Fermion-Boson Interactions and Quantum Algebras

Quantum Algebras (q-algebras) are used to describe interactions between fermions and bosons. Particularly, the concept of a su_q(2) dynamical symmetry is invoked in order to reproduce the ground state properties of systems of fermions and bosons interacting via schematic forces. The structure of the proposed su_q(2) Hamiltonians, and the meaning of the corresponding deformation parameters, are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures. Physical Review C (in press

Altered oscillatory brain dynamics after repeated traumatic stress

Kolassa I-T, Wienbruch C, Neuner F, et al. Altered oscillatory brain dynamics after repeated traumatic stress. BMC Psychiatry. 2007;7(1): 56.BACKGROUND: Repeated traumatic experiences, e.g. torture and war, lead to functional and structural cerebral changes, which should be detectable in cortical dynamics. Abnormal slow waves produced within circumscribed brain regions during a resting state have been associated with lesioned neural circuitry in neurological disorders and more recently also in mental illness. METHODS: Using magnetoencephalographic (MEG-based) source imaging, we mapped abnormal distributions of generators of slow waves in 97 survivors of torture and war with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in comparison to 97 controls. RESULTS: PTSD patients showed elevated production of focally generated slow waves (1-4 Hz), particularly in left temporal brain regions, with peak activities in the region of the insula. Furthermore, differential slow wave activity in right frontal areas was found in PTSD patients compared to controls. CONCLUSION: The insula, as a site of multimodal convergence, could play a key role in understanding the pathophysiology of PTSD, possibly accounting for what has been called posttraumatic alexithymia, i.e., reduced ability to identify, express and regulate emotional responses to reminders of traumatic events. Differences in activity in right frontal areas may indicate a dysfunctional PFC, which may lead to diminished extinction of conditioned fear and reduced inhibition of the amygdala

Fact or Factitious? A Psychobiological Study of Authentic and Simulated Dissociative Identity States

BACKGROUND: Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a disputed psychiatric disorder. Research findings and clinical observations suggest that DID involves an authentic mental disorder related to factors such as traumatization and disrupted attachment. A competing view indicates that DID is due to fantasy proneness, suggestibility, suggestion, and role-playing. Here we examine whether dissociative identity state-dependent psychobiological features in DID can be induced in high or low fantasy prone individuals by instructed and motivated role-playing, and suggestion. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: DID patients, high fantasy prone and low fantasy prone controls were studied in two different types of identity states (neutral and trauma-related) in an autobiographical memory script-driven (neutral or trauma-related) imagery paradigm. The controls were instructed to enact the two DID identity states. Twenty-nine subjects participated in the study: 11 patients with DID, 10 high fantasy prone DID simulating controls, and 8 low fantasy prone DID simulating controls. Autonomic and subjective reactions were obtained. Differences in psychophysiological and neural activation patterns were found between the DID patients and both high and low fantasy prone controls. That is, the identity states in DID were not convincingly enacted by DID simulating controls. Thus, important differences regarding regional cerebral bloodflow and psychophysiological responses for different types of identity states in patients with DID were upheld after controlling for DID simulation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The findings are at odds with the idea that differences among different types of dissociative identity states in DID can be explained by high fantasy proneness, motivated role-enactment, and suggestion. They indicate that DID does not have a sociocultural (e.g., iatrogenic) origin

Staffing Call Centers with Uncertain Demand Forecasts: A Chance-Constrained Optimization Approach

We consider the problem of staffing call centers with multiple customer classes and agent types operating under quality-of-service (QoS) constraints and demand rate uncertainty. We introduce a formulation of the staffing problem that requires that the QoS constraints are met with high probability with respect to the uncertainty in the demand rate. We contrast this chance-constrained formulation with the average-performance constraints that have been used so far in the literature. We then propose a two-step solution for the staffing problem under chance constraints. In the first step, we introduce a random static planning problem (RSPP) and discuss how it can be solved using two different methods. The RSPP provides us with a first-order (or fluid) approximation for the true optimal staffing levels and a staffing frontier. In the second step, we solve a finite number of staffing problems with known arrival rates--the arrival rates on the optimal staffing frontier. Hence, our formulation and solution approach has the important property that it translates the problem with uncertain demand rates to one with known arrival rates. The output of our procedure is a solution that is feasible with respect to the chance constraint and nearly optimal for large call centers.call centers, chance-constrained optimization, queueing