The role of the child psychiatric nurse as perceived by nurses and members of related disciplines within two different residential treatment centers for emotionally disturbed children

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Dollars and Sense: Maine State Budgeting at a Crossroads

Dollars and Sense: Maine State Budgeting at a Crossroads provides a bird\u27s eye view and analysis. The value of this approach is the capacity to take an arm\u27s length look at state finances. We hope that the broader perspective will promote viewing expenditure and tax policy issues comprehensively, not as isolated slices of the state budget pie, but rather, as interdependent building blocks of a healthy fiscal system. There is an important limitation to an outside study, however, which is actually the same as its strength: distance from the whys and whens. We do not pretend to understand every policy area as fully as specialists within government, nor to be privy to the same information. Thus, this report will be best used as a working document, to encourage and facilitate directed inquiry, open and thoughtful discussion of issues, and hopefully, decisions that can place Maine on a sound fiscal footing for the 1990\u27s.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/facbooks/1236/thumbnail.jp

Evolution of Salmonella excretion by sows during gestation in link with the faecal microbiome

Pork meat is estimated to be responsible of 10 to 20% of human salmonellosis cases. Control strategies at the farm could reduce contamination at the slaughterhouse. One of the targeted sector of the production is the maternity, where sows could be Salmonella reservoirs. The aim of this study was to characterize the faecal microbiome of sows excreting or not Salmonella during gestation phases. A total of 76 sows were selected and fecal matters were analysed at the beginning or the end of gestation period. Salmonella detection was conducted using a method including two selective enrichment media (MSRV and TBG). Nine (9) isolates per positive samples were collected. Among the 76 sows tested, 31 were shedding Salmonella. The sows in the first third of their gestation shed significantly more frequently Salmonella (22/29) than those in the last third (9/47) (χ² P \u3c 0.05). The shedding status of 19 of the sows that were previously sampled in the first third of their gestation was followed, this time in the last third, confirming reduction of the shedding. Association between changes in the intestinal microbiome and this evolution of Salmonella shedding will be explored. MiSeq sequencing is currently being conducted on the feces to identify shifts in the composition or diversity in the microbial community that could be associated to these variations. A large number of Salmonella isolates that were collected were genotyped by a high resolution melt (HRM) technique. These results showed the presence of a major HRM profile (136 isolates / 169) and two minor profiles (24 and 9 /169)

A Lower Bound for Quantum Phase Estimation

We obtain a query lower bound for quantum algorithms solving the phase estimation problem. Our analysis generalizes existing lower bound approaches to the case where the oracle Q is given by controlled powers Q^p of Q, as it is for example in Shor's order finding algorithm. In this setting we will prove a log (1/epsilon) lower bound for the number of applications of Q^p1, Q^p2, ... This bound is tight due to a matching upper bound. We obtain the lower bound using a new technique based on frequency analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Universal Scaling of Wave Propagation Failure in Arrays of Coupled Nonlinear Cells

We study the onset of the propagation failure of wave fronts in systems of coupled cells. We introduce a new method to analyze the scaling of the critical external field at which fronts cease to propagate, as a function of intercellular coupling. We find the universal scaling of the field throughout the range of couplings, and show that the field becomes exponentially small for large couplings. Our method is generic and applicable to a wide class of cellular dynamics in chemical, biological, and engineering systems. We confirm our results by direct numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Associations Between Hearing Performance and Physiological Measures - An Overview and Outlook

The current paper summarises the research investigating associations between physiological data and hearing performance. An overview of state-of-the-art research and literature is given as well as promising directions for associations between physiological data and data regarding hearing loss and hearing performance. The physiological parameters included in this paper are: electrodermal activity, heart rate variability, blood pressure, blood oxygenation and respiratory rate. Furthermore, the environmental and behavioural measurements of physical activity and body mass index, alcohol consumption and smoking have been included. So far, only electrodermal activity and heart rate variability are physiological signals simultaneously associated with hearing loss or hearing performance. Initial findings suggest blood pressure and respiratory rate to be the most promising physiological measures that relate to hearing loss and hearing performance

Inhibition of Bacterial Growth and Biofilm Production by Constituents from Hypericum spp.

Biofilm embedded bacterial pathogens such as Staphylococcus spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii are difficult to eradicate and are major sources of bacterial infections. New drugs are needed to combat these pathogens. Hypericum is a plant genus that contains species known to have antimicrobial properties. However, the specific constituents responsible for the antimicrobial properties are not entirely known, nor have most compounds been tested as inhibitors of biofilm development. The investigation presented here tested seven secondary metabolites isolated from the species Hypericum densiflorum, Hypericum ellipticum, Hypericum prolificum, and Hypericum punctatum as inhibitors of bacterial growth and biofilm production. Assays were conducted against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, clinical methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Five of the seven compounds demonstrated growth inhibition against the Gram‐positive bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ranging from 1.95 µg/mL to 7.81 µg/mL. Four of the secondary metabolites inhibited biofilm production by certain Gram‐positive strains at sub‐MIC concentrations

New Developments in Quantum Algorithms

In this survey, we describe two recent developments in quantum algorithms. The first new development is a quantum algorithm for evaluating a Boolean formula consisting of AND and OR gates of size N in time O(\sqrt{N}). This provides quantum speedups for any problem that can be expressed via Boolean formulas. This result can be also extended to span problems, a generalization of Boolean formulas. This provides an optimal quantum algorithm for any Boolean function in the black-box query model. The second new development is a quantum algorithm for solving systems of linear equations. In contrast with traditional algorithms that run in time O(N^{2.37...}) where N is the size of the system, the quantum algorithm runs in time O(\log^c N). It outputs a quantum state describing the solution of the system.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, to appear as an invited survey talk at MFCS'201

Avalanche of Bifurcations and Hysteresis in a Model of Cellular Differentiation

Cellular differentiation in a developping organism is studied via a discrete bistable reaction-diffusion model. A system of undifferentiated cells is allowed to receive an inductive signal emenating from its environment. Depending on the form of the nonlinear reaction kinetics, this signal can trigger a series of bifurcations in the system. Differentiation starts at the surface where the signal is received, and cells change type up to a given distance, or under other conditions, the differentiation process propagates through the whole domain. When the signal diminishes hysteresis is observed

Clinical validation of a public health policy-making platform for hearing loss (EVOTION): protocol for a big data study

INTRODUCTION: The holistic management of hearing loss (HL) requires an understanding of factors that predict hearing aid (HA) use and benefit beyond the acoustics of listening environments. Although several predictors have been identified, no study has explored the role of audiological, cognitive, behavioural and physiological data nor has any study collected real-time HA data. This study will collect ‘big data’, including retrospective HA logging data, prospective clinical data and real-time data via smart HAs, a mobile application and biosensors. The main objective is to enable the validation of the EVOTION platform as a public health policy-making tool for HL. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This will be a big data international multicentre study consisting of retrospective and prospective data collection. Existing data from approximately 35 000 HA users will be extracted from clinical repositories in the UK and Denmark. For the prospective data collection, 1260 HA candidates will be recruited across four clinics in the UK and Greece. Participants will complete a battery of audiological and other assessments (measures of patient-reported HA benefit, mood, cognition, quality of life). Patients will be offered smart HAs and a mobile phone application and a subset will also be given wearable biosensors, to enable the collection of dynamic real-life HA usage data. Big data analytics will be used to detect correlations between contextualised HA usage and effectiveness, and different factors and comorbidities affecting HL, with a view to informing public health decision-making. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was received from the London South East Research Ethics Committee (17/LO/0789), the Hippokrateion Hospital Ethics Committee (1847) and the Athens Medical Center’s Ethics Committee (KM140670). Results will be disseminated through national and international events in Greece and the UK, scientific journals, newsletters, magazines and social media. Target audiences include HA users, clinicians, policy-makers and the general public. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03316287; Pre-results