bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Focus on participation for children and youth with disabilities: Supporting therapy practice through a guided knowledge translation process
Authors: Anaby Dana , Korner-Bitensky Nicol , Law Mary , Cormier Isabelle
Published: May 2015

Introduction

Participation in community leisure occupations of children with disabilities is important, yet poorly integrated into practice. This knowledge translation strategy tested an intervention to increase clinicians' awareness and to bring about change in practice toward a focus on participation.

Method

During this qualitative study, 14 clinicians participated in six learning sessions facilitated by a knowledge broker. Three months post-intervention, clinicians were individually interviewed, by drawing on the Professional Evaluation and Reflection on Change Tool, to evaluate potential change in practice. Two researchers independently performed thematic data analysis.

Results

Impact on practice emerged in both the personal and professional levels (for example, empowerment, validation of clinical wisdom, change in thinking and behavior). Clinicians suggested strategies for integrating participation in their day-to-day practice, illustrating a substantial intention for change, while describing barriers and facilitators for implementation (for example, organizational mandate). Two additional themes described the overall experience of the intervention: motivation to learn (for example, desire to link research to practice) and elements of the learning environment (for example, meeting informational needs).

Conclusion

This strategy was effective in redirecting clinicians' focus toward the notion of participation and establishing readiness for change. This shift can potentially facilitate new programs in occupational therapy that are participation-based and community-focused.
Toward a pragmatic migraine model for drug testing: 1. Cilostazol in healthy volunteers
Authors: Hansen Emma Katrine , Guo Song , Ashina Messoud , Olesen Jes
Published: May 2015

Background

A model for the testing of novel antimigraine drugs should ideally use healthy volunteers for ease of recruiting. Cilostazol provokes headache in healthy volunteers with some migraine features such as pulsating pain quality and aggravation by physical activity. Therefore, this headache might respond to sumatriptan, a requirement for validation. The hypothesis of the present study was that sumatriptan but not placebo is effective in cilostazol-induced headache in healthy individuals.

Methods

In a double-blind, randomized, cross-over design, 30 healthy volunteers of both sexes received cilostazol 200 mg on two separate days, each day followed by oral self-administered placebo or sumatriptan 50 mg. Headache response and accompanying symptoms were registered in a questionnaire by the participants themselves.

Results

Cilostazol induced a reproducible headache in 90% of the participants. The headache had several migraine-like features in most individuals. Median peak headache score was 2 on the sumatriptan day and 3 on the placebo day ( p = 0.17). There was no reduction in headache intensity two hours after sumatriptan ( p = 0.97) and difference in AUC 0 to four hours between two experimental days was not significant ( p = 0.18). On the placebo day eight participants took rescue medication compared to 3 on the sumatriptan day ( p = 0.13).

Conclusion

Despite similarities with migraine headache, cilostazol-induced headache in healthy volunteers does not respond to sumatriptan.
From Sex Objects to Human Beings
Authors: Bernard Philippe , Gervais Sarah J. , Allen Jill , Delmée Alice , Klein Olivier
Published: May 2015

Recent studies have shown that sexualized female bodies are objectified at a cognitive level. Research using the body-inversion recognition task, a robust indicator of configural (vs. analytic processing) within cognitive psychology, shows that for sexualized female bodies, people recognize upright and inverted bodies similarly rather than recognizing upright bodies better than inverted bodies (i.e., an inversion effect). This finding suggests that sexualized female bodies, like objects, are recognized analytically (rather than configurally). Nonetheless, it remains unclear when and why sexualized female bodies are objectified at a basic cognitive level. Grounded in objectification theory, the present experiments examine moderating factors that may prompt more configural processing (i.e., produce an inversion effect) and less objectification of sexualized female bodies. Replicating previous research, sexualized male bodies elicited more configural processing and less objectification compared to sexualized female bodies. We then examined whether reducing the salience of sexual body parts (Experiments 2a and 2b) and adding humanizing information about the targets (Experiment 3) causes perceivers to recognize female bodies more configurally, reducing the cognitive objectification of women. Implications for sexual objectification theory and research, as well as the role of humanizing often-dehumanized sexy women, are discussed. Additional online materials for this article are available to PWQ subscribers on PWQ’s website at http://pwq.sagepub.com/supplemental .
Ethnic-group Differences in Retail Enterprise
Authors: Boyd Robert L.
Published: May 2015

Applying the idea that ethnic enterprise benefits from the vertical integration of complementary economic activities, the present study examines ethnic-group differences in the retail trade in the late nineteenth century. Census data are used to estimate a regression model that explains retail enterprise as an outcome affected by wholesale enterprise and by the vertical integration of retail and wholesale enterprise. The results provide insights into the under- or overrepresentation of ethnic groups in the retail trade. For example, even if blacks had the same level of wholesale enterprise as did whites, and had vertically integrated retail and wholesale enterprise to the same extent as did the latter, blacks still would have been greatly underrepresented as merchants in the retail trade. This finding implies that blacks’ underrepresentation was substantially affected by outright discrimination against black retail merchants as well as by blacks’ extraordinarily low level of wholesale enterprise.
Urban Mascots and Poverty Fetishism
Authors: Benz Terressa A.
Published: May 2015

Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing a transformation from concentrated disadvantage to vibrant city center. Using ethnographic research conducted in the gentrifying Historic Core of Los Angeles, I find that the presence of some original residents is encouraged as they help create the gritty and risky atmosphere valued by the new urbanites moving to the area who equate poverty with authenticity in a form of poverty fetishism. I focus here on a subsection of the low-income downtown population, who I call “urban mascots,” whose value lies in their ability to embody stereotypical attributes of poverty. I create a typology of urban mascots based on the type of interactions they are willing to have with those seeking experiences with urban poverty. In the end, I argue that urban mascots provide the new gentrifying residents with a cast of nonthreatening and charismatic characters who represent for them a consumable authentic urban experience.
Lifting
Authors: McLane-Davison Denise
Published: May 2015

This phenomenological study captured the unique perspectives and insight of how 10 black women experience and define leadership in their HIV/AIDS community work. Black feminist epistemology provided the framework for understanding how these women experienced leadership at the intersection of race/gender/power while working on behalf of marginalized and stigmatized community members. Salient themes that emerged from the analysis include leadership is situational and contextual, leadership is inclusive and collective, intent is more important than label, leadership is transformative, leadership is scrutinized, and power is centered in mothering relationships. Their leadership builds on the efforts of the liberation and racial uplift work of the 19th-century Black Women’s Club Movement and emerged as black feminist leadership to address the contemporary social injustice of HIV/AIDS.
Investigation on the development and the controllability of a compact multi-functional, fully variable-valve-actuation system
Authors: Cui Jingchen , Long Wuqiang , Yang Tianhao , Tian Hua , Wang Yang , Tian Jiangping
Published: May 2015

A compact multi-functional, fully variable valve actuation system for six-cylinder engines was proposed. The system can run in both the drive mode and the brake mode of internal-combustion engines. With the help of a distributor, fully variable valve events were achieved with two oil-supply sets, two solenoid valves and one drain valve. The operational parameters of the valve can be adjusted independently for individual cylinders. A numerical study on the controllability of the system was carried out with AVL Hydsim. The calculation results revealed that the timing of the valve opening, the maximum lift, the duration and the time–area value can be adjusted independently or synchronously by controlling the solenoid valves and/or the drain valve. Further correlation analysis results revealed that all the operational parameters of the valve had approximately linear relationships with the corresponding control parameters, and all the correlation coefficients were larger than 0.95, indicating good controllability of the system.
Design and application of lightweight multi-objective collaborative optimization for a parametric body-in-white structure
Authors: Wang Chuan-Qing , Wang Deng-Feng , Zhang Shuai
Published: May 2015

The static bending and torsional stiffnesses, the lower-order modal frequencies of a body-in-white structure and the full frontal-crash and side-impact passive safety performances are simulated with finite element models which are generated on the basis of the implicit parametric model. The implicit parametric model is established through SFE CONCEPT software. The simulation results are compared with tests to validate the simulation analysis results. It is proposed that the multi-objective optimization is divided into non-safety parts optimization, frontal-crash safety parts optimization and side-impact safety parts optimization, which is computationally more efficient than optimizing the non-safety parts, the frontal-crash safety parts and the side-impact safety parts simultaneously. In this paper, the lightweight multi-objective collaborative optimization design of the body-in-white structure is conducted for a passenger car by optimizing the thickness, the beam section shape and the size; while maintaining the performances of the static bending and torsional stiffnesses, the lower-order modal frequency decreases to less than 5% of the initial value, and the full-frontal-crash and side-impact passive safety performances remain almost the same. Structural modifications are applied by means of implicit parametric technology, providing changes in the geometry in a fully controllable manner. After comparison between the optimized body-in-white structure and the initial structure, the mass decreased in total by 32.41 kg (i.e. by as high as 7.63%). The decreases in the performances of the bending and torsional stiffnesses are less than 2.54%; the bending and torsional frequencies increased a little, and the frontal-crash and side-impact passive safety performances underwent almost no change.
Pre-Columbian land use in the ring-ditch region of the Bolivian Amazon
Authors: Carson John F , Watling Jennifer , Mayle Francis E , Whitney Bronwen S , Iriarte José , Prümers Heiko , Soto J Daniel
Published: May 2015

The nature and extent of pre-Columbian (pre-AD 1492) human impact in Amazonia is a contentious issue. The Bolivian Amazon has yielded some of the most impressive evidence for large and complex pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon basin, yet there remains relatively little data concerning the land use of these societies over time. Palaeoecology, when integrated with archaeological data, has the potential to fill these gaps in our knowledge. We present a 6000-year record of anthropogenic burning, agriculture and vegetation change, from an oxbow lake located adjacent to a pre-Columbian ring ditch in north-east Bolivia (13°15′44″S, 63°42′37″W). Human occupation around the lake site is inferred from pollen and phytoliths of maize ( Zea mays L.) and macroscopic charcoal evidence of anthropogenic burning. First occupation around the lake was radiocarbon dated to ~2500 calibrated years before present (BP). The persistence of maize in the record from ~1850 BP suggests that it was an important crop grown in the ring-ditch region in pre-Columbian times, and abundant macroscopic charcoal suggests that pre-Columbian land management entailed more extensive burning of the landscape than the slash-and-burn agriculture practised around the site today. The site was occupied continuously until near-modern times, although there is evidence for a decline in agricultural intensity or change in land-use strategy, and possible population decline, from ~600–500 BP. The long and continuous occupation, which predates the establishment of rainforest in the region, suggests that pre-Columbian land use may have had a significant influence on ecosystem development at this site over the last ~2000 years.
The performance of inverse probability of treatment weighting and full matching on the propensity score in the presence of model misspecification when estimating the effect of treatment on survival outcomes
Authors: Austin Peter C , Stuart Elizabeth A
Published: May 2015

There is increasing interest in estimating the causal effects of treatments using observational data. Propensity-score matching methods are frequently used to adjust for differences in observed characteristics between treated and control individuals in observational studies. Survival or time-to-event outcomes occur frequently in the medical literature, but the use of propensity score methods in survival analysis has not been thoroughly investigated. This paper compares two approaches for estimating the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) on survival outcomes: Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW) and full matching. The performance of these methods was compared in an extensive set of simulations that varied the extent of confounding and the amount of misspecification of the propensity score model. We found that both IPTW and full matching resulted in estimation of marginal hazard ratios with negligible bias when the ATE was the target estimand and the treatment-selection process was weak to moderate. However, when the treatment-selection process was strong, both methods resulted in biased estimation of the true marginal hazard ratio, even when the propensity score model was correctly specified. When the propensity score model was correctly specified, bias tended to be lower for full matching than for IPTW. The reasons for these biases and for the differences between the two methods appeared to be due to some extreme weights generated for each method. Both methods tended to produce more extreme weights as the magnitude of the effects of covariates on treatment selection increased. Furthermore, more extreme weights were observed for IPTW than for full matching. However, the poorer performance of both methods in the presence of a strong treatment-selection process was mitigated by the use of IPTW with restriction and full matching with a caliper restriction when the propensity score model was correctly specified.
Return-to-Work Outcomes Among Social Security Disability Insurance Program Beneficiaries
Authors: Ben-Shalom Yonatan , Mamun Arif A.
Published: May 2015

We followed a sample of working-age Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program beneficiaries for 5 years after their first benefit award to learn how certain factors are associated with achievement of four return-to-work milestones: enrollment for employment services provided by a state vocational rehabilitation agency or employment network, start of a trial work period (TWP), completion of TWP, and suspension or termination of benefits because of work. We found that younger beneficiaries are more likely than are older beneficiaries to achieve the milestones and that there exists substantial variation across impairment types. In addition, the probability of achieving the milestones is higher for individuals with more years of education, for Blacks, and for individuals residing in states with low unemployment rates at the time of award. It is lower for beneficiaries with a high DI benefit amount at award, an award decision made at a higher adjudicative level, and/or Supplemental Security Income or Medicare benefits at the time of DI award. We also found large variation in the relationships of both state of residence and award month to these return-to-work outcomes. We attribute these variations to unobserved factors at the state-level, policy changes, and trends in unobserved beneficiary characteristics.
Staying Employed
Authors: Denny-Brown Noelle , O’Day Bonnie , McLeod Stephanie
Published: May 2015

To obtain and maintain employment, workers with disabilities may need services and supports that are not covered by private or public health insurance plans. This study explores the services, supports, and accommodations that people with disabilities use to find and keep competitive employment; how they obtain needed supports; and the extent to which they pay out of pocket for work-related supports. We conducted an exploratory study using in-depth interviews with 15 workers with disabilities who in 2013 earned at least 250% of the poverty level, or about US$28,000 a year for a single person. Most respondents needed some supports or accommodations to sustain their employment, but on the whole, these supports were neither costly nor resource intensive for employers to provide. The most frequently used supports were assistive technology (AT), including wheelchairs, communication devices such as video relay phones, and visual aids to enhance individuals’ access to information. Respondents also used staff supports and modified work schedules. Out-of-pocket costs for services and supports used on and off the job ranged from US$0 to US$14,800 per year for personal care assistants, medical goods and services, coinsurance payments, AT, and service animals. Individual needs, the nature of the job, and the extent to which health insurance or other sources covered the costs for work-related services and supports all factored into the challenges these workers with disabilities encountered and the solutions they devised to find and keep jobs that pay at least a moderate salary.
Return to Work of Disability Insurance Beneficiaries Who Do and Do Not Access State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency Services
Authors: O’Neill John , Mamun Arif A. , Potamites Elizabeth , Chan Fong , da Silva Cordoso Elizabeth
Published: May 2015

This study examines the relationship between services provided by state vocational rehabilitation agencies (SVRAs) and return-to-work outcomes of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries. DI beneficiaries who enrolled in SVRA services were compared with matched and unmatched comparison groups of beneficiaries who did not enroll in these services. We examined the progression to substantial employment milestones for DI beneficiaries over a 10-year period beginning with their entry into the DI program. Employment outcomes of the SVRA enrollee group are substantially better than those of their matched and non-matched non-enrollee counterparts, and the timing of their employment outcomes is strongly associated with the timing of vocational rehabilitation (VR) enrollment. These findings indicate that differences in employment outcomes between DI beneficiaries who received VR services and those who did not are not simply due to observable differences.
Validation of the Novaco Anger Scale–Provocation Inventory (Danish) With Nonclinical, Clinical, and Offender Samples
Authors: Moeller Stine Bjerrum , Novaco Raymond W. , Heinola-Nielsen Vivian , Hougaard Helle
Published: May 2015

Anger has high prevalence in clinical and forensic settings, and it is associated with aggressive behavior and ward atmosphere on psychiatric units. Dysregulated anger is a clinical problem in Danish mental health care systems, but no anger assessment instruments have been validated in Danish. Because the Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory (NAS-PI) has been extensively validated with different clinical populations and lends itself to clinical case formulation, it was selected for translation and evaluation in the present multistudy project. Psychometric properties of the NAS-PI were investigated with samples of 477 nonclinical, 250 clinical, 167 male prisoner, and 64 male forensic participants. Anger prevalence and its relationship with other anger measures, anxiety/depression, and aggression were examined. NAS-PI was found to have high reliability, concurrent validity, and discriminant validity, and its scores discriminated the samples. High scores in the offender group demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining self-report assessments of anger with this population. Retrospective and prospective validity of the NAS were tested with the forensic patient sample regarding physically aggressive behavior in hospital. Regression analyses showed that higher scores on NAS increase the risk of having acted aggressively in the past and of acting aggressively in the future.
Screening of Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia
Authors: De la Torre Gabriel G. , Perez Maria J. , Ramallo Miguel A. , Randolph Christopher , González-Villegas Macarena Bernal
Published: May 2015

Background. In recent years, a number of studies focusing on the evaluation of neuropsychological deficits in individuals with schizophrenia have shown deficits that include several cognitive functions. Attention deficits as well as memory or executive function deficits are common in this kind of disorder together with sustained attention problems, working memory deficiencies, and problem-solving difficulties, among many others. Currently, the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is gaining special importance in the evaluation of the cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia. Method. In this article, we describe an RBANS screening in a sample of 88 Spanish patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. We also aimed to check the battery’s reliability, sensitivity, and specificity in the studied sample. We performed a comparative study with 88 healthy participants. Results. The results showed a reliability index value of α = .795 and an item value of α = .762. For total test reliability, we obtained an index value of α = .761 and an item value of α = .762. Sensitivity score was 87.5% and specificity 86.4%. Conclusions. RBANS obtained good reliability, sensitivity, and specificity scores and represents a good screening tool in detecting cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.
Assessing Adolescent Anxiety in General Psychiatric Care
Authors: Olofsdotter Susanne , Sonnby Karin , Vadlin Sofia , Furmark Tomas , Nilsson Kent W.
Published: May 2015

This study examined the psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the Swedish translations of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, self- and parent report versions, in a sample of 104 adolescents presenting at two general psychiatric outpatient units. Results showed high informant agreement and good internal reliability and concurrent and discriminant validity for both versions and demonstrated that this scale can distinguish between adolescents with and without an anxiety disorder in a non–anxiety-specific clinical setting. The relative clinical utility of different cutoff scores was compared by looking at the extent to which dichotomized questionnaire results altered the pretest probability of the presence of a diagnosis as defined by the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children. Optimized for screening and diagnostic purposes in Sweden, cutoff scores obtained in the current study outperformed a previously identified cutoff score derived from an Australian community sample. The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale is a useful clinical instrument for the assessment of anxiety in adolescents.
Pathways to Help
Authors: Campbell Rebecca , Greeson Megan R. , Fehler-Cabral Giannina , Kennedy Angie C.
Published: May 2015

In this study, we conducted semistructured interviews with N = 20 adolescent sexual assault victims who sought postassault help from the medical and legal system to understand young survivors’ disclosure and help-seeking processes. Results revealed three distinct disclosure patterns and pathways to help-seeking. First, in the voluntary disclosure group, victims told their friends, who encouraged them to tell an adult, who then encouraged—and assisted—the survivors in seeking help. Throughout this process, the survivors’ disclosures at each step were within their control and reflected their choices for how to proceed. Second, in the involuntary disclosure pattern, victims also first disclosed to friends, but then those friends told adults about the assault, against the survivors’ wishes; the adults made the victims seek help, which was also against the survivors’ preferences. Third, in situational disclosures, the survivors were unconscious at the time of the assault, and their friends disclosed and sought help on their behalf. We also examined how these initial disclosure patterns related to victims’ continued engagement with these systems.
Echocardiographic Discovery of Doubled Interatrial Septum
Authors: Kumar Priya A. , Martinelli Susan M. , Kyle Robert W. , Arora Harendra
Published: May 2015

A double-walled interatrial septum is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly characterized by a distinct echolucent cavity between the atria formed by 2 separate interatrial septae. It may be a variant of other well-recognized cardiac anomalies such as persistent venous valve of the sinus venosus or cor triatriatum. Although uncommon, it may be associated with thromboembolic disease due to stagnant flow in the septal cavity. Awareness of this rare entity and its clinical significance along with a thorough echocardiographic examination to rule out similarly presenting or coexisting conditions are the key to an accurate diagnosis and appropriate management.
Web-based intervention improves social acknowledgement and disclosure of trauma, leading to a reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms
Authors: Xu Wei , Wang Jianping , Wang Zhiyun , Li Yifei , Yu Wei , Xie Qiuyuan , He Li , Maercker Andreas
Published: May 2015

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of web-based intervention on social acknowledgement and disclosure of trauma and to examine the mediating effect of the improvement in social acknowledgement and disclosure of trauma on the reduction of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. A randomized controlled trial was used, with 21 participants in a web-based intervention group and 29 participants in a wait-list control group completing a pre-test and post-test. Results showed that social acknowledgement and disclosure of trauma improved significantly after 1-month intervention, and this improvement mediated the reduction in the posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
For lack of wanting: Discourses of desire in Ukrainian opiate substitution therapy programs
Authors: Carroll Jennifer J.
Published: May 2015

Available treatments for addiction and substance abuse in Ukraine have been shaped by the economic, political, and social shifts that have followed the country’s independence. The introduction of methadone-based opiate substitution therapy (OST) for opiate addicts is especially representative of this. Biomedical paradigms of addiction, its etiology, and its treatment, promoted and paid for by international donors and elite global health entities, are being met by Ukrainian notions of personhood and psychology in both public discourse and clinical settings. Ukrainian physicians who work in OST programs frequently reference desire (желание) as the most significant factor in determining the success or failure of treatment. They refer to a desire to be treated, desire to get better, desire to live. The moralized imperative to possess this desire to get better is, in many ways, a reflection of how addiction and the addicted psyche is constructed and understood in the Ukrainian context. By exploring discourses of desire in narratives of addiction and treatment, I examine how notions of psychology, will, and self-control intersect, shaping the subjectivity, agency, and daily experiences of this vulnerable population.
Development and preliminary testing of a web-based, self-help application for disaster-affected families
Authors: Yuen Erica K , Gros Kirstin , Welsh Kyleen E , McCauley Jenna , Resnick Heidi S , Danielson Carla K , Price Matthew , Ruggiero Kenneth J
Published: May 2015

Technology-based self-help interventions have the potential to increase access to evidence-based mental healthcare, especially for families affected by natural disasters. However, development of these interventions is a complex process and poses unique challenges. Usability testing, which assesses the ability of individuals to use an application successfully, can have a significant impact on the quality of a self-help intervention. This article describes (a) the development of a novel web-based multi-module self-help intervention for disaster-affected adolescents and their parents and (b) a mixed-methods formal usability study to evaluate user response. A total of 24 adolescents were observed, videotaped, and interviewed as they used the depressed mood component of the self-help intervention. Quantitative results indicated an above-average user experience, and qualitative analysis identified 120 unique usability issues. We discuss the challenges of developing self-help applications, including design considerations and the value of usability testing in technology-based interventions, as well as our plan for widespread dissemination.
Gazing awry: Reconsidering the Tourist Gaze and natural tourism through a Lacanian–Marxist theoretical framework
Authors: Dash Greg , Cater Carl
Published: May 2015

The implications for tourism are explored through a consideration of the Lacanian Gaze – a concept well developed in film and performance theory. This reveals an unexplored potential in sightseeing as a means to address de-political and inhibitory conceptions of nature that plague landscape tourism. A Marxist framework provides the conditions upon which this conception of nature emerges, as the suture for separation between society and nature. As sightseeing brings us to face the symbolic (MacCannell, 2011), the ‘lack’ within this fantasy may be revealed. However, Lacan’s concept of Gaze reveals the limitations of this potential, for tourism in its alliance with the ego, may be supporting this restrictive ideological fantasy. This raises new ethical considerations for tourism development in natural areas.
Development of the Adolescent and Young Adult Activity Card Sort
Authors: Berg Christine , McCollum Mary , Cho Esther , Jason Dawn
Published: May 2015

Emerging adulthood defines transition to employment, higher education, and domestic life. This study describes the development of an assessment of self-reported participation in a range of age-appropriate activities. Item selection was established from literature review, feedback from youth and professionals, the former Adolescent Activity Card Sort (AACS), and the original Activity Card Sort (ACS). Iterative item selection occurred with three separate samples of emerging adults and six professionals. Test–retest reliability was evaluated. The Adolescent and Young Adult Activity Card Sort (AYA-ACS) consists of chores (11 items), leisure (13), social (10), health and fitness (9), work (10), education (8), and parenting (9). Test–retest reliability showed significant moderate to substantial Kappa agreement (.48-.85) for all domains except parenting (κ = .15). This preliminary study describes the development of the AYA-ACS to be used with individuals who encounter challenges when transitioning to young adulthood.
China Angioplasty and Stenting for Symptomatic Intracranial Severe Stenosis (CASSISS): A new, prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled trial in China
Authors: Gao Peng , Zhao Zhenwei , Wang Daming , Wu Jian , Cai Yiling , Li Tianxiao , Wu Wei , Shi Huaizhang , He Weiwen , Zhu Fengshui , Jiao Liqun , Ling Feng
Published: May 2015

Background

Patients with symptomatic stenosis of intradural arteries are at high risk for subsequent stroke. Since the SAMMPRIS trial, stenting is no longer recommended as primary treatment; however, the results of this trial, its inclusion criteria and its center selection received significant criticism and did not appear to reflect our experience regarding natural history nor treatment complications rate. As intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) is the most common cause for stroke in Asian countries, we are hereby proposing a refined prospective, randomized, multicenter study in an Asian population with strictly defined patient and participating center inclusion criteria.

Methods

The China Angioplasty and Stenting for Symptomatic Intracranial Severe Stenosis (CASSISS) trial is an ongoing, government-funded, prospective, multicenter, randomized trial. It recruits patients with recent TIA or stroke caused by 70%–99% stenosis of a major intracranial artery. Patients with previous stroke related to perforator ischemia will not be included. Only high-volume centers with a proven track record will enroll patients as determined by a lead-in phase. Patients will be randomized (1:1) to best medical therapy alone or medical therapy plus stenting. Primary endpoints are any stroke or death within 30 days after enrollment or after any revascularization procedure of the qualifying lesion during follow-up, or stroke in the territory of the symptomatic intracranial artery beyond 30 days. The CASSISS trial will be conducted in eight sites in China with core imaging lab review at a North American site and aims to have a sample size of 380 participants (stenting, 190; medical therapy, 190). Recruitment is expected to be finished by December 2016. Patients will be followed for at least three years. The trial is scheduled to complete in 2019.

Conclusion

In the proposed trial, certain shortcomings of SAMMPRIS including patient and participating center selection will be addressed. The present manuscript outlines the rationale and design of the study. We estimate that this trial will allow for a critical reappraisal of the role of intracranial stenting for selected patients in high-volume centers.
Coil herniation following intra-arterial verapamil infusion for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm: Case report and literature review
Authors: Chen Stephanie H , Grandhi Ramesh , Deibert Christopher P , Jovin Tudor G , Gardner Paul A , Ducruet Andrew F
Published: May 2015

Complications associated with intra-arterial infusion of vasodilator agents for the treatment of vasospasm associated with a ruptured cerebral aneurysm are extremely rare. We present the case of a patient who developed left lower extremity monoplegia following intra-arterial infusion of verapamil for treatment of diffuse cerebral vasospasm, 6 days after initially undergoing treatment of a ruptured right A1-2 junction aneurysm. A repeat angiogram following this intra-arterial vasodilator treatment demonstrated a coil loop which had herniated into the right A2 artery. Herein, we describe a previously unreported complication which occurred following intra-arterial pharmacologic vasospasm treatment, review the existing literature, and suggest potential causes and treatment options.
Comparison of mechanical property and machinability for polyetheretherketone and glass fiber–reinforced polyetheretherketone
Authors: Ji Shijun , Yu Huijuan , Zhao Ji , Liang Fusheng
Published: May 2015

To study and compare mechanical properties and machinability of the polyetheretherketone and the glass fiber–reinforced polyetheretherketone and analyze the relationship between the two properties, nano-indentation experiments and single-point diamond turning experiments were carried out in this article. Through nano-indentation experiments, several material characteristic parameters such as elastic modulus, hardness, and load–displacement data were obtained and load–displacement curve was drawn. It was found that the glass fiber–reinforced polyetheretherketone has higher elastic modulus and hardness but poor uniformity. By single-point diamond turning experiments, two circular planes whose materials are polyetheretherketone and glass fiber–reinforced polyetheretherketone, respectively, were machined. It was found that form accuracy (PV) and surface roughness (Ra) of the former were smaller than those of the later, and glass fiber–reinforced polyetheretherketone plane has poor machined quality. Mechanical property, including uniform structure, stiffness, and resistance to deformation, has higher influence on machining quality.
Research on robot manipulator uncalibrated visual serving under two-camera bi-axial parallel vision configuration
Authors: Niu Wang , Lang Liu , Jing Qiu , Wang Datao
Published: May 2015

This article presents a two-camera bi-axial parallel vision configuration to realize robot manipulator uncalibrated visual serving. The intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the camera and the model of robot manipulator are not known, as well as without real-time computes the inverse of image Jacobian when image-based dynamic control of a robot manipulator in this article. First, the proposed vision configuration is applied to transform the Cartesian posture information into the point and angle parameters in the two image planes. After that, a qualitative mathematical model was established which analyzes the relationship between the feature point and line of the robot manipulator in the Cartesian space and the corresponding specific point and angle in the image plane. In addition, the monotonic property of the point and line features in the mathematic model has been proved. Then, the controller was designed based on image and realized the five-degrees of freedom of the robot manipulator uncalibrated visual serving control in the simulation platform. Moreover, the Lyapunov theory was used to prove the global asymptotic stability of proposed method in the image plane. Finally, the proposed method was compared with the method of image Jacobian matrix in the actual platform experiment, and the comparative experiment results show the effectiveness of the robot manipulator uncalibrated visual serving under the proposed vision configuration.
Process planning optimization on turning machine tool using a hybrid genetic algorithm with local search approach
Authors: Su Yuliang , Chu Xuening , Zhang Zaifang , Chen Dongping
Published: May 2015

A turning machine tool is a kind of new type of machine tool that is equipped with more than one spindle and turret. The distinctive simultaneous and parallel processing abilities of turning machine tool increase the complexity of process planning. The operations would not only be sequenced and satisfy precedence constraints, but also should be scheduled with multiple objectives such as minimizing machining cost, maximizing utilization of turning machine tool, and so on. To solve this problem, a hybrid genetic algorithm was proposed to generate optimal process plans based on a mixed 0-1 integer programming model. An operation precedence graph is used to represent precedence constraints and help generate a feasible initial population of hybrid genetic algorithm. Encoding strategy based on data structure was developed to represent process plans digitally in order to form the solution space. In addition, a local search approach for optimizing the assignments of available turrets would be added to incorporate scheduling with process planning. A real-world case is used to prove that the proposed approach could avoid infeasible solutions and effectively generate a global optimal process plan.
Genetic algorithm for design optimization of multibody dynamics using differential–algebraic equation integrators
Authors: Ding Jieyu
Published: May 2015

Based on the general model of design optimization of multibody dynamics, a modified genetic algorithm with adaptive crossover and mutation rates is developed to find optimal design variables which satisfy the dynamic constraints and obtain optimum objective values. Generalized-α projection method and higher order variational integrators with Lagrangian polynomial and Gauss quadrature formula are used to solve differential–algebraic equations during optimization process. Efficiency and accuracy of the numerical results obtained by intelligent design optimization with different differential–algebraic equation solving methods are compared.
Hint-based generic shape feature recognition from three-dimensional B-rep models
Authors: Li Haiyan , Huang Yunbao , Sun Yuhang , Chen Liping
Published: May 2015

Three-dimensional B-rep is often used to convey product models in computer-aided design, computer-aided engineering, computer-aided process planning, and computer-aided manufacturing systems. Meaningful shape features need to be recognized from the B-rep models for product re-design and manufacturing. In this article, a novel hint-based reusable shape feature recognition approach is presented. Its core objectives include (1) definition and classification of isolated generic shape features by analyzing the shape variation or hint for a Boolean operation in computer-aided design modeling; (2) recognition algorithm for isolated generic shape features by detecting such hints or shape variations for each kind of generic shape feature; and (3) recognition of hybrid generic shape features for complex parts by detecting containing, fusing, and intersecting relationships among available generic shape features. Finally, three engineering parts are used as examples to validate the capabilities of the presented approach.
Practical solution for improving the mechanical behaviour of the composite materials reinforced with flax woven fabric
Authors: Cerbu Camelia
Published: May 2015

This article focuses on finding a practical solution for improving the mechanical behaviour especially in bending in case of the composite materials reinforced with flax fabric. For this purpose, two kinds of composites having the same number of layers are mechanically tested: the flax/epoxy composite and the flax/glass/epoxy composite (hybrid composite). The mechanical tests used were tensile test and bending test (three-point method). Different results corresponding to the weft or warp directions were remarked in case of the hybrid composite: for example, the maximum values of the tensile strength and the flexural strength measured in the weft direction are 40.63% and 34.61% greater, respectively, than the values corresponding to the warp direction. This article reports the improvement of the mechanical properties by replacing the flax reinforcement with glass reinforcement in the two upper and lower layers of the flax composite materials: increasing with 35.19% in terms of Young’s modulus E recorded in the tensile test, with 79.86% of the maximum value of the tensile stress and with 91.08% of the maximum value of the flexural stress. Composite beam theory was considered and theoretical approaches were validated by the experimental results.
Research on torsional capacity of composite drive shaft under clockwise and counter-clockwise torque
Authors: Hu Yefa , Yang Mo , Zhang Jinguang , Song Chunsheng , Zhang Weiming
Published: May 2015

The design of lay-up has a great influence on the mechanical properties of carbon fiber–reinforced plastic drive shaft. In this research, the stress states of each layer in the carbon fiber–reinforced plastic drive shaft were studied, which were different under opposite torque directions. The Tsai–Wu criterion was used to judge the torsional stability of the composite laminates. The data from finite element analysis showed that torsional capacities of a stacking sequence vary greatly with torque direction, and reasonable lay-up design can reduce the difference. Torque direction should not be ignored when designing a carbon fiber–reinforced plastic drive shaft.
Energy conservation for a motor grader by shifting the engine power curve based on fuzzy adaptive control
Authors: Ye Min , Lin Tao
Published: May 2015

To improve the fuel consumption of a motor grader, a method for shifting the power curve of the grader engine is proposed. The working principle, calculation method, and design procedure of the novel method are depicted. Considering the nonlinear and time-varying uncertainty of the load of a motor grader, the fuzzy adaptive control is provided to shift the power curve. The shifting action is decided by the gears and the corresponding engine speed together with the displacements of both the hydraulic pump and motor. As a result, the power line adapts to the frequent changes in different external loads. A prototype motor grader is developed to test the above-mentioned energy conservation method in different working conditions. The results show that the fuel consumption of the prototype motor is reduced by 23%–34% and the skip ratio is decreased by 10% compared with the traditional grader with only one power curve. The proposed shifting power curve method can be widely applied to other heavy-load construction machinery also.
Characterization of non-linear bearings using the Hilbert–Huang transform
Authors: González Arturo , Aied Hussein
Published: May 2015

Changes in the performance of bearings can significantly vary the distribution of internal forces and moments in a structure as a result of environmental or operational loads. The response of a bearing has been traditionally idealized using a linear model but a non-linear representation produces a more accurate picture at the expense of modelling complexity and computational time. In this article, a lead rubber bearing is idealized using the hysteretic Bouc–Wen model. The Hilbert–Huang transform is then employed to characterize the features of the non-linear system from the instantaneous frequencies of the bearing response to a time-varying force. Instantaneous frequencies are also shown to be a useful tool in detecting sudden damage to the bearings simulated by a reduction in the effective stiffness of the force-deformation loop.
The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and al-Qaeda: Facts and conjecture
Authors: Torres-Soriano Manuel R
Published: May 2015

This article examines the issue of the credibility of the organisation known as the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which released a series of statements claiming responsibility for several of the most important jihadist attacks perpetrated between 2003 and 2005. A critical analysis of the information available on the group leads to the conclusion that the questions concerning its involvement (or otherwise) in acts of violence and its formal ties (or lack thereof) to al-Qaeda remain unresolved and existing hypotheses regarding the nature of the Brigades must therefore remain open.
Nutrition and palliative care
Authors: Watson Max , Rodgers Alison
Published: May 2015

Requests to GPs for nutritional supplements for patients approaching the end of life are common. Commercially available food supplements are expensive and often prescribed inappropriately, costing the NHS large sums every year. Judging whether it is appropriate to prescribe nutritional supplements in palliative care situations is difficult. The decision will depend on many different factors including the stage of the patient’s illness, and the wishes of the patient and family. This article explores nutrition in palliative care with the aim of providing GPs with some simple tools to use to decide whether nutritional supplements are appropriate and what form they should take.