Friendship Jealousy in Young Adolescents: Individual Differences and Links to Sex, Self-Esteem, Aggression, and Social Adjustment.

Children's vulnerability to jealousy surrounding their best friends was explored in 2 studies. Study 1 involved 94 adolescents who reported on their friendship jealousy on a newly created measure. Results indicated that the jealousy measure had sound psychometric properties and produced individual differences that were robust over time and free from socially desirable responding. As expected, girls and adolescents with low self-worth reported the greatest friendship jealousy. Study 2 involved 399 young adolescents and extended the measurement of self-report jealousy to a broader age range. In addition, Study 2 included assessments of jealousy provided by friends and other peers. Self- and peer-reported jealousy were only modestly associated and had somewhat distinct correlates. Structural modeling revealed that young adolescents' reputation for friendship jealousy was linked to behaving aggressively and to broader peer adjustment difficulties. Both self- and peer-reported jealousy contributed to loneliness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differing Conceptions of Moral Exemplarity: Just, Brave, and Caring.

People's conceptions of different types of moral exemplarity were examined in an attempt to augment the current emphasis on moral rationality with a fuller understanding of moral personality. In Study 1 (with 805 adults), a free-listing procedure was used to generate the attributes of 3 types of moral exemplars (just, brave, and caring). In Study 2 (with 401 undergraduates), prototypicality- and personality-rating procedures were used to generate a personality profile for each type of moral exemplar and to examine the relations among them. In Study 3 (with 240 undergraduates), a similarity-sorting procedure was used to identify the typologies implicit in people's understanding of these different types of moral exemplarity. The findings indicate that moral excellence can be exemplified in rather divergent ways and that understanding of moral functioning would be enhanced by attention to this wider range of moral virtues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remote sensing of vegetation and land-cover change in Arctic Tundra Ecosystems

The objective of this paper is to review research conducted over the past decade on the application of multi-temporal remote sensing for monitoring changes of Arctic tundra lands. Emphasis is placed on results from the National Science Foundation Land-Air-Ice Interactions (LAII) program and on optical remote sensing techniques. Case studies demonstrate that ground-level sensors on stationary or moving track platforms and wide-swath imaging sensors on polar orbiting satellites are particularly useful for capturing optical remote sensing data at sufficient frequency to study tundra vegetation dynamics and changes for the cloud prone Arctic. Less frequent imaging with high spatial resolution instruments on aircraft and lower orbiting satellites enable more detailed analyses of land cover change and calibration/validation of coarser resolution observations.The strongest signals of ecosystem change detected thus far appear to correspond to expansion of tundra shrubs and changes in the amount and extent of thaw lakes and ponds. Changes in shrub cover and extent have been documented by modern repeat imaging that matches archived historical aerial photography. NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) time series provide a 20-year record for determining changes in greenness that relates to photosynthetic activity, net primary production, and growing season length. The strong contrast between land materials and surface waters enables changes in lake and pond extent to be readily measured and monitored.     

Licorice-induced hypertension and syndromes of apparent mineralocorticoid excess

Excessive ingestion of licorice induces a syndrome of hypokalemia and hypertension that reflects increased activation of renal mineralocorticoid receptors by cortisol. A similar syndrome of cortisol-dependent mineralocorticoid excess occurs in congenital deficiency of the enzyme 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, which normally inactivates cortisol to cortisone. It has been shown that licorice inhibits 11 beta-dehydrogenase, preventing local inactivation of cortisol and allowing cortisol inappropriate access to intrinsically nonspecific renal mineralocorticoid receptors. Further studies with licorice and its derivatives have revealed a widespread role for 11 beta-dehydrogenase in regulating tissue sensitivity to cortisol. Deficient 11 beta-dehydrogenase activity provides a novel pathogenetic mechanism for hypertension, and current research suggests that several common forms of hypertension can be explained by the mechanisms that operate in licorice-induced hypertension.     

Characterization of silicon oxynitride films using ion beam analysis techniques

Heavy-ion elastic recoil detection analysis (HIERDA) is the ideal technique for quantitative analysis of silicon oxynitride films on silicon because of its unique ability to measure simultaneously all elements of interest (i.e., H, C, N, O and Si), thereby permitting key parameters such as the O/N-ratio to be determined in a single measurement. However, high-energy accelerators suitable for such HIERDA measurements are becoming much less readily available. Hence, the present paper investigates and calibrates an alternative IBA technique for simultaneous O, N and C analysis – namely, the use of (d,p) and (d,) nuclear reactions. Under optimum analysis conditions (850 keV deuterons and 150° detector angle), the Si background level sets a lower detection limit of 1×10¹⁶ nitrogen atoms/cm² and 3×10¹⁵ oxygen atoms/cm². H analysis is carried out separately, using low-energy ERDA and a 2 MeV ⁴He beam. Absolute cross-sections have been obtained for each of the (d,p) and (d,) groups. Comparison with data in the recent Handbook of Modern Ion Beam Materials Analysis shows reasonable agreement (10–15%) for the (d,p) reactions on oxygen and carbon. However, in the case of nitrogen, the measured cross-section values are 70% larger than the Handbook data. Several silicon oxynitride samples have been analyzed, first at UWO using 850 keV deuterons, and subsequently at ANU using HIERDA and a 200 MeV Au beam. The resulting O/N-ratios agree to within 10%. The relative importance of radiation damage effects is briefly discussed.     

Behavior of a Class of Complex Systems: the Effect of System Size on Properties of Terminal Cycles

Abstract

System size is an important variable in large, intricately structured systems. Such systems offer a greater scope of effect to size than do simpler types. Considering the potential usefulness of complex abstract systems as models of real-world systems, it becomes important 1) to determine the effect of size on behaviors of such systems, and 2) to seek procedures that indicate the effects of size indirectly. These two inquiries are undertaken in this paper for a basic class of complex system. An insensitivity of behavioral rhythm to change in system size, and a conjecture relating system size to system structure are examined.     

Measuring Agility and Architectural Integrity

Most organizations that depend on software are pursuing more flexible architectures and more agile life-cycle processes to increase business flexibility. What does agility look like, and how do we measure it? A truly agile project or organization should experience changes that are more straightforward and more predictable. Consequently, improvements are best measured by gauging the change trends in software baselines. A well-accepted tenet of software engineering states, "The later you are in the life cycle, the more expensive things are to fix." This iron law, an artifact of a waterfall culture, should not apply if you have transformed to agile software delivery with a well-architected system. This bold assertion is the root of the metric patterns presented in this paper.     

Grain Floatation During Equiaxed Solidification of an Al-Cu Alloy in a Side-Cooled Cavity: Part I—Experimental Studies

Experimental studies were performed to investigate the role and influence of grain movement on macrosegregation and microstructure evolution during equiaxed solidification. Casting experiments were performed with a grain-refined Al-Cu alloy in a rectangular sand mold. For the aluminum alloy studied, the equiaxed grains are lighter than the bulk melt and thus float up. Experiments were designed to investigate floatation phenomena of equiaxed grains in the presence of thermosolutal convection. Cooling curves were recorded at key locations in both the casting and the chill. Quantitative image analysis and spatial chemical analysis were performed on the solidified casting to observe the chemical and microstructural inhomogeneity created by the melt convection and solid floatation. Several notable features that can be attributed to grain movement were observed in temperature histories, macrosegregation patterns, and microstructures. In our experiments, the floatation of grains influences the thermal conditions and the overall flow direction in the casting cavity. In some cases, the induced flow resulting from the grain movement caused a flow reversal. This in turn influences the solidification direction, microstructure evolution, and the overall macrosegregation behavior.