Typology of alcohol users based on longitudinal patterns of drinking

Objective: Worldwide, alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance. However, heterogeneity among alcohol users has been widely recognized. This paper presents a typology of alcohol users based on an implementation of idiographic methodology to examine longitudinal daily and cyclic (weekly) patterns of alcohol use at the individual level. Method: A secondary data analysis was performed on the pre-intervention data from a large randomized control trial. A time series analysis was performed at the individual level, and a dynamic cluster analysis was employed to identify homogenous longitudinal patterns of drinking behavior at the group level. The analysis employed 180 daily observations of alcohol use in a sample of 177 alcohol users. Results: The first order autocorrelations ranged from − .76 to .72, and seventh order autocorrelations ranged from − .27 to .79. Eight distinct profiles of alcohol users were identified, each characterized by a unique configuration of first and seventh autoregressive terms and longitudinal trajectories of alcohol use. External validity of the profiles confirmed the theoretical relevance of different patterns of alcohol use. Significant differences among the eight subtypes were found on gender, marital status, frequency of drug use, lifetime alcohol dependence, family history of alcohol use and the Short Index of Problems. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that individuals can have very different temporal patterns of drinking behavior. The daily and cyclic patterns of alcohol use may be important for designing tailored interventions for problem drinkers

Inclusion of Enclosed Hydration Effects in the Binding Free Energy Estimation of Dopamine D3 Receptor Complexes

Confined hydration and conformational flexibility are some of the challenges encountered for the rational design of selective antagonists of G-protein coupled receptors. We present a set of C3-substituted (-)-stepholidine derivatives as potent binders of the dopamine D3 receptor. The compounds are characterized biochemically, as well as by computer modeling using a novel molecular dynamics-based alchemical binding free energy approach which incorporates the effect of the displacement of enclosed water molecules from the binding site. The free energy of displacement of specific hydration sites is obtained using the Hydration Site Analysis method with explicit solvation. This work underscores the critical role of confined hydration and conformational reorganization in the molecular recognition mechanism of dopamine receptors and illustrates the potential of binding free energy models to represent these key phenomena.Comment: This is the first report of using enclosed hydration in estimating binding free energies of protein-ligand complexes using implicit solvatio

In the wake of hospital inquiries : impact on staff and safety

Mishandled concerns about clinical standards resulted in whistleblowing in four Australian hospitals. Official inquiries followed with recommendations to improve patient safety. In the aftermath of the inquiries, common themes included loss of trust in management and among clinical colleagues, and loss of trust from patients and the community. Without first rebuilding trust, staff will not report mistakes or other concerns about safety. Successful implementation of patient safety procedures requires policies to stress the professional duty of staff to report concerns about colleagues when they believe there is a risk to patients.<br /

IXPE Mirror Module Assemblies

Expected to launch in 2021 Spring, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Astrophysics Small Explorer Mission with significant contributions from the Italian space agency (ASI). The IXPE observatory features three identical x-ray telescopes, each comprised of a 4-m-focal-length mirror module assembly (MMA, provided by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center) that focuses x rays onto a polarization-sensitive, imaging detector (contributed by ASI-funded institutions). This paper summarizes the MMAs design, fabrication, alignment and assembly, expected performance, and calibration plans

Strategic Analysis for a Selected Company

Import 06/11/2014Tématem mé diplomové práce je „strategická analýza vybraného podniku“. Pro analýzu jsem vybrala společnost ČEZ, a. s. Cílem diplomové práce je na základě vybraných analýz provést strategickou analýzu a připravit pro ni doporučení pro další období. V teoretické části jsem popsala jednotlivé metody strategické analýzy. V této části je také představen podnik, který byl hodnocen. V praktické části jsem využila poznatků z teoretické části a aplikovala metody na podnik. Informace byly čerpány z interních výkazů podniku a od veřejných institucí. V závěru jsem shrnula všechny dosažené výsledky a předložila doporučení pro další období.The theme of my thesis is "strategic analysis of selected company". I have chosen company ČEZ, a.s. for the analysis. The aim of this thesis is to create strategic analysis based on selected strategic analysis methods and to prepare recommendations for the future period based on this strategic analysis. The theoretical part describes individual methods of strategic analysis. This section also introduces the company which is being evaluated. The practical part uses knowledge from theoretical part and applies the methods to analyse the company. The information about company was drawn from internal company statements and from public institutions. The Conclusion summarizes all results and makes recommendations for the future period.115 - Katedra managementudobř

Full-Shell X-Ray Optics Development at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) maintains an active research program toward the development of high-resolution, lightweight, grazing-incidence x-ray optics to serve the needs of future x-ray astronomy missions such as Lynx. MSFC development efforts include both direct fabrication (diamond turning and deterministic computer-controlled polishing) of mirror shells and replication of mirror shells (from figured, polished mandrels). Both techniques produce full-circumference monolithic (primary + secondary) shells that share the advantages of inherent stability, ease of assembly, and low production cost. However, to achieve high-angular resolution, MSFC is exploring significant technology advances needed to control sources of figure error including fabrication- and coating-induced stresses and mounting-induced distortions

Status of Multi-beam Long Trace-profiler Development

The multi-beam long trace profiler (MB-LTP) is under development at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The traditional LTPs scans the surface under the test by a single laser beam directly measuring the surface figure slope errors. While capable of exceptional surface slope accuracy, the LTP single beam scanning has slow measuring speed. Metrology efficiency can be increased by replacing the single laser beam with multiple beams that can scan a section of the test surface at a single instance. The increase in speed with such a system would be almost proportional to the number of laser beams. The progress for a multi-beam long trace profiler development is presented

Calibrating the IXPE Observatory from Ground to Space

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) will be the next SMEX mission launched by NASA in 2021 in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI). IXPE will perform groundbreaking measurements of imaging polarization in X-rays for a number of different classes of sources with three identical telescopes, finally (re)opening a window in the high energy Universe after more than 40 years since the first pioneering results. The unprecedented sensitivity of IXPE to polarization poses peculiar requirements on the payload calibration, e.g. the use of polarized and completely unpolarized radiation, both on ground and in orbit, and can not rely on a systematic comparison with results obtained by previous observatories. In this paper, we will present the IXPE calibration plan, describing both calibrations which will be performed on the detectors at INAF-IAPS in Rome (Italy) and the calibration on the mirror and detector assemblies which will be carried out at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. On orbit calibrations, performed with calibrations sources mounted on a filter wheel and placed in front of each detector when necessary, will be presented as well