Particle yields in heavy ion collisions and the influence of strong magnetic fields

It is expected that the magnetic field in the surface of magnetars do not exceed $10^{15}$ G. However, in heavy ion collisions, this value is expected to be much higher. We investigate the effects of a magnetic fields varying from $10^{18}$, to $10^{20}$ G in strange matter (composed of $u$, $d$ and $s$ quarks). We model matter as a free gas of baryons and mesons under the influence of an external magnetic field. We study the effects of such strong fields through a $\chi^2$ fit to some data sets of the STAR experiment. For this purpose we solve the Dirac, Rarita-Schwinger, Klein-Gordon and Proca equations subject to magnetic fields in order to obtain the energy expressions and the degeneracy for spin 1/2, spin 3/2, spin 0 and spin 1 particles, respectively. Our results show that a field of the order of $10^{19}$ G produces an improved fitting to the experimental data as compared to the calculations without magnetic field.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, 4 table

Participatory design, beyond the local

This workshop aims at stimulating and opening a debate around the capacity of Participatory Design (PD) and other co-design approaches to deliver outcomes and methodologies that can have an impact and value for reuse well beyond the local context in which they were originally developed. This will be achieved by stimulating the submission of position papers by researchers from the PD community and beyond.These papers will be discussed during the workshop in order to identify challenges, obstacles but also potentials for scaling up PD processes and results from the local to the global.</p

Comparison of upper body strength gains between men and women after 10 weeks of resistance training

Resistance training (RT) offers benefits to both men and women. However, the studies about the differences between men and women in response to an RT program are not conclusive and few data are available about upper body strength response. The aim of this study was to compare elbow flexor strength gains in men and women after 10 weeks of RT. Forty-four college-aged men (22.63 +/- 2.34 years) and forty-seven college-aged women (21.62 +/- 2.96 years) participated in the study. The RT program was performed two days a week for 10 weeks. Before and after the training period, peak torque (PT) of the elbow flexors was measured with an isokinetic dynamometer. PT values were higher in men in comparison to women in pre-and post-tests (p 0.05). Effect sizes were 0.57 and 0.56 for men and women, respectively. In conclusion, the present study suggests that men and women have a similar upper body strength response to RT

Avaliação de Risco Relativo para Tuberculose Bovina em Municípios do Estado do Espírito Santo a Partir de Dados de Matadouros

A tuberculose bovina é uma doença bacteriana crônica, causada pelo Mycobacterium bovis, que atinge animais e humanos. Além de uma importante zoonose, também causa perdas econômicas na produção de carne e leite. Até o momento a prevalência e distribuição regional da tuberculose não estão bem caracterizadas para o território brasileiro e este conhecimento é fundamental para o direcionamento das ações de controle dessa doença. Pelo exposto, buscou-se para o Estado do Espírito Santo estimar a prevalência e determinar o risco dos bovinos nas diferentes regiões do Estado de desenvolverem tuberculose com base nos achados de lesões tuberculosas em bovinos abatidos em matadouros estaduais no período de janeiro de 2009 a dezembro de 2012. A análise estatística dos dados revelou prevalência de 0.23% para tuberculose bovina no Estado. Os bovinos da região D, que abrange os municípios do extremo sul capixaba, apresentam risco relativo de desenvolver tuberculose 11.36, 7.07 e 1.7 vezes superior às regiões A, B e C respectivamente. O município de Muqui apresentou a maior prevalência (1%) e risco relativo para tuberculose bovina até 19.6 vezes superior quando comparado aos demais municípios da região D. Estes resultados indicam a necessidade de elaboração e adoção de medidas que visem o controle da tuberculose no Estado, sobretudo na região de maior prevalência

The Rarita-Schwinger Particles Under de Influence of Strong Magnetic Fields

In this work, we calculate the solutions of the Rarita-Schwinger equation with the inclusion of the eletromagnetic interaction. Our gauge and coupling prescription choices lead to Dirac-type solutions. One of the consequences of our results are the Landau level occupation of particles, quite different from the usual spin 1/2 particle system occupation numbers.Comment: 12 page

The perceived severity of a disease and the impact of the vocabulary used to convey information: using Rasch scaling in a simulated oncological scenario.

Background: Healthcare staff should be aware of the importance that patients may attach to the words that are used to convey information. This is relevant in terms of the patients\u2019 understanding. Modeling how people understand the information conveyed in a medical context may help health practitioners to better appreciate the patients\u2019 approach. Purpose: 1) Analyze the participants\u2019 self-reported perception of the type of information provided in an oncological scenario in terms of three dimensions: impairment to their health, risks associated with the disease itself and commitment required to undergo the treatment; and 2) show the benefits of using Rasch scaling for the analysis of the data. Starting from a survey, Rasch scaling produces a unidimensional logit-interval scale relating to the extent to which each item conveys a latent dimension. These were related to structure, in particular concerning communication by means of opposite vs. unipolar language. Subjects and methods: The participants rated 82 items of information in a questionnaire regarding their perception of impairment to their health (H) and the risks (R) and commitment relating to the treatment prescribed (T). Results: The scaling produced an item bank for healthcare staff to consult in order to estimate the importance the recipient would be likely to attach to the vocabulary used and the likely impact of the information in terms of the patient\u2019s condition. Furthermore, the use of opposites was generally associated with a clearer impression of whether the information given was generally only very negative or slightly negative, whereas \u2018neutral\u2019 information was often perceived as being very negative. Actual findings: Is possible to estimate people\u2019s understanding more precisely (in terms of H, R and T) which can help healthcare practitioners to modulate the way they convey information. Limitations: The participants in the study were healthy volunteers and the context was simulated

Web conversations about complementary and alternative medicines and cancer: Content and sentiment analysis

Background: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients is widespread and mostly self-administrated. Today, one of the most relevant topics is the nondisclosure of CAM use to doctors. This general lack of communication exposes patients to dangerous behaviors and to less reliable information channels, such as the Web. The Italian context scarcely differs from this trend. Today, we are able to mine and analyze systematically the unstructured information available in the Web, to get an insight of people's opinions, beliefs, and rumors concerning health topics. Objective: Our aim was to analyze Italian Web conversations about CAM, identifying the most relevant Web sources, therapies, and diseases and measure the related sentiment. Methods: Data have been collected using the Web Intelligence tool ifMONITOR. The workflow consisted of 6 phases: (1) eligibility criteria definition for the ifMONITOR search profile; (2) creation of a CAM terminology database; (3) generic Web search and automatic filtering, the results have been manually revised to refine the search profile, and stored in the ifMONITOR database; (4) automatic classification using the CAM database terms; (5) selection of the final sample and manual sentiment analysis using a 1-5 score range; (6) manual indexing of the Web sources and CAM therapies type retrieved. Descriptive univariate statistics were computed for each item: absolute frequency, percentage, central tendency (mean sentiment score [MSS]), and variability (standard variation Ò). Results: Overall, 212 Web sources, 423 Web documents, and 868 opinions have been retrieved. The overall sentiment measured tends to a good score (3.6 of 5). Quite a high polarization in the opinions of the conversation partaking emerged from standard variation analysis (δ≥1). In total, 126 of 212 (59.4%) Web sources retrieved were nonhealth-related. Facebook (89; 21%) and Yahoo Answers (41; 9.7%) were the most relevant. In total, 94 CAM therapies have been retrieved. Most belong to the "biologically based therapies or nutrition" category: 339 of 868 opinions (39.1%), showing an MSS of 3.9 (δ=0.83). Within nutrition, "diets" collected 154 opinions (18.4%) with an MSS of 3.8 (δ=0.87); "food as CAM" overall collected 112 opinions (12.8%) with a MSS of 4 (δ=0.68). Excluding diets and food, the most discussed CAM therapy is the controversial Italian "Di Bella multitherapy" with 102 opinions (11.8%) with an MSS of 3.4 (δ=1.21). Breast cancer was the most mentioned disease: 81 opinions of 868. Conclusions: Conversations about CAM and cancer are ubiquitous. There is a great concern about the biologically based therapies, perceived as harmless and useful, under-rating all risks related to dangerous interactions or malnutrition. Our results can be useful to doctors to be aware of the implications of these beliefs for the clinical practice. Web conversation exploitation could be a strategy to gain insights of people's perspective for other controversial topics

A combined crystallographic and computational study on dexketoprofen trometamol dihydrate salt

Dexketoprofen trometamol is the tromethamine salt of dexketoprofen [(2S)-2-(3-benzoylphenyl)propanoic acid-2-amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3-diol], a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used for the treatment of moderate- to strong-intensity acute pain. The crystal structure of the hitherto sole known hydrate phase of dexketoprofen trometamol (DK-T_2H2O), as determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, is presented. The water molecules are arranged in dimers included in isolated sites and sandwiched between piles of trometamol cations. The molecular and crystal structures of DK-T_2H2O are analyzed and compared to those of the parent anhydrous crystal form DK-T_A. In both the crystal structures, all the potential H-bond donors and acceptor of the dexketoprofen and trometamol ions are engaged, and both the species crystallize in the P21 space group. However, during the DK-T_A➔DK-T_2H2O hydration process, the unique symmetry axis is not conserved, i.e., the ions are arranged in a different way with respect to the screw axis, even if the two crystal structures maintain structural blocks of DK anions and T cations. Quantum mechanical solid-state calculations provide some hints for the possible intermediate structure during the crystalline&ndash;crystalline hydration/dehydration process