Internet-based, culturally sensitive, problem-solving therapy for turkish migrants with depression: Randomized controlled trial

Background: Turkish migrants living in the Netherlands have a high prevalence of depressive disorders, but experience considerable obstacles to accessing professional help. Providing easily accessible Internet treatments may help to overcome these barriers. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally sensitive, guided, self-help, problem-solving intervention through the Internet for reducing depressive symptoms in Turkish migrants. Methods: A two-armed randomized controlled trial was conducted. The primary outcome measure was the severity of depressive symptoms; secondary outcome measures were somatic symptoms, anxiety, quality of life, and satisfaction with the treatment. Participants were assessed online at baseline, posttest (6 weeks after baseline), and 4 months after baseline. Posttest results were analyzed on the intention-to-treat sample. Missing values were estimated by means of multiple imputation. Differences in clinical outcome between groups were analyzed with a t test. Cohen's d was used to determine the between-groups effect size at posttreatment and follow-up. Results: Turkish adults (N=96) with depressive symptoms were randomized to the experimental group (n=49) or to a waitlist control group (n=47). High attrition rates were found among the 96 participants of which 42% (40/96) did not complete the posttest (6 weeks) and 62% (59/96) participants did not complete the follow-up assessment at 4 months. No significant difference between the experimental group and the control group was found for depression at posttest. Recovery occurred significantly more often in the experimental group (33%, 16/49) than in the control group (9%, 4/47) at posttest (P=.02). Because of the high attrition rate, a completers-only analysis was conducted at follow-up. The experimental group showed significant improvement in depression compared to the control group both at posttest (P=.01) and follow-up (P=.01). Conclusions: The results of this study did not show a significant effect on the reduction of depressive symptoms. However, the effect size at posttest was high, which might be an indicator of the possible effectiveness of the intervention when assessed in a larger sample and robust trial. Future research should replicate our study with adequately powered samples. © Burçin Ünlü Ince, Pim Cuijpers, Edith van 't Hof, Wouter van Ballegooijen, Helen Christensen, Heleen Riper

Thermodynamic principles and implementations of quantum machines

The efficiency of cyclic heat engines is limited by the Carnot bound. This bound follows from the second law of thermodynamics and is attained by engines that operate between two thermal baths under the reversibility condition whereby the total entropy does not increase. By contrast, the efficiency of engines powered by quantum non-thermal baths has been claimed to surpass the thermodynamic Carnot bound. The key to understanding the performance of such engines is a proper division of the energy supplied by the bath to the system into heat and work, depending on the associated change in the system entropy and ergotropy. Due to their hybrid character, the efficiency bound for quantum engines powered by a non-thermal bath does not solely follow from the laws of thermodynamics. Hence, the thermodynamic Carnot bound is inapplicable to such hybrid engines. Yet, they do not violate the principles of thermodynamics. An alternative means of boosting machine performance is the concept of heat-to-work conversion catalysis by quantum non-linear (squeezed) pumping of the piston mode. This enhancement is due to the increased ability of the squeezed piston to store ergotropy. Since the catalyzed machine is fueled by thermal baths, it adheres to the Carnot bound. We conclude by arguing that it is not quantumness per se that improves the machine performance, but rather the properties of the baths, the working fluid and the piston that boost the ergotropy and minimize the wasted heat in both the input and the output.Comment: As a chapter of: F. Binder, L. A. Correa, C. Gogolin, J. Anders, and G. Adesso (eds.), "Thermodynamics in the quantum regime - Recent Progress and Outlook", (Springer International Publishing

Structural finite element analysis of stiffened and honeycomb panels of the RASAT satellite

This paper describes the structural analysis carried out on the main stiffened and honeycomb panels of the RASAT satellite. The analysis here supports the design process and aims to ensure that the panels survive structural qualification testing. This analysis therefore forms part of the overall qualification process. The stiffened and honeycomb panels being considered in this document form the outer box structure of the satellite. These panels consist of the space-facing facet (SFF), solar panels including solar cells and earth facing facet (EFF). All these panels are key parts of the satellite's structure and are critical to mission safety. The separation panel is particularly highly loaded, since it supports the battery pack, reaction wheels, gyro module, magnetorquer rods and sun sensors. The separation panel also supports the solar panel assembly. The solar panels are also of critical importance, their integrity maintaining the required power supply to operate the satellite's electronic systems. As being different from the SFF and EFF, the solar panels are made of aluminum honeycomb panels. The solar panels are particularly sensitive, as they carry arrays of delicate ceramic solar cells together with their wiring. Throughout all loading conditions experienced during the mission, the solar panels must continue to support the solar cells without cell failures or wiring disconnections. The EFF is perhaps the least critical of the stiffened panels but still must support the top of the solar panel assembly and must carry various antennae. The main objective of this study is to assess the strength and vibration response properties of the stiffened and honeycomb panels by conducting static stress and modal analyses. For the case of static loading, the reliability can be estimated with great efficiency, whereas for dynamic loading the performance depends on the considered frequency range. The obtained results are very significant in that, they illustrate the feasibility of a full scale analysis for structural reliability in a design context for large-scale structures. The analyses are conducted by means of the finite element method. For the static case, the SFF and EFF are meshed with hex elements and the honeycomb panels are meshed with solid brick and shell elements. For the calculated gRMS value the static analysis had been conducted in each axis of the panel assembly. For the dynamic case, the same finite element mesh and material properties had been used. In this case, the boundary conditions are applied in such a way to determine the mode shapes and the resonance frequencies. Furthermore, the stress values had been determined with respect to the applied static and dynamic loading cases. They had been compared With the allowable stress values of the materials. In this paper the complete finite element analyses procedures are described and the results of the analyses are presented. According to the computed results, some conclusions are drawn in order to guide experimental qualification tests

Association of maternal serum Netrin-1 and Netrin-4 levels with placenta accreta spectrum

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate maternal serum Netrin-1 and Netrin-4 levels in pregnancies complicated with placenta accreta spectrum.PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sec-tional study enrolled 49 pregnant women with the diagnosis of placenta accreta spectrum as the study group. Gestational age-matched 30 uncomplicated pregnant women with prior ce-sarean delivery and normal placentation were randomly selected as the control group. Mater-nal serum Netrin-1 and Netrin-4 levels were mea-sured between weeks 34 and 36 of gestation.RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of demographic characteristics. Maternal serum Netrin-1 levels were significantly lower in placenta accreta spec-trum cases compared with those in the control group (p=0.038). There was no significant differ-ence between the groups in terms of maternal se-rum Netrin-4 levels (p>0.05). There was a signif-icant negative correlation between maternal se-rum Netrin-1 levels and the number of prior ce-sarean deliveries (r=-0.313, p=0.005).CONCLUSIONS: The observed decrease in maternal serum Netrin-1 levels in placenta ac-creta spectrum cases associated with increased angiogenesis might be one of the factors in-volved in the pathophysiology of this disease