Changes In Youth Executive Function During Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Associations with PTSD Symptom Severity

Youth with maltreatment and/or interpersonal trauma histories often demonstrate significant executive function difficulties, which may negatively affect self-regulation and represent a transdiagnostic risk factor for trauma-related psychopathology and impaired functioning across domains. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and other mental health sequelae among maltreated youth; however, the potential impact of impact of TF-CBT on youth executive function difficulties has not been examined despite emerging evidence that executive function may be related to PTSD symptom severity among trauma-exposed youth. The current study sought to evaluate caregiver-reported executive function as a treatment outcome of TF-CBT among youth with interpersonal trauma histories and examine the associations between executive function and PTSD symptom trajectories. Univariate latent growth models, allowing for interindividual heterogeneity in intercepts and slopes, were used to estimate linear trajectories of caregiver-reported executive function difficulties among youth ages 6 to 17 (N = 278). Results demonstrated reductions in global and specific executive function difficulties during treatment for both children and adolescents. Bivariate latent growth models, estimated separately for children and adolescents, were used to examine the associations between executive function and PTSD change. Among children ages 6 to 11, higher initial levels of PTSD symptoms were associated with higher initial levels of difficulties in Attentional Control, r = .36, SD = .15, 95% CI [.06, .65] and Behavioral Control, r = .35, SD = .17, 95% CI [-.87, .81]. Among adolescents ages 12 to 17, rates of decrease in overall executive function difficulties were positively associated with rates of PTSD symptom reduction, r = .59, SD = .21, 95% CI [.11, .90]. Findings highlight caregiver-observed improvements in youth executive function concerns during TF-CBT and suggest that rates of reduction in executive function difficulties and PTSD symptoms are interrelated among adolescents

English Loanword Phonology in Korean

The purpose of this paper is to provide a fonnal account for the realization of English loan words in Korean. Our main concerns are the realization of laryngeal features of English obstruents in Korean, which can be summarized as follows. First, English aspirated onset obstruents are realized identically in Korean, e.g. /k"i/ -> [khi] 'key'. Second, voiceless unaspirated stops after /s/ in English are also realized as aspirated in Korean, e.g. /strcs/ ---> [sithircsiJ 'stress'. Third, English word-final unreleased stops become aspirated or unreleased ones in Korean, e.g. /rop/ -> [rophi] 'rope', /bUk/ -> [pUk'] 'book'. Fourth, English voiced obstruents in a word-initial position are consistently realized as voiceless unaspirated ones, e.g. / gcep/ -> [kcp'] 'gap'. Finally, English voiced obstruents in a word-final position become either voiceless or voiced ones in Korean, e.g. /khlAb/ -> [khillap'] 'club', /bed! -> [PEdi] 'bed'. Most previous researches on Korean loanword phonology (H. Kang 1996, O. Kang 1996) simply state that the Korean phoneme inventory automatically constrains these featural changes at the Perceptual Level, e.g. English voiceless unaspirated / p/ is matched with voiceless aspirated [ph] in Korean at the Perceptual Level. Only the vowel insertion is determined in the Operative Level in which an Optimality Theoretic grammar is effective. Thus, an intermediate level, i.e. Perceptual Level, is posited. The present study proposes a perception-based analysis of English loanwords in Korean within the framework of OptimaIity-Theory. The realization of laryngeal features of English obstruents in Korean is captured by the interaction of the markedness constraints prohibiting elements which require articulatory effort and faithfulness constraints requiring to preserve the input fonns. Specifically, faithfulness constraints such as MAX[ +long VOT] play a crucial role in capturing simijarities in release prominence of English and Korean stops and minimizing the differences between the phonetic output of English and its corresponding loanword form in Korean. We have shown that there are no intennediate levels between the input and its output in our analyses of English loan words

Optimal Placement of a Small Order in a Diffusive Limit Order Book

A Limit Order Book (LOB), a trading system used by most of the electronic financial trading exchanges across the world, collects all the buy and sell limit orders: orders that specify a desired price and quantity. Limit orders are executed by matching them to the market orders: orders to buy or sell certain quantities or shares at the best available prices out of the standing limit orders in the book. In an order-driven market using the LOB system, one of the stock trader\u27s major concerns is to clear his/her inventory, by using a combination of limit orders and market orders. In addition, most of the intraday traders have their own pre-determined time horizon for clearing their inventories. This time horizon may vary from a few milliseconds (for high frequency trades) to a few hours. In this dissertation, we study the optimal placement problem, which consists of deciding whether to use a market or a limit buy order under a time-horizon constraint and determining an optimal price level to place the limit order for the latter case. While this dissertation focuses on the case when the investor is willing to place a buy order, this result, of course, can be applied to the case of sell orders. We propose a trading strategy and resulting investor\u27s cost for a discrete LOB model and provide counterparts for a diffusive LOB where the average time-step between price changes and the tick-size are small enough so that the price process can be approximated well by a continuous time diffusive process. In the resulting investor\u27s cost, the initial LOB status and the order flow of orders in the book are taken into consideration. We characterize the optimal limit order placement policy using both a Bachelier model and a Black-Scholes model as the diffusive approximating price process and analyze its behavior under different market conditions, including a small fee/rebate regime, which is plausible in practice. The Bachelier model and Black-Scholes model are wide-spread used in the mathematical finance field to describe the asset price movement. One of our main results is that, for negative drift price processes, there exists a critical time t_0 such that, for any time horizon longer than this critical time, there exists an optimal placement that is non-trivial in that it is different from one that is placed infinitesimally close to the best ask, such as the best bid and the second best bid. We investigate the assumptions regarding the behavior of a LOB which guarantees the existence of this non-trivial optimal placement. The asymptotic behavior of t_0 is investigated for both price process models and a simple method to approximate t_0 is provided. Furthermore, the approximation of the optimal placement and the asymptotic of the optimal placement for the large time horizon are found in closed forms. Numerical and empirical analysis of the optimal placement using real LOB data validate the plausibility of our assumptions for the existence of the optimal placement strategy described above and show the performance of the proposed approach. Finally, a different optimal placement problem is considered. While the trading strategy described above does not allow the cancellation and re-posting of the existing limit order, in the new approach we allow the investor to adjust the price level of a limit order before the investor\u27s time horizon. We investigate the behavior of optimal placement under this new strategy

Alternative Plant Vitrification Solution A3-80% and Initial Ammonium-Free Regrowth Medium Enable Cryobanking of Chrysanthemum Germplasm

Cryopreservation, storing biological material in liquid nitrogen (LN, −196 °C), offers a valuable option for the long-term conservation of non-orthodox seeds and vegetatively propagated species in the sector of agrobiodiversity and wild flora. Although large-scale cryobanking of germplasm collections has been increasing worldwide, the wide application of cryopreservation protocol is hampered by a lack of universal cryopreservation protocols, among others. This study established a systematic approach to developing a droplet-vitrification cryopreservation procedure for chrysanthemum shoot tips. The standard procedure includes two-step preculture with 10% sucrose for 31 h and with 17.5% sucrose for 16 h, osmoprotection with loading solution C4-35% (17.5% glycerol + 17.5% sucrose, w/v) for 40 min, cryoprotection with alternative plant vitrification solution A3-80% (33.3% glycerol + 13.3% dimethyl sulfoxide + 13.3% ethylene glycol + 20.1% sucrose, w/v) at 0 °C for 60 min, and cooling and rewarming using aluminum foil strips. After unloading, a three-step regrowth procedure starting with an ammonium-free medium with 1 mg L−1 gibberellic acid (GA3) and 1 mg L−1 benzyl adenine (BA) followed by an ammonium-containing medium with and without growth regulators was essential for the development of normal plantlets from cryopreserved shoot tips. A pilot cryobanking of 154 accessions of chrysanthemum germplasm initiated with post-cryopreservation regeneration of 74.8%. This approach will facilitate the cryobanking of the largest Asteraceae family germplasm as a complementary long-term conservation method

Vigorous Growing of Donor Plantlets by Liquid Overlay in Subcultures Is the Key to Cryopreservation of Endangered Species Pogostemon yatabeanus

Cryopreservation is a unique option for the long-term conservation of threatened plant species with non-orthodox or limitedly available seeds. However, the wide application of cryopreservation for the protection of wild flora is hampered by some reasons: limits of source material available, difficulties in in vitro propagation, needs to re-optimize protocol steps for new species, etc. In this study, using an endemic and endangered Korean species, Pogostemon yatabeanus, we investigated subculture medium and supplements on in vitro growth of donor plants: medium strength, gelling agents, liquid overlay, plant hormones, and activated charcoal. Subculture conditions of each cycle tested significantly impacted on height and dry weight of subcultured donor plantlets. Among the treatments tested, the overlay of the liquid medium on top of gellan gum-gelled medium significantly increased the growth of shoots and roots. In the droplet-vitrification procedure, the survival and regeneration of cryopreserved shoot tips were critically impacted by the dry weight of donor plantlets (CORELL = 0.85~0.95) which was affected by the following subculture conditions. Moreover, every subsequent subculture cycle before cryopreservation positively or negatively impacted post-cryopreservation regeneration. This study highlights the vigor of donor plantlets for post-cryopreservation regeneration and provides practices for the revitalization of donor plants during subcultures

Urban Hydrogen Production Model Using Environmental Infrastructures to Achieve the Net Zero Goal

Land available for energy production is limited in cities owing to high population density. To reach the net zero goal, cities contributing 70% of overall greenhouse gas emissions need to dramatically reduce emissions and increase self-sufficiency in energy production. Environmental infrastructures such as sewage treatment and incineration plants can be used as energy production facilities in cities. This study attempted to examine the effect of using environmental infrastructure such as energy production facilities to contribute toward the carbon neutrality goal through urban energy systems. In particular, since the facilities are suitable for hydrogen supply in cities, the analysis was conducted focusing on the possibility of hydrogen production. First, the current status of energy supply and demand, and additional energy production potential in sewage treatment and incineration plants in Seoul, were analyzed. Then, the role of these environmental infrastructures toward energy self-sufficiency in the urban system was examined. This study confirmed that the facilities can contribute to the city’s energy self-sufficiency and the achievement of its net-zero goal

Urban Hydrogen Production Model Using Environmental Infrastructures to Achieve the Net Zero Goal

Land available for energy production is limited in cities owing to high population density. To reach the net zero goal, cities contributing 70% of overall greenhouse gas emissions need to dramatically reduce emissions and increase self-sufficiency in energy production. Environmental infrastructures such as sewage treatment and incineration plants can be used as energy production facilities in cities. This study attempted to examine the effect of using environmental infrastructure such as energy production facilities to contribute toward the carbon neutrality goal through urban energy systems. In particular, since the facilities are suitable for hydrogen supply in cities, the analysis was conducted focusing on the possibility of hydrogen production. First, the current status of energy supply and demand, and additional energy production potential in sewage treatment and incineration plants in Seoul, were analyzed. Then, the role of these environmental infrastructures toward energy self-sufficiency in the urban system was examined. This study confirmed that the facilities can contribute to the city’s energy self-sufficiency and the achievement of its net-zero goal