Coupled oscillators as models of phantom and scalar field cosmologies

We study a toy model for phantom cosmology recently introduced in the literature and consisting of two oscillators, one of which carries negative kinetic energy. The results are compared with the exact phase space picture obtained for similar dynamical systems describing, respectively, a massive canonical scalar field conformally coupled to the spacetime curvature, and a conformally coupled massive phantom. Finally, the dynamical system describing exactly a minimally coupled phantom is studied and compared with the toy model.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Physical Review

Inflation and Braneworlds: Degeneracies and Consistencies

Scalar and tensor perturbations arising in an inflationary braneworld scenario driven by a single scalar field are considered, where the bulk on either side of the brane corresponds to Anti-de Sitter spaces with different cosmological constants. A consistency relation between the two spectra is derived and found to have an identical form to that arising in standard single-field inflation based on conventional Einstein gravity. The dS/CFT correspondence may provide further insight into the origin of this degeneracy. Possible ways of lifting such a degeneracy are discussed.Comment: 10 page

The Dynamics of Brane-World Cosmological Models

Brane-world cosmology is motivated by recent developments in string/M-theory and offers a new perspective on the hierarchy problem. In the brane-world scenario, our Universe is a four-dimensional subspace or {\em brane} embedded in a higher-dimensional {\em bulk} spacetime. Ordinary matter fields are confined to the brane while the gravitational field can also propagate in the bulk, leading to modifications of Einstein's theory of general relativity at high energies. In particular, the Randall-Sundrum-type models are self-consistent and simple and allow for an investigation of the essential non-linear gravitational dynamics. The governing field equations induced on the brane differ from the general relativistic equations in that there are nonlocal effects from the free gravitational field in the bulk, transmitted via the projection of the bulk Weyl tensor, and the local quadratic energy-momentum corrections, which are significant in the high-energy regime close to the initial singularity. In this review we discuss the asymptotic dynamical evolution of spatially homogeneous brane-world cosmological models containing both a perfect fluid and a scalar field close to the initial singularity. Using dynamical systems techniques it is found that, for models with a physically relevant equation of state, an isotropic singularity is a past-attractor in all orthogonal spatially homogeneous models (including Bianchi type IX models). In addition, we describe the dynamics in a class of inhomogeneous brane-world models, and show that these models also have an isotropic initial singularity. These results provide support for the conjecture that typically the initial cosmological singularity is isotropic in brane-world cosmology.Comment: Einstein Centennial Review Article: to appear in CJ

Transitions of cardio-metabolic risk factors in the Americas between 1980 and 2014

Describing the prevalence and trends of cardiometabolic risk factors that are associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is crucial for monitoring progress, planning prevention, and providing evidence to support policy efforts. We aimed to analyse the transition in body-mass index (BMI), obesity, blood pressure, raised blood pressure, and diabetes in the Americas, between 1980 and 2014

A century of trends in adult human height

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3-19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8-144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries

Ganho de peso e produtividade animal em capim-marandu sob pastejo rotativo e adubação nitrogenada

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar metas de manejo para capim-marandu (Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu) submetido a pastejo rotativo e a doses de nitrogênio, de janeiro de 2009 a abril de 2010. Os tratamentos consistiram da combinação de duas frequências de pastejo (altura pré-pastejo de 25 e 35 cm) e de duas doses de fertilizante nitrogenado (50 e 200 kg ha-1 por ano) em delineamento de blocos ao acaso com arranjo fatorial 2x2 e quatro repetições. A altura de pós-pastejo estipulada foi de 15 cm. Maiores valores de ganho de peso médio por animal por dia (0,629 e 0,511 kg dia-1) e por hectare (886 e 674 kg ha-1), bem como de taxa de lotação (3,13 e 2,85 UA ha-1), foram observados nos pastos manejados com altura pré-pastejo de 25 cm. A aplicação de 200 kg ha-1 de N resultou em aumentos na percentagem de folhas na massa de forragem pós-pastejo, nas taxas de acúmulo de forragem, na taxa de lotação e no ganho de peso por área. A mais adequada estratégia de manejo corresponde à altura pré-pastejo de 25 cm, independentemente da dose de nitrogênio utilizada