AN ANALYSIS OF IODINE DEFICIENCY DISORDER AND ERADICATION STRATEGIES IN THE HIGH ATLAS MOUNTAINS OF MOROCCO

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Optimal Multi-Modes Switching Problem in Infinite Horizon

This paper studies the problem of the deterministic version of the Verification Theorem for the optimal m-states switching in infinite horizon under Markovian framework with arbitrary switching cost functions. The problem is formulated as an extended impulse control problem and solved by means of probabilistic tools such as the Snell envelop of processes and reflected backward stochastic differential equations. A viscosity solutions approach is employed to carry out a finne analysis on the associated system of m variational inequalities with inter-connected obstacles. We show that the vector of value functions of the optimal problem is the unique viscosity solution to the system. This problem is in relation with the valuation of firms in a financial market

Effect of resonances on the transport properties of two-dimensional disordered systems

We study both analytically and numerically how the electronic structure and the transport properties of a two-dimensional disordered system are modified in the presence of resonances. The energy dependence of the density of states and the localization length at different resonance energies and strengths of coupling between resonances and random states are determined. The results show, that at energy equals to the resonance energy there is an enhancement in the density of states. In contrast, the localization length remains unaffected from the presence of the resonances and is similar to the one of the standard Anderson model. Finally, we calculate the diffusion constant as a function of energy and we reveal interesting analogies with experimental results on light scattering in the presence of Mie resonances.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. B (2000

A ESCOLARIZAÇÃO OBRIGATÓRIA EM CONTEXTOS FEDERATIVOS: UM ESTUDO COMPARATIVO ENTRE BRASIL E ARGENTINA

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar as políticas públicas que orientam a escolarização obrigatória nos contextos federativos do Brasil e da Argentina, com base em seus pressupostos legais. Para tanto, a temática foi abordada numa perspectiva comparada, utilizando a pesquisa bibliográfica, que inclui autores como Araujo (2005a, 2010, 2011), Cury (2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2007), Rivas (2004, 2007, 2009) e Feldfeber (2009, 2011, 2014). Além disso, foi realizada pesquisa documental, abarcando as legislações dos dois países. Do Brasil, analisamos a Lei de Diretrizes e Base da Educação (LDB) 9.394/1996; a Lei 11.114/2005; a Lei 11.274/2006 e a Emenda Constitucional nº. 59/2009. Em relação à Argentina, foram analisadas a Lei Federal 24.195/1993 e a Lei de Educação Nacional (LEN) 26.206/2006. A análise possibilitou constatarmos que, no âmbito da legislação, os dois países avançaram no que se refere à escolarização obrigatória, que foi ampliada para 13 anos, na Argentina, e para 14 anos, no Brasil. Identificamos também que, embora em sua origem esses Estados tenham sido formados em cenários sociais, políticos e econômicos díspares e que esses aspectos contribuíram para evidenciar as discrepâncias educacionais com as quais ambos chegaram à década de 1990, o que se observa atualmente é uma certa semelhança em seus quadros educacionais. Atribuímos isso às políticas educacionais de homogeneização implementadas na América Latina pelas reformas educacionais idealizadas dentro de uma visão neoliberal, sob a influência de organismos internacionais. Por fim, ainda que muitos passos tenham sido dados no caminho em direção à escolarização obrigatória, muitos outros ainda são necessários

MAT-762: BUILDING SUSTAINABLE CONTINUOUSLY REINFORCED CONCRETE PAVEMENT USING GFRP BARS: CASE STUDY-HIGHWAY 40 WEST-MONTREAL, CANADA

Continuously reinforced concrete pavement designs (CRCP) are premium pavement designs that are often used on heavily-trafficked roadways and urban corridors. Although CRCP typically is an effective, long-lasting pavement design, it can develop performance problems when the aggregate-interlock load transfer at the transverse cracks is degraded. The prevalence of wide cracks in CRCP has frequently been associated with ruptured steel and significant levels of corrosion. Because of that, there has been recent interest in identifying new reinforcing materials that can prevent or minimize corrosion-related issues in CRCP. Glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars are one product being investigated for use in CRCP in place of traditional steel bars. This paper summarizes the construction details, material properties, early-age behaviour, and preliminary monitoring results of GFRP CRCP after 12 months in service. The project is located westbound HW-40 in Montreal, Qc, Canada, and presents a collaboration between the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec (MTQ) and the University of Sherbrooke. Varieties of sensors were installed in this project in order to monitor the early-age behaviour and the effects of repeated traffic loads and environmental conditions on the performance of CRCP slabs

Photothermal heterodyne imaging of individual nonfluorescent nanoclusters and nanocrystals

We introduce a new, highly sensitive, and simple heterodyne optical method for imaging individual nonfluorescent nanoclusters and nanocrystals. A 2 order of magnitude improvement of the signal is achieved compared to previous methods. This allows for the unprecedented detection of individual small absorptive objects such as metallic clusters (of 67 atoms) or nonluminescent semiconductor nanocrystals. The measured signals are in agreement with a calculation based on the scattering field theory from a photothermal-induced modulated index of refraction profile around the nanoparticle

Inflammatory response in induced sputum mononuclear cells from patients with acute exacerbation of asthma.

Examination of sputum provides a direct method to investigate airway inflammation non-invasively in particular Th1 (IL-2, IFN-gamma) and Th2 (IL-4, IL-10) cytokine production. IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and IFN-gamma cytokine were studied in induced sputum mononuclear cells of asthmatic patients. Sputum induction was performed on 10 patients and 10 normal controls. Basal and mitogen-stimulated cytokine production was determined in induced sputum T-cell culture. Supernatants were collected and assayed not only with specific ELISA but also with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. Data showed a significantly higher production of IL-10 by both the ELISA and the RT-PCR techniques in asthmatic patients compared with sputum mononuclear cells from healthy controls. IL-4 production was detected at a low level using the ELISA method in asthmatic patients. The RT-PCR analysis detected a significantly IL-4-mRNA expression in all asthmatic patients, compared with controls. Results of IL-10 and IL-4 mRNA expression were reproducible. We did not find any alteration in the expression of the type 1 derived cytokines (IL-2 and IFN-gamma) in asthmatic patients or in healthy controls. Our study showed a tendency of induced sputum mononuclear cells to express a Th2-like cytokine pattern in acute exacerbation of asthmatic patients, where IL-10 and IL-4 are synthesized in larger amounts. The combination of sputum induction as a non-invasive tool to explore the lung and the identification of disease-associated cytokine expression and of specific cytokine mRNA should help elucidate mechanisms of the immunologically mediated inflammatory responses in asthma