Identifying and Intervening on Neural Markers of Attention to Threat in Children with Anxiety Disorders

Objective: Attention Bias Modification Training (ABMT) for anxiety aims to train attention away from threatening stimuli and toward neutral stimuli. Although ABMT shows promising anxiety reduction effects in children and adolescents, no study has examined its influence on neural indicators of attention measured using event-related potentials (ERPs) in children or adolescents (i.e., youths). The present study examined the influence of ABMT on the P1, N170, P2 and P3 ERP components during completion of the emotional faces dot probe task in youths with anxiety disorders who failed to respond to cognitive behavioral therapy. Method: Thirty youths (M age = 11.97, SD = 2.89) with primary DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders completed the dot probe task while undergoing electroencephalogram (EEG) to obtain ERPs before, immediately after, and eight weeks after eight sessions of either ABMT (n = 14) or a control task regimen (CT), (n = 16). Results: At post-treatment, statistically significant effects were found for P1 and P3 mean amplitudes: P1 was significantly higher during trials showing neutral-neutral (NN) face pairs in the ABMT arm than in the CT arm; P3 was significantly higher during trials showing NN face pairs than during trials showing neutral-threat (NT) face pairs in the ABMT arm, but not the CT arm. At eight-week follow-up, participants in both arms showed significantly higher (more negative) N170 responses for NN trials than for NT trials. Conclusions: Attention Bias Modification Treatment led to increases in neural processing of neutral stimuli in early and late stage attentional processing, as measured by the P1 and P3 components, respectively. These components during the dot probe task are promising neural markers of ABMT’s effects on attentional processing in youth with anxiety disorders

Evaluating Local Government Usage of GIS: A New Maturity Model

GIS is a technology with the potential to transform government by enhancing business processes and providing a platform to manage spatial and non-spatial data, which is expected to result in better decision-making. However, little is known about how this technology is actually implemented organization-wide and the environment surrounding its use. Current GIS maturity models have not examined usage broadly or in-depth, lack empirical validation, and measurement tools to diagnose maturity are not readily available. Based on GIS, maturity models, and system usage literature this study presents a more comprehensive maturity model for evaluating local government usage of GIS along with a measurement tool. The study followed De Bruin guidelines for developing maturity models. This new model was discussed with practitioners and academics, was pilot-tested, and then widely tested on Southern California local governments through an online questionnaire. Results show support for the validity of the model and demonstrate its utility

An Organizational Perspective On GIS Payoffs for the Public Sector: Is Usage the Missing Link?

GIS offers a unique way of layering spatial data, and its related tabular data, that can be visualized through a single map. This feature has made GIS attractive for governments, and especially local governments, as they work with such data on daily basis. Many local governments are currently using GIS and are planning to expand their usage; many are expected to follow in kind. Now is the time to ask the question, “What benefits have the public sector gained from GIS?” This study seeks to answer this question and investigates the role of GIS usage in determining GIS value at the organizational level. A survey was carried out with Southern California local governments. Results suggest that increasing actual GIS usage leads to an increase in GIS value. Results further show that efficiency and effectiveness benefits of GIS are mostly realized, however, societal benefits of GIS are small

Dynamics of Alpha-Helix Formation in the CSAW Model

We study the folding dynamics of polyalanine (Ala$_{20}$), a protein fragment with 20 residues whose native state is a single alpha helix. We use the CSAW model (conditioned self-avoiding walk), which treats the protein molecule as a chain in Brownian motion, with interactions that include hydrophobic forces and internal hydrogen bonding. We find that large scale structures form before small scale structures, and obtain the relevant relaxation times. We find that helix nucleation occurs at two separate points on the protein chain. The evolution of small and large scale structures involve different mechanisms. While the former can be describe by rate equations governing the growth of helical content, the latter is akin to the relaxation of an elastic solid.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Multiple aperture INSAR (MAI) with C-band and L-band data: Noise and precision

MAI is a technique to extract along-track (horizontal) phase-based displacements from InSAR data. MAI’s theoretical precision can be at the centimeter level, an order of magnitude improvement over amplitude-based pixel offset approaches. However, MAI has been challenging to implement with most academic InSAR processors, and the theoretical precision difficult to reach for low to medium coherence terrains. We implement MAI with the JPL/CALTECH InSAR processor ROI PAC. We study the MAI noise structure with Envisat, Radarsat-1, ERS, and ALOS data, and develop phase corrections and filtering based on the results. We study the MAI noise with ’zero’ signal, all noise data. We process 11 Envisat pairs presenting low to medium coherence with less than 2 cm along track displacements, taken over the larger Los Angeles basin/San Gabriel Mountains in California, US. The test data contain a variety of decorrelation sources and cover different types of terrain, including urban, mountainous, vegetated and sea surfaces, as well as variety in temporal and spatial baselines. To test the MAI filter we superimpose the MAI noise images with signal simulating coseismic displacements from the 1812 Mw 7 Wrightwood earthquake sequence. The results present a correlation dependent RMSE ranging from 8 cm in correlation coefficient 0.4 to 2 cm in correlation coefficient 0.75. In an actual signal case (Hawaii, L-band), the random component of the noise for correlation coefficient of 0.5 to 0.95 varies from 2 cm to 4 mm.Shell Oil Company (Postdoctoral Fellowship

Reservoir characterization in an underground gas storage field using joint inversion of flow and geodetic data

Characterization of reservoir properties like porosity and permeability in reservoir models typically relies on history matching of production data, well pressure data, and possibly other fluid-dynamical data. Calibrated (history-matched) reservoir models are then used for forecasting production and designing effective strategies for improved oil and gas recovery. Here, we perform assimilation of both flow and deformation data for joint inversion of reservoir properties. Given the coupled nature of subsurface flow and deformation processes, joint inversion requires efficient simulation tools of coupled reservoir flow and mechanical deformation. We apply our coupled simulation tool to a real underground gas storage field in Italy. We simulate the initial gas production period and several decades of seasonal natural gas storage and production. We perform a probabilistic estimation of rock properties by joint inversion of ground deformation data from geodetic measurements and fluid flow data from wells. Using an efficient implementation of the ensemble smoother as the estimator and our coupled multiphase flow and geomechanics simulator as the forward model, we show that incorporating deformation data leads to a significant reduction of uncertainty in the prior distributions of rock properties such as porosity, permeability, and pore compressibility.Eni S.p.A. (Firm

Alpha helix-coil phase transition: analysis of ab initio theory predictions

In the present paper we present results of calculations obtained with the use of the theoretical method described in our preceding paper [1] and perform detail analysis of alpha helix-random coil transition in alanine polypeptides of different length. We have calculated the potential energy surfaces of polypeptides with respect to their twisting degrees of freedom and construct a parameter-free partition function of the polypeptide using the suggested method [1]. From the build up partition function we derive various thermodynamical characteristics for alanine polypeptides of different length as a function of temperature. Thus, we analyze the temperature dependence of the heat capacity, latent heat and helicity for alanine polypeptides consisting of 21, 30, 40, 50 and 100 amino acids. Alternatively, we have obtained same thermodynamical characteristics from the use of molecular dynamics simulations and compared them with the results of the new statistical mechanics approach. The comparison proves the validity of the statistical mechanic approach and establishes its accuracy.Comment: 34 pages, 12 figure

Ab initio theory of helix-coil phase transition

In this paper we suggest a theoretical method based on the statistical mechanics for treating the alpha-helix-random coil transition in alanine polypeptides. We consider this process as a first-order phase transition and develop a theory which is free of model parameters and is based solely on fundamental physical principles. It describes essential thermodynamical properties of the system such as heat capacity, the phase transition temperature and others from the analysis of the polypeptide potential energy surface calculated as a function of two dihedral angles, responsible for the polypeptide twisting. The suggested theory is general and with some modification can be applied for the description of phase transitions in other complex molecular systems (e.g. proteins, DNA, nanotubes, atomic clusters, fullerenes).Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Brain and Mind Integration: Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors Experiencing Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment and Psychotherapy Concurrently

Due to evidence that traumatic experience impacts the brain, the body (concerning sensory sensitivity), and the mind, a recent study that attempted to answer the question of whether the effects of CSA can be reversed by using a multidisciplinary approach consisting of dual treatments: hyperbaric & psychotherapy, was conducted. Its results showed that in addition to improvement of brain functionality, symptoms of distress were significantly reduced. The current paper aims to present the process as experienced by the 40 female childhood sexual abuse survivor participants. Data included participants' daily journals and drawings, and participants' summaries presented verbally and written, 6-months after the study ended. A phenomenological analysis was used. Results showed three phases, the initial phase—remembering the trauma from both physical and cognitive aspects, the second phase—physiological relaxation as well as positive memories emerge; and, the third phase—bouncing back to life. The results are discussed in light of the study theoretical model and Lev-Wiesel (2015) childhood sexual abuse conceptualization