The Portuguese Severe Asthma Registry: Development, Features, and Data Sharing Policies

The Portuguese Severe Asthma Registry (Registo de Asma Grave Portugal, RAG) was developed by an open collaborative network of asthma specialists. RAG collects data from adults and pediatric severe asthma patients that despite treatment optimization and adequate management of comorbidities require step 4/5 treatment according to GINA recommendations. In this paper, we describe the development and implementation of RAG, its features, and data sharing policies. The contents and structure of RAG were defined in a multistep consensus process. A pilot version was pretested and iteratively improved. The selection of data elements for RAG considered other severe asthma registries, aiming at characterizing the patient's clinical status whilst avoiding overloading the standard workflow of the clinical appointment. Features of RAG include automatic assessment of eligibility, easy data input, and exportable data in natural language that can be pasted directly in patients' electronic health record and security features to enable data sharing (among researchers and with other international databases) without compromising patients' confidentiality. RAG is a national web-based disease registry of severe asthma patients, available at asmagrave.pt. It allows prospective clinical data collection, promotes standardized care and collaborative clinical research, and may contribute to inform evidence-based healthcare policies for severe asthma.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A new proposal of an efficient algorithm for routing and wavelength assignment in optical networks.

The routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms used in optical networks are critical to achieve good network performance. However, despite several previous studies to optimize the RWA, which is classified as an NP-Hard, it seems that there is not, a priori, any solution that would lead to standardization of this process. This article presents the proposed RWA algorithm based on a Generic Objective Function (GOF) which aims to establish a base from which it is possible to develop a standard or multiple standards for optical networks. The GOF algorithm introduces the concept of implicit constraint, which guarantees a simple solution to a problem not as trivial as the RWA

Gauge fields in a string-cigar braneworld

In this work we investigate the properties of an Abelian gauge vector field in a thin and in a smoothed string-like braneworld, the so-called string-cigar model. This thick brane scenario satisfies the regularity conditions and it can be regarded as an interior and exterior string-like solution. The source undergoes a geometric Ricci flow which is connected to a variation of the bulk cosmological constant. The Ricci flow changes the width and amplitude of the massless mode at the brane core and recover the usual thin string-like behavior at large distances. By numerical means we obtain the Kaluza-Klein (KK) spectrum for both the thin brane and the string-cigar. It turns out that both models exhibit a mass gap between the massless and the massive modes and between the high and the low mass regimes. The KK modes are smooth near the brane and their amplitude are enhanced by the string-cigar core. The analogue Schr\"odinger potential is also tuned by the geometric flow.Comment: The discussion about the Kaluza-Klein spectrum of the gauge field was improved. Numerical analysis was adapted to the conventional notation on Kaluza-Klein number. Some graphics were modified for considering other notation. Results unchanged. References added. Corrected typos. 17 pages. 6 figures. To match version to appears in Physics Letters

On the Nonlocal Equations and Nonlocal Charges Associated with the Harry Dym Hierarchy

A large class of nonlocal equations and nonlocal charges for the Harry Dym hierarchy is exhibited. They are obtained from nonlocal Casimirs associated with its bi-Hamiltonian structure. The Lax representation for some of these equations is also given.Comment: to appear in Journal of Mathematical Physics, 17 pages, Late

Free-electron Model for Mesoscopic Force Fluctuations in Nanowires

When two metal electrodes are separated, a nanometer sized wire (nanowire) is formed just before the contact breaks. The electrical conduction measured during this retraction process shows signs of quantized conductance in units of G_0=2e^2/h. Recent experiments show that the force acting on the wire during separation fluctuates, which has been interpreted as being due to atomic rearrangements. In this report we use a simple free electron model, for two simple geometries, and show that the electronic contribution to the force fluctuations is comparable to the experimentally found values, about 2 nN.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, reference correcte

O estresse no manejo pré-abate e na qualidade da carne suína.

O estresse no manejo pré-abate e na qualidade da carne suína; Caracterização do estresse; Avaliação da resposta fisiológica dio estresse; Formas de avaliações; Determinação do cortisol; Determinação de lactato; Mecanismos através dos quais podem afetar a qualidade da carne; Influência da genética na qualidade da carne; Gene rendimento napole (RN); gene Halotano; Situações de estresse no manejo pré-abate.bitstream/item/58222/1/publicacao-i7n63h7v1.pd

Gravitating Opposites Attract

Generalizing previous work by two of us, we prove the non-existence of certain stationary configurations in General Relativity having a spatial reflection symmetry across a non-compact surface disjoint from the matter region. Our results cover cases such that of two symmetrically arranged rotating bodies with anti-aligned spins in $n+1$ ($n \geq 3$) dimensions, or two symmetrically arranged static bodies with opposite charges in 3+1 dimensions. They also cover certain symmetric configurations in (3+1)-dimensional gravity coupled to a collection of scalars and abelian vector fields, such as arise in supergravity and Kaluza-Klein models. We also treat the bosonic sector of simple supergravity in 4+1 dimensions.Comment: 13 pages; slightly amended version, some references added, matches version to be published in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Quantum properties of classical Fisher information

The Fisher information of a quantum observable is shown to be proportional to both (i) the difference of a quantum and a classical variance, thus providing a measure of nonclassicality; and (ii) the rate of entropy increase under Gaussian diffusion, thus providing a measure of robustness. The joint nonclassicality of position and momentum observables is shown to be complementary to their joint robustness in an exact sense.Comment: 16 page