Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, School of Education. / Also on microfilm. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1994. / Title from title page screen, viewed March 21, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Ronald Fortune (chair), Ray Lewis White, William Woodson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-162) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / Cocaine use among opioid dependent persons is common, with an estimated 40 to 70% of those seeking treatment for opioid dependence, also using cocaine (Sullivan et al., 2011 ). The effects of cocaine use on treatment outcomes for those seeking medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid dependence are not well understood. Buprenorphine, prescribed under the brand name Suboxone, has recently emerged as a convenient, effective method of MAT. The Facilitated Access to Substance Abuse Treatment with Prevention And Treatment of HIV (FAST PATH) program at Boston Medical Center, is a research study to provide substance abuse treatment along with primary care and HIV risk-reduction counseling to those afflicted with these epidemics. The objective of this study was to determine the association of cocaine use with treatment retention and opioid abstinence at six months for patients receiving buprenorphine in the FAST PATH program. A prospective cohort study was conducted on 116 patients enrolled in the FAST PATH program through 02/01/2012. Assessments were conducted at baseline and six months to evaluate the association between baseline cocaine use and treatment retention as well as opioid abstinence at six months. Baseline cocaine use was measured by either any urine toxicology screen positive for cocaine prior to study enrollment or 30 day self-reported cocaine use on the initial assessment. Of the 116 participants, 39% were positive for cocaine use at baseline and 52% were HIV positive. Baseline cocaine use had no effect significant on treatment retention or opioid abstinence at six months. Among all the participant characteristics measured, there were no significant differences between the cocaine positive (n=45) and cocaine negative (n=71) groups. In adjusted analysis, age was the only covariate which was significant at predicting the odds of treatment retention or opioid abstinence with a 1.11 (p-value = 0.0003) and 1.08 (p-value = 0.02) greater odds of each, respectively. Although cocaine use did not affect the dependent variables, integrated substance abuse and primary care clinics utilizing buprenorphine are a rich area of future research. Specifically, subsequent studies should determine how varied groups of opioid dependent persons perform within this framework, and the underlying characteristics moderating their outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: Data on the effect of diabetes type (insulin-dependent vs. noninsulin- dependent) on short- and long-term outcomes after lower extremity revascularization for chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) are lacking. We sought to address this paucity of information by evaluating outcomes in patients with insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent diabetes after first-time bypass and endovascular interventions. METHODS: We reviewed all limbs undergoing a first-time infrainguinal bypass (BPG) or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with or without stent (PTA/S) for CLTI at our institution from 2005-2014. Based on preoperative medication regimen, patients were categorized as having insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM), noninsulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), or no diabetes (NDM). Outcomes included wound healing, major amputation, RAS events (revascularization, major amputation, or stenosis), major adverse limb events (MALE), and mortality. Outcomes were evaluated using Chi-square, Kaplan-Meier, and Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Of 2,869 infrainguinal revascularizations from 2005-2014, 1,294 limbs (646 BPG, 648 PTA/S) fit our criteria and underwent a first-time revascularization for CLTI. Overall, 703 IDDM, 262 NIDDM, and 329 NDM limbs were included in our analysis. IDDM patients, compared to NIDDM and NDM, were younger (69 vs. 73 vs. 77 years; P<.001) and more often presented with tissue loss (89% vs. 77% vs. 67%; P<.001), coronary artery disease (57% vs. 48% vs. 43% P<.001), and end-stage renal disease (26% vs. 13% vs. 12%; P<.001). Perioperative complications, including mortality (3% vs. 2% vs. 5%; P=.07), did not differ between the three groups; however, complete wound healing at 6-month follow-up was significantly worse among IDDM patients (36% vs. 40% vs. 51%; P<.001). Irrespective of intervention type, IDDM patients had significantly higher three-year major amputation rates (BPG: 24% vs. 16% vs. 10%, P=.04; PTA/S: 21% vs. 6% vs. 5%, P<.001). Multivariable analyses illustrated that, compared to NDM, IDDM was associated with significantly higher risk of both major amputation and RAS events following any first-time intervention (Hazard Ratio (HR) 2.5, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.2-5.2 and 1.4 [1.1-1.9], respectively). Similar associations were found for a PTA/S-first intervention (3.1 [1.1-9.0] and 1.5 [1.1-2.2], respectively), while IDDM patients undergoing a BPG-first intervention were only associated with incomplete wound healing (1.5 [1.3-2.9]). Lastly, when compared to NDM, NIDDM was associated with lower late mortality (0.6 [0.5-0.8]). CONCLUSIONS: As compared to NDM, IDDM was associated with similar perioperative and long-term mortality but a higher risk of incomplete wound healing, major amputation, and future RAS events, especially after a PTA/S-first approach. Interestingly, NIDDM was associated with lower long-term mortality and not associated with any adverse limb events. Overall, these data demonstrate both the importance in distinguishing between diabetes types, as well as potential long-term benefit of a bypass-first strategy in appropriately selected IDDM patients with CLTI. / 2018-07-11T00:00:00Z

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Addiction has seen to be an illness that not only affects the individual but the holistic well-being of the family. Primary caregivers form an integral part of the family system. The caregivers take on roles that might stagnate their own development and coping methods, which if used, could affect the entire family system. There are in-conclusive research on the effect of the coping method of the primary caregiver on the well-being of himself/herself and the family system as a whole. The aim of the research was to quantitatively, through making use of Orford’s Coping questionnaire, explore the different coping methods employed by the primary caregiver of an adult substance dependent and thereafter to qualitatively, through utilizing a narrative approach, explore the experience of the different means of coping. The study design was a mixed method study. Quantitative research was the dominant approach followed by qualitative research. The population was the primary caregivers of adult substance dependents who have sought treatment and who resided in the Mitchell’s Plain area. Eighty participants completed the coping questionnaire and four narratives were done. Quantitative research results was analyzed using SPSS and the qualitative research was analyzed by making use of narrative analysis whereby the interview was analyzed Labov and Waletzky’s structural model of narrative. The theoretical framework from which the researcher addressed this study was collaboration between the family systems theory and the disease model of addiction. Quantitative findings indicated that there more caregivers make use of tolerant coping than engaged and withdrawal coping. There is a distinction between the coping methods that males and females make use of. Qualitative findings indicated that there is no ‘correct’ way of coping with being the caregiver of a substance dependant. Caregivers take on coping methods that they are comfortable with.

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Orientador: Eleitério Fernando da Silva Prado / Banca: Eduardo Strachman / Banca: Dimária Silva e Meirelles / Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar como o processo de inovações tecnológicas é tratado pela Teoria dos Sistemas Complexos. A abordagem neoclássica tradicional, ao partir de pressupostos bastante restritivos sobre os agentes e os mercados, não é capaz de fornecer explicações plausíveis aos vários problemas econômicos da vida real. Ao desconsiderar a dinâmica dos fenômenos econômicos, essa abordagem foi incapaz de incorporar os aspectos do processo de inovação e mudança tecnológica. A abordagem evolucionária, nesse sentido, ao considerar a racionalidade limitada, incerteza e heterogeneidade presente em ambientes que exibem inovação, foi capaz de fornecer um tratamento mais próximo da realidade. A inovação é, então, entendida como uma mudança descontínua que altera as condições estruturais gerando desenvolvimento, progresso e evolução no sistema. Já abordagem dos sistemas complexos, ao apresentar um arcabouço não reducionista e que se fundamenta sobre uma perspectiva evolucionária e sistêmica, concebe a economia como um sistema composto por agentes heterogêneos que interagem entre si. Apesar do ambiente de incerteza nas decisões tomadas, os agentes procuram se adaptar às informações recebidas do meio e se auto-organizarem gerando com isso novos padrões de auto-ordenamento e estruturas emergentes. A modelagem, nesse sentido, tem por principal objetivo descobrir as propriedades emergentes resultantes da interação entre os agentes no sistema. Por fim chega-se a conclusão de que as inovações tecnológicas apresentaram resultados mais satisfatórios e mais condizentes quando analisadas dentro dessa perspectiva agent-based. / Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss how processes of technological innovation are analyzed by Complex Systems Theory. Traditional neoclassical approach is unable to provide plausible explanations of a number of real world economic issues, as it starts from very restrictive assumptions on agents and markets. By neglecting economic phenomena dynamics, it has been unable of comprehend some aspects of innovation and technical change processes under its purview. Evolutionary economics, by taking issues such as bounded rationality, uncertainty and heterogeneity in environments with innovation, has been better positioned to afford a closer-to-reality treatment. In this approach, innovation is seen as a disruptive change that alters the system's structural conditions, generating development, progress, and evolution. Accordingly, the complex systems approach, by furnishing a non-reductionist framework and in being supported on an evolutionary and systemic perspective, conceives the economy as a system composed by interactions among heterogeneous agents. Nevertheless uncertainty in the decision-making process, yet the agents endeavors to adapt to information coming from the environment and to self-organize. In doing so, they generate new patterns of self-ordained emerging structures. Modeling techniques, in this sense, aim primarily to uncover emerging properties resulting from agents' interaction in the system. The main conclusion is that technological innovations are more successfully and more cogently described when analyzed from this agent-based perspective. / Mestre

Ph.D. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The phrase ‘in virtue of’ is a mainstay of metaphysical discourse. In recent years, many philosophers have argued that we should understand this phrase, as metaphysicians use it, in terms of a concept of metaphysical dependence called ‘grounding’.This dissertation explores a range of central issues in the theory of grounding. Chapter 1 introduces the intuitive concept of grounding and discusses some compulsory questions in the theory of grounding. Chapter 2 focusses on scepticism on grounding, according to which the recent philosophical interest in the topic is misguided. In chapter 3 I discuss grounding’s explanatory roles. Chapter 4 focusses on the claim that if an entity is grounded then it is an ontological free lunch. Chapter 5 discusses and rejects the claim that groundingis a relation between facts. This conclusion raises a problem: if grounding is not a relation between facts it becomes difficult to specify the connections between grounding and explanation and grounding and necessity. But not only is it desirable to specify these relations, it is essential for establishing that grounding is able to play the explanatory roles that are discussed in chapter 3. Chapter 6 responds to this problem by outlining an approach to grounding based on David Lewis’s (2003) theory of truthmaking. Against this backdrop I discuss, in chapter 7, some issues in the logic of grounding.

<p> The hydrogenolysis of propane over 0.5 weight percent ruthenium supported on (see symbol in text)-alumina in a continuous stirred-tank catalytic reactor was studied at various pressures and temperatures. </p> <p> The reaction orders with respect to propane and hydrogen and the activation energies were examined at various pressures. A mechanism was proposed and a Hougen-Watson type of rate expression was obtained from the analysis of the proposed mechanism. </p> <p> The product distributions were studied at various pressures and temperatures. A reaction network involving reversible adsorption-desorption of the hydrocarbons and irreversible rupture of the carbon-carbon bonds in the surface species was applied to the experimental data. </p> <p> The proposed mechanism was consistent with the data for kinetics and selectivity. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)