Death anxiety and voluntary passive euthanasia: Influences of proximity to death and experiences with death in important other persons.

86 young and 62 elderly non-life-threatened and 63 elderly life-threatened persons (mean ages 19.5, 71.0, and 74.8 yrs, respectively) were given a standardized interview that included the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). Age, but not health, was related to death anxiety. A significant Proximity to Death by Experience with Death in Important Others interaction occurred for both death anxiety and attitude toward voluntary passive euthanasia when the experience factor involved participants' most meaningful experiences. Principal-components analysis identified 5 sources of death anxiety (accounting for 56.7% of DAS variance): Fear of Personal Death, Concerns about Suffering and Lingering Death, Subjective Proximity to Death, Death-Related Fears, and Disturbing Death Thoughts. Significant relationships were observed between each of these and the experimental factors. A significant correlation between death anxiety and attitude toward voluntary passive euthanasia was noted among elderly persons. Results are consistent with an idiographic orientations toward death perspective. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator attractiveness and opinion change.

Presented a tape recorded persuasive communication to 120 college and high school students while a photograph of a man identified as the speaker was projected onto a screen. 3 groups of ss listened to the communication in the presence of either (a) a photograph of an attractive communicator, (b) a photograph of an unattractive communicator, or (c) no photograph at all. 2 additional groups of ss did not listen to the communications, but filled out the postcommunication questionnaire only in the presence of (a) the photograph of the attractive speaker, or (b) the photograph of the unattractive speaker. Attractive male communicators were more persuasive that unattractive male or unpictured communicators. This effect was independent of differences in perceived expertness or trustworthiness of the communicator. Explanations in terms of distraction, contiguous pleasure, and liking are discussed. (french summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recovering three-dimensional shape from perspective translations and orthographic rotations.

Perceived orientation in depth and 3-dimensional (3D) shape was investigated for perspective projections of translations and orthographic projections of rotations of 3D dihedral angles. The principal findings were that (1) perceived orientation in depth depends on the sign of the velocity gradient, even in the case of orthographic projections; (2) the relationship between perceived orientation and the sign of the velocity gradient is greater for shallower gradients in orthographic projections of rotations, consistent with previous findings for perspective translations; (3) the magnitudes of simulated dihedral angles were underestimated (relative depth overestimated) for orthographic projections of rotations but were overestimated for perspective projections of translations; and (4) the judged magnitude of the dihedral angle depends on the velocity ratio and on image compression; it cannot be predicted from the velocity ratio or the velocity gradient alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of the usefulness of Lanyon's Psychological Screening Inventory with adolescents.

Administered the Psychological Screening Inventory (PSI) to 559 male and 564 female 13-16 yr olds. Normative test data are presented. On the basis of a questionnaire administered with the PSI, this group was divided into 2 groups on the basis of whether they were more or less likely to appear in court, and were compared to a group tested while on juvenile probation. Significant differences were found on several PSI scales. It appears that the PSI can serve a useful purpose when administered to 13-16 yr olds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of primary and secondary keys through a case study

Two fundamental decisions face the designer of a database under an inverted file data base management system: (1) potential primary/secondary key definition and (2) selection among candidate keys for indexing. Functional dependencies and normalization have been defined as ways to construct potential primary keys. This tutorial paper suggests a set of both primary and secondary key types which has been helpful in developing potential keys. This set and the motivation for it are illustrated from an actual business database application. This application is further used to overview the benefits of a database design tool called ASSIST which evaluates alternative, potential keys.     

Funding patterns for exceptional children: Current approaches and suggested alternatives.

Hypothesizes that categorical funding strategies have restricted school psychologists from delivering a full range of services to schools. An alternative approach is presented that includes (a) a move away from categorical labeling, (b) the distribution of special education funds to school districts on a lump-sum basis, and (c) the provision of reinforcers to appropriate school personnel for successful remedial interventions. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)