Matchmaking in psychotherapy: Patient-therapist dimensions and their impact on outcome.

Patient–therapist matching was investigated using recent theoretical and methodological developments to overcome some of the limitations that have hindered similar past efforts. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Therapeutic outcome is affected by the interaction between patients' and therapists' self-concepts, and (b) increasing anticomplementarity between therapist self-concept and therapists' perceptions of patients' behavior is negatively associated with patient improvement. Data from the first 2 cohorts of the Vanderbilt II Psychotherapy Project (H. H. Strupp et al; see record 1989-10009-001) were analyzed. They included the therapies of 16 experienced therapists, who saw a total of 48 patients (38 women and 10 men) in time-limited psychotherapy. Patients' ages ranged from 24 to 65 years (M age?=?40). Outcome was measured from the perspective of the patient, therapist, and evaluating clinician. Each hypothesis was supported, but not across all 3 outcome perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of corrosion morphologies from deteriorated underground cast iron water pipes

Following the completion of the Advanced Condition Assessment and Pipe Failure Prediction project in Australia, it has emerged that cast iron pipes normally experience corrosion damages extending over the large spatial area that resemble a patch, and structural failures are commonly associated with these patches. In this study, we defined a corrosion patch as a cluster of individual defects within or less than the one‐wall‐thickness distance of each other and conducted a morphometric study on patches from several deteriorated cast iron pipes. It was found that the size parameters, viz., the patch length, width, area, and volume potentially attain steady‐state progression over long‐term deterioration and are consistent with current understanding in underground corrosion. The rectangularity, convex deficiency, and solidity shape parameters were found to be related to each other and could be described by power‐law functions. Moreover, the analysis of two‐dimensional (D_2D) and three dimensional (D_3D) fractal dimension parameters revealed that they serve as useful proxies for different patch properties. In particular, the D_3D revealed linear trends with the patch aspect ratio and an ability to delineate between failed and in‐service pipes. It is expected that the results from this study will serve as important baseline information for future works aiming to generate and implement realistic corrosion patches for pipe structural integrity analysis.     

Physical,chemical and nutritional characteristics of puffed quinoa

Puffed quinoa can be used as ready-to-eat breakfast food or as an ingredient in snack formulations. In this study, puffed quinoa products with and without starch–chitosan coating were developed by gun, extrusion and microwave puffing at different process conditions (pressure, power, moisture content and energy consumption). Size, bulk density, colour, expansion index, water absorption and solubility, microstructure, mechanical and thermal properties, chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of organic matter and proteins of popped quinoa were assessed. Optimal process conditions for gun puffing were maximum 1.31 MPa after 780 s, 500 r.p.m. and 180 s for extrusion puffing and 1200 W for 60 s applying microwave puffing at 18–20% moisture contents. Gun and extrusion puffing yielded high-quality popped quinoa with a biological availability of organic matter between 84–88% and 79–90% for proteins. Extrusion and gun puffing are the most promising processes to prepare quinoa snacks.     

Assessment of the bovine tuberculosis elimination protocol in the United States

In this study, we analyzed the performance of the USDA's bovine tuberculosis (bTB) elimination protocol in a 1,000-cow closed dairy herd using an agent-based simulation model under different levels of initial bTB infection. We followed the bTB test sensitivity and specificity values used by the USDA in its model assessment. We estimated the net present value over a 20-yr horizon for a bTB-free milking herd and for bTB-infected herds following the USDA protocol. We estimated the expected time to identify the infection in the herd once it is introduced, its elimination time, the reproductive number (R₀), and effective reproduction number (R_e) under the USDA protocol. The optimal number of consecutive negative whole-herd tests (WHT) needed to declare a herd bTB-free with a 95% confidence under different bTB prevalence levels was derived. Our results support the minimum number of consecutive negative WHT required by the USDA protocol to declare a herd bTB-free; however, the number of consecutive negative WHT needed to eliminate bTB in a herd depends on the sensitivity and specificity of the tests. The robustness of the protocol was analyzed under conservative bTB test parameters from the literature. The cost of implementing the USDA protocol when 1 infected heifer is introduced in a 1,000-cow dairy herd is about $1,523,161. The average time until detection and the time required to eliminate bTB-infected animals from the herd, after 1 occult animal is introduced in the herd, were 735 and 119 d, respectively.     

Assessment of thermodynamic stability of sapphire in eutectic molten chloride environment

The continued development of molten salt reactors and concentrated solar power plants requires highly efficient and stable instruments that can efficiently monitor the chemical conditions of the molten salt during long-term operation in both the fuel and coolant/heat transfer fluid loops. Sapphire (Al₂O₃) fibers have shown tremendous potential due to inherent radiation resistance and a broader operational range of temperature. In this work, computational thermodynamic modeling (CALPHAD) using the ThermoCalc software in conjunction with the SGTE (Scientific Group Thermodata Europe) Molten Salts (SALT1) and Pure Substances (Pure5) databases is applied to understand the compatibility of Al₂O₃ fibers with NaCl-MgCl₂ eutectic molten salt in the temperature range of 1500–2500 K. The thermodynamic calculations show that sapphire fibers are not expected to be stable over the long-term when exposed to molten chloride salts at these temperatures. To improve the stability of these diagnostic fibers in molten salt environments, various pure metallic elements were evaluated as potential cladding materials for Al₂O₃ fibers. Based on the thermodynamic analysis, molybdenum (Mo) and nickel (Ni) could be effective cladding materials to enhance the stability of Al₂O₃ in NaCl-MgCl₂ chloride salt molten bath in the desired temperature range. Thus, the presence of Mo and Ni cladding can provide a protective coating against the corrosive molten salts, thus improving the stability of Al₂O₃. Additionally, it is also shown that Al₂O₃ remains stable up to 2400 K in the presence of preexisting Al₂MgO₄ and Al₂NiO₄ in the eutectic molten chloride bath environment.     

德阳松柏村典型液化震害剖析

2008 年 5 月 12 日中国发生的 8.0 级汶川大地震中, 位于 Ⅶ 、 Ⅷ 度交接处的德阳松柏村液化破坏十分明显, 喷砂类型丰富,液化伴随大量地裂缝,液化加震现象十分显著 , 具有典型研究价值。对该村进行了详细的现场测试并 与以往液化震害进行了对比分析,结果表明： 尽管松柏村地表主要喷出物是中砂和粗砂,但实际液化土与喷出物差别显著,主要为砂砾土液化;以往还没有提出过适于工程应用的砂砾土液化判别方法,而超重型动力触探（ DPT ）具有设备简单、经济实用、测试数据连续的优点,可作为砂砾土液化预测的核心指标; 松柏村大量地裂缝现象不是由次断层造成而是由土层液化引起,而液化产生地裂缝的基本条件为地表较平坦（ <3% ）以及液化土层水平分布不均匀; 液化减震的基本条件为上覆非液化层足够厚且较为密实,但定量评价方法还有待进一步研究。