Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationEvaluating the effectiveness of psychotherapy services, such as through client ratings of mental health symptoms, is a vital component of maintaining quality of care. However, the performance of psychotherapy outcome measures is not fully understood. Specifically, there are gaps in knowledge regarding the convergent validity of two widely disseminated measures, the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) and the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ). The purpose of this study is to test the comparability of the OQ and the CCAPS as psychotherapy outcome measures. The first step to address this research question is to test the convergent validity of OQ Total scores and CCAPS Distress Index scores. Further analyses examine the relationship between these two general distress scores and the subscales of both instruments, which informs the question of whether the two instruments are providing similar or unique information. Clients at one college counseling center completed both the CCAPS and the OQ at every counseling session. The primary method of analysis was multivariate multilevel modeling, in which occasions were nested within clients. More specifically, the Bayesian mixed effects models fit provides point estimates and highest posterior density (HPD) intervals from the simulated parameters. In examining the correlation of the client-level random effects for the OQ Total score and CCAPS Distress Index, the mode of the posterior distribution of the correlated random effects was r = 0.967, HPD[.962, .971], suggesting that the two measures are highly correlated. Unfortunately, when we included session number as part of the model, the multivariate multilevel model did not appear to converge appropriately. Analyses comparing various subscales on both instruments revealed high correlations frequently, though some smaller correlations did exist where they might be expected, thus demonstrating divergent validity. The CCAPS Distress Index and the OQ Total score provide very similar information. Further, the CCAPS subscales do provide some additive information beyond the general measure of distress. Thus, college counseling centers can consider other practical and psychometric factors in deciding which instrument to use, based on their center, clientele, and institution

An LP-based inconsistency monitoring of pairwise comparison matrices

A distance-based inconsistency indicator, defined by the third author for the consistency-driven pairwise comparisons method, is extended to the incomplete case. The corresponding optimization problem is transformed into an equivalent linear programming problem. The results can be applied in the process of filling in the matrix as the decision maker gets automatic feedback. As soon as a serious error occurs among the matrix elements, even due to a misprint, a significant increase in the inconsistency index is reported. The high inconsistency may be alarmed not only at the end of the process of filling in the matrix but also during the completion process. Numerical examples are also provided

Looking Globally, Seeing Locally: Exploring Some Myths of Globalisation in Academia

Globalisation is a buzz word in many discussions of current social and communicative change, where it resounds in different voices and in various keys. The present paper looks at some globalizing tendencies of today from the perspective of some ideologies and practices, whether past or present, including universalism (and relativism), (anti-)intellectualism, and the pos- tulates of (non-)rhetorical research writing. The role of English as academic lingua franca is discussed against the pressures for new ventriloquation. This is done from the perspective of Polish, a “minor” linguistic and academic community, with special attention to the situ- ation of English studies. An argument is put forward that a major effect of globalization is the rise of reverse, localizing, ideologies and practices.Globalización es un término de moda que resuena con distintas voces y tonos en muchas discusiones sobre los cambios comunicativos y sociales que están ocurriendo hoy en día. Este artículo examina alguna de las actuales tendencias globalizadoras desde la perspectiva de ciertas ideologías y prácticas, presentes o pasadas, que incluyen el universalismo (y el relativismo), el (anti)intelectualismo y los postulados de la investigación (no)retórica de la escritura académica. El papel del inglés como lingua franca académica se aborda en el marco de la imposición de una nueva forma de ventriloquia. Estos temas se enfocan desde la perspectiva de una comunidad académica y lingüística “menor,” la polaca, prestando espe- cial atención a la situación de los estudios ingleses. Asimismo se argumenta que un efecto significativo de la globalización es la aparición de prácticas e ideologías localizadoras e inversas

BridgeHand2Vec Bridge Hand Representation

Contract bridge is a game characterized by incomplete information, posing an exciting challenge for artificial intelligence methods. This paper proposes the BridgeHand2Vec approach, which leverages a neural network to embed a bridge player's hand (consisting of 13 cards) into a vector space. The resulting representation reflects the strength of the hand in the game and enables interpretable distances to be determined between different hands. This representation is derived by training a neural network to estimate the number of tricks that a pair of players can take. In the remainder of this paper, we analyze the properties of the resulting vector space and provide examples of its application in reinforcement learning, and opening bid classification. Although this was not our main goal, the neural network used for the vectorization achieves SOTA results on the DDBP2 problem (estimating the number of tricks for two given hands)

Proactive, Not Reactive: Evolving Elm Management in the Nation\u27s Capital

Washington D.C. is home to many historic elm corridors managed in close partnership between numerous urban forestry stakeholders. In recent years, the city\u27s elms have been used as part of streetscape revitalization initiatives due to their quick-growing nature. The use of a popular Ulmus americana cultivar, Princeton, has brought about notable challenges in urban tree management. From the nursery to the tree box and even ten years later, these elms have required consistent attention in order to adequately train the form to achieve a sustainable canopy while minimizing structural defects. Two such plantings are explored, both with hand-selected trees from the same stock and nursery. These serve to highlight the differences between traditional urban forestry plantings and those under constant and careful scrutiny

Coverage-dependent adsorption sites in the K/Ru(0001) system: a low-energy electron-diffraction analysis

The two ordered phases p(2 × 2) at a coverage θ = 0.25 and (√3 × √3)R30° at θ = 0.33 of potassium adsorbed on Ru(0001) were analyzed by use of low-energy electron-diffraction (LEED). In the (√3 × √3)R30° phase, the K atoms occupy threefold hcp sites, while in the p(2 × 2) phase the fcc site is favoured. In both phases, the K hard-sphere radii are nearly the same and close to the covalent Pauling radius

Breast Cancer Screening in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Lung and Colorectal Cancer: A Population-Based Study of Utilization

Purpose—To assess breast cancer screening utilization in Medicare beneficiaries with colorectal and lung cancer versus cancer-free controls. Methods—Female fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries who were ≥ 67 years old and diagnosed with lung or colorectal cancer between 2000 and 2011 and who reported to a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry (case group) were followed for 2 years after their diagnoses, unless death, a diagnosis of breast cancer, or the end of 2013 came first. A similar number of cancer-free controls were individually matched to cases by age, race, registry region, and follow-up time. Screening utilization was defined as the percentage of women with ≥1 screening mammogram during follow-up. Results—Overall, 104,164 cases (48% colorectal, 52% lung; 30% advanced cancer) and 104,164 controls were included. Among women with lung or colorectal cancer, 22% underwent ≥ 1 screening mammogram versus 26% of controls (odds ratio [OR] 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.78–0.82). Stratified by cancer type, 28% of colorectal cancer cases versus 29% of controls (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.95–1.01) and 17% of lung cancer cases versus 23% of controls (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.60–0.65) received ≥ 1 mammogram. When stratified by stage, 8% with advanced cancer versus 18% of controls (OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.31–0.35) and 30% with early-stage cancer versus 30% of controls (OR 1; 95% CI 0.97–1.02) underwent ≥ 1 mammogram. Conclusion—Screening mammography utilization rates are similar between Medicare beneficiaries with early-stage cancer versus controls. Although the majority of patients with advanced-stage cancer appropriately do not pursue screening mammography, a small number (8%) continue with screening

Ellipsometric detection of transitional surface structures on decapped GaAs(001)

Structural and optical properties of MBE-grown GaAs(001) surface have been studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and single-wavelength ellipsometry under dynamic conditions of ramp heating after desorption of passivating As-cap-layer with and without As4 beam applied to the surface. For a number metastable reconstruction transitions a clear correlation is stablished between diffraction and optical data. Boundary lines for transitional superstructures are determined as a function of As flux and corresponding activation energies are estimated. For the first time it is shown ellipsometrically that optical response of the surface is drastically different for transitions of the order->order and order->disorder type.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures Keywords: GaAs, surface reconstructions, ellipsometr

Initial Impact of COVID-19 on Radiology Practices: An ACR/RBMA Survey

© 2020 American College of Radiology Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected radiology practices in many ways. The aim of this survey was to estimate declines in imaging volumes and financial impact across different practice settings during April 2020. Methods: The survey, comprising 48 questions, was conducted among members of the ACR and the Radiology Business Management Association during May 2020. Survey questions focused on practice demographics, volumes, financials, personnel and Northwell Health adjustments, and anticipation of recovery. Results: During April 2020, nearly all radiology practices reported substantial (56.4%-63.7%) declines in imaging volumes, with outpatient imaging volumes most severely affected. Mean gross charges declined by 50.1% to 54.8% and collections declined by 46.4% to 53.9%. Percentage reductions did not correlate with practice size. The majority of respondents believed that volumes would recover but not entirely (62%-88%) and anticipated a short-term recovery, with a surge likely in the short term due to postponement of elective imaging (52%-64%). About 16% of respondents reported that radiologists in their practices tested positive for COVID-19. More than half (52.3%) reported that availability of personal protective equipment had become an issue or was inadequate. A majority (62.3%) reported that their practices had existing remote reading or teleradiology capabilities in place before the pandemic, and 22.3% developed such capabilities in response to the pandemic. Conclusions: Radiology practices across different settings experienced substantial declines in imaging volumes and collections during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. Most are actively engaged in both short- and long-term operational adjustments