Ubiquitous systems and the family: Thoughts about the networked home

Developments in ubiquitous and pervasive computing herald a future in which computation is embedded into our daily lives. Such a vision raises important questions about how people, especially families, will be able to engage with and trust such systems whilst maintaining privacy and individual boundaries. To begin to address such issues, we have recently conducted a wide reaching study eliciting trust, privacy and identity concerns about pervasive computing. Over three hundred UK citizens participated in 38 focus groups. The groups were shown Videotaped Activity Scenarios [11] depicting pervasive or ubiquitous computing applications in a number of contexts including shopping. The data raises a number of important issues from a family perspective in terms of access, control, responsibility, benefit and complexity. Also findings highlight the conflict between increased functionality and the subtle social interactions that sustain family bonds. We present a Pre-Concept Evaluation Tool (PRECET) for use in design and implementation of ubicomp systems

Provisions for Remedial Readers in First class District High Schools in the State of Washington

It was the purpose of this study to determine what the provisions are for remedial readers in first class district high schools in the State of Washington

The Therapeutic Relationship in Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Longitudinal Investigation in a Naturalistic Setting

The quality of the therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy has been found to be positively associated with many treatment outcome variables, such as client retention, client satisfaction in treatment, and improvement in symptoms. While some theorists assume that therapeutic alliance is established early in therapy and remains fairly stable across time in treatment, others such as Safran et al. (1990) suggest that the alliance quality fluctuates across time and is likely to be marked by frequent patterns of rupture and repair. In particular, individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) have clusters of symptoms and interpersonal styles that are likely to present challenges to the formation and maintenance of a therapeutic alliance. The present study examines characteristics of the therapeutic alliance in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a comprehensive form of cognitive behavioral therapy that has received empirical support for the treatment of chronically suicidal and self-harming individuals with BPD. Clients in an outpatient DBT program at a community mental health center completed monthly self-report measures of therapeutic alliance quality and psychiatric symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory), across one year of treatment. It was hypothesized that clients diagnosed with BPD would have greater variability in the therapeutic alliance across time, and would be more likely to have patterns of alliance reflecting rupture and repair sequences, as compared to clients not diagnosed with BPD. Results indicated that clients with a diagnosis of BPD did not have a broader range of alliance across time, but were significantly more likely to have acute episodes of alliance rupture and repair during the year of DBT treatment. Treatment outcome analyses suggest that the DBT program was effective in reducing depression, hopelessness, and general psychiatric symptoms. Clinical significance analysis, using the Jacobson and Truax (1991) methodology, was used to classify individual client outcomes, and results indicated that nearly half of the clients in the sample achieved clinically significant Improvement or Recovery after one year of DBT. Patterns of therapeutic alliance across time were not significantly associated with treatment outcome

MECHANISMS OF HETEROGENEOUS OXIDATIONS AT MODEL AEROSOL INTERFACES BY OZONE AND HYDROXYL RADICALS

Atmospheric aerosols play an important role in climate by scattering and absorbing radiation and by serving as cloud condensation nuclei. An aerosol’s optical or nucleation properties are driven by its chemical composition. Chemical aging of aerosols by atmospheric oxidants, such as ozone, alters the physiochemical properties of aerosol to become more hygroscopic, light absorbing, and viscous during transport. However the mechanism of these transformations is poorly understood. While ozone is a protective and beneficial atmospheric gas in the stratosphere, it is a potent greenhouse gas in the troposphere that traps heat near the Earth’s surface. It also impacts human heath by irritating the respiratory tract and exacerbating cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, ozone can alter the ecosystem through oxidizing plant foliage which can lead to deforestation and crop losses as well. Both gases and aerosols in the troposphere can react with ozone directly and indirectly with hydroxyl radicals. While daytime aging is thought to be primarily driven by photochemical processes and hydroxyl radicals, ozone is thought to be a key player in nighttime or dark aging processes that can alter the physicochemical properties of aerosols. Measured concentrations of trace gases and aged aerosol components in the field are higher than values predicted based on laboratory studies and computer simulations. Consequently, new experimental approaches are needed to narrow the gaps between observations and mechanistic understandings. In this dissertation, a plume of microdroplets was generated by pneumatically assisted aerosolization and then exposed to a flow of ozone before entering a mass spectrometer. This surface-specific technique allowed for the real-time analysis of reaction products and intermediates at the air-water interface. This work explores the in situ oxidation of iodide, a component of sea spray aerosols, by 0.05 – 13.00 ppmv ozone to explore how heterogeneous oxidation could enhance the production of reactive iodide species. Methods to study the reaction channels and intermediates were also established to not only determine a mechanism of iodide oxidation by ozone, but to enable the study of more complex systems. The developed approach was then applied to examine the oxidation of catechol and its substituted cousins, a family of compounds selected to model biomass burning and combustion emissions, at the air-water interface. While literature suggested that the primary mechanism of catechol oxidation by ozone would be the cleavage of the C1-C2 bond, it was determined that this was only a minor pathway. An indirect oxidation channel dominated heterogeneous processes at the air-water interface, giving rise to hydroxyl and semiquinone radicals that recombine to produce polyhydroxylated aromatics and quinones. This new mechanism of aging represents an overlooked channel by which brown, light-absorbing carbon aerosols are produced in the atmosphere. In addition, the work investigates how reactions on solid particulate aerosols proceed under variable relative humidity. Thin films were developed alongside a novel flow-through reactor to study of how aerosols are transformed by ozone and hydroxyl radicals when exposed to 50 ppbv - 800 ppmv of ozone. This system was employed to probe how catechol reacts with ozone under variable relative humidity. Further work was undertaken to model the adsorption process at the air-solid interface under variable humidity, permitting the estimation of the reactive uptake of ozone by the film at concentrations (50-200 ppbv) seen in rural and urban areas. Together, these results provide an increased understanding of how heterogeneous oxidation of aerosols contributes to aerosol aging processes as well as free radical production in the troposphere

HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES FOLLOWING OVARIECTOMY IN MICE : I. dba HIGH TUMOR STRAIN

1. In dba mice ovariectomized at birth the vagina, uterus, and mammary glands showed a gradual recovery from the castrate state, and finally reached the stage which they presumably can attain only under the influence of estrogenic hormones. Tumors of the mammary glands developed in 37 animals, of 75 examined, between the ages of 14 and 28 months (3 adenomas and 34 carcinomas). 2. As ovarian regeneration had not taken place the probability that estrogen originated in some other organ in the absence of the ovaries is suggested. 3. The consistent nodular hyperplasia of the suprarenal cortex and close morphological similarity of cells of these nodules to lutein-like cells of the ovaries points to the abnormal suprarenals as possible sources of the estrogenic hormones

Seeking sexual health information? Professionals’ novel experiences of the barriers that prevent female adolescents seeking sexual health information

Objective: Sexual health professionals are key in implementing sexual health intervention programmes, yet their views are largely absent from the literature. Sexual health professionals provide a unique perspective on teen sexual health issues as they engage in confidential discussions with a wide range of teenagers. This study aimed to provide an in-depth exploration of professionals’ perceptions of teenagers’ sexual health information seeking practices and barriers. Furthermore, the research provided a unique re-examination of key predictors of risky sexual behaviours, which have been highlighted by previous research. Method: Nine semi-structured interviews were undertaken with sexual health professionals to explore their perceptions of teenagers’ sexual health information seeking practises and barriers. Subsequently the professionals rank ordered the 57 factors identified in previous research in terms of their perceived importance in predicting risky sexual behaviours. Result: Four themes emerged: “society and media”; “environment and family”; “peer influences” and “the self”. The rank order task confirmed that 33 of the 57 factors were perceived as highly important by sexual health professionals. Conclusion: Society, peers, environment and family are perceived as barriers to teenagers seeking reliable sexual health information, but these are dependent on the individual person. An individual with higher self-esteem is more confident in seeking sexual health information and applying this knowledge appropriately. Self-esteem was also identified as a key perceived predictor of risky sexual behaviours. Therefore, there is scope for intervention programs targeting self-esteem and knowledge, so teenagers have the confidence to seek out sexual health information and to make their own informed sexual health decisions

Venous thromboembolism in adults screened for Sickle Cell Trait: a population based cohort study with nested case-control analysis

Objective: To determine whether sickle cell carriers (‘sickle cell trait’) have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Design: Cohort study with nested case-control analysis. Setting: General population with data from 609 UK general practices in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). Participants: All individuals registered with a CPRD general practice between 1998 and 2013, with a medical record of screening for sickle cell between 18 and 75 years of age. Main outcomes measures: Incidence of VTE per 10,000 person-years among sickle cell carriers and non-carriers; and adjusted odds ratio (OR) for VTE among sickle cell carriers compared to non-carriers. Results: We included 30,424 individuals screened for sickle cell, with a follow-up time of 179,503 person-years, identifying 55 VTEs in 6,758 sickle cell carriers and 125 VTEs in 23,666 non-carriers. VTE incidence amongst sickle cell carriers (14.9/10,000 person-years; 95% CI: 11.4 to 19.4) was significantly higher than non-carriers (8.8/10,000 person-years; 95% CI: 7.4 to 10.4). Restricting analysis to confirmed non-carriers was non-significant, but performed on a small sample. In the case-control analysis (180 cases matched to 1,775 controls by age and gender), sickle cell carriers remained at increased risk of VTE after adjusting for body mass index, pregnancy, smoking status and ethnicity (OR 1.78, 95% CI: 1.18 to 2.69, p-value 0.006 ), with the greatest risk for pulmonary embolism (OR 2.27, 95% CI: 1.17 to 4.39, p-value 0.011). Conclusions: Although absolute numbers are small, in a general population screened for sickle cell, carriers have a higher incidence and risk of VTE, particularly pulmonary embolism, than non-carriers. Clinicians should be aware of this elevated risk in the clinical care of sickle cell carriers, or when discussing carrier screening, and explicitly attend to modifiable risk factors for VTE in these individuals. More complete primary care coding of carrier status could improve analysis

Exercise Motivation in College Students

Purpose: Learning what motivates people to exercise may be the key to health professionals helping their clients become more active and moving our society in a positive direction in terms of health. Motivation can be divided into two broad categories; intrinsic and extrinsic. Our study sought to examine which type of motivation positively affects college-aged students’ one-mile times. It was hypothesized that college-aged individuals would run one mile in a shorter amount of time if they were motivated extrinsically than if they were motivated intrinsically. Methods: Eighteen college-aged individuals participated in the study and were randomly split into two groups: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. On day one all participants performed a baseline, one-mile run timed trial with no motivation administered. On day two subjects were asked to repeat the one-mile time trial; however, this trial included a motivation condition (extrinsic or intrinsic) based on which of the two groups the participants were randomly assigned. Results: An independent t-test revealed no significant differences in final one- mile run time between the extrinsic group (7.5 ± 1.4 min) and the intrinsic group (7.7 ± 1.5 min). Survey results revealed that trophies, recognition, self- satisfaction, and health ranked the lowest of motivating factors while money and fitness ranked the highest. Conclusion: Although there was no statistical significance supporting one type of motivation over the other; the survey results suggests that college students are not intrinsically motivated to exercise, and only certain extrinsic rewards such as fitness and money were reported to be “motivating” to exercise

Interfacial Oxidative Oligomerization of Catechol.

The heterogeneous reaction between thin films of catechol exposed to O3(g) creates hydroxyl radicals (HO•) in situ, which in turn generate semiquinone radical intermediates in the path to form heavier polyhydroxylated biphenyl, terphenyl, and triphenylene products. Herein, the alteration of catechol aromatic surfaces and their chemical composition are studied during the heterogeneous oxidation of catechol films by O3(g) molar ratios ≥ 230 ppbv at variable relative humidity levels (0% ≤ RH ≤ 90%). Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and reverse-phase liquid chromatography with UV–visible and mass spectrometry detection provide new physical insights into understanding the surface reaction. A Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism is accounted to report reaction rates, half-lives, and reactive uptake coefficients for the system under variable relative humidity levels. The reactions reported explain how the oligomerization of polyphenols proceeds at interfaces to contribute to the formation of brown organic carbon in atmospheric aerosols