Long-term natural ageing of a dissociated dislocation in a Cu-13.43 at.% Al alloy

The nature of impurity-dislocation interactions is one of the key questions governing the strength and plasticity of solid-solution materials. To investigate the influence of impurities on the mechanical properties of intermetallic NiAl, the electronic structure and energy of NiAl with a <100>{010} edge dislocation and transition-metal impurities was calculated using the real-space tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital method. The localized electronic states, appearing in the core of the dislocation, are found to lead to strong impurity-dislocation interactions via two mechanisms: firstly, chemical locking, due to strong hybridization between impurity electronic states and dislocation localized states; secondly, electrostatic locking, due to long-range charge oscillations caused by the electron localization in the dislocation core. The results obtained explain qualitatively why the solid-solution hardening effect in NiAl correlates with the electronic structure of impurities rather than with size misfit, as expected according to traditional views.     

Nanoscale inclusions in the phonon glass thermoelectric material Zn4Sb3

We have investigated the thermoelectric material Zn₄Sb₃ using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nanoscale inclusions with a diameter of about 10 nm were observed, constituting on the order of 1% by volume of the material. Studies using energy filtered imaging, electron diffraction, and high-angle annular dark-field STEM indicate that the inclusions consist of Zn. These inclusions are expected to scatter the medium and long-wavelength phonons effectively, thus contributing to phonon glass behavior which results in the exceptionally low thermal conductivity for this thermoelectric material.     

Enhanced resistance to weld cracking by strain-induced rapid solidification during linear friction welding

A study of weld cracking resistance during linear friction joining of a difficult-to-weld nickel-based superalloy was performed by Gleeble thermomechanical simulation coupled with an extensive microstructural analysis. It was found that crack-free welds produced by the supposedly solid-state joining technique of linear friction welding is not due to preclusion of grain boundary liquation as has been commonly assumed and reported. Instead, resistance to cracking can be related to a reduction in liquid stability by the imposed compressive strain during welding.     

What,and Where,Luck is: A Response to Jennifer Lackey

In ‘What Luck Is Not’, Lackey presents counterexamples to the two most prominent accounts of luck: the absence of control account and the modal account. I offer an account of luck that conjoins absence of control to a modal condition. I then show that Lackey's counterexamples mislocate the luck: the agents in her cases are lucky, but the luck precedes the event upon which Lackey focuses, and that event is itself only fortunate, not lucky. Finally I offer an account of fortune. Fortune is luck-involving, and therefore easily confused with luck, but it is not itself lucky.     

The role of perfectionism in cognitive behaviour therapy outcomes for clinically anxious children

The main aim of this study was to determine whether pre-treatment levels of child perfectionism impacted on anxiety treatment outcomes for school-aged children. In addition, it was investigated whether child perfectionism decreased following treatment for anxiety. Participants were sixty-seven clinically anxious children aged 6–13 years (female = 34; majority Caucasian) who were enrolled in a group-based cognitive behaviour therapy program, and their parents. They completed self-report questionnaires on anxiety and depressive symptoms and were administered a diagnostic interview to determine the type and clinician rated severity of anxiety and related disorders pre- and post-treatment and at 6-month follow-up. Self- and parent-rated perfectionism were also measured pre-treatment, while a subset of children completed perfectionism measures post-treatment as well. Self-Oriented Perfectionism, but not Socially Prescribed Perfectionism, predicted poorer self-reported treatment outcome (higher levels of anxiety symptoms) immediately following treatment and at 6-month follow-up when using a multi-informant approach. Additionally, both Self-Oriented and Socially Prescribed child perfectionism significantly reduced immediately following treatment. Despite reductions in child perfectionism following anxiety treatment, higher Self-Oriented Perfectionism may impact negatively on child anxiety treatment outcome.     

Implementation of Cognitive Therapy for PTSD in routine clinical care: Effectiveness and moderators of outcome in a consecutive sample

ObjectiveTrauma-focused psychological treatments are recommended as first-line treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but clinicians may be concerned that the good outcomes observed in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) may not generalize to the wide range of traumas and presentations seen in clinical practice. This study investigated whether Cognitive Therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) can be effectively implemented into a UK National Health Service Outpatient Clinic serving a defined ethnically mixed urban catchment area.MethodA consecutive sample of 330 patients with PTSD (age 17–83) following a wide range of traumas were treated by 34 therapists, who received training and supervision in CT-PTSD. Pre and post treatment data (PTSD symptoms, anxiety, depression) were collected for all patients, including dropouts. Hierarchical linear modeling investigated candidate moderators of outcome and therapist effects.ResultsCT-PTSD was well tolerated and led to very large improvement in PTSD symptoms, depression and anxiety. The majority of patients showed reliable improvement/clinically significant change: intent-to-treat: 78.8%/57.3%; completer: 84.5%/65.1%. Dropouts and unreliable attenders had worse outcome. Statistically reliable symptom exacerbation with treatment was observed in only 1.2% of patients. Treatment gains were maintained during follow-up (M = 280 days, n = 220). Few of the selection criteria used in some RCTs, demographic, diagnostic and trauma characteristics moderated treatment outcome, and only social problems and needing treatment for multiple traumas showed unique moderation effects. There were no random effects of therapist on symptom improvement, but therapists who were inexperienced in CT-PTSD had more dropouts than those with greater experience.ConclusionsThe results support the effectiveness of CT-PTSD and suggest that trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy can be successfully implemented in routine clinical services treating patients with a wide range of traumas.     

A randomized pilot study of anger treatment for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

Objective

Anger and aggression are serious problems for a significant proportion of veterans who have served in combat. While prior research has suggested that cognitive behavioral treatments may be effective for anger problems, there are few controlled studies of anger treatment in veterans and no studies of anger treatment focusing exclusively on veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This randomized pilot study compared an adapted cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) to a supportive intervention (SI) control condition for the treatment of anger problems in veterans returning from deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Methods

25 veterans with warzone trauma, problems with anger, and one or more additional hyperarousal symptoms were randomized and 23 started treatment (CBI, n = 12; SI, n = 11). Outcome measures were administered at pre- and post- treatment and at 3 months post-treatment.

Results

CBI was associated with significantly more improvement than SI on measures of anger and interpersonal functioning. Gains were maintained at follow-up.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that CBI may be more effective than an active control providing psychoeducation, relaxation, and supportive therapy for treating anger problems in returning veterans. The findings need to be replicated in an adequately powered and more diverse sample.     

The role of repeated interviewing in children's responses to cross‐examination‐style questioning

The negative effect of cross‐examination‐style questioning on children's accuracy is likely to be due to the complex and credibility‐challenging questions that characterize the interview. Given that cross‐examination occurs after at least one prior interview, however, it is equally possible that repeated interviewing per se impairs children's accuracy, and that the questions asked have little bearing on children's responses. To examine this issue, 5‐ and 6‐year‐old children (n= 82) and 9‐ and 10‐year‐old children (n= 103) took part in a surprise event and were then interviewed using an analogue of direct examination. Either 1 week or 6 months later, half of the children were re‐interviewed with an analogue of cross‐examination designed to challenge their direct examination responses. Remaining children were re‐interviewed with the same questions that were asked during direct examination. Children's accuracy decreased following their second interview, irrespective of age or delay; however, delay particularly impacted younger children's second interview performance. Children's accuracy was most impaired following a cross‐examination‐style interview. Overall, cross‐examination‐style questioning appears to be particularly detrimental to obtaining accurate event reports from children.     

Social comparison influences on disciplinary panels: a brief qualitative study in Kenyan secondary schools

This study investigated the influences of social comparisons on group polarization in decision making among members of selected Kenyan secondary school disciplinary panels. Ten participants from 10 selected secondary school disciplinary panels were involved. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect qualitative data on the experiences of the participants regarding the influences of social comparisons on their decision-making behaviours during participation in their schools’ disciplinary hearing meetings. The results revealed that in the dynamic interactions among disciplinary panel members during disciplinary hearing meetings, the panel members engaged in social comparisons among themselves, leading to their shifts in decision-making behaviours in favour of consensus in group decisions or group polarization in decision making.     

The Twofold Life of the Word: Karl Barth's Critical Reception of the Extra Calvinisticum

Though the extra Calvinisticum has played an historically important role for Christology, the doctrine has been criticized not only by Lutherans and modern Christologies ‘from below’ but by some Reformed thinkers as well. This article examines the place of the extra in dogmatic thinking about the incarnation: specifically, Karl Barth's critical response to his own tradition. After examining the differences between Lutheran and Reformed construals of the relationship of the Logos asarkos to the Logos ensarkos I take up Barth's views on the extra, which over the course of his career moved from enthusiastic affirmation to a sharp critique. Finally, I suggest that Barth's mature Christology retains the best of both Protestant positions by correcting a critical inconsistency in Reformed thought. He does not reject the doctrine of the Logos asarkos, but he does suggest a way in which this is related to the life of the Logos ensarkos that marginalizes the former. Barth is right not to discard the extra, but also that it has been misused in how it is deployed in dogmatic theology.