A portable,low-resistance puff topography instrument for pulsating,high-flow smoking devices

A smoking topography instrument appropriate for pulsating high flow rate smoking devices, such as the narghile water pipe, has been developed and tested. Instrument precision and repeatability was determined using a digitally controlled smoking machine, and the added draw resistance due to the topography instrument was measured over the range of expected puff flow rates. The maximum error in any topography variable was found to be less than 5%. The instrument was successfully demonstrated in a pilot field study of 30 volunteer narghile smokers. The pilot study yielded an average smoker puff volume, duration, and interpuff interval of 0.53 l, 2.47 sec, 16.28 sec, respectively.     

Sex differences in relational aggression in preschool children in Iran

The purpose of this study was to compare scores on a Relational Aggression Questionnaire for preschool boys and girls in Iran. The questionnaire was developed here, and its reliability and validity were assessed. Teachers' reports of relational aggression in 258 children ages 3 to 7 years was studied. Sex differences in relational aggression were not observed and was not significantly different across age groups.     

Psychometric characteristics of the Iranian Acculturation Scale

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid scale to measure acculturation of Iranian immigrants in Canada. The 20-item Iranian Acculturation Scale showed Cronbach alpha of .83. Item-total correlations ranged from .25 to .65. Four factors were extracted, based on responses from 119 Iranian immigrants (43 men and 76 women) living in Toronto. The scale tapped different acculturation dimensions, cultural identity, language, family-related attitude and family-related values. The longer these Iranian immigrants had lived in Canada, and the earlier the age of moving to Canada the better acculturation suggested by their scores.     

Israeli Adolescents' help-seeking behaviours in relation to terrorist attacks: the perceptions of students, school counsellors and teachers

Exposure to terror seriously threatens the well-being of children and adolescents. School mental health professionals cope simultaneously with the counselling needs of their clients and with their own fears and doubts. This report is based on two studies. The first study was concerned with the perceptions of Israeli adolescents of the place of terrorist attacks in their lives. It also examined adolescents' help-seeking attitudes and behaviours in relation to terrorist attacks. The second study investigated Israeli school counsellors' and teachers' perceptions of their own roles and professional attitudes in relation to terror. A better understanding of the effects of terrorism on adolescents as well as potentially effective approaches to coping with its individual and organisational outcomes are proposed.     

Relations among musical skills,phonological processing,and early reading ability in preschool children

We examined the relations among phonological awareness, music perception skills, and early reading skills in a population of 100 4- and 5-year-old children. Music skills were found to correlate significantly with both phonological awareness and reading development. Regression analyses indicated that music perception skills contributed unique variance in predicting reading ability, even when variance due to phonological awareness and other cognitive abilities (math, digit span, and vocabulary) had been accounted for. Thus, music perception appears to tap auditory mechanisms related to reading that only partially overlap with those related to phonological awareness, suggesting that both linguistic and nonlinguistic general auditory mechanisms are involved in reading.