‘Age-hardened alloy’ based on bulk polycrystalline oxide ceramic

We report here for the first time the development of ‘age-hardened/toughened’ ceramic alloy based on MgO in the bulk polycrystalline form. This route allows for the facile development of a ‘near-ideal’ microstructure characterized by the presence of nanosized and uniformly dispersed second-phase particles (MgFe₂O₄) within the matrix grains, as well as along the matrix grain boundaries, in a controlled manner. Furthermore, the intragranular second-phase particles are rendered coherent with the matrix (MgO). Development of such microstructural features for two-phase bulk polycrystalline ceramics is extremely challenging following the powder metallurgical route usually adopted for the development of bulk ceramic nanocomposites. Furthermore, unlike for the case of ceramic nanocomposites, the route adopted here does not necessitate the usage of nano-powder, pressure/electric field-assisted sintering techniques and inert/reducing atmosphere. The as-developed bulk polycrystalline MgO–MgFe₂O₄ alloys possess considerably improved hardness (by ~52%) and indentation toughness (by ~35%), as compared to phase pure MgO.     

Antecedents and consequences of work-family enrichment among Indian managers

The present study identifies core self-evaluations, family support, supervisor support and job characteristics as the antecedents of work-to-family enrichment and family satisfaction, job satisfaction, affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as its outcomes. The participants (n= 245) were employees from four organizations in India from manufacturing and information technology sectors. The results show that job characteristics and supervisor support were the predictors of work-to-family enrichment and core self-evaluations, family support and supervisor support emerged as the predictors of family-to-work enrichment. On outcomes, work-to-family enrichment are the predicator of job satisfaction, affective commitment and OCB and family-to-work enrichment as the predictor of family satisfaction, job satisfaction, affective commitment and OCB. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Use of a driving simulator to assess performance under adverse weather conditions in adults with albinism

Participants with albinism have reduced vision and nystagmus with reduced foveation times. This prospective study evaluated driving in 12 participants with albinism and 12 matched controls. Participants drove a vehicle simulator through a virtual rural course in sunny and foggy conditions. Under sunny conditions, participants with albinism showed a narrower preferred minimum safety boundary during car-following tasks than did controls, but there was no difference under foggy conditions. Their driving did not differ significantly from that of controls when approaching a stop sign or when choosing gap size between oncoming vehicles when crossing an intersection. However, when compared to control drivers, participants with albinism had a decreased minimum safety boundary for car-following that should be included in counseling regarding driving safety.     

Indian Perspective on Psychotherapy: Cultural Issues

India is in a state of transition between massively transformed ‘modern’ lifestyles on one hand and the influence of traditional values and customs on the other. In view of the current realities of urbanization, migration, globalisation and societal transformation, the mental health treatment needs have become complex. The article highlights the existing mental health issues and traces the development of various psychotherapeutic techniques in India. An effort has been made to look into the basic tenets of the Indian culture which have a bearing on the conceptualisation and practical application of psychotherapy in the Indian setting. The cross-cultural relevance and adaptability of western psychotherapies in multi-ethnic and collectivistic Asian culture are discussed. In view of the differences between the eastern and western approaches to mental health, challenges in culturally-responsive adaptations are highlighted. It is seen that psychological interventions among masses are beneficial if indigenous approaches based on paradigms like themes from Gita, are cross-fertilized with western psychotherapy. However, there is a need to generate empirical evidence for indigenization of psychological treatments.     

Predictors and Outcomes of Relational and Transactional Psychological Contract

This study identifies the impact of individual and organizational factors on employee’s relational and transactional psychological contract. The study also investigates the effects of psychological contract on innovative work behavior and psychological ownership. The sample consisted of 307 employees working in four organizations in India. The results show that while creditor ideology predicted relational psychological contract, perceived organizational support emerged as the predictor of both relational and transactional contract. In terms of the outcomes of psychological contract, while transactional psychological contract emerged as a significant predictor of psychological ownership as well as innovative work behavior, relational psychological contract emerged as a significant predicator of only psychological ownership. Managerial Implications of the study are discussed.     

Poster presentations

Abstracts

Poster presentations     

Personal and socio-economic variables in relation with attitudes towards planned family

The study purpose was to examine the relationships between various personal, demographic and socioeconomic variables and attitude towards family planning on a large sample. The sample included 300 cases, representing urban and rural and male and female compositions of the population of Agra District. The Attitude Towards Family Planning (ATFP) Scale by Kapoor (1973) was used to assess the attitudes toward family planning. Age had no relationship with attitude towards family planning but education and income had substantial positive relationships (r=.56 and .40, respectively, significant at .01 level), followed by occupation showing the higher the socioeconomic status of the respondent the more favorable the attitude. Family size was found to be inversely related with attitude, indicating respondents having more children may not have favorable attitudes. This was more the case with the female sex of the child.     

Neuropsychological differentiation of depression and anxiety

The high comorbidity of depression and anxiety is well established empirically but not well understood conceptually, in terms of either psychological or biological mechanisms. A neuropsychological model of regional brain activity in emotion provides contrasting hypotheses for depression and anxiety, with depression associated with a relative decrease and anxiety with a relative increase in right-posterior activity. These hypotheses received support in a comparison of individuals diagnosed with depression and community controls, and also in a separate study of nonpatients administered a measure of perceptual asymmetry. Hierarchical regressions revealed that depression and anxiety were uniquely and jointly associated with perceptual asymmetry. In light of consistent empirical support for the model, implications for conceptualizations of the comorbidity of depression and anxiety are discussed.     

Motivation,ability, and exam performance: Tests of hypotheses of cultural difference and task difficulty

In a series of three experiments, prediction of exam performance from information about motivation and ability of students was studied. The factorial plot of the Motivation × Ability effect on predicted performance always yielded the parallelism pattern with subjects from both the student and nonstudent populations. Results agreed with the hypothesis of cultural difference between America and India. Manipulation of difficulty of exam did not alter the parallelism pattern, contrary to the specification of the hypothesis of task difficulty. Difficulty of exam affected only the origin of the response scale. Implications of results were discussed for the two tested hypotheses as well as for a new hypothesis of nature of task.     

Explaining Context Effects on Choice Using a Model of Comparative Judgment

Context effects refer to the shifts in shares when another alternative is introduced in the choice set. The alternative can be asymmetrically dominated, asymmetrically dominating, totally dominated, or totally dominating. We developed a theoretically derived model based on the shifts in attribute valuation as a potential explanation for all context effects. First, the model is tested using data from previously published studies. As predicted, the results showed a high correlation between shifts in valuation and changes in the choice shares. The model is also tested using 2 studies that extend the design of the choice sets to include better alternatives in a search context and the removal of an alternative. The strong relation justifies the case for comparative valuation as an underlying mechanism for context effects. Assuming this valuation, the article illustrates how the framework can be used to develop new product strategies taking into account the values of the unchosen alternatives.