Report of the Policy and Planning Board: 1958.

The Policy and Planning Board provides this report to the members of the American Psychological Association (APA) on its activities in 1957. The board met twice, in Chicago: November 8, 1957 and April 2-3, 1958. This year the board put aside any major questions about the organization of the APA--a matter that has occupied much of our time in the past two years. The board turned its attention, rather, to the kind of a role the APA ought to play in the public and professional life of our time. In addition, we acted on a number of limited issues which are summarized in this report. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring regression structure with graphics

Summary We investigate the extent to which it may be possible to carry out a regression analysis using graphics alone, an idea that we refer to asgraphical regression. The limitations of this idea are explored. It is shown that graphical regression is theoretically possible with essentially no constraints on the conditional distribution of the response given the predictors, but with some conditions on marginal distribution of the predictors. Dimension reduction subspaces and added variable plots play a central role in the development. The possibility of useful methodology is explored through two examples. Read before the Spanish Statistical Society at a meeting organized by the Carlos III University of Madrid on Wednesday, April 21, 1993     

Psychology, psychiatry, and legislation.

'The APA Committee on Relations with Psychiatry and the Psychiatric Committee on Relations with Psychology held a joint meeting on January 22 and 23 for the purpose of clarifying the earlier proposal for a joint agreement, on some legislative and other matters, between the two APA's… Each committee produced a statement." The two statements are incorporated as the main portions of this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustainable regulatory systems: laws, resources, and values

Regulators frequently face difficult economic trade-offs in their decision-making. They must know how to assess the effects of policies on stakeholders under conditions of imperfect information. Part of the art of regulation revolves around understanding the linkages between choice of market structure, design of regulatory rules, and institutional requirements. In addition, different aspects of sector performance will be prioritized depending on the nation's level of development. Three factors determine the effectiveness of independent regulatory commissions during periods of change.

1. Resources available to the organization are generally determined by the legal instrument that brought the agency into existence. Budgets require funding mechanisms and procedures promoting accountability. Resource levels and resource mix (such as the percentage of highly motivated professionals) determine the range of activities suitable for the organization.

2. The legal mandate is interpreted by the courts. Since the law itself is often the product of political compromise, initial legislation may be inadequate for the effective performance of agency duties. Agency initiatives can precede formal legislative revisions, but these are likely to be challenged by some stakeholders.

3. The values or principles supporting the agency are derived from the national culture and a shared political vision. At the birth of the agency, leaders and key professional staff may not have reached consensus regarding priorities. Agreement on fundamental principles is essential if the agency is to develop a consistent set of policies.

The relationship between chemical structure and reactivity of alberta bitumens and heavy oils

Long residues (424°C +) from Athabasca, Cold Lake, Lloydminster, and Peace River were hydrocracked over a commercial NilMo on y-alumina catalyst at 430°C, 13.9 MPa (2000 psia). The conversion of residue fraction ranged from 55 to 68%, and was correlated with the concentration of carbon bound to aromatic rings in the feeds. Conversions of sulfur, Micro-Carbon Residue, and metals were all highest for Peace River feed, following the same ranking as residue conversion. Estimates for the breakage of carbon-carbon bonds and the uptake of hydrogen were diagnostic in interpreting the reactor performance.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Myzus persicae</Emphasis> is Arrested More by Blends Than by Individual Compounds Elevated in Headspace of PLRV-Infected Potato

Volatiles from potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L.) infected with Potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) attract and arrest the principal vector of PLRV, the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), more strongly than volatiles from non-infected plants. The total concentration of volatiles detectable in the headspace of PLRV-infected plants is greater than that in the headspace of non-infected controls, and the relative composition is altered. To determine the basis of the aphid response to PLRV-infection-induced volatiles from potato, behavioral bioassays were conducted. We measured arrestment of aphids by individual components, by synthetic blends of these, and by a naturally occurring blend by using an emigration rate bioassay, and quantified observations of the behavior of individual aphids. The components tested were those elevated at least twofold in response to PLRV infection. Before conducting the behavioral bioassays, electroantennograms confirmed the electrophysiological responses of aphids to the components of the blend. For bioassays, individual compounds or blends were tested by applying them in solution to paper strips at concentrations designed to mimic those present in the headspace of the plants. All bioassays were conducted by placing aphids on fine-mesh screening positioned above treated paper strips. Arrestment was measured by placing groups of 30 aphids directly over the treated strips and counting the number moving away at 10-min intervals for 50 min. Among the individual compounds tested, only β-pinene was a mild arrestant. The other compounds did not elicit significant changes in arrestment or behavior at a range of physiologically relevant concentrations. In contrast, synthetic blends that mimicked the concentration and composition present in headspace of PLRV-infected potato plants arrested aphids significantly more strongly than blends mimicking volatiles from the headspace of non-infected plants. The naturally occurring blend collected from headspace of PLRV-infected plants also arrested M. persicae more strongly than the blend collected from headspace of non-infected plants. Aphid behavior was quantified by directly observing individual aphids and recording their activities during a 5-min period on screening above strips treated with test materials. Few differences in time budgets were observed among aphids exposed to individual components, but synthetic blends and trapped headspace volatiles from PLRV-infected plants resulted in significantly less time spent walking by aphids than synthetic blends and trapped headspace from non-infected controls. Our results indicate that arrestment of M. persicae by PLRV-infected plants requires the blend of volatile organic compounds released by these plants and is not produced in response to a single compound.     

Refractive-index matching avoids local field corrections and scattering bias in solid-state Na2SO4 ultraviolet Raman cross-section measurements

We report a refractive-index matching method to measure nonabsorbing solid ultraviolet (UV) Raman cross-sections that avoids the local field correction and interface scattering of incident light. We used refractive-index-matched chloroform as an internal standard to determine the solid-state 995 cm(-1) Na(2)SO(4) 244 nm Raman cross-sections. The pure liquid chloroform 668 cm(-1) 244 nm Raman cross-section was determined by using acetonitrile as an internal standard and by calculating the local field corrections for the observed Raman intensities. Our measured 244 nm UV Raman cross-section of the solid-state 995 cm(-1) SO4(2-) band of 1.97 ± 0.07 × 10(-28) cm(2)/(molc·sr) is about half of its aqueous solution Raman cross-section, indicating interactions between the sulfate species in the solid that decrease the Raman polarizability.     

An alternative method for calculation of semi-gray radiation heat transfer in solar central cavity receivers

This paper describes a general method to calculate the semi-gray radiation heat transfer that occurs within an enclosure comprised of diffuse surfaces. The method is implemented in an existing solar power tower cavity receiver model in the System Advisor Model (SAM, NREL, 2011). The semi-gray radiation model is used to find an optimal distribution of emissivities for the thermal- and solar radiation wavelength bands for surfaces that comprise the solar central cavity receiver. The optimal distribution of emissivities maximizes the overall thermal efficiency of a cavity receiver. The model shows an effective way to reduce heat loss from the cavity is to minimize the temperatures of the passive surfaces through manipulation of their radiative surface properties.For the cavity receiver design considered, an optimal emissivity distribution for the active absorber surfaces of the cavity is a selective surface with high absorptivity in the solar wavelength band and low emissivity in the thermal wavelength band. Passive surfaces within the cavity should be highly reflective for radiation over the full spectrum. For absorber surfaces with solar absorptivity of 0.95, thermal emissivity of 0.1 and reflective passive surfaces with emissivities of 0.1, for the full spectrum, the thermal efficiency of the receiver can be increased by about 0.7% in comparison to gray surfaces having an emissivity of 0.95 for all wavelengths.     

Assessing conflict communication in couples: Comparing the validity of self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings.

This study of married couples investigated the short-term predictive validity of the partner-report and self-report scales of the Conflict Communication Inventory and compared the validity of these scales with the validity of observer ratings. A sample of 83 married couples completed two problem-solving conversations. Self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings from Conversation 1 were used to predict behavior in Conversation 2, as rated by a separate panel of observers. The short-term predictive validity of partner-report ratings was extremely high and indistinguishable from the validity of observer ratings. Self-report ratings also demonstrated good validity, albeit slightly lower than other methods. Both partner-report and self-report scores explained a substantial amount of variance in concurrent observer ratings of communication after controlling for relationship satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)