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Most psychological research on expository writing is conducted within a purely cognitive paradigm. Writing provides a test case of its generality because the claims which writers make about their experience are incompatible with any purely cognitive model. We maintain that the fundamental problem of writing is affective, concerned specifically with the attitudes of openness and trust. A method of writing is presented which we conjecture induces such attitudes. Its efficacy may be tested on individuals suffering from writing difficulties.

Political campaigns currently make extensive use of direct mail, particularly in state & local races, yet its effects on voter behavior are not well understood. This essay presents the results of large-scale randomized field experiments conducted in CT & NJ during state & municipal elections of 1999. Tens of thousands of registered voters were sent from zero to nine pieces of direct mail. The target populations included party registrants with a strong history of voter participation, independents, & a random subset of registered voters. Our results indicate partisan campaign mail does little to stimulate voter turnout & may even dampen it when the mail is negative in tone. 4 Tables, 1 Appendix, 16 References. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractThames Water operated a demonstration‐scale biological nutrient‐removal plant for two years to investigate the feasibility of retrofitting it into existing activated‐sludge plants. The plant was operated with and without the addition of short‐chain fatty acids to the anaerobic zone. The results from the trial showed that phosphorus removal was possible, but that performance was not consistently good. The data show that the key parameters which affect the effluent soluble phosphorus concentration are (i) the soluble phosphorus and oxidised nitrogen concentrations at the end of the aeration lane, and (ii) the sludge‐blanket depth. Further analysis of the data suggests that secondary release of phosphorus was marked when the concentration of short‐chain fatty acids in the anaerobic zone was low, even if the sludge blanket was shallow and when oxidised nitrogen was present in the return sludge. In contrast, secondary release of phosphorus was limited when the concentration of short‐chain fatty acids in the anaerobic zone was high.

Examines the role of race in elections where one of the candidates is black. Using the 1982 California gubernatorial election, shows that whereas racial attitudes were a significant influence on the voting of whites, Bradley's background did not stimulate unusual levels of racially motivated behavior. Argues that the impact of a candidate's race depends on a number of contextual factors, including his prior record and campaign style. (Abstract amended)

A major Australian government report published 25 years ago called for urgent investment in research on the impacts of climate change on human health. Since that report's release, less than 0.1% of Australian health funding has been allocated to this area. As the world continues on a high emissions pathway, the health impacts from climate change are increasing in size and complexity. While Australia has established leadership roles in climate science and health research, it must now link these two strengths. Doing so would boost regional understanding of how climate change will affect health and what adaptation strategies are needed to reduce these threats. Such research would support better health planning and decision-making in partnership with other regional countries.

Objectives. The study of crime directed at gay & lesbian targets is hampered by two measurement problems: Police agencies provide unreliable data on hate crime, & tract-level census data contain no direct information about gay or lesbian population density. This article attempts to gauge two quantities that cannot be measured directly or unambiguously: the size of the gay & lesbian populations & the number of hate crimes directed at gay & lesbian targets. Methods. Population data for New York City were gathered from market research lists & from a special tabulation of the 1990 Census. Hate crime data were obtained from the Anti-Violence Project & the New York Police Dept. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the reliability of each measure & the correlation between latent population density & hate crime. Results. Each of these measures offers a reliable means by which to assess cross-sectional differences in the population density & victimization of gay men. Census & police data prove to be inferior indicators of lesbian population density & antilesbian hate crime. For both men & women, population density is strongly correlated with the incidence of hate crime. Conclusions. Despite the fact that advocacy groups record many more antigay incidents than do the police, both sources of data are in agreement about where hate crimes occur. The strong correlation between population density & hate crime against gay men implies that Census data could be used to forecast the occurrence of hate crime in areas where no police records exist. 3 Tables, 2 Figures, 15 References. Adapted from the source document.

With an appendix on I. The paleozoic rocks of Lake Temiskaming. II. Profile from Toronto to the Hudson Bay slope. III. "Early history of the cobalt industry in Saxony" [by W. Bruchmueller] tr. by G. R. Mickle. IV. Mining and concentrating methods at Cobalt. ; Printed by order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. ; Includes index. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Solid fuel emissions, including those from biomass burning, are increasing in urban areas across the European Union due to rising energy costs and government incentives to use renewable energy sources for heating. In order to help protect human health as well as to improve air quality and pollution abatement strategies, the sources of combustion aerosols, their contributions, and the processes they undergo need to be better understood. A high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was therefore deployed at an urban background site between January and February 2012 to investigate solid fuel organic aerosols (SFOA) in London. The variability of SFOA was examined and the factors governing the split between the two SFOA factors derived from Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF) were assessed. The concentrations of both factors were found to increase during the night and during cold periods, consistent with domestic space heating activities. The split between the two factors is likely governed predominantly by differences in burn conditions where SFOA1 best represents more efficient burns and SFOA2 best represents less efficient burns. The differences in efficiency may be due to burner types or burn phase, for example. Different fuel types and levels of atmospheric processing also likely contribute to the two factors. As the mass spectral profile of SFOA is highly variable, the findings from this study may have implications for improving future source apportionment and factorisation analyses. During the winter, SFOA was found to contribute 38% to the total non-refractory submicron organic aerosol (OA) mass, with similar contributions from both SFOA factors (20% from SFOA1 and 18% from SFOA2). A similar contribution of SFOA was derived for the same period from a compact time-of-flight AMS (cToF-AMS), which measured for a full calendar year at the same site. The seasonality of SFOA was investigated using the year-long data set where concentrations were greatest in the autumn and winter. During the summer, SFOA contributed 11% to the organic fraction, where emissions resulted from different anthropogenic activities such as barbecues and domestic garden wood burning. The significant contribution of SFOA to total organic mass throughout the year suggests that the negative effects on health and air quality, as well as climate, are not just confined to winter as exposure to these aerosols and the associated black carbon can also occur during the summer, which may have significant implications for air-quality policies and mitigation strategies.