Cognitive–behavioral stress management decreases dysphoric mood and herpes simplex virus-Type 2 antibody titers in symptomatic HIV-seropositive gay men.

This study tested the effects of a 10-week group cognitive–behavioral stress management (CBSM) intervention on mood and immunologic parameters in HIV-seropositive gay men whose disease had progressed to a symptomatic stage. Men were randomized to either CBSM or a modified waiting-list control group. The CBSM intervention significantly decreased self-reported dysphoria, anxiety, and total distress. Individuals who practiced relaxation more consistently had significantly greater drops in dysphoria. The intervention also decreased herpes simplex virus-Type 2 (HSV-2) immunoglobulin G antibody titers. The control group showed no significant changes in either mood or antibody titers. Individual difference analyses revealed that decreases in dysphoria significantly predicted lower HSV-2 antibody titers by the end of the 10-week period. Neither group displayed changes in HSV-Type I antibody titers or in CD4+ or CD8+ cell numbers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Combined effects of nicotine and mecamylamine in attenuating smoking satisfaction.

Separate and combined effects of nicotine (NIC) and the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine (MEC) were studied. 12 smokers rated test cigarettes after administration of MEC vs placebo capsules and NIC vs non-NIC preload. Smoking withdrawal symptoms, task performance, and cardiovascular activity were also measured. MEC attenuated smoking satisfaction, liking, and airway sensations. The NIC preload similarly reduced the enjoyable aspects of subsequent test cigarettes, and this action of the preload was not prevented by MEC. In contrast, MEC blocked NIC-related increases in heart rate and systolic blood pressure. Conversely, NIC counteracted MEC's effects on tapping speed and orthostatic blood pressure response. Although each drug offset potential side effects of the other, they acted in unison to attenuate smoking satisfaction and should be evaluated in combination for smoking cessation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incremental parsing without a parser

This article describes an algorithm for incremental parsing of expressions in the context of syntax-directed editors for programming languages. Since a syntax-directed editor represents programs as trees and statements and expressions as nodes in trees, making minor modifications in an expression can be difficult. Consider, for example, changing a “ + ” operator to a “1” operator or adding a short subexpression at a syntactically but not structurally correct position, such as inserting “) 1 (d“ at the # mark in” (a + b # + c)”. To make these changes in a typical syntax-directed editor, the user must understand the tree structure and type a number of tree-oriented construction and manipulation commands. This article describes an algorithm that allows the user to think in terms of the syntax of the expression as it is displayed on the screen (in infix notation) rather than in terms of its internal representation (which is effectively prefix), while maintaining the benefits of syntax-directed editing. This algorithm is significantly different from other incremental parsing algorithms in that it does not involve modifications to a traditional parsing algorithm or the overhead of maintaining a parser stack or any data structure other than the syntax tree. Instead, the algorithm applies tree transformations, in real-time as each token is inserted or deleted, to maintain a correct syntax tree.     

Control over stress, Type A behavior pattern, and response to stress.

Examined (a) differences in physiological response of Type A and Type B individuals to conditions that varied in both controllability and consistency of controllability over an aversive stimulus and (b) whether Type A relative to Type B individuals use more denial and/or projection in cognitively coping with arousing situations as well as whether they differ in being preoccupied in such situations. 96 male undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: no control over shock, consistent control over shock, intermittent control over shock, and low stress. Type A and B behaviors were assessed with the Activity scale of the Thurstone Temperament Schedule. Results indicated that relative to Type B Ss, Type A's manifested (a) greater pulse rates and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the consistent control condition, (b) greater systolic blood pressure in the no-control condition, and (c) greater diastolic blood pressure in the intermittent control condition. Type A's also used more denial and projection across the 3 high-stress conditions but did not differ in how preoccupied they were as compared to Type B's. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Program evaluation in Canadian rehabilitation facilities for physically disabled persons: A national survey.

Surveyed the program-evaluation practices of 64 Canadian rehabilitation facilities (RFs) serving physically disabled children and/or adults. Of 14 program evaluation activities assessed, most RFs had implemented fewer than half as of mid-1982, although 62% of the RFs reported that they planned to implement additional evaluation elements by the end of 1983. Mean differences in current and planned evaluation activity levels between RFs located in different regions, serving different age groups, or of different facility types were modest. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Divergence control for distributed database systems

This paper presents distributed divergence control algorithms for epsilon serializability for both homogeneous and heterogeneous distributed databases. Epsilon serializability allows for more concurrency by permitting non-serializable interleavings of database operations among epsilon transactions. We first present a strict 2-phase locking divergence control algorithm and an optimistic divergence control algorithm for a homogeneous distributed database system, where the local orderings of all the sub-transactions of a distributed epsilon transaction are the same. In such an environment, the total inconsistency of a distributed epsilon transaction is simply the sum of those of all its sub-transactions. We then describe a divergence control algorithm for a heterogeneous distributed database system, where the local orderings of all the sub-transactions of a distributed epsilon transaction may not be the same and the total inconsistency of a distributed epsilon transaction may be greater than the sum of those of all its sub-transactions. As a result, in addition to executing a local divergence control algorithm in each site to maintain the local inconsistency, a global mechanism is needed to take into account the additional inconsistency Recommended by: Meichum Hsu     

"Collective induction: Social combination and sequential transition": Correction to Laughlin and Futoran.

Reports an error in "Collective induction: Social combination and sequential transition" by Patrick R. Laughlin and Gail C. Futoran (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985[Mar], Vol 48[3], 608-613). One sentence reads incorrectly on page 610. The correct sentence is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1985-20078-001.) 240 undergraduates, as individuals and 4-person cooperative groups, attempted to induce a rule that partitioned a deck of standard playing cards into exemplars and nonexemplars. A trial consisted of (a) individual member hypotheses, (b) group hypothesis (omitted in individual conditions), (c) choice of any of the cards, and (d) feedback on the exemplar or nonexemplar status of the card. Ss were instructed to select cards to confirm or disconfirm the current hypothesis, or received no such instructions. Groups had significantly more correct final hypotheses, plausible final hypotheses, and overall plausible hypotheses than individuals. Performance was better for both individuals and groups under control instructions than either instructions to select cards to confirm or disconfirm hypotheses. Social combination analyses and sequential transition analyses indicated that the groups were remarkably able to recognize and adopt the correct hypothesis if and only if it was proposed by at least 1 group member on some trial. Thus, the superiority of collective induction over individual induction was due to superior hypothesis evaluation by groups rather than to superior hypothesis formation by groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)