725 research outputs found

    The Dutch influenza vaccination policy and medication use, outpatient visits, hospitalization, and mortality at age 65.

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    Background: Our objective was to obtain estimates of the impact of the Dutch vaccination programme on medication use, outpatient visits, hospitalization and mortality at age 65. Methods: We linked population-wide mortality, hospitalization and municipality registries to identify influenza-related deaths and hospitalizations, and used health interview surveys to identify medication use and outpatient visits during 1996–2008. We applied a regression discontinuity design to estimate the intention-to-treat effect of the personal invitation for a free influenza vaccination sent to every Dutch inhabitant at age 65 years on each of the outcomes, separately in influenza-epidemic and non-epidemic months. Results: Invitation receipt for free influenza vaccination at age 65 led to a 9.8 percentage points [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.5 to16.1; P < 0.01] rise in influenza vaccination. During influenza-epidemic months, it was associated with 1.5 fewer influenza/pneumonia deaths per 100 000 individuals (95% CI = 3.1 to 0.0; P = 0.05), a 15 percentage point lower probability to use prescribed medicines (95% CI = 28 to 3; P = 0.02) and 0.13 fewer General Practitioner (GP) visits per month (95% CI = 0.28 to 0.02; P = 0.09), while the association with hospitalizations due to influenza/pneumonia was small and imprecisely estimated (seven more hospitalizations per 100 000 individuals, 95% CI = 20 to 33; P = 0.63). No associations were found with any outcomes during non-epidemic months. Conclusions: Personal invitations for a free influenza vaccination sent to every Dutch inhabitant at age 65 took pressure off primary health care but had small effects on hospitalizations and mortality

    Coupled MCMC in BEAST 2

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    Coupled MCMC has long been used to speed up phylogenetic analyses and to make use of multi-core CPUs. Coupled MCMC uses a number of heated chains with increased acceptance probabilities that are able to traverse unfavourable intermediate states more easily than non heated chains and can be used to propose new states. While more and more complex models are used to study evolution, one of the main software platforms to do so, BEAST 2, was lacking this functionality. Here, we describe an implementation of the coupled MCMC algorithm for the Bayesian phylogenetics platform BEAST 2. This implementation is able to exploit multiple-core CPUs while working with all models and packages in BEAST 2 that affect the likelihood or the priors and not directly the MCMC machinery. We show that the implemented coupled MCMC approach is exploring the same posterior probability space as regular MCMC when MCMC behaves well. We also show our implementation is able to retrieve more consistent estimates of tree distributions on a dataset where convergence with MCMC is problematic

    A tale of two charters

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    Charters are official commitments to quality and reform. Belgium introduced its Charter of the User of Public Services in 1993. The federal administration’s Copernicus reform began in 1999 and had a strong external outlook. It therefore may be considered as a second User Charter. In this article we focus on the administrative and political contingencies of the introduction of the two charters in Belgium. We show that actual administrative reform and political attention for administrative reform are distinct phenomena. Variations in political attention for reform depend on crises and on political realignment. Both charters were introduced in a period of disturbed relations between citizens and politics. The introduction of a User Charter and the launch of the Copernicus reform were definitely political events, and not merely administrative ones. A charter was needed to restore citizen-government relations. The charters, as pledges for reform, served as lightning rods for political discontent

    babette:BEAUti 2, BEAST2 and Tracer for R

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    1. In the field of phylogenetics, BEAST2 is one of the most widely used software tools. It comes with the graphical user interfaces BEAUti 2, DensiTree and Tracer, to create BEAST2 configuration files and to interpret BEAST2's output files. However, when many different alignments or model setups are required, a workflow of graphical user interfaces is cumbersome. 2. Here, we present a free, libre and open-source package, babette: 'BEAUti 2, BEAST2 and Tracer for R', for the R programming language. babette creates BEAST2 input files, runs BEAST2 and parses its results, all from an R function call. 3. We describe babette's usage and the novel functionality it provides compared to the original tools and we give some examples. 4. As babette is designed to be of high quality and extendable, we conclude by describing the further development of the package

    Consequences of local gauge symmetry in empirical tight-binding theory

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    A method for incorporating electromagnetic fields into empirical tight-binding theory is derived from the principle of local gauge symmetry. Gauge invariance is shown to be incompatible with empirical tight-binding theory unless a representation exists in which the coordinate operator is diagonal. The present approach takes this basis as fundamental and uses group theory to construct symmetrized linear combinations of discrete coordinate eigenkets. This produces orthogonal atomic-like "orbitals" that may be used as a tight-binding basis. The coordinate matrix in the latter basis includes intra-atomic matrix elements between different orbitals on the same atom. Lattice gauge theory is then used to define discrete electromagnetic fields and their interaction with electrons. Local gauge symmetry is shown to impose strong restrictions limiting the range of the Hamiltonian in the coordinate basis. The theory is applied to the semiconductors Ge and Si, for which it is shown that a basis of 15 orbitals per atom provides a satisfactory description of the valence bands and the lowest conduction bands. Calculations of the dielectric function demonstrate that this model yields an accurate joint density of states, but underestimates the oscillator strength by about 20% in comparison to a nonlocal empirical pseudopotential calculation.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, RevTeX4; submitted to Phys. Rev.

    Wandering behaviour prevents inter and intra oceanic speciation in a coastal pelagic fish

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    Small pelagic fishes have the ability to disperse over long distances and may present complex evolutionary histories. Here, Old World Anchovies (OWA) were used as a model system to understand genetic patterns and connectivity of fish between the Atlantic and Pacific basins. We surveyed 16 locations worldwide using mtDNA and 8 microsatellite loci for genetic parameters, and mtDNA (cyt b; 16S) and nuclear (RAG1; RAG2) regions for dating major lineage-splitting events within Engraulidae family. The OWA genetic divergences (0-0.4%) are compatible with intra-specific divergence, showing evidence of both ancient and contemporary admixture between the Pacific and Atlantic populations, enhanced by high asymmetrical migration from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The estimated divergence between Atlantic and Pacific anchovies (0.67 [0.53-0.80] Ma) matches a severe drop of sea temperature during the Gunz glacial stage of the Pleistocene. Our results support an alternative evolutionary scenario for the OWA, suggesting a coastal migration along south Asia, Middle East and eastern Africa continental platforms, followed by the colonization of the Atlantic via the Cape of the Good Hope.Portuguese Foundation for Science & Technology (FCT) [SFRH/BD/36600/2007]; FCT [UID/MAR/04292/2013, SFRH/BPD/65830/2009]; FCT strategic plan [UID/Multi/04326/2013]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Slater-Pauling Behavior of the Half-Ferromagnetic Full-Heusler Alloys

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    Using the full-potential screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method we study the full-Heusler alloys based on Co, Fe, Rh and Ru. We show that many of these compounds show a half-metallic behavior, however in contrast to the half-Heusler alloys the energy gap in the minority band is extremely small. These full-Heusler compounds show a Slater-Pauling behavior and the total spin-magnetic moment per unit cell (M_t) scales with the total number of valence electrons (Z_t) following the rule: M_t=Z_t-24. We explain why the spin-down band contains exactly 12 electrons using arguments based on the group theory and show that this rule holds also for compounds with less than 24 valence electrons. Finally we discuss the deviations from this rule and the differences compared to the half-Heusler alloys.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, revised figure 3, new text adde

    Postglacial expansion of the arctic keystone copepod calanus glacialis

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    Calanus glacialis, a major contributor to zooplankton biomass in the Arctic shelf seas, is a key link between primary production and higher trophic levels that may be sensitive to climate warming. The aim of this study was to explore genetic variation in contemporary populations of this species to infer possible changes during the Quaternary period, and to assess its population structure in both space and time. Calanus glacialis was sampled in the fjords of Spitsbergen (Hornsund and Kongsfjorden) in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2012. The sequence of a mitochondrial marker, belonging to the ND5 gene, selected for the study was 1249 base pairs long and distinguished 75 unique haplotypes among 140 individuals that formed three main clades. There was no detectable pattern in the distribution of haplotypes by geographic distance or over time. Interestingly, a Bayesian skyline plot suggested that a 1000-fold increase in population size occurred approximately 10,000 years before present, suggesting a species expansion after the Last Glacial Maximum.GAME from the National Science Centre, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Iuventus Plus [IP2014 050573]; FCT-PT [CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013]; [2011/03/B/NZ8/02876

    Trust and the Governance of Higher Education: The Introduction of Chancellor System in Hungarian Higher Education

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    Trust plays a vital role in the cooperation of social actors. While researching trust becomes important in public management, the impact of trust on higher education policy and management has drawn less attention. This chapter analyses the introduction of the chancellor system in Hungarian higher education from the perspective of trust. In this new governance model, chancellors, who are appointed by the government, became responsible for the administration and budgets of higher institutions (HEIs), while rectors kept their prerogatives only on academic issues. The success of an institution now depends on the cooperation of its two interdependent leaders. Trust plays an especially critical role in such leadership constellation. The study is based on empirical data collected through two surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 among academic leaders of Hungarian higher education institutions and uses Hurley’s decision-to-trust-model (Hurley 2012) as an analytic framework

    Localized Basis for Effective Lattice Hamiltonians: Lattice Wannier Functions

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    A systematic method is presented for constructing effective Hamiltonians for general phonon-related structural transitions. The key feature is the application of group theoretical methods to identify the subspace in which the effective Hamiltonian acts and construct for it localized basis vectors, which are the analogue of electronic Wannier functions. The results of the symmetry analysis for the perovskite, rocksalt, fluorite and A15 structures and the forms of effective Hamiltonians for the ferroelectric transition in PbTiO3PbTiO_3 and BaTiO3BaTiO_3, the oxygen-octahedron rotation transition in SrTiO3SrTiO_3, the Jahn-Teller instability in La1x(Ca,Sr,Ba)xMnO3La_{1-x}(Ca,Sr,Ba)_xMnO_3 and the antiferroelectric transition in PbZrO3PbZrO_3 are discussed. For the oxygen- octahedron rotation transition in SrTiO3SrTiO_3, this method provides an alternative to the rotational variable approach which is well behaved throughout the Brillouin zone. The parameters appearing in the Wannier basis vectors and in the effective Hamiltonian, given by the corresponding invariant energy expansion, can be obtained for individual materials using first- principles density-functional-theory total energy and linear response techniques, or any technique that can reliably calculate force constants and distortion energies. A practical approach to the determination of these parameters is presented and the application to ferroelectric PbTiO3PbTiO_3 discussed.Comment: extensive revisions in presentation, 32 pages, Revtex, 7 Postscript figure
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