Physical attractiveness and health: Comment on Weeden and Sabini (2005).

Evolutionary behavioral biology suggests that certain characteristics of the human face and body are important for mate preferences and are therefore subject to sexual selection. J. Weeden and J. Sabini (see record 2005-11504-001) identify a number of weaknesses in the association between traits' attractiveness and health. In contrast, the authors argue that (a) studies on preferences for physical characteristics that rely on 1 trait permit only limited interpretation, (b) limitations placed on J. Weeden and J. Sabini's review exclude important associations, (c) there are misconceptions in their treatment of some traits, and (d) their selected literature provides an inaccurate picture regarding effect size. The authors suggest that future research in this field should seek conceptual and methodological constancy in trait selection and in the evaluation of attractiveness- and health-related traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety aspects of the combined HTTR/steam reforming complex for nuclear hyrogen production

The High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) in Oarai, Japan, has the potential to demonstrate the production of hydrogen by steam reforming and using nuclear process heat as primary energy input. Particular safety aspects for such a combined nuclear/chemical complex have been investigated such as fire and explosion hazard at presence of flammable gases (LNG, H₂, CO) near the reactor building. A methane vapor cloud in the open atmosphere or partially obstructed areas is highly unlikely to detonate and damage the reactor building. Theoretical assessments and experimental studies significant to the HTTR-steam reforming system, include the spreading and combustion behavior of cryogens and flammable gases providing the basis for a comprehensive safety analysis of the nuclear/chemical facility.     

On the Precision in Estimating the Location of Edges and Corners

Recently, in Rohr [13], we analyzed the systematiclocalization errors introduced by local operators for detectinggrey-value corners. These errors are inherently due to thedifferential structure of the operators and, in general, areenlarged by discretization and noise effects. Here, we take thestatistical point of view to analyze the localization errorscaused by noisy data. We consider a continuous image model thatrepresents the blur as well as noise introduced by an imagingsystem. In general, the systematic intensity variations arenonlinear functions of the location parameters. For this modelwe derive analytic results stating lower bounds for the locationuncertainty of image features. The lower bounds are evaluatedfor explicit edge and corner models. We show that the precisionof localization in general depends on the noise level, on thesize of the observation window, on the width of the intensitytransitions, as well as on other parameters describing thesystematic intensity variations. We also point out that theuncertainty lower bounds in localizing these image features canin principle be attained by fitting parametric models directlyto the image intensities. To give an impression of theachievable accuracy numerical examples are presented.     

Static indentation and unloading response of sandwich beams

This paper deals with analysis of foam core sandwich beams subject to static indentation and subsequent unloading (removal of load). Sandwich beams are assumed continuously supported by a rigid platen to eliminate global bending. An analytical model is presented assuming an elastic-perfectly plastic compressive behaviour of the foam core. An elastic part of indentation response is described using the Winkler foundation model. Upon removal of the load, an elastic unloading response of the foam core is assumed. Also, finite element (FE) analysis of static indentation and unloading of sandwich beams is performed using the FE code ABAQUS. The foam core is modelled using the crushable foam material model. To obtain input data for the analytical model and to calibrate the crushable foam model in FE analysis, the response of the foam core is experimentally characterized in uniaxial compression, up to densification, with subsequent unloading and tension until tensile fracture. Both models can predict load–displacement response of sandwich beams under static indentation and a residual dent magnitude in the face sheet after unloading along with residual strain levels in the foam core at the unloaded equilibrium state. The analytical and FE analyses are experimentally verified through static indentation tests of composite sandwich beams with two different foam cores. The load–displacement response, size of a crushed core zone and the depth of a residual dent are measured in the testing. A digital speckle photography technique is also used in the indentation tests in order to measure the strain levels in the crushed core zone. The experimental results are in good agreement with the analytical and FE analyses.     

Assessing Reference Evapotranspiration by the Hargreaves Method in Southern Spain

The Hargreaves method enables reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) estimation in areas where meteorological information is scarce, as, for example, southern Spain. However, this method is known to produce considerable bias in this region, especially during the dry, hot summer months. An evaluation of the method is made by comparing daily estimates with those made by the more commonly recommended Penman–Monteith method at 16 meteorological stations. Computed ET0 values at the coastal stations are, on average, 0.69 mm?d?1 smaller than the Penman–Monteith estimates whereas at inland stations a small average overestimation of 0.13 mm?d?1 is shown. The adjusted Hargreaves coefficient (AHC), obtained through regression analysis, increases at the coastal stations, on average, to 0.0029, and decreases at the inland stations to 0.0022. Adjustment with the Samani method does generally not produce more accurate estimates in this region. Finally a linear relationship between the AHC and the rate of the average temperature to the average daily temperature range is proposed for the regional adjustment of the Hargreaves coefficient.     

Evaluating Community Sex Offender Treatment Programs: A 12-Year Follow-Up of 724 Offenders.

Although some studies suggest positive effects of treatment for sexual offenders, most studies have been hampered by the unknown influence of selective attrition (e.g., volunteers and drop-outs). In the 1980s, the Correctional Service of Canada began to require weekly community treatment sessions for all sex offenders released in the Pacific Region. This policy change provided a unique opportunity for comparing an unselected cohort of treated sex offenders (n = 403) to an untreated cohort (n = 321) released in earlier years. After an average 12-year follow-up period, no differences were observed in the rates of sexual (21.1% vs 21.8%), violent (42.9% vs. 44.5%) or general (any) recidivism (56.6% vs 60.4%) for treated and untreated groups, respectively. The outcome remained comparable after controlling for length of follow- up, year of release, age, and seven static risk factors coded from official criminal history records. Retrospective ratings of the treatment quality also showed no relationship to observed recidivism rates. The static risk factors coded in the current study accounted for considerable variance in recidivism and could easily be used to improve statistical controls in future evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overt Anger in Response to Victimization: Attributional Style and Organizational Norms as Moderators.

Prior theory and research suggests a positive relation between perceived victimization and overt anger. The authors proposed and tested a theoretical extension of this link by investigating possible moderating effects of individual and contextual variables. A sample of 158 employees of a municipality was used to test hypotheses that the relationship between perceived victimization and overt anger is moderated by hostile attributional style and perceptions of organizational norms. The results showed that the relation between perceptions of direct victimization and overt anger was stronger when the employee had a more rather than less hostile attributional style and when the employee perceived the organizational norms as more rather than less oppositional. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differing Conceptions of Moral Exemplarity: Just, Brave, and Caring.

People's conceptions of different types of moral exemplarity were examined in an attempt to augment the current emphasis on moral rationality with a fuller understanding of moral personality. In Study 1 (with 805 adults), a free-listing procedure was used to generate the attributes of 3 types of moral exemplars (just, brave, and caring). In Study 2 (with 401 undergraduates), prototypicality- and personality-rating procedures were used to generate a personality profile for each type of moral exemplar and to examine the relations among them. In Study 3 (with 240 undergraduates), a similarity-sorting procedure was used to identify the typologies implicit in people's understanding of these different types of moral exemplarity. The findings indicate that moral excellence can be exemplified in rather divergent ways and that understanding of moral functioning would be enhanced by attention to this wider range of moral virtues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)