5,322 research outputs found
Optimizing the colour and fabric of targets for the control of the tsetse fly Glossina fuscipes fuscipes
Background:
Most cases of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) start with a bite from one of the subspecies of Glossina fuscipes. Tsetse use a range of olfactory and visual stimuli to locate their hosts and this response can be exploited to lure tsetse to insecticide-treated targets thereby reducing transmission. To provide a rational basis for cost-effective designs of target, we undertook studies to identify the optimal target colour.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
On the Chamaunga islands of Lake Victoria , Kenya, studies were made of the numbers of G. fuscipes fuscipes attracted to targets consisting of a panel (25 cm square) of various coloured fabrics flanked by a panel (also 25 cm square) of fine black netting. Both panels were covered with an electrocuting grid to catch tsetse as they contacted the target. The reflectances of the 37 different-coloured cloth panels utilised in the study were measured spectrophotometrically. Catch was positively correlated with percentage reflectance at the blue (460 nm) wavelength and negatively correlated with reflectance at UV (360 nm) and green (520 nm) wavelengths. The best target was subjectively blue, with percentage reflectances of 3%, 29%, and 20% at 360 nm, 460 nm and 520 nm respectively. The worst target was also, subjectively, blue, but with high reflectances at UV (35% reflectance at 360 nm) wavelengths as well as blue (36% reflectance at 460 nm); the best low UV-reflecting blue caught 3× more tsetse than the high UV-reflecting blue.
Conclusions/Significance:
Insecticide-treated targets to control G. f. fuscipes should be blue with low reflectance in both the UV and green bands of the spectrum. Targets that are subjectively blue will perform poorly if they also reflect UV strongly. The selection of fabrics for targets should be guided by spectral analysis of the cloth across both the spectrum visible to humans and the UV region
Visible spectral distribution of shadows explains why blue targets with a high reflectivity at 460 nm are attractive to tsetse flies
Towards an optimal design of target for tsetse control: comparisons of novel targets for the control of palpalis group tsetse in West Africa
Background: Tsetse flies of the Palpalis group are the main vectors of sleeping sickness in Africa. Insecticide impregnated targets are one of the most effective tools for control. However, the cost of these devices still represents a constraint to their wider use. The objective was therefore to improve the cost effectiveness of currently used devices.
Methodology/Principal Findings: Experiments were performed on three tsetse species, namely Glossina palpalis gambiensis and G. tachinoides in Burkina Faso and G. p. palpalis in Côte d'Ivoire. The 1×1 m2 black blue black target commonly used in W. Africa was used as the standard, and effects of changes in target size, shape, and the use of netting instead of black cloth were measured. Regarding overall target shape, we observed that horizontal targets (i.e. wider than they were high) killed 1.6-5x more G. p. gambiensis and G. tachinoides than vertical ones (i.e. higher than they were wide) (P<0.001). For the three tsetse species including G. p. palpalis, catches were highly correlated with the size of the target. However, beyond the size of 0.75 m, there was no increase in catches. Replacing the black cloth of the target by netting was the most cost efficient for all three species.
Conclusion/Significance: Reducing the size of the current 1*1 m black-blue-black target to horizontal designs of around 50 cm and replacing black cloth by netting will improve cost effectiveness six-fold for both G. p. gambiensis and G. tachinoides. Studying the visual responses of tsetse to different designs of target has allowed us to design more cost-effective devices for the effective control of sleeping sickness and animal trypanosomiasis in Africa
Parafermionic algebras, their modules and cohomologies
We explore the Fock spaces of the parafermionic algebra introduced by H.S.
Green. Each parafermionic Fock space allows for a free minimal resolution by
graded modules of the graded 2-step nilpotent subalgebra of the parafermionic
creation operators. Such a free resolution is constructed with the help of a
classical Kostant's theorem computing Lie algebra cohomologies of the nilpotent
subalgebra with values in the parafermionic Fock space. The Euler-Poincar\'e
characteristics of the parafermionic Fock space free resolution yields some
interesting identities between Schur polynomials. Finally we briefly comment on
parabosonic and general parastatistics Fock spaces.Comment: 10 pages, talk presented at the International Workshop "Lie theory
and its applications in Physics" (17-23 June 2013, Varna, Bulgaria
A wide-area GMRT 610-MHz survey of ELAIS N1 field
In this paper we present a wide-area 610 MHz survey of the ELAIS\,N1 field
with the GMRT, covering an area of 12.8 deg at a resolution of 6 arcsec and
with an rms noise of Jy beam. This is equivalent to Jy beam rms noise at 1.4 GHz for a spectral index of .
The primary goal of the survey was to study the polarised sky at sub-mJy flux
densities at GHz frequencies. In addition, a range of other science goals,
such as investigations in to the nature of the low-frequency Jy source
populations and alignments of radio jets. A total of 6,400 sources were found
in this region, the vast majority of them compact. The sample jointly detected
by GMRT at 610 MHz and by VLA FIRST at 1.4\,GHz has a median spectral index of
and a median 610 MHz flux density of 4.5 mJy. This region has
a wealth of ancillary data which is useful to characterize the detected
sources. The multi-wavelength cross matching resulted optical/IR counterparts
to per~cent of the radio sources, with a significant fraction having
at least photometric redshift. Due to the improved sensitivity of this survey
over preceding ones, we have discovered six giant radio sources (GRS), with
three of them at or higher. This implies that the population of GRS
may be more abundant and common than known to date and if true this has
implications for the luminosity function and the evolution of radio sources. We
have also identified several candidate extended relic sources
Generating reversible circuits from higher-order functional programs
Boolean reversible circuits are boolean circuits made of reversible
elementary gates. Despite their constrained form, they can simulate any boolean
function. The synthesis and validation of a reversible circuit simulating a
given function is a difficult problem. In 1973, Bennett proposed to generate
reversible circuits from traces of execution of Turing machines. In this paper,
we propose a novel presentation of this approach, adapted to higher-order
programs. Starting with a PCF-like language, we use a monadic representation of
the trace of execution to turn a regular boolean program into a
circuit-generating code. We show that a circuit traced out of a program
computes the same boolean function as the original program. This technique has
been successfully applied to generate large oracles with the quantum
programming language Quipper.Comment: 21 pages. A shorter preprint has been accepted for publication in the
Proceedings of Reversible Computation 2016. The final publication is
available at http://link.springer.co
Improving the Cost-Effectiveness of Artificial Visual Baits for Controlling the Tsetse Fly Glossina fuscipes fuscipes
Tsetse flies, which transmit sleeping sickness to humans and nagana to cattle, are commonly controlled by stationary artificial baits consisting of traps or insecticide-treated screens known as targets. In Kenya the use of electrocuting sampling devices showed that the numbers of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes (Newstead) visiting a biconical trap were nearly double those visiting a black target of 100 cm×100 cm. However, only 40% of the males and 21% of the females entered the trap, whereas 71% and 34%, respectively, alighted on the target. The greater number visiting the trap appeared to be due to its being largely blue, rather than being three-dimensional or raised above the ground. Through a series of variations of target design we show that a blue-and-black panel of cloth (0.06 m2) flanked by a panel (0.06 m2) of fine black netting, placed at ground level, would be about ten times more cost-effective than traps or large targets in control campaigns. This finding has important implications for controlling all subspecies of G. fuscipes, which are currently responsible for more than 90% of sleeping sickness cases
The Magnetic Environment of a Stealth Coronal Mass Ejection
Interest in stealth coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is increasing due to their relatively high occurrence rate and space weather impact. However, typical CME signatures such as extreme-ultraviolet dimmings and post-eruptive arcades are hard to identify and require extensive image processing techniques. These weak observational signatures mean that little is currently understood about the physics of these events. We present an extensive study of the magnetic field configuration in which the stealth CME of 2011 March 3 occurred. Three distinct episodes of flare ribbon formation are observed in the stealth CME source active region (AR). Two occurred prior to the eruption and suggest the occurrence of magnetic reconnection that builds the structure that will become eruptive. The third occurs in a time close to the eruption of a cavity that is observed in STEREO-B 171 Å data; this subsequently becomes part of the propagating CME observed in coronagraph data. We use both local (Cartesian) and global (spherical) models of the coronal magnetic field, which are complemented and verified by the observational analysis. We find evidence of a coronal null point, with field lines computed from its neighborhood connecting the stealth CME source region to two ARs in the northern hemisphere. We conclude that reconnection at the null point aids the eruption of the stealth CME by removing the field that acted to stabilize the preeruptive structure. This stealth CME, despite its weak signatures, has the main characteristics of other CMEs, and its eruption is driven by similar mechanisms
Gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior during running differs between simulated Lunar and Martian gravities
The international partnership of space agencies has agreed to proceed forward to the Moon sustainably. Activities on the Lunar surface (0.16 g) will allow crewmembers to advance the
exploration skills needed when expanding human presence to Mars (0.38 g). Whilst data from actual hypogravity activities are limited to the Apollo missions, simulation studies have indicated that ground reaction forces, mechanical work, muscle activation, and joint angles decrease with declining gravity level. However, these alterations in locomotion biomechanics do not necessarily scale to the gravity level, the reduction in gastrocnemius medialis activation even appears to level off around 0.2 g, while muscle activation pattern remains similar. Thus, it is difficult to predict whether gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior during running on Moon will basically be the same as on Mars. Therefore, this study investigated lower limb joint kinematics and gastrocnemius medialis behavior during running at 1 g, simulated Martian gravity, and simulated Lunar gravity on the vertical treadmill facility. The results indicate that hypogravity-induced alterations in joint kinematics and contractile behavior still persist between simulated running on the Moon and Mars. This contrasts
with the concept of a ceiling effect and should be carefully considered when evaluating exercise prescriptions and the transferability of locomotion practiced in Lunar gravity to Martian gravity
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