Showing papers by "University of North Carolina at Charlotte published in 2006"
TL;DR: Among more severely depressed patients, behavioral activation was comparable to antidepressant medication, and both significantly outperformed cognitive therapy, and the implications of current treatment guidelines and dissemination are discussed.
Abstract: Antidepressant medication is considered the current standard for severe depression, and cognitive therapy is the most widely investigated psychosocial treatment for depression. However, not all patients want to take medication, and cognitive therapy has not demonstrated consistent efficacy across trials. Moreover, dismantling designs have suggested that behavioral components may account for the efficacy of cognitive therapy. The present study tested the efficacy of behavioral activation by comparing it with cognitive therapy and antidepressant medication in a randomized placebo-controlled design in adults with major depressive disorder (N = 241). In addition, it examined the importance of initial severity as a moderator of treatment outcome. Among more severely depressed patients, behavioral activation was comparable to antidepressant medication, and both significantly outperformed cognitive therapy. The implications of these findings for the evaluation of current treatment guidelines and dissemination are discussed.
1,447 citations
28 Mar 2006
611 citations
TL;DR: The authors used data collected from a field survey of 334 supervisor-subordinate dyads to test a model of the antecedents of abusive supervision and found that supervisors' depression mediates the relationship between supervisors' procedural justice and subordinates' perceptions of their supervisors' abusiveness.
Abstract: We used data collected from a field survey of 334 supervisor‐subordinate dyads to test a model of the antecedents of abusive supervision. Path analytic tests of moderated mediation provided support for our prediction that supervisors’ depression mediates the relationship between supervisors’ procedural justice and subordinates’ perceptions of their supervisors’ abusiveness and that the mediation framework is stronger when subordinates are higher in negative affectivity. We discuss the study’s implications for theory, research, and practice.
563 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a series of multiple regression analyses on terrorist incidents and casualties in ninety-six countries from 1986 to 2002, the authors considered the significance of poverty, malnutrition, inequality, unemployment, inflation, and poor economic growth as predictors of terrorism, along with a variety of political and demographic control variables.
Abstract: This study evaluates the popular hypothesis that poverty, inequality, and poor economic development are root causes of terrorism. Employing a series of multiple regression analyses on terrorist incidents and casualties in ninety-six countries from 1986 to 2002, the study considers the significance of poverty, malnutrition, inequality, unemployment, inflation, and poor economic growth as predictors of terrorism, along with a variety of political and demographic control variables. The findings are that, contrary to popular opinion, no significant relationship between any of the measures of economic development and terrorism can be determined. Rather, variables such as population, ethno-religious diversity, increased state repression and, most significantly, the structure of party politics are found to be significant predictors of terrorism. The article concludes that “social cleavage theory” is better equipped to explain terrorism than are theories that link terrorism to poor economic development.
549 citations
TL;DR: Results indicate that after release from jail, participants in the VM course, as compared with those in a treatment-as-usual control condition, showed significant reductions in alcohol, marijuana, and crack cocaine use and increases in positive psychosocial outcomes.
Abstract: Despite the availability of various substance abuse treatments, alcohol and drug misuse and related negative consequences remain prevalent. Vipassana meditation (VM), a Buddhist mindfulness-based practice, provides an alternative for individuals who do not wish to attend or have not succeeded with traditional addiction treatments. In this study, the authors evaluated the effectiveness of a VM course on substance use and psychosocial outcomes in an incarcerated population. Results indicate that after release from jail, participants in the VM course, as compared with those in a treatment-as-usual control condition, showed significant reductions in alcohol, marijuana, and crack cocaine use. VM participants showed decreases in alcohol-related problems and psychiatric symptoms as well as increases in positive psychosocial outcomes. The utility of mindfulness-based treatments for substance use is discussed.
492 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the issue of establishing rigor in qualitative research in social work, and present a research procedure to establish rigor for social work qualitative research, including the use of qualitative inquiry within the field of social work.
Abstract: As the use of qualitative inquiry increases within the field of social work, researchers must consider the issue of establishing rigor in qualitative research. This article presents research proced...
473 citations
TL;DR: This article presented the results of a comprehensive review of 128 studies on teaching reading to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities, and compared these studies against the National Reading Panel's components of reading, finding strong evidence for teaching sight words using systematic prompting and fading, but only one phonics study was strong in both quality and effects.
Abstract: This article presents the results of a comprehensive review of 128 studies on teaching reading to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. The review compared these studies against the National Reading Panel's components of reading; although it revealed an inadequate consideration of the components of reading, it found strong evidence for teaching sight words using systematic prompting and fading. The reviewers considered not only the number of studies, but also indicators proposed for evidence-based practice and effect size. This study identified some high quality studies with strong effect size for comprehension and fluency, but only one phonics study was strong in both quality and effects. Additional research is needed to promote broader skills in literacy for this population.
415 citations
29 Sep 2006
TL;DR: Using a mathematical formulation, synchronized TDMA link schedulings that optimize the networking throughput are developed that are both efficient centralized and distributed algorithms that use time slots within a constant factor of the optimum.
Abstract: We study efficient link scheduling for a multihop wireless network to maximize its throughput. Efficient link scheduling can greatly reduce the interference effect of close-by transmissions. Unlike the previous studies that often assume a unit disk graph model, we assume that different terminals could have different transmission ranges and different interference ranges. In our model, it is also possible that a communication link may not exist due to barriers or is not used by a predetermined routing protocol, while the transmission of a node always result interference to all non-intended receivers within its interference range. Using a mathematical formulation, we develop synchronized TDMA link schedulings that optimize the networking throughput. Specifically, by assuming known link capacities and link traffic loads, we study link scheduling under the RTS/CTS interference model and the protocol interference model with fixed transmission power. For both models, we present both efficient centralized and distributed algorithms that use time slots within a constant factor of the optimum. We also present efficient distributed algorithms whose performances are still comparable with optimum, but with much less communications. Our theoretical results are corroborated by extensive simulation studies.
309 citations
TL;DR: This first systematic study of PTG in children explores hypothesized linkages among PTG and social support, competency beliefs, and ruminative thinking and suggests that competency belief relate toPTG and that a supportive social environment and rulerative thinking are associated with positive Competency beliefs.
Abstract: This study extends L. G. Calhoun and R. G. Tedeschi's (1998) model of posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive change resulting from the struggle with trauma, to children by exploring the construct among youngsters who experienced Hurricane Floyd and the subsequent flooding. Despite burgeoning interest in PTG, few studies have examined the phenomenon among non-adults. This first systematic study of PTG in children explores hypothesized linkages among PTG and social support, competency beliefs, and ruminative thinking. Results suggest that competency beliefs relate to PTG and that a supportive social environment and ruminative thinking are associated with positive competency beliefs. Contrary to expectations, social support did not relate to rumination. Findings testify to the merit of studying the PTG process in children. Clinical implications and future directions are considered.
309 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the nanocrystalline tungsten (nc-W) was obtained by high-pressure torsion (HPT) at low temperature (500°C) by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
308 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a middle-range theory to connect the dots, beginning with disparate sources in the polity influencing organizational goal ambiguity, which in turn is expected to increase managerial role ambiguity.
Abstract: This article is a systematic effort to study a key theoretical question from the vantage point of public sector organizational behavior. Most political science models, with a primary interest in democratic control of bureaucracy, study the political influence on the bureaucracy from an agency theory perspective. Organization behavior literature, on the other hand, is focused largely on the study of individual-level phenomena in private organizations and does not incorporate political context as part of explanatory models. This article proposes a middle-range theory to "connect the dots," beginning with disparate sources in the polity influencing organizational goal ambiguity, which in turn is expected to increase managerial role ambiguity. An empirical test, using data collected from a national survey of managers working in state human service agencies, supports this theoretical model. We find that certain types of political influence have an impact on organizational goal ambiguity, which in turn has a direct effect in increasing role ambiguity and also an indirect effect in increasing role ambiguity through organizational structure.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a network generation model to predict actor selection and retention in forming an advice network, where the advice seeker, when possessing rich information on potential alters, decides whom to contact by trading off expected knowledge value versus the cost of obtaining it.
Abstract: The theory of network generation I present predicts actor selection and retention in forming an advice network. The research question explored is whom do people contact when needing advice? The theory posits that the advice seeker, when possessing rich information on potential alters, decides whom to contact by trading off expected knowledge value versus the cost of obtaining it. In the contact information poor case, alter selection antecedents are the potential contact's accessibility and perceived willingness to share advice.
TL;DR: Parallel Sets are a new method for the visualization and interactive exploration of categorical data that shows data frequencies instead of the individual data points, based on the axis layout of parallel coordinates, with boxes representing the categories and parallelograms between the axes showing the relations between categories.
Abstract: Categorical data dimensions appear in many real-world data sets, but few visualization methods exist that properly deal with them. Parallel Sets are a new method for the visualization and interactive exploration of categorical data that shows data frequencies instead of the individual data points. The method is based on the axis layout of parallel coordinates, with boxes representing the categories and parallelograms between the axes showing the relations between categories. In addition to the visual representation, we designed a rich set of interactions. Parallel Sets allow the user to interactively remap the data to new categorizations and, thus, to consider more data dimensions during exploration and analysis than usually possible. At the same time, a metalevel, semantic representation of the data is built. Common procedures, like building the cross product of two or more dimensions, can be performed automatically, thus complementing the interactive visualization. We demonstrate Parallel Sets by analyzing a large CRM data set, as well as investigating housing data from two US states.
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between status and reproductive success using data on sex frequency and number of biological children from representative samples of the U.S. population and found that high-income men report greater frequency of sex than all others do.
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative analysis of dirty work by firefighters and correctional officers demonstrates that taint management and its relative utility is inextricably bound to and embedded within macro-level discourses.
Abstract: Based on qualitative field and interview data, this comparative analysis of dirty work by firefighters and correctional officers demonstrates that taint management and its relative utility is inextricably bound to and embedded within macro-level discourses. While firefighters labor to fulfill expectations as “America's heroes,” correctional officers work to squelch images as “professional babysitters” and the “scum of law enforcement.” The authors' analysis illustrates how discourses of occupational prestige and masculine heterosexuality allow firefighters to frame their work in preferred, privileged terms while correctional officers struggle to combat taint discursively associated with low-level feminized care work or with brutish, deviant sexuality. This study extends theoretical understandings of identity construction, dirty work, taint management, and organizational performances of masculinity and sexuality. The authors' analysis concludes with limitations, future directions, and practical application...
TL;DR: The evidence for sexual dimorphism in innate immune responses to infectious organisms is reviewed and recent studies that may provide a mechanism underlying gender-based differences in conditions such as bacterial sepsis are described.
Abstract: Gender has long been known to be a contributory factor in the incidence and progression of disorders associated with immune system dysregulation. More recently, evidence has accumulated that gender may also play an important role in infectious disease susceptibility. In general, females generate more robust and potentially protective humoral and cell-mediated immune responses following antigenic challenge than their male counterparts. In contrast, males have frequently been observed to mount more aggressive and damaging inflammatory immune responses to microbial stimuli. In this article we review the evidence for sexual dimorphism in innate immune responses to infectious organisms and describe our recent studies that may provide a mechanism underlying gender-based differences in conditions such as bacterial sepsis.
TL;DR: As proposed, the relationship between meeting time demands and JAWB was moderated by task interdependence, meeting experience quality, and accomplishment striving, however, results were somewhat dependent on the time frame of a study and the operational definition used for meet time demands.
Abstract: Using an interruptions framework, this article proposes and tests a set of hypotheses concerning the relationship of meeting time demands with job attitudes and well-being (JAWB). Two Internet surveys were administered toemployees who worked 35 hr or more per week. Study 1 examined prescheduled meetings attended in a typical week (N = 676), whereas Study 2 investigated prescheduled meetings attended during the current day (N = 304). As proposed, the relationship between meeting time demands and JAWB was moderated by task interdependence, meeting experience quality, and accomplishment striving. However, results were somewhat dependent on the time frame of a study and the operational definition used for meeting time demands. Furthermore, perceived meeting effectiveness was found to have a strong, direct relationship with JAWB.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare dropout rates and reasons across grade levels and ages for all high school students, ethnic groups, and gender groups, finding that nine graders have the highest dropout rate and male students are more likely than females to leave school for disciplinary reasons.
Abstract: Teens may leave school because of academic failure, disciplinary problems, or employment opportunities. In this article, the authors test whether the reasons dropouts leave school differ by grade level and age. We compare dropout rates and reasons across grade levels and ages for all high school students, ethnic groups, and gender groups. Across all students, ninth graders have the highest dropout rate: This pattern persists for Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans, and for male students. Dropout reasons vary by age, grade, ethnicity, and gender as well. Ninth graders and students aged 16 and younger are more likely than advanced and older students to leave school for disciplinary reasons. Older male students are more likely than younger males to leave school for employment. The significant variation in dropout rates and reasons by grade level and age indicates that multiple dropout processes may influence teens to leave school.
TL;DR: The results indicate that Probalign alignments are generally more accurate than other leading multiple sequence alignment methods (i.e. Probcons, MAFFT and MUSCLE) on the BAliBASE 3.0 protein alignment benchmark and outperforms these methods on the HOMSTRAD and OXBENCH benchmarks.
Abstract: Motivation: The maximum expected accuracy optimization criterion for multiple sequence alignment uses pairwise posterior probabilities of residues to align sequences. The partition function methodology is one way of estimating these probabilities. Here, we combine these two ideas for the first time to construct maximal expected accuracy sequence alignments.
Results: We bridge the two techniques within the program Probalign. Our results indicate that Probalign alignments are generally more accurate than other leading multiple sequence alignment methods (i.e. Probcons, MAFFT and MUSCLE) on the BAliBASE 3.0 protein alignment benchmark. Similarly, Probalign also outperforms these methods on the HOMSTRAD and OXBENCH benchmarks. Probalign ranks statistically highest (P-value 300 and 400, respectively.
Availability: Open source code implementing Probalign as well as for producing the simulated data, and all real and simulated data are freely available from http://www.cs.njit.edu/usman/probalign
Contact: usman@cs.njit.edu
TL;DR: Results indicate that VRE was superior to WL on all measures, including willingness to fly on the posttreatment flight, and the use of VRE in the treatment of FOF was supported, suggesting that experiences in the virtual world can change experiences inThe real world.
TL;DR: Despite current technological limitations, virtual clinical scenarios could provide students a controllable, secure, and safe learning environment with the opportunity for extensive repetitive practice with feedback without consequence to a real or SP.
Abstract: Background At most institutions, medical students learn communication skills through the use of standardized patients (SPs), but SPs are time and resource expensive. Virtual patients (VPs) may offer several advantages over SPs, but little data exist regarding the use of VPs in teaching communication skills. Therefore, we report our initial efforts to create an interactive virtual clinical scenario of a patient with acute abdominal pain to teach medical students history-taking and communication skills. Methods In the virtual scenario, a life-sized VP is projected on the wall of an examination room. Before the virtual encounter, the student reviews patient information on a handheld tablet personal computer, and they are directed to take a history and develop a differential diagnosis. The virtual system includes 2 networked personal computers (PCs), 1 data projector, 2 USB2 Web cameras to track the user’s head and hand movement, a tablet PC, and a microphone. The VP is programmed with specific answers and gestures in response to questions asked by students. The VP responses to student questions were developed by reviewing videotapes of students’ performances with real SPs. After obtaining informed consent, 20 students underwent voice recognition training followed by a videotaped VP encounter. Immediately after the virtual scenario, students completed a technology and SP questionnaire (Maastricht Simulated Patient Assessment). Results All participants had prior experience with real SPs. Initially, the VP correctly recognized approximately 60% of the student’s questions, and improving the script depth and variability of the VP responses enhanced most incorrect voice recognition. Student comments were favorable particularly related to feedback provided by the virtual instructor. The overall student rating of the virtual experience was 6.47 ± 1.63 (1 = lowest, 10 = highest) for version 1.0 and 7.22 ± 1.76 for version 2.0 (4 months later) reflecting enhanced voice recognition and other technological improvements. These overall ratings compare favorably to a 7.47 ± 1.16 student rating for real SPs. Conclusions Despite current technological limitations, virtual clinical scenarios could provide students a controllable, secure, and safe learning environment with the opportunity for extensive repetitive practice with feedback without consequence to a real or SP.
TL;DR: Combined effects of temperature and a toxic metal, cadmium (Cd), on energy metabolism of oysters were studied in a model marine bivalve and combined stressors appeared to override the capability for aerobic energy production resulting in impaired stress tolerance.
TL;DR: Overall abuse experienced and depression were unrelated to posttraumatic growth, but abuse was related to one domain of growth, and contact with a model of post traumatic growth and having left an abusive relationship were both positively related toPosttraumatic growth.
Abstract: The negative consequences of intimate partner violence are well documented. This study investigated the possibility that some survivors of intimate partner violence may also experience posttraumatic growth because of their struggle with this highly stressful circumstance. In addition, the relationships between posttraumatic growth and relationship status, type of abuse, depression, and availability of models of posttraumatic growth were examined. Most women reported posttraumatic growth. Overall abuse experienced and depression were unrelated to posttraumatic growth, but abuse was related to one domain of growth. Contact with a model of posttraumatic growth and having left an abusive relationship were both positively related to posttraumatic growth.
TL;DR: This article explored how humor enables human service workers to manage identity and make sense of their work in relation to preferred notions of self, and found that humor serves employee identity needs through differentiation, superiority, role distance, and relief.
Abstract: Using interview and participant-observation data gathered among correctional officers, 911 call-takers, and firefighters, this study explores how humor enables human service workers to manage identity and make sense of their work in relation to preferred notions of self. In the face of trying job duties, humor serves employee identity needs through differentiation, superiority, role distance, and relief. Moreover, humor serves as a sensemaking vehicle through which employees select, maintain, reproduce, and reify preferred interpretations of work. The analysis characterizes humor as an unfolding, collaborative, and interactional practice that can play a key part in socializing newcomers, building knowledge, and constituting the organizing process.
TL;DR: It is shown that certain novel, biocompatible ionic liquids provide a stabilizing solvent for proteins, for example, cytochrome c, such that structure and activity are maintained even after 6 months of storage at room temperature.
Abstract: Proteins generally are only stable in vitro for short periods of time. This results in challenges during isolation and purification of recombinant proteins and reduces the shelf life of protein-based pharmaceuticals. Here we show that certain novel, biocompatible ionic liquids provide a stabilizing solvent for proteins, for example, cytochrome c, such that structure and activity are maintained even after 6 months of storage at room temperature. Normally, this protein would be rendered inactive after only 1 week in buffered aqueous solution. The effect of the ionic liquid solvent appears to be related to protection against hydrolysis.
TL;DR: Across bird guilds, the condition of second growth immediately surrounding fragments was often as important as fragment size or local forest cover in explaining variation in abundance, and the consequences of Amazonian forest loss cannot be accurately described without explicit consideration of vegetation dynamics in matrix habitat.
Abstract: The rainforests of the Amazon basin are being cut by humans at a rate >20,000 km 2 /year, leading to smaller and more isolated patches of forest, with remaining fragments often in the range of 1-100 ha. We analyzed samples of understory birds collected over 20 years from a standardized mist-netting program in 1- to 100-ha rainforest fragments in a dynamic Amazonian landscape near Manaus, Brazil. Across bird guilds, the condition of second growth immediately surrounding fragments was often as important as fragment size or local forest cover in explaining variation in abundance. Some fragments surrounded by 100 m of open pasture showed reductions in insectivorous bird abundance of over 95%, even in landscapes dominated by continuous forest and old second growth. These extreme reductions may be typical throughout Amazonia in small (≤10 ha), isolated fragments of rainforest. Abundance for some guilds returned to preisolation levels in 10- and 100-ha fragments connected to continuous forest by 20-year-old second growth. Our results show that the consequences of Amazonian forest loss cannot be accurately described without explicit consideration of vegetation dynamics in matrix habitat. Any dichotomous classification of the landscape into "forest" and "nonforest" misses essential information about the matrix.
TL;DR: Overall, the results indicate email requests were more polite than voicemail requests, which are consistent with the hyperpersonal model (Walther, 1996).
Abstract: This study analyzes requests made via email and voicemail for properties of politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Voicemail users have less control over planning, composing, editing, and executing messages, and must manage more nonverbal cues than email users. Thus, it is predicted that email will enable users to create more polite speech than voicemail. A 2 (communication medium: email or voicemail) x 2 (imposition: low or high) factorial design was implemented to test this hypothesis. One hundred fifty-one participants created request messages that were subsequently analyzed for properties of politeness. Overall, the results indicate email requests were more polite than voicemail requests. These results are consistent with the hyperpersonal model (Walther, 1996).
TL;DR: The author explores the uses of poetic forms in qualitative health research, analyzing the matically a poem written from a patient's perspective of being treated in an emergency room using two formal poetic structures: the French-Malaysian pantoum, and the Japanese-inspired American tanka.
Abstract: In this article, the author explores the uses of poetic forms in qualitative health research, analyzing the matically a poem written from a patient's perspective of being treated in an emergency room. From the themes identified, he created two “research poems” using two formal poetic structures: the French-Malaysian pantoum, and the Japanese-inspired American tanka. The author contextualizes this research through an exploration of the arts and poetry as qualitative research.
TL;DR: Assessment and treatment of lateral ankle sprains should focus on both hypermobility and hypomobil-ity and although injury may seem to be isolated to the talocrural joint, the inferior tibiofibular and subtalar joints should also be thoroughly examined.
Abstract: Lateral ankle sprains are one of the most common athletic injuries. Even more concerning is the high recurrence rate after an initial sprain. The development of repetitive ankle sprains and persistent symptoms after injury has been termed chronic ankle instability (CAI). One of the purported causes of CAI is mechanical ankle instability (MAI). MAI results in abnormal ankle mechanics. Both hypermobility and hypomo-bility may change a joint’s axis of rotation and result in abnormal joint mechanics. The role of hypermobility, or laxity, has been examined extensively in the literature, but more recently the role of hypomobility has also been examined. There may be a relationship between the two, with implications at the talocrural, subtalar, and inferior tibiofibular joints. Assessment and treatment should focus on both hypermobility and hypomobil-ity and although injury may seem to be isolated to the talocrural joint, the inferior tibiofibular and subtalar joints should also be thoroughly examined.
TL;DR: This article evaluated the effects of response cards on the disruptive behavior and academic responding of students in two urban fourth-grade classrooms and found substantial reductions in disruptive behaviour and increases in academic responding during the response card condition compared to single-student responding.
Abstract: The authors evaluated the effects of response cards on the disruptive behavior and academic responding of students in two urban fourth-grade classrooms. Two conditions, single-student responding and write-on response cards, were alternated in an ABAB design. During single-student responding, the teacher called on one student who had raised his or her hand to answer the question. During the response-card condition, each student was provided with a white laminated board on which he or she could write a response to every question posed by the teacher. Nine students were targeted for data collection because of their history of disciplinary issues in school and frequent disruptive behavior in the classroom. Data revealed substantial reductions in disruptive behavior and increases in academic responding during the response card condition compared to single-student responding. The findings are discussed in terms of the beneficial effects of direct, high-response strategies for urban, low-achieving learners.