Who said what? Source memory for narrator and character agents in literary short stories.

One dimension of reading literacy involves the tracking of agents associated with the text. In a literary short story, there is a society of character agents and pragmatic agents. This study investigated the relative salience of different classes of agents in memory. Two experiments measured source memory as an index of agent salience in long-term memory. Patterns of source memory scores supported an invisible third-person narrator hypothesis and an agent amalgamation hypothesis, but not a structural prominence hypothesis: First-person narrator > nonnarrator character > third-person narrator > 0. Statement detection parameters did not significantly differ among the 3 classes of agents, so differences in source memory could not be explained by differences in the content of the speech acts. Source memory scores also could not be explained by surface features of the text, differences among readers, and sophisticated guessing on the basis of a story abstract. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of adulteration of locust bean gum with guar gum by capillary electrophoresis and polarized light microscopy

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) and polarized light microscopy (PLM) were utilized in the detection of the adulteration of locust bean gum with guar gum. For CE analyses, standards of locust bean and guar gums were extracted with 30% CH₃CN, removing the residual proteins from the gum matrix. A 8.75 mM NaH₂PO₄-20.6 mM Na₂B₄O₇ buffer, pH 9, was used to separate these proteins and to identify marker proteins that were present in the guar gum. These markers did not co-migrate with components in the extracts of mechanically processed locust bean gum, and are used as indicators of adulteration. Using PLM with toluidine blue and iodine staining techniques, unadulterated locust bean gum samples were distinguished from mixed samples through the differential staining of components in locust bean versus guar and tara gums. These experiments in the use of CE and PLM provide orthogonal and complementary methods for the verification of 'true' positives and the elimination of 'false' positives.     

Correction to Buehler and Welsh (2009).

Reports an error in "A process model of adolescents' triangulation into parents' marital conflict: The role of emotional reactivity" by Cheryl Buehler and Deborah P. Welsh (Journal of Family Psychology, 2009[Apr], Vol 23[2], 167-180). In the article “A Process Model of Adolescents’ Triangulation Into Parents’ Marital Conflict: The Role of Emotional Reactivity” by Cheryl Buehler and Deborah P. Welsh (Journal of Family Psychology, 2009, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 167–180), the abstract contains an error. The sample size for the study was 416 rather than 426. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-04780-005.) This study examined adolescents' emotional reactivity to parents' marital conflict as a mediator of the association between triangulation and adolescents' internalizing problems in a sample of 2-parent families (N = 426). Four waves of annual, multiple-informant data were analyzed (youth ages 11–15 years). The authors used structural equation modeling and found that triangulation was associated with increases in adolescents' internalizing problems, controlling for marital hostility and adolescent externalizing problems. There also was an indirect pathway from triangulation to internalizing problems across time through youths' emotional reactivity. Moderating analyses indicated that the 2nd half of the pathway, the association between emotional reactivity and increased internalizing problems, characterized youth with lower levels of hopefulness and attachment to parents. The findings help detail why triangulation is a risk factor for adolescents' development and which youth will profit most from interventions focused on emotional regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Energy efficiency as a resource in the ISO New England Forward Capacity Market

ISO New England, which oversees New England’s bulk electric power system and wholesale electricity markets, recently established a Forward Capacity Market (FCM) that will pay suppliers to ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet future peak loads. Under the FCM, ISO New England projects the needs of the power system 3 years in advance and then holds an annual auction to purchase the resources necessary to satisfy the future regional requirements. This market is groundbreaking in that it was the first to allow energy efficiency and other demand resources to compete directly with generators. In the first auction, held in February 2008, demand resources contributed substantially to eliminating the need for new generating capacity in the near term and to providing low-cost resources to the region’s ratepayers. Two additional successful auctions have now been held. Participating in the FCM requires a considerable and complex bid, financial assurance, and claim activities. Meeting new intensive measurement, tracking, and verification requirements adds new costs. For efficiency portfolio administrators, participation raises policy questions regarding ownership of capacity credits, appropriate disposition of revenues, increasing emphasis on peak savings, and whether traditionally short-term budget cycles should change to enable the longer-term planning necessary to bid resources several years into the future. On the other hand, revenues from the FCM can provide needed funding for additional efficiency investments. This paper describes the FCM, examines the experience and trade-offs involved in participating for efficiency programs, and reviews the benefits of such participation for the program and the region, including the positive value from increased exposure of the part that efficiency can play in our energy mix.     

MMPI and Rorschach: Three decades of research.

Research references on the Rorschach and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were counted for each year, 1950–1985, to analyze the trends noted by W. M. Reynolds and N. D. Sundberg (see record 1979-00119-001) and to test their prediction that research on personality tests would decline after 1971. Results show that there was a decline between 1971 and 1975. However, the number of Rorschach references leveled off after 1975, and there was a resurgence of interest in MMPI research. Recent data suggest that both tests continue to be popular topics for published research. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of Gold—Aluminum Nitride and Gold—Silicon Carbide Interfaces

Aluminum nitride and silicon carbide substrates were screen-printed with fritless gold and fired at 850°C in air. Interfacial diffusion zones up to 7 αm thick were observed, in which the concentrations of Au, Na impurities, and combined O varied together. Secondary ion mass and photoelectron spectroscopy revealed oxidized Al in the gold conductor supported by AIN. It is suggested that enhanced oxidation accompanies the diffusion of Au into the ceramics.     

Religious orientation and overt versus covert racial prejudice.

Tested the prediction that being more religious in one way—as an intrinsic end in itself—would be associated with displaying less racial prejudice when the prejudice was overt, but not when it was covert. It was also predicted that being more religious in another way—as an open-end quest—would be associated with displaying less racial prejudice even when the prejudice was covert. An attributional ambiguity technique developed by M. L. Snyder et al (see record 1981-05489-001) was used. 44 White undergraduates interested in religion chose between sitting with a Black person or a White person to watch a movie. In the overt prejudice condition, the same movie was being shown in both locations; in the covert prejudice condition, 2 movies were being shown. Although not all predicted relations were statistically reliable, the pattern of correlations was consistent with both predictions. An intrinsic orientation to religion was significantly negatively correlated with choosing to sit with the White person in the overt condition, but this correlation was close to zero in the covert condition. Only the quest orientation to religion was significantly negatively correlated with choosing to sit with the White person in the covert condition. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delineation of female performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure.

103 female college students (aged 18–24 yrs) were administered the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure on Copy, Immediate Recall, and 20-min Delayed Recall. Ss were grouped based on handedness, familial handedness, and academic major (mathematics/science and nonmath/science). Based on the scoring system of D. Waber and J. Holmes (see PA, Vols 72:24305 and 74:9917) the mathematics/science anomalous dominance groups obtained higher mean scores than all other subgroups, and the non-math/science familial right-handers were the low performers. The high-performing groups may have an increased ability to coordinate the use of left- and right-hemisphere processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis, reporting bias, and suggested negative hallucinations.

Examined the role of reporting bias in hypnotic negative hallucinations by using a paradigm in which reporting bias was assessed independently of perceptual change. In Exp 1, highly hypnotizable Ss reported significant loudness reductions when tested for hypnotic deafness. Later, however, these Ss biased their reported loudness reductions in the absence of perceptual change, and their reporting bias scores were almost as large as their hypnotic deafness reports. Ss also biased their ratings of strategy use. In Exp 2, ratings of blindness given in response to a hypnotic negative visual hallucination suggestion were significantly correlated with reporting bias scores obtained in this paradigm. Although hypnotic blindness and hypnotic deafness correlated significantly, the partial correlation between these variables was nonsignificant when reporting bias scores were statistically controlled. Theoretical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)