Stabilization of Extra Dimensions and The Dimensionality of the Observed Space

We present a simple model for the late time stabilization of extra dimensions. The basic idea is that brane solutions wrapped around extra dimensions, which is allowed by string theory, will resist expansion due to their winding mode. The momentum modes in principle work in the opposite way. It is this interplay that leads to dynamical stabilization. We use the idea of democratic wrapping \cite{art5}-\cite{art6}, where in a given decimation of extra dimensions, all possible winding cases are considered. To simplify the study further we assumed a symmetric decimation in which the total number of extra dimensions is taken to be $Np$ where N can be called the order of the decimation. We also assumed that extra dimensions all have the topology of tori. We show that with these rather conservative assumptions, there exists solutions to the field equations in which the extra dimensions are stabilized and that the conditions do not depend on $p$. This fact means that there exists at least one solution to the asymmetric decimation case. If we denote the number of observed space dimensions (excluding time) by $m$, the condition for stabilization is $m\geq 3$ for pure Einstein gravity and $m\leq 3$ for dilaton gravity massaged by string theory parameters.Comment: Final versio

Linear Perturbations in Brane Gas Cosmology

We consider the effect of string inhomogeneities on the time dependent background of Brane Gas Cosmology. We derive the equations governing the linear perturbations of the dilaton-gravity background in the presence of string matter sources. We focus on long wavelength fluctuations and find that there are no instabilities. Thus, the predictions of Brane Gas Cosmology are robust against the introduction of linear perturbations. In particular, we find that the stabilization of the extra dimensions (moduli) remains valid in the presence of dilaton and string perturbations.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur

Anti-inflammatory activity of Lychnophora passerina, Asteraceae (Brazilian “Arnica”)

AbstractEthnopharmacological relevanceLychnophora passerina (Asteraceae), popularly known as “arnica,” is used to treat inflammation, pain, rheumatism, contusions, bruises and insect bites in Brazilian traditional medicine.Materials and methodsThe anti-inflammatory activity of crude ethanolic extract of aerial parts of L. passerina and its ethyl acetate and methanolic fractions had their abilities to modulate the production of NO, TNF-α and IL-10 inflammatory mediators in LPS/IFN-γ-stimulated J774.A1 macrophages evaluated. Moreover, the crude ethanolic extract and derived fractions were also in vivo assayed by carrageenan-induced paw oedema in mice.ResultsIn vitro assays showed remarkable anti-inflammatory activity of L. passerina crude ethanolic extract (EE) and its ethyl acetate (A) and methanolic (M) fractions, through the inhibition of production of NO and TNF-α inflammatory mediators and induction of production of IL-10 anti-inflammatory cytokine. In vivo assays showed anti-inflammatory activity for EE 10% ointment, similar to the standard drug diclofenac gel. The A and M fraction ointments 20% presented anti-inflammatory activity.ConclusionThe results obtained showed that possible anti-inflammatory effects of EE and its A and M fractions may be attributed to inhibition pro-inflammatory cytokines production, TNF-α and NO and to increased IL-10 production. EE, A and M ointments showed topical in vivo anti-inflammatory activity. The in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of EE of L. passerina may be related to synergistic effects of different substances in the crude extract. Therefore, traditional use of aerial parts of L. passerina in the inflammatory conditions could be beneficial to treat topical inflammatory conditions, as evidenced by the present study

T and S dualities and The cosmological evolution of the dilaton and the scale factors

Cosmologically stabilizing radion along with the dilaton is one of the major concerns of low energy string theory. One can hope that T and S dualities can provide a plausible answer. In this work we study the impact of S and T duality invariances on dilaton gravity. We have shown various instances where physically interesting models arise as a result of imposing the mentioned invariances. In particular S duality has a very privileged effect in that the dilaton equations partially decouple from the evolution of the scale factors. This makes it easy to understand the general rules for the stabilization of the dilaton. We also show that certain T duality invariant actions become S duality invariance compatible. That is they mimic S duality when extra dimensions stabilize.Comment: Corrected a misleading interpretation of the S duality transformation and a wrong comment on d=10. I thank A.Kaya for pointing this out to me in time. So the new version is dealing with d=10 only. Added references and corrected some typos. Minor re-editing. Omitted a section for elaboration in a further study. Corrected further typo

Quantum optical coherence tomography with dispersion cancellation

We propose a new technique, called quantum optical coherence tomography (QOCT), for carrying out tomographic measurements with dispersion-cancelled resolution. The technique can also be used to extract the frequency-dependent refractive index of the medium. QOCT makes use of a two-photon interferometer in which a swept delay permits a coincidence interferogram to be traced. The technique bears a resemblance to classical optical coherence tomography (OCT). However, it makes use of a nonclassical entangled twin-photon light source that permits measurements to be made at depths greater than those accessible via OCT, which suffers from the deleterious effects of sample dispersion. Aside from the dispersion cancellation, QOCT offers higher sensitivity than OCT as well as an enhancement of resolution by a factor of 2 for the same source bandwidth. QOCT and OCT are compared using an idealized sample.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

Brazilian Multicentre Study Of Common Mental Disorders In Primary Care: Rates And Related Social And Demographic Factors [estudo Multicêntrico Brasileiro Sobre Transtornos Mentais Comuns Na Atenção Primária: Prevalência E Fatores Sociodemográficos Relacionados]

Mental health problems are common in primary health care, particularly anxiety and depression. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of common mental disorders and their associations with socio-demographic characteristics in primary care in Brazil (Family Health Strategy). It involved a multicenter cross-sectional study with patients from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Fortaleza (Ceará State) and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul State), assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). The rate of mental disorders in patients from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Fortaleza and Porto Alegre were found to be, respectively, 51.9%, 53.3%, 64.3% and 57.7% with significant differences between Porto Alegre and Fortaleza compared to Rio de Janeiro after adjusting for confounders. Prevalence proportions of mental problems were especially common for females, the unemployed, those with less education and those with lower incomes. In the context of the Brazilian government's moves towards developing primary health care and reorganizing mental health policies it is relevant to consider common mental disorders as a priority alongside other chronic health conditions.303623632Kessler, R.C., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Chatterji, S., Lee, S., Ormel, J., The global burden of mental disorders: An update from the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys (2009) Epidemiol Psichiatr Soc, 18, pp. 23-33Druss, B.G., Hwang, I., Petukhova, M., Sampson, N.A., Wang, P.S., Kessler, R.C., Impairment in role functioning in mental and chronic medical disorders in the United States: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (2009) Mol Psychiatry, 14, pp. 728-737Eaton, W.W., Martins, S.S., Nestadt, G., Bienvenu, O.J., Clarke, D., Alexandre, P., The burden of mental disorders (2008) Epidemiol Rev, 30, pp. 1-14Scott, K.M., Von Korff, M., Alonso, J., Angermeyer, M.C., Bromet, E., Fayyad, J., Mental-physical co-morbidity and its relationship with disability: Results from the World Mental Health Surveys (2009) Psychol Med, 39, pp. 33-43Patten, S.B., Williams, J.V.A., Lavorato, D.H., Modgill, G., Jette, N., Eliasziw, M., Major depression as a risk factor for chronic disease incidence: Longitudinal analyses in a general population cohort (2008) Gen Hosp Psychiatry, 30, pp. 407-413Bijl, D., van Marwijk, H.W.J., de Haan, M., van Tilburg, W., Beekman, A.-J.T.F., Effectiveness of disease management programmes for recognition, diagnosis and treatment of depression in primary care (2004) Eur J Gen Pract, 10, pp. 6-12Kohn, R., Saxena, S., Levav, I., Saraceno, B., The treatment gap in mental health care (2004) Bull World Health Organ, 82, pp. 858-866Prince, M., Patel, V., Saxena, S., Maj, M., Maselko, J., Phillips, M.R., No health without mental health (2007) Lancet, 370, pp. 859-877(2008) Mental health gap action programme: Scaling up care for mental, neurological, and substance use disorders, , World Health Organization, Geneva: World Health Organization(2010) World health statistics 2010, , World Health Organization, Geneva: World Health OrganizationSchramm, J.A., Oliveira, A.F., Leite, I.C., Valente, J.G., Gadelha, A.J., Portela, M.C., Transição epidemiológica e o estudo de carga de doença no Brasil (2004) Ciênc Saúde Coletiva, 9, pp. 897-908Andrade, L.H., Wang, Y.-P., Andreoni, S., Silveira, C.M., Alexandrino-Silva, C., Siu, E.R., Mental disorders in megacities: Findings from the São Paulo megacity mental health survey, Brazil (2012) PLoS One, 7, pp. e31879Harris, M., Haines, A., Brazil's Family Health Programme (2010) BMJ, 341, pp. c4945(2008) Integrating mental health into primary health care a global perspective, , World Health Organization, Geneva: World Health OrganizationÜstürn, T.B., Sartorius, N., Villano, L.B., (1995) Mental illness in general health care an international study, , Chichester: Wiley & SonsGonçalves, D.M., Kapczinski, F., Prevalência de transtornos mentais em indivíduos de uma unidade de referência para Programa Saúde da Família em Santa Cruz do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil (2008) Cad Saúde Pública, 24, pp. 2043-2053Azevedo-Marques, J.M., Zuardi, A.W., COOP/WONCA charts as a screen for mental disorders in primary care (2011) Ann Fam Med, 9, pp. 359-365Busnello, E.D., Lima, B.R., Bertolote, J.M., Aspectos interculturais de classificação e diagnóstico (1983) J Bras Psiquiatr, 32, pp. 207-210Mari, J.J., Psychiatric morbidity in three primary medical care clinics in the city of Sao Paulo. Issues on the mental health of the urban poor (1987) Soc Psychiatry, 22, pp. 129-138Iacoponi, E., (1989) The detection of emotional disorders by primary care physicians: A study, , in São Paulo, Brazil, London: Univestity of LondonAlmeida, M.D., Nunes, M.A., Camey, S., Pinheiro, A.P., Schmidt, M.I., Transtornos mentais em uma amostra de gestantes da rede de atenção básica de saúde no Sul do Brasil (2012) Cad Saúde Pública, 28, pp. 385-394Fortes, S., Villano, L.B., Lopes, C.S., Nosological profile and prevalence of common mental disorders of patients seen at the Family Health Program (FHP) units in Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro (2008) Rev Bras Psiquiatr, 30, pp. 32-37Gonçalves, D.A., Fortes, S., Campos, M., Ballester, D., Portugal, F.B., Tófoli, L.F., Evaluation of a mental health training intervention for multidisciplinary teams in primary care in Brazil: A pre-and posttest study (2013) Gen Hosp Psychiatry, 35, pp. 304-308Goldberg, D., (1978) Manual of the General Health Questionnaire, , Windsor: National Foundation for Educational ResearchMari, J.J., Williams, P., A comparison of the validity of two psychiatric screening questionnaires (GHQ-12 and SRQ-20) in Brazil, using relative operating characteristic (ROC) analysis (1985) Psychol Med, 15, pp. 651-659Mari, J.J., Iacoponi, E., Williams, P., Simões, O., Silva, J.B., Detection of psychiatric morbidity in the primary medical care setting in Brazil (1987) Rev Saúde Pública, 21, pp. 501-507Botega, N.J., Bio, M.R., Zomignani, M.A., Garcia Jr., C., Pereira, W.A., Transtornos do humor em enfermaria de clínica médica e validação de escala de medida (HAD) de ansiedade e depressão (1995) Rev Saúde Pública, 29, pp. 355-363Judd, L.L., Paulus, M.P., Wells, K.B., Rapaport, M.H., Socioeconomic burden of subsyndromal depressive symptoms and major depression in a sample of the general population (1996) Am J Psychiatry, 153, pp. 1411-1417Goldberg, D.P., Huxley, P., (1992) Common mental disorders a bio-social model, , London: Tavistock/RoutledgeAraya, R., Wynn, R., Leonard, R., Lewis, G., Psychiatric morbidity in primary health care in Santiago, Chile: Preliminary findings (1994) Br J Psychiatry, 165, pp. 530-533Penayo, U., Kullgren, G., Caldera, T., Mental disorders among primary health care patients in Nicaragua (1990) Acta Psychiatr Scand, 82, pp. 82-85Patel, V., Todd, C., Winston, M., Gwanzura, F., Simunyu, E., Acuda, W., Common mental disorders in primary care in Harare, Zimbabwe: Associations and risk factors (1997) Br J Psychiatry, 171, pp. 60-64Patel, V., Pereira, J., Mann, A.H., Somatic and psychological models of common mental disorder in primary care in India (1998) Psychol Med, 28, pp. 135-143Pothen, M., Kuruvilla, A., Philip, K., Joseph, A., Jacob, K.S., Common mental disorders among primary care attenders in Vellore, South India: Nature, prevalence and risk factors (2003) Int J Soc Psychiatry, 49, pp. 119-125King, M., Nazareth, I., Levy, G., Walker, C., Morris, R., Weich, S., Prevalence of common mental disorders in general practice attendees across Europe (2008) Br J Psychiatry, 192, pp. 362-367Roca, M., Gili, M., Garcia-Garcia, M., Salva, J., Vives, M., Garcia-Campayo, J., Prevalence and comorbidity of common mental disorders in primary care (2009) J Affect Disord, 119, pp. 52-58Broers, T., Hodgetts, G., Batic-Mujanovic, O., Petrovic, V., Hasanagic, M., Godwin, M., Prevalence of mental and social disorders in adults attending primary care centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006) Croat Med J, 47, pp. 478-484Toft, T., Fink, P., Oernboel, E., Christensen, K., Frostholm, L., Olesen, F., Mental disorders in primary care: Prevalence and co-morbidity among disorders: Results from the functional illness in primary care (FIP) study (2005) Psychol Med, 35, pp. 1175-1178Reichenheim, M.E., Souza, E.R., Moraes, C.L., Mello-Jorge, M.H.P., Silva, C.M.F.P., Minayo, M.C.S., Violence and injuries in Brazil: The effect, progress made, and challenges ahead (2011) Lancet, 377, pp. 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Pragmatic Software Innovation

Part 2: Creating Value through Software DevelopmentInternational audienceWe understand software innovation as concerned with introducing innovation into the development of software intensive systems, i.e. systems in which software development and/or integration are dominant considerations. Innovation is key in almost any strategy for competitiveness in existing markets, for creating new markets, or for curbing rising public expenses, and software intensive systems are core elements in most such strategies. Software innovation therefore is vital for about every sector of the economy. Changes in software technologies over the last decades have opened up for experimentation, learning, and flexibility in ongoing software projects, but how can this change be used to facilitate software innovation? How can a team systematically identify and pursue opportunities to create added value in ongoing projects? In this paper, we describe Deweyan pragmatism as the philosophical foundation for Essence – a software innovation methodology – where unknown options and needs emerge as part of the development process itself. The foundation is illustrated via a simple example

Rede De Apoio Social, Saúde Mental E Qualidade De Vida: Um Estudo Transversal Na Atenção Primária

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The objective of this study was to identify the association between emotional distress and social support networks with quality of life in primary care patients. This was a cross-sectional study involving 1,466 patients in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2009/2010. The General Health Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument were used. The Social Support Network Index classified patients with the highest and lowest index as socially integrated or isolated. A bivariate analysis and four multiple linear regressions were conducted for each quality of life outcome. The means scores for the physical, psychological, social relations, and environment domains were, respectively, 64.7; 64.2; 68.5 and 49.1. In the multivariate analysis, the psychological domain was negatively associated with isolation, whereas the social relations and environment domains were positively associated with integration. Integration and isolation proved to be important factors for those in emotional distress as they minimize or maximize negative effects on quality of life. © 2016, Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz. All rights reserved.3212CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e TecnológicoConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq