Climate change adaptation in European river basins

This paper contains an assessment and standardized comparative analysis of the current water management regimes in four case-studies in three European river basins: the Hungarian part of the Upper Tisza, the Ukrainian part of the Upper Tisza (also called Zacarpathian Tisza), Alentejo Region (including the Alqueva Reservoir) in the Lower Guadiana in Portugal, and Rivierenland in the Netherlands. The analysis comprises several regime elements considered to be important in adaptive and integrated water management: agency, awareness raising and education, type of governance and cooperation structures, information management and—exchange, policy development and—implementation, risk management, and finances and cost recovery. This comparative analysis has an explorative character intended to identify general patterns in adaptive and integrated water management and to determine its role in coping with the impacts of climate change on floods and droughts. The results show that there is a strong interdependence of the elements within a water management regime, and as such this interdependence is a stabilizing factor in current management regimes. For example, this research provides evidence that a lack of joint/participative knowledge is an important obstacle for cooperation, or vice versa. We argue that there is a two-way relationship between information management and collaboration. Moreover, this research suggests that bottom-up governance is not a straightforward solution to water management problems in large-scale, complex, multiple-use systems, such as river basins. Instead, all the regimes being analyzed are in a process of finding a balance between bottom-up and top–down governance. Finally, this research shows that in a basin where one type of extreme is dominant—like droughts in the Alentejo (Portugal) and floods in Rivierenland (Netherlands)—the potential impacts of other extremes are somehow ignored or not perceived with the urgency they might deserv

Complement-Mediated Virus Infectivity Neutralisation by HLA Antibodies Is Associated with Sterilising Immunity to SIV Challenge in the Macaque Model for HIV/AIDS.

Sterilising immunity is a desired outcome for vaccination against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and has been observed in the macaque model using inactivated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). This protection was attributed to antibodies specific for cell proteins including human leucocyte antigens (HLA) class I and II incorporated into virions during vaccine and challenge virus preparation. We show here, using HLA bead arrays, that vaccinated macaques protected from virus challenge had higher serum antibody reactivity compared with non-protected animals. Moreover, reactivity was shown to be directed against HLA framework determinants. Previous studies failed to correlate serum antibody mediated virus neutralisation with protection and were confounded by cytotoxic effects. Using a virus entry assay based on TZM-bl cells we now report that, in the presence of complement, serum antibody titres that neutralise virus infectivity were higher in protected animals. We propose that complement-augmented virus neutralisation is a key factor in inducing sterilising immunity and may be difficult to achieve with HIV/SIV Env-based vaccines. Understanding how to overcome the apparent block of inactivated SIV vaccines to elicit anti-envelope protein antibodies that effectively engage the complement system could enable novel anti-HIV antibody vaccines that induce potent, virolytic serological response to be developed

'Getting people on board': Discursive leadership for consensus building in team meetings

Meetings are increasingly seen as sites where organizing and strategic change take place, but the role of specific discursive strategies and related linguistic-pragmatic and argumentative devices, employed by meeting chairs, is little understood. The purpose of this article is to address the range of behaviours of chairs in business organizations by comparing strategies employed by the same chief executive officer (CEO) in two key meeting genres: regular management team meetings and ‘away-days’. While drawing on research from organization studies on the role of leadership in meetings and studies of language in the workplace from (socio)linguistics and discourse studies, we abductively identified five salient discursive strategies which meeting chairs employ in driving decision making: (1) Bonding; (2) Encouraging; (3) Directing; (4) Modulating; and (5) Re/Committing. We investigate the leadership styles of the CEO in both meeting genres via a multi-level approach using empirical data drawn from meetings of a single management team in a multinational defence corporation. Our key findings are, first, that the chair of the meetings (and leading manager) influences the outcome of the meetings in both negative and positive ways, through the choice of discursive strategies. Second, it becomes apparent that the specific context and related meeting genre mediate participation and the ability of the chair to control interactions within the team. Third, a more hierarchical authoritarian or a more interpersonal egalitarian leadership style can be identified via specific combinations of these five discursive strategies. The article concludes that the egalitarian leadership style increases the likelihood of achieving a durable consensus. Several related avenues for research are outlined

State–Space Forecasting of Schistosoma haematobium Time-Series in Niono, Mali

Adequate forecasting and early warning systems are based upon observations of human behavior, population, disease time-series, climate, environment, and/or a combination thereof, whichever option best compromises among realism, feasibility, robustness, and parsimony. Fully automatic and user-friendly state–space forecasting frameworks, incorporating myriad options (e.g., expert opinion, univariate, multivariate, and spatial-temporal), could considerably enhance disease control and hazard mitigation efforts in regions where vulnerability to neglected tropical diseases is pervasive and statistical expertise is scarce. The operational simplicity, generality, and flexibility of state–space frameworks, encapsulating multiple methods, could conveniently allow for 1) unsupervised model selection without disease-specific methodological tailoring, 2) on-line adaptation to disease time-series fluctuations, and 3) automatic switches between distinct forecasting methods as new time-series perturbations dictate. In this investigation, a univariate state–space framework with the aforementioned properties was successfully applied to the Schistosoma haematobium time-series for the district of Niono, Mali, to automatically generate contemporaneous on-line forecasts and hence, providing a basis for local re-organization and strengthening public health programs in this and potentially other Sahelian districts

The effect of latency on bone lengthening force and bone mineralization: an investigation using strain gauge mounted on internal distractor device

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of latency on the development of bone lengthening force and bone mineralization during mandible distraction osteogenesis. METHODS: Distraction tensions were investigated at different latency period in 36 rabbits using internal unilateral distractor. Strain gauges were prepared and attached to the distractor to directly assess the level of distraction tension during mandible lengthening. The tensile force environment of the mandible of rabbit during distraction was evaluated through in vivo experiments using two gauges. The animals were divided into 3 groups each containing 12 rabbits. Latency periods of 0, 4 and 7 days respectively were observed prior to beginning distraction. The distraction protocol consisted of a lengthening rate of 1 mm once daily for 8 days, followed by a consolidation phase of 2 weeks after which the animals were killed. Biopsies specimens were taken from the distracted area at the end of the distraction period. A non-distracted area of the mandible bone served as control. The specimens were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy to assess the ultrastructural pattern, and the bone mineralization. RESULTS: The resting tension acting on the distraction gap increases through distraction. The 7-day latency groups exhibit higher tension then those of 0-day and 4-days latency groups. Quantitative energy dispersive spectral analysis confirmed that immediate distractions were associated with lower calcium and phosphate atomic weight ratio. CONCLUSION: the latency periods could affect the bone lengthening tension and the bone mineralization process

Occupational stress, work-home interference and burnout among Belgian veterinary practitioners

There have been few formal studies on stress in veterinary surgeons and, in the rare studies available, stress is not examined jointly through the levels of job strain and job engagement, the sources of stress in the issue of work environment and the work-home interference. The authors' goal in this study was to analyse job engagement, job strain, burnout, work-home interference and job stress factors among 216 Belgian veterinary surgeons. Rural practice was compared to small animal and mixed activity. The mean job strain and job engagement level in veterinary surgeons was not higher than what we found in other working populations. However, 15.6% of the group were found to be suffering from high burnout. Rural practitioners had a lower level of job engagement than small animal veterinary surgeons. These small animal practitioners had a lower level of job strain than the mixed practitioners. The level of burnout did not differ significantly across the three types of activity. In comparison to other Belgian and Dutch workers, veterinary surgeons perceived more negative work-home interference. Bovine and mixed practitioners were the most concerned with this problem. The two most important sources of stress reported by bovine practitioners were relations to farmers and working time management (including emergencies and availability)

Changes in practice patterns affecting in-hospital and post-discharge survival among ACS patients

BACKGROUND: Adherence to clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of specific illnesses may result in unexpected outcomes, given that multiple therapies must often be given to patients with diverse medical conditions. Yet, few studies have presented empirical evidence that quality improvement (QI) programs both change practice by improving adherence to guidelines and improve patient outcomes under the conditions of actual practice. Thus, we focus on patient survival, following hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome in three successive patient cohorts from the same community hospitals, with a quality improvement intervention occurring between cohorts two and three. METHODS: This study is a comparison of three historical cohorts of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients in the same five community hospitals in 1994–5, 1997, 2002–3. A quality improvement project, the Guidelines Applied to Practice (GAP), was implemented in these hospitals in 2001. Study participants were recruited from community hospitals located in two Michigan communities during three separate time periods. The cohorts comprise (1) patients enrolled between December 1993 and April 1995 (N = 814), (2) patients enrolled between February 1997 and September 1997 (N = 452), and (3) patients enrolled between January 14, 2002 and April 13, 2003 (N = 710). Mortality data were obtained from Michigan's Bureau of Vital Statistics for all three patient cohorts. Predictor variables, obtained from medical record reviews, included demographic information, indicators of disease severity (ejection fraction), co-morbid conditions, hospital treatment information concerning most invasive procedures and the use of ace-inhibitors, beta-blockers and aspirin in the hospital and as discharge recommendations. RESULTS: Adjusted in-hospital mortality showed a marked improvement with a HR = 0.16 (p < 0.001) comparing 2003 patients in the same hospitals to those 10 years earlier. Large gains in the in-hospital mortality were maintained based on 1-year mortality rates after hospital discharge. CONCLUSION: Changes in practice patterns that follow recommended guidelines can significantly improve care for ACS patients. In-hospital mortality gains were maintained in the year following discharge

Effects of fatigue on trunk stability in elite gymnasts

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that fatigue due to exercises performed in training leads to a decrement of trunk stability in elite, female gymnasts. Nine female gymnasts participated in the study. To fatigue trunk muscles, four series of five dump handstands on the uneven bar were performed. Before and after the fatigue protocol, participants performed three trials of a balancing task while sitting on a seat fixed over a hemisphere to create an unstable surface. A force plate tracked the location of the center of pressure (CoP). In addition, nine trials were performed in which the seat was backward inclined over a set angle and suddenly released after which the subject had to regain balance. Sway amplitude and frequency in unperturbed sitting were determined from the CoP time series and averaged over trials. The maximum displacement and rate of recovery of the CoP location after the sudden release were determined and averaged over trials. After the fatigue protocol, sway amplitude in the fore-aft direction was significantly increased (p = 0.03), while sway frequency was decreased (p = 0.005). In addition, the maximum displacement after the sudden release was increased (p = 0.009), while the rate of recovery after the perturbation was decreased (p = 0.05). Fatigue induced by series of exercises representing a realistic training load caused a measurable decrement in dynamic stability of the trunk in elite gymnasts

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques