A critical analysis of Peru's HIV grant proposals to the Global Fund.

Peru has applied to six of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) rounds for funding, achieving success on four occasions. The process of proposal development has, however, been criticised, especially concerning the use of evidence, relevance/consistency and performance indicators. We aimed to analyse the Peruvian Global Fund proposals according to those dimensions, providing feedback to improve future local efforts and inform global discussions around Global Fund procedures. We analysed the content of four HIV-focused proposals (rounds 2, 5, 6 and 8) regarding epidemic context, needs identification and prioritisation and monitoring and evaluation systems. Peruvian proposals submitted after round 1 were described as resulting from collaborative inputs involving formerly unrepresented sectors, principally 'vulnerable populations'. However, difficulties arose regarding the amount and quality of evidence about the epidemiological context; limited consideration of social determinants of the epidemic; lack of theory-driven interventions, and little synergy across projects and the inclusion of weak monitoring and evaluation systems, with poor indicators and measurement procedures. Prioritising the development of analytical and technical skills to generate Global Fund proposals would enhance the country's capacity to produce and utilise evidence, improve the technical-political interface, strengthen information systems and lead to more informed decision making and accountability

Aplicabilidad de las TIG en la generación de escenarios de futuro para una gestión integrada de las zonas costeras

Para una planificación y gestión coherente de las zonas costeras es fundamental que exista una profunda comprensión de las interacciones entre el hombre y el medio físico, siendo preciso integrar la información sobre el conocimiento del medio natural aportada por las diferentes disciplinas científicas, junto con la información del contexto socio-económico, normativo y cultural. Por tanto, la toma de decisiones en los espacios litorales debe apoyarse en instrumentos interdisciplinares, capaces de operar con distintos tipos de datos y abordar situaciones complejas e impredecibles. La simulación de escenarios es una importante herramienta para evaluar desarrollos futuros en sistemas complejos y dinámicos que poseen un número alto de incertidumbres, y por ello es una técnica muy adecuada para la gestión de las zonas costeras. Los escenarios permiten integrar modelos socioeconómicos con modelos físicos, químicos o biológicos, reflejar una amplia gama de tendencias y dinámicas, y trabajar con distintas escalas temporales y espaciales. En el presente artículo se examina el uso actual y el potencial de las TIG en la generación de escenarios de futuro para la gestión integrada de las zonas costeras. Para ello se ha realizado un análisis de su aplicabilidad de las TIG, identificando en qué fases de la elaboración de escenarios se pueden utilizar. Los resultados indican que estas tecnologías tienen un alto potencial y son aplicables en todas las fases de la generación de los escenarios. Una de las fortalezas identificadas es que las TIG incrementan la transparencia y fiabilidad de la generación de escenarios de futuro facilitando los procesos equitativos y participativos de negociación, toma de decisiones y planificación en las zonas costeras.To achieve a coherent planning and management of coastal areas it is necessary having a deep understanding of the interactions existing between human-being and the physical environment, integrating information from different scientific disciplines (hydrology, morphodynamics, soil science, ecology, etc.) and socio-economic, normative and cultural context information. Therefore decision-making in coastal areas must be based on interdisciplinaryinstruments capable of working with different type of data and dealing with complex and unpredictable situations. Scenario-making is one of the most important tools for assessing future developments in complex and dynamic systems which have a high number of uncertainties; thus it is a very suitable approach for coastal zone management. Scenarios can integrate socio-economic models with physical, chemical or biological models, reflect a broad range of trends and dynamics, and work with different temporal and spatial scales. In this paper the current and potential use of Geographical Information Technologies (GIT) is examined in the generation of future scenarios for an integrated management of coastal areas. An analysis of the applicability of the GIT has been done, identifying at which stage of scenario development GIT can be used. The results indicate that GIT have great potential and are applicable at all stages of the scenarios generation. One of the strengths identified is that GIT increase the transparency and reliability of the generation of future scenarios and facilitate equitable and participatory processes of negotiation, decision making and planning in coastal areas

Resolving sets for Johnson and Kneser graphs

A set of vertices $S$ in a graph $G$ is a {\em resolving set} for $G$ if, for any two vertices $u,v$, there exists $x\in S$ such that the distances $d(u,x) \neq d(v,x)$. In this paper, we consider the Johnson graphs $J(n,k)$ and Kneser graphs $K(n,k)$, and obtain various constructions of resolving sets for these graphs. As well as general constructions, we show that various interesting combinatorial objects can be used to obtain resolving sets in these graphs, including (for Johnson graphs) projective planes and symmetric designs, as well as (for Kneser graphs) partial geometries, Hadamard matrices, Steiner systems and toroidal grids.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Observing the evaporation transition in vibro-fluidized granular matter

By shaking a sand box the grains on the top start to jump giving the picture of evaporating a sand bulk, and a gaseous transition starts at the surface granular matter (GM) bed. Moreover the mixture of the grains in the whole bed starts to move in a cooperative way which is far away from a Brownian description. In a previous work we have shown that the key element to describe the statistics of this behavior is the exclusion of volume principle, whereby the system obeys a Fermi configurational approach. Even though the experiment involves an archetypal non-equilibrium system, we succeeded in defining a global temperature, as the quantity associated to the Lagrange parameter in a maximum entropic statistical description. In fact in order to close our approach we had to generalize the equipartition theorem for dissipative systems. Therefore we postulated, found and measured a fundamental dissipative parameter, written in terms of pumping and gravitational energies, linking the configurational entropy to the collective response for the expansion of the centre of mass (c.m.) of the granular bed. Here we present a kinetic approach to describe the experimental velocity distribution function (VDF) of this non-Maxwellian gas of macroscopic Fermi-like particles (mFp). The evaporation transition occurs mainly by jumping balls governed by the excluded volume principle. Surprisingly in the whole range of low temperatures that we measured this description reveals a lattice-gas, leading to a packing factor, which is independent of the external parameters. In addition we measure the mean free path, as a function of the driving frequency, and corroborate our prediction from the present kinetic theory.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publication September 1st, 200

Non-equilibrium transition from dissipative quantum walk to classical random walk

We have investigated the time-evolution of a free particle in interaction with a phonon thermal bath, using the tight-binding approach. A dissipative quantum walk can be defined and many important non-equilibrium decoherence properties can be investigated analytically. The non-equilibrium statistics of a pure initial state have been studied. Our theoretical results indicate that the evolving wave-packet shows the suppression of Anderson's boundaries (ballistic peaks) by the presence of dissipation. Many important relaxation properties can be studied quantitatively, such as von Neumann's entropy and quantum purity. In addition, we have studied Wigner's function. The time-dependent behavior of the quantum entanglement between a free particle -in the lattice- and the phonon bath has been characterized analytically. This result strongly suggests the non-trivial time-dependence of the off-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix of the system. We have established a connection between the quantum decoherence and the dissipative parameter arising from interaction with the phonon bath. The time-dependent behavior of quantum correlations has also been pointed out, showing continuous transition from quantum random walk to classical random walk, when dissipation increases.Comment: Submitted for publication. 17 pages, 6 figure

Geodesic Deviation Equation in Bianchi Cosmologies

We present the Geodesic Deviation Equation (GDE) for the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker(FRW) universe and we compare it with the equation for Bianchi type I model. We justify consider this cosmological model due to the recent importance the Bianchi Models have as alternative models in cosmology. The main property of these models, solutions of Einstein Field Equations (EFE) is that they are homogeneous as the FRW model but they are not isotropic. We can see this because they have a non-null Weyl tensor in the GDE.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS), ERE200

The influence of ecosystems on the entrepreneurship process: a comparison across developed and developing economies

Over the past 30 years, the academic literature has legitimised the significant impact of environmental conditions on entrepreneurial activity. In the past 5 years, in particular, the academic debate has focused on the elements that configure entrepreneurship ecosystems and their influence on the creation of high-growth ventures. Previous studies have also recognised the heterogeneity of environmental conditions (including policies, support programs, funding, culture, professional infrastructure, university support, labour market, R&D, and market dynamics) across regions/countries. Yet, an in-depth discussion is required to address how environmental conditions vary per entrepreneurial stage of enterprises within certain regions/countries, as well as how these conditions determine the technological factor of the entrepreneurial process. By reviewing the literature from 2000 to 2017, this paper analyses the environmental conditions that have influenced the transitions towards becoming potential entrepreneurs, nascent/new entrepreneurs, and established/consolidated entrepreneurs in both developed and developing economies. Our findings show why diversity in entrepreneurship and context is significant. Favourable conditions include professional support, incubators/accelerators, networking with multiple agents, and R&D investments. Less favourable conditions include a lack of funding sources, labour market conditions, and social norms. Our paper contributes by proposing a research agenda and implications for stakeholders

Identification and characterization of novel factors that act in the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway in nematodes, flies and mammals

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a surveillance mechanism that degrades mRNAs harboring premature termination codons (PTCs). We have conducted a genome-wide RNAi screen in Caenorhabditis elegans that resulted in the identification of five novel NMD genes that are conserved throughout evolution. Two of their human homologs, GNL2 (ngp-1) and SEC13 (npp-20), are also required for NMD in human cells. We also show that the C. elegans gene noah-2, which is present in Drosophila melanogaster but absent in humans, is an NMD factor in fruit flies. Altogether, these data identify novel NMD factors that are conserved throughout evolution, highlighting the complexity of the NMD pathway and suggesting that yet uncovered novel factors may act to regulate this process