499 research outputs found
Domestic dog demographic structure and dynamics relevant to rabies control planning in urban areas in Africa: the case of Iringa, Tanzania
<p>Background
Mass vaccinations of domestic dogs have been shown to effectively control canine rabies and hence human exposure to rabies. Knowledge of dog population demography is essential for planning effective rabies vaccination programmes; however, such information is still rare for African domestic dog populations, particularly so in urban areas. This study describes the demographic structure and population dynamics of a domestic dog population in an urban sub-Saharan African setting. In July to November 2005, we conducted a full household-level census and a cross-sectional dog demography survey in four urban wards of Iringa Municipality, Tanzania. The achievable vaccination coverage was assessed by a two-stage vaccination campaign, and the proportion of feral dogs was estimated by a mark-recapture transect study.</p>
<p>Results
The estimated size of the domestic dog population in Iringa was six times larger than official town records assumed, however, the proportion of feral dogs was estimated to account for less than 1% of the whole population. An average of 13% of all households owned dogs which equalled a dog:human ratio of 1:14, or 0.31 dogs per household or 334 dogs km-2. Dog female:male ratio was 1:1.4. The average age of the population was 2.2 years, 52% of all individuals were less than one year old. But mortality within the first year was high (72%). Females became fertile at the age of 10 months and reportedly remained fertile up to the age of 11 years. The average number of litters whelped per fertile female per year was 0.6 with an average of 5.5 pups born per litter. The population growth was estimated at 10% y-1.</p>
<p>Conclusions
Such high birth and death rates result in a rapid replacement of anti-rabies immunised individuals with susceptible ones. This loss in herd immunity needs to be taken into account in the design of rabies control programmes. The very small proportion of truly feral dogs in the population implies that vaccination campaigns aimed at the owned dog population are sufficient to control rabies in urban Iringa, and the same may be valid in other, comparable urban settings.</p>
Attitude Control Performance of IRVE-3
The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment 3 (IRVE-3) launched July 23, 2012, from NASA Wallops Flight Facility and successfully performed its mission, demonstrating both the survivability of a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator in the reentry heating environment and the effect of an offset center of gravity on the aeroshell's flight L/D. The reentry vehicle separated from the launch vehicle, released and inflated its aeroshell, reoriented for atmospheric entry, and mechanically shifted its center of gravity before reaching atmospheric interface. Performance data from the entire mission was telemetered to the ground for analysis. This paper discusses the IRVE-3 mission scenario, reentry vehicle design, and as-flown performance of the attitude control system in the different phases of the mission
Re-entrant superconductivity in Nb/Cu(1-x)Ni(x) bilayers
We report on the first observation of a pronounced re-entrant
superconductivity phenomenon in superconductor/ferromagnetic layered systems.
The results were obtained using a superconductor/ferromagnetic-alloy bilayer of
Nb/Cu(1-x)Ni(x). The superconducting transition temperature T_{c} drops sharply
with increasing thickness d_{CuNi} of the ferromagnetic layer, until complete
suppression of superconductivity is observed at d_{CuNi}= 4 nm. Increasing the
Cu(1-x)Ni(x) layer thickness further, superconductivity reappears at
d_{CuNi}=13 nm. Our experiments give evidence for the pairing function
oscillations associated with a realization of the quasi-one dimensional
Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) like state in the ferromagnetic layer.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, REVTEX4/twocolum
Reentrant superconductivity in superconductor/ferromagnetic-alloy bilayers
We studied the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) like state
establishing due to the proximity effect in superconducting Nb/Cu41Ni59
bilayers. Using a special wedge-type deposition technique, series of 20-35
samples could be fabricated by magnetron sputtering during one run. The layer
thickness of only a few nanometers, the composition of the alloy, and the
quality of interfaces were controlled by Rutherford backscattering
spectrometry, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Auger
spectroscopy. The magnetic properties of the ferromagnetic alloy layer were
characterized with superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)
magnetometry. These studies yield precise information about the thickness, and
demonstrate the homogeneity of the alloy composition and magnetic properties
along the sample series. The dependencies of the critical temperature on the Nb
and Cu41Ni59 layer thickness, Tc(dS) and Tc(dF), were investigated for constant
thickness dF of the magnetic alloy layer and dS of the superconducting layer,
respectively. All types of non-monotonic behaviors of Tc versus dF predicted by
the theory could be realized experimentally: from reentrant superconducting
behavior with a broad extinction region to a slight suppression of
superconductivity with a shallow minimum. Even a double extinction of
superconductivity was observed, giving evidence for the multiple reentrant
behavior predicted by theory. All critical temperature curves were fitted with
suitable sets of parameters. Then, Tc(dF) diagrams of a hypothetical F/S/F
spin-switch core structure were calculated using these parameters. Finally,
superconducting spin-switch fabrication issues are discussed in detail in view
of the achieved results.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure
Electronic transitions of single silicon vacancy centers in the near-infrared spectral region
Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of single silicon vacancy (SiV) centers
frequently feature very narrow room temperature PL lines in the near-infrared
(NIR) spectral region, mostly between 820 nm and 840 nm, in addition to the
well known zero-phonon-line (ZPL) at approx. 738 nm [E. Neu et al., Phys. Rev.
B 84, 205211 (2011)]. We here exemplarily prove for a single SiV center that
this NIR PL is due to an additional purely electronic transition (ZPL). For the
NIR line at 822.7 nm, we find a room temperature linewidth of 1.4 nm (2.6 meV).
The line saturates at similar excitation power as the ZPL. ZPL and NIR line
exhibit identical polarization properties. Cross-correlation measurements
between the ZPL and the NIR line reveal anti-correlated emission and prove that
the lines originate from a single SiV center, furthermore indicating a fast
switching between the transitions (0.7 ns). g(2) auto-correlation measurements
exclude that the NIR line is a vibronic sideband or that it arises due to a
transition from/to a meta-stable (shelving) state.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, v2 accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Comparison of Propagation Models and Forward Calculation Methods on Cellular, Tissue and Organ Scale Atrial Electrophysiology
The bidomain model and the finite element method are an established standard to mathematically describe cardiac electrophysiology, but are both suboptimal choices for fast and large-scale simulations due to high computational costs. We investigate to what extent simplified approaches for propagation models (monodomain, reaction-Eikonal and Eikonal) and forward calculation (boundary element and infinite volume conductor) deliver markedly accelerated, yet physiologically accurate simulation results in atrial electrophysiology. Methods: We compared action potential durations, local activation times (LATs), and electrocardiograms (ECGs) for sinus rhythm simulations on healthy and fibrotically infiltrated atrial models. Results: All simplified model solutions yielded LATs and P waves in accurate accordance with the bidomain results. Only for the Eikonal model with pre-computed action potential templates shifted in time to derive transmembrane voltages, repolarization behavior notably deviated from the bidomain results. ECGs calculated with the boundary element method were characterized by correlation coefficients >0.9 compared to the finite element method. The infinite volume conductor method led to lower correlation coefficients caused predominantly by systematic overestimations of P wave amplitudes in the precordial leads. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that the Eikonal model yields accurate LATs and combined with the boundary element method precise ECGs compared to markedly more expensive full bidomain simulations. However, for an accurate representation of atrial repolarization dynamics, diffusion terms must be accounted for in simplified models. Significance: Simulations of atrial LATs and ECGs can be notably accelerated to clinically feasible time frames at high accuracy by resorting to the Eikonal and boundary element methods
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