Internet Delivery of PREP-Based Relationship Education for Older Couples

Healthy marriage has been associated with increased longevity and better health in later life. At the same time, many older couples will confront age-related stressors that may result in relationship distress, such as declining health, decisions about retirement, and caring for elderly parents and/or adult children. Yet empirical knowledge of relationship dynamics among older couples is limited, and there appears to have been little development, provision, or assessment of research-based relationship services for this population. In the current study, 93 individuals representing 61 older-adult couples participated in a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial of an online version of the Prevention and Relationship Education Program (PREP). Participants completed questionnaires about their relationship and individual health prior to random assignment, and again one month later. Participants were randomly assigned (at the couple level) to receive access to the online intervention after either the first or second assessment. Data from the baseline assessment were used to examine older-adult relationship dynamics. Among six relationship dynamics, only positive bonding and skillful communication had significant unique associations with overall relationship satisfaction. Only negative communication had a significant unique association with financial stress, and only positive bonding was significantly, uniquely associated with mental health, and only among men. At the follow-up assessment, couples who had received access to the online intervention reported significantly greater recent use of skillful communication, on average, than couples assigned to wait-list. Gender moderated this effect, with only female participants reporting increased use of skillful communication following assignment to immediate intervention. Group differences in the secondary outcomes of relationship satisfaction, other relationship dynamics, and physical and mental health did not achieve significance. Intervention participants reported moderate-to-high benefit from and satisfaction with the online program. In addition to suggesting avenues for research on older adult relationship dynamics, the relationship-science results can inform programming decisions for relationship interventions specifically targeting older adults. Results for the feasibility trial of Internet-based PREP with older adults suggest that online relationship education for this population is feasible, and likely should incorporate strategies for promoting male engagement. Impact was limited but encouraging, thus supporting further research of this nature using larger, longer-term, and more diverse samples of older couples

A Square Peg in a Round Hole: The Proper Substantial Similarity Test for Nonliteral Aspects of Computer Programs

Since the Third Circuit\u27s decision in Whelan Associates, Inc. v. Jaslow Dental Laboratory, Inc. expanded copyright protection to include the nonliteral aspects of computer programs, courts have struggled to find a way to properly determine substantial similarity between programs, a necessary element of copyright infringement. In the Third Circuit, courts dissect competing programs and compare them in a one-step procedure. The Ninth Circuit uses a two-part process to objectively, and then subjectively, compare program elements. In Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc. the Second Circuit recommended a three-part substantial similarity test to filter out unprotectable elements and compare the remaining core expression. This Comment argues that existing tests are inadequate because they fail to consider programs as a whole and use inappropriate analytical techniques resulting in the loss of protection for nonliteral elements. This Comment proposes the use of a two-tiered substantial similarity test that considers the computer program as an integrated whole and as separate components. This approach would enable courts to fully protect programmers\u27 rights in the original nonliteral aspects of their computer programs

Inverse modeling of soil characteristics from surface soil moisture observations: potential and limitations

International audienceLand surface models (LSM) are widely used as scientific and operational tools to simulate mass and energy fluxes within the soil vegetation atmosphere continuum for numerous applications in meteorology, hydrology or for geobiochemistry studies. A reliable parameterization of these models is important to improve the simulation skills. Soil moisture is a key variable, linking the water and energy fluxes at the land surface. An appropriate parameterisation of soil hydraulic properties is crucial to obtain reliable simulation of soil water content from a LSM scheme. Parameter inversion techniques have been developed for that purpose to infer model parameters from soil moisture measurements at the local scale. On the other hand, remote sensing methods provide a unique opportunity to estimate surface soil moisture content at different spatial scales and with different temporal frequencies and accuracies. The present paper investigates the potential to use surface soil moisture information to infer soil hydraulic characteristics using uncertain observations. Different approaches to retrieve soil characteristics from surface soil moisture observations is evaluated and the impact on the accuracy of the model predictions is quantified. The results indicate that there is in general potential to improve land surface model parameterisations by assimilating surface soil moisture observations. However, a high accuracy in surface soil moisture estimates is required to obtain reliable estimates of soil characteristics