Children of alcoholics: A review of the literature

There are twenty-eight to thirty-four million children of alcoholics in the United States (Black, 1981; Edwards and Zander, 1985). Of these, twelve to fifteen million are currently living in alcoholic homes (Black, 1982). Children of alcoholics are three to four times more likely to become alcoholics themselves and half will marry an alcoholic (Parker, 1986). Studies have shown that alcoholism is involved in up to ninety percent of child abuse and neglect cases (Newlon and Furrow, 1986). Alcoholism is seen, then, as a source of distress for millions of Americans and a major problem facing society today. Children of alcoholics grow up in an environment in which family life is inconsistent, unpredictable, arbitrary, and chaotic (Bowden and Gravitz, 1985). They grow up being influenced by their parents and live in a world of fear (Harold, 1981). Kritsberg (1985), found that growing up in an alcoholic family can be like a series of trauma/shock/repressions. Many children of alcoholics suffer from chronic shock as a result of the inability of the family to effectively resolve the traumatic shock experience

Attending to conditions that facilitate intercultural competence: A reciprocal service-learning approach

Although service-learning can support the development of intercultural competence, it has also maintained power differentials, reinforced privileged perspectives, and strengthened deficit thinking. Recent research has investigated the conditions within service-learning associated with positive change in diversity-related attitudes. We extend that work, conceptualizing a reciprocal service-learning (RSL) approach that integrates conditions posited by contact theory and the process model of intercultural competence into service-learning’s core features of reflection and reciprocity. In an RSL approach, transformational reciprocity at the participant level supports cultural awareness, interdependence, and parity between participant groups. We created an RSL experience and measured change in three attitudes fundamental to the development of intercultural competence with quantitative pre- and post-surveys. Results indicate that both participant groups—native English-speaking undergraduate students and international English language learners—experienced significant growth. This study responds to calls for quantitative pre- and post-research methods and the assessment of outcomes for all service-learning participants

Toward a Core Design to Distribute an Execution on a Many-Core Processor

International audienceThis paper presents a parallel execution model and a many-core processor design to run C programs in parallel. The model automatically builds parallel sections of machine instructions from the run trace. It parallelizes instructions fetches, renamings, executions and retirements. Predictor based fetch is replaced by a fetch-decode-and-partly-execute stage able to compute in-order most of the control instructions. Tomasulo's register renaming is extended to memory with a technique to match consumer/producer pairs. The Reorder Buffer is adapted to allow parallel retirement. The model is presented on a sum reduction example which is also used to give a short analytical evaluation of the model performance potential

H5N1 Clade 2.2 Polymorphism Tracing Identifies Influenza Recombination and Potential Vaccine Targets

Highly pathogenic Influenza A H5N1 was first identified in Guangdong Province in 1996, followed by human cases in Hong Kong in 1997 1. The number of confirmed human cases now exceeds 300 and the associated Case Fatality Rate exceeds 60% 2. The genetic diversity of the serotype continues to increase. Four distinct clades or sub-clades have been linked to human cases 3.4. The gradual genetic changes identified in the sub-clades have been attributed to copy errors by viral encoded polymerases that lack an editing function, thereby resulting in antigenic drift 5. We traced polymorphism acquisition in Clade 2.2 sequences. We report here the concurrent acquisition of the same polymorphism by multiple, genetically distinct, Clade 2.2 sub-clades in Egypt, Russia and Ghana. These changes are not easily explained by the current theory of “random mutation” through copy error, and are more easily explained by recombination with a common source. This conclusion is supported by additional polymorphisms shared by Clade 2.2 isolates in Egypt, Nigeria and Germany including aggregation of regional polymorphisms from each of these areas into a single Nigerian human hemagglutinin gene

Attachment as a framework to facilitate empowerment for people with severe mental illness

Objectives:  Recovery and empowerment have evolved into key objectives in the treatment and care of people with severe mental illness (SMI), and interest has grown in the role of social relationships in recovery. This study is the first to explore whether attachment styles are related to levels of empowerment, and secondly, whether attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance are associated with lower empowerment levels, independently of quality and frequency of social contact.  Design:  We used a cross-sectional design. Methods: In a sample of 157 participants with SMI in outpatient care, associations between attachment (Revised Adult Attachment Scale), self-reported social functioning, and empowerment (Netherlands Empowerment List) were assessed.  Results:  Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were both associated with lower levels of empowerment. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the prediction of empowerment was significantly improved by adding attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance to quality and frequency of social contact. Attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and quality of social contact were significant predictors; frequency of social contact was not.  Conclusions:  Although our design does not allow causal conclusions, our results highlight the importance of interpersonal processes and behaviours as routes to improving empowerment for people with SMI. A promising approach might thus consist of securing attachment bonds with significant others so that the self and the other are perceived as reliable resources. Our findings also feature the importance of reciprocity and equality in social relationships. Taken together, our study emphasizes the value of social, contextualized interventions in recovery work for people with SMI.  Practitioner points:  Working towards attachment safety in interpersonal relations may be important in recovery-oriented treatment and care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). Helping people with SMI to recognize and change how they tend to relate themselves to others may promote engagement and effectiveness of recovery-oriented treatment and care. Reciprocity and equality in social relationships as vital complements to the more one-sided nature of ‘standing alongside’ and offering support may be important requisites for empowerment

3D characterization of diffusivities and its impact on mass flux and concentration overpotential in SOFC anodes

In recent years great effort has been taken to understand the effect of gas transport on the performance of electrochemical devices. This study aims to characterize the diffusion regimes and the possible inaccuracies of the mass transport calculation in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) anodes when a volume-averaged pore diameter is used. 3D pore size distribution is measured based on the extracted pore phase from an X-ray CT scan, which is further used for the calculation of a Knudsen number (Kn) map in the porous medium, followed by the voxel-based distribution of the effective diffusion coefficients for different fuel gases. Diffusion fluxes in a binary gas mixture using the lower boundary, upper boundary and average effective coefficients are compared, and the impact on overpotential is analyzed. The results show that pore diameters from tens to hundreds of nanometers result in a broad range of Knudsen number (1.1 ∼ 4.8 and 0.6 ∼ 3 for H2 and CH4 respectively), indicative of the transitional diffusion regime. The results highlight that for a porous material, such as an SOFC anode where Knudsen effects are non-negligible, using a volume-averaged pore size can overestimate the mass flux by ±200% compared to the actual value. The characteristic pore size should be chosen sensibly in order to improve the reliability of the mass transport and electrochemical performance evaluation

Target prediction for small, noncoding RNAs in bacteria

Many small, noncoding RNAs in bacteria act as post-transcriptional regulators by basepairing with target mRNAs. While the number of characterized small RNAs (sRNAs) has steadily increased, only a limited number of the corresponding mRNA targets have been identified. Here we present a program, TargetRNA, that predicts the targets of these bacterial RNA regulators. The program was evaluated by assessing whether previously known targets could be identified. The program was then used to predict targets for the Escherichia coli RNAs RyhB, OmrA, OmrB and OxyS, and the predictions were compared with changes in whole genome expression patterns observed upon expression of the sRNAs. Our results show that TargetRNA is a useful tool for finding mRNA targets of sRNAs, although its rate of success varies between sRNAs

Tracking internal temperature and structural dynamics during nail penetration of lithium-ion cells

Mechanical abuse of lithium-ion batteries is widely used during testing to induce thermal runaway, characterize associated risks, and expose cell and module vulnerabilities. However, the repeatability of puncture or ‘nail penetration’ tests is a key issue as there is often a high degree of variability in the resulting thermal runaway process. In this work, the failure mechanisms of 18650 cells punctured at different locations and orientations are characterized with respect to their internal structural degradation, and both their internal and surface temperature, all of which are monitored in real time. The initiation and propagation of thermal runaway is visualized via high-speed synchrotron X-ray radiography at 2000 frames per second, and the surface and internal temperatures are recorded via infrared imaging and a thermocouple embedded in the tip of the penetrating nail, respectively. The influence of the nail, as well as how and where it penetrates the cell, on the initiation and propagation of thermal runaway is described and the suitability of this test method for representing in-field failures is discussed

Concurrent Acquisition of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in Diverse Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.2 Sub-clades

Highly pathogenic Influenza A H5N1 was first identified in Guangdong Province in 1996, followed by human cases in Hong Kong in 1997. The number of confirmed human cases now exceeds 300, and the associated Case Fatality Rate exceeds 60%. The genetic diversity of the serotype continues to increase. Four distinct clades or sub-clades have been linked to human cases. The gradual genetic changes identified in the sub-clades have been attributed to copy errors by viral encoded polymerases that lack an editing function, thereby resulting in antigenic drift. We report here the concurrent acquisition of the same polymorphism by multiple, genetically distinct, clade 2.2 sub-clades in Egypt, Russia, and Ghana. These changes are not easily explained by the current theory of “random mutation” through copy error, and are more easily explained by recombination with a common source. This conclusion is supported by additional polymorphisms shared by clade 2.2 isolates in Egypt and Germany