9,035 research outputs found
Mutual help groups for mental health problems: A review of effectiveness studies
This paper reviews empirical studies on whether participating in mutual help groups for people with mental health problems leads to improved psychological and social functioning. To be included, studies had to satisfy four sets of criteria, covering: (1) characteristics of the group, (2) target problems, (3) outcome measures, and (4) research design. The 12 studies meeting these criteria provide limited but promising evidence that mutual help groups benefit people with three types of problems: chronic mental illness, depression/anxiety, and bereavement. Seven studies reported positive changes for those attending support groups. The strongest findings come from two randomized trials showing that the outcomes of mutual help groups were equivalent to those of substantially more costly professional interventions. Five of the 12 studies found no differences in mental health outcomes between mutual help group members and non-members; no studies showed evidence of negative effects. There was no indication that mutual help groups were differentially effective for certain types of problems. The studies varied in terms of design quality and reporting of results. More high-quality outcome research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of mutual help groups across the spectrum of mental health problems
Mapping the potential within a nanoscale undoped GaAs region using a scanning electron microscope
Semiconductor dopant profiling using secondary electron imaging in a scanning
electron microscope (SEM) has been developed in recent years. In this paper, we
show that the mechanism behind it also allows mapping of the electric potential
of undoped regions. By using an unbiased GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure, this
article demonstrates the direct observation of the electrostatic potential
variation inside a 90nm wide undoped GaAs channel surrounded by ionized
dopants. The secondary electron emission intensities are compared with
two-dimensional numerical solutions of the electric potential.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Resource costs for fault-tolerant linear optical quantum computing
Linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) seems attractively simple:
information is borne entirely by light and processed by components such as beam
splitters, phase shifters and detectors. However this very simplicity leads to
limitations, such as the lack of deterministic entangling operations, which are
compensated for by using substantial hardware overheads. Here we quantify the
resource costs for full scale LOQC by proposing a specific protocol based on
the surface code. With the caveat that our protocol can be further optimised,
we report that the required number of physical components is at least five
orders of magnitude greater than in comparable matter-based systems. Moreover
the resource requirements grow higher if the per-component photon loss rate is
worse than one in a thousand, or the per-component noise rate is worse than
. We identify the performance of switches in the network as the single
most influential factor influencing resource scaling
Employing dynamic fuzzy membership functions to assess environmental performance in the supplier selection process
The proposed system illustrates that logic fuzzy can be used to aid management in assessing a supplier's environmental performance in the supplier selection process. A user-centred hierarchical system employing scalable fuzzy membership functions implement human priorities in the supplier selection process, with particular focus on a supplier's environmental performance. Traditionally, when evaluating supplier performance, companies have considered criteria such as price, quality, flexibility, etc. These criteria are of varying importance to individual companies pertaining to their own specific objectives. However, with environmental pressures increasing, many companies have begun to give more attention to environmental issues and, in particular, to their suppliersâ environmental performance. The framework presented here was developed to introduce efficiently environmental criteria into the existing supplier selection process and to reflect on its relevant importance to individual companies. The system presented attempts to simulate the human preference given to particular supplier selection criteria with particular focus on environmental issues when considering supplier selection. The system considers environmental data from multiple aspects of a suppliers business, and based on the relevant impact this will have on a Buying Organization, a decision is reached on the suitability of the supplier. This enables a particular supplier's strengths and weaknesses to be considered as well as considering their significance and relevance to the Buying OrganizationPeer reviewe
Quantum Enhanced Multiple Phase Estimation
We study the simultaneous estimation of multiple phases as a discretised
model for the imaging of a phase object. We identify quantum probe states that
provide an enhancement compared to the best quantum scheme for the estimation
of each individual phase separately, as well as improvements over classical
strategies. Our strategy provides an advantage in the variance of the
estimation over individual quantum estimation schemes that scales as O(d) where
d is the number of phases. Finally, we study the attainability of this limit
using realistic probes and photon-number-resolving detectors. This is a problem
in which an intrinsic advantage is derived from the estimation of multiple
parameters simultaneously.Comment: Accepted by Physical Review Letter
The Great Eruption of Eta Carinae
During the years 1838-1858, the very massive star {\eta} Carinae became the
prototype supernova impostor: it released nearly as much light as a supernova
explosion and shed an impressive amount of mass, but survived as a star.1 Based
on a light-echo spectrum of that event, Rest et al.2 conclude that "a new
physical mechanism" is required to explain it, because the gas outflow appears
cooler than theoretical expectations. Here we note that (1) theory predicted a
substantially lower temperature than they quoted, and (2) their inferred
observational value is quite uncertain. Therefore, analyses so far do not
reveal any significant contradiction between the observed spectrum and most
previous discussions of the Great Eruption and its physics.Comment: To appear in Nature, a brief communication arising in response to
Rest et al. 2012. Submitted to Nature February 17, 201
Farm-gate nitrogen balances on intensive dairy farms in the south west of Ireland
peer-reviewedNitrogen management and farm-gate N balances were evaluated on 21 intensive dairy farms in the south west of Ireland for each of four years (2003 to 2006). The mean annual stocking density was equivalent to 202 kg/ha (s.d. 29.6) of N excreted by livestock on the farm. The mean annual farm-gate N surplus (imports â exports) declined between 2003 and 2006 (277 to 232 kg/ha, s.e. 6.8; P < 0.001) due to a decline in annual N imports (fertilizer, feed and imported manures; 335 to 288 kg/ha, s.e. 6.9; P < 0.001).
Overall annual fertilizer N use on the farms decreased during the study period (266 to 223 kg/ha, s.e. 6.5; P < 0.001) mainly due to lower inputs for the first application in spring and for the production of first-cut silage. These decreases were partly offset by applying more slurry in spring for early grazing and for first-cut silage. The introduction of white clover resulted in lower N imports on four farms. Export of N from farms was unaffected by reductions in N imports. The mean efficiency of N use tended to increase over time (0.18 in 2003 to 0.20 in 2006). The large variation in quantities of fertilizer N applied on farms with similar stocking densities suggests potential for further improvements in the efficiency of N use. In terms of fertilizer N use, complying with S.I. No. 378 of 2006 did not require major changes in the N management practiceson 19 of the farms.This project was part-funded by the European Research and Development Fund under INTERREG IIIB: Green Dairy Project N° 100 and partly by the Dairy Levy. Financial support for post-graduate students involved in this study was provided by the Teagasc Walsh Fellowship Scheme
Unveiling Sources of Heating in the Vicinity of the Orion BN/KL Hot Core as Traced by Highly Excited Inversion Transitions of Ammonia
Using the Expanded Very Large Array, we have mapped the vicinity of the Orion
BN/KL Hot Core with sub-arcsecond angular resolution in seven metastable
inversion transitions of ammonia: (J,K)=(6,6) to (12,12). This emission comes
from levels up to 1500 K above the ground state, enabling identification of
source(s) responsible for heating the region. We used this multi-transition
dataset to produce images of the rotational/kinetic temperature and the column
density of ammonia for ortho and para species separately and on a
position-by-position basis. We find rotational temperature and column density
in the range 160-490 K and (1-4)x10^17 cm^-2, respectively. Our
spatially-resolved images show that the highest (column) density and hottest
gas is found in a northeast-southwest elongated ridge to the southeast of
Source I. We have also measured the ortho-para ratio of ammonia, estimated to
vary in the range 0.9-1.6. Enhancement of ortho with respect to para and the
offset of hot ammonia emission peaks from known (proto)stellar sources provide
evidence that the ammonia molecules have been released from dust grains into
the gas-phase through the passage of shocks and not by stellar radiation. We
propose that the combined effect of Source I's proper motion and its
low-velocity outflow impinging on a pre-existing dense medium is responsible
for the excitation of ammonia and the Orion Hot Core. Finally, we found for the
first time evidence of a slow (5 km/s) and compact (1000 AU) outflow towards
IRc7.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters Special Issue on the EVLA.
8 pages, 4 figure
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