pulse shape is derived in the linear regime of laser-plasma interaction. We show that in the linear regime of plasma perturbation the requirement for the laser pulse shape and the resultant optimal transformer ratio are identical for LWFA and PWFA concepts.     

The Research Nurse Intern program. A model for research dissemination and utilization

The Research Nurse Intern program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is designed to support the development of research-based nursing practice and to foster the professional development of staff nurses. The activities of the 2-year program are based on a model that blends research dissemination and utilization with the change process. The authors' purpose is to describe a staff nurse-focused program and its successes in accomplishing these two standards of clinical nursing practice.     

Comparison of operant behavioral and cognitive-behavioral group treatment for chronic low back pain.

To evaluate and compare the efficacy of two widely used behavioral approaches for the treatment of chronic pain, 81 mildly dysfunctional chronic low back pain patients were randomly assigned to operant behavioral (OB) treatment, cognitive-behavioral (CB) treatment, or a waiting-list (WL) control condition. Both treatments, which were conducted in eight-session outpatient groups, resulted in decreased physical and psychosocial disability. The OB patients showed greater pre- to posttreatment improvement as rated by patients and their spouses than did the CB patients. Generally, the OB patients showed a leveling off in improvement at 6- and 12-month follow-ups, whereas the CB patients generally continued to improve over the 12 months following treatment. At 12-month follow-up, patients in both treatments remained significantly improved, with no significant differences between conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MOISTURE PROFILES IN A MODEL FOOD GEL DURING DRYING: MEASUREMENT USING MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING AND EVALUATION OF THE HCKIAN MODEL

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to obtain moisture profiles of a model food gel during drying. A cylinder of gel, 1 cm in diameter, with an initial moisture content of 76% was imaged while drying at room temperature. Moisture profiles were obtained from the imaging data by imaging calibration samples of known moisture content. Signal intensity of the images was found to be highly proportional to solids content. The moisture profiles were compared to profiles predicted by a finite difference solution of Fickian radial diffusion in a cylinder. Actual moisture profiles obtained by MRI were much flatter near the center of the cylinder, with a steeper moisture profile near the edge, compared to the typical parabolic shape of the Fickian model. The Fickian model was found to be an inaccurate predictor of the interior moisture profile of the model food gel, since effective diffusivity was found to not be solely a function of moisture content. The moisture profiles obtained provide for a method to evaluate other mass transfer models, and the methods outlined provide a technique to explore mass transfer within actual food materials during processing.