Foreign Policy Mismanagement During American Presidential Transitions

Despite vast literature on American foreign policy and presidential decision-making, little attention has been given to the problems associated with presidential transitions. The American presidential transition period is accompanied by three limitations that threaten the effectiveness of presidential authority. First, presidential authority is unclear in the ambiguity of the transition period. Second, new administrations struggle to incorporate overlapping initiatives and personnel into new policies and priorities. Third, inexperience can cripple a new administration in the first few months of a presidency. These limitations are illustrated by an analysis of two transitional foreign policy crises: the Bay of Pigs crisis overlapping the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations and the Somalia intervention overlapping the Bush and Clinton administrations. This analysis demonstrates the importance of transitional limitations as independent variables which are magnified by other issues including groupthink, bureaucratic politics, and Congressional advocacy. The Transitional Limitations Model is introduced to explain the role of transitional limitations and multiple intervening variables in causing American foreign policy miscalculations during the presidential transition period

Family, friends, and feelings: the role of relationships to parents and peers and alexithymia in adolescents with anorexia nervosa

Background Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with impairments in socio-emotional functioning, including difficulties in interpersonal relationships as well as alexithymia (difficulties identifying and describing one’s emotions). Although the onset of the disorder is mostly in adolescence, a developmental period in which interpersonal relationships to parents as well as peers undergo major changes, only few studies have investigated the quality of interpersonal relationships in adolescent AN patients. Furthermore, the mechanisms linking poor relationship quality to eating disorder psychopathology are not yet clarified, albeit some research suggests that alexithymia might play a pivotal role. The aims of the present study were investigating the quality of interpersonal relationships to parents and peers in adolescents with AN compared to healthy adolescents as well as exploring the mediating role of alexithymia in the association between relationship quality and eating disorder symptoms. Methods Self-report questionnaires were used to assess relationship quality (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment) and alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale) in 12–18 year old female adolescents with AN (n = 35) in comparison to healthy adolescents (n = 40). Results Adolescents with AN reported lower relationship quality to both of their parents and to peers compared to healthy controls. Relationship quality scores were negatively correlated to alexithymia as well as eating disorder symptoms. Alexithymia fully meditated the association between eating disorder symptoms and relationship quality to parents and partially mediated the association between eating disorder symptoms and relationship quality to peers. Conclusion The results indicate difficulties in interpersonal relationships among adolescents with AN and emphasize the role of peer relationships for adolescents’ eating disorder psychopathology. Alexithymia seems to play an important role in explaining the link between quality of relationships and eating disorder psychopathology. Results suggest that treatment should not only focus on family relationships but also address relationships to peers as well as adolescents’ competence in identifying and dealing with their emotions

The KOALA-study: study protocol for a comprehensive study of cognitive biases in adolescent anorexia nervosa patients compared to healthy and clinical controls

BACKGROUND Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by dysfunctional cognitions including cognitive biases at various levels of information processing. However, less is known about the specificity of these biases, i.e., if they occur for eating-disorder-related information alone or also for non-eating-disorder-related emotional information in AN patients (content-specificity) and if they are unique to individuals with AN or are also shown by individuals with other mental disorders (disorder-specificity). METHODS The present study systematically assesses cognitive biases in 12-18-year-old female adolescents with AN on three levels of information processing (attention, interpretation, and memory) and with regard to two types of information content (eating-disorder-related, i.e., stimuli related to body weight and shape, and non-eating-disorder-related). To address not only content- but also disorder-specificity, adolescents with AN will be compared not only to a healthy control group but also to a clinical control group (adolescents with major depression or particular anxiety disorders). Cognitive biases are assessed within a single experimental paradigm based on the Scrambled Sentences Task. During the task eye movements are recorded in order to assess attention biases while interpretation biases are derived from the behavioural outcome. An incidental free recall test afterwards assesses memory biases. We expect adolescents with AN to show more pronounced negative cognitive biases on all three levels of information processing and for both types of content compared to healthy adolescents. In addition, we expect the specificity of biases to translate into differential results for the two types of content: AN patients are expected to show stronger biases for disorder-related stimuli but similar or less pronounced biases for non-disorder-related stimuli compared to the clinical control group. DISCUSSION This is the first study to comprehensively assess cognitive biases in adolescents with AN. It will have essential implications not only for cognitive-behavioural models of AN but also for subsequent studies aiming to modify cognitive biases in this population, thereby addressing important maintaining factors already at an early stage of the disorder

Evaluation of an online version of the CFT 20-R in third and fourth grade children

There is growing demand for digital intelligence testing. In the current study, we evaluated the validity of an online version of the revised German Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFT 20-R). A total of 4100 children from the third and fourth grades completed the online version using a smartphone or tablet. Subsequently, 220 of these children also completed the paper-pencil (PP) version. The internal consistency and construct validity of the online version appeared to be acceptable. The correlation between the raw scores and school grades in German and mathematics was slightly lower than expected. On average, the raw scores for the PP version were revealed to be higher, which was probably due to a learning effect. At the item level, the results show small differences for the subtests Series and Matrices, possibly caused by small differences in the presentation of the items. The correspondence between the versions did not depend on children’s levels of impulsivity or intelligence. Altogether, the results support the hypothesis that the online version of the CFT 20-R is a valid measure of general fluid intelligence and highlight the need for separate norms. (DIPF/Orig.

Cyber equipping 4.0 – fe-simulation-based setting instructions for a rotary draw-bending machine

The tool setting process for rotary draw-bending is very complex. Only experienced machine operators know which settings lead to a good result in relation to the bending task. Up to seven individual tools can be installed, positioned and set in the process independently. A complete set of tools consists of: pressure die, mandrel, wiper die, inner and outer clamp die as well as the bend die and the collet or piston bend. [1] Furthermore there are the axis settings, which can be adjusted with the parameters distance, force, angle, torque and time. If a defect occurs after the successful set-up process the machine operator has various possibilities to solve the problem. The effects of the different setting parameters and the procedure for the fastest possible elimination of the error are often unclear. The goal is to be able to use an adjustment support for the setting process by means of physical-analytical principles and systematically constructed FE simulations at the bending machine. In order to evaluate the bending result, the condition of the bending component is examined concerning the quality characteristics, cracking, wrinkling, cross-section deformation and elastic deformation. [2] Based on performed and analyzed FE simulations, adjustment recommendations regarding the respective quality characteristics are to be established as well as predictions about possible defects. The simulation and calculation results flow into a database. This is used for the implementation of an electronic expert, who uses a visualization aid to provide the machine operator with information and recommendations on the setup settings. This avoids errors during the equipping process and saves set-up time. Machine operators and particularly trained employees are guided and supported in their work

Synchrotron PXRD deconvolutes nickel particle and support changes in Ni/ZrO2_{2} methanation catalysts

Understanding catalyst deactivation is important for future knowledge-based design of catalysts with improved stability. Deactivation by thermal aging is particularly relevant for exothermic reactions, here demonstrated with CO$_{2}$ methanation using nickel-based catalysts. A series of five Ni/ZrO$_{2}$ catalysts is studied which differ by calcination temperature of the ZrO$_{2}$ support prior to Ni deposition, leading to different textural properties of the support. Artificial thermal aging of the Ni/ZrO$_{2}$ series is then performed and monitored by operando synchrotron-based powder X-ray diffraction (SPXRD). This reveals the dependence of catalyst stability on the support properties and shows that different deactivation mechanisms take place. Catalyst deactivation is mainly correlated either to changes of the support or to changes in nickel crystallite size, depending on the calcination temperature of the support before nickel deposition. By preparing a targeted series of supports with different textural properties, it is possible to deconvolute these effects. Operando SPXRD is shown as a powerful tool to follow both textural and structural changes during thermal catalyst deactivation, which is mostly only performed by post mortem ex situ analysis

Comorbidities Between Specific Learning Disorders and Psychopathology in Elementary School Children in Germany

Children with reading and/or spelling disorders have increased rates of behavioral and emotional problems and combinations of these. Some studies also find increased rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression. However, the comorbidities of, e.g., arithmetic disorders with ADHD, anxiety disorder, and depression have been addressed only rarely. The current study explored the probability of children with specific learning disorders (SLD) in reading, spelling, and/or arithmetic to also have anxiety disorder, depression, ADHD, and/or conduct disorder. The sample consisted of 3,014 German children from grades 3 and 4 (mean age 9;9 years) who completed tests assessing reading, spelling as well as arithmetic achievement and intelligence via a web-based application. Psychopathology was assessed using questionnaires filled in by the parents. In children with a SLD we found high rates of anxiety disorder (21%), depression (28%), ADHD (28%), and conduct disorder (22%). Children with SLD in multiple learning domains had a higher risk for psychopathology and had a broader spectrum of psychopathology than children with an isolated SLD. The results highlight the importance of screening for and diagnosing psychiatric comorbidities in children with SLD

Русский язык - английский язык: политика единоязычия в российском образовании

Статья посвящена прочно закрепившейся в российском образовании политике «английского единоязычия», а также современному состоянию языковой политики в контексте парадигмы русский язык - английский язык. В статье рассмотрены проблемы языкового регулирования и предложена модель лингвообразования, обусловленная социолингвистическими факторами и актуальными глобализационными процессами

Cysteine oxidation and disulfide formation in the ribosomal exit tunnel.

Funder: DFG graduate college: CLiC State of Hesse HMWK: BMRZUnderstanding the conformational sampling of translation-arrested ribosome nascent chain complexes is key to understand co-translational folding. Up to now, coupling of cysteine oxidation, disulfide bond formation and structure formation in nascent chains has remained elusive. Here, we investigate the eye-lens protein γB-crystallin in the ribosomal exit tunnel. Using mass spectrometry, theoretical simulations, dynamic nuclear polarization-enhanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and cryo-electron microscopy, we show that thiol groups of cysteine residues undergo S-glutathionylation and S-nitrosylation and form non-native disulfide bonds. Thus, covalent modification chemistry occurs already prior to nascent chain release as the ribosome exit tunnel provides sufficient space even for disulfide bond formation which can guide protein folding