The Need for Visits to Social and Vocational Programs for the Mentally Ill as Part of General Psychiatry Residency Training

Background. Comprehensive treatment planning for psychiatric illnesses should be based on a biopsychosocial model of treatment to address the acuity and chronicity of these disorders. To achieve this goal, knowledge about pharmacological, psychological, and social aspects of the treatment plan should be presented as an integral part of general psychiatry residency training. This survey study was conducted to examine how many programs provide training where residents have scheduled visits to social and vocational mental health service organizations in the community and to identify potential obstacles to including this rotation in general psychiatry residency training. Methods. A voluntary, anonymous survey was sent via SurveyMonkey® to the program directors of all general psychiatry residency programs in the United States. The survey consisted of five questions designed to assess if their programs had a rotation where residents visit social and vocational programs in the community designed for mentally ill patients to provide knowledge of the community mental health resources to their residents. Results. Of the 168 survey invitations issued, 73 (44%) responded. Fifty-six responders acknowledged that their residents were required to visit a community mental health organization, but their programs did not offer visits to community social and vocational programs. Seventeen program directors reported that their program did not provide this experience to their residents and indicated a desire to include such a rotation. Conclusions. Community mental health service organization visits should enhance knowledge of psychiatry residents about community mental health resources and indirectly promote better patient care. Information obtained from this survey should create discussion to work toward better psychiatric resident training

Continuous Variable Quantum State Sharing via Quantum Disentanglement

Quantum state sharing is a protocol where perfect reconstruction of quantum states is achieved with incomplete or partial information in a multi-partite quantum networks. Quantum state sharing allows for secure communication in a quantum network where partial information is lost or acquired by malicious parties. This protocol utilizes entanglement for the secret state distribution, and a class of "quantum disentangling" protocols for the state reconstruction. We demonstrate a quantum state sharing protocol in which a tripartite entangled state is used to encode and distribute a secret state to three players. Any two of these players can collaborate to reconstruct the secret state, whilst individual players obtain no information. We investigate a number of quantum disentangling processes and experimentally demonstrate quantum state reconstruction using two of these protocols. We experimentally measure a fidelity, averaged over all reconstruction permutations, of F = 0.73. A result achievable only by using quantum resources.Comment: Published, Phys. Rev. A 71, 033814 (2005) (7 figures, 11 pages

The Hall algebra and the composition monoid

Let Q be a quiver. M. Reineke and A. Hubery investigated the connection between the composition monoid, as introduced by M. Reineke, and the generic composition algebra, as introduced by C. M. Ringel, specialised at q=0. In this thesis we continue their work. We show that if Q is a Dynkin quiver or an oriented cycle, then the composition algebra at q=0 is isomorphic to the monoid algebra of the composition monoid. Moreover, if Q is an acyclic, extended Dynkin quiver, we show that there exists an epimorphism from the composition algebra at q=0 to the monoid algebra of the composition monoid, and we describe its non-trivial kernel. Our main tool is a geometric version of BGP reflection functors on quiver Grassmannians and quiver flags, that is varieties consisting of filtrations of a fixed representation by subrepresentations of fixed dimension vectors. These functors enable us to calculate various structure constants of the composition algebra. Moreover, we investigate geometric properties of quiver flags and quiver Grassmannians, and show that under certain conditions, quiver flags are irreducible and smooth. If, in addition, we have a counting polynomial, these properties imply the positivity of the Euler characteristic of the quiver flag.Comment: 111 pages, doctoral thesis University of Paderborn (2009

Quantifying the Efficiency and Equity Implications of Power Plant Air Pollution Control Strategies in the United States

BACKGROUND: In deciding among competing approaches for emissions control, debates often hinge on the potential tradeoffs between efficiency and equity. However, previous health benefits analyses have not formally addressed both dimensions. OBJECTIVES: We modeled the public health benefits and the change in the spatial inequality of health risk for a number of hypothetical control scenarios for power plants in the United States to determine optimal control strategies. METHODS: We simulated various ways by which emission reductions of sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter (particulate matter < 2.5 μm in diameter; PM(2.5)) could be distributed to reach national emissions caps. We applied a source–receptor matrix to determine the PM(2.5) concentration changes associated with each control scenario and estimated the mortality reductions. We estimated changes in the spatial inequality of health risk using the Atkinson index and other indicators, following previously derived axioms for measuring health risk inequality. RESULTS: In our baseline model, benefits ranged from 17,000–21,000 fewer premature deaths per year across control scenarios. Scenarios with greater health benefits also tended to have greater reductions in the spatial inequality of health risk, as many sources with high health benefits per unit emissions of SO(2) were in areas with high background PM(2.5) concentrations. Sensitivity analyses indicated that conclusions were generally robust to the choice of indicator and other model specifications. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis demonstrates an approach for formally quantifying both the magnitude and spatial distribution of health benefits of pollution control strategies, allowing for joint consideration of efficiency and equity

Milling plant and soil material in plastic tubes over-estimates carbon and under-estimates nitrogen concentrations

Peer reviewedPostprin

The Seroepidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae Type B Prior to Introduction of an Immunization Programme in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is now recognized as an important pathogen in Asia. To evaluate disease susceptibility, and as a marker of Hib transmission before routine immunization was introduced in Kathmandu, 71 participants aged 7 months-77 years were recruited and 15 cord blood samples were collected for analysis of anti-polyribosylribitol phosphate antibody levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Only 20% of children under 5 years old had levels considered protective (>0.15 µg/ml), rising to 83% of 15-54 year-olds. Prior to introduction of Hib vaccine in Kathmandu, the majority of young children were susceptible to disease

Effect of spirometry on intra-thoracic pressures

Due to the high intra-thoracic pressures associated with forced vital capacity manoeuvres, spirometry is contraindicated for vulnerable patients. However, the typical pressure response to spirometry has not been reported. Eight healthy, recreationally-active men performed spirometry while oesophageal pressure was recorded using a latex balloon-tipped catheter. Peak oesophageal pressure during inspiration was - 47 ± 9 cmH O (37 ± 10% of maximal inspiratory pressure), while peak oesophageal pressure during forced expiration was 102 ± 34 cmH O (75 ± 17% of maximal expiratory pressure). The deleterious consequences of spirometry might be associated with intra-thoracic pressures that approach maximal values during forced expiration

Single photon quantum non-demolition in the presence of inhomogeneous broadening

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) has been often proposed for generating nonlinear optical effects at the single photon level; in particular, as a means to effect a quantum non-demolition measurement of a single photon field. Previous treatments have usually considered homogeneously broadened samples, but realisations in any medium will have to contend with inhomogeneous broadening. Here we reappraise an earlier scheme [Munro \textit{et al.} Phys. Rev. A \textbf{71}, 033819 (2005)] with respect to inhomogeneities and show an alternative mode of operation that is preferred in an inhomogeneous environment. We further show the implications of these results on a potential implementation in diamond containing nitrogen-vacancy colour centres. Our modelling shows that single mode waveguide structures of length $200 \mu\mathrm{m}$ in single-crystal diamond containing a dilute ensemble of NV$^-$ of only 200 centres are sufficient for quantum non-demolition measurements using EIT-based weak nonlinear interactions.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures (some in colour) at low resolution for arXiv purpose