The effectiveness of a partnership-centered approach in conjoint behavioral consultation.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the extent to which a partnership orientation in conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) may predict case outcomes and determine the relationship between a partnership orientation and implementation integrity of CBC. CBC is a problem-solving process by which families and teachers work collaboratively with a consultant to address students' academic, behavioral, and social needs. Twenty children, their parents and teachers, and consultants were involved in CBC services. Outcomes included parent and teacher ratings of acceptability, satisfaction, perceptions of effectiveness, and child performance across home and school settings. Partnership orientation scores and process integrity data were collected across interviews for each case. Results suggest that both parents and teachers consistently find CBC to be an acceptable, effective, and satisfactory form of service delivery. Findings reveal that consultants can conduct CBC interview objectives effectively within a partnership orientation. A partnership orientation in CBC was significant in predicting teachers' acceptability and satisfaction with the process; however, parents' acceptability and satisfaction with the CBC process was not predicted by a partnership orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Major reduction of malaria morbidity with combined vitamin A and zinc supplementation in young children in Burkina Faso: a randomized double blind trial

Background  

Vitamin A and zinc are crucial for normal immune function, and may play a synergistic role for reducing the risk of infection including malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum.     

Run-in behavior of nanocrystalline diamond coatings studied by in situ tribometry

The friction performance of nanocrystalline diamond coatings was evaluated using in situ tribometry with sapphire counterfaces. Coatings were grown by microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition in an Ar–H–CH₄ plasma, with H ranging from 0 to 36%. In situ examination of the sliding contact, combined with ex situ analysis of the sapphire counterface revealed that the velocity accommodation mode was interfacial sliding of a carbonaceous transfer film versus the coating wear track. For most tests, the contact diameter increased during the first 50 sliding cycles and then remained constant. The in situ measure of the contact diameter was found to correlate confidently to ex situ measurements of counterface wear. The performance of the diamond coatings, characterized by quick run-in to low friction was best when a small but detectable graphite peak was present in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) profile. The relative intensity of the XRD graphite peak was also found to directly correlate with the peak position of the C1s → π* transition as measured by near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Increasing the relative amount of graphite-bonded sp² carbon in the NCD films decreased run-in cycles to low friction.     

Using Rasch scaled stage scores to validate orders of hierarchical complexity of balance beam task sequences

These studies examine the relationship between the analytic basis underlying the hierarchies produced by the Model of Hierarchical Complexity and the probabilistic Rasch scales that places both participants and problems along a single hierarchically ordered dimension. A Rasch analysis was performed on data from the balance-beam task series. This yielded scaled stage of performance for each of the items. The items formed a series of clusters along this same dimension, according to their order of hierarchical complexity. We sought to ascertain whether there was a significant relationship between the order of hierarchical complexity (a task property variable) of the tasks and the corresponding Rasch scaled difficulty of those same items (a performance variable). It was found that The Model of Hierarchical Complexity was highly accurate in predicting the Rasch Stage scores of the performed tasks, therefore providing an analytic and developmental basis for the Rasch scaled stages.     

Coulomb Enhanced Charge Transport in Semicrystalline Polymer Semiconductors

Polymer semiconductors provide unique possibilities and flexibility in tailoring their optoelectronic properties to match specific application demands. The recent development of semicrystalline polymers with strongly improved charge transport properties forces a review of the current understanding of the charge transport mechanisms and how they relate to the polymer's chemical and structural properties. Here, the charge density dependence of field effect mobility in semicrystalline polymer semiconductors is studied. A simultaneous increase in mobility and its charge density dependence, directly correlated to the increase in average crystallite size of the polymer film, is observed. Further evidence from charge accumulation spectroscopy shows that charges accumulate in the crystalline regions of the polymer film and that the increase in crystallite size affects the average electronic orbitals delocalization. These results clearly point to an effect that is not caused by energetic disorder. It is instead shown that the inclusion of short range coulomb repulsion between charge carriers on nanoscale crystalline domains allows describing the observed mobility dependence in agreement with the structural and optical characterization. The conclusions that are extracted extend beyond pure transistor characterization and can provide new insights into charge carrier transport for regimes and timescales that are relevant to other optoelectronic devices.     

The use of environmentally sustainable bio-derived solvents in solvent extraction applications——A review

Replacement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by greener or more environmental y sustainable solvents is becoming increasingly important due to the increasing health and environmental concerns as wel as economic pressures associated with VOCs. Solvents that are derived from biomass, namely bio-derived solvents, are a type of green solvent that have attracted intensive investigations in recent years because of their advantages over con-ventional VOCs, such as low toxicity, biodegradability and renewability. This review aims to summarize the use of bio-derived solvents in solvent extraction applications, with special emphasis given to utilization of biodiesels and terpenes. Compared with the conventional VOCs, the overall performance of these bio-derived solvents is comparable in terms of extraction yields and selectivity for natural product extraction and no difference was found for metal extraction. To date most researchers have focused on laboratory scale thermodynamics studies. Future work is required to develop and test new bio-derived solvents and understand the kinetic performance as well as solvent extraction pilot plant studies.     

Macroscopic failure of multilayered viscoelastic polymers

This study considers creep deformation (macroscopic failure) of laminated polymer materials. A closed form analytical model is developed to characterize creep in laminates loaded in the linear viscoelastic region. For nonlinear viscoelastic loading, a numerical solution is developed. The models are based on an application of laminated plate theory to materials with viscoelastic layers. Both approaches are able to predict laminate behavior with input of appropriate material properties for each layer. Experimental data are presented, which confirm the validity of the analytical model for laminates constructed from nylon66 and liquid crystalline polymer films. The validated macroscale failure models are capable of characterizing a variety of materials. A case study is included to demonstrate the influence of layer properties and orientation on overall laminate performance. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Effects of chytrid and carbaryl exposure on survival, growth and skin peptide defenses in foothill yellow-legged frogs

Environmental contaminants and disease may synergistically contribute to amphibian population declines. Sub-lethal levels of contaminants can suppress amphibian immune defenses and, thereby, may facilitate disease outbreaks. We conducted laboratory experiments on newly metamorphosed foothill yellow-legged frogs (Rana boylii) to determine whether sublethal exposure to the pesticide carbaryl would increase susceptibility to the pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis that is widely associated with amphibian declines. We examined the effect of carbaryl alone, chytrid alone, and interactions of the two on individual survival, growth, and antimicrobial skin defenses. We found no effect of chytrid, carbaryl, or their interaction on survival. However, chytrid infection reduced growth by approximately one-half. This is the first report of suppressed growth in post-metamorphic amphibians due to infection with chytrid. Rana boylii skin peptides strongly inhibited chytrid growth in vitro, which may explain why chytrid exposure did not result in significant mortality. Skin peptide defenses were significantly reduced after exposure to carbaryl suggesting that pesticides may inhibit this innate immune defense and increase susceptibility to disease.     

A parallel tracking method for acoustic radiation force impulse imaging

Radiation force-based techniques have been developed by several groups for imaging the mechanical properties of tissue. Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) imaging is one such method that uses commercially available scanners to generate localized radiation forces in tissue. The response of the tissue to the radiation force is determined using conventional B-mode imaging pulses to track micron-scale displacements in tissue. Current research in ARFI imaging is focused on producing real-time images of tissue displacements and related mechanical properties. Obstacles to producing a real-time ARFI imaging modality include data acquisition, processing power, data transfer rates, heating of the transducer, and patient safety concerns. We propose a parallel receive beamforming technique to reduce transducer heating and patient acoustic exposure, and to facilitate data acquisition for real-time ARFI imaging. Custom beam sequencing was used with a commercially available scanner to track tissue displacements with parallel-receive beamforming in tissue-mimicking phantoms. Using simulations, the effects of material properties on parallel tracking are observed. Transducer and tissue heating for parallel tracking are compared to standard ARFI beam sequencing. The effects of tracking beam position and size of the tracked region are also discussed in relation to the size and temporal response of the region of applied force, and the impact on ARFI image contrast and signal-to-noise ratio are quantified.