Toddlers' social interactions in the context of moral and conventional transgressions in the home.

This study examined toddlers' naturally occurring moral and conventional transgressions in the home. Toddlers (N?=?36), divided between boys and girls at 24 and 36 months of age, were videotaped in two 45-min sessions, one with mothers and one with mothers and familiar peers. Responses to moral and conventional transgressions were coded from the videotapes. Moral transgressions were more frequent in the peer session, whereas conventional transgressions were more frequent when children were alone with mothers. Mothers' responses to conventional transgressions focused on social order and social regulation, whereas maternal and child responses to moral transgressions focused the transgressor on the consequences of the acts for others' rights or welfare. Mothers' affective responses to moral and conventional transgressions did not differ but were more negative than toddlers' responses. Conventional transgressions increased with age, whereas girls' (but not boys') moral transgressions decreased with age. Sequential analyses suggested that this latter finding might be due to mothers' differential responses to girls' and boys' moral transgressions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hippocampal lesions and associated learning in the pigeon.

The performance of pigeons with hippocampal lesions was compared with that of unoperated and neostriatal-lesioned control Ss in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1, hippocampal-lesioned birds were retarded in the acquisition and the maintenance levels of autoshaped responding. However, the deficit was attenuated following the addition of a response contingency to the autoshaping schedule. In Experiment 2, the hippocampal-lesioned birds showed impaired performance on a differential reinforcement of low rates of responding schedule. From the high levels of responding in Experiment 2, underresponding was observed in hippocampal-lesioned birds relative to control Ss on return to the autoshaping schedule in Experiment 3. Results are interpreted in terms of impaired classical conditioning in hippocampal-lesioned birds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional responding following experimental manipulation of facial electromyographic activity.

Thirty female subjects were instructed to imagine three positive affective scenes and three negative affective scenes. During the initial imagination of each scene, the subject was told simply to imagine the situation. The subject then imagined the situation again and was instructed to enhance the muscle tension in one of two muscle groups (the zygomatic muscles for positive scenes and the corrugator muscle for negative scenes). The subject then imagined the scene a third time and was instructed to suppress the muscle tension in the same muscle group. Feedback was available during practice trials and during the enhancement and suppression trials of the experiment. Continuous monitoring of both zygomatic and corrugator electromyogram (EMG) during the study indicated that subjects were successful in altering muscle tension in accord with the experimental instructions, and videotapes of subjects' faces indicated no overt changes in facial responding during imagination of the scenes. Subjects' ratings of emotional responding during each scene indicated that subjects experienced less enjoyment and more distress during positive affective trials in which they suppressed zygomatic EMG activity. The results are discussed in terms of the facial feedback hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child custody resolution: A study of social science involvement and impact.

To explore the use of mental health professional expertise in the legal system, legal professionals' sources of social science information, and the legal profession's perspectives on the appropriate roles of mental health professionals in the process, we solicited information from attorneys and judges on (a) the extent to which they actively seek the involvement of mental health professionals in child custody cases, (b) the factors that influence such involvement, and (c) the degree to which these attitudes and practices are influenced by social science data or theory. Among the most striking features of these results was the report by the overwhelming majority of legal professionals that they did not consider either social science data or mental health professionals' involvement or recommendations in child custody cases as critical to their practice of family law. Specifically, mental health participation was rarely solicited, and when it was, this decision rested primarily on the paradigmatic regularities of the legal system or practical needs of the case rather than on a view that such involvement was central to the client's or child's mental health. The implications of these findings for collaboration between the mental health and legal disciplines in the area of family policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Study of major aromatic compounds in port wines from carotenoid degradation

The carotenoids degradation and the formation of volatiles were examined by simulating Port wine aging. A two year old red Port wine was saturated with oxygen, supplemented with lutein and β-carotene and kept at 60 °C during 87 h. A similar study was performed in a model wine solution. Results showed that the percentage decrease in lutein levels was, respectively, 79% and 95%, in the wine model solution and in the Port wine, and 55% and 10% for β-carotene, indicating that lutein was more sensitive to degradation than β-carotene. Two other unknown degradation carotenoid compounds were identified by HPLC/DAD (reverse phase λ_max: 422; 445; 475 and 422; 445; 472) in the lutein supplemented wine. Levels of β-ionone and β-cyclocitral increased (2.5 times) in both, wine and wine model solution, supplemented with β-carotene. Along with these compounds, the same behaviour was observed in β-damascenone in the supplemented lutein wine and wine model solution. New insights were provided into the understanding of aroma modifications occurring during Port wine aging. The relationship between carotenoid molecules (β-carotene and lutein) and some volatiles has also been provided.     

Effectiveness of behavioral therapy for chronic low back pain: A component analysis.

The effects of outpatient group behavioral therapy including aerobic exercise (BE), behavioral therapy only (B), and aerobic exercise only (E) on pain and physical and psychosocial disability were evaluated and compared in a group of mildy disabled chronic low-back-pain patients. Ninety-six Ss were randomly assigned to the 3 treatments and a waiting-list control (WL) condition and assessed on a variety of patient self-report, spouse-rated, and direct observational measures at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Patients in the BE condition, but not the B or E conditions, improved significantly more pretreatment to posttreatment than did WL patients on the patient self-report and observer-rated measures. At both follow-ups, all 3 treatment groups remained significantly improved from pretreatment, with no significant differences among treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate-level education and training in child sexual abuse.

The purpose of this article is to further graduate-level education and training in child sexual abuse. Two graduate-level courses that focus on child sexual abuse are considered as well. The following points are made: (a) Training in child sexual abuse should be incorporated into professional training programs; (b) research and theory courses on child sexual abuse are indicated; (c) the topic of child sexual abuse should be mainstreamed into existing practica; (d) the multidisciplinary nature of the field necessitates consideration of resources and references beyond those specific to psychology as well as professional engagement with individuals from many disciplines; and (e) training in child sexual abuse elicits strong emotional responses in trainees and others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of leadership and leadership style among group intervention specialists.

A questionnaire measuring 26 group leader characteristics investigated by Lieberman, Yalom and Miles (1973) was administered to 204 experienced group leaders distributed geographically throughout the United States. A confirmatory factor analysis of the data revealed no support for the factor structure previously reported by Lieberman et al. Principal-components analysis with varimax rotation was performed, and an eight-factor solution was adopted. The factors pertained to group leader behavior or style (i.e., Cognitive Direction, Affective Direction, Behavioral Direction, and Nonverbal Exercises), leader personal qualities (i.e., Nurturant Attractiveness and Charismatic Expertness), and leader objectives (i.e., Group Functioning and Personal Functioning). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sputter deposition of ZnS:Mn/SrS:Ce multilayered thin film white phosphor

A full color thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) display can be fabricated by using color filters in combination with a high efficiency ‘white’ phosphor, such as a thin film multilayered stack of ZnS:Mn and SrS:Ce (denoted ZnS:Mn/SrS:Ce). To date, deposition of these multilayers has been limited to vacuum evaporation techniques and atomic layer epitaxy, both of which require different substrate temperatures for growth of high quality ZnS:Mn and SrS:Ce. This repeated thermal cycling during multilayer deposition can adversely affect electroluminescent (EL) performance and manufacturability. Sputter deposition of ZnS:Mn and SrS:Ce produces high quality phosphors for a wider range of substrate temperatures. We have determined a common set of radio frequency (rf) sputter deposition parameters for ZnS:Mn and SrS:Ce that result in high performance, multilayered white phosphors for use in TFEL devices. The EL performance of our samples is comparable to the best performance reported for evaporated multilayered samples. The major improvement is that the rf sputtered ZnS:Mn and SrS:Ce layers were deposited at the same substrate temperature. We report on the effects of sputter deposition parameters on the resultant composition and morphology of ZnS:Mn and SrS:Ce thin films and multilayers. Their EL performance was evaluated and correlated to composition and morphology.