CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PROMOTES SMOKING REDUCTIONS IN RESIDENTIAL SUBSTANCE ABUSE PATIENTS

Rates and consequences of cigarette smoking are more severe in substance abusers. In this 12‐week pilot study, residential substance abuse treatment patients received standard care for smoking cessation (n = 12) or prize contingency management (n = 12) for expired carbon monoxide (CO) tests ≤ 8 ppm and salivary cotinine < 10 ng/ml, which are indicative of smoking abstinence. Percentage of negative CO tests and the highest number of consecutive negative CO tests were greater in contingency management compared to standard care.     

A Note on Motor Learning Without Post-Response Knowledge of Results

The authors studied the adjustment of the 2 distinct known expressions of gait velocity, the velocity of the center of gravity (CG) and the velocity of the center of foot pressure (CP) at the end of the 1st step in 2 experimental situations: natural gait initiation (the control situation, CS) and heel-off gait initiation (the test situation, TS). Gait was initiated by 7 healthy participants, from an erect spontaneous posture in the CS and from a posture with heels raised in the TS, on a force platform at 3 self-selected speed conditions. Biomechanical data from the force platform were collected in both experimental situations, and the authors used a particular gait analysis based on the differential method of Y. Brenière (2003) in order to approach velocity modulation by means of step length and frequency. Results showed that CG and CP velocities were adjusted differently during heel-off gait initiation than during natural gait initiation. CP velocity, as compared with CG velocity, was overestimated in TS. Results also established the relevance of the expression of step velocity by means of step length and frequency: The central nervous system, taking into account the specific postural constraints of each experimental situation, uses a reference value and a regulating parameter to modulate step velocity. Moreover, the contributions of 1st step length and frequency to the expression of step velocity in TS and CS were different. Thus, a specific locomotor behavior corresponds to a given experimental situation that is characterized by its own initial biomechanical constraints.     

Categorical Ontology of Levels and Emergent Complexity: An Introduction

An overview of the following three related papers in this issue presents the Emergence of Highly Complex Systems such as living organisms, man, society and the human mind from the viewpoint of the current Ontological Theory of Levels. The ontology of spacetime structures in the Universe is discussed beginning with the quantum level; then, the striking emergence of the higher levels of reality is examined from a categorical—relational and logical viewpoint. The ontological problems and methodology aspects discussed in the first two papers are followed by a rigorous paper based on Category Theory, Algebraic Topology and Logic that provides a conceptual and mathematical basis for a Categorical Ontology Theory of Levels. The essential links and relationships between the following three papers of this issue are pointed out, and further possible developments are being considered.     

A MODERN LOOK AT THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

Abstract. In what follows, I review the modern theory of the origin of the universe as astronomers and physicists are coming to understand it during the last decades of the twentieth century. An unexpected discovery of this study is that the story of "cosmogenesis" cannot be completely told unless we understand the fundamental nature of matter, space, and time. In the context of modern cosmology space has become not only the bedrock (so to speak) of our physical existence, it may yield a fuller understanding of the universe itself.     

Audio Feedback with Reduced Self-focus as an Intervention for Social Anxiety: An Experimental Study

Background and Objectives: Socially anxious individuals tend to underestimate their performance largely due to attentional bias. Video and audio feedback (AF) with cognitive preparation (CP) have shown to improve socially anxious individuals′ evaluation of their performance in previous studies. In the present study, it was hypothesized that one of the three steps in CP, reduced self-focus (RS), is sufficient to cause an improved voice evaluation after AF. This was tested in a single-session randomized controlled experiment. Method: Forty-one socially anxious participants were asked to give a speech, then to listen to and evaluate a taped recording of their performance. Half of the sample were instructed to reduce their self-focus prior to AF, the rest received AF only. RS involved asking participants to listen to the audio recording as though they were listening to a stranger. Generalization effects were assessed by a second speech. Results: AF with RS led to more improved voice evaluations than AF-only after the first speech, and the effects remained in the evaluation of the second speech. More positive speech evaluations were associated with corresponding reductions of performance anxiety.Limitations: small sample, analogue study. Conclusion: One component of cognitive preparation—(RS)—appears to be sufficient to cause significant effects on voice evaluation in socially anxious individuals. If the results are replicated in clinical samples, AF with RS may be a promising intervention in the treatment of social anxiety.     

Fitting the Reduced RUM with Mplus: A Tutorial

The Reduced Reparameterized Unified Model (Reduced RUM) is a diagnostic classification model for educational assessment that has received considerable attention among psychometricians. However, the computational options for researchers and practitioners who wish to use the Reduced RUM in their work, but do not feel comfortable writing their own code, are still rather limited. One option is to use a commercial software package that offers an implementation of the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm for fitting (constrained) latent class models like Latent GOLD or Mplus. But using a latent class analysis routine as a vehicle for fitting the Reduced RUM requires that it be re-expressed as a logit model, with constraints imposed on the parameters of the logistic function. This tutorial demonstrates how to implement marginal maximum likelihood estimation using the EM algorithm in Mplus for fitting the Reduced RUM.     

Curve It, Gauge It, or Leave It? Practical Underdetermination in Gravitational Theories

Four empirically equivalent versions of general relativity, namely standard GR, Lorentz-invariant gravitational theory,and the gravitational gauge theories of the Lorentz and translation groups, are investigated in the form of a case study for theory underdetermination. The various ontological indeterminacies (both underdetermination and inscrutability of reference) inherent in gravitational theories are analyzed in a detailed comparative study. The concept of practical underdetermination is proposed, followed by a discussion of its adequacy to describe scientific progress. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

小学教师核心自我评价、应对方式与工作倦怠的关系

采用核心自我评价量表、应对方式问卷、工作倦怠量表对广州市425名小学教师进行问卷调查,考察核心自我评价对小学教师工作倦怠的影响以及应对方式在其中所起的中介作用.结果表明:(1)核心自我评价对小学教师的情感耗竭、人格解体、成就感降低都具有显著的负向预测作用.(2)应对方式在核心自我评价对小学教师工作倦怠的影响中起着中介作用.其作用路径为:核心自我评价直接和通过积极应对和消极应对间接影响情感耗竭,核心自我评价通过积极应对和消极应对间接影响人格解体,核心自我评价直接和通过积极应对间接影响成就感降低.     

工作倦怠研究的新趋势

工作倦怠是当前组织行为学和人力资源管理的研究热点之一,其最新的研究趋势可以概括为四个方面：（1）倦怠研究从“倦怠”到“投入”,从“消极”到“积极”;（2）倦怠研究的领域和范围更为宽广;（3）倦怠的跨职业和跨文化比较研究得到重视;（4）倦怠的整合性研究开始出现,干预性研究崭露头角。最后,文章还对我国的工作倦怠研究提出了建议。