Expectations about counseling in Yucatán, Mexico: Toward a "Mexican psychology."

Conducted a study of client expectations of psychological services in Yucatán, Mexico, under the sponsorship of a grant from the Organization of American States. The Expectations about Counseling–Brief form (EAC-B) questionnaire was translated and administered to 488 subjects across age, sex, and experience with psychological services. Subsequent analyses supported the reliability and robustness of the Spanish EAC-B, with factor structure similar to the EAC-B in English. Some relation was found among age, sex, prior counseling experience, and expectations about counseling. Implications of these data for future research and comparison with U.S. subjects are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stochastic molecular descriptors for polymers. 4. Study of complex mixtures with topological indices of mass spectra spiral and star networks: The blood proteome case

The Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships (QSPRs) based on Graph or Network Theory are important for predicting the properties of polymeric systems. In the three previous papers of this series (Polymer 45 (2004) 3845-3853; Polymer 46 (2005) 2791-2798; and Polymer 46 (2005) 6461-6473) we focused on the uses of molecular graph parameters called topological indices (TIs) to link the structure of polymers with their biological properties. However, there has been little effort to extend these TIs to the study of complex mixtures of artificial polymers or biopolymers such as nucleic acids and proteins. In this sense, Blood Proteome (BP) is one of the most important and complex mixtures containing protein polymers. For instance, outcomes obtained by Mass Spectrometry (MS) analysis of BP are very useful for the early detection of diseases and drug-induced toxicities. Here, we use two Spiral and Star Network representations of the MS outcomes and defined a new type of TIs. The new TIs introduced here are the spectral moments (π_k) of the stochastic matrix associated to the Spiral graph and describe non-linear relationships between the different regions of the MS characteristic of BP. We used the MARCH-INSIDE approach to calculate the π_k(SN) of different BP samples and S2SNet to determine several Star graph TIs. In the second step, we develop the corresponding Quantitative Proteome-Property Relationship (QPPR) models using the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). QPPRs are the analogues of QSPRs in the case of complex biopolymer mixtures. Specifically, the new QPPRs derived here may be used to detect drug-induced cardiac toxicities from BP samples. Different Machine Learning classification algorithms were used to fit the QPPRs based on π_k(SN), showing J48 decision tree classifier to have the best performance. These results suggest that the present approach captures important features of the complex biopolymers mixtures and opens new opportunities to the application of the idea supporting classic QSPRs in polymer sciences.     

Inverted Solution Processable OLEDs Using a Metal Oxide as an Electron Injection Contact.

A new type of bottom‐emission electroluminescent device is described in which a metal oxide is used as the electron‐injecting contact. The preparation of such a device is simple. It consists of the deposition of a thin layer of a metal oxide on top of an indium tin oxide covered glass substrate, followed by the solution processing of the light‐emitting layer and subsequently the deposition of a high‐workfunction (air‐stable) metal anode. This architecture allows for a low‐cost electroluminescent device because no rigorous encapsulation is required. Electroluminescence with a high brightness reaching 5700 cd m^–2 is observed at voltages as low as 8 V, demonstrating the potential of this new approach to organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) devices. Unfortunately the device efficiency is rather low because of the high current density flowing through the device. We show that the device only operates after the insertion of an additional hole‐injection layer in between the light‐emitting polymer (LEP) and the metal anode. A simple model that explains the experimental results and provides avenues for further optimization of these devices is described. It is based on the idea that the barrier for electron injection is lowered by the formation of a space–charge field over the metal‐oxide–LEP interface due to the build up of holes in the LEP layer close to this interface.     

Deep-MEG: spatiotemporal CNN features and multiband ensemble classification for predicting the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease with magnetoencephalography

Neural Computing and Applications - In this paper, we present the novel Deep-MEG approach in which image-based representations of magnetoencephalography (MEG) data are combined with ensemble...     

High-Fat Diet Leads to Reduced Protein O-GlcNAcylation and Mitochondrial Defects Promoting the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease Signatures

The disturbance of protein O-GlcNAcylation is emerging as a possible link between altered brain metabolism and the progression of neurodegeneration. As observed in brains with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), flaws of the cerebral glucose uptake translate into reduced protein O-GlcNAcylation, which promote the formation of pathological hallmarks. A high-fat diet (HFD) is known to foster metabolic dysregulation and insulin resistance in the brain and such effects have been associated with the reduction of cognitive performances. Remarkably, a significant role in HFD-related cognitive decline might be played by aberrant protein O-GlcNAcylation by triggering the development of AD signature and mitochondrial impairment. Our data support the impairment of total protein O-GlcNAcylation profile both in the brain of mice subjected to a 6-week high-fat-diet (HFD) and in our in vitro transposition on SH-SY5Y cells. The reduction of protein O-GlcNAcylation was associated with the development of insulin resistance, induced by overfeeding (i.e., defective insulin signaling and reduced mitochondrial activity), which promoted the dysregulation of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) flux, through the AMPK-driven reduction of GFAT1 activation. Further, we observed that a HFD induced the selective impairment of O-GlcNAcylated-tau and of O-GlcNAcylated-Complex I subunit NDUFB8, thus resulting in tau toxicity and reduced respiratory chain functionality respectively, highlighting the involvement of this posttranslational modification in the neurodegenerative process.     

Low-Thermal-Conductivity Rare-Earth Zirconates for Potential Thermal-Barrier-Coating Applications

Rare-earth zirconates have been identified as a class of low-thermal-conductivity ceramics for possible use in thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) for gas-turbine engine applications. To document and compare the thermal conductivities of important rare-earth zirconates, we have measured the thermal conductivities of the following hot-pressed ceramics: (i) Gd₂Zr₂O₇ (pyrochlore phase), (ii) Gd₂Zr₂O₇ (fluorite phase), (iii) Gd_2.58Zr_1.57O₇ (fluorite phase), (iv) Nd₂Zr₂O₇ (pyrochlore phase), and (v) Sm₂Zr₂O₇ (pyrochlore phase). We have also measured the thermal conductivity of pressureless-sintered 7 wt% yttria-stabilized zirconia (7YSZ)—the commonly used composition in current TBCs. All rare-earth zirconates investigated here showed nearly identical thermal conductivities, all of which were ∼30% lower than the thermal conductivity of 7YSZ in the temperature range 25°–700°C. This finding is discussed qualitatively with reference to thermal-conductivity theory.     

Self-scaling cooperative discovery of service compositions in unstructured P2P networks

We propose an efficient technique for improving the performance of automatic and cooperative compositions in unstructured Peer-to-Peer networks during service discovery. The technique exploits a probabilistic forwarding algorithm that uses different sources of knowledge, such as network density and service grouping, to reduce the amount of messages exchanged in the network. The technique, analysed in several network configurations by using a simulator to observe resolution time, recall and message overhead, presents good performance especially in dense and large-scale service networks.     

A bio-inspired predictive sensory-motor coordination scheme for robot reaching and preshaping

This paper presents a sensory-motor coordination scheme for a robot hand-arm-head system that provides the robot with the capability to reach an object while pre-shaping the fingers to the required grasp configuration and while predicting the tactile image that will be perceived after grasping. A model for sensory-motor coordination derived from studies in humans inspired the development of this scheme. A peculiar feature of this model is the prediction of the tactile image. The implementation of the proposed scheme is based on a neuro-fuzzy module that, after a learning phase, starting from visual data, calculates the position and orientation of the hand for reaching, selects the best-suited hand configuration, and predicts the tactile feedback. The implementation of the scheme on a humanoid robot allowed experimental validation of its effectiveness in robotics and provided perspectives on applications of sensory predictions in robot motor control.     

Connecting the 3D DGS Calques3D with the CAS Maple

Many (2D) Dynamic Geometry Systems (DGSs) are able to export numeric coordinates and equations with numeric coefficients to Computer Algebra Systems (CASs). Moreover, different approaches and systems that link (2D) DGSs with CASs, so that symbolic coordinates and equations with symbolic coefficients can be exported from the DGS to the CAS, already exist. Although the 3D DGS Calques3D can export numeric coordinates and equations with numeric coefficients to Maple and Mathematica, it cannot export symbolic coordinates and equations with symbolic coefficients. A connection between the 3D DGS Calques3D and the CAS Maple, that can handle symbolic coordinates and equations with symbolic coefficients, is presented here. Its main interest is to provide a convenient time-saving way to explore problems and directly obtain both algebraic and numeric data when dealing with a 3D extension of “ruler and compass geometry”. This link has not only educational purposes but mathematical ones, like mechanical theorem proving in geometry, geometric discovery (hypotheses completion), geometric loci finding… As far as we know, there is no comparable “symbolic” link in the 3D case, except the prototype 3D-LD (restricted to determining algebraic surfaces as geometric loci).     

Firms’ involvement in Open Source projects: A trade-off between software structural quality and popularity

Open Source (OS) was born as a pragmatic alternative to the ideology of Free Software and it is now increasingly seen by companies as a new approach to developing and making business upon software. Whereas the role of firms is clear for commercial OS projects, it still needs investigation for projects based on communities. This paper analyses the impact of firms’ participation on popularity and internal software design quality for 643 SourceForge.net projects. Results show that firms’ involvement improves the ranking of OS projects, but, on the other hand, puts corporate constraints to OS developing practices, thus leading to lower structural software design quality.