Evaluation of Dutch Support to Danish Demining Group in Afghanistan, Somaliland, and Sudan

On 31 August 2007 the Netherlands Government (NG) decided to fund the Danish Demining Group (DDG) mine action activities in Somaliland, Sudan, and Afghanistan. The funding agreement runs from January 2008 to December 2011 and NG and DDG had preliminary discussions on the continuation of the project. The NG Decision of 31 August 2007 foresees an external evaluation initiated by the grant recipient. The purpose of this evaluation is two-fold: (1) to evaluate progress towards objectives, thus contributing to improving the programme through documenting lessons learned and providing recommendations; and (2) to evaluate and inform NG and DDG on project relevance, and give recommendations regarding a continuation of the project. The specific objectives of the valuation are to ascertain results (outputs and outcomes) and assess the efficiency, effectiveness and relevance of the following projects: 1. Survey, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Mine Risk Education, in Southern Sudan 2. Mechanical Support to Mine Action, in Afghanistan 3. Support to Ammunition Disposal and Community Liaison/Education Teams, in Somaliland The evaluation of the Sudan project was a desk review, based largely on an evaluation of DDG operations conducted earlier in 2010 by the GICHD on behalf of DDG and Sida. The evaluations in both Afghanistan and Somaliland entailed field missions

2017 SCAT (Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique) Workshop Report

On January 18-19, 2017, the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Response and Restoration (ORR) Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Disaster Response Center (DRC) co-sponsored the “Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Technique (SCAT) for Tomorrow” workshop at NOAA’s Disaster Response Center training facility in Mobile, AL. NOAA ORR supports the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in its role in emergency response (Emergency Response Division [ERD]) and also overseas damage assessment and restoration (Assessment and Restoration Division [ARD]). As part of its role, ORR updates existing tools and creates new ones related oil spill response, assessment and restoration. This workshop assisted ORR in advancing SCAT with respect to data standards and data exchange. Collecting, managing and sharing SCAT data collected or managed by different organizations can be difficult due to the various data methods and formats used. One of ORR’s major goals is to develop a common data standard for SCAT that is acceptable to federal and state agencies, and industry, and enhancing information sharing

Radiation Hardened by Design Methodologies for Soft-Error Mitigated Digital Architectures

abstract: Digital architectures for data encryption, processing, clock synthesis, data transfer, etc. are susceptible to radiation induced soft errors due to charge collection in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (ICs). Radiation hardening by design (RHBD) techniques such as double modular redundancy (DMR) and triple modular redundancy (TMR) are used for error detection and correction respectively in such architectures. Multiple node charge collection (MNCC) causes domain crossing errors (DCE) which can render the redundancy ineffectual. This dissertation describes techniques to ensure DCE mitigation with statistical confidence for various designs. Both sequential and combinatorial logic are separated using these custom and computer aided design (CAD) methodologies. Radiation vulnerability and design overhead are studied on VLSI sub-systems including an advanced encryption standard (AES) which is DCE mitigated using module level coarse separation on a 90-nm process with 99.999% DCE mitigation. A radiation hardened microprocessor (HERMES2) is implemented in both 90-nm and 55-nm technologies with an interleaved separation methodology with 99.99% DCE mitigation while achieving 4.9% increased cell density, 28.5 % reduced routing and 5.6% reduced power dissipation over the module fences implementation. A DMR register-file (RF) is implemented in 55 nm process and used in the HERMES2 microprocessor. The RF array custom design and the decoders APR designed are explored with a focus on design cycle time. Quality of results (QOR) is studied from power, performance, area and reliability (PPAR) perspective to ascertain the improvement over other design techniques. A radiation hardened all-digital multiplying pulsed digital delay line (DDL) is designed for double data rate (DDR2/3) applications for data eye centering during high speed off-chip data transfer. The effect of noise, radiation particle strikes and statistical variation on the designed DDL are studied in detail. The design achieves the best in class 22.4 ps peak-to-peak jitter, 100-850 MHz range at 14 pJ/cycle energy consumption. Vulnerability of the non-hardened design is characterized and portions of the redundant DDL are separated in custom and auto-place and route (APR). Thus, a range of designs for mission critical applications are implemented using methodologies proposed in this work and their potential PPAR benefits explored in detail.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 201

Advances in Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Monitoring

This paper reviews recent advances in non-invasive blood pressure monitoring and highlights the added value of a novel algorithm-based blood pressure sensor which uses machine-learning techniques to extract blood pressure values from the shape of the pulse waveform. We report results from preliminary studies on a range of patient populations and discuss the accuracy and limitations of this capacitive-based technology and its potential application in hospitals and communities

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction Issue 21.2 (2017)

Feature: The Evolving Nature of Survey | Special Report: 21st Century Survey in Eastern Ukraine and the use of Technology in Insecure Environments | Spotlight: Southeast Asia | Field Notes | Research and Developmen

Introduction to microkinetic modeling

This book started out as two separate documents. One was a set of exercises for the Advanced Thermodynamics and Catalysis course and the other was a method and theory section at that time envisioned for my PhD thesis. Only a very small part of the material in this book eventually made it into the thesis, as the whole would be much too elaborate

Integration of parasite genetic information in malaria transmission modelling

Mathematical models of malaria transmission are increasingly used to quantify the impact of malaria control efforts and to assist in the development and costing of future initiatives such as the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030. These models have highlighted both the progress made so far, but also how continued investment is needed to reach the milestones required. However, the increase in global malaria cases reported in 2018 suggests that new tools may be required to continue the gains made and to address the growing risk of antimalarial resistance threatening to reverse the recent declines in malaria burden. The proliferation of genetic sequencing and the publication of the Plasmodium falciparum reference genome in 2002 has facilitated a greater understanding of the genetic determinants of resistance and molecular tools are subsequently poised to become a routine tool for malaria control. Consequently, integrating parasite genetic information into established models of malaria transmission models can contribute to both our understanding of the drivers and optimum policies for addressing resistance and detailing the potential of molecular tools within malaria control. Plasmodium falciparum is known to have evolved several times in response to first line antimalarials. However, recent evidence has shown evolution to rapid diagnostic tests. The WHO has consequently issued guidance advising national malaria control programmes to conduct surveillance for pfhrp2/3 deletions. The timing of this policy recommendation and my previous work modelling pfhrp2 deletions necessitated a timely extension of our previous model to evaluate the implications of seasonality in malaria transmission on estimates of the prevalence of pfhrp2/3 deletions. Recent studies have suggested that malaria genotyping could be a useful tool for epidemiological surveillance. By developing an extended version of an established model of malaria transmission, which now models individual mosquitoes affording the full parasite life cycle to be represented, I characterise the potential utility of malaria genomics for inferring changes in transmission intensity. I conclude that although molecular tools could enable accurate estimation of malaria prevalence, greater attention needs to be placed on the chosen sampling scheme, recording patient metadata and developing the statistical toolkit for analysing polyclonal infected individuals. In 2015, health ministers in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) adopted the WHO strategy for malaria elimination in the GMS 2016-2030. The strategy was developed to accelerate elimination in South-East Asia, which is currently the best approach to address the growing threat of artemisinin resistance and the emergence of multidrug resistant parasite lineages. In response, I demonstrate how the therapeutic lifespan of the five currently recommended artemisinin combination therapies can be prolonged by reducing antimalarial overprescription by ensuring that all suspected malaria fevers are tested before administering antimalarials. I conclude by comparing different cycling and mixing strategies before reviewing how each strategy can be improved to slow the spread of antimalarial resistance. Elimination in the GMS is undoubtedly an effective mechanism for preventing the spread of artemisinin resistance to Africa. However, if efforts to eliminate by 2030 have failed it will be imperative to understand the mechanisms with which resistance may continue to spread. To this extent, the capability of resistant strains to invade susceptible populations is evaluated using data from standard membrane feeding assays. Findings are incorporated in the transmission model to quantify the transmission advantage of artemisinin resistance at the population level.Open Acces

Performance measurement of district level hospitals in low income countries: participatory development of an instrument to assess inputs, processes, and outputs for evidence-based management and quality improvement

Thesis (Dr.P.H.)--Boston UniversityBACKGROUND: The potential of hospital performance measurement (HPM) to contribute to improved quality of care and patient outcomes is underrepresented in the health system strengthening literature and no standardized HPM instrument exists for hospitals in developing countries. The problem centered Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach is particularly suited to addressing complex organizational problems in low resource settings and is gaining acceptance as an applied research method in healthcare settings. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study using the PAR approach was carried out in 4 hospitals in Cameroon. Quantitative (415 surveys) and qualitative (129 interviews and 77 observations) methods examined how participating in the design of a HPM instrument influences health personnel's knowledge, attitude, interest, and intention to continue use of performance measurement for quality improvement. Changes in scores for the above outcomes from before and after implementation of the performance indicators were compared to scores from a non-participating control hospital at the same time points. RESULTS: Personnel designed and pilot tested performance measurement indicators in all hospital services. Hospitals that actively participated in instrument design showed a statistically significant increase in HPM knowledge and attitude, and were more likely to report intention to continue using HPM as compared to the non-participating hospital. Hospital personnel participating in the design process were more aware of the workload barriers to implementing HPM but nonetheless were more motivated to continue the HPM effort. In addition, the PAR approach fostered ownership, increased skills, raised awareness of performance gaps, and led to a contextually appropriate tool. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of designing and implementing an HPM instrument in a low-resource health care system and highlight the positive benefits of the PAR approach. Further research is needed to determine the effect of regular HPM on quality of care and its sustainability over time in resource constrained settings