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Coping With Chronic Lower Back Pain: Designing and Testing the Online Tool ONESELF

A website was designed in order to help patients with chronic lower back pain (cLBP) to cope with their condition, relying on the concept of health literacy. A sample of 748 chronic or potentially chronic LBP patients were asked to regularly visit the site for a period of 12 months. The intervention was evaluated quantitatively (both preuse and postuse surveys, logfiles) and qualitatively. Users appear to have taken less painkillers than before in the period they accessed the site. Most users reported that the site contributed to increasing their knowledge, and helped them managing their back pain. Communication with doctors, family, and colleagues improved. Qualitative evaluation showed several positive effects including self‐comprehension, improvement of argumentative abilities, orientation, and self‐confidence.     

A thin-layer reference material for hydrogen analysis

In many areas of material sciences, hydrogen analysis is of particular importance. For example, hydrogen is most abundant as impurity in thin film materials - depending on the deposition process - and has great influence on the chemical, physical and electrical properties of many materials. Existing bulk reference materials (RMs) are not suited for surface sensitive analytical methods like elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) or nuclear reaction analysis (NRA). To overcome this serious lack of (certified) thin-layer reference materials for the determination of hydrogen in the near-surface region (1-2 μm depth), we produced stable, homogeneous amorphous silicon layers on Si-wafers (aSi:H-Si) by means of chemical vapour deposition (CVD), while about 10% of hydrogen was incorporated in the Si-layer. Homogeneity and stability were proved by NRA whereas traceability of reference values has been assured by an international interlaboratory comparison.     

Some remarks on the PISO and SIMPLE algorithms for steady turbulent flow problems

Properties of the PISO and SIMPLE algorithms of solution of momentum equations are examined by comparison of the computational effort required for reaching the same convergence criterion in two test problems. In the present paper swirling and non-swirling flows are considered in axisymmetric geometry. In the computations both, interative and time marching versions of these methods are considered. Optimal values of numerical parameters, on which effectivity of both algorithms depends for various differential grids, were found and the results for swirling flow problem were verified on the basis of available experimental data.     

The homeless assessment program: A service-training model for providing disability evaluations for homeless, mentally ill individuals.

Many of the nation's homeless people suffer from unrecognized mental illnesses and do not have access to the kind of disability benefits they would be entitled to when properly assessed. The current system of disability evaluations for Social Security income claims is frequently inadequate and leaves these individuals without any source of income, health insurance, and mental health treatment. This article introduces a model of providing psychological assessments for homeless, mentally ill individuals by supervised student examiners, a model that could be replicated by other psychologists and training institutions. The authors argue that there may be a large number of homeless adults who suffer from disabling mental conditions but who are not properly diagnosed and, therefore, do not qualify for benefits. The authors propose that the model presented can help to fill a gap in services and may serve as a model of socially relevant clinical training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)