19,414 research outputs found
Improving mental health outcomes: achieving equity through quality improvement
Objective. To investigate equity of patient outcomes in a psychological therapy service, following increased access achieved by a quality improvement (QI) initiative. Design. Retrospective service evaluation of health outcomes; data analysed by ANOVA, chi-squared and Statistical Process Control. Setting. A psychological therapy service in Westminster, London, UK. Participants. People living in the Borough of Westminster, London, attending the service (from either healthcare professional or self-referral) between February 2009 and May 2012. Intervention(s). Social marketing interventions were used to increase referrals, including the promotion of the service through local media and through existing social networks. Main Outcome Measure(s). (i) Severity of depression on entry using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ9). (ii) Changes to severity of depression following treatment (ΔPHQ9). (iii) Changes in attainment of a meaningful improvement in condition assessed by a key performance indicator. Results. Patients from areas of high deprivation entered the service with more severe depression (M = 15.47, SD = 6.75), com-pared with patients from areas of low (M = 13.20, SD = 6.75) and medium (M = 14.44, SD = 6.64) deprivation. Patients in low
Quantifying Privacy: A Novel Entropy-Based Measure of Disclosure Risk
It is well recognised that data mining and statistical analysis pose a
serious treat to privacy. This is true for financial, medical, criminal and
marketing research. Numerous techniques have been proposed to protect privacy,
including restriction and data modification. Recently proposed privacy models
such as differential privacy and k-anonymity received a lot of attention and
for the latter there are now several improvements of the original scheme, each
removing some security shortcomings of the previous one. However, the challenge
lies in evaluating and comparing privacy provided by various techniques. In
this paper we propose a novel entropy based security measure that can be
applied to any generalisation, restriction or data modification technique. We
use our measure to empirically evaluate and compare a few popular methods,
namely query restriction, sampling and noise addition.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
Born's rule from measurements of classical signals by threshold detectors which are properly calibrated
The very old problem of the statistical content of quantum mechanics (QM) is
studied in a novel framework. The Born's rule (one of the basic postulates of
QM) is derived from theory of classical random signals. We present a
measurement scheme which transforms continuous signals into discrete clicks and
reproduces the Born's rule. This is the sheme of threshold type detection.
Calibration of detectors plays a crucial role.Comment: The problem of double clicks is resolved; hence, one can proceed in
purely wave framework, i.e., the wave-partcile duality has been resolved in
favor of the wave picture of prequantum realit
Planetary Nebulae as Probes of Stellar Evolution and Populations
Planetary Nebulae (PNe) have been used satisfactory to test the effects of
stellar evolution on the Galactic chemical environment. Moreover, a link exists
between nebular morphology and stellar populations and evolution. We present
the latest results on Galactic PN morphology, and an extension to a distance
unbiased and homogeneous sample of Large Magellanic Cloud PNe. We show that PNe
and their morphology may be successfully used as probes of stellar evolution
and populations.Comment: to appear in: Chemical Evolution of the Milky Way: stars versus
clusters, ed. F. Giovannelli and F. Matteucci, Kluwer (2000), in pres
Areas of natural occurrence of melipona scutellaris Latreille, 1811(Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the state of Bahia, Brazil.
The bee Melipona scutellaris is considered the reared meliponine species with the largest distribution in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, with records from the state of Rio Grande do Norte down to the state of Bahia. Considering the importance of this species in the generation of income for family agriculture and in the preservation of areas with natural vegetation, this study aimed at providing knowledge on the distribution of natural colonies of M. scutellaris in the state of Bahia. Literature information, interviews with stinglessbee beekeepers, and expeditions were conducted to confirm the natural occurrence of the species. A total of 102 municipalities showed records for M. scutellaris, whose occurrence was observed in areas ranging from sea level up to 1,200-meter height. The occurrence of this species in the state of Bahia is considered to be restricted to municipalities on the coastal area and the Chapada Diamantina with its rainforests. Geographic coordinates, elevation, climate and vegetation data were obtained, which allowed a map to be prepared for the area of occurrence in order to support conservation and management policies for the species
Charged Lepton Electric Dipole Moments from TeV Scale Right-handed Neutrinos
We study the connection between charged lepton electric dipole moments,
, and seesaw neutrino mass generation in a simple two Higgs
doublet extension of the Standard Model plus three right-handed neutrinos (RHN)
, . For RHN with hierarchical masses and at least one with mass
in the 10 TeV range we obtain the upper bounds of
e-cm and e-cm. Our scenario favors the normal
mass hierarchy for the light neutrinos. We also calculated the cross section
for e^-e^- \ra W^- W^- in a high luminosity collider with constraints from
neutrinoless double beta decay of nuclei included. Among the rare muon decay
experiments we find that \mu\ra e\gamma is most sensitive and the upper limit
is .Comment: references added, typos correcte
Climate Change and invasibility of the Antarctic benthos
Benthic communities living in shallow-shelf habitats in Antarctica (<100-m depth) are archaic in their structure and function. Modern predators, including fast-moving, durophagous (skeleton-crushing) bony fish, sharks, and crabs, are rare or absent; slow-moving invertebrates are the top predators; and epifaunal suspension feeders dominate many soft substratum communities. Cooling temperatures beginning in the late Eocene excluded durophagous predators, ultimately resulting in the endemic living fauna and its unique food-web structure. Although the Southern Ocean is oceanographically isolated, the barriers to biological invasion are primarily physiological rather than geographic. Cold temperatures impose limits to performance that exclude modern predators. Global warming is now removing those physiological barriers, and crabs are reinvading Antarctica. As sea temperatures continue to rise, the invasion of durophagous predators will modernize the shelf benthos and erode the indigenous character of marine life in Antarctica
Author Correction: Increased lactate dehydrogenase activity is dispensable in squamous carcinoma cells of origin.
The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the authors J. H. Joly and N. A. Graham, which were incorrectly given as J. Jolly and N. Graham. Additionally, the affiliation of both authors with 'Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089' and N. A. Graham with 'Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089' was inadvertently omitted. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article
Ambipolar charge injection and transport in a single pentacene monolayer island
Electrons and holes are locally injected in a single pentacene monolayer
island. The two-dimensional distribution and concentration of the injected
carriers are measured by electrical force microscopy. In crystalline monolayer
islands, both carriers are delocalized over the whole island. On disordered
monolayer, carriers stay localized at their injection point. These results
provide insight into the electronic properties, at the nanometer scale, of
organic monolayers governing performances of organic transistors and molecular
devices.Comment: To be published in Nano Letter
Swings between rotation and accretion power in a millisecond binary pulsar
It is thought that neutron stars in low-mass binary systems can accrete
matter and angular momentum from the companion star and be spun-up to
millisecond rotational periods. During the accretion stage, the system is
called a low-mass X-ray binary, and bright X-ray emission is observed. When the
rate of mass transfer decreases in the later evolutionary stages, these
binaries host a radio millisecond pulsar whose emission is powered by the
neutron star's rotating magnetic field. This evolutionary model is supported by
the detection of millisecond X-ray pulsations from several accreting neutron
stars and also by the evidence for a past accretion disc in a rotation-powered
millisecond pulsar. It has been proposed that a rotation-powered pulsar may
temporarily switch on during periods of low mass inflow in some such systems.
Only indirect evidence for this transition has hitherto been observed. Here we
report observations of accretion-powered, millisecond X-ray pulsations from a
neutron star previously seen as a rotation-powered radio pulsar. Within a few
days after a month-long X-ray outburst, radio pulses were again detected. This
not only shows the evolutionary link between accretion and rotation-powered
millisecond pulsars, but also that some systems can swing between the two
states on very short timescales.Comment: 43 pages, 9 figures, 4 table. Published by Nature on 26 Sep 2013.
Includes Supplementary information. Minor differences with published version
may exis
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