Psychometric Properties of the Differentiation of Self Inventory‐Revised in Turkish Adults

The purpose of the current study was to examine the validity and reliability of (Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 2003, 29, 209) Differentiation of Self Inventory‐Revised (DSI‐R; Skowron & Schmit, 2003) in Turkish adults. The DSI‐R was translated, independently back‐translated, and revised. Two independent samples of adults over the age of 25 were used. The original 46‐item DSI‐R was not supported by the data derived from Sample 1 (n = 221). However, a revised 20‐item, four‐factor model fit the data well. This 20‐item model was subsequently cross‐validated with a second sample of Turkish adults (n = 187). Scale scores showed adequate internal consistency, 5‐week test–retest reliability, and satisfactory convergent and criterion‐related validity. It was concluded that Turkish DSI‐R (DSI‐T) is a valid and reliable measure to assess an individual's differentiation level. In light of the findings, implications for the use of the DSI‐T and ideas for future research are discussed.     

On-line bin packing with restricted repacking

Semi-on-line algorithms for the bin-packing problem allow, in contrast to pure on-line algorithms, the use of certain types of additional operations for each step. Examples include repacking, reordering or lookahead before packing the items. Here we define and analyze a semi-on-line algorithm where for each step at most k items can be repacked, for some positive integer k. We prove that the upper bound for the asymptotic competitive ratio of the algorithm is a decreasing function of k, which tends to 3/2 as k goes to infinity. We also establish lower bounds for this ratio and show that the gap between upper and lower bounds is relatively small.     

一场西式婚礼的音乐盛宴

每对恋人心中都曾描绘过自己婚礼的样子，草地、白色婚纱、教堂……除了这些婚礼上该有哪些好听的音乐？从古代开始结婚的时候就会用音乐来表达那份喜庆的心情。敲着锣、打着鼓、吹着唢呐、放着鞭炮、抬着花轿．包括现在很多地方仍旧保持着这种传统的结婚方式。但是受到西方文化影响的我们．逐渐被婚纱教堂的仪式诱惑，当穿着黑皂的晚礼服和洁白神婚纱举行婚礼的当天，     

Giving Memory a Hand: Instructing Children to Gesture Enhances their Event Recall

To investigate the influence of different kinds of gesture on children’s memory, 60 6- to 7-year-old children participated in an event conducted by the experimenters (“visiting the pirate”) and were interviewed to assess memory for the event approximately 2 weeks later. Children were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions; in 3 conditions, gesture was possible (gesture-instructed, gesture-modelled, gesture-allowed) whereas in the fourth condition (gesture-not allowed), children’s hands were constrained. The amount of gesture engaged in was limited but was greatest in the gesture-instructed condition. Children in the gesture-instructed condition, who were asked to gesture during the interview, recalled more than did those in the other conditions. Further, relative to children in the gesture-modelled and gesture-allowed conditions, children in the gesture-instructed condition conveyed significantly more information in gesture that had not also been reported verbally. Although further research is necessary to understand the underlying mechanism, the findings suggest that instructing children to gesture as well as verbally recall an experience has cognitive and communicative benefits. Elizabeth Stevanoni and Karen Salmon are affiliated with the School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. We thank the children, parents, teachers and principals at the participating schools, St Michaels and Villa Maria Primary Schools, and acknowledge Kay Pegg for help with data collection.     

Intelligent Procedures for Intra‐Day Updating of Call Center Agent Schedules

For nearly all call centers, agent schedules are typically created several days or weeks before the time that agents report to work. After schedules are created, call center resource managers receive additional information that can affect forecasted workload and resource availability. In particular, there is significant evidence, both among practitioners and in the research literature, suggesting that actual call arrival volumes early in a scheduling period (typically an individual day or week) can provide valuable information about the call arrival pattern later in the same scheduling period. In this paper, we develop a flexible and powerful heuristic framework for managers to make intra‐day resource adjustment decisions that take into account updated call forecasts, updated agent requirements, existing agent schedules, agents' schedule flexibility, and associated incremental labor costs. We demonstrate the value of this methodology in managing the trade‐off between labor costs and service levels to best meet variable rates of demand for service, using data from an actual call center.     

A Note on Simultaneous Confidence Intervals for Ratio of Variances

An explicit formula for confidence intervals for ratios of variances of several populations is presented. The intervals are based on jackknife statistics and the critical point of the studentized range distribution. The asymptotic probability of coverage is not less than the nominal value provided that the distributions of the sampled populations belong to a location-scale family of probabilities with finite fourth moment.