A Compact Cryothermostat with Solid Carbon Dioxide Refrigerant

Technical Physics Letters - The design of a simple compact cryothermostat intended for studying the influence of γ irradiation on the optical losses of single-mode fluorosilicate optical...     

Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economic disadvantage and aggression among urban children.

Examined 3 factors that were hypothesized to increase risk for aggression among urban children: economic disadvantage, stressful events, and individual beliefs. Ss were 1,935 African American, Hispanic, and White elementary-school boys and girls assessed over a 2-yr period. Individual poverty (INP) and aggression were only significant for the White Ss, with significant interactions between individual and community poverty for the other 2 ethnic groups. A linear structural model to predict aggression from the stress and beliefs variables, INP predicted stress for African American Ss and predicted beliefs supporting aggression for Hispanic Ss. For all ethnic groups, both stress and beliefs contributed significantly to the synchronous prediction of aggression, and for the Hispanic children, the longitudinal predictions were also significant. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for preventive interventions in multiethnic, inner-city communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Real-time 3D face tracking based on active appearance model constrained by depth data

Active Appearance Model (AAM) is an algorithm for fitting a generative model of object shape and appearance to an input image. AAM allows accurate, real-time tracking of human faces in 2D and can be extended to track faces in 3D by constraining its fitting with a linear 3D morphable model. Unfortunately, this AAM-based 3D tracking does not provide adequate accuracy and robustness, as we show in this paper. We introduce a new constraint into AAM fitting that uses depth data from a commodity RGBD camera (Kinect). This addition significantly reduces 3D tracking errors. We also describe how to initialize the 3D morphable face model used in our tracking algorithm by computing its face shape parameters of the user from a batch of tracked frames. The described face tracking algorithm is used in Microsoft's Kinect system.     

Targeting lurking pathogens in acute traumatic and chronic wounds

Calcium homeostasis by the kidneys and parathyroids is mediated by the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), which is located on 3q21-q24 and belongs to family C of the superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors that includes those for metabotropic glutamate, certain pheromones, and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA-B). Inactivating CaSR mutations result in familial benign hypercalcemia (FBH), or familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia (FHH), whereas activating mutations result in hypocalcemic hypercalciuria. However, not all FBH patients have CaSR mutations, which, together with the mapping of another FBH locus to 19p13.3, suggests that additional CaSRs or second messengers may be involved. These may be identified by positional cloning, and we therefore performed a genomewide search, using chromosome-specific sets of microsatellite polymorphisms, in an Oklahoma family with an FBH variant (FBHOk), for which linkage to 3q and 19p had been excluded. Linkage was established between FBHOk and eight chromosome 19q13 loci, with the highest LOD score, 6.67 (recombination fraction.00), obtained with D19S606. Recombinants further mapped FBHOk to a <12-cM interval flanked by D19S908 and D19S866. The calmodulin III gene is located within this interval, and DNA sequence analysis of the coding region, the 5' UTR, and part of the promoter region in an individual affected with FBHOk did not detect any abnormalities, thereby indicating that this gene is unlikely to be implicated in the etiology of FBHOk. This mapping of FBHOk to chromosome 19q13 will facilitate the identification of another CaSR or a mediator of calcium homeostasis.     

Narrative solutions: An integration of self and systems perspectives in motivating change.

This article describes an assimilative integration process in which a concept from individual therapy, Rogerian unconditional positive regard, was integrated into a theory of family therapy based on the assumptions of the Mental Research Institute school of strategic family therapy. Milton Erickson's utilization principle served as the catalyst for a closer examination of the motivational elements of Rogers' unconditional positive regard. From this emerged Eron and Lund's concept of preferred view, a way of thinking and talking about a valued self from both intrapersonal and interpersonal perspectives. The approach resulting from this assimilative integration, narrative solutions, has the advantage of being nonimpositional while also giving therapists a clear framework for conducting effective conversations with clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APF Gold Medal Awards and Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award: Arthur Benton.

Presents Arthur Benton with the American Psychological Foundation's (APF's) Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology. Benton is recognized for his pioneering clinical studies of brain–behavior relations. He broadened the applications of psychology and opened up a new field of study and practice: clinical neuropsychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring children's aggression with teachers' predictions of peer nominations.

Peer nominations have been used very successfully to assess aggressive dispositions in children but are costly to administer in situations in which a subject population is scattered among many classrooms. In the present study, the authors evaluated an alternative measure, the Teacher Prediction of Peer-Nominated Aggression. This measure proved to be highly reliable and valid—a better predictor of peer nominations of aggression than teacher checklist ratings of aggression. The teachers' predictions of peer-nominated aggression also displayed the same pattern of interrelations and gender differences as actual peer nominations of aggression. Finally, the teachers' predictions of aggression were more accurate than their predictions of other behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does television violence cause aggression?

In a previous study 3rd graders who preferred violent TV programs were rated more aggressive in school by peers. In a 10-yr follow-up, 211 males and 216 females of the original 875 Ss were interviewed as to their television habits and again rated their peers on aggressive behavior. It was found that the violence of programs preferred by male 3rd graders was even more strongly related to aggression 10 yr. later. Cross-lagged correlations, partial correlations, and multiple regression indicate a probable causative influence of watching violent TV programs in early formative years on later aggression. Although TV violence was not the only cause of aggressive behavior, its effect was relatively independent and explained a larger proportion of variance than any other single factor studied, e.g., IQ, social status, ethnicity, and parental disharmony. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mitigating the imitation of aggressive behaviors by changing children's attitudes about media violence.

In 2 experiments, 169 1st- and 3rd-graders selected because of their high exposure to TV violence, were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. Over 2 yrs, the experimental Ss were exposed to 2 treatments designed to reduce the likelihood of their imitating the aggressive behaviors they observed on TV. The treatments involved teaching the Ss that (a) TV violence is an unrealistic portrayal of the real world, (b) aggressive behaviors are not as acceptable in the real world as they appear on TV, and (c) one should not behave like the aggressive characters seen on TV. The control group received comparable neutral treatments. By the end of the 2nd yr, the experimental Ss were rated as significantly less aggressive by their peers, and the relation between violence viewing and aggressiveness was diminished in the experimental group. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)