Comparable efficacy of contingency management for cocaine dependence among African American, Hispanic, and White methadone maintenance clients.

Cocaine use is a significant problem among methadone maintenance clients. Contingency management (CM) is a reinforcement-based approach with demonstrated efficacy for reducing cocaine use. This study examines whether the efficacy of CM treatment for cocaine-dependent individuals receiving methadone maintenance for opioid dependence differs by ethnicity. Participants were 191 African American, Hispanic, and White cocaine-dependent methadone maintenance clients, randomly assigned to standard methadone treatment or standard methadone treatment plus CM for 12 weeks. Hispanic participants were younger, less educated, and reported fewer years of cocaine use than did African American and White participants and reported fewer years of heroin use than did African American participants. African American participants were less likely to report a history of psychiatric symptoms or treatment in comparison with Hispanic and White participants. While CM was associated with longer duration of continuous cocaine abstinence and a greater proportion of submitted urine samples negative for cocaine, ethnicity was not related to treatment outcomes, and there was no significant interaction between treatment and ethnicity. CM appears to be an efficacious treatment for cocaine dependence among methadone maintenance clients, regardless of ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Buprenorphine medication versus voucher contingencies in promoting abstinence from opioids and cocaine.

During a 12-week intervention, opioid dependent participants (N = 120) maintained on thrice-a-week (M, W, F) buprenorphine plus therapist and computer-based counseling were randomized to receive: (a) medication contingencies (MC = thrice weekly dosing schedule vs. daily attendance and single-day 50% dose reduction imposed upon submission of an opioid and/or cocaine positive urine sample); (b) voucher contingency (VC = escalating schedule for opioid and/or cocaine negative samples with reset for drug-positive samples); or (c) standard care (SC), with no programmed consequences for urinalysis results. VC resulted in better 12-week retention (85%) compared to MC (58%; p = 0.009), but neither differed from SC (76% retained). After adjusting for baseline differences in employment, and compared to SC, the MC group achieved 1.5 more continuous weeks of combined opioid/cocaine abstinence (p = 0.030), while the VC group had 2 more total weeks of abstinence (p = 0.048). Drug use results suggest that both the interventions were efficacious, with effects primarily in opioid rather than cocaine test results. Findings should be interpreted in light of the greater attrition associated with medication-based contingencies versus the greater monetary costs of voucher-based contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Base rates, contingencies, and prediction behavior.

A skew in the base rate of upcoming events can often provide a better cue for accurate predictions than a contingency between signals and events. The authors study prediction behavior and test people's sensitivity to both base rate and contingency; they also examine people's ability to compare the benefits of both for prediction. They formalize these notions and propose a new measure of the regularity in the environment (ExpPA). In two experiments they test whether the notions underlying this measure capture prediction behavior. In the first experiment, they compare participants' prediction behavior, preference, and assessment of contingencies in two data sets that differ only in their base rate. In the second, in which the contribution of contingency over base rate is manipulated, they study participants' willingness to forgo a costly predictor. Results indicate a close correspondence between ExpPA and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

一种基于线路相关集的事故预想新算法

根据故障切除后负荷转移的情况进行事故预想,防止接连事故的发生,是确保电力系统安全稳定的重要措施。为此,提出了线路相关集的概念和基于最短路径算法的线路相关集搜索方法,给出了线路相关因子的求解办法。在此基础上对预想事故后的潮流转移进行快速计算,准确地判断出过负荷线路。用CEPRI36节点系统进行了仿真验证,证明了所提方法的正确性和有效性。     

The interactive effects of listwide control, item-based control, and working memory capacity on Stroop performance.

Hypothesized top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of control within conflict-rich environments were examined by presenting participants with a Stroop task in which specific words were usually presented in either congruent or incongruent colors. Incongruent colors were either frequently (high contingency) or infrequently (low contingency) paired with the word. These items were embedded within lists consisting of either 100% congruent or 100% incongruent filler items to create mostly congruent or mostly incongruent lists. Results indicated a significant item-specific congruency effect, which was largest for high contingency responses and within mostly congruent lists. In addition, a significant listwide congruency effect was obtained, and this interacted with working memory capacity (WMC). There were larger listwide congruency effects for low WMC individuals. Finally, the pattern of Stroop interference across lists for low WMC individuals was dependent upon the congruency of the preceding trial. These results support multiple forms of cognitive control, as well as contingency learning, as mechanisms underlying proportion congruence effects in Stroop and other conflict tasks. These findings are interpreted within Braver, Gray, and Burgess's (2007) dual mechanisms of control theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

ATC with ZIP load model – A comprehensive evaluation with third generation FACTS in restructured electricity markets

In this paper, an optimal power flow based approach has been applied for multi-transactions in deregulated environment for ATC determination with third generation FACTS devices. The main contribution of the paper is (i) OPF based approach for evaluation of ATC with multi-transactions, (ii) ATC enhancement with third generation FACTS devices viz. Static Compensator (STATCOM), Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC), and Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) for intact and line contingency cases (iii) Impact of ZIP load on ATC determination and comparison of ATC obtained with ZIP load model and constant P,Q load model, (iv) Comparison of ATC obtained with DC/AC-PTDFs based method along with FACTS devices for comparison. The results have been determined for intact and line contingency cases taking simultaneous as well as single transaction cases for IEEE 24 bus RTS.     

考虑风电不确定性和机组故障停运风险的两阶段鲁棒机组组合

发电机故障停运是电力系统运行中的不确定事件。目前在含风电鲁棒机组组合中考虑机组故障停运的方法,不同程度地忽略了机组故障停运的概率特征,难以较好描述机组故障停运风险。在含风电鲁棒机组组合模型的基础上,引入电量不足期望以量化机组故障停运风险,基于成本收益分析建立了考虑风电不确定性和机组故障停运风险的两阶段鲁棒机组组合模型,并提出计算电量不足期望的简化模型以提升计算效率。基于改进的IEEE-RTS 26机系统验证所提模型和方法,结果表明该方法能较好考虑风电不确定性和机组故障停运风险的影响,该简化模型能显著减小问题求解规模、缩短计算时间。     

New Approaches in Monitoring Multivariate Categorical Processes based on Contingency Tables in Phase II

In some statistical process control (SPC) applications, quality of a process or product is characterized by contingency table. Contingency tables describe the relation between two or more categorical quality characteristics. In this paper, two new control charts based on the WALD and Stuart score test statistics are designed for monitoring of contingency table‐based processes in Phase‐II. The performances of the proposed control charts are compared with the generalized linear test (GLT) control chart proposed in the literature. The results show the better performance of the proposed control charts under small and moderate shifts. Moreover, new schemes are proposed to diagnose which cell corresponding to different levels of categorical variables is responsible for out‐of‐control signal. In addition, we propose EWMA–WALD and EWMA–Stuart score test control charts to improve the performance of Shewhart‐based control charts in detecting small and moderate shifts in contingency table parameters. Meanwhile, we compare the performances of two proposed EWMA‐based control charts with the ones of three existing control charts called EWMA–GLT, EWMA–GLRT and an EWMA‐type control chart for multivariate binomial/multinomial processes along with the ones of the corresponding Shewhart‐based control charts. A numerical example is given to show the efficiency of the proposed methods. Finally, the effect of parameter estimation in Phase I based on m historical contingency table on the performance of the Shewhart‐based control charts is studied. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IDENTIFYING SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

This article provides certain fairly rigorous, although still heuristic, methods for identifying the functional components of systems in such a way as to facilitate making relationships between the components and the overall system. Based on the definitions of function commonly used, making such a relationship is not always as easy as it could be made. Specific matters discussed herein include the following: functions and objectives-oriented thinking; logical versus physical thinking; functional outputs versus functional objectives; functional objectives versus system mission; directness of relationship to an objective; relationships between multiple functional objectives; distinguishing specific objectives within more general ones; the need to develop a consistent set of terms; etc.     

考虑支路故障情况下的静态电压稳定分析

提出一种用于支路故障情况下静态电压稳定临界点计算的可靠方法。该方法以支路导纳系数为连续性参数,采用类似连续法的预测校正格式,可沿着临界点曲线从故障前系统的电压稳定临界点追踪至各支路故障后的临界点。其中预测及校正方程均采用特殊的矩阵降阶技术求解,所需求解的方程组维数只相当于原来的一半。在IEEE 14及1000母线系统上的算例验证了该文方法的可行性与高效性。