Inter- and intraindividual associations between volitional processes and daily smoking during a quit attempt

Background: The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) assumes that volitional processes are important for effective behavioral change. This study examined the associations of volitional predictors and daily smoking in quitters at the inter- and intraindividual level. Method: Overall, 105 smokers completed daily electronic questionnaires 10 days before and 21 days after a self-set quit date, assessing intentions, self-efficacy, planning, action control and numbers of cigarettes smoked. Findings: Multilevel analyses showed that mean levels of volitional predictors across the 32 days were negatively associated with numbers of cigarettes smoked. Moreover, on days with higher intentions, self-efficacy, planning and action control than usual, less cigarettes were smoked. These effects were stronger after the quit date than before the quit date. Intentions and action control emerged as most powerful predictors at the intraindividual level. Discussion: Findings emphasize the importance of volitional processes at the intraindividual level in the context of quitting smoking.

Signatures of slope failures and river-delta collapses in a perialpine lake (Lake Lucerne, Switzerland)

Historical reports from the 17th Century document two destructive tsunamis with runups exceeding 5 m, affecting proximal basins of Lake Lucerne (Switzerland). One event in AD 1601 is coeval with a strong nearby earthquake (MW ca 5.9), which caused extensive slope failures in many parts of the lake. The second event in AD 1687 is associated with an apparently spontaneous partial collapse of the Muota river delta. This study combines high-resolution bathymetry, reflection seismic and lithological data in order to document the sedimentary and morphological signatures of the two subaqueous mass movements that probably generated the observed tsunamis. Such mass movements are significant as a common sedimentation process and as natural hazard in fjord-type lakes and similar environments. The deposits, covering large parts of the basins with thicknesses reaching >10 m, consist of two subunits: A lower ‘massflow deposit’ contains variably deformed sediments from the source areas. Its emplacement affected pre-existing sediments, incorporating thin sediment slices into the deposit and increasing its volume. Deep-reaching deformation near This is an Accepted Article that has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication in the Sedimentology, but has yet to undergo copy-editing and proof correction.

The evolution and assessment of pharmaceutical care: Structure, processes, and outcomes

The evolution of pharmaceutical care is identified through a complete review of the literature published in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, the sole comprehensive publication of institutional pharmacy practice. The evolution is categorized according to characteristics of structure (organizational structure, the role of the pharmacist), process (drug delivery systems, formulary management, acquiring drug products, methods to impact drug therapy decisions), and outcomes (cost of drug delivery, cost of drug acquisition and use, improved safety, improved health outcomes) recorded from the 1950s through the 1990s. While significant progress has been made in implementing basic drug distribution systems, levels of pharmacy involvement with direct patient care is still limited.^ A new practice framework suggests enhanced direct patient care involvement through increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of traditional pharmacy services. Recommendations advance internal and external organizational structure relationships that position pharmacists to fully use their unique skills and knowledge to impact drug therapy decisions and outcomes. Specific strategies facilitate expansion of the breadth and scope of each process component in order to expand the depth of integration of pharmacy and pharmaceutical care within the broad healthcare environment. Economic evaluation methods formally evaluate the impact of both operational and clinical interventions.^ Outcome measurements include specific recommendations and methods to increase efficiency of drug acquisition, emphasizing pharmacists' roles that impact physician prescribing decisions. Effectiveness measures include those that improve safety of drug distribution systems, decrease the potential of adverse drug therapy events, and demonstrate that pharmaceutical care can significantly contribute to improvement in overall health status.^ The implementation of the new framework is modeled on a case study at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The implementation of several new drug distribution methods facilitated the redeployment of personnel from distributive functions to direct patient care activities with significant personnel and drug cost reduction. A cost-benefit analysis illustrates that framework process enhancements produced a benefit-to-cost ratio of 7.9. In addition, measures of effectiveness demonstrated significant levels of safety and enhanced drug therapy outcomes. ^

Schulpraktika in der Lehrerbildung. Theoretische Grundlagen, Konzeptionen, Prozesse und Effekte = Pedagogical field experiences in teacher education. Theoretical foundations, programmes, processes, and effects

Seit mehr als zwanzig Jahren werden in der tertiären Lehramtsausbildung Schulpraktika reformiert und neuerdings in ihrem zeitlichen Umfang relativ zur Studienzeit vergrößert. Zum Gegenstand reger Forschungsaktivitäten avancierten Schulpraktika jedoch erst im letzten Jahrzehnt. Hiermit werden ein Überblick über das Forschungsfeld (Grundlagen der schulpraktischen Komponenten der Lehrerbildung; Forschungsmethodik) vorgelegt und aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zu zentralen Aspekten der Wirksamkeit von Praktika und Effekten von Mentoring präsentiert. In englischsprachigen bzw. deutschsprachigen Beiträgen wird der Forschungsstand in Deutschland, den Niederlanden, Österreich und der Schweiz sowie den USA aufgezeigt. Der Band richtet sich an Personen, die in der Lehrerbildung tätig sind, also an Dozent/inn/en in Hochschulen und Seminaren, an Lehrerbildungsforscher/innen sowie an Fachpersonen in der Bildungsadministration und interessierte Studierende.

Control of human behavior, mental processes and consciousness : essays in honor of the 60th birthday of August Flammer

In this book, an international group of leading scientists present perspectives on the control of human behavior, awareness, consciousness, and the meaning and function of perceived control or self-efficacy in people's lives. The book breaks down the barriers between subdisciplines, and thus constitutes an occasion to reflect on various facets of control in human life. Each expert reviews his or her field through the lens of perceived control and shows how these insights can be applied in practice.

Discontinuity in the responses of ecosystem processes and multifunctionality to altered soil community composition

Ecosystem management policies increasingly emphasize provision of multiple, as opposed to single, ecosystem services. Management for such "multifunctionality" has stimulated research into the role that biodiversity plays in providing desired rates of multiple ecosystem processes. Positive effects of biodiversity on indices of multifunctionality are consistently found, primarily because species that are redundant for one ecosystem process under a given set of environmental conditions play a distinct role under different conditions or in the provision of another ecosystem process. Here we show that the positive effects of diversity (specifically community composition) on multifunctionality indices can also arise from a statistical fallacy analogous to Simpson's paradox (where aggregating data obscures causal relationships). We manipulated soil faunal community composition in combination with nitrogen fertilization of model grassland ecosystems and repeatedly measured five ecosystem processes related to plant productivity, carbon storage, and nutrient turnover. We calculated three common multifunctionality indices based on these processes and found that the functional complexity of the soil communities had a consistent positive effect on the indices. However, only two of the five ecosystem processes also responded positively to increasing complexity, whereas the other three responded neutrally or negatively. Furthermore, none of the individual processes responded to both the complexity and the nitrogen manipulations in a manner consistent with the indices. Our data show that multifunctionality indices can obscure relationships that exist between communities and key ecosystem processes, leading us to question their use in advancing theoretical understanding-and in management decisions-about how biodiversity is related to the provision of multiple ecosystem services.

Volitional processes and daily smoking: Examining inter- and intraindividual associations around a quit attempt

The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) assumes that volitional processes are important for effective behavioral change. However, intraindividual associations have not yet been tested in the context of smoking cessation. This study examined the inter- and intraindividual associations between volitional HAPA variables and daily smoking before and after a quit attempt. Overall, 100 smokers completed daily surveys on mobile phones from 10 days before until 21 days after a self-set quit date, including self-efficacy, action planning, action control, and numbers of cigarettes smoked. Negative associations between volitional variables and daily numbers of cigarettes smoked emerged at the inter- and intraindividual level. Except for interindividual action planning, associations were stronger after the quit date than before the quit date. Self-efficacy, planning and action control were identified as critical inter- and intraindividual processes in smoking cessation, particularly after a self-set quit attempt when actual behavior change is performed.

Screening for complex healing processes and psychological intervention in injured individuals

Introduction Injured individuals face a high risk for the development of psychological symptoms such as depression or anxiety, which influences early return to work after an accident. So far, it is unclear to which extent early psychological interventions can improve the ability to return to work. Purpose of the study The aim of the study was to investigate whether an improvement of the treatment-triage (by the screening questionnaire work and health [FAB]) influences early return to work and well being in injured individuals. Methods The study sample consists of injured individuals with different mental health-related or work-related disabilities after an accident. Participants are included eight weeks after an accident. Participants are randomly assigned to the intervention or to the control group. The intervention is an individualized psychotherapy consisting of cognitive-behavioral therapy and work related topics in an individual setting. Well being and work related actors are assessed at baseline and after six months. Results The recruitment is still ongoing. The preliminary results of this randomized controlled study will be presented at the conference. Conclusion An individualized psychotherapy might have the potential to improve the rehabilitation process in injured individuals and improve the ability to return to work.

Regularity conditions in the realisability problem in applications to point processes and random closed sets

We study existence of random elements with partially specified distributions. The technique relies on the existence of a positive ex-tension for linear functionals accompanied by additional conditions that ensure the regularity of the extension needed for interpreting it as a probability measure. It is shown in which case the extens ion can be chosen to possess some invariance properties. The results are applied to the existence of point processes with given correlation measure and random closed sets with given two-point covering function or contact distribution function. It is shown that the regularity condition can be efficiently checked in many cases in order to ensure that the obtained point processes are indeed locally finite and random sets have closed realisations.

Descriptive/Inferential Cognitive Processes and Evaluative Cognitive Processes: Relationships Among Each Other and with Emotional Distress

We aimed to delineate key constructs from two forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy: cognitive therapy and rational-emotive behavior therapy. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate the interrelations among each other and with emotional distress. The key constructs of the underlying theories of these therapies (i.e., descriptive/inferential beliefs, evaluative beliefs) are often treated together as distorted cognitions and included as such in various scales. We used a cross-sectional design. Seventy-four undergraduate students (mean age = 24.68) completed measures of automatic thoughts and emotional distress. Three therapists trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy divided automatic thoughts into descriptive/inferential beliefs and evaluative beliefs by consensus. Correlation and mediation analyses were performed. These constructs showed medium to high associations to each other and to distress. The relationship between descriptive/inferential beliefs and distress was mediated by evaluative beliefs. Descriptive and inferential cognitions may not produce emotions without first being appraised in terms of personal relevance.