Health Service Use Predictors Among Trauma Survivors: A Critical Review.

This article had 2 aims: (a) to comprehensively review and synthesize the literature on predictors of health service utilization in survivors of traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients and (b) to discuss methodological issues in examining service utilization in this population. PsycINFO was searched for relevant articles published through April 2004. Included studies had to primarily sample trauma survivors or PTSD patients and statistically explore health service use determinants. Although some findings conflicted across studies, increased mental health service use was generally related to being female, having a previous trauma history, and having a PTSD diagnosis. Increased medical service use was found among those with a PTSD diagnosis. Methodological recommendations are made for future health service use studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a measure for the information technology infrastructure construct

The goal of this research was to operationalize the information technology infrastructure (ITI) concept by identifying its underlying dimensions and establishing a valid and reliable measure for the construct. In order to accomplish this task with the highest degree of certainty, two approaches were sequentially applied: exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. In evaluating the confirmatory factor model, a step-by-step process was employed, assessing unidimensionality, reliability, discriminant validity, and nomological validity. The dimensions of ITI were determined to be: Chief Information Officer, IT Planning, IT Security, Technology Integration, Advisory Committee, Enterprise Model, and Data Administration. Researchers may now make use of this validated ITI measure to conduct investigations of ITI and other organizational measures. Implications of the ITI measure with other organizational initiatives such as electronic commerce and knowledge management are explored.     

Determinants of the Relative Advantage of a Structured SDM During the Adoption Stage of Implementation

This research investigates a new theoretical model for examining the relationships between user perceptions during innovation adoption. We have taken several innovation-related variables and constructed a framework for assessing the ability of a technology to improve worker performance. Prior research has not addressed the appropriate relationship between innovation adoption-related variables as applied to information systems development methodologies (SDM). This study attempts to use innovation-related variables created by Moore and Benbasat (Information Systems Research 2(3) (1991) 192–222) and Davis (MIS Quarterly 13(3) (1989) 319–340) to propose a framework useful by project managers in designing innovations that will successfully support the efforts of technology users. A framework is proposed, tested, and modified in the context of using an SDM to govern large systems development operation. Forty-seven users within a military software development organization were surveyed about their perceptions of a recently implemented structured SDM. A proposed model of innovation adoption perceptions was tested using correlation and partial least squares regression. Findings suggest a model for predicting the perceived relative advantage of SDMs in the adoption stage of their implementation which is useful in designing techniques in the IS development organizational function.     

The Relationship Between Witnessing Parental Conflict During Childhood and Later Psychological Adjustment Among University Students: Disentangling Confounding Risk Factors.

The purpose of the current study was to examine in detail the association between witnessing domestic violence (DV) and long-term psychological adjustment. Important limitations of past research were addressed, including controlling for several associated risk factors. Special attention was paid to whether the perpetrator of the violence was the maternal or paternal figure, as well as to whether the witness to the violence was male or female. Participants completed measures examining DV witnessed, direct child abuse experienced, and current psychopathology. Following screening for physical and sexual abuse, a sample of 351 individuals was selected. Four groups of participants were compared. Results indicated that individuals who had witnessed either physical DV or major psychological DV had higher levels of psychopathology than individuals who reported witnessing minor psychological DV or controls. After controlling for direct psychological abuse experienced, witnessing DV remained a significant predictor of psychopathology for males but not for females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of Tone Duration, Line Length, and Letter Position: An Experimental Approach to Timing and Working Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia display numerous cognitive deficits, including problems in working memory, time estimation, and absolute identification of stimuli. Research in these fields has traditionally been conducted independently. We examined these cognitive processes using tasks that are structurally similar and that yield rich error data. Relative to healthy control participants (n = 20), patients with schizophrenia (n = 20) were impaired on a duration identification task and a probed-recall memory task but not on a line-length identification task. These findings do not support the notion of a global impairment in absolute identification in schizophrenia. However, the authors suggest that some aspect of temporal information processing is indeed disturbed in schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optical modes for BiNem® LCDs

Abstract— We report on theoretical simulations and measurements of the optics of BiNem® displays, taking into account not only the luminance at normal incidence, but contrast ratio and color shift over the viewing hemisphere as well. Transmissive and reflective BiNem® modes were optimized differently, emphasizing contrast in transmission and paperlike, white appearance in reflection.     

Energetic ion loss detector on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

A scintillator-based energetic ion loss detector has been successfully commissioned on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. This probe is located just below the outer midplane, where it captures ions of energies up to 2 MeV resulting from ion cyclotron resonance heating. After passing through a collimating aperture, ions impact different regions of the scintillator according to their gyroradius (energy) and pitch angle. The probe geometry and installation location are determined based on modeling of expected lost ions. The resulting probe is compact and resembles a standard plasma facing tile. Four separate fiber optic cables view different regions of the scintillator to provide phase space resolution. Evolving loss levels are measured during ion cyclotron resonance heating, including variation dependent upon individual antennae.     

A new weighting function for solving nonlinear oscillation problems

A new approximation technique is presented for solving nonlinear oscillation problems. A solution of form x = x₀ sin ωt is assumed and put into the differential equation, which leads to an algebraic equation which can be solved for ω in terms of x₀. The new technique is to reduce the algebraic equation to an identity at ωt = π/3. This method is compared with other common approximation techniques and with the exact solution for several nonlinear problems. Overall, the new method works better than any other approximation technique. In addition, it has the very practical advantage of being purely algebraic; no integrals need be evaluated, as in several other methods.     

Lagrangian-based Hydrodynamic Model for Traffic Data Fusion on Freeways

This paper conducts a comprehensive study of the Lagrangian-based hydrodynamic model with application to highway state estimation. Our analysis is motivated by the practical problems of freeway traffic monitoring and estimation using multi-source data measured from mobile devices and fixed sensors. We conduct rigorous mathematical analysis on the Hamilton-Jacobi representation of the Lighthill-Whitham-Richards model in the transformed coordinates, and derive explicit and closed-form solutions with piecewise affine initial, boundary, and internal conditions, based on the variational principle. A numerical study of the Mobile Century field experiment demonstrates some unique features and the effectiveness in traffic estimation of the Lagrangian-based model.