Enhanced tactile acuity through mental states

Bodily training typically evokes behavioral and perceptual gains, enforcing neuroplastic processes and affecting neural representations. We investigated the effect on somatosensory perception of a three-day Zen meditation exercise, a purely mental intervention. Tactile spatial discrimination of the right index finger was persistently improved by only 6 hours of mental-sensory focusing on this finger, suggesting that intrinsic brain activity created by mental states can alter perception and behavior similarly to external stimulation

Development of evidence-based Australian medication-related indicators of potentially preventable hospitalisations: a modified RAND appropriateness method

Objective: Indicators of potentially preventable hospitalisations have been adopted internationally as a measure of health system performance; however, few assess appropriate processes of care around medication use, that if followed may prevent hospitalisation. The aim of this study was to develop and validate evidence-based medication-related indicators of potentially preventable hospitalisations. Setting: Australian primary healthcare. Participants: Medical specialists, general practitioners and pharmacists. A modified RAND appropriateness method was used for the development of medication-related indicators of potentially preventable hospitalisations, which included a literature review, assessment of the strength of the supporting evidence base, an initial face and content validity by an expert panel, followed by an independent assessment of indicators by an expert clinical panel across various disciplines, using an online survey. Primary Outcome Measure: Analysis of ratings was performed on the four key elements of preventability; the medication-related problem must be recognisable, the adverse outcomes foreseeable and the causes and outcomes identifiable and controllable. Results: A total of 48 potential indicators across all major disease groupings were developed based on level III evidence or greater, that were independently assessed by 78 expert clinicians (22.1% response rate). The expert panel considered 29 of these (60.4%) sufficiently valid. Of these, 21 (72.4%) were based on level I evidence. Conclusions: This study provides a set of face and content validated indicators of medication-related potentially preventable hospitalisations, linking suboptimal processes of care and medication use with subsequent hospitalisation. Further analysis is required to establish operational validity in a population-based sample, using an administrative health database. Implementation of these indicators within routine monitoring of healthcare systems will highlight those conditions where hospitalisations could potentially be avoided through improved medication management.Gillian E Caughey, Lisa M Kalisch Ellett, Te Ying Won

Experimental identification and validation of models in micro and macro plasticity

For micro-macro approaches to finite plasticity, one needs experimental results on both scales, the engineering scale (macro scale) and the crystal scale (micro scale). Since we know that a monocrystal behaves different from a crystallite embedded in a polycrystal, one is also interested in data obtained on the micro scale of a polycrystal. Such data is needed not only for the identification of the material parameters like hardening variables, but also for the validation of these models. In this paper, experiments on both scales and, in parallel, FEM-simulations are presented, in order to compare the results of both approaches. The specimens stem from a rolled sheet of the deep-drawing steel DC04. On the micro scale indenter tests have been performed and the orientation changes in the volume below the indent have been measured using micron-resolution 3D x-ray microscopy (Larson et al., 2004, 2008). On the macro scale the usual tension tests and additional shear tests in different directions (Bouvier etal.,2006) have been performed. In corresponding simulations, the micro-macro transition is performed by a full constrained Taylor-model and, in order to overcome the drawbacks of the Taylor-model, the RVE technique has been applied

Extraction of the active acceptor concentration in (pseudo-) vertical GaN MOSFETs using the body-bias effect

We report and discuss the performance of an enhancement mode n-channel pseudo-vertical GaN metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). The trench gate structure of the MOSFET is uniformly covered with an Al₂O₃ dielectric and TiN electrode material, both deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Normally-off device operation is demonstrated in the transfer characteristics. Special attention is given to the estimation of the active acceptor concentration in the Mg doped body layer of the device, which is crucial for the prediction of the threshold voltage in terms of device design. A method to estimate the electrically active dopant concentration by applying a body bias is presented. The method can be used for both pseudo-vertical and truly vertical devices. Since it does not depend on fixed charges near the channel region, this method is advantageous compared to the estimation of the active doping concentration from the absolute value of the threshold voltage

Single Superfield Representation for Mixed Retarded and Advanced Correlators in Disordered Systems

We propose a new single superfield representation for mixed retarded and advanced correlators for noninteracting disordered systems. The method is tested in the simpler context of Random Matrix theory, by comparing with well known universal behavior for level spacing correlations. Our method is general and could be especially interesting to study localization properties encoded in the mixed correlators of Quantum Hall systems.Comment: 13 pages including two figures, RevTex4. Improved version. Figures changed. To appear in Journal of Physics

Description of the inelastic collision of two solitary waves for the BBM equation

We prove that the collision of two solitary waves of the BBM equation is inelastic but almost elastic in the case where one solitary wave is small in the energy space. We show precise estimates of the nonzero residue due to the collision. Moreover, we give a precise description of the collision phenomenon (change of size of the solitary waves).Comment: submitted for publication. Corrected typo in Theorem 1.

Understanding human functioning using graphical models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functioning and disability are universal human experiences. However, our current understanding of functioning from a comprehensive perspective is limited. The development of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) on the one hand and recent developments in graphical modeling on the other hand might be combined and open the door to a more comprehensive understanding of human functioning. The objective of our paper therefore is to explore how graphical models can be used in the study of ICF data for a range of applications.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We show the applicability of graphical models on ICF data for different tasks: Visualization of the dependence structure of the data set, dimension reduction and comparison of subpopulations. Moreover, we further developed and applied recent findings in causal inference using graphical models to estimate bounds on intervention effects in an observational study with many variables and without knowing the underlying causal structure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In each field, graphical models could be applied giving results of high face-validity. In particular, graphical models could be used for visualization of functioning in patients with spinal cord injury. The resulting graph consisted of several connected components which can be used for dimension reduction. Moreover, we found that the differences in the dependence structures between subpopulations were relevant and could be systematically analyzed using graphical models. Finally, when estimating bounds on causal effects of ICF categories on general health perceptions among patients with chronic health conditions, we found that the five ICF categories that showed the strongest effect were plausible.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Graphical Models are a flexible tool and lend themselves for a wide range of applications. In particular, studies involving ICF data seem to be suited for analysis using graphical models.</p

Generating Real-World Evidence on the Quality Use, Benefits and Safety of Medicines in Australia: History, Challenges and a Roadmap for the Future.

Australia spends more than $20 billion annually on medicines, delivering significant health benefits for the population. However, inappropriate prescribing and medicine use also result in harm to individuals and populations, and waste of precious health resources. Medication data linked with other routine collections enable evidence generation in pharmacoepidemiology; the science of quantifying the use, effectiveness and safety of medicines in real-world clinical practice. This review details the history of medicines policy and data access in Australia, the strengths of existing data sources, and the infrastructure and governance enabling and impeding evidence generation in the field. Currently, substantial gaps persist with respect to cohesive, contemporary linked data sources supporting quality use of medicines, effectiveness and safety research; exemplified by Australia's limited capacity to contribute to the global effort in real-world studies of vaccine and disease-modifying treatments for COVID-19. We propose a roadmap to bolster the discipline, and population health more broadly, underpinned by a distinct capability governing and streamlining access to linked data assets for accredited researchers. Robust real-world evidence generation requires current data roadblocks to be remedied as a matter of urgency to deliver efficient and equitable health care and improve the health and well-being of all Australians