1,375 research outputs found
Smart cities and digital technologies: the case of bike sharing
In this paper we use three contrasting case examples to illustrate how digital technologies underpinning smart cities can be used to enable the development of much more efficient âbike sharingâ systems. We present a framework integrating smart cities and big data with sharing systems. We use this framework to assess bike sharing system in a future city context around their feasibility, vulnerability, adaptability and acceptability. The potential benefits and problems of sharing system as a basis for future operations models in smart cities are discussed
Need for timely paediatric HIV treatment within primary health care in rural South Africa
<p>Background: In areas where adult HIV prevalence has reached hyperendemic levels, many infants remain at risk of acquiring HIV infection. Timely access to care and treatment for HIV-infected infants and young children remains an important challenge. We explore the extent to which public sector roll-out has met the estimated need for paediatric treatment in a rural South African setting.</p>
<p>Methods: Local facility and population-based data were used to compare the number of HIV infected children accessing HAART before 2008, with estimates of those in need of treatment from a deterministic modeling approach. The impact of programmatic improvements on estimated numbers of children in need of treatment was assessed in sensitivity analyses.</p>
<p>Findings: In the primary health care programme of HIV treatment 346 children <16 years of age initiated HAART by 2008; 245(70.8%) were aged 10 years or younger, and only 2(<1%) under one year of age. Deterministic modeling predicted 2,561 HIV infected children aged 10 or younger to be alive within the area, of whom at least 521(20.3%) would have required immediate treatment. Were extended PMTCT uptake to reach 100% coverage, the annual number of infected infants could be reduced by 49.2%.</p>
<p>Conclusion: Despite progress in delivering decentralized HIV services to a rural sub-district in South Africa, substantial unmet need for treatment remains. In a local setting, very few children were initiated on treatment under 1 year of age and steps have now been taken to successfully improve early diagnosis and referral of infected infants.</p>
Beyond MFV in family symmetry theories of fermion masses
Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) postulates that the only source of flavour
changing neutral currents and CP violation, as in the Standard Model, is the
CKM matrix. However it does not address the origin of fermion masses and mixing
and models that do usually have a structure that goes well beyond the MFV
framework. In this paper we compare the MFV predictions with those obtained in
models based on spontaneously broken (horizontal) family symmetries, both
Abelian and non-Abelian. The generic suppression of flavour changing processes
in these models turns out to be weaker than in the MFV hypothesis. Despite
this, in the supersymmetric case, the suppression may still be consistent with
a solution to the hierarchy problem, with masses of superpartners below 1 TeV.
A comparison of FCNC and CP violation in processes involving a variety of
different family quantum numbers should be able to distinguish between various
family symmetry models and models satisfying the MFV hypothesis.Comment: 34 pages, no figure
Palmaria palmata (Dulse) as an unusual maritime aetiology of hyperkalemia in a patient with chronic renal failure: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Hyperkalemia is rare in individuals with normal renal function, regardless of dietary intake. This is due to the ability of the kidneys to adapt to increasing serum potassium concentrations. In patients with renal compromise, potassium homeostasis can become impaired. <it>Palmaria palmata </it>(dulse) is an edible seaweed known to be very rich in potassium. We report a case of hyperkalemia precipitated by the consumption of dulse by a patient with known renal disease.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>A 66-year-old Caucasian woman with diabetes and chronic renal disease presented to our emergency department with nausea, vomiting, and worsening malaise, which had been present for less than a day. She had undergone electrocardiogram monitoring, which showed bradycardia, and periods of asystole. Our patient denied any other symptoms. Laboratory analysis revealed a serum potassium level of 8.6 mmol/L (normal range 3.5 to 4.9 mmol/L). Although our patient was taking some medications known to influence renal function, the only recent change that she could recount was that she had consumed approximately 200 g of dulse within the preceding 24 hours. A diagnosis of hyperkalemia was made, and the patient was treated successfully, and discharged home in her pre-morbid state.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published report of hyperkalemia due to dulse consumption. Dulse is high in potassium, with concentrations upwards of 34 times greater than that found in bananas. Caution should be taken in prescribing medications with potential adverse renal effects for patients with known renal impairment. In such instances, renal function should be monitored closely. Patients should be counseled to avoid dietary sources high in potassium, with particular attention paid to unusual geographical dietary variations.</p
10 simple rules to create a serious game, illustrated with examples from structural biology
Serious scientific games are games whose purpose is not only fun. In the
field of science, the serious goals include crucial activities for scientists:
outreach, teaching and research. The number of serious games is increasing
rapidly, in particular citizen science games, games that allow people to
produce and/or analyze scientific data. Interestingly, it is possible to build
a set of rules providing a guideline to create or improve serious games. We
present arguments gathered from our own experience ( Phylo , DocMolecules ,
HiRE-RNA contest and Pangu) as well as examples from the growing literature on
scientific serious games
Bilinear R-parity violation with flavor symmetry
Bilinear R-parity violation (BRPV) provides the simplest intrinsically
supersymmetric neutrino mass generation scheme. While neutrino mixing
parameters can be probed in high energy accelerators, they are unfortunately
not predicted by the theory. Here we propose a model based on the discrete
flavor symmetry with a single R-parity violating parameter, leading to
(i) correct Cabbibo mixing given by the Gatto-Sartori-Tonin formula, and a
successful unification-like b-tau mass relation, and (ii) a correlation between
the lepton mixing angles and in agreement with
recent neutrino oscillation data, as well as a (nearly) massless neutrino,
leading to absence of neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures. Extended version, as published in JHE
The generalised NMSSM at one loop: fine tuning and phenomenology
We determine the degree of fine tuning needed in a generalised version of the
NMSSM that follows from an underlying Z4 or Z8 R symmetry. We find that it is
significantly less than is found in the MSSM or NMSSM and extends the range of
Higgs mass that have acceptable fine tuning up to Higgs masses of mh ~ 130 GeV.
For universal boundary conditions analogous to the CMSSM the phenomenology is
rather MSSM like with the singlet states typically rather heavy. For more
general boundary conditions the singlet states can be light, leading to
interesting signatures at the LHC and direct detection experiments.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, matches published versio
Strange Attractors in Dissipative Nambu Mechanics : Classical and Quantum Aspects
We extend the framework of Nambu-Hamiltonian Mechanics to include dissipation
in phase space. We demonstrate that it accommodates the phase space
dynamics of low dimensional dissipative systems such as the much studied Lorenz
and R\"{o}ssler Strange attractors, as well as the more recent constructions of
Chen and Leipnik-Newton. The rotational, volume preserving part of the flow
preserves in time a family of two intersecting surfaces, the so called {\em
Nambu Hamiltonians}. They foliate the entire phase space and are, in turn,
deformed in time by Dissipation which represents their irrotational part of the
flow. It is given by the gradient of a scalar function and is responsible for
the emergence of the Strange Attractors.
Based on our recent work on Quantum Nambu Mechanics, we provide an explicit
quantization of the Lorenz attractor through the introduction of
Non-commutative phase space coordinates as Hermitian matrices in
. They satisfy the commutation relations induced by one of the two
Nambu Hamiltonians, the second one generating a unique time evolution.
Dissipation is incorporated quantum mechanically in a self-consistent way
having the correct classical limit without the introduction of external degrees
of freedom. Due to its volume phase space contraction it violates the quantum
commutation relations. We demonstrate that the Heisenberg-Nambu evolution
equations for the Quantum Lorenz system give rise to an attracting ellipsoid in
the dimensional phase space.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figures, LaTe
The Great American Biotic Interchange: Dispersals, Tectonics, Climate, Sea Level and Holding Pens
The biotic and geologic dynamics of the Great American Biotic Interchange are reviewed and revised. Information on the Marine Isotope Stage chronology, sea level changes as well as Pliocene and Pleistocene vegetation changes in Central and northern South America add to a discussion of the role of climate in facilitating trans-isthmian exchanges. Trans-isthmian land mammal exchanges during the Pleistocene glacial intervals appear to have been promoted by the development of diverse non-tropical ecologies
A precision study of the fine tuning in the DiracNMSSM
Recently the DiracNMSSM has been proposed as a possible solution to reduce
the fine tuning in supersymmetry. We determine the degree of fine tuning needed
in the DiracNMSSM with and without non-universal gaugino masses and compare it
with the fine tuning in the GNMSSM. To apply reasonable cuts on the allowed
parameter regions we perform a precise calculation of the Higgs mass. In
addition, we include the limits from direct SUSY searches and dark matter
abundance. We find that both models are comparable in terms of fine tuning,
with the minimal fine tuning in the GNMSSM slightly smaller.Comment: 20 pages + appendices, 10 figure
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