Generalized Uncertainty Principle Corrections to the Simple Harmonic Oscillator in Phase Space

We compute Wigner functions for the harmonic oscillator including corrections from generalized uncertainty principles (GUPs), and study the corresponding marginal probability densities and other properties. We show that the GUP corrections to the Wigner functions can be significant, and comment on their potential measurability in the laboratory.Comment: minor revisions; included journal referenc

Comparative spending of medicaid dollars on child participants of Kentucky’s sobriety treatment and recovery teams program versus a matched comparison group.

Child protective services agencies have long observed the complicating role that parental substance use and addiction plays in cases of child maltreatment. Families who struggle with these problems present unique challenges for child welfare professionals. These families are typically more difficult to engage, more likely to have children removed from the home, and have poorer outcomes when compared to other families. These poorer outcomes often include health problems. Addiction has well-known effects on health, and the specific manifestations of these problems for parents have been documented for years in child protection casework. However, what has been less investigated are the ways that these issues correspond to the health of the children involved in these cases. In many instances, children in these homes are severely injured and require acute medical care. These harms commonly result in significant increases in public spending; especially for state Medicaid programs. In Kentucky, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services created special child welfare units called Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) to serve families where children have been harmed as a result of their parent’s substance use. Previous research efforts suggest that families who participate in START have more favorable outcomes than comparable families who received standard services. These past efforts have even documented cost savings attributable to the work of START in the form of fewer days spent in out of home care for children. This study aimed to expand on that past research by investigating whether similar costs savings are also being generated in the form of reduced Medicaid spending on the children whose parents received START services

Evaluation outcome update community-alternative to psychiatric residential treatment facilities Indiana intensive youth services

On September 30, 2012, Indiana and eight other states completed a five year Medicaid grant to demonstrate that intensive community based services can be effective for youth complex behavioral health. These are youth who might otherwise be treated in a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF). This interim report reviewed findings from Indiana between January, 1 2008 and June 30, 2011. In addition to usual Medicaid clinical and rehabilitation services, grant services were coordinated using the wraparound process (Suter & Bruns, 2009). Non-traditional grant services included: habilitation (skill development), clinical consultation, family training and support, respite, flex funds and non-medical transportation. The Deficit Budget Act grant was to determine the cost effectiveness of home and community based services as an alternative to using a PRTF. This analysis specifically examined under what circumstances youth and families benefit from intensive community based services

Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31

A subset of ultraluminous X-ray sources (those with luminosities of less than 10^(40 ) erg s^(−1); ref. 1) are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto black holes with masses of ~5–20 M_⊙ , probably by means of an accretion disk. The X-ray and radio emission are coupled in such Galactic sources; the radio emission originates in a relativistic jet thought to be launched from the innermost regions near the black hole, with the most powerful emission occurring when the rate of infalling matter approaches a theoretical maximum (the Eddington limit). Only four such maximal sources are known in the Milky Way, and the absorption of soft X-rays in the interstellar medium hinders the determination of the causal sequence of events that leads to the ejection of the jet. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of a bright new X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M 31, whose peak luminosity exceeded 10^(39) erg s^(−1). The radio luminosity is extremely high and shows variability on a timescale of tens of minutes, arguing that the source is highly compact and powered by accretion close to the Eddington limit onto a black hole of stellar mass. Continued radio and X-ray monitoring of such sources should reveal the causal relationship between the accretion flow and the powerful jet emission

Methodological Journey: Lessons Learned From a Student-led Intercultural Pilot Study

New technical communication scholars face the challenge of developing cultural competence in order to effectively and appropriately carry out intercultural research. With interculturally competent technical communicators in increasingly high demand, instructors wrestle with the challenge of preparing students for cross-cultural work environments (Melton, 2011; Smith & Mikelonis, 2011; St.Amant, 2011). The field has adopted a wide variety of globalization-driven, culture-conscious educational practices over the past few decades, but a knowledge gap still persists regarding how to equip new scholars with training and tools that are necessary for building cultural competence, particularly as it relates to designing and conducting research. In this article, we offer a critical reflection on our recent research journey during an intercultural pilot study in order to share lessons learned along the way about cultural competence, intercultural rhetoric, and multi-lingual interpreter-facilitated interviews

Integrated Cross System Framework: Assessing Needs of Child Welfare Involved Youth and Families

poster abstractNearly half (47.9%) of youth , ages 2 to 14, in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being who had experienced abuse or neglect had clinically significant behavioral health problems (Burns, et al., 2004). Yet, inconsistent identification of parental risks and unmet treatment needs (Libby, et. al., 2005) and underreporting of mental health problems by foster parents, social workers and providers (Raghavan, Inkelas, Franke & Halfon, 2007) are common in the child welfare system. Possible solutions include integrating policies and practices across child welfare, behavioral health and Medicaid agencies (Bai, Wells & Hillemeier, 2009) including comprehensive assessment of vulnerable youth’s and parents’ needs to help plan appropriate interventions (Kisiel, Fehrenbach, Small & Lyons, 2009). Since 2007, Indiana behavioral health providers have used the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS, Lyons, 2009) assessment. In 2010 child welfare implemented the tool, linking referrals for behavioral health services and placements to ratings for youth and caregivers. Simultaneously, Medicaid services were linked to CANS ratings. The CANS tool includes six dimensions (youth behavioral health symptoms, functioning, risk behaviors and strengths and caregiver strength and needs). The ongoing evaluation of an intensive community based services Medicaid demonstration grant provides a window to view the impact of cross system integration of a common assessment tool and the relationship of substance use and mental health needs of caregivers on youth with behavioral health needs and child welfare involvement. Levels of fidelity to the wraparound services model (Bruns et al., 2010), youth and family satisfaction (Brunk & Innes, 2003), claims service information and outcomes (based on CANS) for 1051 grantees, including 494 youth involved with child protective services, have been collected. Differences between urban and rural settings were examined. Findings. Satisfaction for youth and families and fidelity to the wraparound services models were similar in rural and urban areas. An independent samples T-Test found significant differences for caregiver needs for families with child welfare involvement than for non child welfare involved families. Specifically, higher substance use and developmental needs, less involvement in treatment and residential stability and military transitions were significantly higher (p < .01). Consistent with earlier trends (Effland, Walton & McIntyre, 2011), a hierarchical multiple linear regression model involving 377 CPS involved youth found that higher beginning youth needs [symptoms (anxiety and conduct disorders), functioning issues (school achievement and social functioning) and risk behavior (delinquency)], initial caregiver needs (specifically substance abuse) and high wraparound fidelity (particularly community based and outcome wraparound elements) predict improvement in youth needs. On a youth/family level, using common assessment tools helps service providers and families reach consensus about needs, develop individualized intervention plans and monitor progress. At a macro level, using a common language and assessment information across service systems can improve access to needed services. Such strategies build an integrated framework to provide individualized services for vulnerable youth and families (Burns, et al., 2004)

Interactions of short-term and chronic treadmill training with aging of the left ventricle of the heart

With aging, there is a decline in cardiac function accompanying increasing risk of arrhythmias. These effects are likely to be mechanistically associated with age-associated changes in calcium regulation within cardiac myocytes. Previous studies suggest that lifelong exercise can potentially reduce age-associated changes in the heart. Although exercise itself is associated with changes in cardiac function, little is known about the interactions of aging and exercise with respect to myocyte calcium regulation. To investigate this, adult (12 months) and old (24 months) C57/Bl6 mice were trained using moderate-intensity treadmill running. In response to 10 weeks’ training, comparable cardiac hypertrophic responses were observed, although aging independently associated with additional cardiac hypertrophy. Old animals also showed increased L- and T-type calcium channels, the sodium–calcium exchange, sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase, and collagen (by 50%, 92%, 66%, 88%, and 113% respectively). Short-term exercise training increased D-type and T-type calcium channels in old animals only, whereas an increase in sodium–calcium exchange was seen only in adult animals. Long-term (12 months) training generally opposed the effects of aging. Significant hypertrophy remained in long-term trained old animals, but levels of sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase, sodium–calcium exchange, and collagen were not significantly different from those found in the adult trained animals