Irritable mood and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The terms 'irritable mood' and 'irritability' have been applied to describe and define a variety of different categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). More precise diagnostic terms and concepts are needed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A concise critical historical review of DSM categories characterized by irritability, anger, and aggression is presented followed by recommendations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This analysis describes the broad ranging and imprecise use of the term irritability since the first DSM in 1952. A more age-appropriate and functional realignment of psychiatric categories linked to dysfunctional anger is suggested. Among other recommendations, this realignment would remove irritability as a problematic definer in the present DSM mood categories: expand oppositional defiant disorder to include adults; link the callous unemotional subtype of conduct disorder in adolescents to antisocial personality disorder; move intermittent explosive disorder to an appropriate category: and expand the term 'mood' to apply also to dysfunctional anger and anxiety.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The non-specific term 'irritability' commonly used in the DSM has had an adverse effect on diagnostic specificity and thereby on treatment. Dysfunctional anger is a major mood disorder which merits a more prominent and better defined representation in psychiatric nomenclature.</p

Competitive priorities of telecommunication service provider: Wireless internet

The internet has developed to give many benefits to societies and has changed the way of doing business. The high competition in business due to many factors such as rapidly change in technology, issues of globalization , changing in consumer preferences and many more create a tough situation for companies to provide high quality products or services to achieve their customers' satisfaction. In developing a customer-driven operations strategy, firms should coordinate their overall goals with its core processes where the competitive priorities are the critical dimensions that each process must possess in order to satisfy internal and external customers. Competitive priorities need to be clearly identified and established as they represent the future focus of a company. Competitive priorities which includes cost, quality, time and flexibility are a useful tool for translating the goals of firm strategy to the level of actual processes which are important to meet customers' satisfaction. This study is conducted for the purpose of assessing the relative importance of competitive priorities elements that influence the consumers' choice in the wireless internet services which indicates that consumers' choice regarding wireless internet services is influenced by the elements of competitive priorities. All the six competitive priorities elements consists of cost, quality, time, flexibility, service and innovation that are very important in all operational process especially to the business oriented company like internet service providers

A comparative study of the effects of topical application of Aloe vera, thyroid hormone and silver sulfadiazine on skin wounds in Wistar rats

Many research studies report the healing effects of Aloe Vera, thyroid hormone cream and silver sulfadiazine. However, the effects of these therapeutic agents are not well understood and have not been compared in one study. This study aimed at investigating the effects of topical application of an Aloe vera gel, a thyroid hormone cream and a silver sulfadiazine cream on the healing of skin wounds surgically induced in Wistar rats for determining the treatment of choice. In a randomized controlled trial, twelve male rats, aged 120 days and with a mean weight of 250 to 300 g, were divided randomly into 5 groups based on drug treatments: Aloe vera gel (AV), thyroid hormone cream (TC), silver sulfadiazine 1% (S), vehicle (V) and control. To evaluate the efficacy of each treatment technique, a biomechanical approach was used to assess tensile stress after 14 days of treatment. Tensile stress was significantly improved in the Aloe vera gel group as compared with the other four groups (P≤0.05). While the other treatment options resulted in better healing than the control group, this difference was not significant. We conclude that Aloe vera topical application accelerated the healing process more than thyroid hormone, silver sulfadiazine and vehicle in surgically induced incisions in rats

Space for Change

Walnut Avenue is a public benefit organization that provides a variety of services to address the disparities seen in programs that address domestic violence in a way that encourages long term change within victims and survivors and the person who causes harm. Space for Change is a new program based on transformative justice and offers an alternative option for participating in a process with the goal of interrupting cycles of violence and preventing future harm. When searching for programs that address domestic violence in a way that does not include separating from the person who is causing harm, there are limited options. Without adequate options of evidence, informed programs for the person who has caused harm, victims and survivors may not seek services and stay trapped within the cycle of domestic violence. Space for Change addresses this disparity seen within domestic violence programs and aims to reduce the consequences connected to the rates of domestic violence which include homelessness, mental health consequences, and death

DEVELOPING HOT POTATOES-BASED MATERIALS FOR ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT SMK

Abstract: The aim of this study was to develop mulimedia-based materials for teaching and learning English at SMK Negeri 1 Balai. The development of Hot potatoes-based materials adopted research and development study. This study applied ADDIE steps as follows. Firstly, need analysis. The need analysis found that there was a need of multimedia-based materials for teaching and leaning English at SMK Negeri 1 Balai. Secondly, design, the design of the materials was based on need analysis and english subject curriculum. The blue print or lay out of the materials were created in this stage. Thirdly, development. The development involves some author wares, such as hot potatoes application,adobe reader, picture editors and web page maker. The pilot product was created in this stage. fourthly was implementation of the materials. There were 30 students of SMK Negeri 1 Balai were involved in this stage. Based on thier responses, there is norevision on the materials. The last step was evaluation. This stage involved two media-materials experts and a language expert. They evaluated and responded that the materials are useable for teaching and learning English.   Keywords: ADDIE steps, Multimedia-based materials Abstrak: Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk mengembangkan bahan ajar berbasis multimedia untuk pembelajaran bahasa Inggris di SMK Negeri 1 Balai. Pengembangan bahan ajar ini menggunakan metode penelitian riset dan pengembangan. Penelitian ini menggunakan langkah-langkah ADDIE. Langkah pertama yaitu analisis kebutuhan. Pada tahap ini ditemukan bahwa adanya kebutuhan akan bahan ajar berbasiskan multimedia untuk proses pembelajaran pada SMK Negeri 1 Balai. Tahap kedua, Desain bahan ajar ini berdasarkan pada hasil dari analisis kebutuhan dan kurikulum bahasa inggris. layout dari bahan ajar dibuat pada tahap ini. Tahap ketiga yaitu pengembangan. Tahap ini menggunakan beberapa software pendukung, seperti aplikasi hot potatoes, picture editors, dan web page maker. Tahap ini menghasilkan bahan ajar percobaan. Tahap keempat adalah implementasi dari bahan ajar. Tahap ini melibatkan 30 orang siswa SMK Negeri 1 Balai. Berdasarkan respons mereka, bahan ajar ini tidak membutuhkan revisi.  Langkah terakhir adalah evaluasi. Tahap ini melibatkan dua ahli bahan ajar multimedia dan seorang ahli bahasa. Mereka mengevaluasi dan merespon bahwa bahan ajar ini dapat digunakan didalam proses pembelajaran.   Kata kunci: langkah-langkah ADDIE, Bahan ajar berbasis multimedi

Radial basis function neural networks for modeling growth rates of the basidiomycetes Physisporinus vitreus and Neolentinus lepideus

A radial basis function (RBF) neural network was developed and compared against a quadratic response surface (RS) model for predicting the specific growth rates of the biotechnologically important basidiomycetous fungi, Physisporinus vitreus and Neolentinus lepideus, under three environmental conditions: temperature (10-30°C), water activity (0.950-9.998), and pH (4-6). Both the RBF network and polynomial RS model were mathematically evaluated against experimental data using graphical plots and several statistical indices. The evaluation showed that both models gave reasonably good predictions, but the performance of the RBF neural network was superior to that of the classical statistical method for all three data sets used (training, testing, full). Sensitivity analysis revealed that of the three experimental factors the most influential on the growth rate of P. vitreus was water activity, followed by temperature and pH to a lesser extent. In contrast, temperature in particular and then water activity were the key determinants of the development of N. lepideus. RBF neural networks could be a powerful technique for modeling fungal growth behavior under certain parameters and an alternative to time-consuming, traditional microbiological technique