The use of contingency management and motivational/skills-building therapy to treat young adults with marijuana dependence.

Marijuana-dependent young adults (N = 136), all referred by the criminal justice system, were randomized to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: a motivational/skills-building intervention (motivational enhancement therapy/cognitive-behavioral therapy; MET/CBT) plus incentives contingent on session attendance or submission of marijuana-free urine specimens (contingency management; CM), MET/CBT without CM, individual drug counseling (DC) plus CM, and DC without CM. There was a significant main effect of CM on treatment retention and marijuana-free urine specimens. Moreover, the combination of MET/CBT plus CM was significantly more effective than MET/CBT without CM or DC plus CM, which were in turn more effective than DC without CM for treatment attendance and percentage of marijuana-free urine specimens. Participants assigned to MET/CBT continued to reduce the frequency of their marijuana use through a 6-month follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electronic [re]constitution of groups: Group dynamics from face-to-face to an online setting

The authors work as online tutors for a BSc (Hons) physiotherapy programme at Coventry University in the United Kingdom. This paper represents a stage in our developing understanding, over a 3 year period, of the impact of group dynamics on online interaction among physiotherapy students engaged in sharing with their peers their first experiences of clinical practice. The literature exploring online interaction tends to situate meaning either in theories borrowed from conventional face-to-face interaction or on virtual interaction. Research focusing on ‘blended learning’ that combines face-to-face and online interaction is limited in terms of considering how group dynamics impact groups that are constituted and reconstituted in the two very different learning contexts. Using a case study approach, the authors consider how group dynamics change as groups move from face-to-face to online collaboration in pursuit of learning objectives. We characterize typical features of the cases and draw conclusions based on similarities and differences. Findings suggest that group learning is linked to group cohesion, which appears to be mediated by social and cognitive factors that students bring with them. Social presence appears vital to positive group dynamics and is a precursor to cognitive presence, which develops when groups rise above their desire to be sociable and supportive. Group dynamics, whether positive or negative, and their consequent impact on interaction appear to be relatively stable across contexts once the group scene is set through face-to-face interaction. Engagement and interaction of individual students, however, can alter when face-to-face interaction moves online.     

Changing reinforcing events: An approach to the treatment of depression.

The relationship between depression and reinforcement is central to therapy that changes reinforcing events, depression and reinforcement are assumed to be highly related phenomena. The main goal is to enhance the quantity and the quality of the person's reinforcement-related interaction. Procedures include the systematic assessment of depression level, pinpointing of key pleasant and unpleasant events, and the daily monitoring of pleasant and unpleasant events and mood. Tactics include a wide range of cognitive-behavioral interventions such as assertion, relaxation training, daily planning and time management training, and cognitive procedures intended to allow the person to deal more adaptively with aversive situations. A therapist manual is available. Pre-, post- and follow-up data for 3 groups of depressed individuals are presented. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

3-D封装时代拉开帷幕

正如Joseph Fjelstad（SiliconPipe的创始人和CEO）在SEMICON West 2007所做的一个关于先进封装的报告中所指出的，在电子封装发展史上有着三个显著的时期（图）。这些时期包括通孔、表面组装和芯片级封装。我们目前的许多技术仍处于芯片级时代，但是封装领域的新纪元将是3-D技术——虽然它几年前才刚刚开始。     

Retail Store Performance Model the Impact of Own-branch 'Friendly Fire'

Store location modelling is still far from accepted practice in most national retailers. A growing number, however, are implementing regression-based approaches. While as a statistical technique, regression is far from innovative, its gradual acceptance in retailing is bringing welcome benefits to many companies. Implementation, though, requires careful planning. Recent developments have concentrated on incorporating competitive forces of two types. The impact on sales of competitors' brands and store networks. The fears of cannibalisation of sales as dense branch networks place a retailer's own stores in close proximity to each other — the impact of 'friendly fire'.     

Selenium speciation,solubility, and mobility in land-disposed dredged sediments

Pilot-scale tests for the land disposal of Se-enriched sediments from the San Luis Drain were performed in the San Joaquin Valley, California. Three test plots were instrumented and monitored on a dirt-road embankment near the sediment source area, providing an opportunity to measure Se oxidation and solubilization rates over a period of 2-3 yr. Soil, soil water, and groundwater data indicated that the amendment did not cause movement of dissolved Se below a depth of 15 cm. The low permeability of underlying sediments and the overall low Se solubility limit Se movement toward the groundwater table. Selenium remained in reduced forms and largely immobile at this site, although in-situ Se oxidation was measurable. Soluble Se concentrations increased from less than 0.5% to approximately 2.5% in the first 207 d following sediment application. Minor Se solubilization occurred after 439 and 704 d. Changes in Se fractionation measured using sequential extractions and Se speciation based on X-ray spectroscopy (XANES) results were in qualitative agreement. XANES results indicated initially rapid oxidation of organo-Se and/or elemental Se to selenite during the first 207 d, followed by minor oxidation after 439 d. Further solubilization of the Se inventory is anticipated, but at a low rate of 1-2% per year, comparable to rates measured in other studies.     

Client–practitioner agreement in the assessment of severely psychiatrically disabled persons' functional skills.

Investigated the relationship between practitioners' ratings of 383 psychiatrically disabled patients' (mean age 46.2 yrs) functional skills and the clients' own ratings of their functional skills. Factor analysis yielded 2 distinct factors for both client self-report items and practitioner-rated global assessment items. Intercorrelations among various combinations of factor scores indicated a moderate degree of agreement between corresponding client and practitioner factors. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethanol preference and behavioral tolerance in mice: Biochemical and neurophysiological mechanisms.

Determinations were made of ethanol preference and behavioral tolerance in 4 experiments with inbred strains of mice. High- and low-preference strains were compared on neural tolerance to ethanol and metabolic capacity. High preference for ethanol was accompanied by higher behavioral and neural tolerance than that found in low-preference Ss. Differences in metabolism of ethanol between high- and low-preferring Ss were small. However, low-preference Ss did not metabolize acetaldehyde as rapidly as high-preference Ss. Differences in preference for propylene glycol were in the same direction and as extreme as those for ethanol. Both substances are CNS depressants; but unlike alcohol, propylene glycol is not metabolized to a toxic metabolite that might induce a conditioned aversion. This finding in addition to the difference observed in neural tolerance suggests that neural sensitivity may play a part in the acceptance or rejection of ethanol and propylene glycol. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of frozen storage of open-ocean seawater samples on the concentration of dissolved phosphate and nitrate

Filtered seawater samples which were stored at −20°C in containers of different surface area to volume ratios were analysed for the effects of surface adsorption of nitrate and phosphate during storage for a maximum of 24 months. The results for nitrate showed no significant change in concentration over the duration of the experiment. However, the concentration of phosphate steadily decreased in samples stored for longer than 4 months. The loss of phosphate after this time cannot be explained at present, but this study showed that it was not due to the effects of surface adsorption.