The transportability of multisystemic therapy to Sweden: Short-term results from a randomized trial of conduct-disordered youths.

This randomized clinical trial assessed the effectiveness of multisystemic therapy (MST) for 156 youths who met the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder. Sweden's 3 largest cities and 1 small town served as the recruiting area for the study. A mixed factorial design was used, with random allocation between MST and treatment as usual groups. Assessments were conducted at intake and 7 months after referral. With an intention-to-treat approach, results from multiagent and multimethod assessment batteries showed a general decrease in psychiatric problems and antisocial behaviors among participants across treatments. There were no significant differences in treatment effects between the 2 groups. The lack of treatment effect did not appear to be caused by site differences or variations in program maturity. MST treatment fidelity was lower than that of other studies, although not clearly related to treatment outcomes in this study. The results are discussed in terms of differences between Sweden and the United States. One difference is the way in which young offenders are processed (a child welfare approach vs. a juvenile justice system approach). Sociodemographic differences (e.g., rates of poverty, crime, and substance abuse) between the 2 countries may also have moderating effects on the rates of rehabilitation among young offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shear locking reduction in eight-noded tri-linear solid finite elements

A new quadrature rule for eight-noded solid finite elements is suggested. The formulation reduces those locking problems associated with the classical full and selectively-reduced Gauss integration schemes and it is based on an element local coordinate system where the shear strain components are averaged in groups of four integration points.This work is mainly interesting in contexts of plasticity and explicit time integration, where low order elements often are preferable.     

Design of drilling contracts—Economic incentives and safety issues

Financial incentives in contracts can impact contractor's focus on safety. To elaborate on this issue the relationship between an oil company and a drilling contractor is used. We analyse how an operator influences the actions of a drilling contractor with the aid of financial and other incentives, both in connection with the tender process and contract design. The case material is rig contracts from the North Sea.     

p53 regulates insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) receptor expression and IGF-I-induced tyrosine phosphorylation in an osteosarcoma cell line: interaction between p53 and Sp1

The insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) is involved in tumorigenesis. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the IGF-IR is a physiological target for p53 in osteosarcoma cells. The p53-induced regulation of IGF-IR levels was studied in a tetracycline-regulated expression system. When expressed in Saos-2, osteosarcoma cells that lack p53, wild-type p53 decreased, whereas mutated p53 increased IGF-IR expression, and IGF-I-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the IGF-IR. Similarly, wild-type p53 decreased IGF-I-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1. A functional and physical interaction between p53 and Sp1, in the regulation of the IGF-R, was studied in osteosarcoma cells. Expression of p53 decreased IGF-IR promoter activity, whereas no effect on promoter activity was seen by Sp1 expressed alone. However, Sp1 counteracted the inhibitory effect of p53 on IGF-IR promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, wild-type and mutated p53 were coimmunoprecipitated with Sp1, indicating a physical interaction between p53 and Sp1. In conclusion, p53 regulates IGF-IR expression, as reflected by a reduction in IGF-IR protein and a parallel reduction in IGF-I-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the IGF-IR and IRS-1 in an osteosarcoma cell line. These data indicate that the IGF-I receptor is a physiological target for p53 in osteosarcoma cells. Furthermore, data supporting an interaction between p53 and Sp1 in the regulation of the promoter activity of IGF-IR are presented.     

Monolithic GaAs/InGaP nanowire light emitting diodes on silicon

Vertical light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on GaAs/InGaP core/shell nanowires, epitaxially grown on GaP and Si substrates, have been fabricated. The devices can be fabricated over large areas and can be precisely positioned on the substrates, by the use of standard lithography techniques, enabling applications such as on-chip optical communication. LED functionality was established on both kinds of substrate, and the devices were evaluated in terms of temperature-dependent photoluminescence and electroluminescence.     

New cylinder liner surfaces for low oil consumption

Anticipated emission legislation and reduced fuel consumption are the main driving forces when developing new engines. Optimization of the active surfaces in the piston system is one possible way to meet the above demands. In this study the effects of surface topography and texture direction of the ring/liner contact on oil film thickness and friction were simulated and experimentally tested. “Low wear” results from the experimental wear tests with “glide honed” smooth liner surfaces supported the “low friction” simulation results. In addition a new wear volume sensitive surface roughness parameter, R_ktot, based on the Abbot–Firestone bearing area curve was introduced.     

Measuring an artificial intelligence system’s performance on a Verbal IQ test for young children*

Abstract

We administered the Verbal IQ (VIQ) part of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III) to the ConceptNet 4 artificial intelligence (AI) system. The test questions (e.g. “Why do we shake hands?”) were translated into ConceptNet 4 inputs using a combination of the simple natural language processing tools that come with ConceptNet together with short Python programs that we wrote. The question answering used a version of ConceptNet based on spectral methods. The ConceptNet system scored a WPPSI-III VIQ that is average for a four-year-old child, but below average for 5–7 year olds. Large variations among subtests indicate potential areas of improvement. In particular, results were strongest for the Vocabulary and Similarities subtests, intermediate for the Information subtest and lowest for the Comprehension and Word Reasoning subtests. Comprehension is the subtest most strongly associated with common sense. The large variations among subtests and ordinary common sense strongly suggest that the WPPSI-III VIQ results do not show that “ConceptNet has the verbal abilities of a four-year-old”. Rather, children’s IQ tests offer one objective metric for the evaluation and comparison of AI systems. Also, this work continues previous research on psychometric AI.     

Development of lumped-parameter mathematical models for a vehicle localized impact

In this paper, we propose a method of modeling for vehicle crash systems based on viscous and elastic properties of the materials. This paper covers an influence of different arrangement of spring and damper on the models’ response. Differences in simulating vehicle-torigid barrier collision and vehicle-to-pole collision are explained. Comparison of the models obtained from wideband (unfiltered) acceleration and filtered acceleration is done. At the end we propose a model which is suitable for localized collisions simulation.     

Pigments protect the light harvesting proteins of chloroplast thylakoid membranes against digestion by gastrointestinal proteases

Chloroplast thylakoid membranes inhibit pancreatic lipase/colipase activity in vitro and, when included in food, induce satiety signals. As thylakoid membranes themselves are nutrients, containing lipids and proteins, it is of interest to study the digestion of thylakoids by enzymes of the gastrointestinal tract. Thylakoid membranes were treated with pepsin, trypsin, gastric and pancreatic juice at 37°C and the resulting enzymatic breakdown was analyzed by gel electrophoresis, electron microscopy and mass spectroscopy. In all cases, several of the proteins were degraded within half an hour, while the main parts of the pigment–protein complexes were resistant for hours. Oil emulsified thylakoids were more resistant towards the enzymatic breakdown. Electron microscopy demonstrated that, after treatments, the thylakoids still remained in a membrane vesicular form. The capacity of thylakoid membranes to inhibit the lipase/colipase activity was partly reduced in all cases. About 50% of the inhibition capacity remained after treatment with pancreatic juice when the thylakoids were present in an oil emulsion. Delipidated thylakoids and plasma membranes, which lack the photosynthetic pigments, were degraded rapidly by pancreatic juice. Conclusion: The pigments, closely bound to the trans-membrane helices of thylakoid membrane proteins protect these from digestion by pepsin, trypsin, gastric and pancreatic juice. This supports the notion that a substantial inhibition of lipase/colipase takes place during the first 2 h in the intestine resulting in a retardation and prolongation of lipolysis in vivo.