Structural Appraisal of the Florentine Gothic Construction System

The nave of Santa Maria Novella, a Dominican church in Florence Italy is representative of a Florentine Gothic system of construction. This system, consisting of domical rib vaults on square nave bays, high side aisles, and crypto-buttressing, differs substantially from the French high Gothic system of even-level-crown rib vaults on rectangular bays, with flying buttresses over relatively low aisles. An investigation into the structural aspects of the Florentine Gothic construction system reveals that the domical vaults increase the longitudinal thrust and reduce the transverse thrust, which may require additional precautions to be taken during construction, but entails a less elaborate buttressing system. The domical vaults are found to perform well structurally, with an absence of tensile stresses, and are more suitable for a square bay. In general, the structural system of the nave of Santa Maria Novella is found to be the product of carefully considered structural design, which may be accepted as an alternative to the French Gothic construction system.     

Early intervention for spelling problems: Teaching functional spelling units of varying size with a multiple-connections framework.

Poor spellers in 2nd grade (n?=?128) participated in 24 20-min sessions that included (a) direct instruction in the alphabet principle (most frequent phoneme-spelling connections); (b) modeling of different approaches, singly and in combination, for developing connections between spoken and written words for 48 words ordered by sound-spelling predictability; and (c) practice in composing. Results of this multilayered intervention showed that (a) more than 1 way of developing sound-spelling connections is effective in teaching spelling but that after training in the alphabet principle, combining whole word and onset-rime training is most effective in achieving transfer of the alphabet principle across word contexts; (b) functional spelling units of not only a single letter but also 2 or more letters are important in beginning spelling; and (c) training in spelling transfers to composition and word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral and cardiovascular responses to interpersonal challenges among male offspring of essential hypertensives.

Behavioral, cardiovascular, and self-report measures of cognitive and affective responses to 2 interpersonal challenges were examined among 20 men with a positive (FH+) and 20 with a negative (FH–) family history of hypertension. Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were measured throughout the laboratory session; Ss were requested to self-report positive and negative conditions, state anger, and state anxiety that occurred during interactions with a male and female confederate. Behavioral responses to interpersonal tasks were videotaped, coded, and categorized into 4 major groupings (positive verbal, positive nonverbal, negative verbal, and negative nonverbal). FH+ individuals exhibited significantly higher resting HR and systolic BP reactivity to both interactions than FH– counterparts. Analyses of behavioral responses for both interactions revealed significantly more negative verbal and nonverbal behavior and less positive nonverbal behavior among FH+ as compared with FH– Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working memory in mild Alzheimer's disease and early Parkinson's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) impair working memory (WM). It is unclear, however, whether the deficits seen early in the course of these diseases are similar. To address this issue, the authors compared the performance of 22 patients with mild AD, 20 patients with early PD and without dementia, and 112 control participants on tests of inhibition, short-term memory, and 2 commonly administered tests of WM. The results suggest that although mild AD and early PD both impair WM, the deficits may be related to the interruption of different processes that contribute to WM performance. Early PD disrupted inhibitory processes, whereas mild AD did not. The WM deficits seen in patients with AD may be secondary to deficits in other cognitive capacities, including semantic memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Aging and forgetting in prospective and retrospective memory tasks": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by E. A. Maylor (Psychology and Aging, 1993[Sep], Vol 8[3], 420–428). There is an error in the picture recognition data. This was one of the tasks administered in an earlier group testing session (see page 421). The number of false positives for an older S was incorrectly entered onto the data sheet as 31 instead of only 13. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1994-01191-001.) Ss (aged 52–83 yrs) named 30 famous people 4 times over the course of an hour and responded to 2 targets (a beard and a pipe) by marking the trial number on the response sheet. Initial performance in the prospective memory task was related only to a measure of incidental learning. Subsequent forgetting (i.e., success followed by failure) occurred more often for older Ss than for younger Ss, but there was no difference between the age groups in recovery (i.e., failure followed by success). Forgetting was predicted by age, even after a composite measure of general ability was included in the regression. Recovery was related to general ability alone. Results both replicate and extend those from a reanalysis of a previous study (E. A. Maylor, 1990). They provide a striking contrast with the effect of age on retrospective memory.… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

THE FEDERAL ROLE IN ENERGY R&D

This paper documents and analyzes recent trends in Federal energy research and development programs. In light of the marketplace philosophy of the present Administration, the possible benefits of a strong Federal research program versus the potential advantages of relying on private sector research programs to develop new technology alternatives are analyzed in some detail. The impacts of the Reagan budget cuts and other initiatives on several major energy programs, including nuclear power, photovoltaics, and conservation, are also analyzed. This analysis reveals some of the difficulties inherent in attempting to project the consequences of particular policy decisions in a complex and changing environment, and identifies some of the problems of trying to evaluate the success of particular programs or actions on a limited time scale.