The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) is a self-report measure of juvenile psychopathic traits. Validity data for this measure are limited, especially for nonreferred samples. This report investigated the concurrent validity of the YPI by assessing 171 nonreferred male youth (M age = 12.96 years) with a battery of self-, parent-, and peer-report measures including the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), and a peer-sociometric measure of aggression. Results confirmed the expected correlations between the YPI and measures of proactive aggression, other externalizing and internalizing behavior, and parent-report psychopathic-like traits. In addition, cluster analyses of YPI scores revealed 2 groups of youth (low vs. high) who scored differently on measures of externalizing behavior. This study supports the utility of the YPI as a research tool for assessing juvenile psychopathic traits.

Custody evaluation likely induces a motivation for parents to distort self-reports of parenting behavior. This study examined thesusceptibility of the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) to exaggeration of positive parenting in an instructional manipulation simulating a custody evaluation versus research study in 64 university students who were parents of children between the ages of 3 and 15. Results suggested that the simulated custody context influenced PCRI scores in the expected direction. However, the social desirability indicator built into the measure was effective at detecting the attempt to present an overly favorable image of the parent-child relationship.

The authors describe the development of a theory-driven assessment and research protocol at the Adolescent Treatment Program of The Menninger Clinic. First, the theoretical framework behind a mentalization-based model for assessment and treatment is described. Next, the process whereby measures were selected to operationalize key components of the mentalization-based model is discussed, including a brief discussion of each measure and assessment procedure. The next section describes the clinical and research use of the data collected. Here, the authors describe how outcomes assessment information is integrated into the clinical decision-making process, and they outline the research questions they aim to answer through the assessment protocol. The authors conclude with a section on the challenges, pitfalls, and future directions of the project.

Affective habituation (i.e., reductions in stimulus-evoked affective reactions as a result of previous exposure) may serve a functional purpose. However, little is know about the psychological mechanisms underlying this process. To elucidate the characteristics of affective habituation, two experiments that examined affective reactions to repeated exposures of pleasurable stimuli were conducted. Results of these experiments indicated that habituation trajectories are characterized by linear decreases in affect. Results also demonstrated that habituation can be slowed by the introduction of novel stimuli (i.e., “novelty effects”), effects that are dimensional (rather than taxonic) in nature. Experiment 2 demonstrated that habituation is mediated by conceptual rather than perceptual processes. Depressed and anhedonic individuals were not more susceptible to habituation in either experiment. The current findings and previous theorizing suggest that habituation may be an important component of an adaptive affective processing system that promotes effective responses to salient stimuli and prevents compulsive reward-seeking behavior.

This Technical Report has been prepared by CIE Technical Committee 3-07 of Division 3 'lnterior Environment and Lighting Design'and has been approved by the Board of Adminstration of the Commission lntemationale de I'Eclairage for study and application. The document reports on current knowledge and experience within the specific field of light and lighting described, and is intended to be used by the CIE rnembership and other inlerested parties. lt should be noted, however, that the status of this document is advisory and not mandatory. The latest CIE proceedings or CIE NEVIS should be consulted regarding possible subsequent amendments.

Major volcanic eruptions occur every few years, but most have little effect on solar radiation or climate. However, in the last ten years two volcanoes have decreased solar radiation and influenced weather at a level that might be expected at the frequency of about once a century. The Mexican volcano El Chichon and the Philippine volcano Mount Pinatubo put 6 and 20 million metric tons of SO{sub 2} in the stratosphere, respectively. SO{sub 2} is converted into H{sub 2}SO{sub 4}, which mixes with water to produce aerosol. Since there is no weather in the stratosphere and the aerosol is small, these aerosol particles remain suspended until coagulation and sedimentation bring them to the troposphere where they are removed by normal wet and dry deposition processes. The extinction in the direct solar irradiance from El Chichon was found to peak during the winter of 1983 at about 11% for northern, mid latitudes. Mount Pinatubo`s peak extinction during 1992 was about 15%. Data from four northern, mid-latitude sites are examined to compare the direct consequences of the volcano`s eruption on the performance of concentrating solar energy systems and the indirect effects that may be associated with Mount Pinatubo`s perturbation of the weather.

This paper presents the latest versions of several models developed by the authors to predict short time-step solar energy and daylight availability quantities needed by energy system modelers or building designers. The modeled quantities are global, direct and diffuse daylight illuminance, diffuse irradiance and illuminance impinging on tilted surfaces of arbitrary orientation, sky zenith luminance and sky luminance angular distribution. All models are original except for the last one which is extrapolated from current standards. All models share a common operating structure and a common set of input data: Hourly (or higher frequency) direct (or diffuse) and global irradiance plus surface dew point temperature. Key experimental observations leading to model development are briefly reviewed. Comprehensive validation results are presented. Model accuracy, assessed in terms of root-mean-square and mean bias errors, is analyzed both as a function of insolation conditions and site climatic environment.

Preliminary findings of research undertaken in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories (Menicucci and Fernandez, 1986) for improving photovoltaic simulation are presented. The objective is to systematically evaluate and improve the diffuse model for tilted planes proposed by Perez and coworkers (1986), by (1), simplifying the original model and, (2) constructively investigating site dependency. A new simplified algorithm is provided along with recommendations suggested by the analysis of the first data sets.

The Atmospheric Sciences Research Center and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority have undertaken a comprehensive daylight resource assessment program which includes the coincident measurement of 25 radiometric and photometric quantities[1]. This paper contains selected results of the analysis performed on collected data. These include the study of the variations of global and diffuse luminous efficacy, and of zenith luminance with insolation conditions. These conditions are described using a parameterization based on two widely available radiative quantities (global and direct irradiance). Based on three 45-day monitoring periods, it appears that many of the observed variations can be accounted for from the knowledge of these two quantities.