964 research outputs found
Climate Control System Improvements-Planning Phase
The Wildlife Conservation Society Archives comprises records created over WCSâs 119-year history. The Archives is currently undergoing a revitalization led by major improvements to the care of and access to the collections. Recently, WCS Administration identified a new location for the collections, which offers a far stronger opportunity than the current location to develop a sustainable preservation environment. The proposed project will result in the WCS Archives Conceptual Preservation Design Plan. Founded upon preservation strategies balancing effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact, this plan will serve as the crucial first step in the Archivesâ relocation to this new space. By convening an interdisciplinary team to work collaboratively on this plan, the Archives seeks to develop the foundation that will guide the sustainable protection of the WCS Archivesâ physical collections and the continued study and enjoyment of these unique collections by future generations
The role of breadth and depth of openness in explaining innovation performance in a regional context
For a few Euro more: Benefit Generosity and the Optimal Path of Unemployment Benefits
In this paper, we exploit the provision of higher UB at different points of the unemployment spell to shed light on the relative cost of insurance at different horizons after the job loss. First, we exploit a double cap system in an RDD setting to study the effect of higher benefit levels in the early part of unemployment spell on time on benefits and non-employment. We find that higher benefits increase the time spent on benefits and in non-employment, with no impact on new job quality. Second, we exploit an age-based discontinuity in benefit duration, which determines higher benefits later in the spell, to compare the behavioural and mechanical costs of these two variations in benefits. We find that the moral hazard costs are greater for higher benefit levels early in the spell. In addition, we provide evidence of a slight negative selection in long term unemployment and argue that the long-term unemployed face higher uncertainty in their employment prospects. These findings suggest that higher benefits later in the unemployment spell generate lower costs and would provide higher insurance. Our results question the optimality of strongly declining schedules for unemployment benefit levels
International Investment Agreements and FDI inflows in Africa
Using investment-level data, we study the location choice of 8,283 greenïŹeld investments in 44 African countries over the 2003-2017 period, focusing on the role of International Investment Agreements. We document a positive relation between the existence of these agreements and the location of FDI into African countries. This overall eïŹect appears to be driven by investments in Services and in Construction and Electricity, while no eïŹect appears to exist for Extraction investments
Free-space quantum key distribution by rotation-invariant twisted photons
Twisted photons are photons carrying a well-defined nonzero value of orbital
angular momentum (OAM). The associated optical wave exhibits a helical shape of
the wavefront (hence the name) and an optical vortex at the beam axis. The OAM
of light is attracting a growing interest for its potential in photonic
applications ranging from particle manipulation, microscopy and
nanotechnologies, to fundamental tests of quantum mechanics, classical data
multiplexing and quantum communication. Hitherto, however, all results obtained
with optical OAM were limited to laboratory scale. Here we report the
experimental demonstration of a link for free-space quantum communication with
OAM operating over a distance of 210 meters. Our method exploits OAM in
combination with optical polarization to encode the information in
rotation-invariant photonic states, so as to guarantee full independence of the
communication from the local reference frames of the transmitting and receiving
units. In particular, we implement quantum key distribution (QKD), a protocol
exploiting the features of quantum mechanics to guarantee unconditional
security in cryptographic communication, demonstrating error-rate performances
that are fully compatible with real-world application requirements. Our results
extend previous achievements of OAM-based quantum communication by over two
orders of magnitudes in the link scale, providing an important step forward in
achieving the vision of a worldwide quantum network
Newborn firms and regional diversification patterns: The role of cultural diversity
We blend the economics of diversity and evolutionary
economic geography theories and study the relationship
between the cultural diversity of foreign-born entrepreneurs and regional sectoral diversification, proxied by
the sectoral variety of newborn firms. We focus on
Italian evidence and use a unique data set that stems
from a combination of different sources of information,
including the Union of the Chambers of Commerce, the
OECD, and the National Institute of Statistics. The
results confirm that cultural diversity of entrepreneurs
is associated with greater sectoral variety of newborn
firms, with an imbalance in favor of variety in unrelated
activities vis-Ă -vis related ones
Cervical carcinogenesis, bacterial vaginosis, HPV-mRNA test and relapse of CIN2+ after loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP)
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study
was to evaluate the relationship between bacterial
vaginosis (BV) and relapse of cervical intraepithelial
neoplasia grade 2 or more (CIN2+) after Loop
electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP).
PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred four
patients who underwent LEEP for CIN2+ were followed
up every six months for three years. Fifty-three
were negative for BV and fifty-one were positive.
Each clinical control included Pap test, colposcopy,
Amsel criteria test, HPV-DNA, and HPV-mRNA test.
RESULTS: Patientsâ age, presence of BV, positivity
to HPV-DNA and HPV-mRNA tests were analyzed.
The average age of patients was 42.5 ± 8.92 years
(median: 42.5; range from 27 to 58 years). The minimum
follow-up was 6 months and maximum 36
months (average: 22.8 ± 4.53; median: 24). The 10%
of the patients with HPV-mRNA test negative had relapsed,
compared to 45% of patients with HPV-mRNA
test positive. Among the 53 patients without BV
the 20% had relapsed compared with 23% of 51 patients
with diagnosis of BV.
CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence for higher
percentage of relapse in patients with BV, submitted
to excisional procedure for CIN2+ associated
to HPV-m-RNA test positivity. There is only a correlation
among BV and relapse of CIN2+ lesions after
LEEP
Leptogenesis in the minimal supersymmetric triplet seesaw model
In the supersymmetric triplet (type-II) seesaw model, in which a single
SU(2)_L-triplet couples to leptons, the high-energy neutrino flavour structure
can be directly determined from the low-energy neutrino data. We show that even
with such a minimal triplet content, leptogenesis can be naturally accommodated
thanks to the resonant interference between superpotential and soft
supersymmetry breaking terms.Comment: References added, discussion expanded, to appear in PL
Peristomal Skin Complications in Ileostomy and Colostomy Patients: What We Need to Know from a Public Health Perspective
Background: Peristomal skin complications (PSCs) are the most common skin problems seen after ostomy surgery. They have a considerable impact on a patient's quality of life and contribute to a higher cost of care. Methods: A systematic review was conducted, querying three databases. The analysis was performed on international studies focused on the clinical-epidemiological burden of PSCs in adult patients with ileostomy/colostomy. Results: Overall, 23 studies were considered. The main diseases associated with ostomy surgery were rectal, colon and gynecological cancers, inflammatory bowel diseases, diverticulitis, bowel obstruction and intestinal perforation. Erythema, papules, skin erosions, ulcers and vesicles were the most common PSCs for patients with an ostomy (or stoma). A PSCs incidence ranging from 36.3% to 73.4% was described. Skin complications increased length of stay (LOS) and rates of readmission within 120 days of surgery. Conclusions: PSCs data are still limited. A knowledge of their burden is essential to support health personnel and decision-makers in identifying the most appropriate responses to patients' needs. Proper management of these complications plays a fundamental role in improving the patient's quality of life. A multidisciplinary approach, as well as increased patient education and their empowerment, are priority measures to be implemented to foster a value-based healthcare
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