A Correlational Analysis of Secondary Data for Factors Influencing Graduation from Adult Drug Court

The proliferation of drug courts throughout the world over the last two decades presents an opportunity and a challenge. The drug court approach involves a combination of treatment and judicial supervision which is a diversion from incarceration and/or ‘traditional’ criminal justice supervision. Despite widespread study of drug courts, there is much that researchers still do not know and there is still controversy as to how and why drug courts work. This research study is an examination of secondary data from an urban, mid-Atlantic drug court to attempt to correlate factors that contribute to success (as defined by graduation) in drug court. This study examines drug courts using Life Course Theory, Social Capital Theory and Recovery Capital Theory as a theoretical foundation for understanding the influences of drug courts on participants. Findings from the Discriminant Function Analysis employed in this study demonstrate low to moderate ability to predict drug court graduation and program attrition based on a combination of demographic information and drug court program requirements. Among the factors found to contribute to drug court success were participants having children, their employment status, 30-day abstinence, age, and race. Additional implications for social workers practicing in drug courts are discussed as well as suggestions for future research directions in the study of drug courts

The central subgroup of the nonabelian tensor square of Bieberbach group with point group C2 C2

A Bieberbach group with point group  C2 xC2  is a free torsion crystallographic group. A central subgroup of a nonabelian tensor square of a group G, denoted by ∇(G) is a normal subgroup generated by generator g⊗g for all g∈G and essentially depends on the abelianization of the group. In this paper, the formula of the central subgroup of the nonabelian tensor square of one Bieberbach group with point group   C2 xC2 , of lowest dimension 3, denoted by S3 (3) is generalized up to n dimension. The consistent polycyclic presentation, the derived subgroup and the abelianization of group this group of n dimension are first determined. By using these presentations, the central subgroup of the nonabelian tensor square of this group of n dimension is constructed. The findings of this research can be further applied to compute the homological functors of this group.Keywords: Bieberbach group; central subgroup; nonabelian tensor square

A Preliminary Study on Gum Arabic as a Binder in Preparation of Starch Based Edible Plastic

This research emphasizes on synthesizing edible plastic using a one pot method by adding starch, gum Arabic as theb binder and sugar (sorbitol and glycerol). In order to get the right composition, the ratio of each ingredient was varied. The FTIR spectroscopy was used to characterize the structure and composition of the sample produced

Isolasi dan Pengukuran Aktivitas Enzim Bromelin dari Ekstrak Kasar Batang Nanas (Ananas comosus) Berdasarkan Variasi pH

This research aims to determine the highest protein content and the optimum activity of the enzyme bromelain extracted from pineapple stem. This research was conducted at the Laboratory of Microbiology Makassar Alauddin State Islamic University in May 2013. Variable in this study was the isolation and measurement of bromelain enzyme activity as the independent variable while the crude extract of pineapple stem by variations in pH as the dependent variable. The type of this research was experiments with bradford method for determination of protein content enzyme bromelain, with ammonium sulfate concentration variation for precipitation was 10-60%, as well asthe determination of the enzyme bromelain activity at variation pH was 4.0; 5.0, 6.0; 7.0 and 8.0, at 650C temperature with incubation time was 10 minutes. Each stage has done three times in repetition and analyzed spectrometry. The results showed the highest levels of protein precipitation with ammonium sulfate at 60% was 37,785 mg/ml. While the optimum pH of the enzyme bromelain activity at pH 6.0 was 1.021 activity units /gram.Keywords: bromelain enzyme, Pineapple stem (Ananas comosus), precipitation with ammonium sulfate, protein contents, p

The nonabelian tensor square of a Bieberbach group with symmetric point group of order six

Bieberbach groups are torsion free crystallographic groups. In this paper, our focus is given on the Bieberbach groups with symmetric point group of order six. The nonabelian tensor square of a group is a well known homological functor which can reveal the properties of a group. With the method developed for polycyclic groups, the nonabelian tensor square of one of the Bieberbach groups of dimension four with symmetric point group of order six is computed. The nonabelian tensor square of this group is found to be not abelian and its presentation is constructed

Effects of Soil Properties to Corrosion of Underground Pipelines: A Review

A b s t r a c t This review concentrates on corrosion properties that expose to soil environment. Forms of corrosion classified with respect to outward appearance and altered physical properties are uniform attack, galvanic corrosion, erosion corrosion, stress corrosion, crevice corrosion, pitting and inter-granular corrosion. A porous soil may retain moisture for a longer period for optimum aeration and indirectly increase the initial corrosion rate. External corrosion is corrosion attack upon the outside of the pipe soil medium and the most failure mechanisms experienced by buried steel pipelines. Many systems possibly in contact with soil have risk to be corroded such as storage tanks and pipelines

Secondary user undercover cooperative dynamic access protocol for overlay cognitive radio networks

YesA secondary cooperative overlay dynamic spectrum access protocol in cognitive radio networks is proposed, allowing secondary users to access the primary system using full power without causing harmful interference to primary users. Moreover, an enhancement in the primary system will be achieved as a result of secondary relaying of primary messages. A detailed description of the protocol is given and illustrated with network scenarios

Causes and predictors of 30‐day readmission in patients with syncope/collapse: a nationwide cohort study

Background Syncope accounts for 0.6% to 1.5% of hospitalizations in the United States. We sought to determine the causes and predictors of 30‐day readmission in patients with syncope. Methods and Results We identified 323 250 encounters with a primary diagnosis of syncope/collapse in the 2013-2014 Nationwide Readmissions Database. We excluded patients younger than 18 years, those discharged in December, those who died during hospitalization, hospital transfers, and those whose length of stay was missing. We used multivariable logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between baseline characteristics and 30‐day readmission. A total of 282 311 syncope admissions were included. The median age was 72 years (interquartile range, 58-83), 53.9% were women, and 9.3% had 30‐day readmission. The most common cause of 30‐day readmissions was syncope/collapse, followed by cardiac, neurological, and infectious causes. Characteristics associated with 30‐day readmissions were age 65 years and older (odds ratio [OR], 0.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.6-0.7), female sex (OR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.8-0.9), congestive heart failure (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.2-1.9), atrial fibrillation/flutter (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.3-1.4), diabetes mellitus (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.2-1.3), coronary artery disease (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.2-1.3), anemia (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.4-1.5), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.3-1.4), home with home healthcare disposition (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.5-1.6), leaving against medical advice (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.6-1.9), length of stay of 3 to 5 days (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.4-1.6) or >5 days (OR, 2; 95% CI, 1.8-2), and having private insurance (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.6-0.7). Conclusions The 30‐day readmission rate after syncope/collapse was 9.3%. We identified causes and risk factors associated with readmission. Future prospective studies are needed to derive risk‐stratification models to reduce the high burden of readmissions.Revisión por pare

Wave propagation and scattering in reinforced concrete beams

Steel reinforcement bars (rebars) are vital to the strength of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, but can become damaged due to corrosion. Such damage is generally invisible and non-destructive testing methods are needed to assess their integrity. Guided wave methods are popular because they are capable of detecting damage using sensors placed remotely from the damage site, which is often unknown. This paper predicts free wave propagation in RC beams from which the concept of a guided wave based damage detection method emerges. The wave solutions are obtained using the wave finite element framework where a short section of a beam's cross section is modeled in conventional finite element (FE) and periodic boundary conditions are subsequently applied. Reinforcement elements are used in the FE model of the cross section as a neat and efficient means of coupling the concrete to the rebars and imposing prestress. The results show that prestress, important for static behavior, has a negligible effect on wave dispersion. A RC beam with a damaged section is modeled by coupling three waveguides, the center waveguide being identical to the outer ones except for a thickness loss in one rebar. Only small differences in cut-on frequencies are observed between the damaged and undamaged sections. However, these small differences give rise to strong reflection of some waves at frequencies close to cut-on. Below cut-on, most incident power is transmitted but experiences wave mode conversion, whereas above cut-on most power is transmitted to the same wave type. These observations form the basis for ongoing work to develop a damage detection technique premised on wave reflection near cut-on