Validation of the geriatric anxiety inventory in a duloxetine clinical trial for elderly adults with generalized anxiety disorder

Background: The Generalized Anxiety Inventory (GAI) has been developed for use in the assessment of anxiety symptoms in older adults (≥ 65 years), but previous validation work has not examined the psychometric qualities of the instrument in relation to treatment. The objective of this study was to examine the performance of the GAI for its internal reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and its sensitivity to treatment. Methods: Elderly patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) participated in a 10-week double-blind study of duloxetine treatment for patients with GAD. Anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety and depression subscales, and the GAI. Internal reliability of the GAI was assessed with Cronbach's α. Correlations among the HAMA, HADS, and GAI scores were analyzed to determine convergent and divergent validity. Patients were also compared on remission status using recommended cut-off scores for the GAI. Results: Patients with GAD, who were at least 65 years of age, were randomly assigned to double-blind treatment with either duloxetine (N = 151) or placebo (N = 140) for 10 weeks acute therapy. The mean change on the GAI was significantly greater with duloxetine compared with placebo treatment (−8.36 vs. −4.96, respectively, p ≤ 0.001). The GAI demonstrated good internal consistency, good convergent and divergent validity, but suggested cut-off values for caseness with the GAI did not correspond to remission status as measured by the HAMA. Conclusions: Within an elderly patient population with GAD, the GAI demonstrated sound psychometric qualities and sensitivity to change with treatment

The effect of differential timing of narration with animations in the teaching of dynamic processes in chemistry

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to determine if introductory level college students benefit from adding concurrent narration as opposed to prior or post narration to animation in the teaching of the microscopic representation of electrochemical cell systems in a chemistry course. The second purpose was to see if this differential timing of narration with animation has equal effects on subjects with varying degrees of verbal and visual learning preference. One of the goals of this study was to extend the work of Mayer and Reiber in researching the contiguity effect and dual coding theory as foundations for the design of multimedia instruction. This study was similar to the above described studies with a few modifications

Simplificación administrativa y calidad de servicio en una municipalidad de Lima, 2022

El trabajo investigativo que se presenta tuvo como finalidad describir la relación existente entre la simplificación administrativa y la calidad de servicio, se desarrolló en una institución pública como es una municipalidad de Lima durante el periodo 2022, la investigación fue de tipo básica no experimental, se tomó los datos en un solo momento por lo cual es de corte transversal, no se manipularon las variables por lo cual es no experimental, fue de nivel y correlacional, la técnica de la encuesta fue aplicada mediante dos cuestionarios validados y confiables al total de la población constituida por 217 usuarios, en cuanto a los resultados se obtuvo un coeficiente del Rho de Spearman de 0,484 lo cual evidencia una correlación positiva moderada entre las variables estudiadas, además se obtuvo un valor de significancia bilateral de 0,000 menor a 0,01 por lo cual se concluye que existe una relación significativa entre la gestión administrativa y la calidad de servicio en una municipalidad de Lima para el periodo 2022, por lo cual se aceptó la hipótesis altern

How to Hire for Diversity and Inclusion: Suggestions for German Think Tanks and Foundations

This guide aims to provide suggestions and inspiration for more inclusive hiring practices in think tanks and foundations based on a qualitative lived-experiences approach. While diversity encompasses various dimensions and nuances, we focus in this text on young research professionals with migratory backgrounds as the main target group. However, some suggestions might be adaptable to different contexts or other groups. Our recommendations are directed at think tanks and foundations that want to become more inclusive workplaces. This guide covers the job posting process, candidate screening, interviewing, and the onboarding phase. Our propositions for enhancing inclusive hiring efforts are grounded in the lived experiences of the authors and on interviews with research professionals working in think tanks and foundations in Germany, some of whom have faced hurdles linked to their background or are engaged in creating diversity policies and designing hiring processes. With this guide we want to contribute to the broader discussion of diversity and inclusion in research institutes and foundations. We hope to stimulate further exchanges and help ensure ongoing diversity policies are grounded in lived experiences

Family Connectedness and Sexual Risk-Taking among Urban Youth attending alternative High Schools

CONTEXT: Youth in alternative high schools engage in risky sexual behavior at higher rates than do their peers in regular schools, placing themselves at an increased risk of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. Family connectedness is associated with reduced adolescent sexual risk-taking, although this association has not been tested among alternative school youth. METHODS: A sample of 976 urban, predominantly minority alternative high school students in Houston, Texas, were surveyed in 2000-2002. Survey data were analyzed using logistic regression to determine whether family connectedness is related to sexual risk-taking. RESULTS: Overall, 68% of students reported ever having had sex. Of sexually experienced students, 74% reported having had sex in the past three months and 29% reported ever having been involved in a pregnancy. The higher students scored on a scale of perceived family connectedness, the less likely they were to report ever having had sex, recently having had unprotected sex and having been involved in a pregnancy (odds ratio, 0.97 per unit increase for each outcome). Among females, higher perceived family connectedness was associated with reduced odds of ever having had sex or having initiated sex prior to age 13 (0.96 for each); males who perceived higher family connectedness had reduced odds of having been involved in a pregnancy (0.93). CONCLUSIONS: Family connectedness may be a protective factor related to sexual risk-taking, even among high-risk youth. Including activities that acknowledge the influence of family relationships and facilitate positive parent-child relationships may increase the efficacy of programs for reducing sexual risk-taking among alternative school youth

Connecting NASA Science and Engineering with Earth Science Applications

ABSTRACT The National Research Council (NRC) recently highlighted the dual role of NASA to support both science and applications in planning Earth observations. This article reports the efforts of the NASA Applied Sciences Program and NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission to integrate applications with science and engineering in prelaunch planning. The SMAP Early Adopter program supported the prelaunch applied research that comprises the SMAP Special Collection of the Journal of Hydrometeorology. This research, in turn, has resulted in unprecedented prelaunch preparation for SMAP applications and critical feedback to the mission to improve product specifications and distribution for postlaunch applications. These efforts have been a learning experience that should provide direction for upcoming missions and set some context for the next NRC decadal survey

The Relationship Between Future orientation and Street Substance Use among Texas alternative School Students

Self-reported substance use data were collected from 963 alternative school students in grades 7-12 who were surveyed through the Safer Choices 2 study in Houston, Texas. Data were collected between October 2000 and March 2001. Logistic regression analyses indicated that lower levels of future orientation was significantly associated (OR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.81-0.97) with thirty-day substance use after controlling for age and gender. In addition, lower levels of future orientation was found to have a significant association with students\u27 lifetime substance use (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.87-.99) after controlling for age, race, and gender. While the relationships tested in this study are exploratory, they provide evidence for an important connection between future orientation and substance use among adolescents attending alternative schools

Estrategias CRM en Dent Import S.A. y su rentabilidad en el negocio

Dent Import S.A. es una empresa del rubro odontológico, que se dedica a la importación y comercialización de las principales marcas del sector, contando con la exclusividad de ellas. Desde sus inicios ha estado dirigida por la familia Alcántara, quienes gozan de gran conocimiento del sector, gracias al trabajorealizado durante 45 años. El constante cambio del mercado, los productos, servicios y competidores, viene exigiendo a las empresas grandes cambios a favor de los clientes y consumidores, de no considerar nuevos enfoques se corre el riesgo de ser sorprendidos por los competidores y traicionados por las nuevas preferencias y estilos de compra. Buscamos analizar la situación actual del sector y la empresa, desarrollando estrategiasbasadas en CRM, para integrar y gestionar la relación entre la empresa y el cliente, construyendo relaciones duraderas en el tiempo y consolidar a Dent Import en el mercado, finalmente obtener mejores resultados de participación y rentabilidad de manera sostenible. La fidelización de los clientes es la base del éxito de toda empresa, siendo este el principal activo yen este sentido planteamos dejar de limitarnos a lanzar productos al mercado y captar clientes susceptibles de comprarlos, para pasar a la creación de relaciones estables y de continuidad con los mejores clientes de la compañía, pues bajo un entorno enormemente competitivo y tecnológico como el actual, con mercados saturados de oferta,podemos de ser sorprendidos por cualquier inofensivo competidor y sus agresivas estrategias. Nuestra propuesta CRM, tiene como base estrategias de segmentación, con una evaluación financiera que proyecta el beneficio y la rentabilidad para la empresa, con una TIR de 43.47% versus un WACC de 9.13%, resultado que estará sujeto a una buena implementación y una distribución de gastos eficiente, alineado al nuevo enfoque.Tesi

Symbolic powers of monomial ideals and Cohen-Macaulay vertex-weighted digraphs

In this paper we study irreducible representations and symbolic Rees algebras of monomial ideals. Then we examine edge ideals associated to vertex-weighted oriented graphs. These are digraphs having no oriented cycles of length two with weights on the vertices. For a monomial ideal with no embedded primes we classify the normality of its symbolic Rees algebra in terms of its primary components. If the primary components of a monomial ideal are normal, we present a simple procedure to compute its symbolic Rees algebra using Hilbert bases, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for the equality between its ordinary and symbolic powers. We give an effective characterization of the Cohen--Macaulay vertex-weighted oriented forests. For edge ideals of transitive weighted oriented graphs we show that Alexander duality holds. It is shown that edge ideals of weighted acyclic tournaments are Cohen--Macaulay and satisfy Alexander dualityComment: Special volume dedicated to Professor Antonio Campillo, Springer, to appea