146 research outputs found
Approximating the stress field within the unit cell of a fabric reinforced composite using replacement elements
This report concerns the prediction of the elastic moduli and the internal stresses within the unit cell of a fabric reinforced composite. In the proposed analysis no restrictions or assumptions are necessary concerning yarn or tow cross-sectional shapes or paths through the unit cell but the unit cell itself must be a right hexagonal parallelepiped. All the unit cell dimensions are assumed to be small with respect to the thickness of the composite structure that it models. The finite element analysis of a unit cell is usually complicated by the mesh generation problems and the non-standard, adjacent-cell boundary conditions. This analysis avoids these problems through the use of preprogrammed boundary conditions and replacement materials (or elements). With replacement elements it is not necessary to match all the constitutional material interfaces with finite element boundaries. Simple brick-shaped elements can be used to model the unit cell structure. The analysis predicts the elastic constants and the average stresses within each constituent material of each brick element. The application and results of this analysis are demonstrated through several example problems which include a number of composite microstructures
Finite element analysis of the stiffness of fabric reinforced composites
The objective of this work is the prediction of all three dimensional elastic moduli of textile fabric reinforced composites. The analysis is general enough for use with complex reinforcing geometries and capable of subsequent improvements. It places no restrictions on fabric microgeometry except that the unit cell be determinate and rectangular. The unit cell is divided into rectangular subcells in which the reinforcing geometries are easier to define and analyze. The analysis, based on inhomogeneous finite elements, is applied to a variety of weave, braid, and knit reinforced composites. Some of these predictions are correlated to test data
How has Covid-19 affected mental health nurses and the delivery of mental health nursing care in the UK? Results of a mixed methods study
INTRODUCTION: While evidence has emerged concerning the impact of Covid-19 on the general population and the challenges facing health services, much less is known regarding how the pandemic has directly affected the delivery of mental health nursing care. AIM: This paper aims to explore how Covid-19 has affected the ability of mental health nurses to deliver care in community and inpatient mental health services in the UK. METHOD: We investigated staff reports regarding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental healthcare and mental health service users in the UK, using a mixed methods online survey. A total of 897 nurses across a range of inpatient and community settings participated. DISCUSSION: Key themes within the data explore: new ways of working; remote working; risks of infection/infection control challenges; and the impact on service users. Targeted guidelines are required to support mental health nurses providing care and support during a pandemic to people in severe mental distress, often in unsuitable environments. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Service developments need to occur alongside tailored guidance and support for staff welfare supported by clear leadership. These findings identify areas requiring attention and investment to prepare for future crises and the consequences of the pandemic
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How has Covid-19 affected mental health nurses and the delivery of mental health nursing care in the UK? Results of a mixed methods study
INTRODUCTION: While evidence has emerged concerning the impact of Covid-19 on the general population and the challenges facing health services, much less is known regarding how the pandemic has directly affected the delivery of mental health nursing care.
AIM: This paper aims to explore how Covid-19 has affected the ability of mental health nurses to deliver care in community and inpatient mental health services in the UK.
METHOD: We investigated staff reports regarding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental healthcare and mental health service users in the UK, using a mixed methods online survey. A total of 897 nurses across a range of inpatient and community settings participated.
DISCUSSION: Key themes within the data explore: new ways of working; remote working; risks of infection/infection control challenges; and the impact on service users. Targeted guidelines are required to support mental health nurses providing care and support during a pandemic to people in severe mental distress, often in unsuitable environments.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Service developments need to occur alongside tailored guidance and support for staff welfare supported by clear leadership. These findings identify areas requiring attention and investment to prepare for future crises and the consequences of the pandemic
Impact on mental health care and on mental health service users of the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed methods survey of UK mental health care staff
Purpose:
The COVID-19 pandemic has potential to disrupt and burden the mental health care system, and to magnify inequalities experienced by mental health service users.
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Methods:
We investigated staff reports regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in its early weeks on mental health care and mental health service users in the UK using a mixed methods online survey. Recruitment channels included professional associations and networks, charities, and social media. Quantitative findings were reported with descriptive statistics, and content analysis conducted for qualitative data.
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Results:
2,180 staff from a range of sectors, professions, and specialties participated. Immediate infection control concerns were highly salient for inpatient staff, new ways of working for community staff. Multiple rapid adaptations and innovations in response to the crisis were described, especially remote working. This was cautiously welcomed but found successful in only some clinical situations. Staff had specific concerns about many groups of service users, including people whose conditions are exacerbated by pandemic anxieties and social disruptions; people experiencing loneliness, domestic abuse and family conflict; those unable to understand and follow social distancing requirements; and those who cannot engage with remote care.
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Conclusion:
This overview of staff concerns and experiences in the early COVID-19 pandemic suggests directions for further research and service development: we suggest that how to combine infection control and a therapeutic environment in hospital, and how to achieve effective and targeted tele-health implementation in the community, should be priorities. The limitations of our convenience sample must be noted
Primary hyperaldosteronism caused by adrenocortical carcinoma
Since the syndrome of primary hyperaldosteronism was described by Jerome Conn in 1955, over 300 patients with this disorder have been identified in the medical centers of Vanderbilt University and the University of Michigan. The most frequent cause of this endocrinopathy has been a solitary adenoma of the adrenal cortex (72%); bilateral adrenocortical hyperplasia has been the cause of primary hyperaldosteronism in 27% of cases; less frequently, the cause has been multiple and/or bilateral adenomas (1%). During the last 4 years in these 2 medical centers, we have encountered 3 patients who have had biochemically proven primary hyperaldosteronism due to adrenocortical carcinoma. Each of these unusual cases is summarized with review of the recent literature . Depuis que le syndrome d'hyperaldostĂ©ronisme primitif a Ă©tĂ© dĂ©crit par JerĂ´me Conn en 1955 plus de 300 sujets qui en Ă©taient victimes ont Ă©tĂ© identifiĂ©s Ă la Vanderbilt University de Nashville et Ă l'University of Michigan de Ann Arbor. La cause la plus frĂ©quente de cette endocrinopathie rĂ©pond Ă un adĂ©nome solitaire de la cortico-surrĂ©nale (72%) alors que l'hyperplasie corticale des 2 surrĂ©nales est plus rarement Ă son origine (27%), les adĂ©nomes multiples et/ou bilatĂ©raux Ă©tant rarissimes (1%). Au cours des 4 dernières annĂ©es 3 cas d'hyperaldosteronisme dĂ» Ă un cancer de la cortico-surrĂ©nale ont Ă©tĂ© observĂ©s dans les 2 centres. Chacun de ces cas exceptionnels est exposĂ© cependant que la littĂ©rature rĂ©cente concernant l'hyperalderosteronisme est analysĂ©e. Desde la descripciĂłn del sĂndrome de hiperaldosteronismo primario por Jeremo Conn en 1955, más de 300 pacientes con esta entidad han sido identificados en nuestros 2 centros mĂ©dicos, la Universidad de Vanderbilt (Nashville) y la Universidad de Michigan (Ann Arbor). La causa más frecuente de esta endocrinopatĂa ha sido el adenoma solitario de la corteza suprarrenal (72%); la hiperplasia adrenocortical bilateral ha sido la causa del hiperaldosteronismo primario en 27% de los casos; con menor frecuencia se han presentado los adenomas multiples y/o bilaterales (1%). En los 4 Ăşltimos años hemos encontrado 3 pacientes con hiperaldosteronismo primario comprobado bioquĂmicamente producido por carcinoma adrenocortical. Se presenta cada uno de estos casos poco usuales junto con una revisiĂłn de la literatura reciente.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41275/1/268_2005_Article_BF01655546.pd
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Service user experiences and views regarding telemental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A co-produced framework analysis
Background
The prominence of telemental health, including providing care by video call and telephone, has greatly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are clear variations in uptake and acceptability, and concerns that digital exclusion may exacerbate previous inequalities in access to good quality care. Greater understanding is needed of how service users experience telemental health, and what determines whether they engage and find it acceptable.
Methods
We conducted a collaborative framework analysis of data from semi-structured interviews with a sample of people already experiencing mental health problems prior to the pandemic. Data relevant to participants’ experiences and views regarding telemental health during the pandemic were identified and extracted. Data collection and analysis used a participatory, coproduction approach where researchers with relevant lived experience, contributed to all stages of data collection, analysis and interpretation of findings alongside clinical and academic researchers.
Findings
The experiences and preferences regarding telemental health care of the forty-four participants were dynamic and varied across time and settings, as well as between individuals. Participants’ preferences were shaped by reasons for contacting services, their relationship with care providers, and both parties’ access to technology and their individual preferences.
While face-to-face care tended to be the preferred option, participants identified benefits of remote care including making care more accessible for some populations and improved efficiency for functional appointments such as prescription reviews. Participants highlighted important challenges related to safety and privacy in online settings, and gave examples of good remote care strategies they had experienced, including services scheduling regular phone calls and developing guidelines about how to access remote care tools.
Discussion
Participants in our study have highlighted advantages of telemental health care, as well as significant limitations that risk hindering mental health support and exacerbate inequalities in access to services. Some of these limitations are seen as potentially removable, for example through staff training or better digital access for staff or service users. Others indicate a need to maintain traditional face-to-face contact at least for some appointments. There is a clear need for care to be flexible and individualised to service user circumstances and preferences. Further research is needed on ways of minimising digital exclusion and of supporting staff in making effective and collaborative use of relevant technologies
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Exploring the role of Emotional Intelligence on disorder eating psychopathology
Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of emotional intelligence (EI) and specific facets that may underpin the aetiology of disordered eating attitudes and behaviours, as a means to understand what aspects of these deficits to target within treatments.
Methods: Participants were recruited from the UK and Ireland. Among the sample of 355 participants, 84% were women and 16% were men. Regarding age, 59% were between 18 and 29, 30% were between 30 and 49, and 11% were 50 or older. Using a cross-sectional design, participants completed the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test to measure levels of trait EI and The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) as a measure of eating disorder risk and presence of disordered eating attitudes.
Results: EAT-26 scores were negatively correlated with total EI scores and with the following EI subscales: appraisal of own emotions, regulation of emotions, utilization of emotions, and optimism. Also, compared to those without an eating disorder history, participants who reported having had an eating disorder had significantly lower total EI scores and lower scores on four EI subscales: appraisal of others emotions, appraisal of own emotions, regulation of emotions, and optimism.
Conclusions: Considering these findings, EI (especially appraisal of own emotions, regulation of emotions, and optimism) may need to be addressed by interventions and treatments for eating disorders
Housing: An Under-Explored Influence on Children’s Well-Being and Becoming
Research on housing has tended to focus on adult outcomes, establishing relationships between housing and a number of aspects of health and well-being. Research exploring the influence of housing on children has been more limited, and has tended to focus on adult concerns around risk behaviours, behavioural problems and educational attainment. While these outcomes are important, they neglect the impact of housing on children’s lives beyond these concerns. There are a number of reasons to believe that housing would play an important role in children’s well-being more broadly. Family stress and strain models highlight how housing difficulties experienced by adults may have knock on effects for children, while Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach to human development emphasises the importance of children’s experiences of their environments, of which the home is among the most important. This paper summaries the existing evidence around housing and child outcomes, predominantly educational and behavioural outcomes, and argues for the extension of this work to consider the impact of housing on children’s lives more broadly, especially their subjective well-being
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