Supported internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy programs for depression, anxiety, and stress in university students: open, non-randomised trial of acceptability, effectiveness, and satisfaction

BACKGROUND: Many university campuses have limited mental health services that cannot cope with the high demand. One alternative is to use internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) as a way of tackling barriers such as lack of availability and scheduling issues. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, and satisfaction of a supported iCBT intervention offering 3 programs on depression, anxiety, and stress to university students. The design was an open or nonrandomized feasibility trial. METHODS: Participants were recruited from 3 counseling centers at a large midwestern University in the United States. Those agreeing to take part chose 1 of 3 iCBT programs-Space from Depression, Space from Anxiety, or Space from Stress -all comprised 8 modules of media-rich interactive content. Participants were supported throughout the trial by a trained professional. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) questionnaire, and stress subscale of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were completed at baseline, 8 weeks, and 3-month follow-up. A Satisfaction With Treatment (SAT) questionnaire was completed at 8 weeks, and qualitative interviews were completed by a subsample of participants at 3 months. RESULTS: A total of 102 participants were recruited, with 52 choosing Space from Anxiety, 31 choosing Space from Depression, and 19 choosing Space from Stress. Mixed-effects models showed a significant decrease in symptoms of depression (F₄=6.36, P<.001), anxiety (F₄=7.97, P<.001), and stress (F₄=8.50, P<.001) over time across all 3 programs. The largest decreases in PHQ-9 scores at 8 weeks were among participants who chose the Space from Depression program (d=0.84); at 3 months, the largest decreases in PHQ-9 scores were among those who chose the Space from Stress program (d=0.74). The largest decreases in GAD-7 scores were among those who chose the Space from Anxiety program (d=0.74 at 8 weeks and d=0.94 at 3 months). The largest decrease in DASS-21 stress subscale scores was among those who chose the Space from Stress program (d=0.49 at 8 weeks and d=1.16 at 3 months). The mean time spent using the platform per session was 27.4 min (SD 33.8), and participants completed 53% (SD 37.6) of the total program content on average. Most (37/53, 69%) participants found the programs helpful or very helpful and liked the convenience and flexibility of the intervention. Qualitative interviews (n=14) indicated the intervention met students' expectations, and they saw it as a valuable complement to face-to-face treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The iCBT programs tested in our study appear to be feasible, acceptable, and effective in a university environment. Participants described the benefits of having a flexible, supported Web-based intervention available on campus. Larger trials should be conducted to further test the effectiveness of supported Web-based interventions that give students a choice of program depending on their symptom profile.Published versio

Spectral characteristics and the extent of paleosols of the Palouse formation

Three spectral models defining the spatial distribution of soil areas by levels of amorphous iron, organic carbon, and the ratio of amorphous iron to organic carbon were developed and field verification studies were conducted. The models used particular Thematic Mapper band ratios selected by statistical correlation with soil chemical data. The ability of the models to indicate erosion severity and to differentiate between iron enriched and carbonate paleosols is discussed. In addition, the effect of vegetation cover on paleosols is addressed

Advances in Bayesian Optimization with Applications in Aerospace Engineering

Optimization requires the quantities of interest that define objective functions and constraints to be evaluated a large number of times. In aerospace engineering, these quantities of interest can be expensive to compute (e.g., numerically solving a set of partial differential equations), leading to a challenging optimization problem. Bayesian optimization (BO) is a class of algorithms for the global optimization of expensive-to-evaluate functions. BO leverages all past evaluations available to construct a surrogate model. This surrogate model is then used to select the next design to evaluate. This paper reviews two recent advances in BO that tackle the challenges of optimizing expensive functions and thus can enrich the optimization toolbox of the aerospace engineer. The first method addresses optimization problems subject to inequality constraints where a finite budget of evaluations is available, a common situation when dealing with expensive models (e.g., a limited time to conduct the optimization study or limited access to a supercomputer). This challenge is addressed via a lookahead BO algorithm that plans the sequence of designs to evaluate in order to maximize the improvement achieved, not only at the next iteration, but once the total budget is consumed. The second method demonstrates how sensitivity information, such as gradients computed with adjoint methods, can be incorporated into a BO algorithm. This algorithm exploits sensitivity information in two ways: first, to enhance the surrogate model, and second, to improve the selection of the next design to evaluate by accounting for future gradient evaluations. The benefits of the two methods are demonstrated on aerospace examples

Low Mass Printable Devices for Energy Capture, Storage, and Use for Space Exploration Missions

The energy-efficient, environmentally friendly technology that will be presented is the result of a Space Act Agreement between -Technologies Worldwide, Inc., and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA s) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). This work combines semiconductor and printing technologies to advance lightweight electronic and photonic devices having excellent potential for commercial and exploration applications, and is an example of industry and government cooperation that leads to novel inventions. Device development involves three energy generation and consumption projects: 1) a low mass efficient (low power, low heat emission) micro light-emitting diode (LED) area lighting device; 2) a low-mass omni-directional efficient photovoltaic (PV) device with significantly improved energy capture; and 3) a new approach to building supercapacitors. These three technologies - energy capture, storage, and usage (e.g., lighting) - represent a systematic approach for building efficient local micro-grids that are commercially feasible; furthermore, these same technologies will be useful for lightweight power generation that enables inner planetary missions using smaller launch vehicles and facilitates surface operations. The PV device model is a two-sphere, light-trapped sheet approximately 2-mm thick. The model suggests a significant improvement over current thin film systems. All three components may be printed in line by printing sequential layers on a standard screen or flexographic direct impact press using the threedimensional printing technique (3DFM) patented by NthDegree. MSFC is testing the robustness of prototype devices in the harsh space and lunar surface environments, and available results will be reported. Unlike many traditional light sources, this device does not contain toxic compounds, and the LED component has passed stringent off-gassing tests required for potential manifesting on spacecraft such as the International Space Station. Future exploration missions will benefit from "green" technology lighting devices such as this, which show great promise for both terrestrial use and space missions

Materials Science Research Rack Onboard the International Space Station

The Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) is a highly automated facility developed in a joint venture/partnership between NASA and ESA center dot Allows for the study of a variety of materials including metals, ceramics, semiconductor crystals, and glasses onboard the International Space Station (ISS) center dot Multi-user facility for high temperature materials science research center dot Launched on STS-128 in August 2009, and is currently installed in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module Research goals center dot Provide means of studying materials processing in space to develop a better understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms involved center dot Benefit materials science research via the microgravity environment of space where the researcher can better isolate the effects of gravity during solidification on the properties of materials center dot Use the knowledge gained from experiments to make reliable predictions about conditions required on Earth to achieve improved material

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin, June 1970

Alumnae President\u27s Message Congratulations Alumni Association Portrait of Samuel D. Gross Officers and Chairmen of Committees Financial Report Progress of Jefferson 1969-1970 School of Nursing Annual Report School of Practical Nursing Report Emergency Department Patient Services Department Annual Luncheon Pictures Committee Reports Progress of the Alumnae Association Crossword Puzzle Missing Graduates Resume of Alumnae Meetings Minutes Class News Student Nurses Section Crossword Puzzle Answers Notice

Investigating the veracity of self-reported post-traumatic growth: a profile analysis approach

Research into posttraumatic growth—positive psychological change that people report in their relationships, priorities in life, and self-perception after experiences of adversity—has been severely critiqued. We investigated the degree to which community members’ friends and relatives corroborated targets’ self-perceived positive and negative changes as measured by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-42. We found corroboration only for negative changes when we examined overall (averaged) scores. However, using a profile analysis procedure, we found significant participant–informant agreement on the domains of change that had relatively higher scores in the target’s profile and those that had relatively lower scores. Our results demonstrate that informants were able to observe that targets had changed and were sensitive to the idiosyncratic ways in which these changes had manifested in targets’ behavior

Measuring the Hidden Aspects of Solar Magnetism

2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of astrophysical magnetic fields, when George Ellery Hale recorded the Zeeman splitting of spectral lines in sunspots. With the introduction of Babcock's photoelectric magnetograph it soon became clear that the Sun's magnetic field outside sunspots is extremely structured. The field strengths that were measured were found to get larger when the spatial resolution was improved. It was therefore necessary to come up with methods to go beyond the spatial resolution limit and diagnose the intrinsic magnetic-field properties without dependence on the quality of the telescope used. The line-ratio technique that was developed in the early 1970s revealed a picture where most flux that we see in magnetograms originates in highly bundled, kG fields with a tiny volume filling factor. This led to interpretations in terms of discrete, strong-field magnetic flux tubes embedded in a rather field-free medium, and a whole industry of flux tube models at increasing levels of sophistication. This magnetic-field paradigm has now been shattered with the advent of high-precision imaging polarimeters that allow us to apply the so-called "Second Solar Spectrum" to diagnose aspects of solar magnetism that have been hidden to Zeeman diagnostics. It is found that the bulk of the photospheric volume is seething with intermediately strong, tangled fields. In the new paradigm the field behaves like a fractal with a high degree of self-similarity, spanning about 8 orders of magnitude in scale size, down to scales of order 10 m.Comment: To appear in "Magnetic Coupling between the Interior and the Atmosphere of the Sun", eds. S.S. Hasan and R.J. Rutten, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, 200

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin, June 1969

Alumnae President\u27s Message Officers and Chairmen Financial Report Progressive Changes at Jefferson School of Nursing Report Student Activities School of Practical Nursing Report Jefferson Expansion Report Clerk-Typist Report Committee Reports Resume of Alumnae Meetings Class News 1969 CLINIC Correspondence Notice