Experimental evidence is produced to show that it is reasonable to assign a unique strength to all soils when at their respective liquid limits, and to redefine the plastic limit as the water content at which the strength is 100 times that at the liquid limit. Combining these assumptions with ideas of critical state soil mechanics it is then possible to relate the compression index of the remoulded soil to its plasticity index, and to suggest a unique relation between remoulded strength and liquidity index, irrespective of actual values of liquid and plastic limits. Field data from the Gulf of Mexico and from the North Sea are presented in support of these relations. The predictions of strength are best for overconsolidated clays, having water contents near the plastic limit.Recently in the United Kingdom the cone penetrometer has become the recommended test for determination of the liquid limit, in preference to the Casagrande test. Having redefined the plastic limit it would be logical to use the cone penetrometer to determine this too, by using cones with different weights. Experimental data are shown to illustrate and support this proposal.

The emphasis of much of the existing research on social support‐health relationships has been on the availability and impact of support on the recipient, but social psychologists have paid little attention to the costs to the caregiver of providing that support. In an earlier study (Schulz & Decker, 1985), we found that the long‐term coping of individuals experiencing chronic disability as a result of spinal‐cord injury was facilitated by the availability of a primary support person, or caregiver. In this study we examined the determinants of well‐being of the primary caregiver of the middle‐aged and elderly spinal‐cord‐injured persons. Psychological well‐being, life satisfaction, and depression were the dependent measures. The availability of social support, social contact, and feelings of control over one's life were important determinants of caregiver well‐being, even after controlling for health and income. In addition, the amount of time spent each day assisting the disabled person was a strong independent correlate of depression, and the extent to which the caregiver felt burdened by the victim was significantly and negatively related to life satisfaction. These results are discussed in the context of a comprehensive stress‐coping model. Since data were available from both disabled individuals and their primary support persons, we had the unique opportunity to compare the perspectives of both those giving and receiving daily care. We found no relationship in levels of psychological well‐being and depression reported by the disabled person and caregiver; however, caregivers attributed to the victims affective levels similar to their own.

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The present study explored the experiences of five competitive endurance athletes (1 female, 4 male) diagnosed with the overtraining syndrome (OTS). A multicontextual method of inquiry was used, which first involved a medical examination whereby OTS was diagnosed according to established criteria. In addition, 2 questionnaires were administered: the Athlete Daily Hassle Scale (Albinson & Pearce, 1998) and the Coping Response Inventory (Moos, 1992), and a semistructured interview was conducted. Individual case studies were then developed and cross-case analysis carried out. Findings from the present study illustrate that together with sport stress, nonsport stress appears to make an important contribution to the experience of those athletes diagnosed with the OTS. This finding provides evidence to support anecdotes in previous reports.