ESPECTRA: Searching the Bipolar Spectrum in Eating Disorder patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a chronic, recurrent and highly prevalent illness. Despite the need for correct diagnosis to allow proper treatment, studies have shown that reaching a diagnosis can take up to ten years due to the lack of recognition of the broader presentations of BD. Frequent comorbidities with other psychiatric disorders are a major cause of misdiagnosis and warrant thorough evaluation.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>ESPECTRA (<it>Occurrence of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in Eating Disorder Patients</it>) is a single-site cross-sectional study involving a comparison group, designed to evaluate the prevalence of bipolar spectrum in an eating disorder sample. Women aged 18-45 years will be evaluated using the SCID-P and Zurich criteria for diagnosis and the HAM-D, YOUNG, SCI-MOODS, HCL-32, BIS-11, BSQ, WHOQoL and EAS instruments for rating symptoms and measuring clinical correlates.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The classificatory systems in psychiatry are based on categorical models that have been criticized for simplifying the diagnosis and leading to an increase in comorbidities. Some dimensional approaches have been proposed aimed at improving the validity and reliability of psychiatric disorder assessments, especially in conditions with high rates of comorbidity such as BD and Eating Disorder (ED). The Bipolar Spectrum (BS) remains under-recognized in clinical practice and its definition is not well established in current diagnostic guidelines. Broader evaluation of psychiatric disorders combining categorical and dimensional views could contribute to a more realistic understanding of comorbidities and help toward establishing a prognosis.</p

K3 surfaces and log del Pezzo surfaces of index three

We use classification of non-symplectic automorphisms of K3 surfaces to obtain a partial classification of log del Pezzo surfaces of index three. We can classify those with "Multiple Smooth Divisor Property", whose definition we will give. Our methods include the definition of right resolutions of quotient singularities of index three and some analysis of automorphism-stable elliptic fibrations on K3 surfaces. In particular we find several log del Pezzo surfaces of Picard number one with non-toric singularities of index three.Comment: 32 pages, to appear in Manuscripta Mat

Convection-induced nonlinear-symmetry-breaking in wave mixing

We show that the combined action of diffraction and convection (walk-off) in wave mixing processes leads to a nonlinear-symmetry-breaking in the generated traveling waves. The dynamics near to threshold is reduced to a Ginzburg-Landau model, showing an original dependence of the nonlinear self-coupling term on the convection. Analytical expressions of the intensity and the velocity of traveling waves emphasize the utmost importance of convection in this phenomenon. These predictions are in excellent agreement with the numerical solutions of the full dynamical model.Comment: 5 page

Surface Operator, Bubbling Calabi-Yau and AGT Relation

Surface operators in N=2 four-dimensional gauge theories are interesting half-BPS objects. These operators inherit the connection of gauge theory with the Liouville conformal field theory, which was discovered by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa. Moreover it has been proposed that toric branes in the A-model topological strings lead to surface operators via the geometric engineering. We analyze the surface operators by making good use of topological string theory. Starting from this point of view, we propose that the wave-function behavior of the topological open string amplitudes geometrically engineers the surface operator partition functions and the Gaiotto curves of corresponding gauge theories. We then study a peculiar feature that the surface operator corresponds to the insertion of the degenerate fields in the conformal field theory side. We show that this aspect can be realized as the geometric transition in topological string theory, and the insertion of a surface operator leads to the bubbling of the toric Calabi-Yau geometry.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figures. v2: minor changes and typos correcte

New Seiberg Dualities from N=2 Dualities

We propose a number of new Seiberg dualities of N=1 quiver gauge theories. The new Seiberg dualities originate in new S-dualities of N=2 superconformal field theories recently proposed by Gaiotto. N=2 S-dual theories deformed by suitable mass terms flow to our N=1 Seiberg dual theories. We show that the number of exactly marginal operators is universal for these Seiberg dual theories and the 't Hooft anomaly matching holds for these theories. These provide strong evidence for the new Seiberg dualities. Furthermore, we study in detail the Klebanov-Witten type theory and its dual as a concrete example. We show that chiral operators and their non-linear relations match between these theories. These arguments also give non-trivial consistency checks for our proposal.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures. v2:version to appear in JHE

From research to practice: exploring 3D printing in production of architectural Mashrabiya

Digital fabrication has suggested the supplanting of labour via robotics since it affords substantial increases in speed and accuracy in the development of architectural components. This potentiality might offer solutions for architectures on the verge of extinction due to vanishing skilled labour. This research investigates the possibilities of using new manufacturing techniques to replace the historic artisans with digital master craftsmen, specifically re-developing the Mashrabiya. The work looks at several case studies in architecture and 3D printing; bridging the gap between historically relevant climactic design strategies and digital or parametric design and fabrication. This paper concludes with a summary of a parametrically developed Mashrabiya screen system developed by the authors that is programmable based on core criteria found in the archetype and is currently being explored for product development. The work contributes to the developing body of knowledge surrounding the applications and implications of technologies that enable mass customization