A Landslide Climate Indicator from Machine Learning

In order to create a Landslide Hazard Index, we accessed rain, snow, and a dozen other variables from the National Climate Assessment Land Data Assimilation System. These predictors were converted to probabilities of landslide occurrence with XGBoost, a major machine-learning tool. The model was fitted with thousands of historical landslides from the Pacific Northwest Landslide Inventory (PNLI)

Total Angular Momentum Conservation During Tunnelling through Semiconductor Barriers

We have investigated the electrical transport through strained p-Si/Si_{1-x}Ge_x double-barrier resonant tunnelling diodes. The confinement shift for diodes with different well width, the shift due to a central potential spike in a well, and magnetotunnelling spectroscopy demonstrate that the first two resonances are due to tunnelling through heavy hole levels, whereas there is no sign of tunnelling through the first light hole state. This demonstrates for the first time the conservation of the total angular momentum in valence band resonant tunnelling. It is also shown that conduction through light hole states is possible in many structures due to tunnelling of carriers from bulk emitter states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A capacity management tool for a portfolio of industrialization projects

The management of a project portfolio is a complex decision process because it encompasses the achievement of multiple objectives. A critical point that increases the complexity in the decision-making process of a portfolio manager is the allocation of human resources to manage the projects of the portfolio, project managers, which is crucial to the organization’s performance. In this case, the project manager can manage more than one project simultaneously and it is necessary to assign project managers to the projects, considering that project activities have an amount of work to be accomplished. The main objective of this work was to provide support for this capacity management problem, which aims to provide an easier decision-making process for the capacity management of an industrialization project portfolio. Therefore, it was developed: a hybrid model that creates a schedule respecting the resource constraints and the established due dates; a recommendation system that considers project managers’ allocation and projects requirements; and, an automatic status report that allows identifying the project portfolio capacity usage.This work is supported by: European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) [Project nº 39479; Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-39479]

New Concerns for Neurocognitive Function during Deep Space Exposures to Chronic, Low Dose-Rate, Neutron Radiation.

As NASA prepares for a mission to Mars, concerns regarding the health risks associated with deep space radiation exposure have emerged. Until now, the impacts of such exposures have only been studied in animals after acute exposures, using dose rates ∼1.5×105 higher than those actually encountered in space. Using a new, low dose-rate neutron irradiation facility, we have uncovered that realistic, low dose-rate exposures produce serious neurocognitive complications associated with impaired neurotransmission. Chronic (6 month) low-dose (18 cGy) and dose rate (1 mGy/d) exposures of mice to a mixed field of neutrons and photons result in diminished hippocampal neuronal excitability and disrupted hippocampal and cortical long-term potentiation. Furthermore, mice displayed severe impairments in learning and memory, and the emergence of distress behaviors. Behavioral analyses showed an alarming increase in risk associated with these realistic simulations, revealing for the first time, some unexpected potential problems associated with deep space travel on all levels of neurological function

УДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ АЛГОРИТМУ ДІЙ ЛІКАРЯ ЩОДО ТАКТИКИ ПРИЗНАЧЕННЯ АНТИБІОТИКОТЕРАПІЇ ПРИ ГОСТРИХ РЕСПІРАТОРНИХ ІНФЕКЦІЯХ З ВРАХУВАННЯМ РЕЗУЛЬТАТІВ БАКТЕРІОЛОГІЧНОГО ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ

The aim of the work – to analyse the bases and prospects of choosing tactics of antibiotics appointment in acute respiratory diseases under the condition of three different algorithms of therapy, expediency and informativeness of the results of the bacteriological examination of the microbiotit oral cavity and nasopharynx with the determination of the sensitivity to the antibiotics of isolated strains and taking into account existing normative documents. The advantages of appointing antibiotic therapy to patients according to the results of bacteriological studies concerning the patient in particular and the microflora in general, namely: preventing the development of intestinal dysbiosis, preventing an increase in the number of polysaccharides strains of the conditionally pathogenic flora, reducing the cost of treatment and, accordingly, the number of days on the disability sheet. The work includes data on the use of the main groups of antibiotics used in outpatient and the features of their interaction with each other and the impact on macroorganism. A modified algorithm of the primary care physician’s treatment in acute respiratory infections is presented, taking into account the results of bacteriological research and antibioticograms.Conclusions. Economic levers are suggested, which will allow to reduce the cost of a complex of treatment at the ARIs due to the reasonable not the purpose of antibiotics, or their application taking into account the sensitivity of pathogens, the competitiveness of bacteriological research in comparison with the virological and immunological in respiratory infections.Мета роботи – проаналізувати підстави та перспективи вибору тактики призначення антибіотиків при гострих респіраторних захворюваннях, доцільність та інформативність результатів бактеріологічного дослідження мікробіоти ротоглотки з визначенням чутливості до антибіотиків виділених штамів і врахуванням діючих нормативних документів. Наведені переваги призначення антибіотикотерапії хворим за результатами бактеріологічного дослідження, що стосуються пацієнта зокрема та мікрофлори загалом, а саме: запобігання розвитку кишкового дисбіозу, збільшенню кількості полірезистентних штамів представників умовно-патогенної флори, зменшення вартості лікування та відповідно – кількості днів непрацездатності. Робота включає дані про застосування основних груп антибіотиків, що використовуються амбулаторно, та особливості їх взаємодії між собою і впливу на макроорганізм. Відображено модифікований алгоритм дій лікаря первинної ланки обслуговування при ГРІ з урахуванням результатів бактеріологічного дослідження та антибіо­тикограми. Висновки. Наведено економічні важелі, що дозволять здешевити комплекс лікування при ГРІ за рахунок обґрунтованої відмови від призначення антибіотиків або застосування їх з урахуванням чутливості збудників, конкурентоспроможність бактеріологічного дослідження порівняно з вірусологічним та імунологічним

An examination of cancer epidemiology studies among populations living close to toxic waste sites

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Toxic waste sites contain a broad range of suspected or confirmed human carcinogens, and remain a source of concern to many people, particularly those living in the vicinity of a site. Despite years of study, a consensus has not emerged regarding the cancer risk associated with such sites.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined the published, peer-reviewed literature addressing cancer incidence or mortality in the vicinity of toxic waste sites between 1980 and 2006, and catalogued the methods employed by such studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nineteen studies are described with respect to eight methodological criteria. Most were ecological, with minimal utilization of hydrogeological or air pathway modeling. Many did not catalogue whether a potable water supply was contaminated, and very few included contaminant measurements at waste sites or in subjects' homes. Most studies did not appear to be responses to a recognized cancer mortality cluster. Studies were highly variable with respect to handling of competing risk factors and multiple comparisons.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that studies to date have generated hypotheses, but have been of limited utility in determining whether populations living near toxic waste sites are at increased cancer risk.</p

A model for a pulsed terahertz quantum cascade laser under optical feedback

Optical feedback effects in lasers may be useful or problematic, depending on the type of application. When semiconductor lasers are operated using pulsed-mode excitation, their behavior under optical feedback depends on the electronic and thermal characteristics of the laser, as well as the nature of the external cavity. Predicting the behavior of a laser under both optical feedback and pulsed operation therefore requires a detailed model that includes laser-specific thermal and electronic characteristics. In this paper we introduce such a model for an exemplar bound-to-continuum terahertz frequency quantum cascade laser (QCL), illustrating its use in a selection of pulsed operation scenarios. Our results demonstrate significant interplay between electro-optical, thermal, and feedback phenomena, and that this interplay is key to understanding QCL behavior in pulsed applications. Further, our results suggest that for many types of QCL in interferometric applications, thermal modulation via low duty cycle pulsed operation would be an alternative to commonly used adiabatic modulation