Affirming Care: A Cultural Assimilator for Rural Clinicians Working With LGBTQIA+ Populations

Although the juggernaut of progress continues to provide minority groups, including members of the LGBTQIA+ population, opportunities to achieve equal representation and protection under the law, numerous challenges remain. Significant prejudicial and discriminatory actions, fortified by heterosexism and heteronormativity, not only threaten this community’s continued advancement, but also poses an existential threat to the physical, emotional, psychological, and social well-being of its members. Therefore, it is imperative that psychological clinicians receive adequate academic and practical skills-based training to thoroughly understand and respond to the unique obstacles faced by LGBTQIA+ clients. This goal, while laudable, is made even more difficult for those clinicians hailing from, or residing within, a rural milieu, given these clinicians’ access to culturally informed training opportunities to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ population. However, if a clinician is unable to proffer such services, there is an increased danger manifested by decreased physical, emotional, and psychological functioning, as well as continued stigmatization, internalized homo- and transphobic attitudes, and increased risk of suicide. The current project was borne from the desire to provide expanded training to clinicians so that they will be equipped with a better understanding of, and increased comfortability with, the LGBTQIA+ community. These goals will be accomplished by the creation of a cultural assimilator program which presents the participant with a plethora of thought-provoking scenarios and a variety of responses to choose from that explain the interaction. By completing the training, each learner will gain requisite knowledge relating to the community, as well as a greater sense of mastery in providing supportive, affirming therapeutic services. In turn, this serves to strengthen the therapeutic alliance between the clinician and the client, leading to improved clinical outcomes

Digital Signal Processing Capabilities of the Fujitsu MB8764

The Fujitsu MB8764 digital signal processing chip is designed to operate with a machine cycle of up to 10 MHz. The chip’s ability to perform a 16-by-16 bit multiply and add operation in one machine cycle makes it a good candidate for real time digital signal processing. Unlike the Intel 2920 the Fujitsu MB8764 does not have an onboard analog-to-digital, digital-to-analog converter. Therefore, this paper will be restricted to the operation of this device with digital data input and output. The use of the MB8764 as a digital filter is analyzed. Performance limitations due to finite word length, memory size and configuration, and clock rate are considered. The MB8764 capabilities in computing fast Fourier transforms are discussed. Development of a working digital filter with the MB8764 work station is presented

The Problem of Infinity in Meditation III

In Meditation III, Rene Descartes’ main argument for the existence of God hinges on our perception of infinity. All ideas or beings must have as much formal reality, according to Descartes, as those that they in turn create or produce. Because we as human beings can perceive of infinity, yet we do not observe anything that is actually infinite, this perception must come from a God who has at least as much formal reality as we. In this paper I argue that the human mind is incapable of perceiving anything that is actually infinite. We hold a concept of infinity, but it is clear that we do not fully comprehend it. Thus, the kind of infinity Descartes needs for his argument to work is not the kind of infinity we can claim to understand. This is a devastating objection to Descartes argument for God’s existence, because it shows that Descartes has made an invalid inference in the most critical premise of his argument

Tracing metal–silicate segregation and late veneer in the Earth and the ureilite parent body with palladium stable isotopes

International audienceStable isotope studies of highly siderophile elements (HSE) have the potential to yield valuable insights into a range of geological processes. In particular, the strong partitioning of these elements into metal over silicates may lead to stable isotope fractionation during metal-silicate segregation, making them sensitive tracers of planetary differentiation processes. We present the first techniques for the precise determination of palladium stable isotopes by MC-ICPMS using a 106Pd-110Pd double-spike to correct for instrumental mass fractionation. Results are expressed as the per mil (‰) difference in the 106Pd/105Pd ratio (δ106Pd) relative to an in-house solution standard (Pd_IPGP) in the absence of a certified Pd isotopic standard. Repeated analyses of the Pd isotopic composition of the chondrite Allende demonstrate the external reproducibility of the technique of ±0.032‰ on δ106Pd. Using these techniques, we have analysed Pd stable isotopes from a range of terrestrial and extraterrestrial samples. We find that chondrites define a mean δ106Pdchondrite = -0.19 ± 0.05‰. Ureilites reveal a weak trend towards heavier δ106Pd with decreasing Pd content, similar to recent findings based on Pt stable isotopes (Creech et al., 2017), although fractionation of Pd isotopes is significantly less than for Pt, possibly related to its weaker metal-silicate partitioning behaviour and the limited field shift effect. Terrestrial mantle samples have a mean δ106Pdmantle = -0.182 ± 0.130‰, which is consistent with a late-veneer of chondritic material after core formation

Pavement Evaluation of the Concrete Tie-bars and Dowel Baskets on Irvin Cobb Drive, US 60, McCracken County, KY

A 1500 Mhz. ground coupled, ground penetrating radar antenna was used to identify both the horizontal alignment and the vertical displacement of the concrete tie-bars and the transverse joint dowel bar assembles on a Portland-Cement-Concrete-Pavement (PCCP) on US 60 in McCracken County, KY. Approximately 5 lanes miles of PCCP were evaluated using the 1500 Mhz. ground coupled antenna. Results indicate that only one transverse dowel basket out of an approximate total of 1,760 were within 4.17 inches of the pavement surface. Seven transverse dowel baskets were misaligned four inches or greater from the location of the sawed joint. These areas represent 0.45 percent of the total transverse joints on the project. The ground penetrating radar results also indicated there were no areas along the longitudinal joint where the tie-bars were either too close to the pavement surface or missing

Achieving Sustainable Construction in Affordable Housing

An energy-efficient design and construction checklist and information sheets on energy-efficient design and construction are two products being developed. These products will help affordable housing providers take the first steps toward a whole-house approach to the design and implementation of energy-efficient construction practices. The checklist presents simple and clear guidance on energy improvements that can be readily addressed now by most affordable housing providers. The information sheets complement the checklist by providing installation instructions and material specifications that are accompanied by detailed graphics. The information sheets also identify benefits of recommended energy-efficiency measures and procedures including cost savings and impacts on health and comfort. This paper presents details on the checklist and information sheets and discusses their use in two affordable housing projects

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for Forage Traits in Intermediate Wheatgrass When Grown as Spaced-Plants versus Monoculture and Polyculture Swards

It has been hypothesized that the genetic control of forage traits, especially biomass, for grass plants growing as spaced-plants versus swards is different. Likewise, the genetic control of compatibility in grass–legume polyculture mixtures is assumed to be different than for forage production in a grass monoculture. However, these hypotheses are largely unvalidated, especially at the DNA level. This study used an intermediate wheatgrass mapping population to examine the effect of three competition environments (spaced-plants, polyculture, and monoculture) on classical quantitative genetic parameters and quantitative trait loci (QTL) identification for biomass, morphology, and forage nutritive value. Moderate to high heritable variation was observed for biomass, morphological traits, and nutritive value within all three environments (H ranged from 0.50 to 0.87). Genetic correlations (rG) among environments for morphology and nutritive value were predominantly high, however, were moderately-low (0.30 to 0.48) for biomass. Six biomass QTL were identified, including three on linkage groups (LG) 1, 6, and 15 that were only expressed in the monoculture environment. Moreover, three biomass QTL on LG 10, 14, and 15 exhibited significant QTL by environment interactions. This study verified that the genetic control of grass biomass in a monoculture versus a grass–legume mixture is only partially the same, with additional genes expressed in monoculture, and that biomass in widely spaced-plants versus swards is predominantly under different genetic control. These results indicate that selection for improved grass biomass will be most successful when conducted within the targeted monoculture or polyculture sward environment per se