Trauma-related psychological disorders among Palestinian children and adults in Gaza and West Bank, 2005-2008

BACKGROUND: Trauma from war and violence has led to psychological disorders in individuals living in the Gaza strip and West Bank. Few reports are available on the psychiatric disorders seen in children and adolescents or the treatment of affected populations. This study was conducted in order to describe the occurrence and treatment of psychiatric disorders in the Palestinian populations of the Gaza strip and Nablus district in the West Bank. METHODS: From 2005 to 2008, 1369 patients aged more than 1 year were identified through a local mental health and counseling health network. All were clinically assessed using a semi-structured interview based on the DSM-IV-TR criteria. RESULTS: Among 1254 patients, 23.2% reported post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], 17.3% anxiety disorder (other than PTSD or acute stress disorder), and 15.3% depression. PTSD was more frequently identified in children < or = 15 years old, while depression was the main symptom observed in adults. Among children < or = 15 years old, factors significantly associated with PTSD included being witness to murder or physical abuse, receiving threats, and property destruction or loss (p < 0.03). Psychological care, primarily in the form of individual, short-term psychotherapy, was provided to 65.1% of patients, with about 30.6% required psychotropic medication. Duration of therapy sessions was higher for children < or = 15 years old compared with adults (p = 0.05). Following psychotherapy, 79.0% had improved symptoms, and this improvement was significantly higher in children < or = 15 years old (82.8%) compared with adults (75.3%; p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: These observations suggest that short-term psychotherapy could be an effective treatment for specific psychiatric disorders occurring in vulnerable populations, including children, living in violent conflict zones, such as in Gaza strip and the West Bank

Scaling laws of strategic behaviour and size heterogeneity in agent dynamics

The dynamics of many socioeconomic systems is determined by the decision making process of agents. The decision process depends on agent's characteristics, such as preferences, risk aversion, behavioral biases, etc.. In addition, in some systems the size of agents can be highly heterogeneous leading to very different impacts of agents on the system dynamics. The large size of some agents poses challenging problems to agents who want to control their impact, either by forcing the system in a given direction or by hiding their intentionality. Here we consider the financial market as a model system, and we study empirically how agents strategically adjust the properties of large orders in order to meet their preference and minimize their impact. We quantify this strategic behavior by detecting scaling relations of allometric nature between the variables characterizing the trading activity of different institutions. We observe power law distributions in the investment time horizon, in the number of transactions needed to execute a large order and in the traded value exchanged by large institutions and we show that heterogeneity of agents is a key ingredient for the emergence of some aggregate properties characterizing this complex system.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Riscos genéticos da produção de híbridos de peixes nativos.

A produção de peixes nativos e seus híbridos chama a atenção daqueles que observam o Brasil como alvo de investimentos agropecuários e futura potência da aquicultura mundial. Dada a competitividade e dinamismo, o mercado aquícola nacional tem motivado a produção de híbridos em maior escala nos últimos anos, buscando neles características favoráveis de ganho de peso, resistência ao frio, rusticidade e adaptação à alimentação artificial. Por outro lado, a mistura de animais híbridos sobre as linhagens puras e o seu escape inadvertido para os ambientes naturais certamente expõe a sustentabilidade da aquicultura. Sendo assim, este documento buscou reunir informações sobre a produção, impacto genético, riscos e desafios do cultivo de híbridos frente ao desafio de equilibrar a conservação da biodiversidade com a produção sustentável de alimentos.bitstream/item/131431/1/cnpasadoc3.pd

Higher order effects in the 16O(d,p)17O^{16}O(d,p)^{17}O and 16O(d,n)17F^{16}O(d,n)^{17}F transfer reactions

Full Coupled Channels Calculations were performed for the $^{16}O(d,n)^{17}F$ and $^{16}O(d,p)^{17}O$ transfer reactions at several deuteron incident energies from $E_{lab}=2.29$ MeV up to 3.27 MeV. A strong polarization effect between the entrance channel and the transfer channels $^{16}O(d,n)^{17}F(1/2^{+},0.495)$ and $^{16}O(d,p)^{17}O(1/2^{+},0.87)$ was observed. This polarization effect had to be taken into account in order to obtain realistic spectroscopic factors from these reactions.Comment: 15 papes, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Structure of 8B from elastic and inelastic 7Be+p scattering

Motivation: Detailed experimental knowledge of the level structure of light weakly bound nuclei is necessary to guide the development of new theoretical approaches that combine nuclear structure with reaction dynamics. Purpose: The resonant structure of 8B is studied in this work. Method: Excitation functions for elastic and inelastic 7Be+p scattering were measured using a 7Be rare isotope beam. Excitation energies ranging between 1.6 and 3.4 MeV were investigated. An R-matrix analysis of the excitation functions was performed. Results: New low-lying resonances at 1.9, 2.5, and 3.3 MeV in 8B are reported with spin-parity assignment 0+, 2+, and 1+, respectively. Comparison to the Time Dependent Continuum Shell (TDCSM) model and ab initio no-core shell model/resonating-group method (NCSM/RGM) calculations is performed. This work is a more detailed analysis of the data first published as a Rapid Communication. [J.P. Mitchell, et al, Phys. Rev. C 82, 011601(R) (2010)] Conclusions: Identification of the 0+, 2+, 1+ states that were predicted by some models at relatively low energy but never observed experimentally is an important step toward understanding the structure of 8B. Their identification was aided by having both elastic and inelastic scattering data. Direct comparison of the cross sections and phase shifts predicted by the TDCSM and ab initio No Core Shell Model coupled with the resonating group method is of particular interest and provides a good test for these theoretical approaches.Comment: 15 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables, submitted to PR

Correlações e análises do coeficiente-vetor (Path-coefficient em linhagens endogamicas de milho (Zea mays L.).

Objetivou-se determinar as inter-relacoes entre sete caracteres em progenies de milho, obtida de cruzamentos entre linhagens "dent" e "flint" com os compostos "Flint B" e "Dent B", respectivamente. Encontraram-se correlacoes significativas para peso de graos com alturas de planta e espiga e com prolificidade, indicando a importancia destes caracteres no aumento da produtividade do milho, em condicoes brasileiras. Prolificidade e peso de 50 graos correlacionaram-se negativa e significativamente. Observou-se uma correlacao significativa e positiva entre numero de dias ate o florescimento e porcentagem de umidade nos graos, mostrando que precocidade esta diretamente ligada com maturacao fisiologica, nestes materiais. Encontraram-se pequenas diferencas de valores de coeficientes vetor (path-coefficient) para as progenies dos cruzamentos contrastantes entre linhagens e compostos, possivelmente devido a erros de amostragens ou a variabilidade genetica entre estas progenies. Os valores elevados e positivo de coeficiente-vetor encontrados para alguns caracteres, como prolificidade e peso de 50 graos, mostraram uma influencia direta e significativa destes caracteres no peso de graos

Low-lying states in 8B

Excitation functions of elastic and inelastic 7Be+p scattering were measured in the energy range between 1.6 and 2.8 MeV in the c.m. An R-matrix analysis of the excitation functions provides strong evidence for new positive parity states in 8B. A new 2+ state at an excitation energy of 2.55 MeV was observed and a new 0+ state at 1.9 MeV is tentatively suggested. The R-matrix and Time Dependent Continuum Shell Model were used in the analysis of the excitation functions. The new results are compared to the calculations of contemporary theoretical models.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted as Rapid Communication in Phys. Rev.

Broodstock management: cryopreservation parameters to select native tropical fish.

Genetic management of broodstock aims to produce fingerlings of superior quality from the adoption of practices and technological processes that assist in the control of the breeders. For this effective control, the fish farmer must avoid matings that would yield inbreeding and select the best breeders by the sperm quality