2,494 research outputs found
Maintaining Vaccine Delivery Following the Introduction of the Rotavirus and Pneumococcal Vaccines in Thailand
Although the substantial burdens of rotavirus and pneumococcal disease have motivated many countries to consider introducing the rotavirus vaccine (RV) and heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) to their National Immunization Programs (EPIs), these new vaccines could affect the countries' vaccine supply chains (i.e., the series of steps required to get a vaccine from their manufacturers to patients). We developed detailed computational models of the Trang Province, Thailand, vaccine supply chain to simulate introducing various RV and PCV-7 vaccine presentations and their combinations. Our results showed that the volumes of these new vaccines in addition to current routine vaccines could meet and even exceed (1) the refrigerator space at the provincial district and sub-district levels and (2) the transport cold space at district and sub-district levels preventing other vaccines from being available to patients who arrive to be immunized. Besides the smallest RV presentation (17.1 cm3/dose), all other vaccine introduction scenarios required added storage capacity at the provincial level (range: 20 L–1151 L per month) for the three largest formulations, and district level (range: 1 L–124 L per month) across all introduction scenarios. Similarly, with the exception of the two smallest RV presentation (17.1 cm3/dose), added transport capacity was required at both district and sub-district levels. Added transport capacity required across introduction scenarios from the provincial to district levels ranged from 1 L–187 L, and district to sub-district levels ranged from 1 L–13 L per shipment. Finally, only the smallest RV vaccine presentation (17.1 cm3/dose) had no appreciable effect on vaccine availability at sub-districts. All other RV and PCV-7 vaccines were too large for the current supply chain to handle without modifications such as increasing storage or transport capacity. Introducing these new vaccines to Thailand could have dynamic effects on the availability of all vaccines that may not be initially apparent to decision-makers
Observer Dependent Horizon Temperatures: a Coordinate-Free Formulation of Hawking Radiation as Tunneling
We reformulate the Hamilton-Jacobi tunneling method for calculating Hawking
radiation in static, spherically-symmetric spacetimes by explicitly
incorporating a preferred family of frames. These frames correspond to a family
of observers tied to a locally static timelike Killing vector of the spacetime.
This formulation separates the role of the coordinates from the choice of
vacuum and thus provides a coordinate-independent formulation of the tunneling
method. In addition, it clarifies the nature of certain constants and their
relation to these preferred observers in the calculation of horizon
temperatures. We first use this formalism to obtain the expected temperature
for a static observer at finite radius in the Schwarzschild spacetime. We then
apply this formalism to the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime, where there is
no static observer with 4-velocity equal to the static timelike Killing vector.
It is shown that a preferred static observer, one whose trajectory is geodesic,
measures the lowest temperature from each horizon. Furthermore, this observer
measures horizon temperatures corresponding to the well-known Bousso-Hawking
normalization.Comment: 11 pages, 1 2-part figure, references added, appendix added,
discussion streamline
Strategy-Proofness and Efficiency with Nonquasi-Linear Preferences: A Characterization of Minimum Price Walrasian Rule
Privacy in crowdsourcing:a systematic review
The advent of crowdsourcing has brought with it multiple privacy challenges. For example, essential monitoring activities, while necessary and unavoidable, also potentially compromise contributor privacy. We conducted an extensive literature review of the research related to the privacy aspects of crowdsourcing. Our investigation revealed interesting gender differences and also differences in terms of individual perceptions. We conclude by suggesting a number of future research directions.</p
Challenging SO(10) SUSY GUTs with family symmetries through FCNC processes
We perform a detailed analysis of the SO(10) SUSY GUT model with D3 family
symmetry of Dermisek and Raby (DR). The model is specified in terms of 24
parameters and predicts, as a function of them, the whole MSSM set of
parameters at low energy scales. Concerning the SM subset of such parameters,
the model is able to give a satisfactory description of the quark and lepton
masses, of the PMNS matrix and of the CKM matrix. We perform a global fit to
the model, including flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) processes Bs -->
mu+ mu-, B --> Xs gamma, B --> Xs l+ l- and the B(d,s) - bar B(d,s) mass
differences Delta M(d,s) as well as the flavour changing (FC) process B+ -->
tau+ nu. These observables provide at present the most sensitive probe of the
SUSY mass spectrum and couplings predicted by the model. Our analysis
demonstrates that the simultaneous description of the FC observables in
question represents a serious challenge for the DR model, unless the masses of
the scalars are moved to regions which are problematic from the point of view
of naturalness and probably beyond the reach of the LHC. We emphasize that this
problem could be a general feature of SUSY GUT models with third generation
Yukawa unification and weak-scale minimal flavour violation.Comment: 1 + 37 pages, 5 figures, 11 tables. v3: minor typos fixed. Matches
JHEP published versio
A Superconductor Made by a Metal Heterostructure at the Atomic Limit Tuned at the "Shape Resonance": MgB2
We have studied the variation of Tc with charge density and lattice
parameters in Mg1-xAlxB2 superconducting samples at low Al doping x<8%. We show
that high Tc occurs where the chemical potential is tuned at a "superconducting
shape resonance" near the energy Ec of the quantum critical point (QCP) for the
dimensional transition from 2D to 3D electronic structure in a particular
subband of the natural superlattice of metallic atomic boron layers. At the
"shape resonance" the electrons pairs see a 2D Fermi surface at EF-w0 and a 3D
Fermi surface at EF+wo, where wo is the energy cut off of the pairing
interaction. The resonant amplification occurs in a narrow energy range where
EF-Ec is in the range of 2wo.Comment: 16 page
Augmenting Transport versus Increasing Cold Storage to Improve Vaccine Supply Chains
Background:When addressing the urgent task of improving vaccine supply chains, especially to accommodate the introduction of new vaccines, there is often a heavy emphasis on stationary storage. Currently, donations to vaccine supply chains occur largely in the form of storage equipment.Methods:This study utilized a HERMES-generated detailed, dynamic, discrete event simulation model of the Niger vaccine supply chain to compare the impacts on vaccine availability of adding stationary cold storage versus transport capacity at different levels and to determine whether adding stationary storage capacity alone would be enough to relieve potential bottlenecks when pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines are introduced by 2015.Results:Relieving regional level storage bottlenecks increased vaccine availability (by 4%) more than relieving storage bottlenecks at the district (1% increase), central (no change), and clinic (no change) levels alone. Increasing transport frequency (or capacity) yielded far greater gains (e.g., 15% increase in vaccine availability when doubling transport frequency to the district level and 18% when tripling). In fact, relieving all stationary storage constraints could only increase vaccine availability by 11%, whereas doubling the transport frequency throughout the system led to a 26% increase and tripling the frequency led to a 30% increase. Increasing transport frequency also reduced the amount of stationary storage space needed in the supply chain. The supply chain required an additional 61,269L of storage to relieve constraints with the current transport frequency, 55,255L with transport frequency doubled, and 51,791L with transport frequency tripled.Conclusions:When evaluating vaccine supply chains, it is important to understand the interplay between stationary storage and transport. The HERMES-generated dynamic simulation model showed how augmenting transport can result in greater gains than only augmenting stationary storage and can reduce stationary storage needs. © 2013 Haidari et al
Fourth order indirect integration method for black hole perturbations: even modes
On the basis of a recently proposed strategy of finite element integration in
time domain for partial differential equations with a singular source term, we
present a fourth order algorithm for non-rotating black hole perturbations in
the Regge-Wheeler gauge. Herein, we address even perturbations induced by a
particle plunging in. The forward time value at the upper node of the
grid cell is obtained by an algebraic sum of i) the preceding node values of
the same cell, ii) analytic expressions, related to the jump conditions on the
wave function and its derivatives, iii) the values of the wave function at
adjacent cells. In this approach, the numerical integration does not deal with
the source and potential terms directly, for cells crossed by the particle
world line. This scheme has also been applied to circular and eccentric orbits
and it will be object of a forthcoming publication.Comment: This series of papers deals with EMRI for LISA. With the respect to
the v1 version, the algorithm has been improved; convergence tests and
references have been added; v2 is composed by 23 pages, and 6 figures. Paper
accepted by Class. Quantum Gravity for the special issue on Theory Meets Data
Analysis at Comparable and Extreme Mass Ratios (Capra and NRDA) at Perimeier
Institute in June 201
Cornering Solar Radiative-Zone Fluctuations with KamLAND and SNO Salt
We update the best constraints on fluctuations in the solar medium deep
within the solar Radiative Zone to include the new SNO-salt solar neutrino
measurements. We find that these new measurements are now sufficiently precise
that neutrino oscillation parameters can be inferred independently of any
assumptions about fluctuation properties. Constraints on fluctuations are also
improved, with amplitudes of 5% now excluded at the 99% confidence level for
correlation lengths in the range of several hundred km. Because they are
sensitive to correlation lengths which are so short, these solar neutrino
results are complementary to constraints coming from helioseismology.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX file using RevTEX4, 6 figures include
Testing and comparing two self-care-related instruments among older Chinese adults
Objectives The study aimed to test and compare the reliability and validity, including sensitivity and specificity of the two self-care-related instruments, the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly (SASE), and the Appraisal of Self-care Agency Scale-Revised (ASAS-R), among older adults in the Chinese context. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study. The sample consisted of 1152 older adults. Data were collected by a questionnaire including the Chinese version of SASE (SASE-CHI), the Chinese version of ASAS-R (ASAS-R-CHI) and the Exercise of Self-Care Agency scale (ESCA). Homogeneity and stability, content, construct and concurrent validity, and sensitivity and specificity were assessed. Results The Cronbach's alpha (α) of SASE-CHI was 0.89, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.15 to r = 0.81, and the test-retest correlation coefficient (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.99±1.00; P<0.001). The Cronbach's α of ASAS-R-CHI was 0.78, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.20 to r = 0.65, and the test-retest ICC was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92±0.96; P<0.001). The content validity index (CVI) of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI was 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. The findings of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) confirmed a good construct validity of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI. The Pearson's rank correlation coefficients, as a measure of concurrent validity, between total score of SASE-CHI and ESCA and ASAS-R-CHI and ESCA were assessed to 0.65 (P<0.001) and 0.62 (P<0.001), respectively. Regarding ESCA as the criterion, the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve for the cut-point of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI were 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91±0.94) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.80±0.86), respectively. Conclusion There is no significant difference between the two instruments. Each has its own characteristics, but SASE-CHI is more suitable for older adults. The key point is that the users can choose the most appropriate scale according to the specific situation.publishedVersionNivå
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