On rating empathy and other psychotherapy variables: An experience with the effects of training.

Compared 3 methods of assessing the psychotherapist's empathy: (a) the Accurate Empathy Scale, (b) the Conjunctive Empathy Scale, and (c) the Raskin Empathy Scale. 5 moderately to very experienced judges rated 10 4-min segments of a tape-recorded psychotherapy session during pre- and posttraining phases. The mean reliability of the 3 scales increased significantly, and intercorrelations were nearly perfect when corrected for unreliability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance evaluation of asynchronous,modular systems

A theoretical foundation is presented for a practical method of evaluating the expected performance of asynchronous, modular systems. Five basic types of asynchronous control modules are defined, which can be easily implemented using combinatorial logic. These modules can be used to control the execution of digital computations; and the result is a high degree of concurrency with true “speed-independence” (i.e. the correct operation of the system is not dependent on any relative timing assumptions). For such digital computations, methods are presented for estimating the expected execution time and throughput rate. Both deterministic and probabilistic models of computations are considered. For some restricted classes of computations, exact analytical solutions for the execution time are derived and for the general case, upper and lower bounds on the expected execution time are given.     

Perennial mystery of poor agreement among criteria for psychotherapy outcome.

Discusses S. Garfield, R. Prager, and A. Bergin's (see pa, vol. 47:issue 5) finding of little relationship among criteria and most change on global ratings of improvement which they believe are the most biased. Values of the global improvement ratings are discussed. Patient and therapist (and supervisor) have intimate knowledge of the specific areas needing change; many other measures are nonspecific or insensitive to change, and since therapeutic gains may be small, intercorrelations among criteria may be limited. Some of the statistics are questioned: raw gain scores are of questionable value; the relative importance of changes on the "other measures" is unclear; and considering the unreliability of single item ratings, the amount of the interrelationship among different criteria is not to be dismissed as slight. Furthermore, rotation of their factor matrix showed patient, therapist, and supervisor ratings of change loading the same factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of common concerns about rational–emotive therapy.

Examines some of the more frequent concerns and criticisms about rational–emotive therapy, including issues of relationship factors, emotive aspects, values, religious concerns, and intervention techniques and styles in therapy. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telemetered heart rate and skin potential of a chronic schizophrenic patient especially during periods of hallucinations and periods of talking.

Took telemetric recordings of a male 23-yr-old chronic schizophrenic patient's heart rate and skin potential while on the ward. During periods of hallucinations, the skin potential increased significantly, while there were no changes in heart rate. Neither heart rate nor skin potential increased during periods of talking. When very angry, heart rate showed a substantial deceleration followed by a large increase. There was no change in skin potential during the period of anger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life cycle economic and environmental implications of using nanocomposites in automobiles

By reducing the energy and materials required to provide goods and services, nanotechnology has the potential to provide more appealing products while improving environmental performance and sustainability. Whether and how soon this potential could be realized depends on phrasing the right research and development (R&D) questions and pursuing commercialization intelligently. A sufficiently broad perspective at the outset is required to understand economic and technical feasibility, estimate life cycle environmental implications, and minimize unanticipated negative impacts. The rapid rise in federally funded nanotechnology R&D dictates that consideration of societal benefits will have a large role in setting the R&D agenda. We estimate potential selected economic and environmental impacts associated with the use of nanotechnology in the automotive industry. In particular, we project the material processing and fuel economy benefits associated with using a clay-polypropylene nanocomposite instead of steel or aluminum in light-duty vehicle body panels. Although the manufacturing cost is currently higher, a life cycle analysis shows potential benefits in reducing energy use and environment discharges by using a nanocomposite design.     

Gaze-contingent multiresolutional displays: an integrative review

Gaze-contingent multiresolutional displays (GCMRDs) center high-resolution information on the user's gaze position, matching the user's area of interest (AOI). Image resolution and details outside the AOI are reduced, lowering the requirements for processing resources and transmission bandwidth in demanding display and imaging applications. This review provides a general framework within which GCMRD research can be integrated, evaluated, and guided. GCMRDs (or "moving windows") are analyzed in terms of (a) the nature of their images (i.e., "multiresolution," "variable resolution," "space variant," or "level of detail"), and (b) the movement of the AOI (i.e., "gaze contingent," "foveated," or "eye slaved"). We also synthesize the known human factors research on GCMRDs and point out important questions for future research and development. Actual or potential applications of this research include flight, medical, and driving simulators; virtual reality; remote piloting and teleoperation; infrared and indirect vision; image transmission and retrieval; telemedicine; video teleconferencing; and artificial vision systems.     

Photodegradation of sulphadimethoxine in water by medium pressure UV lamp

The photodegradation rate of sulphadimethoxine (SMT) in water was studied under polychromatic UV light, in a bench scale apparatus. SMT photolysis was carried out at pH levels of 2.5, 6.5 and 10 to study the impact of acid base properties on the degradation of SMT. The highest SMT photolysis fluence based rate was found at pH=2.5 (k=7.22x10(-4) cm2/mJ) and the lowest rate at pH=10 (k=4.72x10(-4) cm2/mJ), thus the reaction rate decreases with an increase in pH between pH values of 2.5-10. Results indicated that direct photolysis is not satisfactory for degradation of SMT by polychromatic UV lamp as a fluence of approximately 7,000 mJ/cm2 is needed to break down 99% of SMT at pH 6.5. The photodegradation products of SMT were studied at various pH values. Photodegradation of SMT results in dissimilar relative amounts of intermediates formed at different pH values which may exert a photon demand and impact on SMT photodegradation rate.