Early employer response to workplace injury: What injured workers perceive as fair and why these perceptions matter.

The authors examined whether early employer response to workplace injury affects injured workers' subsequent attitudes and mental health. At 1 month and 6 months postinjury, telephone surveys were conducted with 344 workers from Ontario, Canada, who had experienced a musculoskeletal lost-time workplace injury. One-month reports of initial supervisor reaction to the injury and the use of workplace-based return-to-work strategies (early contact with worker, ergonomic assessment, presence of designated coordinator, accommodation offer) were hypothesized to predict reports of fairness, affective commitment, and depressive symptoms measured at 6 months postinjury. Structural equation modeling supported a model wherein fairness perceptions fully mediated the relationship between early responses and injured workers' attitudes and mental health. Early contact and supervisor reactions were significant predictors of fairness perceptions. The implications for early employer response are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in self-control problems and attention problems during middle school predict alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use during high school.

Although deficits in impulse control have been linked to adolescent use of alcohol and illicit drugs, less attention has been given to variability in change in impulse control across adolescence and whether this variability may be a signal of risk for early substance use. The goals of the current study were to examine growth in two aspects of impulse control, self-control problems and attention problems, across middle adolescence, and to test the prospective effects of level and change in these variables on levels and change over time in substance use. Data are from a community sample of 955 adolescents interviewed (along with their parents and teachers) annually from 6th to 11th grade. Results indicated that greater self-control problems and attentional problems in the 6th grade and increases in these problems over time were associated with higher levels of substance use at 11th grade. Our results suggest that modeling change over time enhances the understanding of how impulse control influences the development of substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

星系对选择的新方法讨论

了解星系对的空间分布和随时间的演化是研究星系的形成和演化的重要手段之一,而其中完备星系对样本的选择是研究的关键.比起光学波段,在红外波段选择和观测星系对有很多优势.介绍了利用红外望远镜Spitzer卫星的SWIRE(the Spitzer wide-area Infra Red Extragalactic survey)数据选择完备星系对样本的新方法,比较分析了星系对选源标准,得到了初步星系对样本.     

Some Implications of a Sample of Practical Turing Tests

A series of imitation games involving 3-participant (simultaneous comparison of two hidden entities) and 2-participant (direct interrogation of a hidden entity) were conducted at Bletchley Park on the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth: 23 June 2012. From the ongoing analysis of over 150 games involving (expert and non-expert, males and females, adults and child) judges, machines and hidden humans (foils for the machines), we present six particular conversations that took place between human judges and a hidden entity that produced unexpected results. From this sample we focus on features of Turing’s machine intelligence test that the mathematician/code breaker did not consider in his examination for machine thinking: the subjective nature of attributing intelligence to another mind.     

Planning for Civil Engineering Applications of Information Technology

Providers of civil engineering infrastructure face increasing pressure to apply information technology. Unfortunately, technology's rapid evolution renders it easy to acquire expensive equipment that quickly becomes obsolete. In response, this paper outlines a systems analysis planning approach that focuses on the long-term goals of engineering managers. Using the case study method, the strengths and weaknesses of a relatively new technology, the World Wide Web, are mapped to the goals of a key civil infrastructure user, a transit provider. Six strategic areas are identified where the Web can have a high impact on the delivery of transit services: attracting greater advertising revenue, improving the image of the service, improving services for existing patrons, attracting other market segments, educating customers, and facilitating electronic commerce. The value of this goal-oriented planning application is that uncommon but practical transit initiatives are identified, several of which would have been undiscovered had a more traditional technology-oriented approach been employed. The significance of this approach is that one makes better investments rather than simply better justifications for existing projects.     

Course of functioning in adolescents 1 year after alcohol and other drug treatment.

Clinical course was studied in 131 male and female adolescents with current alcohol use disorder (AUD) at baseline (BL). Participants were classified into 4 groups according to their diagnosis and drinking pattern 1 year later. The 4 groups were compared with each other and with 37 community control participants. Results showed that over half of the clinical sample no longer had a current AUD at 1 year; about 64% were and 36% were not still drinking. BL discriminators of 1-year status were alcohol dependence, other drug use, and coping. All of the clinical groups tended to show improvement at 1 year in the main dependent variables, and the abstainers' level of drug use and coping were comparable with that of the community participants. These findings suggest that many adolescents improve in functioning during the 1 year after alcohol and drug treatment and that a stress and coping model is useful for studying clinical course of AUDs in adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Progression into and out of binge drinking among high school students.

The current study examined binge drinking among high school students over an academic year. Adolescent drinkers (N?=?621; 58% female) were grouped into 4 trajectories: drinkers (35%), increasers (14%), decreasers (16%), and persistent binge drinkers (35%). Prospective analyses indicated several factors that predicted escalation and de-escalation of binge drinking. Increasers were more likely to regularly use alcohol and cigarettes at a younger age than drinkers. Compared with decreasers, persistent binge drinkers reported regular alcohol and marijuana use at younger ages. Lower levels of perceived student drinking appeared to be a protective factor for onset of binge drinking. The results highlight the need to study precursors to the naturally occurring fluctuations in binge drinking and suggest factors that may accentuate the risk of binge drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)