Scaling limits of k-ary growing trees

For each integer $k \geq 2$, we introduce a sequence of $k$-ary discrete trees constructed recursively by choosing at each step an edge uniformly among the present edges and grafting on "its middle" $k-1$ new edges. When $k=2$, this corresponds to a well-known algorithm which was first introduced by R\'emy. Our main result concerns the asymptotic behavior of these trees as $n$ becomes large: for all $k$, the sequence of $k$-ary trees grows at speed $n^{1/k}$ towards a $k$-ary random real tree that belongs to the family of self-similar fragmentation trees. This convergence is proved with respect to the Gromov-Hausdorff-Prokhorov topology. We also study embeddings of the limiting trees when $k$ varies

Family Functioning and the Development of Trust and Intimacy Among Adolescents in Residential Treatment

This study examined relations between family cohesion and adaptability (as measured by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales-III) and the formation of trust and intimacy (assessed with the Measure of Psychosocial Development) among adolescents in residential treatment. Bivariate correlation revealed a significant association between family cohesion and adaptability and psychosocial stages of trust and intimacy. Regression analyses revealed that family cohesion predicted trust, and that trust is significantly influential in the formation of intimacy. Discussion and treatment implications are included

Designing and Operating Safe and Secure Transit Systems: Assessing Current Practices in the United States and Abroad, MTI Report 04-05

Public transit systems around the world have for decades served as a principal venue for terrorist acts. Today, transit security is widely viewed as an important public policy issue and is a high priority at most large transit systems and at smaller systems operating in large metropolitan areas. Research on transit security in the United States has mushroomed since 9/11; this study is part of that new wave of research. This study contributes to our understanding of transit security by (1) reviewing and synthesizing nearly all previously published research on transit terrorism; (2) conducting detailed case studies of transit systems in London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.; (3) interviewing federal officials here in the United States responsible for overseeing transit security and transit industry representatives both here and abroad to learn about efforts to coordinate and finance transit security planning; and (4) surveying 113 of the largest transit operators in the United States. Our major findings include: (1) the threat of transit terrorism is probably not universal—most major attacks in the developed world have been on the largest systems in the largest cities; (2) this asymmetry of risk does not square with fiscal politics that seek to spread security funding among many jurisdictions; (3) transit managers are struggling to balance the costs and (uncertain) benefits of increased security against the costs and (certain) benefits of attracting passengers; (4) coordination and cooperation between security and transit agencies is improving, but far from complete; (5) enlisting passengers in surveillance has benefits, but fearful passengers may stop using public transit; (6) the role of crime prevention through environmental design in security planning is waxing; and (7) given the uncertain effectiveness of antitransit terrorism efforts, the most tangible benefits of increased attention to and spending on transit security may be a reduction in transit-related person and property crimes

Psychosocial Correlates of Alexithymia in a Rural Adolescent Residential Population

This study used a multimethod approach to evaluate the relationship of alexithymia (as measured by the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the 30-item Emotion Awareness Questionnaire), psychosocial development (assessed with the Measure of Psychosocial Development), and risk behavior (as measured by the Youth Comprehensive Risk Assessment) in 67 adolescents (85% from rural communities) in a rural residential treatment facility. Results revealed that both measures of alexithymia demonstrated good internal consistency and convergent validity. The EAQ-30 demonstrated stronger convergent validity over the TAS-20 with psychosocial measures of shame, inferiority, and role confusion and was more robust in differentiating risk behavior among males and females. Adolescent females scored higher on measures of alexithymia than males and demonstrated significantly more shame, diminished bodily awareness, and risk to self; whereas, males demonstrated significantly more risk to others. Overall, this study contributes to the current literature of alexithymia, provides further support for the validity of the alexithymia construct with adolescents, and sheds light on the importance of emotional awareness and expression in adolescent psychosocial development. Although exploratory, this study also increases clinical understanding of how risk behavior develops and manifests differently in male and female adolescents, specifically with regard to shame and diminished bodily awareness

The Youth Comprehensive Risk Assessment (YCRA) as a Treatment Guidance Tool for Adolescents with Behavioral and Developmental Challenges

This chapter describes the evolution of the Youth Comprehensive Risk Assessment (YCRA) by first describing the need, then the evolution of the assessment tool, and finally studies that provide validation

Exclusive and inclusive semileptonic decays of B mesons to D mesons

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.43.651

Large Deformation Effects in the N = Z 44Ti Compound Nucleus

The N = Z 44Ti* nucleus has been populated in Fusion Evaporation process at very high excitation energies and angular momenta using two entrance channels with different mass-asymmetry. The deformation effects in the rapidly rotating nuclei have been investigated through the energy distribution of the alpha-particle combined to statistical-model calculations. In the case of low-multiplicity events, the ratio between first particle emitted has been measured and shows significant disagreement with the predictions of the statistical-model. This may explain The large discrepancies observed in proton energy spectra measured in previous experiments performed in the same mass region.Comment: Proceeding of the 10th International Conference on Nuclear Reaction Mechanisms, Varenna Italy, June 9-13 2003. 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Automated eukaryotic gene structure annotation using EVidenceModeler and the Program to Assemble Spliced Alignments

EVidenceModeler (EVM) is an automated annotation tool that predicts protein-coding regions, alternatively spliced transcripts and untranslated regions of eukaryotic genes

Composition Analysis of III-Nitrides at the Nanometer Scale: Comparison of Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and Atom Probe Tomography

International audienc