Increasing the Efficiency of Dewaxing in the Deoiling Stage

During selective treatment, the content of high–melting paraffins and naphthenes that crystallize from solution when the temperature is decreased increases significantly in lube oil cuts after removal of resins and asphaltenes and polycyclic hydrocarbons with short side chains. These hydrocarbons, which have a high melting point, are removed during dewaxing to obtain low-pour lube oil cuts.     

Using implementation intentions to increase attendance for cervical cancer screening.

This article evaluates an intervention based on P. A Gollwitzer's (1993) concept of implementation intentions. Women registered at a medical practice in rural England (N?=?114) completed measures of the theory of planned behavior variables before a manipulation that induced one half of the sample to form implementation intentions specifying when, where, and how they would make the appointment. Subsequent attendance was determined from medical records. Findings show that the theory of planned behavior variables and previous delay behavior provided good prediction of attendance. However, despite equivalent motivation to attend, participants who formed implementation intentions were much more likely to attend for screening compared with controls (92% vs. 69%). Evidence also suggests that implementation intentions attenuated the relationship between previous delay behavior and subsequent attendance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social-cognitive determinants of hoist usage among health care workers.

Injuries caused by unsafe manual handling of patients are a major source of ill health in health care workers. The present study evaluated the ability of 4 classes of variable to predict use of a hoist when moving a heavily dependent patient. Variables examined were occupational role characteristics, such as hours of work and type of shift worked; biographics, including age and height; aspects of occupational context, such as number of hoists available and number of patients; and motivational variables specified by the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985) and protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1983). Regression analyses showed that background and social-cognitive variables were able to account for 59% of variance in intention to use a hoist and 41% of variance in use of the hoist assessed 6 weeks later. Height, hoist availability, coworker injunctive norm, perceived behavioral control, response cost, response benefits, and social and physical costs of not using the hoist each explained independent variance in motivation to use a hoist at work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal framing and the decision to take part in type 2 diabetes screening: Effects of individual differences in consideration of future consequences on persuasion.

Reliable individual differences in the extent to which people consider the long- and short-term consequences of their own behaviors are hypothesized to influence the impact of a persuasive communication. In a field experiment, the time frame of occurrence of positive and negative consequences of taking part in a proposed Type 2 diabetes screening program was manipulated in a sample of 210 adults with a mean age of 53 years. Individual differences in consideration of future consequences (CFC; A. Strathman, F. Gleicher, D. S. Boninger, & C. S. Edwards, 1994) moderated (a) the generation of positive and negative thoughts and (b) the persuasive impact of the different communications. Low-CFC individuals were more persuaded when positive consequences were short term and negative consequences were long term. The opposite was true of high-CFC individuals. Path analyses show that net positive thoughts generated mediated the effect of the CFC × Time Frame manipulations on behavioral intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social–cognitive beliefs, alcohol, and tobacco use: A prospective community study of change following a ban on smoking in public places.

Objective: To examine social–cognitive change associated with behavior change after the introduction of a smoke-free public places policy. Design: Adults (N = 583) who use public houses licensed to sell alcohol (pubs) completed questionnaires assessing alcohol and tobacco consumption and social–cognitive beliefs 2 months prior to the introduction of the smoking ban in England on July 1, 2007. Longitudinal follow-up (N = 272) was 3 months after the introduction of the ban. Main outcome measures: Social–cognitive beliefs, daily cigarette consumption, and weekly alcohol consumption. Results: Smokers consumed considerably more alcohol than did nonsmokers at both time points. However, a significant interaction of Smoking Status × Time showed that while smokers had consumed fewer units of alcohol after the ban, nonsmokers showed an increase over the same period. There was a significant reduction in number of cigarettes consumed after the ban. Subjective norms concerning not smoking, and perceived severity of smoking-related illness increased across time. Negative outcomes associated with not smoking were reduced among former smokers and increased across time among smokers. Regression analyses showed that changes in subjective norm and negative outcome expectancies accounted for significant variance in change in smoking across time. Conclusion: Results suggest that the smoking ban may have positive health benefits that are supported by social–cognitive change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)