Pre-therapy process and outcome: A review of research instruments and findings

Pre-Therapy aims at stimulating psychological contact in persons suffering psychosis. We offer a review of Pre-Therapy research instruments and findings. The Pre-Therapy Rating Scale (PTRS, Prouty, 1994) and the Evaluation Criterion for the Pre-Therapy Interview (ECPI, Dinacci, 1997) have been the two most frequently used instruments for the assessment of psychological contact. PTRS scores seem more reliable than ECPI scores, but all manuals need revision. Particular attention is needed for the rating of nonverbal behavior. A preliminary evaluation of the structure of the PTRS indicates that it is two-dimensional rather than three-dimensional. The PTRS and the ECPI can be regarded as measures of communicative contact but also as measures of the meaningfulness of communication. Preliminary outcome studies suggest that pre-post and comparative effect sizes of Pre-Therapy are large for communicative contact, but the number of participants in these studies is generally low, as is the number of systematic case studies

Markov Chain Analysis Comparison

This Honors Capstone was proposed as a method to develop a greater understanding of modern model-checking tools. To do this the student chose to analyze and compare the results of the tools Prism, Storm, and Stamina. To evaluate the effectiveness of each tool, comparisons were made of the results for running each tool on a simplified communication network. The simplified communication network model used was a CTMC (Continuous-Time Markov Chain) model that employed correct signal transitions and erroneous bit flipping transitions. This was done in an effort to simulate possible errors and faults that can occur between a provider and a receiver. Tool effectiveness was measured by examining the probability and time that the model-checking tool took to verify the communication model’s probability of entering a specific state. The communication model initially starts with all signals at zero, and each signal changes to facilitate a handshaking protocol. In addition to the standard tools that were being tested, it was desired to additionally make a comparison against these tools using an altered form of SSA (Stochastic Simulation Algorithm) being designed in a proposed senior project. This other simultaneous project did in fact achieve and complete the implementation of this altered SSA. The senior project experienced issues in attempting to gain results that could be fairly compared to the other model-checking tools used in this capstone design. Therefore, the results of the altered SSA are not addressed in this report due to the lack of fair comparison. There were multiple initial assumptions made in the capstone design regarding the communication model. The results of using the model-checking tools either confirmed or disproved these assumptions. Educated guesses were used to predict the most probable error states of the communication model as well as for the states with the lowest probability of entry. These error state predictions were disproved when other states were shown to have far lower entry probability than anticipated

Child labor, education, and children's rights

Child labor is widespread, and bad for development, both that of the individual child, and of the society and economy in which she, or he lives. If allowed to persist to the current extent,child labor will prevent the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty, and achieving Education for All. Nearly all of the world's governments have ratified international human rights conventions, which call for the elimination of child labor, and the provision of universal primary education. Fulfilling these commitments is of critical importance for development. This paper reviews the international legal framework relating to child labor, and access to education, and, provides a statistical portrait of child labor and education participation. It looks at why children work from the perspective of household decision-making. Various policy options are considered, including those which improve the incentives to education relative to labor, remove constraints to schooling, and increase education participation through legislation. Conclusions are drawn in the final section.Children and Youth,Child Labor,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Street Children,Youth and Governance

A longitudinal study of convergence changes with age

Longitudinal changes in convergence behavior measured by phoria and duction tests were studied in twenty-one subjects between the ages of 35 and 60 years. The far lateral phoria and base-out duction recovery at near did not change significantly. In agreement with othet· studies, the near lateral phoria was found to shift in an exophoric direction, but only by approximately two prism diopters. A composite measure of the convergence-divergence system (convergence index scores) showed a decline, indicating a loss in ability compared to young adult standards. Wide variations were found both between and within subjects among individual test components of the convergence-divergence system

A User-Level Process Package for Concurrent Computing

A lightweight user-level process(ULP) package for parallel computing is described. Each ULP has its own register context, stack, data and heap space and communication with other ULPs is performed using locally synchronous, location transparent, message passing primitives. The aim of the package is to provide support for lightweight over-decomposition, optimized local communication and transparent dynamic migration. The package supports a subset of the Parallel Virtual Machine(PVM) interface[Sun90)

Four problems with global carbon markets: a critical review

This article offers a critique of global carbon markets and trading, with a special focus on the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. It explores problems with the use of tradable permits to address climate change revolving around four areas: homogeneity, justice, gaming, and information. Homogeneity problems arise from the non-linear nature of climate change and sensitivity of emissions, which complicate attempts to calculate carbon offsets. Justice problems involve issues of dependency and the concentration of wealth among the rich, meaning carbon trading often counteracts attempts to reduce poverty. Gaming problems include pressures to promote high-volume, least-cost projects and the consequences of emissions leakage. Information problems encompass transaction costs related to carbon trading and market participation and the comparatively weak institutional capacity of project evaluators

Crystal Structure of PrgI-SipD: Insight into a Secretion Competent State of the Type Three Secretion System Needle Tip and its Interaction with Host Ligands

Many infectious Gram-negative bacteria, including Salmonella typhimurium, require a Type Three Secretion System (T3SS) to translocate virulence factors into host cells. The T3SS consists of a membrane protein complex and an extracellular needle together that form a continuous channel. Regulated secretion of virulence factors requires the presence of SipD at the T3SS needle tip in S. typhimurium. Here we report three-dimensional structures of individual SipD, SipD in fusion with the needle subunit PrgI, and of SipD:PrgI in complex with the bile salt, deoxycholate. Assembly of the complex involves major conformational changes in both SipD and PrgI. This rearrangement is mediated via a π bulge in the central SipD helix and is stabilized by conserved amino acids that may allow for specificity in the assembly and composition of the tip proteins. Five copies each of the needle subunit PrgI and SipD form the T3SS needle tip complex. Using surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy and crystal structure analysis we found that the T3SS needle tip complex binds deoxycholate with micromolar affinity via a cleft formed at the SipD:PrgI interface. In the structure-based three-dimensional model of the T3SS needle tip, the bound deoxycholate faces the host membrane. Recently, binding of SipD with bile salts present in the gut was shown to impede bacterial infection. Binding of bile salts to the SipD:PrgI interface in this particular arrangement may thus inhibit the T3SS function. The structures presented in this study provide insight into the open state of the T3SS needle tip. Our findings present the atomic details of the T3SS arrangement occurring at the pathogen-host interface

Thursday Keynote Presentation

Dr. Robert Stewart Prouty is the former head of the Global Partnership for Education and was a Lead Education Specialist at the World Bank prior to retirement. He began his career teaching elementary school for five years in the Seventh-day Adventist school system in Canada, followed by six years at the Institut de Lukanga in Congo DRC (then known as Zaire) and 4 years at the Adventist University of Central Africa in Rwanda. He has more than 35 years of experience with international education policy dialogue and sector development and currently works as a consultant for several international organizations, including the European Commission\u27s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development. He also coordinates an online course on Disability-Inclusive Education Planning which is a joint project of the International Institute for Educational Planning and UNICEF. He has written widely on issues related to teacher education, education governance, inclusive education, early childhood education, assessment and policy dialogue. He holds a BA (French, Mathematics) and MA (Educational Administration) from Andrews University and a PhD in Educational Administration and African Studies from Michigan State University

Foro de educación

Resumen basado en la publicaciónTítulo en español e inglésMonográfico con el título: África ante la educaciónEntrevista a Robert (Bob) Prouty, promotor de la educación en los países en vías de desarrollo, y con un conocimiento profundo de la realidad educativa a nivel mundial. Robert (Bob) Prouty, natural de Canadá es director del Secretariado del Global Partnership for Education (GPE, antes FTI, en español Iniciativa por Vía Rápida de Ayuda a la Educación).ES