329 research outputs found
Effectiveness of single dose treatment with chloroquine of malaria in West Africa and measurement of chloroquine urinary excretion
Programmatic feasibility of dried blood spots for the virological follow-up of patients on antiretroviral treatment in Nord Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Background:As part of its policy to shift monitoring of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to primary health care (PHC) workers, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) tested the feasibility of using dried blood spots (DBS) for viral load (VL) quantification and genotypic drug resistance testing in off-site high-throughput laboratories.Methods:DBS samples from adults on ART were collected in 13 decentralized PHC facilities in the Nord-Kivu province and shipped during program quarterly supervision to a reference laboratory 2000 km away, where VL was quantified with a commercial assay (m2000rt, Abbott). A second DBS was sent to a World Health Organization (WHO)-accredited laboratory for repeat VL quantification on a subset of samples with a generic assay (Biocentric) and genotypic drug resistance testing when VL >1000 copies per milliliter.Findings:Constraints arose because of an interruption in national laboratory funding rather than to technical or logistic problems. All samples were assessed by both VL assays to allow ART adjustment. Median DBS turnaround time was 37 days (interquartile range: 9-59). Assays performed unequally with DBS, impacting clinical decisions, quality assurance, and overall cost-effectiveness. Based on m2000rt or generic assay, 31.3% of patients were on virological failure (VF) and 14.8% presented resistance mutations versus 50.3% and 15.4%, respectively.Conclusion:This study confirms that current technologies involving DBS make virological monitoring of ART possible at PHC level, including in challenging environments, provided organizational issues are addressed. Adequate core funding of HIV laboratories and adapted choice of VL assays require urgent attention to control resistance to ART as coverage expands
New Gravity Map of the Western Galicia Margin:The Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone Project
Since 1995, the most intensive mapping of
the seafloor off the Spanish coast has been
carried out in the framework of the Spanish
Exclusive Economic Zone Project (ZEEE).The
main objectives of this project are to obtain
improved multibeam bathymetric cartography
of the areas off Spanish coastlines, and to perform
a geophysical survey,well-suited with a
10-knot navigation velocity (some techniques
requires lower navigation velocity).
The geophysical survey includes gravity, geomagnetism,
and low-penetration seismic techniques
in order to infer the geological structure
of the seafloor. Other oceanographic variables
such as current, surface salinity, and temperature
profiles, can be recorded without compromising
this systematic survey effort.
The ZEEE Project has carried out its survey
activities for one month every year.Data
acquisition is achieved aboard the Spanish
R/V Hesperides. Until 1997, surveying efforts
concentrated on the Balearic Sea and Valencia
Gulf, both in the western Mediterranean Sea.
Between 1998 and 2000, the ZEEE Project
investigations were conducted offshore the
Canary Archipelago. Since 2001, the third
phase of the program has been focused on
the West Galicia Margin in the northeastern
Atlantic Ocean.
Survey results on the West Galicia Margin area
are of interest for two key reasons. First, there
is great scientific interest in the improvement
of the knowledge of this non-volcanic rifting
margin, since this margin offers good conditions
for the study of the processes that take
place in this type of geological context,because
it is sediment-starved.
Second, the obtained results also have major
socioeconomic repercussions because they
can prove significant to defining the expansion
of the Spanish shelf,beyond Spain’s Economic
Exclusive Zone distance of 200 nautical miles.
All of the gravity data acquired to date on
this area have been stored as a database, with
the aim of preparing gravity anomaly maps
on a scale 1:200,000.The database and gravity
anomaly charts from the ZEEE Project will
provide the most coherent and complete gravity
perspective available for this area.
This article describes the efforts and accomplishments
of the project to date
PHOTOS Monte Carlo and its theoretical accuracy
Because of properties of QED, the bremsstrahlung corrections to decays of
particles or resonances can be calculated, with a good precision, separately
from other effects. Thanks to the widespread use of event records such
calculations can be embodied into a separate module of Monte Carlo simulation
chains, as used in High Energy Experiments of today. The PHOTOS Monte Carlo
program is used for this purpose since nearly 20 years now. In the following
talk let us review the main ideas and constraints which shaped the program
version of today and enabled it widespread use. Finally, we will underline
importance of aspects related to reliability of program results: event record
contents and implementation of channel specific matrix elements.Comment: Presented by Z. Was, April 08 2008, International Workshop on e+e-
collisions from Phi to Ps
A Unified Theoretical Description of the Thermodynamical Properties of Spin Crossover with Magnetic Interactions
After the discovery of the phenomena of light-induced excited spin state
trapping (LIESST), the functional properties of metal complexes have been
studied intensively. Among them, cooperative phenomena involving low spin-high
spin (spin-crossover) transition and magnetic ordering have attracted
interests, and it has become necessary to formulate a unified description of
both phenomena. In this work, we propose a model in which they can be treated
simultaneously by extending the Wajnflasz-Pick model including a magnetic
interaction. We found that this new model is equivalent to
Blume-Emery-Griffiths (BEG) Hamiltonian with degenerate levels. This model
provides a unified description of the thermodynamic properties associated with
various types of systems, such as spin-crossover (SC) solids and Prussian blue
analogues (PBA). Here, the high spin fraction and the magnetization are the
order parameters describing the cooperative phenomena of the model. We present
several typical temperature dependences of the order parameters and we
determine the phase diagram of the system using the mean-field theory and Monte
Carlo simulations. We found that the magnetic interaction drives the SC
transition leading to re-entrant magnetic and first-order SC transitions.Comment: 30pages, 11figure
Recent Decisions
Recent Decisions
ADMIRALTY--COGSA--BILL OF LADING CARGO DESCRIPTION AND PACKER IDENTITY DETERMINE WHEN A CONTAINER IS A PACKAGE IN COGSA LIABILITY PROCEEDINGS
Alan L. Marchisotto
============================
ADMIRALTY--JURISDICTION OVER AVIATION TORT CLAIMS--ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION DOES NOT EXTEND TO AVIATION TORT CLAIMS IN THE ABSENCE OF A SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TORT AND TRADITIONAL MARITIME ACTIVITIES
W. H. Schwarzschild III
============================
ALIENS--ALIENS MAY MAINTAIN A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION UNDER 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (1970)
Mark M. Greisberger
============================
ANTITRUST--ARTICLE 86 OF THE EEC TREATY APPLIES TO CERTAIN CHANGES IN INTERNAL CORPORATE STRUCTURE
Richard P. Granfield
===========================
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--EXECUTIVE POWER--PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO NEGOTIATE FOREIGN COMMERCIAL AGREEMENTS PURSUANT TO FOREIGN AFFAIRS POWER IS NOT CIRCUMSCRIBED ABSENT EX-PLICIT LEGISLATION
Donald B. Cameron, Jr.
==========================
JURISDICTION--SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934--SECTION 10(b) APPLIES TO A TRANSACTION IN UNLISTED FOREIGN SECURITIES WHEN SIGNIFICANT FRAUDULENT CONDUCT OCCURS IN THE UNITED STATES
Isaac H. Braddock
=========================
TARIFFS--TRADE AGREEMENT CONCESSIONS MAY BE SUSPENDED ON A MOST-FAVORED-NATION BASIS WHEN SUCH TREATMENT IS REQUIRED BY INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
David A. Boillo
Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks
In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge,
and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor
Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system
that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining
certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control,
learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and
WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new
opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields
which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be
the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path
between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the
advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of
articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a
range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant
to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core
problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity,
localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the
existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from
robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in
the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature,
and identify topics that require more research attention in the future
Interplay of tectonics and magmatism during post-rift inversion on the central West Iberian Margin (Estremadura Spur)
ABSTRACT: The combined effects of post-rift magma emplacement and tectonic inversion on
the hyper-extended West Iberian Margin are unravelled in detail using multichan nel 2D/3D seismic data. The Estremadura Spur, acting as an uplifted crustal block
bounded by two first-order transfer zones, shows evidence of four post-rift tectonic
events each with a distinctive seismic-stratigraphic response that can be used to dem onstrate the tectono-magmatic interplay, namely: (a) the Campanian onset of mag matism (including the Fontanelas Volcano, the widespread evidence of multiple sill
complexes and the detailed description of a >20 km long laccolith, the Estremadura
Spur Intrusion; (b) the Campanian-Maastrichtian NE-SW event pervasively affecting
the area, resulting in regional uplift, reverse faulting and folding; (c) the Paleocene mid Eocene inversion that resulted in widespread erosion and; (d) the Oligocene-mid
Miocene evidence of rejuvenated NW-SE inversion marked by crestal faulting and
forced-fault folding establishing the final geometry of the area. The distinct deforma tion styles within each tectonic phase document a case of decoupled deformation be tween Late Cretaceous and Tertiary units, in response to the predominant stress field
evolution, revealing that the magnitude of Late Cretaceous inversion is far more sig nificant than the one affecting the latter units. A detailed analysis of the laccolith and
its overburden demonstrate the distinct deformation patterns associated both with
magma ascent (including extensional faulting, forced-folding and concentric reverse
faulting) and its interference as a rigid intrusive body during subsequent transpres sive inversion. This reinforces the role that the combined tectono-magmatic events
played on the margin. Also analysed is the wider impact of post-rift magmatism and
the associate emplacement of sub-lithospheric magma on the rheology of a thinned
continental crust. This takes into account the simultaneous tectonic inversion of the
margin, the implied alternative views on characteristic heat flow, and on how these
can be incorporated in source rock organic maturity modelling.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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