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The purpose of this paper is to develop a new structural damage detection technique based on multi-channel empirical mode decomposition (MEMD) of vibrational response data.

Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is an empirical data-based signal decomposition method which has been applied in many engineering problems. Utilizing classical EMD to reveal the damage-indicating features of structural vibration response encounters some difficulties due to the inconsistency of modes obtained from different data channels. To overcome this problem, MEMD has been employed. To this end, MEMD algorithm has been adopted to impulse response vector of measured DOFs. The proposed method has been carried out concerning both numerical and experimental beam models. Damage has been modeled by reducing the flexural rigidity in some predefined beam sections. The effects of various factors such as measurement grid density, damage severity and damage position are investigated.

The results of both numerical and experimental case studies have been promising. The method could determine the damage location in all cases. The efficiency of method gets better when damage is located far from inflation points of the corresponding mode. In such cases, utilizing higher modes can make up the efficiency.

Since the present research is the first investigation of MEMD in damage localization, just one-dimensional structures have been studied. Extending the method to more complicated geometries needs further attempt.

Although a number of relevant studies have been carried out based on EMD, up to the author’s best knowledge, this is the first attempt to structural damage localization using MEMD.

This study aims to test the mediating effect of psychological distress and bullying victimization on the relationship between alexithymia and fibromyalgia (FM) among school adolescents.

This study used cross-sectional, correlational design. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire. The sample consisted of 1,000 school adolescents at Grade 9–12 who were recruited randomly using multistrategic sampling technique.

The analysis showed that alexithymia was a significant predictor of FM (odds ratio [OR] = 1.065). Psychological distress was also a significant predictor of FM; however, its mediating effect resulted in drop of OR to 1.041. The joined effect of bulling victimization and psychological distress found to be significant although OR dropped from 1.065 to 1.039.

The study highlights the significant role of school health nurses and mental health counselors to early detect and direct mental health interventions toward significant psychological problems among school adolescents.

I affirm this information has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. All authors approve the content of the manuscript and have contributed significantly to research involved/ the writing of the manuscript. The authors affirm their commitment to transfer copyright ownership to your journal if the manuscript is accepted for publication. The authors also affirm they will obtain any other copyright permission if deemed necessary within 30 days of acceptance for publication. All identifying information regarding the study participants has been omitted and this study was approved by the IRB at School of Nursing of the University of Jordan. The research conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki in 1995 (as revised in Brazil, 2013). All participants gave informed consent for the research, and that their anonymity was preserved. None of the authors has financial or personal matters that may pose a conflict of interest.