Merging higher derivative gravity and quantum mechanics

The most general quantum mechanical wave equation for a massive scalar particle in a metric generated by a spherically symmetric mass distribution is considered within the framework of higher derivative gravity (HDG). The exact effective Hamiltonian is constructed and the significance of the various terms is discussed using the linearized version of the above-mentioned theory. Not only does this analysis shed new light on the long standing problem of quantum gravity concerning the exact nature of the coupling between a massive scalar field and the background geometry, it also greatly improves our understanding of the role of HDG's coupling parameters in semiclassical calculations.

O silêncio das musas: Épico, ciência e poesia em Haroldo de Campos

The epic and science seem to have been the most important concerns of the Brazilian author Haroldo de Campos (1929-2003) in his last twenty years of life. The books Finismundo: a última viagem and A máquina do mundo repensada are two significant works in his aesthetical journey. This paper presents some strategies for reading both books, in which the relationship between those themes is emphasized. As a starting point, it is believed that the analogy between science and the epic does not represent a paradigm of reading on which the poetry of Harold de Campos intends to base itself, but a way of thinking about the political and literary concerns that constitute its own situation. The creation of a poetics of adventure as an alternative to the end of utopia and the affirmation of a principle of indeterminacy as a way to oppose the interpretations immediately available in the present constitute two of the main interests found in this mode of reading.

La necesidad de las perspectivas múltiples en la planificación = The need for multiple perspectives in planning

Incluye Bibliografía

Chlorine disinfection of dye wastewater: Implications for a commercial azo dye mixture

Azo dyes, the most widely used family of synthetic dyes, are often employed as colorants in areas such as textiles, plastics, foods/drugs/cosmetics, and electronics. Following their use in industrial applications, azo dyes have been found in effluents and various receiving waters. Chemical treatment of effluents containing azo dyes includes disinfection using chlorine, which can generate compounds of varying eco/genotoxicity. Among the widely known commercial azo dyes for synthetic fibers is C.I. Disperse Red 1. While this dye is known to exist as a complex mixture, reports of eco/genotoxicity involve the purified form. Bearing in mind the potential for adverse synergistic effects arising from exposures to chemical mixtures, the aim of the present study was to characterize the components of commercial Disperse Red 1 and its chlorine-mediated decoloration products and to evaluate their ecotoxicity and mutagenicity. In conducting the present study, Disperse Red 1 was treated with chlorine gas, and the solution obtained was analyzed with the aid of LC-ESI-MS/MS to identify the components present, and then evaluated for ecotoxicity and mutagenicity, using Daphnia similis and Salmonella/microsome assays, respectively. The results of this study indicated that chlorination of Disperse Red 1 produced four chlorinated aromatic compounds as the main products and that the degradation products were more ecotoxic than the parent dye. These results suggest that a disinfection process using chlorine should be avoided for effluents containing hydrophobic azo dyes such commercial Disperse Red 1. © 2012 Elsevier B.V..

La necesidad de perspectivas múltiples en la planificación

Incluye Bibliografía

The need for multiple perspectives in planning

Includes bibliography

Toward the privatization of water utilities in the Great Lakes region of North America

Includes bibliography

Ageing and Development Newsletter No. 3

Karoline Schmid: Caribbean challenges o f a global phenom enon. Harold Robinson: Information is the basis for effective action. Implementation of the Regional Strategy. Caribbean steps towards a society for all ages Montevideo: ECLAC called the attention of countries on social protection.

Crecimiento bajo en carbono: políticas en Bolivia (Estado Plurinacional de), Colombia, Nicaragua y el Perú

El cambio climático por sus impactos económicos, sociales y sobre la biodiversidad constituye uno de los principales retos globales de este siglo. América Latina por su alta vulnerabilidad al cambio climático y, a pesar de contribuir en términos relativos poco a las emisiones globales, requiere realizar medidas de adaptación y de mitigación de sus emisiones, que le permita transitar hacia una senda de crecimiento bajo en carbono. En este contexto, este trabajo tiene por objetivo identificar las estrategias de mitigación y adaptación más utilizadas en Perú, Bolivia, Colombia y Nicaragua, que contribuyan a generar una senda de crecimiento económico baja en emisiones de carbono.

As expedições da Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine e a Amazônia Brasileira

O artigo relata os primeiros anos de funcionamento da Escola de Medicina Tropical de Liverpool e as expedições enviadas para a Amazônia brasileira, para as Cidades de Belém e Manaus, descrevendo o que aconteceu com os pesquisadores envolvidos, Herbert Durhan, Walter Myers e Harold Wolferstan Thomas.

Division of labor between M and P visual pathways: different visual pathways minimize joint entropy differently

Visual perception and action are strongly linked with parallel processing channels connecting the retina, the lateral geniculate nucleus, and the input layers of the primary visual cortex. Achromatic vision is provided by at least two of such channels formed by the M and P neurons. These cell pathways are similarly organized in primates having different lifestyles, including species that are diurnal, nocturnal, and which exhibit a variety of color vision phenotypes. We describe the M and P cell properties by 3D Gábor functions and their 3D Fourier transform. The M and P cells occupy different loci in the Gábor information diagram or Fourier Space. This separation allows the M and P pathways to transmit visual signals with distinct 6D joint entropy for space, spatial frequency, time, and temporal frequency. By combining the M and P impacts on the cortical neurons beyond V1 input layers, the cortical pathways are able to process aspects of visual stimuli with a better precision than it would be possible using the M or P pathway alone. This performance fulfils the requirements of different behavioral tasks.

Stanley Lloyd Miller e a origem da vida: uma possibilidade para o estudo da natureza da ciência

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O amadurecimento da personagem em Mrs. Dalloway, de Virginia Woolf

The corpus of this study is the novel Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, published in 1925. According to the writer Harold Bloom, while writing Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf thought of an order structure such that each scene would establish the idea of the character of Clarissa. The heroine's subjective universe is constructed scene by scene through the hours that run in London one day apparently common. The day that begins at ten am and ends at 3 am the other, involves not only personal and important findings deepen the understanding of his own human condition. The objective of this paper is to show how, in Mrs. Dalloway, the progression of hours in the space of one day, get through the poetic narrative and the use of psychological and chronological time, clearing the mind of the characters - focusing on single Clarissa Dalloway's character - culminating in his personal growth and social, is to understand the reason for their existence or, after all, considered a key and important in the world, finding motivations for why they live

Duas poéticas da leitura: radição e invenção de precursores nos projetos literários de Jorge Luis Borges e Haroldo de Campos

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Potential of a bacterial consortium to degrade azo dye Disperse Red 1 in a pilot scale anaerobic-aerobic reactor

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)