Effects of admission and treatment strategies of DWI courts on offender outcomes

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to classify DWI courts on the basis of the mix of difficult cases participating in the court (casemix severity) and the amount of involvement between the court and participant (service intensity). Using our classification typology, we assessed how casemix severity and service intensity are associated with program outcomes. We expected that holding other factors constant, greater service intensity would improve program outcomes while a relatively severe casemix would result in worse program outcomes.

Methods

The study used data from 8 DWI courts, 7 from Michigan and 1 from North Carolina. Using a 2-way classification system based on court casemix severity and program intensity, we selected participants in 1 of the courts, and alternatively 2 courts as reference groups. Reference group courts had relatively severe casemixes and high service intensity. We used propensity score matching to match participants in the other courts to participants in the reference group court programs. Program outcome measures were the probabilities of participants’: failing to complete the court's program; increasing educational attainment; participants improving employment from time of program enrollment; and re-arrest.

Results

For most outcomes, our main finding was that higher service intensity is associated with better outcomes for court participants, as anticipated, but a court's casemix severity was unrelated to study outcomes.

Conclusions

Our results imply that devoting more resources to increasing duration of treatment is productive in terms of better outcomes, irrespective of the mix of participants in the court's program.     

熔盐堆水冷却非能动余热排出系统换热器稳态特性研究

在熔盐堆水冷却非能动余热排出系统中,通过自然循环,燃料产生的衰变热可最终由放置在水箱中的换热器导出。在换热器管内发生蒸汽冷凝过程,而管外则先依靠水的自然对流换热,当水温达到饱和后,热量则依靠水的沸腾蒸发被导出。本文通过对换热器进行设计计算,对换热器的稳态换热特性进行研究。根据系统工作过程建立相应数学模型,使用C++语言编程,得到了换热器的传热性能。结果表明,设计的换热器能够满足换热要求,同时具有一定的自调节性。另外得到了换热器压力、水箱内水质量等参数的变化规律。     

泡沫夹层复合材料的低速冲击损伤及剩余强度的数值模拟

基于渐进累积损伤理论和数据传递分析方法,对泡沫夹层复合材料的低速冲击以及冲击后的压缩破坏过程提出了一种全程数值分析方法,即对泡沫夹层复合材料的冲击以及冲击后损伤的泡沫夹层复合材料在压缩载荷下损伤扩展的全过程进行数值模拟分析。结果表明:由于该方法避免了以往学者对冲击后夹层板损伤状态所做的人为假设,把冲击后的预测损伤直接传递用于剩余强度的研究,从而提高了最终破坏载荷和剩余强度的预测精度,数值模拟结果与已有试验结果吻合较好。     

溴化锂吸收式制冷机亚稳平衡增压吸收试验和机理

溴化锂吸收式制冷机组以水为制冷剂,环保,可利用废热、余热,达到综合利用和回收能源的目的。但是其较低的能效比限制其发展。本文基于二元溶液亚稳平衡吸收原理,对常规溴化锂吸收式制冷循环的吸收器进行了改造,建造了蒸汽增压装置,以强化吸收器特性、降低发生温度为目的进行了特性研究。研究结果表明,制冷量可以增加约2倍,传热面积约减小40%～55%,有利于机组小型化;机组增压范围在1.2～2.2 kPa间,机组COP值约提高1.5倍。     

Intercontinental Grids: An Infrastructure for Demand-Driven Innovation

This paper charts the evolution of an intercontinental Grid—INWA—from its first operation connecting Australia and Scotland; its subsequent extension to China; and its use to demonstrate the first large-scale research and education network for the Asia-Pacific region. The paper focuses on the gap between e-Science and e-Social Science arguing that the Grid topology is more compatible with the socio-legal demands of large-scale study of society than more dynamically distributed approaches, such as Cloud Computing. Foundational texts on Grid Computing and its appropriation by research programmes in the UK, USA and China have helped create a positive, symbolic value for Grid Computing. For INWA, this value helped when communicating the aims of the project to potential collaborators and so created the conditions for high-quality, socio-economic data to be placed in a collaborative, analytical environment. There is no equivalent symbolic value for Cloud Computing with potential consequences for its usefulness in establishing such collaborations in future.     

从烟梗中提取果胶工艺研究

试验利用混酸萃取和乙醇沉淀法从烟梗中提取果胶 ,提取率达 12 .4 %左右 ,脱色效果理想。同时利用正交设计方法对工艺条件进行了探讨 ,获得了较佳的提取工艺、技术条件与方案。     

建筑类专业大学化学课程教学探讨

大学化学课程是高校土木工程、建筑环境、建筑材料、给排水等建筑类专业的公共基础课程,对提高学生的化学素养,优化学生的知识、能力结构具有重要意义。文章针对建筑类专业的特点,对高等院校非化学化工类专业大学化学课程教学的总体目标、建筑类专业化学教学内容的优化、教学方法和教学手段的改革及实验教学等问题进行了探讨。     

Oxidation of thiosulfate by a new bacterium, Bosea thiooxidans (strain BI-42) gen. nov., sp. nov.: analysis of phylogeny based on chemotaxonomy and 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing

A gram-negative bacterium which was capable of oxidizing reduced inorganic sulfur compounds was isolated from agricultural soil and designated BI-42. This new isolate grew on a wide range of organic substrates but was not able to grow autotrophically and lacked ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, a key enzyme of carbon dioxide fixation. These results suggested that strain BI-42 was a chemolithoheterotroph. Ammonia and nitrate were not used as sole nitrogen sources for growth, and strain BI-42 lacked glutamate synthase activity, which resulted in glutamate auxotrophy. The glutamate dehydrogenase activity of this organism was apparently insufficient for ammonia assimilation. On the basis of the results of additional biochemical tests, the G + C content of the DNA, the results of a respiratory ubiquinone analysis, the results of a 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis, the fatty acid composition, and the results of a membrane lipid analysis, strain BI-42 was identified as a phylogenetically and physiologically distinct taxon belonging to the alpha subclass of the Proteobacteria. Bosea thiooxidans gen. nov., sp. nov. is the name proposed for this taxon.     

Regulation of metabolic pathways in various groups of aboriginal populations of the European North (as exemplified by the thyroliberin test)]

Injectable progestogen-only contraceptives can be considered for the woman who is unwilling or unable to use oral contraceptives or an IUD. They have a very low failure rate. They appear to have few serious life-threatening side-effects. The woman does not have to remember to take a daily pill. The method requires little compliance from the client and is independent of patient error. Short-term uses include for partners of men undergoing vasectomy, women being immunised against rubella and for women awaiting sterilisation. Noristerat can be used immediately after an abortion or birth of a baby. Breast feeding is not inhibited. Main side-effects are menstrual irregularities and delayed return of fertility after use. It is essential that women are counselled about the method and its side-effects before injectable contraceptives are given.     

Whole blood tissue factor procoagulant activity is elevated in patients with sickle cell disease

We developed a simple assay for the measurement of tissue factor procoagulant activity (TF PCA) in whole blood samples that avoids the need for mononuclear cell isolation. This method combines convenience of sample collection and processing with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity for TF. Using this method, we have determined that TF PCA is detectable in whole blood samples from normal individuals, which is itself a novel observation. Essentially all PCA could be shown to be localized in the mononuclear cell fraction of blood. Compared with controls, whole blood TF levels were significantly (P < .000001) elevated in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), regardless of the subtype of hemoglobinopathy (SS or SC disease). No significant difference in TF PCA was observed between patients in pain crisis compared with those in steady-state disease. Because TF functions as cofactor in the proteolytic conversion of FVII to FVIIa in vitro, it was expected that an increase in circulating TF PCA would lead to an increased in vivo generation of FVIIa. On the contrary, FVIIa levels were actually decreased in the plasma of patients with SCD. Plasma TF pathway inhibitor (TFPI) antigen levels were normal in SCD patients, suggesting that accelerated clearance of FVIIa by the TFPI pathway was not responsible for the reduced FVIIa levels. We propose that elevated levels of circulating TF PCA may play an important role in triggering the activation of coagulation known to occur in patients with SCD. Because TF is the principal cellular ligand for FVIIa, it is possible that increased binding to TF accounts for the diminished plasma FVIIa levels.