'Main' girlfriends, girlfriends, marriage, and money: the social context of HIV risk behaviour in sub-Saharan Africa

Research on African societies documents the magnitude of the AIDS epidemic, and shows that at younger ages women are more likely to be affected than men. Young African women are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection because sexual relations with men are an important means to achieve social and economic status, and for some women they are necessary for survival. Many African adolescents and young adults engage in premarital sexual relationships, either sequentially or simultaneously. Unmarried African males commonly have a ‘main’ girlfriend whom they expect to marry, and one or more other girlfriends, for whom there are no such expectations; some females have similar strategies. This study uses focus-group data from Cameroun to describe popular types of premarital sexual relationships, and to examine gender differentials in the motivations for engaging in such relationships and in perceptions of the factors that affect the marriage prospects of these premarital relationships. Economic need leads many young women to use premarital sexual relations for economic support, despite high levels of HIV infection. These findings help inform policy-makers and program managers in Africa about gender differentials in the motivations for engaging in premarital sexual unions, which in turn can help improve the design and implementation of social and health policies and programs

Spacecraft VLBI and Doppler tracking: algorithms and implementation

We present the results of several multi-station Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiments conducted with the ESA spacecraft Venus Express as a target. To determine the true capabilities of VLBI tracking for future planetary missions in the solar system, it is necessary to demonstrate the accuracy of the method for existing operational spacecraft. We describe the software pipeline for the processing of phase referencing near-field VLBI observations and present results of the ESA Venus Express spacecraft observing campaign conducted in 2010-2011. We show that a highly accurate determination of spacecraft state-vectors is achievable with our method. The consistency of the positions indicates that an internal rms accuracy of 0.1 mas has been achieved. However, systematic effects produce offsets up to 1 mas, but can be reduced by better modelling of the troposphere and ionosphere and closer target-calibrator configurations.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Astronomy and Astrophysics, accepte

Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) Technique: a Test Case of the Mars Express Phobos Fly-by. 2. Doppler tracking: Formulation of observed and computed values, and noise budget

Context. Closed-loop Doppler data obtained by deep space tracking networks (e.g., NASA's DSN and ESA's Estrack) are routinely used for navigation and science applications. By "shadow tracking" the spacecraft signal, Earth-based radio telescopes involved in Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) can provide open-loop Doppler tracking data when the dedicated deep space tracking facilities are operating in closed-loop mode only. Aims. We explain in detail the data processing pipeline, discuss the capabilities of the technique and its potential applications in planetary science. Methods. We provide the formulation of the observed and computed values of the Doppler data in PRIDE tracking of spacecraft, and demonstrate the quality of the results using as a test case an experiment with ESA's Mars Express spacecraft. Results. We find that the Doppler residuals and the corresponding noise budget of the open-loop Doppler detections obtained with the PRIDE stations are comparable to the closed-loop Doppler detections obtained with the dedicated deep space tracking facilities

A Incapacidade do Sistema de Justiça Criminal no Brasil e a Aplicação da Pena de Morte Extrajudicial

The inability of the criminal justice system in Brazil to contain the advances of crime in society awakens a sense of impunity and the desire for immediate answers from the government to stop the advances of violence. This article aims to analyze the main reasons contributing to the inefficiency of judicial assistance, and describes, based on literature review of Beccaria, Kant and Bobbio, the foundations abolitionists and antiabolicionistas of the death penalty. It was concluded that Brazil prohibits the punishment of judicial death, but society and the State apply the death penalty in extra-judicial manner.A incapacidade do sistema de justiça criminal do Brasil de conter os avanços da criminalidade desperta na sociedade a sensação de impunidade e o desejo de respostas imediatas do poder público para controlar o crescimento da violência. O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar os principais motivos que contribuem para a ineficiência da prestação jurisdicional, além de descrever, com base na revisão bibliográfica de Beccaria, Kant e Bobbio, os fundamentos abolicionistas e antiabolicionistas da pena de morte. Conclui-se que o Brasil proíbe a pena de morte judicial, porém a sociedade e o Estado aplicam a pena capital na forma extrajudicial

Abordagens para detecção de Síndrome Metabólica por meio de sinais de Eletrocardiografia

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade UnB Gama, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Biomédica, 2019.O conjunto de fatores da Síndrome Metabólica (SM), que está associado principalmente à resistência à insulina e à presença da diabetes, provoca alterações fisiológicas que podem ocasionar prejuízos à saúde e qualidade de vida dos portadores. Estudos científicos associam essas alterações ao risco cardiovascular. Esses estudos apontam que parâmetros extraídos dos sinais de Eletrocardiografia (ECG) podem ser associados à presença da SM. Apesar disso, não foram encontrados artigos científicos relacionados à detecção de SM utilizando sinais de ECG. Logo, é relevante investigar elementos relacionados ao sistema cardiovascular que indiquem quadros suspeitos de SM, com o intuito de desenvolver estratégias de detecção da SM de forma objetiva e precoce por meio de sinais de ECG. Sendo assim, em virtude dessa lacuna científica, a proposta deste trabalho consistiu em desenvolver e avaliar ferramentas de detecção de SM utilizando sinais de ECG. Para avaliar com que exatidão e precisão sistemas classificadores permitem detectar a SM a partir dos sinais de ECG, foram adotados os seguintes procedimentos. Inicialmente foram detectados os picos Q, R e S dos sinais de ECG para extrair características temporais dos sinais. Essas características foram utilizadas no treinamento e validação de sistemas classificadores para detecção da SM, utilizando duas técnicas, denominadas Máquinas de Vetores Suporte (SVM, do inglês Support Vector Machine) e RobustBoost. Além disso, foi utilizado o sinal de ECG em uma técnica de aprendizagem profunda denominada Rede Neural Convolucional (CNN, do inglês Convolutional Neural Network). E, por último, foram realizadas análises estatísticas a fim de comparar os resultados obtidos pelos diferentes classificadores. Os resultados de medidas de desempenho dos sistemas classificadores indicaram que é possível classificar um sinal de ECG em duas classes distintas, diferenciando indivíduos com SM dos demais, com valores estatisticamente significativos. Utilizando características extraídas dos sinais de ECG, médias e variâncias das relações e intervalos entre os picos Q, R e S consecutivos e o eixo cardíaco, notou-se que SVM e RobustBoost obtiveram valores de exatidão média de aproximadamente 94% e 89%, respectivamente. Além disso, 12 derivações dos sinais de ECG foram utilizadas para o treinamento da CNN, que obteve acurácia de aproximadamente 98%. Portanto, conclui-se que é possível detectar a SM a partir dos sinais de Eletrocardiografia com resultados estatisticamente significativos, utilizando diferentes abordagens. Logo, um eletrocardiógrafo pode ser utilizado para avaliar um possível diagnóstico de SM.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).The metabolic syndrome (MS) components is mainly associated with insulin resistance and diabetes. In addition, MS causes physiologic alterations that can induce injury to health and quality of patients lives. Scientific studies associate these changes with cardiovascular risk. These studies indicate that features extracted from electrocardiography (ECG) signals may be associated with MS. Despite this, scientific articles about MS detection with ECG signals were not found. Therefore, it is important to study elements of cardiovascular system that can indicate MS, in order to develop strategies for MS detection by means of ECG signals. Because of this scientific gap, the proposal of this work is to develop and to evaluate tools for MS diagnose with ECG signals. To evaluate how accurately and precision classifier systems detect MS from ECG signals, the following procedures were adopted. Initially, Q, R and S peaks were detected from ECG signals waveform to extract temporal features. These features were used for training and validation of classifier systems, using two techniques, named Support Vector Machines (SVM) and RobustBoost. In addition, the ECG signal was used in a deep learning technique, named Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). Finally, statistical analyzes were performed in order to compare results of different classifiers. The performance measures results of classifier systems indicated that it is possible to classify an ECG signal in two different classes, differentiating people with MS from others, with statistically significant values. With features extracted from ECG signals, means and variances of ratio and intervals between consecutive Q, R and S peaks and cardiac axis, it was noted that SVM and RobustBoost have average accuracy of approximately 94% and 89%, respectively. In addition, 12-lead ECG it was used in CNN to classify with approximately 98% of accuracy. Therefore, it is concluded that it is possible detect MS from electrocardiography signals with statistically significant results, using different approaches. Therefore, an electrocardiograph can be used to indicate a possible diagnosis of MS

The Effect Of A Medical Decompression Protocol On The Use Of Antiemetics, Nasogastric Tube Usage And Diet Advance In Late Stage Cancer Patients With Functional Intestinal Obstruction

At the end of life, many patients suffer from a syndrome that simulates classic small bowel obstruction. The traditional approach to intestinal obstruction is relief of pressure in the gastrointestinal tract using mechanical methods such as naso-gastric tube insertion and suctioning. This relieves the distension of the hollow organs and thus the nausea.. Pharmacologic methods are also used in the care of these patients, however, there is debate as to which agents to use and when to use them. The Medical Decompression protocol is a non-invasive pharmacologic approach to this problem. It brings with it ease and economy of delivery, the ability to administer it in intravenous as well as oral form, and is a multi-agent protocol of tried and true drugs used at the end of life: 1/2 Metoclopramide, Dexamethasone, Diphenhydramine, and Pantoprazole Prior to initiating this intervention, patients and their families are educated and are aware that this intervention is most likely a temporary measure aimed at symptom relief, as well as an attempt to improve quality of life. Our sample contained 42 males and 62 females, with an average age of about 70 years. About 51% of participants received MD (n = 53). Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups related to days to progress diet. We propose that a pharmacologic method such as MD is strongly considered as first line treatments for the functional intestinal obstruction syndrome and indeed be considered as adjuncts to allow the removal of invasive mechanical interventions in the end of life patient

First Results of Venus Express Spacecraft Observations with Wettzell

The ESA Venus Express spacecraft was observed at X-band with the Wettzell radio telescope in October-December 2009 in the framework of an assessment study of the possible contribution of the European VLBI Network to the upcoming ESA deep space missions. A major goal of these observations was to develop and test the scheduling, data capture, transfer, processing, and analysis pipeline. Recorded data were transferred from Wettzell to Metsahovi for processing, and the processed data were sent from Mets ahovi to JIVE for analysis. A turnover time of 24 hours from observations to analysis results was achieved. The high dynamic range of the detections allowed us to achieve a milliHz level of spectral resolution accuracy and to extract the phase of the spacecraft signal carrier line. Several physical parameters can be determined from these observational results with more observational data collected. Among other important results, the measured phase fluctuations of the carrier line at different time scales can be used to determine the influence of the solar wind plasma density fluctuations on the accuracy of the astrometric VLBI observations

Venus Express radio occultation observed by PRIDE

Context. Radio occultation is a technique used to study planetary atmospheres by means of the refraction and absorption of a spacecraft carrier signal through the atmosphere of the celestial body of interest, as detected from a ground station on Earth. This technique is usually employed by the deep space tracking and communication facilities (e.g., NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), ESA's Estrack). Aims. We want to characterize the capabilities of the Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) technique for radio occultation experiments, using radio telescopes equipped with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) instrumentation. Methods. We conducted a test with ESA's Venus Express (VEX), to evaluate the performance of the PRIDE technique for this particular application. We explain in detail the data processing pipeline of radio occultation experiments with PRIDE, based on the collection of so-called open-loop Doppler data with VLBI stations, and perform an error propagation analysis of the technique. Results. With the VEX test case and the corresponding error analysis, we have demonstrated that the PRIDE setup and processing pipeline is suited for radio occultation experiments of planetary bodies. The noise budget of the open-loop Doppler data collected with PRIDE indicated that the uncertainties in the derived density and temperature profiles remain within the range of uncertainties reported in previous Venus' studies. Open-loop Doppler data can probe deeper layers of thick atmospheres, such as that of Venus, when compared to closed-loop Doppler data. Furthermore, PRIDE through the VLBI networks around the world, provides a wide coverage and range of large antenna dishes, that can be used for this type of experiments