Supporting Adolescents with Mental Health Problems in Secondary Education:Feasibility of a Supported Education Intervention

Mental health problems in adolescence can have a profound influence on school functioning, educational attainment and thus future societal participation. Supported education (SEd) is a potentially useful method for educational professionals to help adolescents with mental health problems in secondary school improve their functioning by stimulating collaboration, ownership, and participation. In this study, we examined the feasibility of SEd in secondary education by examining its acceptability, implementation, and preliminary effectiveness. We performed a mixed-methods study using quantitative data (questionnaires) and qualitative data (interviews) from educational professionals (EP) and adolescents, aged 13-17, about their experiences with a SEd intervention. Regarding the acceptability of the intervention, three main themes emerged: (a) structure, (b) autonomy, and (c) applicability of the intervention. Themes regarding the implementation were: (a) lack of time, (b) personal attitude, (c) mastery, and (d) complexity of the school environment. The findings show that, for those that followed the intervention, SEd is a promising approach to support adolescents with mental health problems to improve their functioning and participation in school. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of the intervention

Regularity of higher codimension area minimizing integral currents

This lecture notes are an expanded version of the course given at the ERC-School on Geometric Measure Theory and Real Analysis, held in Pisa, September 30th - October 30th 2013. The lectures aim to explain the main steps of a new proof of the partial regularity of area minimizing integer rectifiable currents in higher codimension, due originally to F. Almgren, which is contained in a series of papers in collaboration with C. De Lellis (University of Zurich).Comment: This text will appear in "Geometric Measure Theory and Real Analysis", pp. 131--192, Proceedings of the ERC school in Pisa (2013), L. Ambrosio Ed., Edizioni SNS (CRM Series

On "many black hole" space-times

We analyze the horizon structure of families of space times obtained by evolving initial data sets containing apparent horizons with several connected components. We show that under certain smallness conditions the outermost apparent horizons will also have several connected components. We further show that, again under a smallness condition, the maximal globally hyperbolic development of the many black hole initial data constructed by Chrusciel and Delay, or of hyperboloidal data of Isenberg, Mazzeo and Pollack, will have an event horizon, the intersection of which with the initial data hypersurface is not connected. This justifies the "many black hole" character of those space-times.Comment: several graphic file

Upper bounds for the eigenvalues of Hessian equations

We prove some upper bounds for the Dirichlet eigenvalues of a class of fully nonlinear elliptic equations, namely the Hessian equationsComment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Implementation and evaluation of a fall risk screening strategy among frail older adults for the primary care setting:A study protocol

Background: Falls are an increasing problem among older people. There are several evidence-based interventions available to prevent falls. However, these are not always well implemented in the primary care setting. General practitioners (GPs) are often the first point of contact for health issues, making them the designated professionals for providing falls prevention. Because GPs are often unaware which patients have a high fall risk and patients themselves do not always know they have a high fall risk, this study aims to evaluate the implementation of a targeted fall risk screening strategy among independently living, frail older people in the primary care setting. Materials and methods: The targeted fall risk screening strategy used in this study consists of tools for screening high fall risk and for identifying the underlying cause(s) of the high fall risk, an accredited training course in falls prevention for professionals, and service provision by certified physio- and exercise therapists who are able to offer evidence-based falls prevention interventions. This targeted fall risk screening strategy will be implemented in the primary care setting and evaluated at the level of the GP practice and at the level of the patient by using the RE-AIM model of Glasgow et al. In a pre-posttest design, data will be collected of the total number of frail older people who are screened, referred and enrolled for fall-preventive care. Furthermore, barriers and facilitators of the implementation of the fall risk screening strategy will be identified by conducting focus groups and interviews with the care providers and frail older patients. Additionally, the influence of the falls prevention interventions on frail older patients will be evaluated by using a pre-posttest design with a 12-month follow-up period during which data are collected regarding patients' stability, mobility, strength, balance, self-efficacy, health status, and daily activities. Study Registration: This study is approved by the Medical Ethics Committee Brabant, the Netherlands (NL61582.028.17/ P1732) and registered at the Netherlands Trial Register, NL7917

Voronoi summation formulae and multiplicative functions on permutations

We prove a Tauberian theorem for the Voronoi summation method of divergent series with an estimate of the remainder term. The results on the Voronoi summability are then applied to analyze the mean values of multiplicative functions on random permutations.Comment: 43 pages. This paper is based on the material presented in chapters 1.1 and 1.2 of author's doctorial dissertation that was written and defended at Vilnius University in 2004 under supervision of prof. E. Manstaviciu

Distributional versions of Littlewood's Tauberian theorem

We provide several general versions of Littlewood's Tauberian theorem. These versions are applicable to Laplace transforms of Schwartz distributions. We apply these Tauberian results to deduce a number of Tauberian theorems for power series where Ces\`{a}ro summability follows from Abel summability. We also use our general results to give a new simple proof of the classical Littlewood one-sided Tauberian theorem for power series.Comment: 15 page

Entropic Fluctuations in Statistical Mechanics I. Classical Dynamical Systems

Within the abstract framework of dynamical system theory we describe a general approach to the Transient (or Evans-Searles) and Steady State (or Gallavotti-Cohen) Fluctuation Theorems of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Our main objective is to display the minimal, model independent mathematical structure at work behind fluctuation theorems. Besides its conceptual simplicity, another advantage of our approach is its natural extension to quantum statistical mechanics which will be presented in a companion paper. We shall discuss several examples including thermostated systems, open Hamiltonian systems, chaotic homeomorphisms of compact metric spaces and Anosov diffeomorphisms.Comment: 72 pages, revised version 12/10/2010, to be published in Nonlinearit

Assessment of a rapid liquid-based cytology method for measuring sputum cell counts

Differential sputum cell counting is not widely available despite proven clinical utility in the management of asthma. We compared eosinophil counts obtained using liquid-based cytology (LBC), a routine histopathological processing method, and the current standard method. Eosinophil counts obtained using LBC were a strong predictor of sputum eosinophilia (≥3%) determined by the standard method suggesting LBC could be used in the management of asthma