Preparing Clients for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Randomized Pilot Study of Motivational Interviewing for Anxiety

Although CBT is a well-supported treatment for anxiety, recovery rates and compliance with treatment procedures are less than optimal. Using adjunctive brief preparatory interventions may help bolster response rates and engagement with therapy procedures. Motivational Interviewing (MI: Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (1991, 2002). Motivational interviewing: preparing people to change addictive behavior. New York: Guilford) is a client-centered, directive method for enhancing motivation for change and has been demonstrated to be a valuable treatment prelude in the addictions domain. Prior to group cognitive behavioral therapy, 55 individuals with a principal anxiety diagnosis (45% panic disorder, 31% social phobia, and 24% generalized anxiety disorder) were randomly assigned to receive either three sessions of MI adapted for anxiety or no pretreatment (NPT). The MI pretreatment group, compared to NPT, showed significantly higher expectancy for anxiety control and greater homework compliance in CBT. Although both groups demonstrated clinically significant anxiety symptom improvements, the MI pretreatment group had a significantly higher number of CBT responders compared to NPT. At 6-month follow-up, both groups evidenced maintenance of gains. These results provide suggestive evidence that brief pretreatments, such as MI, may enhance engagement with and outcome from CBT. The promising results also justify the future investigation of these effects using more powerful designs which may discern whether the effects are specific to MI or to some type of pretreatment

Predictors of treatment change and engagement in cognitive-behavioral group therapy for depression.

Examined predictors of treatment response in 48 individuals (mean age 40.71 yrs) who presented for participation in a 10-session cognitive-behavioral group therapy program for depression. The majority of Ss carried a diagnosis of major depression and all were concurrently on at least 1 antidepressant medication. The therapeutic approach involved an integration of 2 empirically supported therapies: Beck\u27s cognitive therapy (A. T. Beck et al, 1979) and Lewinsohn\u27s Coping With Depression course (P. M. Lewinsohn et al, 1984). Ss completed the Burns Depression Checklist, the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS), and the Burns Hopelessness Scale, a 5-item questionnaire which assesses the degree of optimism/pessimism an individual has regarding mood and symptom control. No significant differences were found on pretreatment dysfunctional attitudes or depressive symptomatology between individuals who dropped out of treatment and treatment completers. However, pretreatment hopelessness scores were significantly higher in dropouts than in individuals who completed treatment. Increased pessimism about symptom control was also related to fewer reductions in DAS scores throughout treatment among completers and to poorer overall treatment response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved

Out-of-plane magnetic domain structure in a thin film of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 on SrTiO3 (001) observed by magnetic force microscopy

The room temperature out-of-plane magnetization of epitaxial thin films of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 on SrTiO3 (001) has been investigated with magnetic force microscopy, using magnetic tips with very small coercivity, relative to the film. A clear magnetic pattern in the form of a checkerboard, with domain dimensions of a few hundred nanometers, was found for the thin, coherently strained films, which is approximately aligned along the maximum strain [110] and [1[overline 1]0] directions in the film. With increasing in-plane applied magnetic field, the magnetic contrast reduces, reflecting the rotation of the magnetization vector into the plane of the film. This process is reversible with the field. The out-of-plane magnetic pattern is not sensitive to rotation of the in-plane field. We attribute the observed out-of-plane magnetization component to an out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy, which is a remainder of the [111] magnetic easy axis in bulk La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 single crystal

Internal control over financial reporting and managerial rent extraction: Evidence from the profitability of insider trading

__Abstract__ This paper examines the association between ineffective internal control over financial reporting and the profitability of insider trading. We predict and find that the profitability of insider trading is significantly greater in firms disclosing material weaknesses in internal control relative to firms with effective control. The positive association is present in the years leading up to the disclosure of material weaknesses, but disappears after remediation of the internal control problems. We find insider trading profitability is even greater when insiders are more likely to act in their own self-interest as indicated by auditors’ weak “tone at the top” adverse internal control opinions and this incremental profitability is driven by insider selling. Our research identifies a new setting where shareholders are most at risk for wealth transfers via insider trading and highlights market consequences of weak “tone at the top”

Analysis of reactions during sintering of CuO-doped 3Y-TZP nano-powder composites

3Y-TZP (yttria-doped tetragonal zirconia) and CuO nano powders were prepared by co-precipitation and copper oxalate complexation–precipitation techniques, respectively. During sintering of powder compacts (8 mol% CuO-doped 3Y-TZP) of this two-phase system several solid-state reactions clearly influence densification behaviour. These reactions were analysed by several techniques like XPS, DSC/TGA and high-temperature XRD. A strong dissolution of CuO in the 3Y-TZP matrix occurs below 600 °C, resulting in significant enrichment of CuO in a 3Y-TZP grain-boundary layer with a thickness of several nanometres. This “transient” liquid phase strongly enhances densification. Around 860 °C a solid-state reaction between CuO and yttria as segregated to the 3Y-TZP grain boundaries occurs, forming Y2Cu2O5. This solid-state reaction induces the formation of the thermodynamic stable monoclinic zirconia phase. The formation of this solid phase also retards densification. Using this knowledge of microstructural development during sintering it was possible to obtain a dense nano–nano composite with a grain size of only 120 nm after sintering at 960 °C

Fabrication of arrays of gold islands on self-assembled monolayers using pulsed laser deposition through nanosieves

Sandwich structures of gold-self-assembled monolayer-gold were prepared by deposition of gold on alkylthiolate self-assembled monolayers on polycrystalline gold, using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) through a nanosieve. The arrays of sandwiches, around 600 nm in diameter, approximately 10 nm high, and spaced 1.6 ím apart, were analyzed using tapping mode atomic force microscopy. Electrochemical copper deposition experiments showed that of the islands deposited on octadecanethiolate monolayers about 15% were electrically insulated from the bottom gold electrode. This means that PLD is a suitable technique for the fabrication of metal-SAM-metal sandwich structures