Part-Set Cuing Effects in Younger and Older Adults.

In 3 experiments, the authors examined part-set cuing effects in younger and older adults. Participants heard lists of category exemplars and later recalled them. Recall was uncued or cued with a subset of studied items. In Experiment 1, participants were cued with some of the category names, and they remembered fewer never-cued categories than a free-recall condition. In Experiment 2, a similar effect was observed for category exemplar cues. There was also an age difference: By some measures, a small number of cues impaired older adults more than younger. Experiment 3 replicated this result and found that older adults were disproportionately slow in the presence of cues. Across experiments, older adults showed robust part-set cuing effects, and sometimes, they were disproportionately impaired by cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Diffusion Model Analysis of the Effects of Aging in the Lexical-Decision Task.

The effects of aging on response time (RT) are examined in 2 lexical-decision experiments with young and older subjects (age 60-75). The results show that the older subjects were slower than the young subjects, but more accurate. R. Ratcliff s (1978) diffusion model provided a good account of RTs, their distributions, and response accuracy. The fits show an 80-100-ms slowing of the nondecision components of RT for older subjects relative to young subjects and more conservative decision criterion settings for older subjects than for young subjects. The rates of accumulation of evidence were not significantly different for older compared with young subjects (less than 2% and 5% higher for older subjects relative to young subjects in the 2 experiments). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcoholics Anonymous and Relapse Prevention as Maintenance Strategies After Conjoint Behavioral Alcohol Treatment for Men: 18-Month Outcomes.

Ninety men with alcohol problems and their female partners were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 outpatient conjoint treatments: alcohol behavioral couples therapy (ABCT), ABCT with relapse prevention techniques (RP/ABCT), or ABCT with interventions encouraging Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) involvement (AA/ABCT). Couples were followed for 18 months after treatment. Across the 3 treatments, drinkers who provided follow-up data maintained abstinence on almost 80% of days during follow-up, with no differences in drinking or marital happiness outcomes between groups. AA/ABCT participants attended AA meetings more often than ABCT or RP/ABCT participants, and their drinking outcomes were more strongly related to concurrent AA attendance. For the entire sample, AA attendance was positively related to abstinence during follow-up in both concurrent and time-lagged analyses. In the RP/ABCT treatment, attendance at posttreatment booster sessions was related to posttreatment abstinence. Across treatment conditions, marital happiness was related positively to abstinence in concurrent but not time-lagged analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychometric Evaluation of the Parent Situation Inventory: A Role-Play Measure of Coping in Parents of Substance-Using Adolescents.

This article reports on the generalizability, reliability, and construct validity of the Parent Situation Inventory (PSI), a role-play measure of coping skills in parents experiencing problems from an adolescent's drug and alcohol use. Generalizability was robust (.80) and alternate form and test-retest reliability were satisfactory. PSI skillfulness was negatively related to the parent's own substance use and to the adolescent's alcohol use. The PSI shows promise as a reliable and potentially valid measure of coping in this population and has direct implications for developing and evaluating skill-based parent training programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crossing the digital divide safely and trustingly: how ecologies of learning scaffold the journey

The article addresses the issue of learning to elearn in borderless programs in a globalised learning landscape and the associated problems of scaffolding the journey across the digital divide. The authors argue that the assumption underlying such courses is that cross-cultural programs are viable because they are conceived and designed to be ‘global’, and that they assume this design to be inclusive. Henning and Van der Westhuizen claim that the global discourse in most domains can take only marginal note of the need to infuse such programs with a local semiotic—a course design criterion for which they argue. They furthermore forward the notion that the majority of the world's prospective elearners need various bridging mechanisms in order to be able to access the broader discourse and that one of these mechanisms can be explored through the metaphor of “information ecologies” as proposed by Nardi and O'Day [Nardi, B.A., & O'Day, V.L. (1999). Information ecologies. Using technology with heart. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press]. They also conclude that issues of the learners’ trust in the course and its system need to be considered when contemplating programs for diverse target groups. By way of a case study, consisting of three portraitures of adult learners, they explore the limitations of assumed distributed cognition and claim that learning is, in reality, contained/constrained in the familiar local narrative of the novice adult elearners in a rural South African context. The case study illustrates how the resistance to technology and its power base becomes an obstacle for the students and how the support of peers becomes the main scaffolding mechanism for their entry into electronic learning environments. The findings thus show how the social context becomes the facilitator and the scaffold for elearning, more than technology and the curriculum itself.     

[2.2]Paracyclophane as a Target of the Organic Solid State: Emergent Properties via Supramolecular Construction

In this account, we review the synthesis of [2.2]paracyclophanes in the organic solid state. Reactions in crystalline solids provide a means to obtain molecules with high degrees of stereocontrol that can also be unattainable in solution. We show that [2.2]paracyclophanes form in the solid state stereospecifically and in quantitative yield via intermolecular [2+2] double photodimerization reactions. The double cycloaddition that affords a paracyclophane in the solid state does not readily occur in solution. Small molecules in the form of hydrogen-bond-donor templates can provide access to [2.2]paracyclophanes in a solid by design. A [2.2]paracyclophane obtained using a hydrogen-bond template is shown to exhibit attractive optical properties and has been employed as a building block of a metal-organic framework (MOF).     

Distinguishing between green building occupants’ reasoned and unplanned behaviours

Several frameworks incorporate social and psychological elements of environmentally significant behaviour, and most assume cognitive and deliberate decision-making. Household energy consumption behaviours, however, span a spectrum from reasoned and deliberate to unplanned and automatic. The aim of this paper is to advance knowledge of reasoned and unplanned behaviours in the context of pro-environmental action. Using results of a survey administered to occupants of an urban residential green building, this study explores five household consumption behaviours and tests the hypothesis that unplanned behaviours will be poorly predicted by a reasoned, values-based behavioural framework. Using path analyses, variables in a values-based framework are used to predict surveyed behaviours. Findings indicate that behaviours hypothesized to be unplanned were not well predicted by the values-based framework. The framework successfully predicted what was hypothesized to be a fully reasoned behaviour. Three potential reasons are discussed for the lack of prediction of some behaviours. A deeper understanding of how unplanned, automatic or habitual behaviours intervene in conservation intentions can help policy-makers and building designers better respond to influences of occupant behaviour on building performance.     

Crude oil aggregation by microscopy and dynamic light scattering

This research is focused on establishing a methodology to evaluate the aggregation state of Mexican crude oil solutions from two different sources and SARA compositions, by using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Different crude oil concentrations were established and monitored through time in order to determine their effects on the aggregation state. DLS results indicate that the aggregation state of the studied solutions is influenced by crude oil composition, specifically by the amount of resins. Particle size and elemental analysis of the aggregates were performed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), respectively. Results from these techniques reveal particulated low-porosity smooth surfaces due to the presence of resin, as well as the determination of the characteristic elements found in asphaltenes. High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HTEM) indicated the presence of asphaltene aggregates constituted by nanometric particles and asphaltene stacking as well as ultrafine nanocrystalline-oriented structures.