Preschool Competency in Context: An Investigation of the Unique Contribution of Child Competencies to Early Academic Success.

The present concurrent study combined developmental and ecological considerations to examine the unique contribution of multiple preschool competencies to an indicator of early academic success. Participants included 195 Head Start children from 32 classrooms representative of a large, urban Head Start program. Dimensional (variable-centered) analyses revealed 3 distinct classroom competency dimensions (i.e., General Classroom Competencies, Specific Approaches to Learning, and Interpersonal Classroom Behavioral Problems). The first 2 of these dimensions were found to be uniquely associated with early academic success. Findings from typological (person-centered) analyses supported the dimensional findings. Typological analyses revealed 7 profiles of classroom competency distinguished by high scores on the dimensions of General Competencies and Approaches to Learning, and these profiles were found to relate differentially to the indicator of early academic success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

PARTNERS IN EXCELLENCE Metrics and Productivity Programs

For many companies, productivity improvements are the watchwords of the 1990s. IS organizations are having to demonstrate increased productivity on an annual basis. For the end-user computing (EUC) department, this requirement often comes in addition to the request to quantify the services it provides, presenting the EUC manager with the proverbial nightmare of juggling two number-one priorities. Which should receive the highest attention? The savvy manager recognizes that the correct answer is both.     

What results when firms implement practices: The differential relationship between specific practices, firm financial performance, customer service, and quality.

Previous research on organizational practices is replete with contradictory evidence regarding their effects. Here, the authors argue that these contradictory findings may have occurred because researchers have often examined complex practice combinations and have failed to investigate a broad variety of firm-level outcomes. Thus, past research may obscure important differential effects of specific practices on specific firm-level outcomes. Extending this research, the authors develop hypotheses about the effects of practices that (a) enable information sharing, (b) set boundaries, and (c) enable teams on 3 different firm-level outcomes: financial performance, customer service, and quality. Relationships are tested in a sample of observations from over 200 Fortune 1000 firms. Results indicate that information-sharing practices were positively related to financial performance 1 year following implementation of the practices, boundary-setting practices were positively related to firm-level customer service, and team-enabling practices were related to firm-level quality. No single set of practices predicted all 3 firm-level outcomes, indicating practice-specific effects. These findings help resolve the theoretical tension in the literature regarding the effects of organizational practices and offer guidance as to how to best target practices to increase specific work-related outcomes. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hydrothermal Modeling Studies of Cooling Tower Alternatives

The Environmental Effects Committee of the ASCE Energy Engineering Division has been developing a report on “Energy Production and Reservoir Water Quality” for publication. The report covers the regulatory framework that dictates much of the procedures for studies related to this topic, the fundamental reservoir hydrodynamics and water quality modeling used in preparing studies, the kinds of studies that can be prepared at different levels of analysis, and a series of applications that illustrate the problems encountered and applications of the various techniques. This study of hydrothermal modeling as applied to examining cooling tower alternatives for an existing steam electric station on a moderately large reservoir is included in this report and is presented here as an illustration of the types of studies included. This particular study subtended the usual steam electric plant cooling water discharge studies that relate to specific regulatory thermal plume size standards, and had to be designed around developing plant and cooling tower operations that would meet specific fisheries requirements for a zone of passage and refuge for fishes throughout the receiving embayment. After being used in developing cooling tower and plant operating details for the designers to work with, it was required that the hydrothermal modeling results be verified under actual tower operating conditions. In addition, it was required that the impact of the combined operations on dissolved oxygen be examined in detail. This paper covers the background to setting up the study, the kinds of statistical comparisons used to verify the hydrothermal studies, and similar studies for the analysis of dissolved oxygen distributions.     

Emotional and behavioral responses to aversive interpersonal behaviors.

In a conceptual replication of A. Biglan et al (see record 1989-39898-001), 288 Ss rated their emotional and behavioral responses to aggressive, distressed, and neutral behaviors. The stimulus behaviors occurred in the context of casual relationships and were portrayed by male and female actors. Consistent with Biglan et al, it was found that aggressive behaviors evoked angry emotions and negative behavioral responses; distressed behaviors evoked both angry and concerned emotions and supportive behavioral responses. However, in contrast to the original results, evidence was also found of negative (primarily avoidant) behavioral responses to distressed behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Normality and impairment following profound early institutional deprivation: A longitudinal follow-up into early adolescence.

Longitudinal analyses on normal versus impaired functioning across 7 domains were conducted in children who had experienced profound institutional deprivation up to the age of 42 months and were adopted from Romania into U.K. families. Comparisons were made with noninstitutionalized children adopted from Romania and with nondeprived within-U.K. adoptees placed before the age of 6 months. Specifically, the validity of the assessment, the degree of continuity and change in levels of functioning from 6 to 11 years, and the factors in the pre- and postadoption environment accounting for heterogeneity in outcome were examined. Pervasive impairment was significantly raised in children experiencing institutional deprivation for ≥6 months of life, with a minority within this group showing no impairment. There was no additional significant effect of duration of deprivation beyond the 6-month cutoff, and few other predictors explained outcome. The pattern of normality/impairment was mainly established by 6 years of age, with considerable continuity at the individual level between 6 and 11 years. The findings are discussed in terms of the possibility of a sensitive period for development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer responses to a team's weakest link: A test and extension of LePine and Van Dyne's model.

This article reports research intended to assess and extend a recent theory of peer responses to low-performing team members (J. A. LePine & L. Van Dyne, 2001a). An instrument that assesses 4 types of peer responses to low performers (compensating for, training, motivating, and rejecting) was developed and then cross-validated in a subsequent study. Results of the study supported the validity of the peer responses measure and were generally consistent with the attributional theory of peer responses. Low-performer characteristics influenced the peer responses. These effects were mediated in part by peer attributions, affect, and cognitions, which explained variance in the peer responses over and above the variance explained by respondents' personality characteristics (i.e., The Big Five). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)