Alliance and Dropout in Family Therapy for Adolescents With Behavior Problems: Individual and Systemic Effects.

This study examined the relationship between alliance and retention in family therapy. Alliance was examined at the individual (parent and adolescent) and family levels (within-family differences). Participants were 34 families who received functional family therapy for the treatment of adolescent (aged 12-18 years) behavior problems. Families were classified as treatment dropouts (n=14) or completers (n=20). Videotapes of the first sessions were rated to identify parent and adolescent alliances with the therapist. Results demonstrated that individual parent and adolescent alliances did not predict retention. However, as hypothesized, dropout cases had significantly higher unbalanced alliances (parent minus adolescent) than did completer cases. These findings highlight the importance of alliances in functional family therapy and suggest that how the alliance operates in conjoint family therapy may be a function of systemic rather than of individual processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the dependence of the dynamic crack tip temperature fields in metals upon crack tip velocity and material parameters

Although various approximations have been used to analytically predict the temperature rise at a dynamic crack tip and its relation to the crack tip velocity or the material properties, few experimental investigations of these effects exist. Here, the method of using a high speed infrared detector array to measure the temperature distribution at the tip of a dynamically propagating crack tip is outlined, and the results from a number of experiments on different metal alloys are reviewed. First the effect of crack tip velocity in 4340 steel is investigated, and it is seen that the maximum temperature increases with increasing velocity, the maximum plastic work rate density increases with velocity and the active plastic zone size decreases with increasing velocity. Also, it is observed that a significant change in the geometry of the temperature distribution occurs at higher velocities in steel due to the opening of the crack faces behind the crack tip. Next, the effect of thermal properties is examined, and it is seen that, due to adiabatic conditions at the crack tip, changes in thermal conductivity do not significantly affect the temperature field. Changes in density and heat capacity (as well as material dynamic fracture toughness) are more likely to produce significant differences in temperature than changes in thermal conductivity. Finally, the effect of heat upon the crack tip deformation is reviewed, and it is seen that the generation of heat at the crack tip in steel leads to the localization of deformation in the shear lip. The shear lip is actualy an adiabatic shear band formed at 45° to the surface of the specimen. In titanium, no conclusive evidence of shear localization in the shear lip is seen.     

LEICA: a low energy ion composition analyzer for the study of solarand magnetospheric heavy ions

The SAMPEX (Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer) LEICA instrument is designed to measure ~0.5-5-MeV/nucleon solar and magnetospheric ions over the range from He-Ni. The instrument is a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer, which measures particle TOF over an ~0.5-m path and the residual energy deposited in an array of Si solid state detectors. Large-area microchannel plates are used, resulting in a large geometrical factor for the instrument (0.6 cm² sr), which is essential for accurate compositional measurements in small solar flares and in studies of precipitating magnetospheric heavy ions     

Effect of L-carnitine treatment on very low density lipoprotein kinetics in the hyperlipidemic rabbit

This study examined the hypolipidemic effect of 4 weeks of L-carnitine treatment (170 mg/kg b.w./day) in New Zealand White rabbits fed a high fat diet (5% corn oil/0.5% cholesterol). Specifically, [3H] glycerol and [125I] very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) turnover studies were conducted to examine the effect of treatment on VLDL kinetics. The masses of plasma VLDL-triglycerides (VLDL-TG) and VLDL-apoprotein B (VLDL-apoB) were significantly increased by the high-fat diet. Four weeks of treatment with L-carnitine significantly reduced these masses. Kinetic analysis indicated that fat feeding reduced the fractional catabolic rates (FCRs) of VLDL-TG and VLDL-apoB relative to chow-fed controls. The transport of these VLDL components was not altered by the diet. L-carnitine treatment had no effect on the FCRs of VLDL-TG and VLDL-apoB or on the transport of VLDL-apoB. Yet, treatment significantly lowered the transport of VLDL-TG. These data indicate that the lipid-lowering effect of L-carnitine in this animal model was due, in part, to a decrease in the transport and not due to an alteration in the fractional catabolic rate of VLDL-TG.     

Nitrogen addition to iron powder by mechanical alloying

Nitrogen was alloyed into iron (a) by mechanical processing in a nitrogen gas environment, and (b) by mechanically alloying with iron-nitride powders to characterize resulting nano-structure and nitrogen distribution. Although the infused nitrogen concentration was significantly greater than the thermodynamic equilibrium solubility of iron, no nitrides formed, even for nitrogen concentrations as high as 4.1 wt.% However, a bctFe phase did form. Lattice expansion calculations indicate that the sum of the interstitial bcc-Fe and bctFe nitrogen concentrations was significantly less than the total measured nitrogen concentration. A considerable portion of the mechanically infused nitrogen was determined to be associated with nanograin boundaries.     

Conditions for stability of the extended Kalman filter and their application to the frequency tracking problem

The error dynamics of the extended Kalman filter (EKF), employed as an observer for a general nonlinear, stochastic discrete time system, are analyzed. Sufficient conditions for the boundedness of the errors of the EKF are determined. An expression for the bound on the errors is given in terms of the size of the nonlinearities of the system and the error covariance matrices used in the design of the EKF. The results are applied to the design of a stable EKF frequency tracker for a signal with time-varying frequency.This research was supported by the Co-operative Research Centre for Robust and Adaptive Systems ((CR)² ASys). The authors wish to acknowledge the funding of the activities of (CR)² ASys by the Australian Commonwealth Government under the Co-operative Research Centre Program.     

DNA recognition by the EcoK methyltransferase. The influence of DNA methylation and the cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine

The methyltransferase of the EcoK type I restriction/modification system is trimeric, M2S1, where the S subunit determines the sequence specificity of the enzyme. The methyltransferase has a strong preference for hemimethylated substrate DNA and, therefore, we have investigated the effect of the methylation state of DNA on binding by the enzyme, together with the effects on binding of the cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine. Our results indicate that the methyltransferase has two non-interacting S-adenosyl-L-methionine binding sites, each with a dissociation constant of 3.60 (+/- 0.42) microM determined by equilibrium dialysis, or 2.21 (+/- 0.29) microM determined by the displacement of a fluorescent probe. Ultraviolet light-induced crosslinking showed that S-adenosyl-L-methionine binds strongly only to the modification (M) subunits. Changes in the sedimentation velocity of the methyltransferase imply a protein conformational change due to S-adenosyl-L-methionine binding. Gel retardation results show that the binding of S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the methyltransferase enhances binding to both specific and non-specific DNAs, but the enhancement is greater for the specific DNA. Differences in binding affinities contribute to the recognition of the specific nucleotide sequence AAC(N)6GTGC by the methyltransferase in preference to a non-specific sequence. In contrast, although the complexes of unmodified and hemimethylated DNAs with the methyltransferase have different mobilities in non-denaturing gels, there appears to be no contribution of binding affinity to the distinction between these two substrates. Therefore, the preference for a hemimethylated substrate must be due to a difference in catalysis.     

Adolescents in stepfamilies: Developmental family interventions.

Discusses issues and interventions for working with adolescents who live in stepfamilies. A developmental perspective, using psychoeducation and brief strategic intervention approaches, is proposed for working with stepfamilies. Six major issues for adolescents in stepfamilies are discussed: developmental issues, sexuality issues, parent–child relationships, parenting in stepfamilies, nonresidential parent–child issues, and changes in visitation and custody. Case illustrations and suggested interventions are presented for each of these areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)