2,693 research outputs found
Maximal induced matchings in triangle-free graphs
An induced matching in a graph is a set of edges whose endpoints induce a
-regular subgraph. It is known that any -vertex graph has at most
maximal induced matchings, and this bound is best
possible. We prove that any -vertex triangle-free graph has at most maximal induced matchings, and this bound is attained by any
disjoint union of copies of the complete bipartite graph . Our result
implies that all maximal induced matchings in an -vertex triangle-free graph
can be listed in time , yielding the fastest known algorithm for
finding a maximum induced matching in a triangle-free graph.Comment: 17 page
Facilitating integrated delivery of services across organisational boundaries: Essential enablers to integration
Introduction: Integrating services is a key tenet to developing services across the United Kingdom. While many aspects ofintegration have been explored, how to facilitate integration of services remains unclear.Method: An exploratory qualitative study was undertaken in 2015 to explore occupational therapists’ perceptions on integratingservice provision across health and social care organisational boundaries. The views of practitioners who had experiencedintegration were sought on a range of aspects of integrating services. This paper focuses on the facilitators for deliveringintegration and the essential enablers are identified.Findings: Numerous factors were noted to facilitate integration and three essential enablers were highlighted. Leadership,communication and joint education were recognised as playing a central role in integrating services across organisationalboundaries; without these three essential enablers, integration is liable to fail.Conclusion: Integration is a process rather than an event; continued emphasis will be required on leadership, communication andjoint education to progress integration achievements made to date
We are all in this together—whole of community pain science education campaigns to promote better management of persistent pain
Persistent pain is a major public health issue—estimated to affect a quarter of the world's population. Public understanding of persistent pain is based on outdated biomedical models, laden with misconceptions that are contrary to best evidence. This understanding is a barrier to effective pain management. Thus, there have been calls for public health-based interventions to address these misconceptions. Previous pain-focussed public education campaigns have targeted pain beliefs and behaviours that are thought to promote recovery, such as staying active. However, prevailing pain-related misconceptions render many of these approaches counter-intuitive, at best. Pain Science Education improves understanding of ‘how pain works’ and has been demonstrated to improve pain and disability outcomes. Extending Pain Science Education beyond the clinic to the wider community seems warranted. Learning from previous back pain-focussed and other public health educational campaigns could optimise the potential benefit of such a Pain Science Education campaign. Pain Science Education-grounded campaigns have been delivered in Australia and the UK and show promise, but robust evaluations are needed before any firm conclusions on their population impact can be made. Several challenges exist going forward. Not least is the need to ensure all stakeholders are involved in the development and implementation of Pain Science Education public messaging campaigns. Furthermore, it is crucial that campaigns are undertaken through a health equity lens, incorporating underrepresented communities to ensure that any intervention does not widen existing health inequalities associated with persistent pain. Perspective: Public misconceptions about pain are a significant public health challenge and a viable intervention target to reduce the personal, social, and economic burden of persistent pain. Adaptation of Pain Science Education, which improves misconceptions in a clinical setting, into the public health setting seems a promising approach to explore
A supersonic crowdion in mica: Ultradiscrete kinks with energy between K recoil and transmission sputtering
In this chapter we analyze in detail the behaviour and properties of the
kinks found in an one dimensional model for the close packed rows of potassium
ions in mica muscovite. The model includes realistic potentials obtained from
the physics of the problem, ion bombardment experiments and molecular dynamics
fitted to experiments. These kinks are supersonic and have an unique velocity
and energy. They are ultradiscrete involving the translation of an interstitial
ion, which is the reason they are called 'crowdions'. Their energy is below the
most probable source of energy, the decay of the K isotope and above the
energy needed to eject an atom from the mineral, a phenomenon that has been
observed experimentallyComment: 28 pages, 15 figure
Psychological impact of injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the psychological impact associated with motor vehicle crash (MVC)-related physical injuries. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: Multiple search engines included MEDLINE (via OVID), PsycINFO and Embase, and studies were sourced from scientific journals, conference papers and doctoral theses. Study selection: A high-yield search strategy was employed. Terms like 'psychological distress', 'depression', 'PTSD' and 'motor vehicle accident' were employed. These key words were run primarily and secondary searches were then conducted in association with the major injury types. Studies needed to compare psychological distress in people injured in an MVC with uninjured controls who had not recently experienced an MVC. Data extraction: Searches resulted in the identification of 2537 articles, and after eliminating duplicates and studies not meeting inclusion criteria, 24 studies were selected involving 4502 injured participants. These studies were entered into separate meta-analyses for mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (mTBI), whiplash-associated disorder (WAD) and spinal cord injury (SCI). Results: Elevated psychological distress was associated with MVC-related injuries with a large summary effect size in WAD (0.90), medium to large effect size in SCI (0.69) and small to medium effect size in mTBI (0.23). No studies meeting inclusion criteria were found for burns, fractures and low back injury. Increased psychological distress remains elevated in SCI, mTBI and WAD for at least 3 years post-MVC. Conclusions: Rehabilitation strategies are needed to minimise distress subsequent to MVC-related physical injuries and the scientific robustness of studies requires improvement
Explosive Nucleosynthesis: What we learned and what we still do not understand
This review touches on historical aspects, going back to the early days of
nuclear astrophysics, initiated by BFH and Cameron, discusses (i) the
required nuclear input from reaction rates and decay properties up to the
nuclear equation of state, continues (ii) with the tools to perform
nucleosynthesis calculations and (iii) early parametrized nucleosynthesis
studies, before (iv) reliable stellar models became available for the late
stages of stellar evolution. It passes then through (v) explosive environments
from core-collapse supernovae to explosive events in binary systems (including
type Ia supernovae and compact binary mergers), and finally (vi) discusses the
role of all these nucleosynthesis production sites in the evolution of
galaxies. The focus is put on the comparison of early ideas and present, very
recent, understanding.Comment: 11 pages, to appear in Springer Proceedings in Physics (Proc. of
Intl. Conf. "Nuclei in the Cosmos XV", LNGS Assergi, Italy, June 2018
A gene signature for post-infectious chronic fatigue syndrome
Background: At present, there are no clinically reliable disease markers for chronic fatigue syndrome. DNA chip microarray technology provides a method for examining the differential expression of mRNA from a large number of genes. Our hypothesis was that a gene expression signature, generated by microarray assays, could help identify genes which are dysregulated in patients with post-infectious CFS and so help identify biomarkers for the condition. Methods: Human genome-wide Affymetrix GeneChip arrays (39,000 transcripts derived from 33,000 gene sequences) were used to compare the levels of gene expression in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of male patients with post-infectious chronic fatigue (n = 8) and male healthy control subjects (n = 7). Results: Patients and healthy subjects differed significantly in the level of expression of 366 genes. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes indicated functional implications in immune modulation, oxidative stress and apoptosis. Prototype biomarkers were identified on the basis of differential levels of gene expression and possible biological significance Conclusion: Differential expression of key genes identified in this study offer an insight into the possible mechanism of chronic fatigue following infection. The representative biomarkers identified in this research appear promising as potential biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment
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