High-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy of the antiphase boundary in a rapidly solidified B2 type TiPd compound

High-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) with Z-contrast is applied to characterize the antiphase boundary (APB) of the B2 structure in a rapidly solidified TiPd melt-spun compound. The atomic shift associated with the R ?=?(1/2) a ₀ ?111? type displacement vector is directly observed at the boundary. A microstructure modification of the melt-spun compound with the cooling rate during solidification is also described.     

Electropulsing-induced strengthening of steel at high temperature

Electropulsing usually promotes a metastable phase to evolve towards its equilibrium state. This work reports an alternative case, where electropulsing promotes the decomposition of the stable δ-phase in duplex stainless steel at high temperature. This decomposition enables both the γ-phase and the σ-phase in the steel to survive and hence to strengthen it at high temperature. The hardness of the quenched sample with electropulsing treatment is 49.4% higher than that without electropulsing treatment. A fundamental understanding of the observation is developed.     

Validating Measures of Psychological Well-being by Contrasting Samples Employed in Hazardous and Less Hazardous Work

The study investigated whether differences between contrasting groups reflect significant differences in psychological well-being scores. Membership of hazardous vs. less hazardous occupations in the same profession served as proxy measures of well-being. Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence (SOC), Block & Kremen's Ego-resiliency, and Goldberg's Emotional Stability scales were validated. Study 1 compared mine rescue team members and ordinary miners (n = 34, 41) and Study 2 police special task force members and regular officers (n = 43, 41). In Study 1, SOC and job satisfaction predicted group membership. In Study 2, satisfaction with life and extraversion scales predicted group membership, as did SOC in a secondary analysis. The SOC scale could predict psychological well-being in hazardous work settings.     

Psychosocial Effects of Conditions of Military Deployment

Deployment may lead the soldiers to dichotomise their profession and their family life, resulting in unwanted effects on family or career. Effects on reintegration and functioning within family are considered. Reunions may be characterized by perceived negative reception and consequences could spill over to children as parents attempt to equivocate their differences. Risks exist for fragmentation of the family system or divorce. Social support may serve to buffer families with members on deployment.     

Dynamics of Peer Victimization in Early Adolescence

ABSTRACT

This study addressed the stability of victimization across four consecutive years from Grades 4 to 7, and the concurrent correlates, short-term consequences, and predictors of victimization in early adolescence. Participants were 600 students (49% girls) enrolled in 10 elementary schools in Grades 4-5 and 2 middle schools in Grades 6-7 in an ethnically diverse school system. Data collection included peer nominations, self-reports, and teacher reports in each year. Victimization was highly stable across all years, including the transition from elementary to middle school. Both concurrent and short-term consequences showed that victimized 6th graders, especially girls, experienced significantly greater maladaptive outcomes than their nonvictim counterparts. For both genders, risk factors for adolescent victimization included externalizing and internalizing behaviors, while protective factors included academic and peer sociability elements. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.     

Unpacking the role of self-esteem in career uncertainty: A self-determination perspective

The aim of this study is to explain why students with high self-esteem have lower career uncertainty than students with low self-esteem. Based on self-determination theory, students with high self-esteem would have higher efficacy in making decisions, which would encourage them to choose a major for self-concordance, such as interest and ability, and increase their course involvement. Both factors are assumed to be related to lower career uncertainty. Data from a national survey of the Taiwan Higher Education Database within the Survey Research Data Archive from juniors at 92 colleges and universities in Taiwan (N = 7418) were analyzed to examine the model. Results supported the proposed model by showing that students with high self-esteem had lower career uncertainty because they chose a major for self-concordant reasons and had a strong motivation to learn, both of which contribute to lower career uncertainty.     

Name Letter Preferences Are Not Merely Mere Exposure: Implicit Egotism as Self-Regulation

People prefer the letters in their own names to letters that are not in their own names. Furthermore, people prefer the numbers in their own birthdays to numbers not in their own birthdays. In this article we argue that these examples of implicit egotism are best conceptualized as the product of unconscious self-regulation processes rather than a result of mere exposure. In support of this hypothesis, a study of name-letter preferences showed that people preferred their own name letters even when these letters were relatively rare. Furthermore, the name-letter and birthday-number preferences of high and low self-esteem participants diverged in response to an experimentally manipulated self-concept threat. We conclude that implicit egotism, specifically name-letter and birthday-number preferences, represent a form of unconscious self-regulation. Implications of these results for the mere exposure explanation of name-letter preferences and for theory and research in implicit egotism are discussed.     

Maintaining Life Satisfaction: The Role of Positive Cognitive Bias

Recent research into population standards of life satisfaction has revealed a remarkable level of uniformity, with the mean values for Western populations clustering at around three-quarters of the measurement scale maximum. While this seems to suggest the presence of a homeostatic mechanism for life satisfaction, the character of such a hypothetical device is uncertain. This paper proposes that well-being homeostasis is controlled by positive cognitive biases pertaining to the self. Most particular in this regard are the positive biases in relation to self-esteem, control and optimism. Past controversies in relation to this proposition are reviewed and resolved in favour of the proposed mechanism. The empirical data to support this hypothesis are discussed in the context of perceived well-being as an adaptive human attribute.     

认知风格、内外向性、情绪稳定性与图形推理效果的关系

采用EFT、EPQ和RSPM-CR量表对156名理科大学生进行测量研究,结果发现：场独立性认知风格在图形系统变化、系列关系、抽象推理方面,较场依存性有明显优势;情绪稳定性高者图形推理的总体效果显著优于情绪稳定性低者;内向性者与外向性者的图形推理效果无显著差异;认知风格、情绪稳定性与图形推理总分有显著正相关,认知风格的正向预测力居首位。     

Parental Attachment and Adolescents' Perception of School Alienation: The Mediation Role of Self-Esteem and Adjustment

The present study examined the relationship between adolescents' attachment to parents and their feelings of alienation in the school context by considering the mediating role of adjustment and self-esteem. It was proposed that the degree of attachment to one's parents was associated with adjustment and self-esteem, which in turn predicted possible school alienation. A total of 227 students completed self-report measures on parental attachment, adjustment, self-esteem, and alienation from school. Results were consistent with the attachment theory and related literature that posits that (a) secure attachment to parents was associated with adjustment and self-esteem, (b) secure attachment to parents was negatively associated with feelings of school alienation, and (c) adjustment and self-esteem were a crucial mediators between attachment to parents and school alienation. In addition to enhanced adjustment, the self-esteem of adolescents may be an additional factor in reducing alienation at school. The results also supported the mediator role of self-esteem in the relationship between attachment to parents and adjustment. Finally, the relationship between self-esteem and school alienation were shown to be fully mediated by adjustment. The results were discussed in the context of responsibilities of teachers and school counselors, which may provide both students and parents with the skills to improve social functioning in the school context.