THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CENTER: A HISTORICAL NOTE.

REVIEWS THE EARLY HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CENTERS, WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF LIGHTNER WITMER. SHOWS THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE ORIENTATION OF WITMER'S CLINIC AND ARGUES THAT WITMER'S CONTRIBUTION IS RELEVANT TO THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CENTERS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

POVERTY,POLITICS, AND A “CIRCLE OF PROMISE”: HOLISTIC EDUCATION POLICY IN BOSTON AND THE CHALLENGE OF INSTITUTIONAL ENTRENCHMENT

ABSTRACT: Cash‐strapped municipalities throughout the United States are increasingly proposing innovative education policies linking school‐based reforms with neighborhood‐level interventions. Boston is one such city. In this paper, we describe, analyze, and critique the City of Boston's “Circle of Promise” initiative, a holistic education policy designed to coordinate school reforms with local community‐based organizational resources. We link our discussion of challenges and critiques with the term “institutional entrenchment,” referring to institutional barriers to successful urban policies and the defense of the status quo. We conclude with suggestions for future policy to overcome the impediments of institutional entrenchment, and by extension, improve educational opportunities for students in underperforming urban schools.     

Effect of Particle Size on the Kinetics of the Reaction Between Magnesium and Aluminum Oxides

The kinetics of the reaction MgO+A1_2O3+MgAl_2O4 was studied using both unsized "small" (∼1 to 3 pm) and sized "large" (∼50 and 100 μm) particles of the reactants within narrow size distributions and uniform shapes. The data were fitted to various equations commonly used in kinetic analyses of isothermal reactions of solids, analyzed by graphical analysis and linear regression analysis, and compared in terms of the predictive mean square error (MSE) criterion. Graphical and linear regression analysis showed that the reaction could be described almost equally well by first-order kinetics, the equation derived by Avrami-Erofe'ev for the nucleation and growth model, and the equations of Jander, Carter, and Ginstling-Brounshtein for diffusion models. The MSE method gave similar results, except that the model of Avrami-Erofe'ev was marginally better than the other four equations. The results are compared with those of the systems BaC_O3+Fe_2O3 and MgO+Fe_2O3 studied previously.     

On the general theory of optimal processes†

A previous paper treating the problem of optimal control of systems whoso control signals belong to a pre-specified class of functions is discussed. The problem is re-examined for a broader class of systems and the results are formulated in a maximum principle of the Pontryagin type. The maximum principle states that a necessary condition for the optimal control is that the first variation of the time integral of the Hamiltonian is zero if the control function can vary in two opposite directions, is non-positive if the control function can vary in only one direction. The free end-point and the fixed end-point problems as well as the variable end-point problems are considered. The admissible controls are assumed to be piecewise continuous and bounded. The requirement of operative convexity as imposed in the related paper is lifted.     

Kinetic Analysis of Solid-state Reactions Between Powdered Reactants

The kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions of powdered reactants was investigated. Seven different reactions were examined, four from the author's laboratory (BaCO₃-Fe₂O₃, MgO-Fe₂O₃, MgO-Al₂O₃, and 2BaC0₃-SiO₂) and three from published tabulated primary data which are available in the literature (BaCO₃-SiO₂, BaCO₃-WO₃, and CuO-Al₂O₃). The results were fitted to 10 kinetic equations (models) commonly used for the kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions and analyzed by linear regression analysis. It was found, that if the data are analyzed to ≊100% reaction, the reactions could be best described by diffusion models, particularly by Jander's model (1927) for three-dimensional diffusion. Jander's model is quite suitable for describing the kinetics of solid-state reactions between powdered reactants satisfactorily if the experiments are conducted carefully. Attempts to describe such solid-state reactions by other models appear to be unwarranted.     

Ultrastructural Analysis of a Soybean Protein Isolate

Various fixation techniques were employed in an effort to prepare a dry protein isolate from soybeans for analysis using transmission electron microscopy. A number of fixation schemes proved successful, and different properties of the material were brought out by the various treatments. Comparisons of electron micrographs of the isolate fixed and extracted in different ways yielded an effective means for determining the distribution of fat and protein in the sample and the effect of moisture on that distribution. Analysis of the isolate demonstrated the occluding effect of dry protein for fat located in walls of the protein shells of the isolate.