Evidence-based parent and family interventions in school psychology: Overview and procedures.

This special issue, entitled "Evidence-Based Parent and Family Interventions in School Psychology," examines the data that support the use of interventions as methods for changing children's school-related behavior and learning problems. Taken together, the articles reflect the work of the Parent and Family Intervention domain of the Evidence-Based Interventions in School Psychology Task Force. Across the articles in this special issue, the categories of coding criteria in the Manual were used to organize the presentation of results. Six review articles on the evidence base for parent and family intervention appear next; these are followed by commentary from distinguished scholars and a brief reflective comment from the special issue editors. Parent intervention is the exclusive focus of the reviews of parent education and parent consultation. Two reviews focus on the home-school relationship including the articles on parent involvement and home-school collaboration. Two reviews include both parent and family treatments: early childhood family-focused interventions and parent training and family systems interventions. Commentary was sought from the current co-chairs of the Task Force, an expert in evidence-based practice in child clinical psychology, a researcher in family-school linkages and parent consultation, and a methodologist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence-based family-school interventions with preschool children.

Fifteen studies of family-school interventions with preschool children conducted between 1980 and 2002, and published in peer-reviewed journals, were reviewed and evaluated according to the criteria developed by the Task Force on Evidence-Based Intervention in School Psychology (Division 16 and Society for the Study of School Psychology Task Force, 2003). Results indicate that family-school interventions with preschool children have taken many forms, have targeted a variety of problems and behaviors, and have generally shown positive effects. Efficacious interventions included parent and teacher training, parent education, and behavioral family therapy. Recommendations for future research include increased methodological rigor, replication and extension of current studies, and the completion of longer-term, follow-up investigations to determine whether gains that are made post-treatment are maintained over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finite element study of the effect of material properties on reaction forces produced by solitary wave propagation in granular chains

The response of a granular chain to impulse loading was investigated as a function of material properties. Using COMSOL Multiphysics, the elastic modulus and density of the grains were varied while the piston and force sensor properties remained fixed. The result of solitary wave propagation through the granular chain was recorded at the force sensor as a series of reaction force waves. It was found that wave velocity and amplitude increased with elastic modulus. Increasing density caused a decrease in wave velocity and an increase in amplitude. In addition, higher density granular chains exhibited a decrease in the number of waves in their respective reaction force wave trains. LS-DYNA was then used to explore the response of a variety of ceramic and metallic granular chains. Density, elastic modulus, and Poisson’s ratio were all set to representative values for the respective material. It was found that solitary wave development and decay occurred at different rates for different materials. In addition, the kinetic energy decay of the impactor was slower for glass compared with tungsten. Finally, it was shown that a single reaction force wave with no train could be produced by impacting a high density, high modulus chain such as tungsten with a glass piston, which has relatively low density and elastic modulus. Increasing impact velocity for this case resulted in a single high-amplitude wave with no train.     

Systems and Virtualization Management: Standards and the Cloud. A report on SVM 2013

Hosted by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and collocated with the International Conference on Network and Service Management, SVM 2013 was the seventh International DMTF Academic Alliance Workshop on Systems and Virtualization Management (SVM). SVM 2013 was held in Zurich, Switzerland on October 18, 2013. Featuring seven presentations surrounding cloud, OpenSAF, open standards, and CIM, SVM 2013 also included a joint poster session with another workshop, an invited talk by a guest speaker, a keynote speech given by the DMTF President, Jeff Hilland, and closed with an informal interactive group discussion.     

Defining a complex intervention: The development of demarcation criteria for “meditation”.

The authors used a 5-round Delphi study with a panel of 7 experts in meditation research to achieve agreement on a set of criteria for a working definition of “meditation” for use in a comprehensive systematic review of the therapeutic use of meditation. Participants agreed that essential to a meditation practice is its use of (a) a defined technique, (b) logic relaxation, and (c) a self-induced state. Participants also agreed that a meditation practice may (d) involve a state of psychophysical relaxation somewhere in the process; (e) use a self-focus skill or anchor; (f) involve an altered state/mode of consciousness, mystic experience, enlightenment or suspension of logical thought processes; (g) be embedded in a religious/spiritual/philosophical context; or (h) involve an experience of mental silence. The results of this study provide insight into the challenges faced by researchers who want to demarcate meditative practices from nonmeditative practices, and they describe an approach to this problem that may prove useful for researchers trying to operationalize meditation in the context of comparative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scavenging of As from acid mine drainage by schwertmannite and ferrihydrite: a comparison with synthetic analogues

Ochreous precipitates containing 5.5-69.8 g/kg As were isolated from mine drainage in Finland and were composed of schwertmannite, ferrihydrite, and goethite. Schwertmannite formation was favored at pH 3-4, but its structure was degraded at high As levels. A series of coprecipitates were therefore prepared from mixed iron arsenate/sulfate solutions to define the limits of schwertmannite stability. Schwertmannite was replaced as the dominant phase by a poorly crystalline ironIII hydroxy arsenate (FeOHAs) when As/Fe mole ratios exceeded 0.15. The FeOHAs gave an X-ray diffraction pattern similar to that obtained from an "amorphous" ironIII arsenate (As/Fe = 1.0) with broad peaks at 0.30 and 0.16 nm. The FeOHAs possessed a magnetic hyperfinefield of 41.9T at 4.2 K that was intermediate to those of schwertmannite (46.1 T) and the ironIII arsenate (24.8 T). These data indicate a strong disruptive effect of arsenate on magnetic ordering and structure development in schwertmannite. Equilibration of 0.01 M arsenate solutions with freshly prepared schwertmannite and 2-line ferrihydrite at pH 3.0 for up to 60 d gave sorbed As contents of 175 and 210 g/kg, respectively. Arsenate sorption degraded the host schwertmannite and ferrihydrite, perhaps due to the formation of an FeOHAs surface phase.