Marketing and selling solar energy equipment

The literature on creating consumer awareness and acceptance of solar water heating systems for marketing purposes is sparse. This paper discusses some of the sophisticated marketing techniques available and some results.Selling solar water heating systems in Northern European latitudes requires a degree of persistence and commitment that is probably not required in what are regarded as the “sunny climes” around the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and Australasia.     

Factor structure of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 in a sample of girls adopted from China.

Confirmatory factor analysis with robust weighted least squares estimation of the 103 dichotomously scored items of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001) in a sample of 516 girls adopted from China (ages 6.0-15.7 years; M = 8.2, SD = 1.9) indicated that the fit of the 8-factor model was good (root-mean-square error of approximation = .047) and was slightly better than what T. M. Achenbach and L. A. Rescorla (2001) reported for the same model (.06). Support for the 2nd-order factor structure of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems also was provided. Comparisons of the mean scores for the syndromes and Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems revealed mostly small differences between the sample of adopted Chinese girls and T. M. Achenbach and L. A. Rescorla's normative samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological consultation under Oregon's 1994 Death With Dignity Act: Ethics and Procedures.

The Oregon 1994 Death With Dignity Act prescribes an evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist when the patient is suspected to be suffering from impaired judgment. Several attempts have been made to propose procedures for assessing end-of-life mental conditions and competence. The psychologist's role may include ethical considerations, protecting patients' rights to autonomy, ensuring competent judgment, preventing unnecessary suffering and inappropriate diagnoses of mental disorders, and supporting family members and the health care team. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding Ion Pump Emissions

Ion pumps continue to be a staple in ultra‐high vacuum (UHV) applications. Since their adoption as a primary UHV pump in the 1960's, it has been known that a variety of particles can emanate from within the ion pump and cause undesirable effects on current measurements and optics components. Historically the solution has been baffling and shielding which results in longer conductance paths to the ion pump. Those solutions can work, but require a larger pump and more vacuum plumbing to compensate for conductance losses. The first step was to fully understand the nature of the particles and their charges. Once those were characterized options for emissions reduction were evaluated. It was determined that an efficient design of shielding near the source of the particle generation site was the most cost effective solution. With a slight modification to the chamber of a small ion pump, internal shielding was developed that reduced the emissions by a factor of up to 1000 times.     

Couple relationship education at home: Does skill training enhance relationship assessment and feedback?

To evaluate the effective components of couple relationship education, 59 newlywed couples were randomly assigned to one of two couple relationship programs (CRE): (1) RELATE, which involved receiving feedback on their relationship based on the on-line RELATE assessment; or (2) RELATE + Couple CARE, which was RELATE plus completing the 6 unit Couple CARE relationship skill training program. Relative to RELATE, RELATE + Couple CARE produced more improvement in couple communication, and high relationship satisfaction across the next 12 months in women. Men sustained high and similar relationship satisfaction in either condition. Skill training CRE has additional benefits for couples beyond assessment and feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cell modeling with reusable agent-based formalisms

Biologists are building increasingly complex models and simulations of cells and other biological entities, and are looking at alternatives to traditional representations. Making use of the object-oriented (OO) paradigm, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Real-time Object-Oriented Modeling (ROOM) visual formalisms, and the Rational Rose RealTime (RRT) visual modeling tool, we summarize a previously-described multi-step process for constructing top-down models of cells. We first construct a simple model of a cell using an architecture in which all objects are containers, agents, or passive objects. We then reuse these architectural principles and components to extend our simple cell model into a more complex cell, the goal being to demonstrate that encapsulation familiar to artificial intelligence researchers can be employed by systems biologists in their models. A red blood cell is embedded in a straight-forward manner within a larger system, which is in turn iteratively embedded within still larger systems, including a blood vessel, a circulatory system, a human being, and a simple ecology. Each complexity increment reuses the same architectural principles, including the use of agents, each of which continuously either moves passive small molecules between containers, or transforms these passive objects from one type into another. We show how it is possible to start with a direct diagrammatic representation of a biological structure such as a cell, using terminology familiar to biologists, and by following a process of gradually adding more and more detail, arrive at a system with structure and behavior of arbitrary complexity that can run and be observed on a computer.     

Shaping: The Link Between Rats and Robots

The term shaping applies to a family of procedures which were originally developed in animal learning as methods of producing new and sometimes elaborate forms of behavior. The success of operant shaping methods in animal and abnormal psychology has attracted the attention of some roboticists who view these procedures as a means of generating adaptive behavior in both simulated and real robots. This paper outlines the two principal forms of shaping and looks at some of the associative and motivational influences which determine the course and outcome of shaping methods in animals. A number of recent robotic models which incorporate operant shaping concepts are then reviewed in terms of their eff ectiveness; the conclusion from this analysis is that, while some progress has been made, none of these models represent a satisfactory application of animal shaping procedures. It is clear that an effective implementation of shaping methods in behaviorbased robotics requires both a better understanding of the nature and course of shaping in real animals and the development, by roboticists and others, of more sophisticated models which can exploit this improved understanding.