Repetition improves older and younger adult memory for automated appointment messages.

Automated telephone messaging systems have dramatically expanded communication about health service appointments, but few studies have directly investigated these messages. The present study investigated whether message repetition (1, 2, or 3 presentations) and listener age (mean age = 71 or 19 years) improved memory for automated appointment messages. Repetition improved older and younger adult memory for appointment information. Moreover, 2 presentations reduced age differences in accuracy of answering questions about the messages. This was not the case for free recall, suggesting that older adults differentially benefited from repetition only when provided with additional retrieval support. These findings show that older as well as younger adults benefit from at least 1 repetition of appointment messages. Actual or potential applications of this research include the use of repetition to improve comprehension of automated telephone messages.     

Coping with stress: Divergent strategies of optimists and pessimists.

Previous research has shown that dispositional optimism is a prospective predictor of successful adaptation to stressful encounters. In this research we attempted to identify possible mechanisms underlying these effects by examining how optimists differ from pessimists in the kinds of coping strategies that they use. The results of two separate studies revealed modest but reliable positive correlations between optimism and problem-focused coping, seeking of social support, and emphasizing positive aspects of the stressful situation. Pessimism was associated with denial and distancing (Study 1), with focusing on stressful feelings, and with disengagement from the goal with which the stressor was interfering (Study 2). Study 1 also found a positive association between optimism and acceptance/resignation, but only when the event was construed as uncontrollable. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for understanding the meaning of people's coping efforts in stressful circumstances. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dispositional pessimism predicts illness-related disruption of social and recreational activities among breast cancer patients.

The authors tested whether dispositional pessimism would predict withdrawal from social activities among women treated for breast cancer. In a cross-sectional sample 3-12 months postsurgery, disruption of social and recreational activities (measured by the Sickness Impact Profile) correlated with concurrently assessed pessimism. This association appeared mediated by emotional distress and fatigue. A longitudinal sample was studied shortly postsurgery and over the next year. Initial pessimism predicted disruption of social activities concurrently and prospectively (3, 6, and 12 months later) but predicted change in disruption from one time to the next only at final follow-up. These associations appeared partially mediated by distress. The authors conclude that pessimism places patients at risk for adverse outcomes in several respects rather than solely with regard to emotional distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simulation of the distribution of flow and phases in vertical and horizontal bundles using the ASSERT-4 subchannel code

ASSERT-4 is a subchannel code based on the non-equilibrium equations of two-fluid flow. The paper briefly describes the equations and constitutive models used in the code, and reviews a number of validation exercises in which code results were compared to measurements in vertical and horizontal two-phase flows.     

Effects of person salience versus role salience on reward allocation in a dyad.

Research has shown that resource allocation in a dyad sometimes follows the principle of equity (proportional reward) and sometimes that of parity (equal reward). However, existing evidence does not clarify the conditions under which each of these rules is invoked. A number of theorists have suggested that salience of the other as a person should lead to parity-based allocation, whereas salience of the other as a functionary filling a role should lead to equity-based allocation. The present study with 60 male and 60 female undergraduates tested these possibilities. Ss were led to perceive their own inputs to group performance as being either substantially lower or substantially higher than a partner's inputs. The partner had been portrayed to the S in terms that made salient the partner's personal characteristics, the partner's role assignment, or neither of these. Among females, subsequent reward allocation followed the predicted pattern in both high- and low-input conditions. Among males, contrary to expectation, person salience led to heightened feelings of competitiveness and to increased allocations to the self. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

50-Year-Old Prestressed Segmental Concrete Bridges

The first prestressed segmental concrete bridge in the United States opened to traffic was a small bridge in Madison County, Tennessee. The bridge was constructed using prestressed concrete segments and was opened to traffic in October 1950. Prestressed concrete beams were placed side by side to form the superstructure of the bridge. The construction of this bridge and several other similar prestressed concrete bridges are described herein. The existing condition of eleven prestressed concrete bridges remaining in Tennessee is given. Only minor spalling, leaching, and horizontal cracking are present in the superstructure after fifty years of service. Many of the design features introduced in this design can be found in today’s modern precast segmental concrete bridges.     

Multispectral Remote Sensing of Saline Seeps

An aircraft experiment was conducted in early summer of 1981 to determine the feasibility of optical and microwave remote sensing techniques for the detection of fully developed and incipient saline seeps in South Dakota and Montana. The NASA C-130 earth resources aircraft was used to acquire L-band and C-band scatterometer data (backscattering coefficient profiles), radiometer data (brightness temperature profiles), and color-infrared photography; additional passive microwave data and thermal images were acquired by the L- band radiometer on the Beechcraft D-18 aircraft operated by South Dakota State University. Intensive soil moisture and salinity data were collected on a uniform 20-m grid spacing and at several depths for the 600 × 600 m South Dakota site. The two Montana sites were over-flown with flight lines several kilometers in length, and ground truth information was obtained by identifying known geological and geohydrological units with varying soil salinities on a regional basis. The C-130 radiometers (both L- and C-bands) were effective in detecting wet soil areas including fully developed seeps; however, incipient seeps were not accurately detected by the radiometers. The D-18 L-band radiometer data did not appear to be sensitive to soil wetness. The C-130 scatterometer data profiles, although showing some sensitivity to soil moisture, were greatly influenced by surface roughness and appear to be ineffective in accurately delineating either fully developed or incipient seeps. Thermal-IR scanner data acquired by the D-18 aircraft did not appear to provide a reliable means for identifying potential seeps.     

Scanners for visualizing activity of analog VLSI circuitry

This paper tutorially describes mixed digital-analog serial multiplexers (scanners) that we use to visualize the activity of one- and two-dimensional arrays of analog VLSI elements. These scanners range from simple one-dimensional devices designed to scan a one-dimensional array onto an oscilloscope, to complete video scanners with integrated sync and blank computation and on-chip video amplifiers. We discuss practical details of design and performance, and we give a source for example scanner layout.