The effects of social skills curricula: Now you see them, now you don't.

Discusses the generalization effects of 7 commercially available student social-skills training (SST) curricula. A table listing strategy, curricula, S characteristics, and results is given. Maintenance of improved behavior was seen as least successful when the "train and hope" strategy was used. The combination of SST and alteration of consequences in the classroom led to the most significant maintenance of results. The most effective programs were those that combined a variety of techniques. Improvement of behavior was obtained more often with withdrawn students than with aggressive students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and psychometric evaluation of the Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale—Second Edition.

The Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS; Goodman, Price, Rasmussen, Mazure, Delgado, et al., 1989) is acknowledged as the gold standard measure of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom severity. A number of areas where the Y-BOCS may benefit from revision have emerged in past psychometric studies of the Severity Scale and Symptom Checklist. Therefore, we created the Yale–Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale—Second Edition (Y-BOCS–II) by revising the Severity Scale item content and scoring framework, integrating avoidance into the scoring of Severity Scale items, and modifying the Symptom Checklist content and format. One hundred thirty treatment-seeking adults with OCD completed a battery of measures assessing OCD symptom severity and typology and depressive and anxious symptomology. Interrater and test–retest reliability were assessed on a subsample of participants. The Y-BOCS–II showed strong internal consistency for the Symptom Checklist (Kuder–Richardson-20 = .91) and Severity Scale (α = .89). Test–retest and interrater reliabilities were both high (intraclass correlations > .85). Confirmatory factor analyses did not show adequate fit with previous models of the Y-BOCS. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution generally consistent with the Obsession and Compulsion Severity subscales. Construct validity was supported by strong correlations with clinician-rated measures of OCD symptom severity and moderate correlations with measures of worry and depressive symptoms. Taken together, the Y-BOCS–II has excellent psychometric properties in assessing the presence and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Although the Y-BOCS remains a reliable and valid measure, the Y-BOCS–II may provide an alternative method of assessing symptom presence and severity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes two to mimic: Behavioral consequences of self-construals.

The present studies demonstrated the moderation of self-construal orientation on mimicry. Recent research has indicated that an interdependent self-construal is associated with assimilation of the other to the self whereas an independent self-construal is associated with minimizing the influence of others on the self (H. R. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991; D. Stapel & W. Koomen, 2001). Therefore, the authors hypothesized that an interdependent self-construal would be associated with more mimicry than an independent self-construal. When self-construal orientations were experimentally primed. as in Studies 1 and 2, independent self-construals produced less nonconscious mimicry than interdependent self-construals. When self-construals were examined as cultural differences with either a chronically dominant independent (Americans) or interdependent (Japanese) construal of the self, these results were replicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High-maintenance interaction: Inefficient social coordination impairs self-regulation.

Tasks requiring interpersonal coordination permeate all spheres of life. Although social coordination is sometimes efficient and effortless (low maintenance), at other times it is inefficient and effortful (high maintenance). Across 5 studies, participants experienced either a high- or a low-maintenance interaction with a confederate before engaging in an individual-level task requiring self-regulation. Self-regulation was operationalized with measures of (a) preferences for a challenging task with high reward potential over an easy task with low reward potential (Study 1) and (b) task performance (anagram performance in Study 1, Graduate Record Exam performance in Studies 2 and 3, physical stamina in Study 4, and fine motor control in Study 5). Results uniformly supported the hypothesis that experiencing high-maintenance interaction impairs one's self-regulatory success on subsequent, unrelated tasks. These effects were not mediated through participants' conscious processes and emerged even with a nonconscious manipulation of high-maintenance interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Duct Types and Emulsifiable Oils on Bond and Friction Losses in Posttensioned Concrete

Emulsifiable oils are often used in posttensioned construction to reduce friction losses and provide temporary corrosion protection for tendons prior to grouting. This paper addresses the effects of two emulsifiable oils and three duct types on bond and friction losses. Bond test results indicate that corrugated galvanized steel ducts provide better anchorage than corrugated HDPE ducts. Rigid steel pipes performed poorly because of failure at the duct-concrete or grout-duct interface. Bond test results also indicate that the ultimate strength of posttensioned specimens with oiled tendons is similar to or better than the ultimate strength of specimens with unoiled tendons. However, specimens with oiled tendons experienced greater slip at a given load than specimens with unoiled tendons. Friction test results indicate that current recommended design values for the coefficient of friction for steel pipes and galvanized ducts are accurate. However, the measured coefficient for HDPE ducts is significantly less than the AASHTO-recommended value. Friction tests also indicate that lubrication of the tendon reduces the friction coefficient by 15% in rigid steel pipes and HDPE ducts if stressing occurs while the oil is fresh.     

A general method for solving dynamically accelerating multiple co-linear cracks

We present a general method for analyzing dynamically accelerating multiple co-linear cracks that can be applied to the contexts of plane strain or antiplane shear in an elastic material. The difficulty in solving such problems lies in the fact that the space-time regions containing known data evolve as the crack propagates in an a priori unknown manner. Using an analog to a Dirichlet-to-Neumann map, we can find complete knowledge of the stress and displacement along the fracture plane, facilitating the application of fracture criteria that require these values away from the crack tip. The method is demonstrated for a semi-infinite or finite mode III crack as well as for a pair of cracks in elastic material, using a stress intensity factor fracture criterion for simplicity.     

Spectroelectrochemical sensing based on attenuated total internal reflectance stripping voltammetry. 2. Determination of mercury and lead

Detection of lead and mercury by attenuated total internal reflectance spectroscopy coupled to stripping voltammetry is demonstrated. Changes in attenuation of light passing through an indium tin oxide optically transparent electrode (ITO-OTE) accompany the electrodeposition and stripping of lead and mercury on the electrode surface. The change in absorbance during stripping of electrodeposited metal constitutes the analytical response that enables detection over a range of 2.5 x 10(-7)-5 x 10(-5) and 5 x 10(-8)-5 x 10(-5) M for mercury and lead, respectively. The spectroelectrochemical responses of mercury and lead on the ITO surface are characterized and optimized with respect to solution conditions, the potential excitation signals used for deposition and stripping, and wavelength for detection. The deposited metals were examined by environmental scanning electron miscroscopy, and the electrodeposition pattern of lead and mercury was found to influence the optical response.     

Natural Gas & Electricity Pricing: Pop Go Gas Prices: Has the Market Recovered?

Natural gas prices this spring roughly doubled those in 2012. Rising from around $2.00 a million Btu's last spring to above $4.00 a million Btu's, prices settled into the range established after the economic collapse in 2008. Has the dramatically oversupplied market corrected itself or is this a temporary lull before another crash?     

Natural gas & electricity pricing: Natural gas challenge to King Coal: Check or checkmate?

A long-standing mainstay of the US power sector, coal fuels 45 percent of domestic power production. 1 Termed the “Saudi Arabia” of coal since the 1970s, the United States boasts more than one-quarter of the world's coal reserves, ranked number one in the world and well ahead of Russia and China. 2 Yet at the beginning of 2012, President Obama anointed the United States as the “Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” 3 The president's new title must reflect the speed of the nation's apparent transition toward natural gas rather than the relative level of reserves, for the United States is ranked fifth among all countries with only 3 percent of the world's total natural gas reserves. 4