Brownian Particles far from Equilibrium

We study a model of Brownian particles which are pumped with energy by means of a non-linear friction function, for which different types are discussed. A suitable expression for a non-linear, velocity-dependent friction function is derived by considering an internal energy depot of the Brownian particles. In this case, the friction function describes the pumping of energy in the range of small velocities, while in the range of large velocities the known limit of dissipative friction is reached. In order to investigate the influence of additional energy supply, we discuss the velocity distribution function for different cases. Analytical solutions of the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation in 2d are presented and compared with computer simulations. Different to the case of passive Brownian motion, we find several new features of the dynamics, such as the formation of limit cycles in the four-dimensional phase-space, a large mean squared displacement which increases quadratically with the energy supply, or non-equilibrium velocity distributions with crater-like form. Further, we point to some generalizations and possible applications of the model.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure

Descriptive Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Counseling and Coordination Model in Psychosocial Care. Integration of Health Care and Social Rehabilitation

Introduction: A psychosocial outreach clinic was established to offer counseling and coordination of healthcare and complementary services for persons with psychosocial and mental problems. The cost-effectiveness of these services was measured based on a pre-post comparison. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted with clients of the outreach clinic. Data on resource consumption and quality of life were collected at baseline and follow-up after 3, 6, and 12 months using the Client Sociodemographic and Service Receipt Inventory to assess service utilization, and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey to assess quality of life. The objective of the present analysis was to estimate the relation between monetary expenditure and QALYs (quality-adjusted life-years), before and after the outreach clinic was established, descriptively. The analysis was constructed from payer’s perspective and was supplemented by a sensitivity analysis. Results: A total of 85 participants were included. Total annual expenditures before the intervention were 5,832 € per client for all service segments. During the 12-months study duration expenditures decreased to 4,350 € including the costs associated with outreach clinic services. QALYs for the 12-month study period were 0.6618 and increased about 0.0568 compared to the period before. Discussion: Despite methodological limitations due to small sample size, a pre-post comparison and the retrospective cost data collection, this study suggests acceptability of the outreach clinic as cost-effective. Conclusion: The activities of the outreach clinic as an integrated care model seem to be cost-effective regarding the relation between monetary expenditures and clients’ quality of life

Перспективы развития биотехнологий

В статье затронуты проблемы демографического кризиса. Рассмотрены вопросы развития биотехнологий, а так же существующие виды биотехнологий. Более глубоко рассмотрен такой вид биотехнологии как биомедицина, представлены существующие наработки ученых в этой сфере. При изучении был сделан вывод, что развитие биотехнологии, в честности биомедицины приведет к повышению продолжительности жизни, а вследствие решения демографической проблемы.The article touches upon the problems of the demographic crisis. The questions of development of biotechnologies, as well as existing types of biotechnologies are considered. Deeply considered this kind of biotechnology as biomedicine, presents the existing developments of scientists in this field. The study concluded that the development of biotechnology, in the honesty of biomedicine, will lead to an increase in life expectancy, and as a result of solving the demographic problem

Health monitoring of refugees in reception centres for asylum seekers: Decentralized surveillance network for the analysis of routine medical data

Refugees and asylum seekers living in reception centres tend to be not adequately included in population-based studies, routine medical data and official statistics. As part of the research project ‘Health and primary-care sentinel surveillance in reception- and accommodation-centres for asylum-seekers in Germany’ (PriCare), a health-monitoring approach was developed for the secondary use of routine medical data from on-site outpatient clinics in reception centres. To this end, a software application (Refugee Care Manager, RefCare©) for the digitisation and harmonisation of medical records was designed and implemented in reception centres in three German federal states. The approach of distributed computing in a surveillance network allows for the decentralised, harmonised analysis of the routine medical data stored in RefCare© in a manner that fully complies with data protection regulations and circumvents the need for centralised data storage. RefCare© provides an integrated surveillance feature that enables analyses of 64 indicators on population, morbidity, healthcare processes and quality of care to be undertaken across multiple facilities. This article describes the conceptual and practical approach and the technical procedures put in place to do so, and provides examples of the results that have been gained so far

Cost evaluation of an innovative outreach clinic across social insurance codes in rural Northern Germany - A routine data analysis

A community outreach clinic was established in 2013 in a rural part of Germany to counsel and better integrate patients with mental health disorders or clients with psychosocial problems into the healthcare and complementary social assistance system. In a pilot study, we aimed to evaluate the costs of the integration assistance system after the outreach clinic was opened, the number of visits and the trend in the costs of the social assistance system of the federal state. Anonymised secondary cost data were used to evaluate the costs associated with the integration assistance receivers before (2010–2012) and after the establishment of the outreach clinic (2013–2015). Total costs were descriptively compared between the intervention group (consultation in the outreach clinic), the non-referral group, and a propensity score-matched control group for the years 2013–2015. To monitor the counselling activity, we used anonymised data on visits to the outreach clinic between 2013 and 2015. Data from 50 clients in the outreach clinic and 678 non-referral clients were analysed. The total costs of the integration assistance for the years 2013–2015 amounted to EUR 21,516 (95% CI 14,513–28,518) and EUR 28,464 (25,789–31,140) respectively. Propensity score matching of the controls resulted in equalised total costs for the years 2013 through 2015 for clients (n = 50, EUR 21,516 (14,513–28,518)) and controls (n = 250, EUR 21,725 (18,214–25,234)). The total number of integration assistance receivers in the district was lower than the average for the federal state. The number of consultations at the outpatient clinic steadily increased from 146 in 2013 to 1,090 in 2015. Counselling in the outreach clinic might help reduce the placement of clients into integration assistance, including supported housing, and slow the expected cost trend. However, counselling failed to lower total costs in the integration assistance service, possibly due to the selection of more severe cases

Atomically resolved TEM imaging of covalently functionalised graphene

Covalent functionalisation can be a powerful lever to tune the properties and processability of graphene. After overcoming the low chemical reactivity of graphene, covalent functionalisation led to the generation of new hybrid materials, applicable in a broad variation of fields. Although the process of functionalising graphene is nowadays firmly established, fundamental aspects of the produced hybrid materials remain to be clarified. Especially the atomically resolved imaging is only scarcely explored. Here we show aberration corrected in situ high resolution TEM imaging of dodecyl functionalised monolayer graphene at atomic resolution after an effective mechanical filtering approach. The mechanical filtering allows to separate adsorbed contamination from the covalently bound functional molecules and thus opens the possibility for the observation of this hybrid material. The obtained data is validated by DFT calculations and by a novel image simulation approach based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at room temperature

Role of psychiatric hospitals during a pandemic: introducing the Munich Psychiatric COVID-19 Pandemic Contingency Plan

BACKGROUND Psychiatry is facing major challenges during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID)-19 pandemic. These challenges involve its actual and perceived role within the medical system, in particular how psychiatric hospitals can maintain their core mission of attending to people with mental illness while at the same time providing relief to overstretched general medicine services. Although psychiatric disorders comprise the leading cause of the global burden of disease, mental healthcare has been deemphasised in the wake of the onslaught of the pandemic: to make room for emergency care, psychiatric wards have been downsized, clinics closed, psychiatric support systems discontinued and so on. To deal with this pressing issue, we developed a pandemic contingency plan with the aim to contain, decelerate and, preferably, avoid transmission of COVID-19 and to enable and maintain medical healthcare for patients with mental disorders. AIMS To describe our plan as an example of how a psychiatric hospital can share in providing acute care in a healthcare system facing an acute and highly infectious pandemic like COVID-19 and at the same time provide support for people with mental illness, with or without a COVID-19 infection. METHOD This was a descriptive study. RESULTS The plan was based on the German national pandemic strategy and several legal recommendations and was implemented step by step on the basis of the local COVID-19 situation. In addition, mid- and long-term plans were developed for coping with the aftermath of the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS The plan enabled the University Hospital to maintain medical healthcare for patients with mental disorders. It has offered the necessary flexibility to adapt its implementation to the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The plan is designed to serve as an easily adaptable blueprint for psychiatric hospitals around the world

Statistical Mechanics of Canonical-Dissipative Systems and Applications to Swarm Dynamics

We develop the theory of canonical-dissipative systems, based on the assumption that both the conservative and the dissipative elements of the dynamics are determined by invariants of motion. In this case, known solutions for conservative systems can be used for an extension of the dynamics, which also includes elements such as the take-up/dissipation of energy. This way, a rather complex dynamics can be mapped to an analytically tractable model, while still covering important features of non-equilibrium systems. In our paper, this approach is used to derive a rather general swarm model that considers (a) the energetic conditions of swarming, i.e. for active motion, (b) interactions between the particles based on global couplings. We derive analytical expressions for the non-equilibrium velocity distribution and the mean squared displacement of the swarm. Further, we investigate the influence of different global couplings on the overall behavior of the swarm by means of particle-based computer simulations and compare them with the analytical estimations.Comment: 14 pages incl. 13 figures. v2: misprints in Eq. (40) corrected, ref. updated. For related work see also: http://summa.physik.hu-berlin.de/~frank/active.htm