The role of strengths in anger and conduct problems in maltreated adolescents

Despite multi-type maltreatment, some individuals demonstrate positive adaptation and continue to develop in a healthy way. A multitude of strength factors have been linked to adaptive functioning and resilience, but this has not been adequately examined in maltreated adolescent’s psychosocial functioning. This study sought to examine the role of strengths such as having talents/interests, family relationships, educational support, the role of the recognition and application of these strengths, and the role of multi-type maltreatment on anger control and conduct problems. One hundred and thirty participants (61 males; 69 females) aged 13–19 years old were rated using the Singapore version of Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool. The results revealed that certain strengths were associated with anger and conduct problems, but the recognition and application of strengths emerged as a consistently significant predictor for both outcomes. Hence, to understand and apply one’s strengths may be equally as important as merely possessing those strengths. This study extends current understanding of the importance of strengths with a group of maltreated adolescents in an Asian context. Adopting a person-centered and strength-based approach will further enhance the effectiveness of interventions and improve outcomes for maltreated adolescents living in residential care

Quantum Hall to charge-density-wave phase transitions in ABC-trilayer graphene

ABC-stacked trilayer graphene's chiral band structure results in three ($n=0,1,2$) Landau level orbitals with zero kinetic energy. This unique feature has important consequences on the interaction driven states of the 12-fold degenerate (including spin and valley) N=0 Landau level. In particular, at many filling factors $\nu_{T} =\pm5,\pm4,\pm2,\pm1$ a quantum phase transition from a quantum Hall liquid state to a triangular charge density wave occurs as a function of the single-particle induced LL orbital splitting $\Delta_{LL}$. This phase transition should be characterized by a re-entrant integer quantum Hall effect with the Hall conductivity corresponding to the {\it adjacent} interaction driven integer quantum Hall plateau.Comment: 4+ page

A correction method for large deflections of cantilever beams with a modal approach

Modal-based reduced-order models are preferred for modeling structures due to their computational efficiency in engineering problems. One of the important limitations of the classic modal approaches is that they are geometrically linear. This study proposes a fast correction method to account for geometric nonlinearities which stem from large deflections in cantilever beams. The method relies on pre-computed correction terms and thus adds negligibly small extra computational efforts during the time domain response analyses. The accuracy of the method is examined on a straight-beam model and International Energy Agency (IEA) 15 MW wind turbine blade model. The results show that the proposed method increases the accuracy of modal approaches significantly in secondary deflections due to nonlinearities such as axial and torsional motions for the two studied cases.</p

Quantum Hall Effects in Graphene-Based Two-Dimensional Electron Systems

In this article we review the quantum Hall physics of graphene based two-dimensional electron systems, with a special focus on recent experimental and theoretical developments. We explain why graphene and bilayer graphene can be viewed respectively as J=1 and J=2 chiral two-dimensional electron gases (C2DEGs), and why this property frames their quantum Hall physics. The current status of experimental and theoretical work on the role of electron-electron interactions is reviewed at length with an emphasis on unresolved issues in the field, including assessing the role of disorder in current experimental results. Special attention is given to the interesting low magnetic field limit and to the relationship between quantum Hall effects and the spontaneous anomalous Hall effects that might occur in bilayer graphene systems in the absence of a magnetic field

Coulomb impurity under magnetic field in graphene: a semiclassical approach

We address the problem of a Coulomb impurity in graphene in the presence of a perpendicular uniform magnetic field. We show that the problem can be solved below the supercritical impurity magnitude within the WKB approximation. Without impurity the semiclassical energies correctly reproduce the Landau level spectrum. For a given Landau level the WKB energy depends on the absolute value of angular momentum in a way which is consistent with the exact diagonalization result. Below the supercritical impurity magnitude, the WKB solution can be expanded as a convergent series in powers of the effective fine structure constant. Relevance of our results to validity of the widely used Landau level projection approximation is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Applying System Engineering to Pharmaceutical Safety

While engineering techniques are used in the development of medical devices and have been applied to individual healthcare processes, such as the use of checklists in surgery and ICUs, the application of system engineering techniques to larger healthcare systems is less common. System safety is the part of system engineering that uses modeling and analysis to identify hazards and to design the system to eliminate or control them. In this paper, we demonstrate how to apply a new, safety engineering static and dynamic modeling and analysis approach to healthcare systems. Pharmaceutical safety is used as the example in the paper, but the same approach is potentially applicable to other complex healthcare systems. System engineering techniques can be used in re-engineering the system as a whole to achieve the system goals, including both enhancing the safety of current drugs while, at the same time, encouraging the development of new drugs

Estimated glomerular filtration rate and risk of poor outcomes after stroke

We thank the data team of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Stroke Services.Peer reviewedPostprin

Energy gaps at neutrality point in bilayer graphene in a magnetic field

Utilizing the Baym-Kadanoff formalism with the polarization function calculated in the random phase approximation, the dynamics of the $\nu=0$ quantum Hall state in bilayer graphene is analyzed. Two phases with nonzero energy gap, the ferromagnetic and layer asymmetric ones, are found. The phase diagram in the plane $(\tilde{\Delta}_0,B)$, where $\tilde{\Delta}_0$ is a top-bottom gates voltage imbalance, is described. It is shown that the energy gap scales linearly, $\Delta E\sim 14 B[T]K, with magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, title changed, references added, JETP Letters versio

Rheumatic mitral valve disease is associated with worse outcomes in stroke:A Thailand National Database Study

Background and purpose: Rheumatic valvular heart disease is associated with increased risk of cerebrovascular events, although there are limited data on the prognosis of patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease (RMVD) following stroke.  Methods: We examined the association between RMVD and both serious and common cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular (respiratory and infective) complications in a cohort of hospitalised stroke patients based in Thailand. Factors associated with in-hospital mortality were also explored. Data were obtained from a National Insurance Database. All hospitalised strokes between 1st October 2004 and 31st January 2013 were included in the current study. Characteristics and outcomes were compared for RMVD and non-RMVD patients. Logistic regression, propensity score matching, and multivariate models were employed to assess study outcomes.  Results: In total, 594,681 patients (mean (SD) age=64(14.5) years) with a diagnosis of stroke (ischemic = 306,154; hemorrhagic= 195,392; undetermined = 93,135) were included in this study, of whom 5461 had RMVD. Results from primary analyses showed that following ischemic stroke, and controlling for potential confounding covariates, RMVD was associated (P<0.001) with increased odds for cardiac arrest (OR(95%CI)=2.13(1.68-2.70)), shock (2.13(1.64-2.77)), arrhythmias (1.70(1.21-2.39)), respiratory failure (2.09(1.87-2.33)), pneumonia (2.00(1.81-2.20)), and sepsis (1.39(1.19-1.63)). In hemorrhagic stroke patients, RMVD was associated with increased odds (fully adjusted model) for respiratory failure (1.26(1.01-1.57)), and in patients with undetermined stroke, RMVD was associated with increased odds (fully adjusted analyses) for shock (3.00(1.46-6.14)), respiratory failure (2.70(1.91-3.79)), and pneumonia (2.42(1.88-3.11)).  Conclusions: RMVD is associated with development of cardiac arrest, shock, arrhythmias, respiratory failure, pneumonia, and sepsis following acute stroke