A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Motivational Interviewing Training Effectiveness Among Students-In-Training

Effectively using motivational interviewing (MI) in practice can be difficult. However, there are a number of studies that examine training students across helping professions with the goal of facilitating students use MI more effectively. Although there is no standardized training manual, students often learn specific MI skills (e.g., open-ended questions, reflections) and knowledge (e.g., MI spirit) in hopes that they will apply those techniques to encounters with clients. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify the effectiveness of teaching students motivational interviewing. In total, 15 randomized and non-randomized studies met inclusion criteria and were examined in the current review of 8 dependent variables. A large and significant aggregated Hedges’ g of 0.90 (95% CI [0.45, 1.35]) was found. However, large heterogeneity was observed in all but one of the dependent variables. Moderation analyses revealed no significant moderating effects for risk of bias or type of comparison group; however, training length was a significant moderator. Limitations of the current meta-analysis include the small sample size and lack of consistency among training duration, measurement, and data collection and resulting heterogeneity. Future research appears warranted to further assess student MI training effectiveness, especially using more rigorous and standardized procedures, as well as determining enduring effects of the training

Examination of the Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid Among the Public: A Meta-Analysis

A Plan B Project submitted to the Faculty of University of Minnesota by Amy K. Maslowski in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, May 2018.Mental health conditions are prevalent and can significantly impact a person’s functioning; however, it can be challenging for an untrained individual to know when or how to provide assistance to a person experiencing a mental health concern. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) was developed to provide people with training and guidelines to improve their mental health literacy, decrease stigma, and increase their confidence and willingness to offer aid to individuals experiencing a mental health disorder or crisis. Given recent initiatives to expand the implementation of MHFA programs and increased efforts to evaluate it with more rigorous designs, a comprehensive and systematic review of the evidence base is warranted. This study investigated and quantified, via meta-analytic methodology, MHFA outcomes (i.e., knowledge, attitude, behavior) for the training participant as well as both a quantitative and narrative review for the individual experiencing a mental health disorder or crisis. We conducted a comprehensive search for eligible studies that utilized either a control or comparison group. This resulted in 15 studies for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Small-to-moderate effect sizes were found for the primary outcomes for the trainees; however, preliminary evidence suggests effects for the recipients were more difficult to observe. Study quality had a significant moderating effect. Overall, MHFA appears to be an effective intervention for increasing knowledge about mental health, decreasing stigma and social distance, and increasing trainees’ confidence in approaching and providing aid to an individual experiencing a mental health disorder or crisis. Considerably greater attention and effort in demonstrating effects on recipients is needed with future empirical investigations.College of Education and Human Service Professions, University of Minnesota Duluth

Renormalization of Hamiltonian Field Theory; a non-perturbative and non-unitarity approach

Renormalization of Hamiltonian field theory is usually a rather painful algebraic or numerical exercise. By combining a method based on the coupled cluster method, analysed in detail by Suzuki and Okamoto, with a Wilsonian approach to renormalization, we show that a powerful and elegant method exist to solve such problems. The method is in principle non-perturbative, and is not necessarily unitary.Comment: 16 pages, version shortened and improved, references added. To appear in JHE

Residential solar-photovoltaic power systems: the need for battery storage

Benefits of battery storage used in conjunction with residential solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems were evaluated for a representative set of utility service areas. The PV systems were assumed capable of exporting excess power to the utility grid, and the batteries sited at the substation level were operated as a form of load-leveling utility storage. A cost-allocation model, SIMSTOR, was employed to determine utility fuel and capital cost savings resulting from the addition of batteries as a function of PV system penetration level. These benefits were compared with the savings of batteries used alone without introduction of the PV systems. Battery storage capacities and discharge rates were varied to determine the battery configurations that maximize net utility savings as a function of battery costs. Installed (rated) PV device capacities up to 20 percent of the generation peak load in each service area were considered. Findings indicate that batteries and PV systems are complementary rather than competing technologies, when attached to the electric supply grid. The utility benefits of the PV systems are primarily fuel savings, while those of the battery are primarily due to savings in utility capacity. The economic rationale for batteries does not change significantly as the penetration level for the PV systems increases. In some of the service areas, the addition of the PV systems tended to sharpen rather than flatten the peaks in the utility's load curves, with the magnitude of the effect becoming more pronounced at the higher PV system penetration levels. As a result of these load shape changes, batteries with higher discharge rates and larger storage capacities were favored

Statistical properties of stochastic 2D Navier-Stokes equations from linear models

A new approach to the old-standing problem of the anomaly of the scaling exponents of nonlinear models of turbulence has been proposed and tested through numerical simulations. This is achieved by constructing, for any given nonlinear model, a linear model of passive advection of an auxiliary field whose anomalous scaling exponents are the same as the scaling exponents of the nonlinear problem. In this paper, we investigate this conjecture for the 2D Navier-Stokes equations driven by an additive noise. In order to check this conjecture, we analyze the coupled system Navier-Stokes/linear advection system in the unknowns $(u,w)$. We introduce a parameter $\lambda$ which gives a system $(u^\lambda,w^\lambda)$; this system is studied for any $\lambda$ proving its well posedness and the uniqueness of its invariant measure $\mu^\lambda$. The key point is that for any $\lambda \neq 0$ the fields $u^\lambda$ and $w^\lambda$ have the same scaling exponents, by assuming universality of the scaling exponents to the force. In order to prove the same for the original fields $u$ and $w$, we investigate the limit as $\lambda \to 0$, proving that $\mu^\lambda$ weakly converges to $\mu^0$, where $\mu^0$ is the only invariant measure for the joint system for $(u,w)$ when $\lambda=0$.Comment: 23 pages; improved versio

Reduced basal ganglia μ-opioid receptor availability in trigeminal neuropathic pain: A pilot study

Abstract Background Although neuroimaging techniques have provided insights into the function of brain regions involved in Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain (TNP) in humans, there is little understanding of the molecular mechanisms affected during the course of this disorder. Understanding these processes is crucial to determine the systems involved in the development and persistence of TNP. Findings In this study, we examined the regional μ-opioid receptor (μOR) availability in vivo (non-displaceable binding potential BPND) of TNP patients with positron emission tomography (PET) using the μOR selective radioligand [11C]carfentanil. Four TNP patients and eight gender and age-matched healthy controls were examined with PET. Patients with TNP showed reduced μOR BPND in the left nucleus accumbens (NAc), an area known to be involved in pain modulation and reward/aversive behaviors. In addition, the μOR BPND in the NAc was negatively correlated with the McGill sensory and total pain ratings in the TNP patients. Conclusions Our findings give preliminary evidence that the clinical pain in TNP patients can be related to alterations in the endogenous μ-opioid system, rather than only to the peripheral pathology. The decreased availability of μORs found in TNP patients, and its inverse relationship to clinical pain levels, provide insights into the central mechanisms related to this condition. The results also expand our understanding about the impact of chronic pain on the limbic system.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112555/1/12990_2012_Article_533.pd

Controllability and Qualitative properties of the solutions to SPDEs driven by boundary L\'evy noise

Let $u$ be the solution to the following stochastic evolution equation (1) du(t,x)& = &A u(t,x) dt + B \sigma(u(t,x)) dL(t),\quad t>0; u(0,x) = x taking values in an Hilbert space \HH, where $L$ is a \RR valued L\'evy process, $A:H\to H$ an infinitesimal generator of a strongly continuous semigroup, \sigma:H\to \RR bounded from below and Lipschitz continuous, and B:\RR\to H a possible unbounded operator. A typical example of such an equation is a stochastic Partial differential equation with boundary L\'evy noise. Let \CP=(\CP_t)_{t\ge 0} %{\CP_t:0\le t<\infty}$the corresponding Markovian semigroup. We show that, if the system (2) du(t) = A u(t)\: dt + B v(t),\quad t>0 u(0) = x is approximate controllable in time$T>0$, then under some additional conditions on$B$and$A$, for any$x\in H$the probability measure$\CP_T^\star \delta_x$is positive on open sets of$H$. Secondly, as an application, we investigate under which condition on$\HH$and on the L\'evy process$L$and on the operator$A$and$B$ the solution of Equation [1] is asymptotically strong Feller, respective, has a unique invariant measure. We apply these results to the damped wave equation driven by L\'evy boundary noise