Perceptions of counselor self-disclosure: An analogue study.

120 male and 120 female university students viewed a videotaped vignette of a simulated counseling session. Counselor self-disclosure was manipulated so that Ss were presented a counselor exhibiting no disclosure, interpersonal disclosure, or intrapersonal disclosure. Ss rated these counselors across a variety of professional (e.g., competency) and personal (e.g., likability) dimensions. Results reveal that counselors who self-disclose are evaluated significantly more favorably than counselors who do not. There is no evidence that disclosing counselors are viewed as less competent or less mentally healthy as suggested in previous research. The implications of these findings for further research on counselor self-disclosure and for clinical practice are explored. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathology and marital distress: The positive side of positive symptoms.

Levels of marital satisfaction reported by spouses of schizophrenic and affectively disordered patients were examined, and several hypotheses based on an attribution model of symptom controllability were tested. This model holds that patients' florid symptoms and marked behavioral excesses are more likely to be perceived by their spouses as illness-caused and, consequently, will be associated with less marital discord than negative symptoms or symptoms that involve behavioral deficits. Consistent with this model, the classification of patients on the basis of their predominant symptom profiles revealed significant differences in the marital satisfaction ratings of their spouses. Spouses of patients with negative symptoms and impulse-control deficits reported significantly lower levels of marital satisfaction than spouses of patients with positive symptoms. The results suggest that the symptoms that are most salient to clinicians and diagnosticians may not be the symptoms that are most salient to the families of the mentally ill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Large-scale coordination: developing a framework to evaluate socio-technical and collaborative issues

Collaborative logistics, logistics-based networks, focused logistics, and distributed adaptive logistics refer to innovative approaches to logistics planning/execution encompassing automated, adaptive technologies, and proactive human collaboration. Because these approaches are collaborative and distributed in nature, they create novel challenges for coordination and collaboration within socio-technical systems, which encompass the collaborative technologies, the people or machines engaged in collaboration, and the social context of collaboration and coordination. The present challenges need to be met by theoretical models incorporating multidisciplinary perspectives in the study of collaboration. The current paper introduces a collaboration framework which may inform the design and implementation of collaborative technologies and systems, to include distributed logistics teams, from a socio-technical perspective.     

Fifth-grade students as emotional helpers with kindergartners: Using play therapy procedures and skills.

This research study investigated the effectiveness of a filial therapy training model as a method to train 5th-grade students in child-centered play therapy skills and procedures. The 5th-grade students were trained to be therapeutic change agents in weekly play sessions with kindergarten children identified as having adjustment difficulties. Skill acquisition was assessed by videotaping 5th-grade student participants playing with a kindergarten child identified as having adjustment difficulties in 20-min play sessions before and after the training. Analysis of covariance on adjusted posttest means revealed that 5th-grade children in the experimental group demonstrated statistically significant increases in empathic responses, behavioral willingness to follow the kindergarten children's lead, and involvement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fusion Simulation Project: Integrated Simulation and Optimization of Magnetic Fusion Systems

This is the final report of a panel established as a subcommittee of the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fusion Energy Sciences Committee (FESAC) on Integrated Simulation and Optimization of Magnetic Fusion Systems (ISOFS). The report was requested by the DOE in February 2002 and the approved report was transmitted to the DOE by the FESAC in December 2002. The report addresses the challenge of how to develop fully integrated capability for predicting the performance of externally-controlled systems including turbulent transport, macroscopic stability, wave-particle physics, and multi-phase interfaces.     

Short‐Wavelength Lasing‐Spasing and Random Spasing with Deeply Subwavelength Thin‐Film Gain Media

Lasing‐spasers are subwavelength‐sized metal/dielectric structures that emit light via stimulated emission of surface plasmons. Here, it is demonstrated that silver nanoparticles combined with deeply subwavelength, blue‐emitting conjugated polymer thin films can function as room‐temperature lasing‐spasers and random spasers with quality factors up to 250. In contrast to other thin‐film‐based spaser and plasmonic random laser studies, which have used gain films ranging from ≈200 nm to 500 nm in thickness and which monitor emission guided to the sample edges, in this study, the thickness of the thin‐film gain medium ranges from 30 nm to 70 nm and emission is collected normal to the plane of the film. This eliminates effects that arise from optical trapping of scattered emission within the gain medium that is typically associated with plasmonic random lasing. The use of the conjugated polymer thin‐film gain medium allows higher chromophore densities compared to organic dye‐doped layers, which enables spasing using deeply subwavelength gain layers. Samples implementing gold nanoparticles and the conjugated polymer gain medium do not exhibit stimulated emission, demonstrating that it is the spectral overlap between the silver nanoparticle's surface plasmon resonance and the gain medium's emission that is necessary for observation of stimulated emission from this material system.     

Nanodisk codes

We report a new encoding system based upon dispersible arrays of nanodisks prepared by on-wire lithography and functionalized with Raman active chromophores. These nanodisk arrays are encoded both physically (in a "barcode" pattern) and spectroscopically (Raman) along the array. These structures can be used in covert encoding strategies because of their small size or as biological labels with readout by scanning confocal Raman spectroscopy. As proof-of-concept, we demonstrate their utility in DNA detection in a multiplexed format at target concentrations as low as 100 fM.     

Survival of Listeria monocytogenes during storage of ready-to-eat meat products processed by drying, fermentation, and/or smoking

The survival of Listeria monocytogenes was evaluated on 15 ready-to-eat meat products made using drying, fermentation, and/or smoking. The products were obtained from six processors and included summer sausage, smoked cured beef, beef jerky, snack stick, and pork rind and crackling products. The water activity of the products ranged from 0.27 (pork rinds and cracklings) to 0.98 (smoked cured beef slices). Products were inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of L. monocytogenes, repackaged under either vacuum or air, and then stored either at room temperature (21degrees C) or under refrigeration (5 degrees C) for 4 to 11 weeks. Numbers of L. monocytogenes fell for all products during storage, ranging from a decrease of 0.8 log CFU on smoked cured beef slices during 11 weeks under vacuum at 5 degrees C to a decrease of 3.3 log CFU on a pork rind product stored 5 weeks under air at 21degrees C. All of the products tested could be produced under alternative 2 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations mandating control of L. monocytogenes on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. For many of the products, 1 week of postprocessing storage prior to shipment would act as an effective postlethality treatment and would allow processors to operate under alternative I of these regulations.     

Conduction at domain walls in insulating Pb(Zr0.2 Ti0.8)O3 thin films

Domain wall conduction in insulating Pb(Zr(0.2) Ti(0.8))O(3) thin films is demonstrated. The observed electrical conduction currents can be clearly differentiated from displacement currents associated with ferroelectric polarization switching. The domain wall conduction, nonlinear and highly asymmetric due to the specific local probe measurement geometry, shows thermal activation at high temperatures, and high stability over time.