Effectiveness of an attachment-based intervention for the assessment of parenting capacities in maltreating families: A randomized controlled trial

Even though Parenting Capacity Assessments (PCAs) are essential for child protection services to support placement decisions for maltreating families, presently no evidence-based PCA protocols are available. In this randomized controlled trial, we tested the quality of an attachment-based PCA protocol based on Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD). We recruited 56 parent-child dyads (M_age children = 3.48 years) in Dutch family residential clinics that conduct PCAs to support placement decisions. After pretest, families were randomized to receive the Regular Assessment Procedure (RAP) (n = 28), or an additional assessment based on VIPP-SD (n = 28). An immediate post-test and a 10-month follow-up were conducted. Multilevel models showed that therapists felt equally confident about their recommendations regarding child placement for both groups and that they equally often modified their initial placement recommendations. Moreover, children in the VIPP-SD group did not show fewer behavior problems and did not experience recurring child maltreatment less often than children in the RAP group. Thus, we found no evidence that PCAs incorporating the VIPP-SD protocol outperformed PCAs as usual. We discuss possible explanations why in the current study VIPP-SD did not seem to add to the quality of the RAP.     

Do preservice teachers’ judgments and judgment accuracy depend on students’ characteristics? The effect of gender and immigration background

It is important for teachers to be able to accurately assess students’ performance. Such judgments can be influenced by characteristics of the student Südkamp et al. (J Educ Psychol 104:743–762, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027627). Besides students’ actual performance, students’ group characteristics (e.g., gender or immigration background) may effect teachers’ judgments. In addition, judgment accuracy might be different for various student groups. We conducted an online study of 168 preservice teachers. We presented within a virtual classroom mathematics test results of 12 fictitious second-grade students who differed in their actual performance in a mathematical test, immigration background, and gender. Preservice teachers made a judgment about the students’ current performance. Students’ actual performance, immigration background, and gender showed statistically significant main effects on the judgment. Students with (vs. without) an immigration background and female (vs. male) students were evaluated less favorably. These effects were qualified by a statistically significant three-way interaction between actual performance, immigration background, and gender. The joint examination of student characteristics in terms of judgment accuracy shows that it is precisely the interaction of student characteristics that makes a difference: female students with and without an immigration background as well as students without an immigration background are assessed more accurately, while male students with an immigration background are assessed significantly more inaccurately. In sum, the judgment made by preservice teachers about students’ performance differed in terms of student characteristics that were unrelated to performance such as immigration background and gender in addition to differing on performance-related variables.     

EyeRIS: A general-purpose system for eye-movement-contingent display control

In experimental studies of visual performance, the need often emerges to modify the stimulus according to the eye movements performed by the subject. The eye-movement-contingent display (EMCD) methodology enables accurate control of the position and motion of the stimulus on the retina. EMCD procedures have been used successfully in many areas of vision science, including studies of visual attention or eye movements and physiological characterization of neuronal response properties. Unfortunately, the difficulty of real-time programming and the unavailability of flexible and economical systems that can be easily adapted to the diversity of experimental needs and laboratory setups have prevented the widespread use of EMCD control. This article describes EyeRIS, a general-purpose system for performing EMCD experiments on a Windows computer. Based on a digital signal processor with analog and digital interfaces, this integrated hardware and software system is responsible for sampling and processing oculomotor signals and subject responses and for modifying the stimulus displayed on a CRT according to a gaze-contingent procedure specified by the experimenter. EyeRIS is designed to update the stimulus with a delay of only 10 msec. To thoroughly evaluate EyeRIS's performance, this study was designed to (1) examine the response of the system in a number of EMCD procedures and computational benchmarking tests; (2) compare the accuracy of implementation of one particular EMCD procedure, retinal stabilization, with that produced by a standard tool used for this task; and (3) examine EyeRIS's performance in one of the many EMCD procedures that cannot be executed by means of any other currently available device.     

The Selling Situation as a Moderator of the Personality-Sales Performance Relationship: an Empirical Investigation

Abstract

The lack of consistent success in using personality traits to predict the performance of salespeople is attributed to the cross-sectional nature of previous research. In this study, greater predictive accuracy and explanatory power is achieved when the selling situation is used as a moderating variable. The results are presented and the implications for sales force management and future research are considered.     

Leibniz-linked Pairs of Deductive Systems

A pair of deductive systems (S,S??) is Leibniz-linked when S?? is an extension of S and on every algebra there is a map sending each filter of S to a filter of S?? with the same Leibniz congruence. We study this generalization to arbitrary deductive systems of the notion of the strong version of a protoalgebraic deductive system, studied in earlier papers, and of some results recently found for particular non-protoalgebraic deductive systems. The necessary examples and counterexamples found in the literature are described.     

Biofeedback bei kraniomandibulären Dysfunktionen

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are a painful condition present in 3% of the population. The aim of the present study was to develop a biofeedback-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for chronic TMD (BFB-KVT) and to evaluate its effectiveness compared to dental treatment. A total of 26 patients suffering from chronic TMD were randomly assigned to either BFB-KVT (n=15) or occlusal splint treatment (n=11). Preliminary data showed that both treatments reduced pain intensity and jaw disability. Greater improvement of pain-related disability was found for BFB-KVT, and its acceptance by the patients was higher. The proposed protocol appears to be an effective treatment for chronic TMD. The evaluation in a larger sample and of long-term efficacy will follow.     

On the Closure Properties of the Class of Full G-models of a Deductive System

In this paper we consider the structure of the class FGModS of full generalized models of a deductive system S from a universal-algebraic point of view, and the structure of the set of all the full generalized models of S on a fixed algebra A from the lattice-theoretical point of view; this set is represented by the lattice FACS_s A of all algebraic closed-set systems C on A such that (A, C) ε FGModS. We relate some properties of these structures with tipically logical properties of the sentential logic S. The main algebraic properties we consider are the closure of FGModS under substructures and under reduced products, and the property that for any A the lattice FACS_s A is a complete sublattice of the lattice of all algebraic closed-set systems over A. The logical properties are the existence of a fully adequate Gentzen system for S, the Local Deduction Theorem and the Deduction Theorem for S. Some of the results are established for arbitrary deductive systems, while some are found to hold only for deductive systems in more restricted classes like the protoalgebraic or the weakly algebraizable ones. The paper ends with a section on examples and counterexamples. Dedicated to the memory of Willem Johannes Blok