Relation-Changing Logics as Fragments of Hybrid Logics

Relation-changing modal logics are extensions of the basic modal logic that allow changes to the accessibility relation of a model during the evaluation of a formula. In particular, they are equipped with dynamic modalities that are able to delete, add, and swap edges in the model, both locally and globally. We provide translations from these logics to hybrid logic along with an implementation. In general, these logics are undecidable, but we use our translations to identify decidable fragments. We also compare the expressive power of relation-changing modal logics with hybrid logics.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2016, arXiv:1609.0364

Satisfiability for relation-changing logics

Relation-changing modal logics (RC for short) are extensions of the basic modal logic with dynamic operators that modify the accessibility relation of a model during the evaluation of a formula. These languages are equipped with dynamic modalities that are able e.g. to delete, add and swap edges in the model, both locally and globally. We study the satisfiability problem for some of these logics.We first show that they can be translated into hybrid logic. As a result, we can transfer some results from hybrid logics to RC. We discuss in particular decidability for some fragments. We then show that satisfiability is, in general, undecidable for all the languages introduced, via translations from memory logics.Fil: Areces, Carlos Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física. Sección Ciencias de la Computación; ArgentinaFil: Fervari, Raul Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física. Sección Ciencias de la Computación; ArgentinaFil: Hoffmann, Guillaume Emmanuel. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física. Sección Ciencias de la Computación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martel, Mauricio. Universitat Bremen; Alemani

IT Executives’ Perception of CobiT: Satisfaction, Business-IT Alignment and Benefits

Business-IT alignment has been one of the top issues in IT managers’ minds for years. Because of its potential to help an organization improve its Business-IT alignment, IT governance has grown in popularity over the last years. However, little research exists on the topic. An international survey of 113 firms using CobiT was conducted to examine the users’ satisfaction, impact on Business-IT alignment and perception on the benefits realized. The research concentrates on the evolution of these three factors as companies increase their implementation of CobiT. Results indicate that companies that have achieved higher implementation levels were more satisfied with the framework, experienced high positive impacts on their Business-IT alignment and received greater benefits in the areas of IT governance

Relative impact of diagnosis and clinical stage on response to electroconvulsive therapy: a retrospective cohort

OBJECTIVES: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is commonly indicated for refractory psychiatric disorders. However, little research has compared response across diagnoses. Here, we aimed to evaluate the relative impact of diagnosis and clinical staging as response predictors in a cross-diagnostic sample. METHODS: In a retrospective cohort of adult inpatients (n=287) who underwent at least six sessions of ECT, we investigated predictors of complete response (a clinical global impression of 1) to ECT. We use adjusted regression models to estimate the impact of clinical diagnosis and staging on complete response and dominance analysis to assess the relative importance of these predictors. RESULTS: Those for whom a depressive episode was a primary indication for treatment were the most likely to have complete improvement, while those with psychosis were the least likely; clinical stage had a significant influence on outcome in all diagnoses. A diagnosis of psychosis was the strongest predictor of non-response. CONCLUSIONS: A diagnosis of psychosis (mainly schizophrenia) was the strongest predictor of non-response. We also found that clinical staging can aggregate information on ECT response that is independent of clinical diagnosis

Efficacy of school-based interventions for mental health problems in children and adolescents in low and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundImplementation of interventions to treat child and adolescent mental health problems in schools could help fill the mental health care gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Most of the evidence available come from systematic reviews on mental health prevention and promotion, and there is less evidence on treatment strategies that can be effectively delivered in schools. The aim of this review was to identify what school-based interventions have been tested to treat children and adolescents in LMICs, and how effective they are.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review including seven electronic databases. The search was carried out in October 2022. We included randomised or non-randomised studies that evaluated school-based interventions for children or adolescents aged 6–18 years living in LMICs and who had, or were at risk of developing, one or more mental health problems.ResultsWe found 39 studies with 43 different pairwise comparisons, treatment for attention-deficit and hyperactivity (ADHD), anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Conduct disorder (CD). Pooled SMD were statistically significant and showed that, overall, interventions were superior to comparators for PTSD (SMD = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.37–0.86), not statistically significant for anxiety (SMD = 0.11; 95% CI = −0.13 to 0.36), ADHD (SMD = 0.36; 95% CI = −0.15 to 0.87), and for depression (SMD = 0.80; 95% CI = −0.47 to 2.07). For CD the sample size was very small, so the results are imprecise.ConclusionA significant effect was found if we add up all interventions compared to control, suggesting that, overall, interventions delivered in the school environment are effective in reducing mental health problems among children and adolescents.Systematic review registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=129376], identifier [CRD42019129376]

Numerical and Experimental Examination for Oil Pump System Using a Simplified Uncoupled Simulation Model

Compressors with variable capacity are employed in domestic applications where better performance, fine temperature control, low power consumption and low noise levels are required. This is achievable not only by the use of an electronic inverter drive capable of operating at different frequencies, but also by technology applied in mechanical, electrical, acoustic and thermodynamic subsystems, making possible to control its cooling capacity, fully meeting the product requirements. One fundamental condition of operation is to ensure proper lubrication of mechanical components, for 100% of compressors, operating throughout its speed range, ensuring full operation throughout its lifetime. To do that, several methods are used to pump the oil towards the bearings. This task is easily performed when the compressor’s crankshaft has high kinetic rotating energy. On the other hand, it becomes a challenge when compressor operates at lower speeds. In this case, computational techniques, using numerical methods in commercial simulators, have aided on designing oil pumping devices that maximizes the oil flow rate. Through numerical and experimental techniques, this study aims to propose a simplified, uncoupled simulation model for the compressor oil supply system. The primary response variable is the volumetric oil flow rate of a helical pump, regarding the following analysis factors: a) the immersion depth and b) shaft rotation. Numerical results from uncoupled proposed model have shown good agreement with experimental data

Antigen Targeting to Dendritic Cells Allows the Identification of a CD4 T-Cell Epitope within an Immunodominant Trypanosoma cruzi Antigen

Targeting antigens to dendritic cells (DCs) by using hybrid monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against DC receptors is known to improve activation and support long-lasting T cell responses. in the present work, we used the mAb alpha DEC205 fused to the Trypanosoma cruzi amastigote surface protein 2 (ASP-2) to identify a region of this protein recognized by specific T cells. the hybrid alpha DEC-ASP2 mAb was successfully generated and preserved its ability to bind the DEC205 receptor. Immunization of BALB/c mice with the recombinant mAb in the presence of polyriboinosinic: polyribocytidylic acid (poly (I:C)) specifically enhanced the number of IFN-gamma producing cells and CD4+ T cell proliferation when compared to mice immunized with a mAb without receptor affinity or with the non-targeted ASP-2 protein. the strong immune response induced in mice immunized with the hybrid alpha DEC-ASP2 mAb allowed us to identify an ASP-2-specific CD4+ T cell epitope recognized by the BALB/c MHCII haplotype. We conclude that targeting parasite antigens to DCs is a useful strategy to enhance T cell mediated immune responses facilitating the identification of new T-cell epitopes.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)BNP-Paribas Bankcommercial source BNP-Paribas BankUniv São Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Parasitol, Lab Antigen Targeting Dendrit Cells, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, CTCMol, São Paulo, BrazilNatl Inst Sci & Technol Vaccines, Belo Horizonte, MG, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, CTCMol, São Paulo, BrazilCNPq: 15203*12FAPESP: 2007/08648-9Web of Scienc

Translating measurement into practice: Brazilian norms for the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for assessing depressive symptoms

OBJECTIVES: To provide practical norms for measuring depressive symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) in Brazil through a state-of-the-art psychometrics analysis. METHODS: We used a large representative dataset from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey (Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde - 2019), which included 90,846 Brazilian citizens. To assess scale structure, we assessed a unidimensional model using confirmatory factor analysis. Item response theory was used to characterize the distribution of depressive symptoms. Summed- and mean-based PHQ-9 scores were then linked using item response theory-based scores in generalized additive models. Finally, percentiles, T scores, and a newly developed score, called the decimal score (D score), were generated to describe PHQ-9 norms for the Brazilian population. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good fit to the unidimensional model, being invariant to age and sex. Item response theory captured item-level information about the latent trait (reliable from 1 to 3 SDs above the mean). Brazilian norms were presented using summed scores, T scores, and D scores. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to determine Brazilian norms for the PHQ-9 among a large representative sample using robust psychometric tools. More precise PHQ-9 scores are now available and may be widely used in primary and specialized clinical care settings

Dinâmica de carbono e nitrogênio em um sistema agroflorestal sucessional na região neotropical

The present study aimed to assess the effect of fourteen years of implementation of a successional and biodiverse agroforestry system (AFS) in a degraded agricultural field located in the Cerrado region of Central Brazil on the carbon and nitrogen dynamics. To track short term soil N dynamics we sampled instantaneous soil N rates in four seasonal periods (wet-dry, dry, dry-wet, wet) and to track long term C and N dynamics we measured C and N stable isotopes in the plant-litter-soil system. As additional data we determined the aboveground biomass; resorption rates of foliar and, soil C and N stocks.  The measured aboveground biomass was 19.2 Mg C ha-1. The mean resorption rate of foliar N was 49.3%. C:N ratio was 20.4 ± 1.4 and 14.2 ± 0.32 in the litter layer and the topsoil, respectively. Soil N-NH4+ was predominant over N-NO3-. After 40 days, the cumulative N-N2O emission was 0.33 kg ha-1. The mean C and N stocks were 3.8 Mg N ha-1 and 43.6 Mg C ha-1, respectively. The averaged soil δ15N was 6.8‰. Soil δ13C was -20.3‰. After 14 years of implementation, approximately 40% of the total C in the topsoil (0-20 cm depth) was derived from the AFS biomass input, predominantly from the C3 photosynthetic pathway. The studied biodiverse AFS that replaced a degraded agricultural field in the Cerrado region showed to be responsive both in terms of soil and plant C and N pools and fluxes.O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito de quatorze anos de implementação de um sistema agroflorestal (SAF) sucessional e biodiverso em uma área agrícola degradada localizada na região de Cerrado do Brasil Central sobre a dinâmica de carbono e nitrogênio. Para verificar a dinâmica de N no curto prazo foram feitas medidas das taxas de transformação de N no solo em quatro períodos sazonais (chuva-seca, seca, seca-chuva e chuva) e para determinar a dinâmica de C e N no longo prazo foram analisadas as razões isotópicas de C e N no sistema planta-serapilheira-solo. Além disso, os seguintes parâmetros foram medidos: biomassa acima do solo, taxas de retranslocação de N foliar, e estoques de C e N no solo. A biomassa acima do solo foi de 19,2 Mg C ha-1. A taxa média de reabsorção de N foliar foi de 49,3%. A relação C:N foi de 20,4 ± 1,4 e 14,2 ± 0,32 na camada de serapilheira e na camada superficial do solo, respectivamente. O N-NH4 + do solo foi predominante sobre o N-NO3-. Após 40 dias, a emissão cumulativa de N-N2O foi de 0,33 kg ha-1. Os estoques médios de C e N foram de 3,8 Mg N ha-1 e 43,6 Mg C ha-1, respectivamente. O valor médio de δ15N do solo foi de 6,8‰, enquanto o valor médio de δ13C no solo foi de -20,3‰. Após 14 anos de implementação, aproximadamente 40% do C total na camada superficial do solo (0-20 cm de profundidade) mostrou ser derivado da entrada de biomassa oriunda do SAF, que é predominantemente do tipo fotossintético C3. O SAF estudado, que substituiu um campo agrícola degradado na região do Cerrado, mostrou-se responsivo tanto em termos de estoques e fluxos de C e N do solo e da planta