Dissociative Identity Disorder: An In-Depth Look

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental health disorder where there are two or more distinct people within one individual. These distinct people or personalities are also called alters. An alter is a fully distinct person, that carries on a whole different personality than the original person. That means that if a person has two distinct people within them one could be very smart and introverted, but the other one may not have as high of IQ and might be extraverted. The personalities of each alter are different and very distinct from one another. The alternative personality or personalities would also have a different name than the original person. This paper will explore how DID forms within an individual, how it is diagnosed, treatment options to help those who have DID, and some myths that people in the general public may have about this disorder

Quality of life after bariatric surgery - a comparative study of laparoscopic banding vs. bypass

: Laparoscopic gastric banding and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass are widely used for the treatment of morbid obesity. The impact of these two procedures on health-related quality of life has not been analyzed in comparative studies. METHODS: A matched-pair analysis of a prospectively collected database was performed. Fifty-two consecutive patients with laparoscopic gastric bypass were randomly matched to fifty-two patients with laparoscopic gastric banding according to age, BMI, and gender. Quality of life was assessed using two standardized questionnaires (SF 36 and Moorehead-Ardelt II). RESULTS: Mean preoperative BMI was 45.7 kg/m(2) for the bypass patients and 45.3 kg/m(2) for the banding patients. Mean BMI after 3 years follow-up of was 30.4 kg/m(2) and 33.1 kg/m(2) (p = 0.036). In the SF 36 questionnaire, gastric bypass patients yielded a mean total score of 613 versus 607 points in the gastric banding group (p = 0.543), which is comparable to the normal population in Europe. In the Moorhead-Ardelt II questionnaire, the gastric bypass patients scored a mean total of 1.35 points and the gastric banding patients 1.28 points (p = 0.747). Of the patients, 97% with a gastric bypass and 83% with a gastric banding were satisfied with the result of the operation (p = 0.145). CONCLUSION: The patients after laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic gastric banding have a high level of satisfaction 3 years after the operation and have similar quality of life scores compared to the normal population. Quality of life indexes were not different between the two procedures and were independent of weight loss in successfully operated patients

A Framework for Modeling and Simulation of Tracked Vehicles of High Mobility

This paper presents a modeling and simulation framework for tracked vehicles for ride comfort and load prediction analysis. The development began with the identification of the key issues such as formulations, integration schemes and contact (with friction) modeling on which the comparative studies are conducted. Based on the results of the investigations, the framework and process for the modeling and simulation of tracked vehicles are established and appropriate algorithms for contact and friction are developed. To facilitate the modeling and simulation process, a Python-based modeling environment was developed for process automation and design optimization. The developed framework has been successfully applied to the dynamic load predication of a military tracked vehicle. The parameter optimization enabled with the Python-based process automation tool helps improve the design and modification of vehicles for significantly improved fatigue life of suspension component.</jats:p