The Individualization of the Little Talks Intervention: Implications for Modular Treatment Designs

Modular treatment designs enable interventionists to adapt intervention content to individual clients, a process referred to as individualization. Little is known about individualization processes and its effects on outcomes in early childhood services. This exploratory study investigated individualization processes undertaken by Early Head Start home visitors as they provided Little Talks, a modularized book-sharing intervention for families. It also examined the effect of individualization on parent involvement in early learning activities. Two indicators of individualization were calculated in this study: (a) the proportion of change in the Little Talks’ lessons sequence and (b) the pace of delivery. Findings showed that most home visitors individualized Little Talks, with the most frequent change being the repetition of lessons. Exploratory regression analysis showed an inverse relationship between home visitors’ individualization behavior and parent involvement, highlighting the need to examine the quality of individualization. Implications for advancing the implementation and study of individualization processes in home visiting are discussed.

Modular treatment of arsenic-laden brackish groundwater using solar-powered subsurface arsenic removal (SAR) and membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) in Vietnam

To evaluate energy efficient concepts for the modular treatment of brackish water, pilot trials for groundwater desalination and arsenic (As) removal were carried out in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Groundwater here is affected by naturally occurring high iron (Fe2+) and As concentrations, while, in coastal regions, groundwater is additionally contaminated by high salinity mostly due to seawater intrusion. Desalination was conducted by membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI), which shows low specific energy consumption (SEC). Anoxic groundwater with As(III) and Fe2+ was treated using a pre-oxidation step called subsurface arsenic removal (SAR) with the main advantage that no As-laden waste is produced. The pilot plant was operated using a photovoltaic system (3 kWp) and a small wind turbine (2 kWp). The SEC of drinking water produced was 3.97 kWh/m3. Total dissolved solids (TDS) of 1,560 mg/L were lowered to 188 mg/L, while Fe2+ was reduced from 1.8 mg/L to the below detection limit and As from 2.3 to 0.18 μg/L. The results show that SAR is a feasible remediation technique for Fe2+ and As removal in remote areas, and demonstrate the potential of MCDI for brackish water desalination coupled with renewable energies. However, improvements in energy demand of the MCDI module can still be achieved.

Reuse of municipal wastewater for different purposes based on a modular treatment concept

Due to water scarcity and water pollution, the importance of water reuse is increasing more and more. As part of a German research programme on water reuse, the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant in the coastal region of northern Germany was used to investigate within the project MULTI-ReUse the direct treatment of tertiary effluent for usage in different applications in industry or agriculture. A modular constructed pilot system has been operated to optimize different treatment chains producing different water qualities simultaneously. The technological focus was put on membrane technologies, namely ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO), and also biofiltration, adsorption and disinfection were part of the piloting. Beside the development of monitoring strategies for ensuring biological and chemical safe water qualities, the operational stability and the safe transport of water to the consumers were examined. The direct treatment of wastewater is a demanding task due to the lack of dilution and hydraulic retention time in the receiving water (environmental buffer). However, the multiple barrier approach guaranteed constant secure water. Fine adjustments of individual processes were particularly important. A stable operation of the UF could be realized in particular by using more or less intermittent inline coagulation as coating. The RO performance could be improved significantly by using monochloramine as disinfectant to minimize biofouling.

Open Trial of a Personalized Modular Treatment for Mood and Anxiety

Psychosocial treatments for mood and anxiety disorders are generally effective, however, a number of treated individuals fail to demonstrate clinically-significant change. Consistent the decades-old aim to identify ‘what works for whom,’ personalized and precision treatments have become a recent area of interest in medicine and psychology. The present study followed the recommendations of Fisher (2015) to employ a personalized modular model of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Employing the algorithms provided by Fernandez, Fisher, and Chi (2017), the present study collected intensive repeated measures data prior to therapy in order to perform person-specific factor analyses and dynamic factor models. The results of these analyses were then used to generated personalized modular treatment plans on a person-by-person basis. Thirty-two participants completed therapy. The average number of sessions was 10.38. Hedges g’s for the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) were 2.33 and 1.62, respectively. The change per unit time was g=.24/session for the HRSD and g=.17/session for the HARS. The current open trial provides promising data in support of personalization, modularization, and idiographic research paradigms.