The Culturally-adapted Early Pathways Program for Young Latino Children in Poverty: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study used a randomized controlled design with treatment and wait-list conditions to evaluate the efficacy of a culturally adapted version of the Early Pathways program (EP; Fox & Gresl, 2014), an in-home, parent–child therapy program with 137 at-risk Latino children under the age of 6 referred for severe behavior and emotional problems, such as aggression, oppositional behavior, self-injury, and property destruction. EP directly engaged the parent–child dyad, emphasizing parent-directed training, child-led play, psychoeducation, and cognitive–behavioral strategies. Cultural modifications included establishing community partnerships to identify Latino family needs, translation of materials, offering bilingual services, acculturation assessment, and cultural competence training. Multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed significant differences between the immediate and delayed treatment groups on all posttest measures with the pretest scores as covariates. After the delayed group completed treatment, repeated measures, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) showed significant improvement for both groups on all measures with maintenance at 4- to 6-week follow-up. Outcomes included reduced child behavior problems, increased child prosocial behaviors, improved caregiver limit setting, enhanced caregiver nurturing, improved parent–child relationships, and a decrease in clinical diagnoses following treatment. This study highlights the efficacy of using culturally adapted early intervention services for young Latino children in poverty referred for significant behavior and emotional problems

Lessons from Fiascos in Russian Corporate Governance

"Bad corporate governance" is often invoked to explain poor enterprise performance, but the catch phrase is never precisely defined - neither its consequences for the real economy, nor its causes in particular countries has been adequately explained. This paper uses Russian enterprise examples to address these open questions in corporate governance theory. We define corporate governance by looking to the economic functions of the firm rather than to any particular set of national corporate laws. Firms exhibit good corporate governance when their managers maximize residuals and, in the case of investor-owned firms, make pro rata distributions to shareholders. First, using this definition, we develop a typology that shows the channels through which bad corporate governance can inflict damage on the real economy. The topology helps identify vulnerabilities to corporate governance problems that may appear in any country and it suggests a new way to tailor policy responses. Second, we explain the causes of poor corporate performance in Russia by looking to the particular conditions prevailing at privatization - untenable initial firm boundaries and insider allocation of firm shares - and the bargaining dynamics that followed. The focus on initial conditions helps expand a comparative corporate governance literature built on United States, Western European, and Japanese models. Lessons from Russian fiascos counsel caution as to "stakeholder" proposals - including labor or local communities in formal corporate governance - and generate testable hypotheses regarding potential losses from the multiple large block share ownerships typical of many U.S. firms, especially close corporations.

Grass-Fed Certification: The Case of the Uruguayan Beef Industry

International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Q13, Q17,

Treatment Outcomes for At-Risk Young Children With Behavior Problems: Toward a New Definition of Success

This study examined the outcomes of Early Pathways (EP), an in-home parent–child therapy program with 447 at-risk children younger than 5 years of age who were referred for severe behavior and emotional problems, such as aggression, oppositional behavior, and separation anxiety. EP emphasized parent-directed training of child behavior strategies including psychoeducation regarding child development, child-led play, and cognitive-behavioral techniques. Outcomes were assessed using a unique 2-dimensional definition of treatment completion, which consisted of treatment duration and an assessment of reliable change for the primary outcome measure of child behavior problems. Results showed that the majority of children (63.4%) met or exceeded treatment completion. In addition, repeated-measures multivariate analyses of variance at pretest, posttest, and follow-up revealed increased child prosocial behaviors, reduced child behavior problems, improved caregiver nurturing, an increase in parents’ developmentally appropriate expectations of children, improved parent–child relationships, and a decrease in clinical diagnoses following treatment. This study offers guidance for developing effective early-intervention services for families in poverty to enhance outcomes for their young children. Along with its existing large-scale, community-based effectiveness studies, future research should establish additional statistical support including a randomized, waitlist control design of EP

Ephemeralization

Our capabilities of utilizing kinetics in architecture today can be extended far beyond what has previously been possible. This article looks at the potential of advanced kinetic architectural systems; what they are, what they can do for us, and how we can go about designing them

Novel affordances of computation to the design processes of kinetic structures

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-45).This paper is a discourse into the relationship between the process, computational tools and the role which symbolic structure can play in both. I argue the relationship of the process and tools is dialectic, whereby the tools we utilize in design develop new heuristics, the methodologies in tum, if reflectively understood, can be more aptly facilitated through the development of novel tools. The tools and the process then evolve together. A theory is laid out exploring the human visual information processing systems pertinence to the limitations in mental three-dimensional imaging and transformation operations relevant to the operations of drawing and mental visualization within the architectural design processes, substantiating the designers "necessity" to d raw (by traditional means, but more importantly here, through the inclusive integration of CAD within the process). The "necessity" to draw is explored as a re-presentational process to the visual system predicated upon the existence of a structured internal "library" of diagram-like representations. I argue that the ways we utilize such idiosyncratic libraries is predicated upon the ways in which we go about structuring the perceived "experienced" world around us into "symbol systems". And finally, the ways we utilize our reflective understanding of the heuristic transformations of these "symbols" within the design process in the context of a CAD environment are explored as a means to an enhanced understanding of that which is being designed and consequently as a vehicle for the development of future CAD systems to better facilitate such methodologies of designing. A personal design process of several kinetic structures is carried out in order to arrive at a localized process analysis within computer-aided design environment. Through an interactive, reflective process analysis, conclusions are drawn as to the affordances and limitations of such tools as suggestive of the operations a CAD environment might perform so as to better foster future methodologies of designing. The design "experiments" are utilized as a vehicle to understand the process. Specifically three kinetic projects are exploited for the prototypical "operations" they display. When difficulties or mental limitations are encountered with the operations, specific "tools" are developed to facilitate the limitation or to overcome the problem.by Michael A. Fox.M.S

A synaptic nidogen: developmental regulation and role of nidogen-2 at the neuromuscular junction

Background: The skeletal neuromuscular junction is a useful model for elucidating mechanisms that regulate synaptogenesis. Developmentally important intercellular interactions at the neuromuscular junction are mediated by the synaptic portion of a basal lamina that completely ensheaths each muscle fiber. Basal laminas in general are composed of four main types of glycosylated proteins: laminins, collagens IV, heparan sulfate proteoglycans and nidogens (entactins). The portion of the muscle fiber basal lamina that passes between the motor nerve terminal and postsynaptic membrane has been shown to bear distinct isoforms of the first three of these. For laminins and collagens IV, the proteins are deposited by the muscle; a synaptic proteoglycan, z-agrin, is deposited by the nerve. In each case, the synaptic isoform plays key roles in organizing the neuromuscular junction. Here, we analyze the fourth family, composed of nidogen-1 and -2.Results: In adult muscle, nidogen-1 is present throughout muscle fiber basal lamina, while nidogen- 2 is concentrated at synapses. Nidogen-2 is initially present throughout muscle basal lamina, but is lost from extrasynaptic regions during the first three postnatal weeks. Neuromuscular junctions in mutant mice lacking nidogen-2 appear normal at birth, but become topologically abnormal as they mature. Synaptic laminins, collagens IV and heparan sulfate proteoglycans persist in the absence of nidogen-2, suggesting the phenotype is not secondary to a general defect in the integrity of synaptic basal lamina. Further genetic studies suggest that synaptic localization of each of the four families of synaptic basal lamina components is independent of the other three.Conclusion: All four core components of the basal lamina have synaptically enriched isoforms. Together, they form a highly specialized synaptic cleft material. Individually, they play distinct roles in the formation, maturation and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction