Cognitive–behavior therapy versus pharmacotherapy: Now that the jury's returned its verdict, it's time to present the rest of the evidence.

Recent reanalyses suggest that pharmacotherapy was superior to cognitive–behavior therapy in the acute treatment of more severely depressed outpatients in the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program (TDCRP). At the same time, this finding was neither robust across sites within the TDCRP nor consistent with findings from other studies. D. F. Klein (1990) has argued that those other studies were inherently flawed because they did not include pill-placebo controls, an argument that he extended to drug–psychotherapy comparisons in the treatment of panic as well. It is agreed that the inclusion of such controls would have facilitated the interpretation of the findings, but it is not agreed that their omission rendered those studies uninterpretable. Cognitive–behavior therapy remains a viable alternative to pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depression and a particularly promising intervention in the treatment of panic disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Energy transfer mechanisms in LMR rod bundles under mixed convection conditions

The energy transfer mechanisms operative under mixed convection conditions in heated rod arrays are identified. The relative importance of these various mechanisms of energy transfer has been assessed and is presented in regime maps which allow the designer and experimentalist to rapidly assess the characteristics of an operating regime and the capabilities needed in an analysis tool to treat such a regime. Azimuthal heater rod conduction is important for boron nitride insulated rods typically utilized in out-of-pile sodium tests. Therefore the comparison of energy transfer mechanisms necessitated the development of a correlation for azimuthal heater rod conduction. This correlation has been derived from a physical model formulated to describe this conduction effect. The proposed correlation has been tested against experimental data from out-of-pile tests and has been proven accurate for predicting the azimuthal heater rod conduction effect in LMR rod bundles.     

Prospects for future comparisons between drugs and psychotherapy: Lessons from the CBT-versus-pharmacotherapy exchange.

In these concluding comments to the exchange among N. S. Jacobson and S. D. Hollon, D. F. Klein, I. Elkin et al, and R. J. McNally (see record 1996-02770-007, 1996-02770-008, 1996-02770-010, and 1996-02770-009, respectively) issues of continuing controversy are highlighted: the best ways to control for the allegiance effect, the complexities of assessing competence, and the role of pill placebos in comparisons between cognitive–behavior therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy. It is concluded that controlling for allegiance within site is the optimal strategy, that measures of competence must take context into account, and that pill placebo controls are optimal but not essential to comparisons between CBT and pharmacotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental study of splash generation in a flash smelting furnace

A survey of previous studies of splash formation in metallurgical vessels revealed that little information is available to characterize and describe the processes involved in splash formation. An experimental study of splash formation by top submerged gas injection was carried out in the settler region of the nickel flash smelting furnace at the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter (KNS) both to obtain some visualization of the splash mechanisms that occur on a plant scale and to measure the amount of splash being formed. Video images taken of the splashing showed that large sheets of melt were formed by the escaping gas and subsequently thinned into ligaments which then broke up into large splash drops. The video could only resolve a minimum size of 2 cm. The large splash drops visible on video have an initial velocity between 1 and 2 m/s, are unstable, and fall back into the bath after traveling a short distance. The analysis identified two major splash forming mechanisms. First, the gas injected resulted in the bulk movement of the melt to form a cavity and large sheets of melts being thrown around the point of injection. The area affected by this splash mechanism can be predicted successfully by using an energy balance between the removal of the melt in the cavity and the energy of the gas being injected. Second, the slag free surface within the cavity is highly unstable, and through the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability mechanism, small splash droplets are generated which are carried into the furnace’s top space. A model proposed for the formation of the smaller splash droplets predicted that the splash collected decreases exponentially with increasing height above the slag free surface from the point of splashing, and this is in agreement with the experimental results obtained.     

The Compositing Buffer: A Flexible Method for Image Generation and Image Editing

In this paper, we describe a new buffer architecture called the Compositing Buffer. Although it is based on the A-buffer architecture described by Carpenter¹, the new architecture introduces two important ideas which make image generation more flexible. The first idea is the storing of bitmask index instead of the bitmask. This allows accurate images to be generated while at the same time, minimising memory usage. The second idea is the introduction of the concept of dynamic object. This allows images to be edited interactively. Applications of the two ideas will also be discussed in the paper.     

Effects of an explicit group contract on self-disclosure and group cohesiveness.

Assigned 96 male undergraduates to small groups based on their scores on a 40-item self-report survey derived from the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire. Half the groups received an explicit self-disclosure contract while the other half received no contract. Findings show that (a) the contract served to increase significantly both the frequency and depth of self-disclosure but did not affect the level of intimacy of topics discussed; and (b) the contract significantly enhanced the cohesiveness of the groups (i.e., attraction to the group) but had the opposite effect on members' mutual liking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concentration of alcohols by adsorption on silicalite

Silicalite, a zeolite analogue, selectively adsorbs organic molecules from aqueous solution, the adsorption depending on the stereochemistry and organophilic nature. This provides a possible economic route for the separation of alcohols from dilute solutions. Ethanol has been concentrated from a 2% (w/v) solution to 35%, and butan-1-ol from 0.5 to 98% (w/v) by adsorption on silicalite and subsequent thermal desorption.     

Response productivity: A methodological problem in content analysis studies in psychotherapy.

Contends that most content analysts of psychotherapy materials have failed to consider the possibility that the frequency of units coded to the categories of the content analysis system might be correlated with the total number of units produced. The existence of such relationships may confound interpretation of the association between content analysis variables and other external variables. When investigators have attempted to control for response productivity, they have usually divided the frequency of units in each category by the total number of units. This procedure does not control for response productivity and is often uninterpretable. The issues involved are discussed and demonstrated, and appropriate techniques of controlling for productivity are described. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modelling the VO2 kinetic response to heavy intensity exercise in children

The purpose of this study was to apply a series of mathematical models in order to investigate the nature of the kinetic response to heavy intensity exercise with children and identify a suitable model with which to estimate parameters of the response. Sixty two children (35 male, 27 female aged 10-15 years) completed four transitions from baseline pedalling to 40% of the difference between their previously determined anaerobic threshold and peak VO2 on an electronically braked cycle ergometer. Initially three models were fitted to the averaged response profiles following the end of phase 1. and their residuals compared; 1, a single exponential with a delay term; 2, an exponential and linear term with independent delays; and 3, a double exponential with independent delays. Up to 95% of the response profiles were better fitted by either model 2 or 3 (p < 0.05), and model 3 was a statistically better fit (p < 0.05) than model 2 in 77% of cases. Residual inspection confirmed the superior fit by model 3. A fourth model which consisted of a single exponential with a delay term was fitted within the phase 2 fitting window. Estimated parameters (A1 and tau1), using model 4 were not significantly different from model 3, and model 4 was identified as the model of choice due to the wide confidence intervals in tau2 and A2 using model 3. It was concluded that the nature of the response to heavy intensity exercise in children is similar to that previously reported with adults and that the response should be modelled accordingly.