Heart Transplantation

Abstract

Heart failure has been the cause of over 40,000 deaths each year (Costanzo et al., 1995). Heart transplant is one of the treatments for heart failure. There are many aspects involved in heart transplantation. This paper will address the medical issues of heart transplantation as well as the psychosocial aspects involved for those both waiting for a heart transplant and for those who have undergone the transplantation process. The interventions used with individuals undergoing heart transplantation will be addressed. Methods of prevention of cardiovascular disease and hypertension are explored as well as the implication of heart transplantation and prevention of heart disease for social workers.     

Parents' Perceptions of Services for Children and Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Increased concern about the pervasive problems children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) experience has led to the planning and development of alternative approaches to serving these individuals and their families. One alternative approach includes the development of a comprehensive, community- based system of care. This study encouraged parent participation in a county-wide needs assessment designed to facilitate the development of a system of care. Parents were surveyed to gather their views regarding their experiences with various service agencies as well as their input into how comprehensive services could best be developed and implemented. The survey focused on (a) family needs, (b) existing barriers to comprehensive individualized care, and (c) specific service priorities for system development. Suggestions for future research and implications for developing such services are discussed.     

Mixed-Poisson Point Process with Partially-Observed Covariates: Ecological Momentary Assessment of Smoking

Ecological Momentary Assessment is an emerging method of data collection in behavioral research that may be used to capture the times of repeated behavioral events on electronic devices, and information on subjects' psychological states through the electronic administration of questionnaires at times selected from a probability-based design as well as the event times. A method for fitting a mixed Poisson point process model is proposed for the impact of partially-observed, time-varying covariates on the timing of repeated behavioral events. A random frailty is included in the point-process intensity to describe variation among subjects in baseline rates of event occurrence. Covariate coefficients are estimated using estimating equations constructed by replacing the integrated intensity in the Poisson score equations with a design-unbiased estimator. An estimator is also proposed for the variance of the random frailties. Our estimators are robust in the sense that no model assumptions are made regarding the distribution of the time-varying covariates or the distribution of the random effects. However, subject effects are estimated under gamma frailties using an approximate hierarchical likelihood. The proposed approach is illustrated using smoking data.     

KinCareTech: Interactive,Internet-Based Software to Support Kinship Caregivers

Kinship care has advantages over traditional foster care, but kinship caregivers have fewer resources and receive less support or training. Technology may be one way to evaluate needs and provide support. KinCareTech is a collaboratively developed, single-session Internet-based program designed to promote early reading and/or parenting skills through an interactive, caregiver-focused brief intervention. KinCareTech was used by a group of 10 kinship caregivers who then provided quantitative and qualitative feedback regarding the acceptability and helpfulness of the software. Feedback from these kinship caregivers suggested that they saw the software as easy to use, helpful, and relevant to their concerns.     

推进网络思想政治教育的行为逻辑分析

网络的诞生和发展,给思想政治教育的地位、方法、手段以及环境都带来了诸多改变,这是一种机遇也是一种挑战。推进网络思想政治教育以及增强其实效性是网络时代思想政治教育的主要目标,同时也具有重要的方法论意义,因此,从“应然之意”、“实然之路”、“必然之策”三个层次对网络思想政治教育进行行为逻辑分析很有必要,通过认识网络思想政治教育的必要性,直面网络思想政治教育存在的问题,提出增强网络思想政治教育实效性的对策建议。     

动态环境下变革型领导、TMT行为整合与创新绩效关系研究

基于在长三角企业收集的343份问卷样本,探讨动态环境下变革型领导和TMT行为整合与创新绩效的关系。研究结果表明:变革型领导与TMT行为整合均对创新绩效有正向影响;TMT行为整合可以帮助变革型领导并提升创新绩效;动态环境的调节效应揭示了在更高的动态环境水平下TMT行为整合在变革型领导与企业创新绩效上的间接关系会变弱。     

Experience-weighted Attraction Learning in Normal Form Games

In ‘experience-weighted attraction’ (EWA) learning, strategies have attractions that reflect initial predispositions, are updated based on payoff experience, and determine choice probabilities according to some rule (e.g., logit). A key feature is a parameter δ that weights the strength of hypothetical reinforcement of strategies that were not chosen according to the payoff they would have yielded, relative to reinforcement of chosen strategies according to received payoffs. The other key features are two discount rates, φ and ρ, which separately discount previous attractions, and an experience weight. EWA includes reinforcement learning and weighted fictitious play (belief learning) as special cases, and hybridizes their key elements. When δ= 0 and ρ= 0, cumulative choice reinforcement results. When δ= 1 and ρ=φ, levels of reinforcement of strategies are exactly the same as expected payoffs given weighted fictitious play beliefs. Using three sets of experimental data, parameter estimates of the model were calibrated on part of the data and used to predict a holdout sample. Estimates of δ are generally around .50, φ around .8 − 1, and ρ varies from 0 to φ. Reinforcement and belief-learning special cases are generally rejected in favor of EWA, though belief models do better in some constant-sum games. EWA is able to combine the best features of previous approaches, allowing attractions to begin and grow flexibly as choice reinforcement does, but reinforcing unchosen strategies substantially as belief-based models implicitly do.     

Who should care for our kids? The effects of infant child care on early child development

This paper examines the relationship between various types of child care during the first year of a child's life and the child's language and social development measured at age three. A unique contribution of the paper is the estimation of a general selection-correction model that accounts for non-random selection of children into different types of child care. The analysis uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a birth cohort of children born to predominantly low-income single mothers. The results indicate that compared with maternal care, relative care during infancy has more beneficial effects on a child's language development, while day care centers have more beneficial effects on a child's behavioral development.