Commentary on Grandparents in Kinship Care: Help or Hindrance to Family Preservation

Invited commentary on Grandparents in Kinship Care: Help or Hindrance to Family Preservation

Service Delivery in Substance Abuse Treatment: Reexamining "Comprehensive" Care

Outlines findings on organizational characteristics linked with comprehensive services -- core diagnosis and treatment and wraparound services, including transportation and childcare assistance or legal, financial, employment, or medical resources

A Review on Higher Order Spline Techniques for Solving Burgers Equation using B-Spline methods and Variation of B-Spline Techniques

This is a summary of articles based on higher order B-splines methods and the variation of B-spline methods such as Quadratic B-spline Finite Elements Method, Exponential Cubic B-Spline Method Septic B-spline Technique, Quintic B-spline Galerkin Method, and B-spline Galerkin Method based on the Quadratic B-spline Galerkin method (QBGM) and Cubic B-spline Galerkin method (CBGM). In this paper we study the B-spline methods and variations of B-spline techniques to find a numerical solution to the Burgers' equation. A set of fundamental definitions including Burgers equation, spline functions, and B-spline functions are provided. For each method, the main technique is discussed as well as the discretization and stability analysis. A summary of the numerical results is provided and the efficiency of each method presented is discussed. A general conclusion is provided where we look at a comparison between the computational results of all the presented schemes. We describe the effectiveness and advantages of these method

Quadrature by Parity Asymptotic eXpansions (QPAX) for Scattering by High Aspect Ratio Particles

We study scattering by a high aspect ratio particle using boundary integral equation methods. This problem has important applications in nanophotonics problems, including sensing and plasmonic imaging. To illustrate the effect of parity and the need for adapted methods in the presence of high aspect ratio particles, we consider the scattering in two dimensions by a sound-hard, high aspect ratio ellipse. This fundamental problem highlights the main challenge and provides valuable insights to tackle plasmonic problems and general high aspect ratio particles. For this problem, we find that the boundary integral operator is nearly singular due to the collapsing geometry from an ellipse to a line segment. We show that this nearly singular behavior leads to qualitatively different asymptotic behaviors for solutions with different parities. Without explicitly taking this nearly singular behavior and this parity into account, computed solutions incur a large error. To address these challenges, we introduce a new method called quadrature by parity asymptotic expansions (QPAX) that effectively and efficiently addresses these issues. We first develop QPAX to solve the Dirichlet problem for Laplace\u27s equation in a high aspect ratio ellipse. Then, we extend QPAX for scattering by a sound-hard, high aspect ratio ellipse. We demonstrate the effectiveness of QPAX through several numerical examples

Funding Community Controlled Open Infrastructure for Scholarly Communication: The 2.5% Commitment Initiative

This paper describes the 2.5% Commitment Initiative and the work it has done to encourage contributions to shared digital infrastructure. It suggests a path forward and encourages libraries to participate and invest in open scholarly infrastructure

Quadrature by parity asymptotic expansions (QPAX) for scattering by high aspect ratio particles

We study scattering by a high aspect ratio particle using boundary integral equation methods. This problem has important applications in nanophotonics problems, including sensing and plasmonic imaging. Specifically, we consider scattering in two dimensions by a sound-hard, high aspect ratio ellipse. For this problem, we find that the boundary integral operator is nearly singular due to the collapsing geometry from an ellipse to a line segment. We show that this nearly singular behavior leads to qualitatively different asymptotic behaviors for solutions with different parities. Without explicitly taking this nearly singular behavior and this parity into account, computed solutions incur a large error. To address these challenges, we introduce a new method called Quadrature by Parity Asymptotic eXpansions (QPAX) that effectively and efficiently addresses these issues. We first develop QPAX to solve the Dirichlet problem for Laplace’s equation in a high aspect ratio ellipse. Then, we extend QPAX for scattering by a sound-hard, high aspect ratio ellipse. We demonstrate the effectiveness of QPAX through several numerical examples

Physical Activity and Social Cognitive Theory Outcomes of an Internet-Enhanced Physical Activity Intervention for African American Female College Students

Background. African American women report low levels of physical activity (PA) and are disproportionately burdened by related chronic diseases. This pilot study tested a 6-month theory-based (Social Cognitive Theory, SCT) culturally-relevant website intervention to promote PA among African American female college students. Materials and Methods. A single group pre-post test design (n=34) was used. PA and associated SCT constructs (outcome expectations, enjoyment, self-regulation, social support) were assessed at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. Results. The sample was comprised of mostly obese (M BMI= 35.4, SD=6.82) young adults (M age= 21.21 years, SD=2.31). Fifty percent of the sample completed all assessments. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that participants reported a significant median improvement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from 82.5 minutes/week (M=81.76, SD=76.23) at baseline to 115.0 minutes/week (M=122.44,SD=97.93) at 3 months (Wilcoxon z=2.39, p=.02). However these gains appear to have attenuated by 6 months (Median= 82.5 minutes/week, M=96.73, SD=84.20; Wilcoxon z=1.02, p=.31). Significant increases from baseline to 6 months were found in self-regulation for PA (p=.02) and social support for PA from friends (p=.02). Changes in the SCT variables were not significantly associated with changes in PA; however, this may have been due to small sample size. Conclusions. Future studies with larger samples and more aggressive retention strategies (e.g., more frequent incentives, prompts for website use) are needed to further explore the applicability of culturally relevant web-based approaches to promote PA in this at-risk population