Reconceptualizing feeding and feeding disorders in interpersonal context: The case for a relational disorder.

The feeding of young children is fundamentally a relational and multisystemic process. Successful treatment of clinically significant feeding problems involves careful assessment of the full range of influences on the feeding relationship and integrated treatment approaches. However, current diagnostic approaches to feeding disorders tend to be reductionistic, exclusively focused on the child as an individual, and overly concerned with exclusionary criteria. Criteria are proposed for "Feeding Disorder Between Parent and Child" that address these limitations and embrace the complexity of feeding problems. A multiaxial diagnosis that describes the child (including medical, developmental, and behavioral characteristics); the parent; the parent-child relationship; and the social and nutritional context of feeding will more accurately speak to treatment planning in this population. The proposed diagnostic criteria were developed and refined on the basis of the available literature and many years of treatment experience across the authors of this article. The proposed diagnosis will support the development and evaluation of treatment packages with components specifically targeted to issues of the child, parent, parent-child interaction, and the broader environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contingency management for smoking cessation in adolescent smokers.

This pilot study evaluated the use of contingency management (CM) procedures in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation in adolescents. Twenty-eight treatment-seeking adolescent smokers participated in a 1-month, school-based smoking cessation program and were randomly assigned to receive either CM with weekly CBT or CBT alone. In the CM+CBT group, biochemical verification of abstinence was obtained twice daily during the first 2 weeks, followed by daily appointments during the 3rd week and once every other day during the 4th week. Participants were monetarily reinforced for abstinence on an escalating magnitude schedule with a reset contingency. At the end of 1 week and 1 month of treatment, abstinence verified using quantitative urine cotinine levels was higher in participants in the CM+CBT group (1 week: 76.7%; 1 month: 53.0%) when compared with the CBT-alone group (1 week: 7.2%; 4 weeks: 0%). These preliminary results provide a strong initial signal supporting the utility of CM techniques for smoking cessation in adolescents and demonstrate the feasibility of implementing such a program in a school setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Character of Organic Matter in Soil-Aquifer Treatment Systems

The objective of this study was to investigate the character and fate of bulk organics in reclaimed water used for groundwater recharge via soil-aquifer treatment (SAT). The study design followed a watershed guided approach considering hydraulically corresponding samples of drinking water sources, SAT-applied wastewater effluents, and subsequent post-SAT samples representing a series of different travel times in the subsurface. Water samples were fractionated into hydrophobic acids, transphilic acids, and hydrophilic carbon using a XAD resin-based protocol. Extensive characterization of organic carbon in the different samples was performed using state-of-the-art analytical techniques including excitation–emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography, carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C-NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and elemental analysis. During SAT, transphilic and hydrophilic organic matter were preferentially removed. The results generally demonstrated that naturally derived (NOM) and effluent-derived organic matter after SAT overlap extensively in molecular weight distribution, amount and distribution of hydrophobic and hydrophilic carbon fractions, and chemical characteristics based on elemental analysis and 13C-NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. However, the residual portion of the dissolved organic carbon contained both effluent-derived organic matter and NOM.     

Smell, think and act: A cognitive robot discriminating odours

In this paper, we explore the integration of an electronic nose and its odour discrimination functionalities into a multi-sensing robotic system which works over an extended period of time. The robot patrols an office environment, collecting odour samples of objects and performing user requested tasks. By considering an experimental platforms which operates over an extended period of time, a number of issues related to odour discrimination arise such as the drift in the sensor data, online learning of new odours, and the correct association of odour properties related to objects. In addition to an electronic nose our robotic system consists of other sensing modalities (vision and sonar), behaviour-based control and a high level symbolic planner.     

Responses to escalating predatory threat in garter and ribbon snakes (Thamnophis).

Several models suggest that animals perform a stable sequence of responses during increasing threat from a potential predator. To test the comparative utility of such models, 45 garter and ribbon snakes from 4 species were given an antipredator behavior test in which the snakes were exposed to a series of 5 levels of escalating threat: (1) threat is out of view, (2) threat looms over arena, (3) threat is nonmoving human hand near snake's head, (4) threat is moving human hand, and (5) threat is experimenter's tapping the snake's body. Five different antipredator behaviors were measured. It was found that both qualitative and quantitative changes in behavior occurred between threat levels. However, species differences were also found in the occurrence and amount of every behavior recorded, which indicates that even closely related species may differ in behaviors exhibited in different phases of a predatory encounter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linguistic analysis of an assertiveness training film.

Analyzed stylistic complexity and verb usage in the text of the film Responsible Assertion, an assertiveness training film, using the Computer-Assisted Language Analysis System. Findings suggest that the assertive language in the film was characterized by a wordy, complex style full of many embedded clauses and that assertive speech consisted of monologues containing qualifying phrases. Results suggest that assertiveness trainers should emphasize wordiness and persistence rather than simple sentences. Data indicate that an emphasis on feelings was not crucial in behavior that was judged assertive. Implications for understanding the process and outcome of therapy are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guest Editor's Introduction

Journal of Signal Processing Systems -     

"Good, you identified the suspect": Feedback to eyewitnesses distorts their reports of the witnessing experience.

People viewed a security video and tried to identify the gunman from a photospread. The actual gunman was not in the photospread and all eyewitnesses made false identifications (n = 352). Following the identification, witnesses were given confirming feedback ("Good, you identified the actual suspect"), disconfirming feedback ("Actually, the suspect is number __" ), or no feedback. The manipulations produced strong effects on the witnesses' retrospective reports of (a) their certainty, (b) the quality of view they had, (c) the clarity of their memory, (d) the speed with which they identified the person, and (e) several other measures. Eyewitnesses who were asked about their certainty prior to the feedback manipulation (Experiment 2) were less influenced, but large effects still emerged on some measures. The magnitude of the effect was as strong for those who denied that the feedback influenced them as it was for those who admitted to the influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cardioprotective effect of probucol in the atherosclerosis-prone JCR:LA-cp rat

The second epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domain of human coagulation factor VII is a potent inhibitor of the FVIIa/tissue factor complex, the predominant initiator of coagulation in vivo. This domain has now for the first time been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli as an affinity fusion protein. The fusion protein was secreted into the periplasm of E. coli and purified by affinity chromatography. The purified protein consisted of a fusion protein with the expected molecular weight, and in addition, a significant fraction of oligomers cross-linked by intermolecular disulfide bonds. Despite the presence of oligomers, the purified protein was a potent inhibitor of the extrinsic blood coagulation pathway with an IC50 value of about 20 microM. The biological activity was retained after liberation of the EGF domain by proteolytic cleavage.     

Estimation of particle volume fraction, mass fraction and number density in thermophoretic deposition systems

A method is presented to predict the soot volume fraction in soot-laden gas streams in systems where thermophoresis is the dominant mechanism of particle deposition onto adjoining surfaces. In particular, we considered deposition of silica particles on a circular cylinder in cross-flow to a premix CH₄/O₂ flame, a setup similar to the one used in the outside vapor deposition process used for making optical fibers. Silica particles were produced by introducing SiCl₄ along with the premix gases to the burner and were collected on a cylinder. Heat flux and mass deposition rate measurements on the cylinder were performed and recorded as a function of time. Considering thermophoresis to be the dominant mechanism of particle deposition, a simple theory was developed to establish the relationship between the measured quantities. The theory predicted that the thickness at any given time t was expected to increase linearly with the integral of (integrated from t=0 to t=t), where q^′′(t) is the heat flux. Such a linear relationship was observed for five different reactant flow rates confirming thermophoresis to be the dominant mechanism of particle deposition. Soot volume fraction and soot mass fraction were calculated from the slope of these linear fits and were seen to be in good agreement with the estimates of the soot fraction from light scattering measurements. Based on the light scattering estimates of particle diameter, particle number densities were also estimated.