244 research outputs found
A Systematic Review of Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) to Improve the Health Behaviours, Psychological Wellbeing and/or Physical Health of Police Staff
This review aimed to assess the use of positive psychology interventions (PPIs), such as using positive mantras, expressive writing, or gratitude diaries, to improve the health behaviours, psychological wellbeing and/or physical health of police staff. The review was registered on PROSPERO before 16 electronic databases were searched for published articles between January 1999 and February 2022. Included studies offered PPIs to improve the physical health (body mass index, blood pressure), psychological well-being (stress, anxiety, mood, emotion, depression, self-efficacy), or health behaviours (physical activity, sitting times, dietary habits, alcohol, or tobacco use) of police staff. The mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT) was used to assess the risk of bias of included papers. The initial search yielded 4560 results; with 3385 papers remaining after duplicates were removed. Of these, 15 studies were included in the final review. Intervention types included mindfulness-based resilience training (n = 11), physical or wellness practice classes (n = 1), role-play and scenario-based interventions (n = 2) and expressive writing (n = 1). Mindfulness-based interventions improved many psychological wellbeing facets such as anxiety, depression, negative affect and quality of life. Limited improvements were observed for some health behaviours such as alcohol consumption and in self-reported general health. Expressive writing and role-play-based interventions were effective in reducing stress and anxiety, however, improvement in depression scores were inconsistent across studies. Positive psychology interventions are promising to support the health and wellbeing of police staff. Future research should investigate their mechanisms of action to support future innovation in support for police wellbeing
Defect generation and deconfinement on corrugated topographies
We investigate topography-driven generation of defects in liquid crystals
films coating frozen surfaces of spatially varying Gaussian curvature whose
topology does not automatically require defects in the ground state. We study
in particular disclination-unbinding transitions with increasing aspect ratio
for a surface shaped as a Gaussian bump with an hexatic phase draped over it.
The instability of a smooth ground state texture to the generation of a single
defect is also discussed. Free boundary conditions for a single bump are
considered as well as periodic arrays of bumps. Finally, we argue that defects
on a bump encircled by an aligning wall undergo sharp deconfinement transitions
as the aspect ratio of the surface is lowered.Comment: 24 page
Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer in older women: an analysis of retrospective English cancer registration data
Aims
Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended as a treatment for women with high recurrence risk early breast cancer. Older women are less likely to receive chemotherapy than younger women. This study investigated the impact of chemotherapy on breast cancer-specific survival in women aged 70 + years using English registry data.
Materials and methods
Cancer registration data were obtained from two English regions from 2002 to 2012 (n = 29 728). The impact of patient-level characteristics on the probability of receiving adjuvant chemotherapy was explored using logistic regression. Survival modelling was undertaken to show the effect of chemotherapy and age/health status on breast cancer-specific survival. Missing data were handled using multiple imputation.
Results
In total, 11 735 surgically treated early breast cancer patients were identified. Use of adjuvant chemotherapy has increased over time. Younger age at diagnosis, increased nodal involvement, tumour size and grade, oestrogen receptor-negative or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive disease were all associated with increased probability of receiving chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was associated with a significant reduction in the hazard of breast cancer-specific mortality in women with high risk cancer, after adjusting for patient-level characteristics (hazard ratio 0.74, 95% confidence interval 0.67–0.81).
Discussion
Chemotherapy is associated with an improved breast cancer-specific survival in older women with early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence . Lower rates of chemotherapy use in older women may, therefore, contribute to inferior cancer outcomes. Decisions on potential benefits for individual patients should be made on the basis of life expectancy, treatment tolerance and patient preference
Notes about Passive Scalar in Large-Scale Velocity Field
We consider advection of a passive scalar theta(t,r) by an incompressible
large-scale turbulent flow. In the framework of the Kraichnan model the whole
PDF's (probability distribution functions) for the single-point statistics of
theta and for the passive scalar difference theta(r_1)-theta(r_2) (for
separations r_1-r_2 lying in the convective interval) are found.Comment: 19 pages, RevTe
Statistical Description of Acoustic Turbulence
We develop expressions for the nonlinear wave damping and frequency
correction of a field of random, spatially homogeneous, acoustic waves. The
implications for the nature of the equilibrium spectral energy distribution are
discussedComment: PRE, Submitted. REVTeX, 16 pages, 3 figures (not included) PS Source
of the paper with figures avalable at
http://lvov.weizmann.ac.il/onlinelist.htm
Stability of scaling regimes in developed turbulence with weak anisotropy
The fully developed turbulence with weak anisotropy is investigated by means
of renormalization group approach (RG) and double expansion regularization for
dimensions . Some modification of the standard minimal substraction
scheme has been used to analyze stability of the Kolmogorov scaling regime
which is governed by the renormalization group fixed point. This fixed point is
unstable at ; thus, the infinitesimally weak anisotropy destroyes above
scaling regime in two-dimensional space. The restoration of the stability of
this fixed point, under transition from to has been demonstrated
at borderline dimension . The results are in qualitative agreement
with ones obtained recently in the framework of the usual analytical
regularization scheme.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figure
Numerical study of the spherically-symmetric Gross-Pitaevskii equation in two space dimensions
We present a numerical study of the time-dependent and time-independent
Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation in two space dimensions, which describes the
Bose-Einstein condensate of trapped bosons at ultralow temperature with both
attractive and repulsive interatomic interactions. Both time-dependent and
time-independent GP equations are used to study the stationary problems. In
addition the time-dependent approach is used to study some evolution problems
of the condensate. Specifically, we study the evolution problem where the trap
energy is suddenly changed in a stable preformed condensate. In this case the
system oscillates with increasing amplitude and does not remain limited between
two stable configurations. Good convergence is obtained in all cases studied.Comment: 9 latex pages, 7 postscript figures, To appear in Phys. Rev.
Dynamic Fluctuation Phenomena in Double Membrane Films
Dynamics of double membrane films is investigated in the long-wavelength
limit including the overdamped squeezing mode. We demonstrate that thermal
fluctuations essentially modify the character of the mode due to its nonlinear
coupling to the transversal shear hydrodynamic mode. The corresponding Green
function acquires as a function of the frequency a cut along the imaginary
semi-axis. Fluctuations lead to increasing the attenuation of the squeezing
mode it becomes larger than the `bare' value.Comment: 7 pages, Revte
Holographic mesons in various dimensions
We calculate the spectrum of fluctuations of a probe Dk-brane in the
background of N Dp-branes, for k=p,p+2,p+4 and p< 5. The result corresponds to
the mesonic spectrum of a (p+1)-dimensional super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory
coupled to `dynamical quarks', i.e., fields in the fundamental representation
-- the latter are confined to a defect for k=p and p+2. We find a universal
behaviour where the spectrum is discrete and the mesons are deeply bound. The
mass gap and spectrum are set by the scale M ~ m_q/g_{eff}(m_q), where m_q is
the mass of the fundamental fields and g_{eff}(m_q) is the effective coupling
evaluated at the quark mass, i.e. g_{eff}^2(m_q)=g_{ym}^2 N m_q^{p-3}. We
consider the evolution of the meson spectra into the far infrared of
three-dimensional SYM, where the gravity dual lifts to M-theory. We also argue
that the mass scale appearing in the meson spectra is dictated by holography.Comment: 44 pages, 2 figures; v2: typos corrected, references adde
Renormalization group and anomalous scaling in a simple model of passive scalar advection in compressible flow
Field theoretical renormalization group methods are applied to a simple model
of a passive scalar quantity advected by the Gaussian non-solenoidal
(``compressible'') velocity field with the covariance . Convective range anomalous scaling for the structure
functions and various pair correlators is established, and the corresponding
anomalous exponents are calculated to the order of the
expansion. These exponents are non-universal, as a result of the degeneracy of
the RG fixed point. In contrast to the case of a purely solenoidal velocity
field (Obukhov--Kraichnan model), the correlation functions in the case at hand
exhibit nontrivial dependence on both the IR and UV characteristic scales, and
the anomalous scaling appears already at the level of the pair correlator. The
powers of the scalar field without derivatives, whose critical dimensions
determine the anomalous exponents, exhibit multifractal behaviour. The exact
solution for the pair correlator is obtained; it is in agreement with the
result obtained within the expansion. The anomalous exponents for
passively advected magnetic fields are also presented in the first order of the
expansion.Comment: 31 pages, REVTEX file. More detailed discussion of the
one-dimensional case and comparison to the previous paper [20] are given;
references updated. Results and formulas unchange
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