Telephone surveys as an alternative for estimating prevalence of mental disorders and service utilization: a Montreal catchment area study

BACKGROUND: Large-scale mental health surveys have provided invaluable information regarding the prevalence of specific mental disorders and service use for mental health reasons. Unfortunately, because vast surveys conducted face to face are very costly, many countries and provinces do not embark upon this path of research, thus depriving themselves of a rich source of data useful for service planning. METHOD: As an alternative, the authors undertook a telephone survey with a sample of 893 residents from a Montreal catchment area. Mental disorders were assessed by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Simplified (CIDIS), an instrument especially designed to be used in mail or telephone surveys. Service utilization was measured by an instrument similar to those used in recent large Canadian or American surveys. RESULTS: The prevalence rate for any mental disorder was lower in this study than in some large-scale epidemiological surveys reviewed. This could be explained by methodological differences, such as number of disorders covered and period of reference. With regard to specific mental disorders, results appeared very similar to those of other studies. Concerning service utilization, rates tended to be higher than in other studies, and this finding could reflect real differences between Quebec and other Canadian provinces or the United States. CONCLUSIONS: Aside from being lower in cost, telephone surveys can yield results comparable to those obtained in large-scale epidemiological surveys conducted by means of face-to-face interviews.     

Exploring the relative impact of biological sex and masculinity–femininity values on information technology use

Previous studies in an e-commerce context suggest that there are biological differences (i.e. whether one is a man or a woman) with respect to perceptions of websites. In other research, there is evidence that psychological gender (i.e. values such as masculinity or femininity) likewise influences website perceptions. It is the aim of the current investigation to explore the possibility that both biological sex and psychological gender influence user perceptions, and to examine the predictive power of each on our model. To test these assumptions, we use an augmented technology acceptance model (TAM). To maximise variance in our sample, participants are selected from two countries that are significantly different in masculinity–femininity. As expected, psychological gender better predicted trust and TAM than biological sex. Moreover, this study validates that the masculinity–femininity dimension as originally developed by Hofstede [1980. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage] can be separated into two scales – one each for masculinity and femininity. The results suggest the need for additional research into the differentiation between psychological gender and sex.     

Variation des facteurs d'efficacité caractérisant les additions minérales

The decision of public authorities to recycle industrial wastes leads to the quasi-systematic use of mineral admixtures in concrete. Predicting the strength of these concretes induces the engineer to characterise the mineral, admixtures: ordinarily, a single coefficient is used, calculated with an empirical law like Bolomey's or Abrams' formulas. Many results, reported in bibliography and completed by the authors, show that the determination of this single coefficient is not sufficient to characterise the activity of the admixture. Many factors like the nature of cement, the substitution rate, the fineness of the admixture and the age of concrete induce a great variability of the efficiency coefficient of the admixtures. Up to now, there is no general law explaining this variability. The authors warn against the excessive use of a single equivalence coefficient and recommend to take into, account not only the physicochemical parameters but also the nature of the works themselves.     

Colour appeal in website design within and across cultures: A multi-method evaluation

Colour has the potential to elicit emotions or behaviors, yet there is little research in which colour treatments in website design are systematically tested. Little is known about how colour affects trust or satisfaction on the part of the viewer. Although the Internet is increasingly global, few systematic studies have been undertaken in which the impact of colour on culturally diverse viewers is investigated in website design. In this research three website colour treatments are tested across three culturally distinct viewer groups for their impact on user trust, satisfaction, and e-loyalty. To gather data, a rich multi-method approach is used including eye-tracking, a survey, and interviews. Results reveal that website colour appeal is a significant determinant for website trust and satisfaction with differences noted across cultures. The findings have practical value for web marketers and interface designers concerning effective colour use in website development.     

Particle size distribution of fine powders by LASER diffraction spectrometry. Case of cementitious materials

LASER diffraction spectrometry is one of the most widespread techniques for particle sizing, but it must be used with many precautions, otherwise significant errors can be expected. Generally, the most important errors concern the evaluation of the fine (smaller than some microns) particle content and they are obtained when the particles move away from ideal conditions (which are spherical particles, monophasic and isotropic material). Among the various sources of errors and inaccuracies concerning this technique, two have been dealt with in this paper: the choice of the mathematical model and the evaluation of the optical properties of the materials analyzed. Practical cases are presented, which permit to evaluate the consequences of these errors, such as calculation of virtual fine particles that do not exist. Lastly, precautionary measures are suggested to minimize the errors and thus to increase the degree of confidence in the results. In all the cases studied, it was seen that a correct evaluation of particle size distribution by this technique required substantial preliminary knowledge of the physicochemical properties of the material.

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Résumé La granulométrie LASER est l'une des techniques les plus répandues pour évaluer la répartition de la taille des particules d'un matériau pulvérulent. Toutefois, cette technique doit être utilisée avec de multiples précautions, sans quoi des erreurs importantes peuvent être obtenues. En général, les erreurs les plus significatives concernent l'évaluation de la quantité de fines particules, inférieures à quelques micromètres et elles sont obtenues lorsque les particules s'éloignent des conditions idéales (particules sphériques, monophasiques et issues d'un matériau isotrope). Parmi les différentes sources d'erreurs et d'imprécisions concernant cette technique, deux ont été traitées dans cet article: le choix du modèle mathématique et l'évaluation des propriétés optiques des matériaux analysés. Des exemples pratiques sont présentés, permettant d'évaluer les conséquences de ces erreurs, telles que le calcul de fines particules virtuelles qui, en réalité, n'existent pas. Enfin, des mesures de prévention sont suggérées afin de minimiser les erreurs et ainsi augmenter le degré de confiance dans les résultats obtenus. Dans tous les cas étudiés, on se rend bien compte que cette démarche nécessite une parfaite connaissance préalable des propriétés physico-chimiques du matériau.

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Editorial Note The LMDC (Laboratoire Matériaux et Durabilité des Constructions) and the University of Sherbrooke are RILEM Tituler Member.     

Photocontrolled living polymerizations

Living polymerizations involve the creation of polymer chains without significant irreversible chain transfer or chain termination. Such processes are widely used to access well-defined macromolecular materials with controlled architectures, such as block and star polymers. Although this concept was first realized for anionic polymerizations in the 1950s, many key recent advances have been made, most notably in the area of radical polymerization. Here, we report a living photopolymerization that involves photoexcited monomers. Exposure of metal-containing ferrocenophane monomers to Pyrex-filtered light from a mercury lamp (lambda>310 nm) or to bright sunlight in the presence of an anionic initiator leads to living polymerizations, in which the conversion and molecular weight of the resulting polymer can be controlled by the irradiation time. Photoirradiation selectively weakens the iron-cyclopentadienyl bond in the monomer, allowing the use of moderately basic and highly functional-group-tolerant initiators. The polymerization proceeds through attack of the initiator and propagating anion on the iron atom of the photoexcited monomer and, remarkably, the polymerization rate decreases with increasing temperature. Block copolymer formation is possible when the light source is alternately switched on and off in between sequential addition of different monomers, providing unprecedented, photocontrolled access to new types of functional polymers.     

Transmission intergénérationnelle des troubles intériorisés: Modèles théoriques et recherches empiriques.

It is well recognised that mental health disorders in parents are associated with internalizing disorders in their children. For better understanding of the nature of this association, this article presents a critical analysis of 5 theoretical models and of major findings from empirical studies conducted on this question in the past 15 years. Several psychosocial characteristics are found to be more frequent in families of depressed or anxious parents and are associated to a higher prevalence of internalizing disorders in their children. Two hypotheses are drawn from these findings : (a) The presence of internalizing disorders in a parent may contribute to the emergence of other at-risk conditions associated with internalizing disorders in children; and (b) the presence of some psychosocial characteristics may exacerbate the influence of being exposed to parental anxiety or depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Durability of concrete containing a natural pozzolan as defined by a performance-based approach

This paper deals with the application of a performance-based approach on the durability of concrete made with an Algerian natural pozzolan. The evaluation of the durability of concrete was based on the comparison of durability indicators with a reference concrete usually found in Algeria. The properties measured included general indicators (water porosity, gas permeability, capillary absorption and Portlandite content) and specific indicators related to degradation phenomena that might occur in Algeria: corrosion induced by carbonation and chlorides, and chemical attacks by sulphates and acids. For the specific degradations, the indicators measured included carbonation depths, chloride diffusion coefficients, chloride permeability, expansion and sulphate profiles, and depth of leaching due to ammonium nitrate attack. The results showed that general durability indicators were almost equivalent for all the types of concrete tested, highlighting the importance of using specific indicators for each type of exposure. The results of specific indicators for corrosion and acid attacks showed that increasing the pozzolan content led to higher resistance of the concrete. Thus, it is possible to improve the durability of typical concretes currently made in Algeria by using local materials.     

Contributing Authors

Biography

Contributing Authors     

Enabling multimedia applications in 2.5G and 3G wireless terminals through a combined RISC/DSP architecture: OMAP

This paper describes how multimedia applications will be enabled in 2.5 and 3G wireless terminals thanks to the efficiency of the DSP core embedded in the TI OMAP platform. OMAP H/W architecture will be described with an emphasis on how multimedia applications (video, audio, speech) will benefit from this advanced architecture. The advantages provided by a combined RISC/DSP architecture, compared to a single RISC architecture, for multimedia mobile applications will be depicted.