4,907 research outputs found
Determining key research areas for healthier diets and sustainable food systems in Viet Nam
Vietnamese food systems are undergoing rapid transformation, with important implications for human and environmental health and economic development. Poverty has decreased, and diet quality and undernutrition have improved significantly since the end of the Doi Moi reform period (1986-1993) as a result of Viet Nam opening its economy and increasing its regional and global trade. Yet poor diet quality is still contributing the triple burden of malnutrition, with 25 percent stunting among children under age 5, 26 percent and 29 percent of women and children, respectively, anemic, and 21 percent of adults overweight. Agricultural production systems have shifted from predominantly diverse smallholder systems to larger more commercialized and specialized systems, especially for crops, while the ‘meatification’ of the Vietnamese diet is generating serious trade-offs between improved nutrition and sustainability of the Vietnamese food systems. The food processing industry has developed rapidly, together with food imports, resulting in new and processed food products penetrating the food retail outlets, trending towards an increase in the Westernized consumption patterns that are shifting nutrition-related problems towards overweight and obesity and, with it, an increase of non-communicable disease-related health risks. While regulatory policies exist across the food system, these are not systematically implemented, making food safety a major concern for consumers and policy makers alike. Where data exists, it is not easy to aggregate with data from across food system dimensions, making it difficult for Viet Nam to make an informed analysis of current and potential food system trade-offs. In our research, we reviewed existing literature and data, and applied a food systems framework to develop an initial food systems profile for Viet Nam and to identify a comprehensive set a of research questions to fill current data gaps identified through the review. Insights on these would provide the comprehensive evidence needed to inform policy makers on how to develop new food systems policies for Viet Nam, and further refine and improve existing policies to achieve better quality diets and more sustainable food systems in Viet Nam. Based on these, we then engaged with stakeholders to develop research priorities in the Viet Nam context and identified 25 priority research questions. This paper aims to stimulate such reflections by clearly outlining key areas for research, government policy, and development programs on priority investment to build the evidence base around inclusive food systems interventions that aim to result in healthier diets and more sustainable food systems for Viet Nam
The background from single electromagnetic subcascades for a stereo system of air Cherenkov telescopes
The MAGIC experiment, a very large Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT)
with sensitivity to low energy (E < 100 GeV) VHE gamma rays, has been operated
since 2004. It has been found that the gamma/hadron separation in IACTs becomes
much more difficult below 100 GeV [Albert et al 2008] A system of two large
telescopes may eventually be triggered by hadronic events containing Cherenkov
light from only one electromagnetic subcascade or two gamma subcascades, which
are products of the single pi^0 decay. This is a possible reason for the
deterioration of the experiment's sensitivity below 100 GeV. In this paper a
system of two MAGIC telescopes working in stereoscopic mode is studied using
Monte Carlo simulations. The detected images have similar shapes to that of
primary gamma-rays and they have small sizes (mainly below 400 photoelectrons
(p.e.)) which correspond to an energy of primary gamma-rays below 100 GeV. The
background from single or two electromagnetic subcascdes is concentrated at
energies below 200 GeV. Finally the number of background events is compared to
the number of VHE gamma-ray excess events from the Crab Nebula. The
investigated background survives simple cuts for sizes below 250 p.e. and thus
the experiment's sensitivity deteriorates at lower energies.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, published in Journ.of Phys.
Association between Outdoor Air Pollution and Childhood Leukemia: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND: A causal link between outdoor air pollution and childhood leukemia has been proposed, but some older studies suffer from methodological drawbacks. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic reviews have summarized the most recently published evidence and no analyses have examined the dose-response relation. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the extent to which outdoor air pollution, especially as resulting from traffic-related contaminants, affects the risk of childhood leukemia. METHODS: We searched all case-control and cohort studies that have investigated the risk of childhood leukemia in relation to exposure either to motorized traffic and related contaminants, based on various traffic-related metrics (number of vehicles in the closest roads, road density, and distance from major roads), or to measured or modeled levels of air contaminants such as benzene, nitrogen dioxide, 1,3-butadiene, and particulate matter. We carried out a meta-analysis of all eligible studies, including nine studies published since the last systematic review and, when possible, we fit a dose-response curve using a restricted cubic spline regression model. RESULTS: We found 29 studies eligible to be included in our review. In the dose-response analysis, we found little association between disease risk and traffic indicators near the child's residence for most of the exposure range, with an indication of a possible excess risk only at the highest levels. In contrast, benzene exposure was positively and approximately linearly associated with risk of childhood leukemia, particularly for acute myeloid leukemia, among children under 6 y of age, and when exposure assessment at the time of diagnosis was used. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide showed little association with leukemia risk except at the highest levels. DISCUSSION: Overall, the epidemiologic literature appears to support an association between benzene and childhood leukemia risk, with no indication of any threshold effect. A role for other measured and unmeasured pollutants from motorized traffic is also possible. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4381
Response of selected plant and insect species to simulated solid rocket exhaust mixtures and to exhaust components from solid rocket fuels
The effects of solid rocket fuel (SRF) exhaust on selected plant and and insect species in the Merritt Island, Florida area was investigated in order to determine if the exhaust clouds generated by shuttle launches would adversely affect the native, plants of the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, the citrus production, or the beekeeping industry of the island. Conditions were simulated in greenhouse exposure chambers and field chambers constructed to model the ideal continuous stirred tank reactor. A plant exposure system was developed for dispensing and monitoring the two major chemicals in SRF exhaust, HCl and Al203, and for dispensing and monitoring SRF exhaust (controlled fuel burns). Plants native to Merritt Island, Florida were grown and used as test species. Dose-response relationships were determined for short term exposure of selected plant species to HCl, Al203, and mixtures of the two to SRF exhaust
HD148937: a multiwavelength study of the third Galactic member of the Of?p class
Three Galactic O-type stars belong to the rare class of Of?p objects: HD108,
HD191612, and HD148937. The first two stars show a wealth of phenomena,
including magnetic fields and strong X-ray emission, light variability, and
dramatic periodic spectral variability. We present here the first detailed
optical and X-ray study of the third Galactic Of?p star, HD148937.
Spectroscopic monitoring has revealed low-level variability in the Balmer and
HeII4686 lines, but constancy at HeI and CIII4650. The Ha line exhibits profile
variations at a possible periodicity of ~7d. Model atmosphere fits yield
T_{eff}=41000+-2000K, log(g)=4.0+-0.1, Mdot_{sph}<~ 10^{-7}Msol/yr and a
surabondance of nitrogen by a factor of four. At X-ray wavelengths, HD148937
resembles HD108 and HD191612 in having a thermal spectrum dominated by a
relatively cool component (kT=0.2keV), broad lines (>1700km/s), and an
order-of-magnitude overluminosity compared to normal O stars (log
[L_X^unabs/L_BOL] ~ -6).Comment: accepted by AJ; 15p, 15fig available in jp
Charm Production in DPMJET
In this work, charm production in the {\sc dpmjet} hadronic jet simulation is
compared to experimental data. Since the major application of {\sc dpmjet} is
the simulation of cosmic ray-induced air showers, the version of the code
integrated in the CORSIKA simulation package has been used for the comparison.
Wherever necessary, adjustments have been made to improve agreement between
simulation and data. With the availability of new muon/neutrino detectors that
combine a large fiducial volume with large amounts of shielding, investigation
of prompt muons and neutrinos from cosmic ray interactions will be feasible for
the first time. Furthermore, above TeV charmed particle decay
becomes the dominant background for diffuse extraterrestrial neutrino flux
searches. A reliable method to simulate charm production in high-energy
proton-nucleon interactions is therefore required.Comment: 10 pages, to be published in JCA
Evidence for Distinct Components of the Galactic Stellar Halo from 838 RR Lyrae Stars Discovered in the LONEOS-I Survey
We present 838 ab-type RR Lyrae stars from the Lowell Observatory Near Earth
Objects Survey Phase I (LONEOS-I). These objects cover 1430 deg^2 and span
distances ranging from 3-30 kpc from the Galactic Center. Object selection is
based on phased, photometric data with 28-50 epochs. We use this large sample
to explore the bulk properties of the stellar halo, including the spatial
distribution. The period-amplitude distribution of this sample shows that the
majority of these RR Lyrae stars resemble Oosterhoff type I, but there is a
significant fraction (26 %) which have longer periods and appear to be
Oosterhoff type II. We find that the radial distributions of these two
populations have significantly different profiles (rho_{OoI} ~ R^(-2.26 +-
0.07) and rho_{OoII} ~ R^(-2.88 +- 0.11). This suggests that the stellar halo
was formed by at least two distinct accretion processes and supports dual-halo
models.Comment: 18 pages, 28 figures, apjemulated, minor corrections and
clarifications. Accepted to ApJ on Jan 21, 200
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