Designing a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Template for Satellites

The goal of this project has been to digitally transform SDL systems engineering methods for scoping small satellite missions, developing system architectures, documenting the engineering solution, and verifying design solutions from being document-intensive (gathering non-transformable information in discrete, disjoint documents) to being model-based (employing cohesive, traceable, transformable graphical models). We have produced a set of models that give satellite development programs (and any model-based program) a head start that enables the modeling effort to drive the systems engineering process instead of catching up with a document-driven design. We plan to use these models to develop, train, and encourage consistent modeling techniques across the Lab and lower the barrier of entry for creating focused, useful models

Sport And Mental Health Performance Optimization in An Adolescent Gymnast: A Case Evaluation

The Optimum Performance Program in Sports (TOPPS) is a multi-component, sport-specific Family Behavior Therapy that has demonstrated improved sport performance, relationships, and mental health outcomes in adult and adolescent athletes with, and without, diagnosed mental health disorders in clinical trials. The current case trial demonstrates successful implementation of a novel component of TOPPS (i.e., talk aloud optimal sport performance imagery leading to dream mapping) in a biracial Latina and White adolescent gymnast without a mental health diagnosis. The participant demonstrated significant improvements from baseline to both post-treatment and 3-month follow-up in severity of mental health functioning, factors interfering with sports performance, and her relationships with teammates, coaches, and family. Results suggest it may be possible to optimize mental health through sport performance optimization

Building capacity for injury prevention: a process evaluation of a replication of the Cardiff Violence Prevention Programme in the Southeastern USA

Objectives Violence is a major public health problem in the USA. In 2016, more than 1.6 million assault-related injuries were treated in US emergency departments (EDs). Unfortunately, information about the magnitude and patterns of violent incidents is often incomplete and underreported to law enforcement (LE). In an effort to identify more complete information on violence for the development of prevention programme, a cross-sectoral Cardiff Violence Prevention Programme (Cardiff Model) partnership was established at a large, urban ED with a level I trauma designation and local metropolitan LE agency in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. The Cardiff Model is a promising violence prevention approach that promotes combining injury data from hospitals and LE. The objective was to describe the Cardiff Model implementation and collaboration between hospital and LE partners. Methods The Cardiff Model was replicated in the USA. A process evaluation was conducted by reviewing project materials, nurse surveys and interviews and ED–LE records. Results Cardiff Model replication centred around four activities: (1) collaboration between the hospital and LE to form a community safety partnership locally called the US Injury Prevention Partnership; (2) building hospital capacity for data collection; (3) data aggregation and analysis and (4) developing and implementing violence prevention interventions based on the data. Conclusions The Cardiff Model can be implemented in the USA for sustainable violent injury data surveillance and sharing. Key components include building a strong ED–LE partnership, communicating with each other and hospital staff, engaging in capacity building and sustainability planning

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Thoughts on Architecting and How to Improve the Practice

Meyer Institute Guest Speaker Presentation, arranged by Professor William SolitarioJanuary 31, 2008, Brad Mercer, Thoughts on Architecting and How to Improve the Practic

Barriers to the Success of Ethnic Minority Students in School Psychology Graduate Programs

The current study examined factors that may serve as barriers to the success of ethnic minority graduate students by assessing the academic, social, and emotional experiences of approximately 87 ethnic minority and 313 ethnic majority school psychology graduate students. Results indicated that ethnic minority graduate students reported significantly more negative race-related experiences, which were associated with higher levels of emotional distress, than were ethnic majority graduate students. In addition, ethnic minority graduate students reported lower levels of belongingness than did ethnic majority students\u27 and negative race-related experiences were associated with lower perceptions of belongingness across all participants. Belongingness and autonomy were significantly associated with self-reported academic engagement for both ethnic minority and majority students. Discussion focuses on the significance of racial microaggressions and belongingness to graduate students in school psychology programs

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior in Center-Based Classrooms: Evaluation of Pre-teaching the Alternative Behavior

This study investigated the effectiveness of a differential reinforcement of alternative behavior procedure in decreasing disruptive behavior while simultaneously increasing the appropriate behavior of four children of typical development between the ages of 4 and 6 in center-based classrooms. We began with brief functional analyses for each child. Then, differential reinforcement procedures, with and without pre-teaching the alternative behavior, were compared using an alternating treatments design. Results indicated that the differential reinforcement procedure with pre-teaching resulted in lower levels of problem behavior and greater levels of the alternative behavior compared to differential reinforcement alone. Results are discussed in terms of implications for applied practice and functional assessment and intervention research. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Implementing the Kidney Health Initiative Surrogate Efficacy Endpoint in Patients With IgA Nephropathy (the PROTECT Trial)

There has been little progress in the developmentand regulatory approval of novel therapies forglomerular diseases. There are several reasons for thisdilemma, including safety and efficacy of tested therapies,the slowly progressive nature of glomerulardiseases, challenges with clinical trial design, and thetraditional endpoints required by regulatory agenciesfor drug labeling. This is compounded by the fact thatmost primary glomerular diseases are recognizedinternationally as rare diseases. The time required andfeasibility to conduct large-scale phase 3 clinical trialsto evaluate whether a new therapy improves kidneysurvival and decreases the development of end-stagekidney disease (ESKD) is prohibitive, particularlywhen that disease is rare. Even using doubling ofserum creatinine concentration, an accepted surrogateendpoint of ESKD, requires expensive trials withlengthy follow-up.</p

Loud Versus Quiet Praise: A Direct Behavioral Comparison In Secondary Classrooms

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of teacher public (i.e., loud) and private (i.e., quiet) praise on students\u27 appropriately engaged behavior (AEB) and disruptive behaviors (DB). Employing a combined multiple-baseline withdrawal design, the effects of loud and quiet praise were assessed across two pairs of secondary classrooms. Each classroom\u27s mean percentage of observed intervals of AEB and DB across loud and quiet praise intervention phases was assessed and compared. Overall, visual analysis of the data, multilevel modeling, and effect sizes showed that both loud and quiet praises were more effective than no treatment at increasing AEB and decreasing DB. In addition, there were no statistical or clinically significant differences between the loud and quiet praise interventions. The results are discussed in light of appropriate practices and controversies in the literature. © 2014 Society for the Study of School Psychology