Constraints on the active tectonics of the Friuli/NW Slovenia area from CGPS measurements and three-dimensional kinematic modeling

We use site velocities from continuous GPS (CGPS) observations and kinematic modeling to investigate the active tectonics of the Friuli/NW Slovenia area. Data from 42 CGPS stations around the Adriatic indicate an oblique collision, with southern Friuli moving NNW toward northern Friuli at the relative speed of 1.6 to 2.2 mm/a. We investigate the active tectonics using 3DMove, a three-dimensional kinematic model tool. The model consists of one indenter-shaped fault plane that approximates the Adriatic plate boundary. Using the ‘‘fault-parallel flow’’ deformation algorithm, we move the hanging wall along the fault plane in the direction indicated by the GPS velocities. The resulting strain field is used for structural interpretation. We identify a pattern of coincident strain maxima and high vorticity that correlates well with groups of hypocenters of major earthquakes (including their aftershocks) and indicates the orientation of secondary, active faults. The pattern reveals structures both parallel and perpendicular to the strike of the primary fault. In the eastern sector, which shows more complex tectonics, these two sets of faults probably form an interacting strike-slip system

Integrating Value for Money and Impact Evaluations: Issues, Institutions, and Opportunities

This mixed methods study investigates why fewer than one in five impact evaluations integrates a value-for-money analysis of the development intervention being evaluated. This study distills four main insights from combined analysis of 33 semi-structured and unstructured interviews, surveys of 497 policy makers and 16 journal editors, and portfolio analyses of World Bank and worldwide impact evaluations. The study finds that low levels of training in cost data collection and analysis methods, together with a lack of standardization of the value-for-money assumptions (e.g., time horizons, discount rates, and economic or financial cost accounting) limit value-for-money integration into impact evaluations. Further eroding researchers' incentives, demand for cost evidence from the journals that publish impact evaluations is mixed. Ill-defined standards of rigor undermine editors' capacity to evaluate the quality of value-for-money analysis when it is integrated with impact evaluation evidence. Institutional funders of impact evaluations do not consistently demand that cost analysis be integrated into their funded evaluations. This study finds no evidence in support of the myth that policymakers do not demand cost evidence. Rather, it finds that researchers have few ways of knowing what kind of analysis policymakers need and when they need it. Improving the stock of impact evaluators who are cross trained in value-for-money methods, establishing standards in what constitutes rigor in costing, resolving methodological issues, and improving linkages between policymakers and researchers would lead to greater integration of value-for-money methods in impact evaluations

On the edge of a new frontier: Is gerontological social work in the UK ready to meet twenty-first-century challenges?

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website. Copyright @ 2013 The Authors.This article explores the readiness of gerontological social work in the UK for meeting the challenges of an ageing society by investigating the focus on work with older people in social work education and the scope of gerontological social work research. The discussion draws on findings from two exploratory studies: a survey of qualifying master's programmes in England and a survey of the content relating to older people over a six-year period in four leading UK social work journals. The evidence from master's programmes suggests widespread neglect of ageing in teaching content and practice learning. Social work journals present a more nuanced picture. Older people emerge within coverage of generic policy issues for adults, such as personalisation and safeguarding, and there is good evidence of the complexity of need in late life. However, there is little attention to effective social work interventions, with an increasingly diverse older population, or to the quality of gerontological social work education. The case is made for infusing content on older people throughout the social work curriculum, for extending practice learning opportunities in social work with older people and for increasing the volume and reporting of gerontological social work research.Brunel Institute for Ageing Studie

Anavip interaction with western pygmy rattlesnake venom: In vitro assessment of reactivity using SE-HPLC

Background: Every year there are a large number of venomous snake bites that occur around the world and especially in tropical areas. This is a problem that is faced worldwide with the World Health Organization classifying venomous snake bites as one of their highest priority neglected tropical diseases. One of the reasons for this classification is the short supply of antivenom compared to the number of snake envenomations that occurs each year. The standard of care for snake envenomation is administration of antivenom. Many antivenoms are polyvalent in that they are produced using venoms from multiple species of snakes. These polyvalent antivenoms can treat envenomation from the snake venoms that are used in the production, but also show cross-reactivity against snake venoms that share similar components. Determining the cross reactivities of antivenoms could help improve the quality of treatment, and provide a better understanding of venom-antivenom binding. Until recently there has only been one antivenom available for treatment of North American Crotaline envenomation. With the introduction of an F(ab')2 antivenom (Anavip) into the United States, we look at the cross-reactivity of the western pygmy rattlesnake, Sistrurus miliarius streckeri, against Anavip.Methods: SE-HPLC was used to assess cross-reactivity. SE-HPLC is a viable method to analyze antivenom-venom reactivity based on separation of higher molecular weight complexes that form vs unreacted components. Estimates of venom-antivenom reactivity was measured in reaction mixtures based on the increase in the elution profile area where higher molecular weight complexes are observed (region 1) and on the decrease in the elution profile area where reactants are observed (region 2). Reaction mixtures contained Anavip (1.0 mg/ml) and S. miliarius venom (0.125, 0.25, 0.5, or 1.0 mg/ml). Controls were Anavip and S. miliarius (1.0mg/ml). Mixtures were incubated at 37° C for 30 minutes, then stored at 4° C prior to SE-HPLC.Results: Cross-reactivity was seen between Anavip and S. miliarius venom based on changes in elution profile areas. A decrease in region 2 (reactants) and increase in region 1 (immune complexes) was observed at all venom-antivenom concentrations. The maximum venom-antivenom binding was calculated, based on changes in profile region areas, to be approximately 67% relative to the total area.Discussion/Conclusion: Apparent saturation of reactive antivenom was observed at all venom concentrations. Estimates of Anavip reactivity with S. miliarius venom are seen in the changes of the elution profile region areas, showing the formation of larger molecular weight complexes and decrease in reactants. This shows that Anavip could provide protective effects against S. miliarius envenomation. Further studies are needed to determine binding within a broader range of venom concentrations, as well as the composition of reactive and unreacted components. Results suggest that binding of Anavip to S.miliarius venom does occur, which is consistent with protective effects that are observed clinically

Universal quantum computation with unlabeled qubits

We show that an n-th root of the Walsh-Hadamard transform (obtained from the Hadamard gate and a cyclic permutation of the qubits), together with two diagonal matrices, namely a local qubit-flip (for a fixed but arbitrary qubit) and a non-local phase-flip (for a fixed but arbitrary coefficient), can do universal quantum computation on n qubits. A quantum computation, making use of n qubits and based on these operations, is then a word of variable length, but whose letters are always taken from an alphabet of cardinality three. Therefore, in contrast with other universal sets, no choice of qubit lines is needed for the application of the operations described here. A quantum algorithm based on this set can be interpreted as a discrete diffusion of a quantum particle on a de Bruijn graph, corrected on-the-fly by auxiliary modifications of the phases associated to the arcs.Comment: 6 page

Combined Reconstruction and Registration of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has the potential to en- hance breast cancer detection by reducing the confounding e ect of su- perimposed tissue associated with conventional mammography. In addi- tion the increased volumetric information should enable temporal datasets to be more accurately compared, a task that radiologists routinely apply to conventional mammograms to detect the changes associated with ma- lignancy. In this paper we address the problem of comparing DBT data by combining reconstruction of a pair of temporal volumes with their reg- istration. Using a simple test object, and DBT simulations from in vivo breast compressions imaged using MRI, we demonstrate that this com- bined reconstruction and registration approach produces improvements in both the reconstructed volumes and the estimated transformation pa- rameters when compared to performing the tasks sequentially