Effect of sampling density on the measurement of stream condition indicators in two lowland Australian streams

There is widespread application of indicators to the assessment of environmental condition of streams. These indicators are intended for use by managers in making various comparative and absolute assessments and often have a role in resource allocation and performance assessment. Therefore, the problem of formally defining confidence in the results is important but difficult because the sampling strategies used are commonly based on a compromise between the requirements of statistical rigour and the pragmatic issues of access and resources. It is rare to see this compromise explicitly considered and consequently there is seldom quantification of the uncertainty that could affect the confidence a manager has in an indicator. In this paper, we present a method for quantitatively assessing the tradeoffs between sampling density and uncertainty in meeting various monitoring objectives. Assessments using judgement‐based representative reaches are shown to be unreliable; instead a sampling approach is recommended based on the random selection of measuring sites. A detailed dataset was collected along two streams in Victoria, Australia, and the effect of sampling density was assessed by subsampling from this dataset with precision related to the number of sites assessed per reach length and the intensity of the sampling at each site. The sampling scheme to achieve a given precision is shown to depend on the monitoring objective. In particular, three objectives were considered: (1) making a baseline assessment of current condition; (2) change detection; and (3) detection of a critical threshold in condition. Change detection is shown to be more demanding than assessing baseline condition with additional sampling effort required to achieve the same precision. Sampling to detect a critical threshold depends on nominating acceptable values of Type I and II error and the size of the effect to be detected. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Threshold and growth mechanism of fatigue cracks under mode II and III loadings

ABSTRACT The fatigue crack growth behaviour of 0.47% carbon steel was studied under mode II and III loadings. Mode II fatigue crack growth tests were carried out using specially designed double cantilever (DC) type specimens in order to measure the mode II threshold stress intensity factor range, ΔK_IIth. The relationship ΔK_IIth > ΔK_Ith caused crack branching from mode II to I after a crack reached the mode II threshold. Torsion fatigue tests on circumferentially cracked specimens were carried out to study the mechanisms of both mode III crack growth and of the formation of the factory‐roof crack surface morphology. A change in microstructure occurred at a crack tip during crack growth in both mode II and mode III shear cracks. It is presumed that the crack growth mechanisms in mode II and in mode III are essentially the same. Detailed fractographic investigation showed that factory‐roofs were formed by crack branching into mode I. Crack branching started from small semi‐elliptical cracks nucleated by shear at the tip of the original circumferential crack.     

Review of Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through their feelings.

Reviews the book, Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through their feelings by Leslie S. Greenberg (see record 2002-00066-000). This book was written for both novice therapists who have had little experience working with emotions in treatment, as well as for experienced therapists looking to systematize their understanding of how emotional change works. The book is divided into four parts. Part I examines the nature and function of emotions. Part II examines the first part of emotional coaching--arriving at emotion. Part III examines the second part of emotional coaching--leaving emotion. Finally, Part IV examines the application of emotion-focused therapy to the problems of living, in the context of individuals, couples therapy, and parenting. This book offers a wealth of therapeutic techniques and theoretical principles about the process of change. As such, it is an important and natural companion to seminal works in cognitive behaviour therapy and interpersonal therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process and its vicissitudes: Insights from attitude theory.

The vicissitudes of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process since 1967 are analyzed using attitudes and related concepts where relevant. The 1967 war returned the two peoples' zero-sum conflict around national identity to its origin as a conflict within the land both peoples claim. Gradually, new attitudes evolved regarding the necessity and possibility of negotiations toward a two-state solution based on mutual recognition, which became the building stones of the 1993 Oslo agreement. Lacking a commitment to a final outcome, the Oslo-based peace process was hampered by reserve options, which increased avoidance at the expense of approach tendencies as the parties moved toward a final agreement. The resulting breakdown of the process in 2000 produced clashing narratives, reflecting different anchors for judgment and classical mirror images. Public support for violence increased, even as public opinion continued to favor a negotiated two-state solution. Reviving the peace process requires mutual reassurance about the availability of a partner for negotiating a principled peace based on a historic compromise that meets the basic needs and validates the identities of both peoples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

泥浆制备中工艺改造的研究

根据室条件下粉磨试验结果，发现球磨过程中筛上料变化存在的突变范围，提出两次加料一次加水可改变泥浆颗粒分布，并找出适宜的加料种类与时间。另外给予测粒度分布提供了宝贵的试验基础数据。     

Editorial.

With this volume, the 47-year old Canadian Journal of Psychology takes a new name and makes a renewed commitment. In retitling the journal the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, the intention is to reflect more clearly what has always been the major goal of the journal--to publish the best new research in experimental psychology, both Canadian and international, in both French and English. I am honoured to become the tenth editor of the major journal for experimental psychology in Canada. CJP has served the field very well; my primary goal is to ensure that CJEP continues to do so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finances and Well-Being: A Dynamic Equilibrium Model of Resources.

This study of 513 Dutch farmers tested a dynamic equilibrium model of resources (an extension of the conservation of resources theory; S. E. Hobfoll, 1989, 1998, 2001). With structural equation modeling, the advantages of a 3-wave longitudinal design were comprehensively used, such as addressing bidirectional causal effects and within-individual vs. between-individual change. This allowed for a careful analysis of the management function of resources in the stress process. Results showed that well-being had stronger within-person stability than finances. Increased levels of financial problems temporarily increased psychological distress but not self-reported illness. Conversely, farmers with higher stable baselines of psychological distress also had higher baselines of self-reported illness and experienced more negative changes in their financial situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lake-Level Change and Water Balance Analysis at Lake Qinghai,West China during Recent Decades

Lake Qinghai, the largest saline lake with an area of 4,260 km² (2000) and average depth of 21 m (1985) in West China, has experienced severe decline in water level in recent decades. This study aimed to investigate water balance of the lake and identify the causes for the decline in lake level. There was a 3.35-m decline in water level with an average decreasing rate of 8.0 cm year⁻¹ between 1959 and 2000. The lake water balance showed that mean annual precipitation between 1959 and 2000 over the lake was 357 ± 10 mm, evaporation was 924 ± 10 mm, surface runoff water inflow was 348 ± 21 mm, groundwater inflow was 138 mm ± 9 and the change in lake level was −80 ± 31 mm. The variation of lake level was highly positively correlated to surface runoff and precipitation and negatively to evaporation, the correlation coefficients were 0.89, 0.81 and −0.66, respectively. Water consumption by human activities accounts for 1% of the evaporation loss of the lake, implying that water consumption by human activities has little effect on lake level decline. Most dramatic decline in lake level occurred in the warm and dry years, and moderate decline in the cold and dry years, and relatively slight decline in the warm and wet years, therefore, the trend of cold/warm and dry climate in recent decades may be the main reasons for the decline in lake level.     

Experimental data and approximate estimation for dissociation time of hydrate plugs

New experimental data coupled with a numerical model and an approximate solution are proposed to predict dissociation time of hydrate plugs in oil sub-sea pipelines. The experimental hydrate plugs are dissociated by the method of symmetric depressurisation, both in a specially designed apparatus and a classical batch reactor. The agreement between the estimation of the model and the experimental data and the simplicity of the approximate equation presents an advantage in estimating the time of hydrate plug dissociation in pipelines.     

Trade-offs between gaze and working memory use.

Eye movements during natural tasks suggest that observers do not use working memory to capacity but instead use eye movements to acquire relevant information immediately before needed. Results here however, show that this strategy is sensitive to memory load and to observers' expectations about what information will be relevant. Depending upon the predictability of what object features would be needed in a brick sorting task, subjects spontaneously modulated the order in which they sampled and stored visual information using working memory more when the task was predictable and reverting to a just-in-time strategy when the task was unpredictable and the memory load was higher. This self organization was evidenced by subjects' sequence of eye movements and also their sorting decisions following missed feature changes. These results reveal that attentional selection, fixations, and use of working memory reflect a dynamic optimization with respect to a set of constraints, such as task predictablity and memory load. They also reveal that change blindness depends critically on the local task context, by virtue of its influence on the information selected for storage in working memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)