The Treatment Utility of Functional Analyses for Disruptive Classroom Behavior.

Disruptive classroom behaviors are a frequent referral problem in school settings. Although there are several intervention approaches that are commonly used in classroom settings, no standard methodology exists for developing interventions to decrease behavior problems. The primary purpose of this investigation was to develop interventions based upon a functional analysis of disruptive behavior of developmentally normal children in classroom settings, and to analyze treatment effectiveness. Functional analyses which investigated the effect of peer attention, teacher attention, and negative reinforcement (escape) were conducted with five participants. The variable maintaining disruptive classroom behavior was peer attention for all participants. Following the functional analyses, an intervention using differential reinforcement and extinction was conducted, which resulted in near zero levels of disruptive behavior across all participants. These near zero levels of disruptive behavior were associated with increases in on-task behavior, and were maintained as intervention procedures were conducted and modified over time. Second, this investigation was conducted to determine whether variables maintaining disruptive classroom behaviors according to a functional analysis (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994) are identified as preferred using standard preference and reinforcer assessments. Two methods of preference assessment and a reinforcer assessment were conducted with each participant. The highest level of agreement was found between the functional analysis and the reinforcer assessment, which identified peer attention as most preferred by four participants. The results of this study suggest that functional analyses may be conducted in regular education settings to identify variables maintaining disruptive behavior, and that intervention strategies based upon functional analyses may lead to positive reductions in disruptive behaviors. In addition, the results of this study provide preliminary evidence for the comparability of functional analyses and reinforcer assessments, in that agreement was found in the identified variable for three of five subjects. Future investigations are needed in order to further understand whether variables maintaining disruptive behavior may also reinforce appropriate academic behavior, such as work completion. In addition, it would be important to determine whether variables that are not identified as reinforcers for an individual would have an influence on disruptive behavior in the context of classroom interventions

A variable-gain output feedback control design methodology

A digital control system design technique is developed in which the control system gain matrix varies with the plant operating point parameters. The design technique is obtained by formulating the problem as an optimal stochastic output feedback control law with variable gains. This approach provides a control theory framework within which the operating range of a control law can be significantly extended. Furthermore, the approach avoids the major shortcomings of the conventional gain-scheduling techniques. The optimal variable gain output feedback control problem is solved by embedding the Multi-Configuration Control (MCC) problem, previously solved at ICS. An algorithm to compute the optimal variable gain output feedback control gain matrices is developed. The algorithm is a modified version of the MCC algorithm improved so as to handle the large dimensionality which arises particularly in variable-gain control problems. The design methodology developed is applied to a reconfigurable aircraft control problem. A variable-gain output feedback control problem was formulated to design a flight control law for an AFTI F-16 aircraft which can automatically reconfigure its control strategy to accommodate failures in the horizontal tail control surface. Simulations of the closed-loop reconfigurable system show that the approach produces a control design which can accommodate such failures with relative ease. The technique can be applied to many other problems including sensor failure accommodation, mode switching control laws and super agility

The role of growth in long term investment returns

Stocks with a high valuation compared to fundamental values imply a high growth rate, yet these stocks have typically under-performed in subsequent years supporting Lakonishok, Shleifer and Vishney's (1994) contrarian investment strategies. The precise definition of growth and subtle differences of measuring growth are explored in assessing the role of growth in long-term investment decisions and stock valuation. Results from a later period and with additional tests than employed by LSV indicate that growth is a primary valuation factor, and valuation measures such as E/P and B/M, are imperfect proxies for expected growth. Growth appears mean reverting, but investors do not seem able to discern changes in growth rates and this miss-specification of expected growth may help explain the superiority of value versus growth strategies. In addition, investors' naïve extrapolations of past growth provide explanatory power in future holding period returns

Development of a Transformational, Relationship-Based Charge Nurse Program

Leaders of a rural Southwest Oklahoma hospital requested the development of an evidence-based program that could transform unit charge nurses into effective leaders in order to improve the leadership of direct care nurses. Nursing executive leadership discovered staff members were demonstrating high levels of stress, dissatisfaction, and burnout. Press-Ganey survey results revealed that staff felt they were not supported and did not believe nurses cared for patients\u27 or other co-workers\u27 well-being or safety. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems outcome scores, which were below hospital and national desired benchmarks, revealed that patients were not satisfied with the care they received. Thus, the goal of this project was to use evidence to craft a program and evaluation plan that could be used by the hospital to develop stronger charge nurse leaders. A detailed examination of evidence supported the development of a program based on the relationship-based care (RBC) model. The RBC model is a transformational leadership development program that increases leadership skills and positive interaction between people. A full program was adapted from the RBC model and designed for the rural hospital. An evaluation plan to measure the short-and long-term objectives was developed. Implementation is expected to create social change by imparting charge nurses with leadership and relationship skills, thus empowering them with greater abilities to provide care. Benner\u27s novice to expert and Watson\u27s theory of caring models served as the foundation of the RBC model. The goal is to present the results at the hospital level and to disseminate the findings locally at professional nursing leadership conferences

Techniques to stimulate and interrogate cell–cell adhesion mechanics

Cell–cell adhesions maintain the mechanical integrity of multicellular tissues and have recently been found to act as mechanotransducers, translating mechanical cues into biochemical signals. Mechanotransduction studies have primarily focused on focal adhesions, sites of cell-substrate attachment. These studies leverage technical advances in devices and systems interfacing with living cells through cell–extracellular matrix adhesions. As reports of aberrant signal transduction originating from mutations in cell–cell adhesion molecules are being increasingly associated with disease states, growing attention is being paid to this intercellular signaling hub. Along with this renewed focus, new requirements arise for the interrogation and stimulation of cell–cell adhesive junctions. This review covers established experimental techniques for stimulation and interrogation of cell–cell adhesion from cell pairs to monolayers

Proximity effect in Nb-Mo layered films: Transition temperature and critical current dependence on period

The behavior of the transition temperature and critical current density for a Mo/Nb repeated bilayer system as a function of the number of periods was explored. The measured values of the transition temperature are compared to the theoretical predictions for the proximity effect in the dirty limit. We find that the transition temperature does not decrease as the number of periods increase. In addition, inductive critical current density measurements also show a scaling that indicates the superconductivity properties are not dependent on the number of bilayers.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, to be published Journal of Applied Physic

Mycobiome of the Bat White Nose Syndrome (WNS) Affected Caves and Mines reveals High Diversity of Fungi and Local Adaptation by the Fungal Pathogen Pseudogymnoascus (Geomyces) destructans

The investigations of the bat White Nose Syndrome (WNS) have yet to provide answers as to how the causative fungus Pseudogymnoascus (Geomyces) destructans (Pd) first appeared in the Northeast and how a single clone has spread rapidly in the US and Canada. We aimed to catalogue Pd and all other fungi (mycobiome) by the culture-dependent (CD) and culture-independent (CI) methods in four Mines and two Caves from the epicenter of WNS zoonotic. Six hundred sixty-five fungal isolates were obtained by CD method including the live recovery of Pd. Seven hundred three nucleotide sequences that met the definition of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were recovered by CI methods. Most OTUs belonged to unidentified clones deposited in the databases as environmental nucleic acid sequences (ENAS). The core mycobiome of WNS affected sites comprised of 46 species of fungi from 31 genera recovered in culture, and 17 fungal genera and 31 ENAS identified from clone libraries. Fungi such as Arthroderma spp., Geomyces spp., Kernia spp., Mortierella spp., Penicillium spp., and Verticillium spp. were predominant in culture while Ganoderma spp., Geomyces spp., Mortierella spp., Penicillium spp. and Trichosporon spp. were abundant is clone libraries. Alpha diversity analyses from CI data revealed that fungal community structure was highly diverse. However, the true species diversity remains undetermined due to under sampling. The frequent recovery of Pd indicated that the pathogen has adapted to WNS-afflicted habitats. Further, this study supports the hypothesis that Pd is an introduced species. These findings underscore the need for integrated WNS control measures that target both bats and the fungal pathogen.Comment: 59 pages, 7figure

Genetic variation in male sexual behaviour in a population of white-footed mice in relation to photoperiod

In natural populations, genetic variation in seasonal male sexual behaviour could affect behavioural ecology and evolution. In a wild-source population of white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus, from Virginia, U.S.A., males experiencing short photoperiod show high levels of genetic variation in reproductive organ mass and neuroendocrine traits related to fertility. We tested whether males from two divergent selection lines, one that strongly suppresses fertility under short photoperiod (responder) and one that weakly suppresses fertility under short photoperiod (nonresponder), also differ in photoperiod-dependent sexual behaviour and responses to female olfactory cues. Under short, but not long, photoperiod, there were significant differences between responder and nonresponder males in sexual behaviour and likelihood of inseminating a female. Males that were severely oligospermic or azoospermic under short photoperiod failed to display sexual behaviour in response to an ovariectomized and hormonally primed receptive female. However, on the day following testing, females were positive for spermatozoa only when paired with a male having a sperm count in the normal range for males under long photoperiod. Males from the nonresponder line showed accelerated reproductive development under short photoperiod in response to urine-soiled bedding from females, but males from the responder line did not. The results indicate genetic variation in sexual behaviour that is expressed under short, but not long, photoperiod, and indicate a potential link between heritable neuroendocrine variation and male sexual behaviour. In winter in a natural population, this heritable behavioural variation could affect fitness, seasonal life history trade-offs and population growth. (C) 2015 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Cluster J Mycobacteriophages: Intron Splicing in Capsid and Tail Genes

Bacteriophages isolated on Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 represent many distinct genomes sharing little or no DNA sequence similarity. The genomes are architecturally mosaic and are replete with genes of unknown function. A new group of genomes sharing substantial nucleotide sequences constitute Cluster J. The six mycobacteriophages forming Cluster J are morphologically members of the Siphoviridae, but have unusually long genomes ranging from 106.3 to 117 kbp. Reconstruction of the capsid by cryo-electron microscopy of mycobacteriophage BAKA reveals an icosahedral structure with a triangulation number of 13. All six phages are temperate and homoimmune, and prophage establishment involves integration into a tRNA-Leu gene not previously identified as a mycobacterial attB site for phage integration. The Cluster J genomes provide two examples of intron splicing within the virion structural genes, one in a major capsid subunit gene, and one in a tail gene. These genomes also contain numerous free-standing HNH homing endonuclease, and comparative analysis reveals how these could contribute to genome mosaicism. The unusual Cluster J genomes provide new insights into phage genome architecture, gene function, capsid structure, gene mobility, intron splicing, and evolution. © 2013 Pope et al