bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AN EFFICIENT METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE COMPUTATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF THE CUBIC LUCAS CRYPTOSYSTEM
Authors: MAJID REZA NAGHIZADEH , SUNDARARAJAN ELANKOVAN , ALI ZULKARNAIN MD
Published: April 2014

The cubic version of the Lucas cryptosystem is set up based on the cubic recurrence relation of the Lucas function by Said and Loxton [‘A cubic analogue of the RSA cryptosystem’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.68 (2003), 21–38]. To implement this type of cryptosystem in a limited environment, it is necessary to accelerate encryption and decryption procedures. Therefore, this paper concentrates on improving the computation time of encryption and decryption in cubic Lucas cryptosystems. The new algorithm is designed based on new properties of the cubic Lucas function and mathematical techniques. To illustrate the efficiency of our algorithm, an analysis was carried out with different size parameters and the performance of the proposed and previously existing algorithms was evaluated with experimental data and mathematical analysis.
ON -VECTORS AND THE DERIVATIVES OF THE TANGENT AND SECANT FUNCTIONS
Authors: MA SHI-MEI
Published: April 2014

In this paper, we show that the$\gamma $-vectors of Coxeter complexes (of types A and B) and associahedrons (of types A and B) can be obtained by using derivative polynomials of the tangent and secant functions. We provide a unified grammatical approach to generate these$\gamma $-vectors and the coefficient arrays of Narayana polynomials, Legendre polynomials and Chebyshev polynomials of both kinds.
“WE THINK THAT THIS JOB PLEASES ALLAH”: ISLAMIC CHARITY, SOCIAL ORDER, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN MUSLIM SELFHOODS IN JORDAN
Authors: Jung Dietrich , Petersen Marie Juul
Published: April 2014

This article explores the role of Islam in contemporary Jordanian charities and social welfare organizations. In what ways do these organizations relate to Islamic traditions in their work? What role do religious convictions play in the construction of modern selfhoods among their employees and volunteers? Do these constructions relate to broader, globally relevant, social imaginaries? The article tries to answer these questions by applying a novel analytical framework to qualitative data from fieldwork conducted among Jordanian charities and social welfare organizations. We treat these organizations as “social sites” for the reinterpretation of Islamic traditions in the context of global modernity as well as for the construction of meaningful forms of modern selfhoods among their members. In doing so, we argue that these specifically Islamic identity constructions can fruitfully be understood with reference to different types of globally relevant social imaginaries.
COUNTERING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN IRAQI KURDISTAN: STATE-BUILDING AND TRANSNATIONAL ADVOCACY
Authors: Voller Yaniv
Published: April 2014

The struggle against gender-based violence in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region has witnessed some significant achievements since the late 1990s. A subject long excluded from public discourse in the region, it has now moved increasingly into the mainstream, compelling the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to take legal and practical measures against such practices as honor killings, female genital mutilation, and domestic violence. This article traces the sources of these shifts in the KRG's stance, looking especially at the role of transnational women's rights networks in the region. It highlights these networks’ successful strategy of binding their cause to the KRG's endeavor to legitimize and consolidate its contested sovereignty over the Kurdistan Region. In doing so, the paper addresses an underexplored subject in the literature on women's rights campaigns in the Kurdistan Region and contributes to the study of transnational advocacy as a source of normative change.
THINKING BEYOND DIRECT VIOLENCE
Authors: Kaufman Asher
Published: April 2014

The thought-provoking roundtable on “theorizing violence” in the November 2013 issue ofIJMESpaid much attention to different manifestations of physical violence. This is the type of violence that as early as 1969 Johan Galtung, one of the founders of the field of peace studies, termed direct violence, distinguishing it from other forms of violence, to which I will refer below. Direct violence, Galtung noted, is related to “somaticincapacitation, or deprivation of health, alone (with killing as the extreme form), at the hands of anactorwhointendsthis to be the consequence.” According to Galtung, direct violence is physically manifested, it is related to a discernible event, and it has to involve a perpetrator and a purpose.
Robert Smithson's Toxic Tour of Passaic, New Jersey
Authors: MENARD ANDREW
Published: April 2014

No land artist of the 1960s was more influential at the time than Robert Smithson. If anything, earthworks such as theSpiral Jettyand essays such as “Frederick Law Olmsted and the Dialectical Landscape” have only added to his importance over the years. One of the reasons Smithson still seems so relevant is that his work responded so directly to a nostalgic trend that arose in both American studies and American environmentalism during the 1950s and 1960s. On the whole, it was a nostalgia for nineteenth-century pastoralism, but it also led to a revival of interest in such figures as Thomas Cole, Timothy O'Sullivan, and Olmsted himself. To counteract this elegiac tendency Smithson developed a “toxic discourse” in which he treated the nineteenth-century landscape as a totally engineered prototype for the twentieth. The first fully formed expression of this toxic discourse was an essay he published in 1967, “A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey.” It was there that Smithson began to elaborate an aesthetic that treated the open-pit mine, the suburb, and the desert as mirror images of each other.
Biodiversity of entomopathogenic nematodes in Italy
Authors: Tarasco E. , Clausi M. , Rappazzo G. , Panzavolta T. , Curto G. , Sorino R. , Oreste M. , Longo A. , Leone D. , Tiberi R. , Vinciguerra M.T. , Triggiani O.
Published: April 2014

An investigation was carried out on the distribution and biodiversity of steinernematid and heterorhabdtid entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) in nine regions of Italy in the period 1990–2010. More than 2000 samples were collected from 580 localities and 133 of them yielded EPN specimens. A mapping of EPN distribution in Italy showed 133 indigenous EPN strains belonging to 12 species: 43 isolates ofHeterorhabditis bacteriophora, 1 ofH. downesi, 1 ofH. megidis, 51 ofSteinernema feltiae, 12 ofS. affine, 4 ofS. kraussei, 8 ofS. apuliae, 5 ofS. ichnusae, 3 ofS. carpocapsae, 1 ofS. vulcanicum, 3 ofSteinernema‘isolate S.sp.MY7’ of ‘S. intermediumgroup’ and 1 ofS.arenarium. Steinernematids are more widespread than heterorhabditids andS. feltiaeandH. bacteriophoraare the most commonly encountered species. Sampling sites were grouped into 11 habitats: uncultivated land, orchard, field, sea coast, pinewood, broadleaf wood, grasslands, river and lake borders, caves, salt pan and moist zones; the soil texture of each site was defined and the preferences of habitat and soil texture of each species was assessed. Except for the two dominant species,S. feltiaeandH. bacteriophora, EPN occurrence tends to be correlated with a specific vegetation habitat.Steinernema kraussei,H. downesiandH. megidiswere collected only in Sicily and three of the species recently described –S. apuliae,S. ichnusaeandS. vulcanicum– are known only from Italy and seem to be endemic.
Parasites as biological tags in marine fisheries research: European Atlantic waters
Authors: MACKENZIE K. , HEMMINGSEN W.
Published: April 2014

Studies of the use of parasites as biological tags for stock identification and to follow migrations of marine fish, mammals and invertebrates in European Atlantic waters are critically reviewed and evaluated. The region covered includes the North, Baltic, Barents and White Seas plus Icelandic waters, but excludes the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Each fish species or ecological group of species is treated separately. More parasite tag studies have been carried out on Atlantic herring Clupea harengus than on any other species, while cod Gadus morhua have also been the subject of many studies. Other species that have been the subjects of more than one study are: blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou, whiting Merlangius merlangus, haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus, Norway pout Trisopterus esmarkii, horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus and mackerel Scomber scombrus. Other species are dealt with under the general headings redfishes, flatfish, tunas, anadromous fish, elasmobranchs, marine mammals and invertebrates. A final section highlights how parasites can be, and have been, misused as biological tags, and how this can be avoided. It also reviews recent developments in methodology and parasite genetics, considers the potential effects of climate change on the distributions of both hosts and parasites, and suggests host-parasite systems that should reward further research.
Age at onset, course of illness and response to psychotherapy in bipolar disorder: results from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD)
Authors: Peters A. , Sylvia L. G. , da Silva Magalhães P. V. , Miklowitz D. J. , Frank E. , Otto M. W. , Hansen N. S. , Dougherty D. D. , Berk M. , Nierenberg A. A. , Deckersbach T.
Published: April 2014

Background.

The course of bipolar disorder progressively worsens in some patients. Although responses to pharmacotherapy appear to diminish with greater chronicity, less is known about whether patients' prior courses of illness are related to responses to psychotherapy.

Method.

Embedded in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD) was a randomized controlled trial of psychotherapy for bipolar depression comparing the efficacy of intensive psychotherapy with collaborative care (a three-session psycho-educational intervention). We assessed whether the number of previous mood episodes, age of illness onset, and illness duration predicted or moderated the likelihood of recovery and time until recovery from a depressive episode in patients in the two treatments.

Results.

Independently of treatment condition, participants with one to nine prior depressive episodes were more likely to recover and had faster time to recovery than those with 20 or more prior depressive episodes. Participants with fewer than 20 prior manic episodes had faster time to recovery than those with 20 or more episodes. Longer illness duration predicted a longer time to recovery. Participants were more likely to recover in intensive psychotherapy than collaborative care if they had 10–20 prior episodes of depression [number needed to treat (NNT) = 2.0], but equally likely to respond to psychotherapy and collaborative care if they had one to nine (NNT = 32.0) or >20 (NNT = 9.0) depressive episodes.

Conclusions.

Number of previous mood episodes and illness duration are associated with the likelihood and speed of recovery among bipolar patients receiving psychosocial treatments for depression.
Associative participation of older adults and subjective quality of life: exploring self-selection bias
Authors: AHMED-MOHAMED KARIM , ROJO-PEREZ FERMINA , FERNANDEZ-MAYORALAS GLORIA , FORJAZ MARIA JOÃO , MARTINEZ-MARTIN PABLO
Published: April 2014

Active ageing policies seek to increase the quality of life of older people in three areas: health, security and participation. This paper focuses on a specific type of participation: associations. Its objective is to explore the possible self-selection effects of this type of participation, using global subjective quality of life indicators (satisfaction with life) and domain-specific indicators (satisfaction with leisure, community social integration and emotional resources). For this, a structural equation modelling analysis was conducted, taking into account bi-directional relationships between the variables of interest. The data come from a conditions and quality of life survey conducted in 2008 among a sample of 1,106 individuals aged 60 or over, living in community-dwellings in Spain. The results illustrate a complex model of relationships in which associative participation is not statistically significantly associated with the satisfaction measures used. This highlights the importance of self-selection effects and raises the issue of the effectiveness of associative participation as a tool to enhance the life satisfaction of older adults.
Cognitive Performance and Morning Levels of Salivary Cortisol and α-Amylase in Children Reporting High vs. Low Daily Stress Perception
Authors: Maldonado Enrique F. , Fernandez Francisco J. , Trianes M. Victoria , Wesnes Keith , Petrini Orlando , Zangara Andrea , Enguix Alfredo , Ambrosetti Lara
Published: April 2014

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of daily stress perception on cognitive performance and morning basal salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase levels in healthy children aged 9–12. Participants were classified by whether they had low daily perceived stress (LPS,n= 27) or a high daily perceived stress (HPS,n= 26) using the Children Daily Stress Inventory (CDSI). Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase were measured at awakening and 30 minutes later. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Cognitive Drug Research assessment system. The HPS group exhibited significantly poorer scores on speed of memory (p < .05) and continuity of attention (p< .05) relative to the LPS group. The HPS group also showed significantly lower morning cortisol levels at awakening and at +30 minutes measures in comparison with the LPS group (p< .05), and mean morning cortisol levels were negatively correlated with speed of memory (p< .05) in the 53 participants. No significant differences were observed between both groups in alpha-amylase levels. These findings suggest that daily perceived stress in children may impoverish cognitive performance via its modulating effects on the HPA axis activity.
Psychophysiological, Behavioral, and Cognitive Indices of the Emotional Response: A Factor-Analytic Study
Authors: Sánchez-Navarro Juan Pedro , Martínez-Selva José María , Torrente Ginesa , Román Francisco
Published: April 2014

Previous research on the components of the emotional response employing factor analytic studies has yielded a two-factor structure (Lang, Greenwald, Bradley, & Hamm, 1993; Cuthbert, Schupp, Bradley, Birbaumer, & Lang, 2000). However, the startle blink reflex, a widely employed measure of the emotional response, has not been considered to date. We decided to include two parameters of the startle reflex (magnitude and latency) in order to explore further how this response fits into the two-factor model of emotion. We recorded the acoustic startle blink response, skin conductance response, heart rate, free viewing time, and picture valence and arousal ratings of 45 subjects while viewing 54 pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; 18 unpleasant, 18 neutral, and 18 pleasant). Factorizations of all measures gave a two-factor solution (valence and arousal) that accounted for 70% of the variance. Although some measurements, including heart rate change, did not behave as predicted, our results reinforce the two-dimension model of the emotion, and show that startle fits into the model.
Family Perception of the Process of Organ Donation. Qualitative Psychosocial Analysis of the Subjective Interpretation of Donor and Nondonor Families
Authors: Martínez Jorge S. López , López María Jesús Martín , Scandroglio Barbara , García José Manuel Martínez
Published: April 2014

Family perception of organ donation has been explored by numerous authors using statements by the people who decided whether or not to donate the organs of a relative in a situation of brain death. Within this tradition, in this work, we analyze the discourse of six families who granted permission for organ donation and three who refused. We describe the process-based interpretation of this experience and identify psychosocial variables and processes that further our understanding of the decision finally adopted. We have identified two heuristics that guide family decision when organ donation is requested: the explicit or inferred will of the deceased and family attitudes to organ donation and transplant. It is postulated that the interaction of these two factors explains a large amount of the decisions made. We also hypothesize that a marked discrepancy between these two factors increases the importance of other aspects, especially the role of the transplant coordinator and of other healthcare personnel. These results support, at a social level, the implementation of transplant promotion programs; and at a healthcare level, the combined use of techniques of crisis intervention and attitude change.
Perceived Sexual Harassment at Work: Meta-Analysis and Structural Model of Antecedents and Consequences
Authors: Cantisano Gabriela Topa , Domínguez J. F. Morales , Depolo Marco
Published: April 2014

Although sexual harassment has been extensively studied, empirical research has not led to firm conclusions about its antecedents and consequences, both at the personal and organizational level. An extensive literature search yielded 42 empirical studies with 60 samples. The matrix correlation obtained through meta-analytic techniques was used totest a structural equation model. Results supported the hypotheses regarding organizational environmental factors as main predictors of harassment.
Workplace Mobbing and Effects on Workers' Health
Authors: de Pedro Mariano Meseguer , Sánchez María Isabel Soler , Navarro María Concepción Sáez , Izquierdo Mariano García
Published: April 2014

In this work, we analyze various consequences of the phenomenon of mobbing on the health of a work sector with special characteristics: the agro fruit sector. For this purpose, we collected data from a sample of 396 workers (61 men and 331 women) belonging to this sector in the Region of Murcia (Spain). A questionnaire with the following measurement instruments was administered: a Spanish adaptation of the revised Negative Acts Questionnaire (Sáez, García, & Llor, 2003), the Psychosomatic Problems Questionnaire (Hock, 1988), and a measure of absenteeism. The results revealed a significant and positive relation between workplace mobbing and psychosomatic symptoms, but not with absenteeism. The implications of the results for future research are discussed.
The Long-Term Effects of Coping Strategy Use in Victims of Bullying
Authors: Hunter Simon C. , Mora-Merchan Joaquin , Ortega Rosario
Published: April 2014

The ways in which children appraise and cope with school bullying are likely to influence the long-term outcomes experienced. To examine this possibility, 219 Spanish undergraduate students (73 male, 146 female) aged between 18 and 40, completed an adapted version of the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ; Schäfer et al., 2004) and a distress scale (Rivers, 1999). Results indicated that neither coping strategies reported by victims of bullying nor the match between control appraisal and coping strategy influenced levels of distress experienced as adults. Control, threat and challenge appraisals did, however, influence long-term distress. Explanations for these effects are discussed, and include the possibility that appraisals may directly influence levels of distress and the quality of emotions experienced by victims during the actual bullying episode. Active strategies were perceived by students to be effective in dealing with bullying, whereas those centered on avoiding the conflict, or which involved aggression, were considered ineffective.
Anorexia and Depression: Depressive Comorbidity in Anorexic Adolescents
Authors: García-Alba Carmen
Published: April 2014

Frequently, depression is a concomitant pathology in anorexia nervosa. To verify this, we carried out a comparative case/control study with 50 anorexic patients, restricting-type (ANP), 50 depressed patients (DP) and 50 non-patients (NP), aged between 13 and 16. We used the Rorschach Test and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and compared the results to parent's observations collected from the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Results showed two clearly different groups among participants: ANP with depression (36%) and ANP without depression (64%). This seems to indicate that depression is not a core element in anorexic disorders. However, we also observed a significant increase in the MMPI scale 2, which was probably related to starvation and weight loss. We confirmed the absence of general anxiety in the ANP group and obtained differences between depressive symptoms and those derived from coping deficit disorders. The discussion emphasizes the importance of using several tests to reduce bias in results and conclusions.
Accurate Referential Communication and its Relation with Private and Social Speech in a Naturalistic Context
Authors: Girbau Dolors , Boada Humbert
Published: April 2014

Research into human communication has been grouped under two traditions: referential and sociolinguistic. The study of a communication behavior simultaneously from both paradigms appears to be absent. Basically, this paper analyzes the use of private and social speech, through both a referential task (Word Pairs) and a naturalistic dyadic setting (Lego-set) administered to a sample of 64 children from grades 3 and 5. All children, of 8 and 10 years of age, used speech that was not adapted to the decoder, and thus ineffective for interpersonal communication, in both referential and sociolinguistic communication. Pairs of high-skill referential encoders used significantly more task-relevant social speech, that is, cognitively more complex, than did low-skill dyads in the naturalistic context. High-skill referential encoder dyads showed a trend to produce more inaudible private speech than did low-skill ones during spontaneous communication. Gender did not affect the results.
A Daughter's Retrospective of B. F. Skinner
Authors: Vargas Julie S.
Published: April 2014

This paper describes characteristic behaviors of my father, B. F. Skinner, using family documents and my own recollections. Early contingencies in his upbringing strengthened his love of building things and his independence in discovering how the world works. Those skills, combined with a lack of supervision in graduate school, set the stage for his discovery of the operant. He did not stop with laboratory research. He extended his discovery of how consequences select behavior into education and the design of cultural practices. As well as solving society's problems, my father was always concerned with improving his own behavior. Some of the contingencies he set up to maximize his own productivity are described.
A Note on Skinner and Pavlov's Physiology
Authors: García-Hoz Víctor
Published: April 2014

These short notes describe the way in which Skinner considers and resolves his differences with Pavlov in the question of the relation between psychology and physiology as forms of knowledge. After establishing his viewpoint in the general epistemological issue, Skinner is concerned about linking his study of behavior to the work of Pavlov, who considered it to be of a physiological nature. Skinner contrasts Pavlov's empirical and theoretical work and characterizes the latter in terms of the notion of the “Conceptual Nervous System.”
Acquisition, Learning, or Development of Language? Skinner's “Verbal Behavior” Revisited
Authors: Ornat Susana López , Gallo Pilar
Published: April 2014

In 1957, Skinner, in his “Verbal Behavior”, proposed an explanation on how a language is learned. In 1959, Chomsky strongly argued the non-learnability of language, establishing in the field of developmental psycholinguistics the substitution of the term “learning” for that of “acquisition”. Currently, the constructivist models describe language acquisition as a process of ontogenetic, gradual, complex, and adaptive change. This new theoretical framework has been especially useful for rereading Verbal Behavior because it facilitates recovering the Skinnerian learning mechanisms. This can be observed in the recent research trends that recapture reinforcement and imitation (echoic responses), although they are now located in the initial phases of the process and are included in a cognitive dynamic that, by gradually increasing its complexity, can achieve grammar. The new constructivist theoretical framework, by retrieving the functional and referential aspects of language, can also take advantage of the classic Skinnerian proposal about the pragmatic types of verbal behavior, providing it with new meaning.
Skinner and the Rise of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy
Authors: Labrador Francisco Javier
Published: April 2014

Skinner is, without a doubt, one of the most predominant figures in the development of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy. Skinners' work is essential to the development of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy. Beginning with the social need for efficient psychotherapy, and after having generated a solid theoretical body of behavioral laws, Skinner indicated and also developed the appropriate path towards efficient interventions for unadaptive behavior. He developed a new theory regarding abnormal behavior (psychopathology), as well as a procedural model for evaluation (diagnosis) and intervention: “The functional analysis of behavior”. His applications for this kind of work are pioneering and at the same time, he is the agglutinant figure of what we today call “Behavior Modification and/or Therapy”.

It is remarkable that a scientist could change the theories and practices of a discipline as radically as Skinner and his work did. His work, however, still has its limitations. The best way to acknowledge and pay tribute to Skinners' work is to overcome these limitations.
Processing of Threat-related Information Outside the Focus of Visual Attention
Authors: Calvo Manuel G. , Castillo M. Dolores
Published: April 2014

This study investigates whether threat-related words are especially likely to be perceived in unattended locations of the visual field. Threat-related, positive, and neutral words were presented at fixation as probes in a lexical decision task. The probe word was preceded by 2 simultaneous prime words (1 foveal, i.e., at fixation; 1 parafoveal, i.e., 2.2 deg. of visual angle from fixation), which were presented for 150 ms, one of which was either identical or unrelated to the probe. Results showed significant facilitation in lexical response times only for the probe threat words when primed parafoveally by an identical word presented in the right visual field. We conclude that threat-related words have privileged access to processing outside the focus of attention. This reveals a cognitive bias in the preferential, parallel processing of information that is important for adaptation.
Positive Emotions in Volunteerism
Authors: Jiménez María Luisa Vecina , Fuertes Fernando Chacón
Published: April 2014

Volunteerism is a well consolidated social phenomenon in our society. However, its rapid growth in the last few years has complicated the integration of theoretical knowledge and its application in organizational settings. Taking into account that nowadays, one of the chief problems of volunteer organizations is sustained volunteer service, the object of this work is to verify, within the context of the psychosocial model of sustained volunteerism (Vecina, 2001), the type of relation between the experience of positive emotions in volunteers and their intention of remaining in the organization. This work was carried out on a sample of volunteers who had been in service for less than one year prior to this study.
Psychosocial Adaptation in Relatives of Critically Injured Patients Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Rodríguez Agustín Martín , Gregorio Mª Ángeles Pérez San
Published: April 2014

The aim of this study is to analyze how the length of time a patient spends in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) affects close relatives, with regard to specific clinical variables of personality, family relationships and fear of death. The study group consisted of 57 relatives of seriously ill patients admitted to the ICU of “Virgen del Rocío” Rehabilitation and Trauma Hospital (Seville, Spain). The instruments applied were: a psychosocial questionnaire, clinical analysis questionnaire, family environment scale and fear of death scale. The relatives of patients admitted to ICU obtained higher scores in hypochondria, suicidal depression, agitation, anxious depression, guilt-resentment, paranoia, psychasthenia, psychological maladjustment and self-expression, and less in fear of their own death, as when compared to interviews with the same relatives 4 years later. The length of time a patient spent in the ICU influenced relatives in some clinical variables of personality, family relationships and fear of death.
AIDS and Social Exclusion: Personality Features or Adaptive Behaviors?
Authors: Sarazúa Enrique Flores , Más Mercedes Borda , Gregorio Mª Ángeles Pérez San
Published: April 2014

The purpose of this survey is to detect common personality features in people infected with AIDS who have a case history of drug addiction and who live in a situation of social exclusion. The sample comprised 105 male participants from the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, divided into 4 groups: (a) 30 men with AIDS, having an intravenous drug addiction case history and who live in a condition of social exclusion; (b) 30 men with IVDA case history, also living in a situation of social exclusion; (c) 15 men in a social exclusion condition; and (d) 30 men in a condition of social adaptation. The evaluation instruments were an author-designed semi-structured interview and the Multiaxial Clinical Inventory (MCMI-II; Millon, 1987). Although some differences were found, the results indicate that there is no specific personality profile in the “social exclusion” population. People in a condition of social exclusion (AIDS, drug addicts, and poor people) may obtain similar scores in the variables studied, but there is no clear specific personality profile in the excluded population, although there may be certain situations in which the segregated groups present similar behaviors. Furthermore, these behaviors do not always correspond to personality features but are adaptive responses to a harsh and complex reality.
Self-Talk and Affective Problems in College Students: Valence of Thinking and Cognitive Content Specificity
Authors: Calvete Esther , Estévez Ana , Landín Covadonga , Martínez Yolanda , Cardeñoso Olga , Villardón Lourdes , Villa Aurelio
Published: April 2014

The aim of this study was to develop a Self-Talk Inventory for young adults. This inventory consisted of two scales. The Negative Self-Talk Scale included three categories of selftalk (depressive, anxious, and angry thoughts) and the Positive Self-Talk Scale, three categories (minimization, positive orientation, and coping self-instructions). Participants were 982 undergraduate students (Mean age = 20.35 years, SD = 2.16). They completed the self-talk scales together with the following scales to measure symptoms of affective disorders: the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI-T). Factor analyses confirmed the hypothesized structure for the Self-Talk Inventory. The relations between self-talk and symptoms of affective disorders (depression, anxiety, and anger) were also evaluated. In general, states-of-mind –SOM– ratios and negative cognitions showed a greater association with psychological symptoms than did positive cognitions. Results concerning the cognitive characteristics of depression, anxiety, and anger were mixed and partially supported the cognitive content specificity theory.
Modification of Coronary-Prone Behaviors in Coronary Patients of Low Socio-Economic Status
Authors: del Pino Antonio , Gaos Mª Teresa , Dorta Ruth , García Martín
Published: April 2014

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a group cognitive-behavioral treatment to modify coronary-prone behaviors in patients from a fairly low social and educational level. Participants were 98 male coronary patients randomly allocated to one experimental and two control groups. All groups received standard medical treatment. The experimental group received an additional psychological treatment and one of the two control groups received a health education treatment. Results showed that only the psychological treatment group significantly reduced Pressured Drive and Speed-Impatience after treatment, and at 1- and 2-year follow-ups. Depression was also significantly reduced only in this group at 2-year follow-up. The results are considered a reliable first step in the process of validating this program designed to improve coronary heart disease patients' quality of life.
The Mothering of Conduct Problem and Normal Children in Spain and the USA: Authoritarian and Permissive Asynchrony
Authors: Wahler Robert G. , Cerezo M. Angeles
Published: April 2014

Ninety-two clinic-referred and nonclinical mother-child dyads in Spain and the USA were observed in their home settings under naturalistic conditions for a total of 477 hours. Children in the clinic-referred dyads were considered troubled because of conduct problems. The observations were aimed at assessing two forms of mother-child asynchrony, either of which was expected to differentiate clinic referred from nonclinical dyads. Authoritarian asynchrony was defined as a mother's indiscriminate use of aversive reactions to her child, whereas the permissive form entailed indiscriminate positive reactions. Results showed the American mothers to generate more permissive asynchrony, whereas the Spanish mothers were inclined in the authoritarian direction. Only authoritarian asynchrony differentiated the clinical versus nonclinical dyads in each country. Discussion was centered on the greater salience of aversive as opposed to positive maternal attention, and cultural differences between countries that might have accounted for the different parenting styles.
Social Psychology of Mental Health: The Social Structure and Personality Perspective
Authors: Moreno Esteban Sánchez , de Roda Ana Barrón López
Published: April 2014

Previous research has revealed a persistent association between social structure and mental health. However, most researchers have focused only on the psychological and psychosocial aspects of that relationship. The present paper indicates the need to include the social and structural bases of distress in our theoretical models. Starting from a general social and psychological model, our research considered the role of several social, environmental, and structural variables (social position, social stressors, and social integration), psychological factors (self-esteem), and psychosocial variables (perceived social support). The theoretical model was tested working with a group of Spanish participants (N= 401) that covered a range of social positions. The results obtained using structural equation modeling support our model, showing the relevant role played by psychosocial, psychological and social, and structural factors. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.
Development of Memory Structures for Homographs Using Pathfinder Network Representations
Authors: Nievas Francisco , Justicia Fernando
Published: April 2014

Some studies with children have shown that there is no semantic priming at short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) in lexical decision and naming tasks for homographs. The predictions of spreading activation theories might explain this missing effect. There may be differences in children's and adults' memory structures. We have explored this hypothesis. The development of memory structure representations for homographs was measured by a Pathfinder algorithm. In Experiment 1, the three dependent variables were: the number of links in the network, closeness measures (C), and distances between nodes. Results revealed developmental differences in network structure representations in adults and children. In Experiment 2, results revealed that these differences were not due to the cohort effect. In Experiment 3, the relationship between associative strength, as measured by associative norms, and distances, as measured by Pathfinder algorithm, was explored. The results of these three experiments and empirical research from semantic priming experiments show that these differences in memory structure representations could be one of the sources of the missing semantic priming effect in children.
Brief-Time-Series Analysis of Depressive Symptomatology in Older People
Authors: Rodríguez-Testal Juan Francisco , Díaz María Valdés
Published: April 2014

This research shows the utility of systematic data-gathering from older people and of a statistical analysis procedure for interpreting the data. Four cases of institutionalized older people are presented, and their scores of depressive symptomatology over a period of one to two years is analyzed. Time-series analysis showed a significant positive trend of depression symptomatology in two of the cases, perhaps too subtle for detection in routine clinical check-up, but statistically verifiable. In one of these cases, none of the factors of the scale stands out, despite the fact that the general index shows a statistically significant change over the 36 observations made, so that the results obtained are related to the syndrome of depletion or exhaustion. In the second of the cases, we detect a significant change in the depressive mood factor, which may indicate a subclinical depressive form in its initial stages. Continuous registers can reveal valuable information about situations and progress in the evolution of an older person's mood, with regard to natural development, the prelude to a mood disorder, or follow-up in clinical cases.
Pavlov in Spain
Authors: Bandrés Javier , Llavona Rafael
Published: April 2014

Reflexology has been present throughout Spanish science since the last third of the nineteenth century and its importance can be seen in the works of authors such as Martín Salazar, Ramón y Cajal, Gómez Ocaña, Simarro and Turró. The most important research in Reflexology in Spain takes place a) at the Schools of Neurophysiology and Psychology in Barcelona and Madrid, b) with a group of authors specializing in pathological medicine and c) in the Military's Health Department. Pavlov's work was received in Spain with special interest. Fernández-España, who could be considered the “first Spanish Pavlovian,” emphasized Pavlov's work in a series dedicated to the study of objective psychology which was published between 1914 and 1924. Planelles was the first investigator to develop a program in Pavlovian experimentation, presenting his results in 1935. The Civil War (1936-1939) ended these and many other Spanish projects in psychology. After the war, interest in Reflexology and Pavlov's theories slowly rose again, first through psychosomatic medicine and then in the 60's because of the works of such authors as Monserrat-Esteve, Rof Carballo and Colodrón. The progressive inclusion of psychology in the Schools of Philosophy and Arts after 1968 marked the beginning of a new era.
Neuroscience of Pavlovian Conditioning: A Brief Review
Authors: Aguado Luis
Published: April 2014

Current knowledge on the neuronal substrates of Pavlovian conditioning in animals and man is briefly reviewed. First, work on conditioning in aplysia, that has showed amplified pre-synaptic facilitation as the basic mechanism of associative learning, is summarized. Then, two exemplars of associative learning in vertebrates, fear conditioning in rodents and eyelid conditioning in rabbits, are described and research into its neuronal substrates discussed. Research showing the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning and of the cerebellum in eyelid conditioning is reviewed, both at the circuit and cellular plasticity levels. Special attention is given to the parallelism suggested by this research between the neuronal mechanisms of conditioning and the principles of formal learning theory. Finally, recent evidence showing a similar role of the amygdala and of the cerebellum in human Pavlovian conditioning is discussed.
Signalization and Stimulus-Substitution in Pavlov's Theory of Conditioning
Authors: García-Hoz Víctor
Published: April 2014

The concept of conditioning as signalization proposed by Ivan P. Pavlov (1927, 1928) is studied in relation to the theory of stimulus-substitution, which is also attributed to him. In the so-called theory of stimulus-substitution a distinction must be made between an empirical principle of substitution and an actual theory of substitution, which can adopt different forms. The Pavlovian theory of substitution—which conceives substitution as a substitution of the unconditioned stimulus (US) by the conditioned stimulus (CS) in the activation of the representation of the former—can be understood as an explanation or model of signalization. Signalization and substitution are answers to different questions, and the level of analysis to which signalization corresponds, is that which concerns the nature of conditioning as an operation of the animal in the environment.
Contrast Sensitivity Function of the Albino Rat Determined Electrophysiologically
Authors: de Tejada Pilar Herreros , Tedó Carmen Muñoz
Published: April 2014

Albinism alters the neural projections of the visual system. The authors wondered how this would affect visual function in rodents. They had previously shown that it doesn't alter the luminance threshold. They now explore visual acuity in the albino rat. In this work, they describe its contrast sensitivity function (CSF), as determined electro-physiologically. They recorded cortical visual evoked potentials (VEP) on six albino rats, stimulated by sinusoidal contrast reversal gratings. The curve showed the same characteristics that this function has in other mammals. Compared with the pigmented rat, the albino reached lower sensitivity values and showed a loss of sensitivity at high spatial frequencies. The estimated cut-off was 0.48 c/°, that is, 0.72 log units below the estimated cut-off for the pigmented rat under similar experimental conditions. VEP and behavioral cut-off were very close, the VEP estimation being slightly higher than the behavioral one.
Number Processing Dissociations: Evidence from a Case of Dyscalculia
Authors: Cuetos Fernando , Miera Graciela
Published: April 2014

In this case study of an aphasic patient with difficulties in numerical processing, the patient responded to a series of linguistic and numerical tasks designed to assess efficiency levels in processing various linguistic components. In addition, the patient completed a series of transcoding tasks that were directed at isolating whether the problems were associated primarily with arabic numerals or with other modalities (spoken or written). Data were analyzed using chi-square goodness-of-fit tests. Statistically significant differences were obtained between spoken verbal and written verbal outputs and between arabic and spoken verbal outputs. Based upon an analysis of errors, it was tentatively concluded that the disorders were associated with two types of dissociation operating together, one between spoken verbal and written verbal outputs at the syntactical level and the other between lexical and syntactical components in the spoken verbal output. A revised model is proposed to provide a tentative explanation for these observations.
The Importance of Pragmatic Aspects in Conditional Reasoning
Authors: Valiña Mª Dolores , Seoane Gloria , Ferraces Mª José , Martín Montserrat
Published: April 2014

The importance of pragmatic aspects in conditional reasoning was assessed in the performance of 54 subjects (26 female and 28 male; mean age 17.6 years) on 48 conditional inference problems, using a 3 × 2 × 4 design, with repeated measurements. The independent variables were probability of empirical frequency in the real world, type of conditional rule, and scenario availability. Number of correct responses and subjects' certainty about the correctness of their responses were the dependent variables. The results showed: a) the scenario availability is not sufficient in itself to explain differences in performance, but it does affect the subjects' degree of confidence in their conclusions; b) there is an interaction between probability of empirical frequency in the real world and type of conditional rule on correct performance. The results were contrasted with the predictions made by the mental models theory and its revised version proposed by Evans (1993). These findings support the semantic theories of conditional reasoning.
Averaging Dependent Effect Sizes in Meta-Analysis: a Cautionary Note about Procedures
Authors: Marín-Martínez Fulgencio , Sánchez-Meca Julio
Published: April 2014

When a primary study includes several indicators of the same construct, the usual strategy to meta-analytically integrate the multiple effect sizes is to average them within the study. In this paper, the numerical and conceptual differences among three procedures for averaging dependent effect sizes are shown. The procedures are the simple arithmetic mean, the Hedges and Olkin (1985) procedure, and the Rosenthal and Rubin (1986) procedure. Whereas the simple arithmetic mean ignores the dependence among effect sizes, both the procedures by Hedges and Olkin and Rosenthal and Rubin take into account the correlational structure of the effect sizes, although in a different way. Rosenthal and Rubin's procedure provides the effect size for a single composite variable made up of the multiple effect sizes, whereas Hedges and Olkin's procedure presents an effect size estimate of the standard variable. The three procedures were applied to 54 conditions, where the magnitude and homogeneity of both effect sizes and correlation matrix among effect sizes were manipulated. Rosenthal and Rubin's procedure showed the highest estimates, followed by the simple mean, and the Hedges and Olkin procedure, this last having the lowest estimates. These differences are not trivial in a meta-analysis, where the aims must guide the selection of one of the procedures.
The Role of Anxiety and Adaptation to Illness in the Intensity of Postchemotherapy Nausea in Cancer Patients
Authors: Blasco Tomás , Pallarés Cinta , Alonso Carmen , López Juan José López
Published: April 2014

The aim of this work was to assess whether cancer patients presenting high anxiety levels or poor adaptation to cancer experience higher levels of postchemotherapy nausea, regardless of the emetogenicity of the chemotherapy schedule. Sixty-three patients were interviewed before receiving their chemotherapy schedule and some psychological variables were assessed. Nausea intensity was also assessed after treatment. The results showed that patients with relatively higher levels of nausea reported higher levels of anxiety prior to chemotherapy and lower levels of adaptation to cancer. Thus, evidence for a modulating effect of psychological factors in postchemotherapy emesis is suggested.
Scores and Principal Components: The Relationship between Components due to Subjects and to Variables
Authors: Rimoldi Horacio J.A. , de Libonatti Elsa Bei
Published: April 2014

The main purpose of this article is: given a score matrix called S, find out the joint proportional contribution of factors due to persons (conditions, situations, and so forth) and factors due to variables, for any sij observed score, where i identifies persons, and j, variables. This approach makes it possible a) to show that the same score in a given variable may have a different quantitative interpretation in terms of persons or conditions, and b) to find out how subjects differ in the way in which they relate variables.