Stress management in the health care setting: Matching interventions with patient coping styles.

Forty-six patients about to undergo preprosthetic oral surgery were presented with either a problem-focused, emotion-focused, or mixed-focus stress management intervention. The mixed-focus intervention produced the best overall response to surgery; the emotion-focused intervention produced the lowest adjustment levels. The Krantz Health Opinion Survey Information scale was the best overall predictor of response to surgery in conjunction with treatments. Better adjustment and satisfaction and lower self-reported pain were obtained when high information-preference subjects were given a problem-focused intervention and when low information-preference subjects were given an emotion-focused intervention; responses were relatively poor when mismatches occurred. Differences in relative use of problem- to emotion-focused coping as measured by the Ways of Coping Checklist were unrelated to adjustment or satisfaction, but differences in problem-focused coping were the best predictors of pain response in conjunction with treatments. Preoperative anxiety level was inversely related to adjustment and satisfaction and was directly related to pain, with the affective-unpleasantness component of pain primarily accounting for this association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptive priorities in brain development: Theoretical comment on Pravosudov et al. (2005).

V. V. Pravosudov, P. Lavenex, and A. Omanska (2005) (see record 2005-13804-022) reported that undernutrition in the first few weeks' posthatching leads to lower mean hippocampus volumes in adult Western scrub jays (Aphelocoma californica) and to poorer performance on spatial memory tasks. Together with prior work on the effects of poor nutrition on the development of the song system in songbirds, these results fit reasonably well with the view that natural selection determines priorities for investment in the development of neural structures. What seems somewhat anomalous under this view is that undernutrition did not affect the development of color association abilities in scrub jays. This work sets the stage for future comparative research on adaptive priorities in the development of brain and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clearwater Local Scour at Complex Piers

A new methodology to predict local scour depth at a complex pier is presented herein that combines existing expressions for scouring respectively at uniform piers, caisson-founded piers, pile groups with debris rafts, and pile groups alone. The method recognises the relative scouring potentials of the components of complex piers and the transition of scouring processes occurring for varying pile-cap elevation. The validity of the method is confirmed herein using the present and also historical measurements of local scour at complex piers. The proposed methodology has the advantages of being conceptually consistent with observed scour behaviours, relatively simple to apply, applicable to wide ranges of flow and sediment conditions (through incorporation into a more general analysis framework), and applicable over the entire range of possible pile-cap elevations. For design purposes, the present method highlights respective pile-cap elevations that maximize (i.e., to be avoided over the pier life) and minimize local scour at complex piers. The present method reinforces that where the pile-cap elevation relative to the bed can vary with time at a bridge site, potential local-scour depths need to be assessed over the range of possible pile-cap elevations for the pier.     

Obtaining initially rigid cohesive finite element models that are temporally convergent

Based on a time continuity condition proposed in our earlier work, we develop a fairly general framework, free of regularization issues, for producing initially rigid cohesive finite element models that are temporally convergent in an explicit dynamics setting. These models are adaptive in the sense that an interface is inactive until the traction across it reaches a critical level. We require that the traction across the interface be a continuous function of displacement, and therefore of time, i.e., the traction before and after activation should be the same. We demonstrate with examples that failure to satisfy this condition leads to non-optimal convergence or failure of convergence as the time step tends to zero. We also investigate the predicted crack path produced by a time continuous model versus a discontinuous model in a simulation of a laboratory experiment. The time-continuous model produces crack paths that are stable with variations of the time step and are close to laboratory measurements.     

The effects of pigments on the photostability of polyethylene

The affect of carbon black and various colourizing pigments on the ultraviolet (UV) stability of high and low density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) was determined using a novel method for the analysis of oxygen uptake profiles. Samples were exposed to 0.27 Wm⁻² (measured at 340 nm) UV irrdiation at 25.0±0.1° C in air at 1.0 atm. The usefulness of this method of assessment of UV stability is demonstrated. The method also enables the rapid collection of data that enable the comparison of the relative photostabilities of experimental and commercial formulations containing pigments and stabilizing additives. The results show that carbon black is an effective UV screening agent for HDPE when added at levels as low as 0.05% (wt/wt) and that increased photoprotection is achieved with increasing concentration of carbon black, up to 5% (wt/wt), above which there is no further significant increase in photostability. LDPE containing ultramarine blue pigment (Na₇Al₆Si₆O₂₄S₃) exhibits relatively poor photostability, whereas ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) and chrome orange (PbCrO₄.PbO) pigments are better photostabilizers for this material. Cadmium sulphide (CdS) was found to photosensitize LDPE. A compound containing 0.10% (wt/wt) carbon black, 0.12% (wt/wt) titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and 1.78% (wt/wt) phthalocyanine green (C₃₃H₂N₈Cl₁₄Cu) is an effective formulation for the stabilization of LDPE. Formulations of LDPE containing ultramarine blue-TiO₂ or ferric oxidecarbon black combinations absorb heat on exposure and this may affect their photostability.     

Human tracking using 3D surface colour distributions

A likelihood formulation for detailed human tracking in real-world scenes is presented. In this formulation, the appearance, modelled using feature distributions defined over regions on the surface of an articulated 3D model, is estimated and propagated as part of the state. The benefit of such a formulation over currently used techniques is that it provides a dense, highly discriminatory object-based cue that applies in real world scenes. Multi-dimensional histograms are used to represent the feature distributions and an on-line clustering algorithm, driven by prior knowledge of clothing structure, is derived that enhances appearance estimation and computational efficiency. An investigation of the likelihood model shows its profile to be smooth and broad while region grouping is shown to improve localisation and discrimination. These properties of the likelihood model ease pose estimation by allowing coarse, hierarchical sampling and local optimisation.     

Introduction

Journal of Fusion Energy -