2,551 research outputs found
Exploring the Time to Intervene with a Reactive Mass Vaccination Campaign in Measles Epidemics.
The current WHO policy during measles outbreaks focuses on case management rather than reactive vaccination campaigns in urban areas of resource-poor countries having low vaccine coverage. Vaccination campaigns may be costly, or not timely enough to impact significantly on morbidity and mortality. We explored the time available for intervention during two recent epidemics. Our analysis suggests that the spread of measles in African urban settings may not be as fast as expected. Examining measles epidemic spread in Kinshasa (DRC), and Niamey (Niger) reveals a progression of smaller epidemics. Intervening with a mass campaign or in areas where cases have not yet been reported could slow the epidemic spread. The results of this preliminary analysis illustrate the importance of revisiting outbreak response plans
Sample Police Officers Duty Manual
A police organization is that part of the government responsibile for enforcing laws and ordinances adopted by elected representatives of the people. The letter of the law determines what a police officer m ust do to discharge the obligation im posed by his oath, but it does not encom pass all of the circum stances which arise in the practical application of these written principles. Understanding of human behavior and application of comm on sense are fundamental to the successful attainment of police obj ectives. These alone, however, are not sufficient to insure the proper handling of every incident. There must be standards of quality and rules for procedure and conduct to serve as guides. These standards, rules and regulations are set forth in this Manual. This Manual prescribes the manner in which m embers of the Police Department will conduct them selves in discharging their sworn obligations. Violations of provisions of this Manual will constitute grounds for disciplinary action
Theoretical tools for atom laser beam propagation
We present a theoretical model for the propagation of non self-interacting
atom laser beams. We start from a general propagation integral equation, and we
use the same approximations as in photon optics to derive tools to calculate
the atom laser beam propagation. We discuss the approximations that allow to
reduce the general equation whether to a Fresnel-Kirchhoff integral calculated
by using the stationary phase method, or to the eikonal. Within the paraxial
approximation, we also introduce the ABCD matrices formalism and the beam
quality factor. As an example, we apply these tools to analyse the recent
experiment by Riou et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 070404 (2006)]
Interface Dipole : Effects on Threshold Voltage and Mobility for both Amorphous and Poly-crystalline Organic Field Effect Transistors
We report a detailed comparison on the role of a self-assembled monolayer
(SAM) of dipolar molecules on the threshold voltage and charge carrier mobility
of organic field-effect transistor (OFET) made of both amorphous and
polycrystalline organic semiconductors. We show that the same relationship
between the threshold voltage and the dipole-induced charges in the SAM holds
when both types of devices are fabricated on strictly identical base
substrates. Charge carrier mobilities, almost constant for amorphous OFET, are
not affected by the dipole in the SAMs, while for polycrystalline OFET
(pentacene) the large variation of charge carrier mobilities is related to
change in the organic film structure (mostly grain size).Comment: Full paper and supporting informatio
CP-nets: From Theory to Practice
Conditional preference networks (CP-nets) exploit the power of ceteris paribus rules to represent preferences over combinatorial decision domains compactly. CP-nets have much appeal. However, their study has not yet advanced sufficiently for their widespread use in real-world applications. Known algorithms for deciding dominance---whether one outcome is better than another with respect to a CP-net---require exponential time. Data for CP-nets are difficult to obtain: human subjects data over combinatorial domains are not readily available, and earlier work on random generation is also problematic. Also, much of the research on CP-nets makes strong, often unrealistic assumptions, such as that decision variables must be binary or that only strict preferences are permitted. In this thesis, I address such limitations to make CP-nets more useful. I show how: to generate CP-nets uniformly randomly; to limit search depth in dominance testing given expectations about sets of CP-nets; and to use local search for learning restricted classes of CP-nets from choice data
Tuberculosis treatment in a refugee and migrant population: 20 years of experience on the Thai-Burmese border.
Although tuberculosis (TB) is a curable disease, it remains a major global health problem and an important cause of morbidity and mortality among vulnerable populations, including refugees and migrants
Electron transport through rectifying self-assembled monolayer diodes on silicon: Fermi level pinning at the molecule-metal interface
We report the synthesis and characterization of molecular rectifying diodes
on silicon using sequential grafting of self-assembled monolayers of alkyl
chains bearing a pi group at their outer end (Si/sigma-pi/metal junctions). We
investigate the structure-performance relationships of these molecular devices
and we examine to what extent the nature of the pi end-group (change in the
energy position of their molecular orbitals) drives the properties of these
molecular diodes. For all the pi-groups investigated here, we observe
rectification behavior. These results extend our preliminary work using phenyl
and thiophene groups (S. Lenfant et al., Nano Letters 3, 741 (2003)).The
experimental current-voltage curves are analyzed with a simple analytical
model, from which we extract the energy position of the molecular orbital of
the pi-group in resonance with the Fermi energy of the electrodes. We report
the experimental studies of the band lineup in these silicon/alkyl-pi
conjugated molecule/metal junctions. We conclude that Fermi level pinning at
the pi-group/metal interface is mainly responsible for the observed absence of
dependence of the rectification effect on the nature of the pi-groups, even
though they were chosen to have significant variations in their electronic
molecular orbitalsComment: To be published in J. Phys. Chem.
Gaps in Adolescent Tobacco Prevention and Counseling in Vermont
Introduction. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in Vermont. While the Vermont Blueprint for Health includes compensation for adult tobacco counseling, it includes no specific mention of pediatric populations. Research questions: To what extent are tobacco assessment and cessation efforts occurring in the primary care setting with pediatric patients? What factors influence their practices?Methods. A 12-question electronic survey, modeled on an American Academy of Pediatrics survey, was distributed to primary care providers throughout Vermont; through the UVM departments of pediatrics, family medicine, the Vermont Medical Society and the Vermont Area Health Education Center. We received 70 completed surveys.Results. 70% of the surveyed primary care providers begin tobacco counseling at the age recommended (11 years) by the Vermont Department of Health. Only 45.71% of providers are confident in their understanding of the recommendations for adolescent health screening written in the Blueprint for Health. Additionally, only 67.1% of the providers expressed confidence in their ability to provide guidance regarding the harmful effects of E-cigarettes, compared to 92.8% feeling confident regarding conventional cigarettes. 70% of providers listed time restraints as a significant factor in their decision not to counsel adolescents on tobacco use.Discussion. The Blueprint for Health is a guiding document for provider practices that is not well understood and does not specifically include pediatric tobacco prevention. In an environment where youth E-cigarette use is rising, especially among adolescents, it is especially critical that physicians are confident in their counseling practices.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1237/thumbnail.jp
Field evaluation of two rapid diagnostic tests for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A during the 2006 outbreak in Niger.
The Pastorex((R)) (BioRad) rapid agglutination test is one of the main rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for meningococcal disease currently in use in the "meningitis belt". Earlier evaluations, performed after heating and centrifugation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples, under good laboratory conditions, showed high sensitivity and specificity. However, during an epidemic, the test may be used without prior sample preparation. Recently a new, easy-to-use dipstick RDT for meningococcal disease detection on CSF was developed by the Centre de Recherche Médicale et Sanitaire in Niger and the Pasteur Institute in France. We estimate diagnostic accuracy in the field during the 2006 outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A in Maradi, Niger, for the dipstick RDT and Pastorex((R)) on unprepared CSF, (a) by comparing each test's sensitivity and specificity with previously reported values; and (b) by comparing results for each test on paired samples, using McNemar's test. We also (c) estimate diagnostic accuracy of the dipstick RDT on diluted whole blood. We tested unprepared CSF and diluted whole blood from 126 patients with suspected meningococcal disease presenting at four health posts. (a) Pastorex((R)) sensitivity (69%; 95%CI 57-79) was significantly lower than found previously for prepared CSF samples [87% (81-91); or 88% (85-91)], as was specificity [81% (95%CI 68-91) vs 93% (90-95); or 93% (87-96)]. Sensitivity of the dipstick RDT [89% (95%CI 80-95)] was similar to previously reported values for ideal laboratory conditions [89% (84-93) and 94% (90-96)]. Specificity, at 62% (95%CI 48-75), was significantly lower than found previously [94% (92-96) and 97% (94-99)]. (b) McNemar's test for the dipstick RDT vs Pastorex((R)) was statistically significant (p<0.001). (c) The dipstick RDT did not perform satisfactorily on diluted whole blood (sensitivity 73%; specificity 57%).Sensitivity and specificity of Pastorex((R)) without prior CSF preparation were poorer than previously reported results from prepared samples; therefore we caution against using this test during an epidemic if sample preparation is not possible. For the dipstick RDT, sensitivity was similar to, while specificity was not as high as previously reported during a more stable context. Further studies are needed to evaluate its field performance, especially for different populations and other serogroups
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