Structural,elastic, electronic,phonon and thermal properties of Ir3Ta and Rh3Ta alloys

We have studied the structural, elastic, electronic, phonon and thermodynamic properties of Ir₃Ta and Rh₃Ta alloys, using ab initio calculations. For the L1₂ phase, we report the calculated lattice constants, bulk modulus and elastic constants, and these values are compared with previously published values. We also derive the elastic constants from the values of the slopes of the acoustic branches in the phonon dispersion curves. The band structures show that both materials are metallic. The phonon dispersion curves, and their corresponding total and projected densities of states, are obtained using a linear response in the framework of the density functional perturbation theory. The specific heat capacity at constant volume and different temperatures is calculated, and this aspect is discussed using the quasi-harmonic approximation.     

Reporting spiritual needs of older adults living in Bavarian residential and nursing homes

We intended to study unaddressed psychosocial and spiritual needs among older people (of at least 65 years of age) living in nine residential/nursing homes in Bavaria in Southern Germany. We conducted an anonymous cross-sectional study with standardised questionnaires (i.e., Spiritual Needs Questionnaire, Brief Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale, Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation, etc.). Religious needs were predicted best by residents’ religious trust. Existential needs and inner peace needs correlated moderately with grief, and were predicted best by family/social support needs. All members of an interdisciplinary team should be trained in the specific competence of recognising older people's unmet spiritual needs. When these needs are recognised, caregivers and relatives have the chance to react.     

Autobiographical remembering regulates emotions: a functional perspective

Emotional deviation has been considered an essential factor in emotion regulation, in that, attempts to compensate for the deviation is reflected on cognitive processes. In the present study, we focused on autobiographical remembering and tested the functional role of memory on emotion regulation. We specifically examined the congruence effect in individuals’ subsequent memory reports after recalling emotional events. Individuals were randomly assigned to three groups to report either sadness or anger evoking events or emotionally unspecified events that they experienced in the last five years. Results supported mood-incongruence, but only for the emotional memory groups. Despite highly negative memories reported in the initial recall, individuals in anger- and sad-memory groups revealed an up-regulation trend in subsequent recall. Furthermore, sadness and anger induction affected phenomenological features of the subsequently reported memory. Overall, our findings supported for the emotion regulation function of remembering that serves counter-regulation of the negative emotion. We discuss potential mechanisms in the light of explanations by a functional approach to autobiographical memory.     

Factor Structure of the Farsi Version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire

Despite burgeoning research on coping with stress and its crucial role on people's psychological and physical well‐being, there is a dearth of psychometrically established instrument for use in Iran to measure coping. A Farsi translation of the Ways of Coping questionnaire (WOC) was administered to 739 participants from Tehran, Iran. The factor structure of the WOC was assessed with both explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses. A 7‐factor structure model with some important similarities and differences to the original version from the United States was confirmed. The Farsi version of WOC was found to have good construct reliability and model fit and has considerable potential to be used in future coping research among Iranian populations.     

How Lending Officers Construe Assessments of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Loan Applications: A Repertory Grid Study

Repertory grid technique and principal component analysis were used to map and analyze how 75 lending officers (LOs) viewed their assessments of small and medium-sized enterprises’ loan applications in one bank and region. A standard set of elements and constructs, derived during pre- and pilot studies, was used. Analysis of individual grids demonstrated that the principal components indicated the existence of similarities in LOs’ construing at an aggregated level. Analysis of the mean grid of all respondents indicated that the LOs were encouraged by the bank's lending strategy and supporting system(s) to perform “procedural lending” with a focus on hard and future-oriented information. At the same time, the LOs deemphasized relationship lending, in particular, personal relationships.     

Influences of item organizability and semantic retrieval cues on word recall in very old age

Abstract

This research investigated the influence of organizational structure in the materials and category cues at retrieval on episodic memory performance in very old age. A community-based sample of healthy, very old adults (N = 224) between 75 and 96 years was presented with two lists of words: a list of semantically unrelated words and a list of words from four taxonomic categories randomly intermixed. Free recall was assessed for both tasks and, for the organizable list, subjects received a cued recall test as well. Results showed an overall age-related deterioration of memory performance, although the ability to utilize item organizability and retrieval cues remained intact across age. Evidence from data on memory performance, as well as analyses of the nature of organizable free recall, suggests that problems at both encoding and retrieval may underlie the age-related performance deficit. In addition, there were age-related increases in (a) forgetting between free and cued recall, and (b) intrusion errors. Finally, regression analyses indicated that, in addition to age, level of schooling as well as markers of general cognitive status (the Mini-Mental State Examination) and fluid intelligence (Block Design) accounted for performance variation across all memory tasks.     

Turning stressors into something productive: an empirical study revealing nonlinear influences of role stressors on self‐efficacy

This study suggests that stressors can be productive for self‐efficacy and that the influence of stressors on self‐efficacy is nonlinear. Analyses were conducted with ordinary least squares regression on a dataset covering responses from 311 deans in Swedish secondary schools. Results support the hypothesized U‐shape relationship between role conflict and self‐efficacy and the inverted U‐shape relationship between role ambiguity and self‐efficacy. Thus, findings offer evidence for nonlinear effects of stressors on the level of incumbents' self‐efficacy. This research has implications for further research focused on the association between role stressors and self‐efficacy.     

Examination of Personality Characteristics in a Turkish Sample: Development of Basic Personality Traits Inventory

The aim of the present study was to test the cross-cultural validity of the five-factor nature of personality. For this aim, an indigenous, psychometrically strong instrument measuring the basic personality dimensions within Turkish culture and language was developed through three consecutive studies. The first study aimed to reveal the adjectives that have been most frequently used to define people in the Turkish culture. In the second study, factor analysis of these personality characteristics revealed big five personality factors, along with the sixth factor, which had been called as the Negative Valence factor. The adjectives that most strongly represented and differentiated each factor constituted 45-item “Basic Personality Traits Inventory”. Finally, in the third study, psychometric characteristics of the Basic Personality Traits Inventory were examined. Factor structure and psychometric properties of this instrument confirmed that five-factor nature of personality may not hold true in every culture.     

The Need for Absolute Truth and Self-Rumination as Basic Suppressors in the Relationship Between Private Self-Consciousness and Mental Health

Self-reflection has not so far been shown to have any specific benefits for mental health except for self-knowledge. Recent research showed that the controversy concerning the relationship between self-reflection and mental health could completely be eliminated if self-rumination and the need for absolute truth, especially the need for absolute truth, were considered as suppressor variables. This research replicated these findings in a different sample and expanded these findings by showing that the same is true for private self-consciousness. The need for absolute truth as a new variable was shown to be highly important in understanding the effects of self-consciousness on mental health.