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Argues that process evaluation is needed to validate prison-based substance abuse treatment effectiveness. Five groups--inmates, treatment staff, prison staff, prison administration, and the parole board--should be a part of this process evaluation. Discusses these five groups relative to three stages of development of substance abuse treatment in prison. (RJM)

Studied how positive the educational and social experiences were for vastly outnumbered and socially segregated minority students at a predominantly white university. Responses from 240 black and white students show that minority students are daily reminded, overtly and covertly, of their minority status. The alienation from campus life this causes forces minorities into their own social cliques. (GR)

Suggests the bachelor's paper as an alternative to testing for sociology majors. Explains that the paper enables the student to use the discipline's theoretical and methodological tools to address an important topic. Explores the advantages and disadvantages of the paper. Suggests that the assignment promotes assessment both of the student and the program. (SG)

Case managers have been viewed as engaging in direct practice, community practice, or both. This article offers a third view: Case managers also engage in the practice of management. Employing Mintzberg's seminal research on chief executive behavior, the authors argue that case managers' work is similarly characterized by brevity, variety, and fragmentation. Case managers perform the 10 roles developed in Mintzberg's original study. These roles are divided into three groups: interpersonal, including figurehead, leader, and liaison; informational, including monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson; and decision-making, including entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. Case managers' tasks associated with each role are presented. Considering their work as managerial in nature will help case managers more effectively assist clients in goal achievement., The prominence of case management as a service delivery method and as an area of study for social workers has increased in the past decade. Although case management has its [...]

Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) have received increasing attention during recent years due to their simple architecture, based on solely air-stabile materials, and ease of manufacture in ambient atmosphere, using solution-based technologies. The LEC's active layer offers semiconducting, luminescent as well as ionic functionality resulting in device physical processes fundamentally different as compared with organic light-emitting diodes. During operation, electrical double layers (EDLs) form at the electrode interfaces as a consequence of ion accumulation and electrochemical doping sets in leading to the in situ development of a light-emitting p-i-n junction. In this paper, we comment on the use of impedance spectroscopy in combination with complex nonlinear squares fitting to derive key information about the latter events in thin-film ionic transition metal complex-based light-emitting electrochemical cells based on the model compound bis-2-phenylpyridine 6-phenyl-2,2'-bipyridine iridium(III) hexafluoridophosphate ([Ir(ppy)2(pbpy)][PF6]). At operating voltages below the bandgap potential of the ionic complex used, we obtain the dielectric constant of the active layer, the conductivity of mobile ions, the transference numbers of electrons and ions, and the thickness of the EDLs, whereas the transient thickness of the p-i-n junction is determined at voltages above the bandgap potential. Most importantly, we find that charge transport is dominated by the ions when carrier injection from the electrodes is prohibited, that ion movement is limited by the presence of transverse internal interfaces and that the width of the intrinsic region constitutes almost 60% of the total active layer thickness in steady state at a low operating voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The receptor tyrosine kinase PDGFRβ is essential for pericyte migration to the endothelium. In mice lacking one allele of PDGFRβ (PDGFRβ+/−), previous reports have described an age-dependent loss of pericytes in the brain, leading to cerebrovascular dysfunction and subsequent neurodegeneration reminiscent of that seen in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. We examined 12–20-month-old PDGFRβ+/− mice to better understand how pericyte loss affects brain microvascular structure and perfusion in vivo. We observed a mild reduction of cortical pericyte number in PDGFRβ+/− mice (27% fewer cell bodies) compared to controls, but no decrease in pericyte coverage of the endothelium. This mild degree of pericyte loss caused no discernable change in cortical microvascular density, length, basal diameter or reactivity to hypercapnia. Yet, it was associated with an increase in basal blood cell velocity, primarily in pre-capillary arterioles. Taken together, our results suggest that mild pericyte loss can lead to aberrant cerebral blood flow despite a lack of apparent effect on microvascular structure and reactivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]