Finite amplitude gravity waves in the Venus atmosphere generated by surface topography

A two-dimensional, fully nonlinear, nonhydrostatic, gravity wave model is used to study the evolution of gravity waves generated near the surface of Venus. The model extends from near the surface to well above the cloud layers. Waves are forced by applying a vertical wind at the bottom boundary. The boundary vertical wind is determined by the product of the horizontal wind and the gradient of the surface height. When wave amplitudes are small, the near-surface horizontal wind is the zonally averaged basic-state zonal wind, and the length scales of the forcing that results are characteristic of the surface height variation. When the forcing becomes larger and wave amplitudes affect the near-surface horizontal wind field, the forcing spectrum becomes more complicated, and a spectrum of waves is generated that is not a direct reflection of the spectrum of the surface height variation. Model spatial resolution required depends on the amplitude of forcing; for very nonlinear cases considered, vertical resolution was 250 m, and horizontal resolution was slightly greater than 1 km. For smaller forcing amplitudes, spatial resolution was much coarser, being 1 km in the vertical and about 10 km in the horizontal. Background static stability and mean wind are typical of those observed in the Venus atmosphere

Intercultural communication - integration potential in teaching foreign students

Detailed investigation of the morphology of the pore space in clay is a key factor in understanding the sealing capacity, coupled flows, capillary processes and associated deformation present in mudstones. Actually, the combination of ion milling tools (FIB and BIB), cryogenic techniques and SEM imaging offers a new alternative to study in-situ elusive microstructures in wet geomaterials and has the high potential to make a step change in our understanding of how fluids occur in pore space. By using this range of techniques, it is possible to quantify porosity, stabilize in-situ fluids in pore space, preserve the natural structures at nm-scale, produce high quality polished cross-sections for high resolution SEM imaging and reconstruct accurately microstructure networks in 3D by serial cross sectioning

Structure and Function of the Mycobacterial Type VII Secretion Systems

Bacteria have evolved intricate secretion machineries for the successful delivery of large molecules across their cell envelopes. Such specialized secretion systems allow a variety of bacteria to thrive in specific host environments. In mycobacteria, type VII secretion systems (T7SSs) are dedicated protein transport machineries that fulfill diverse and crucial roles, ranging from metabolite uptake to immune evasion and subversion to conjugation. Since the discovery of mycobacterial T7SSs about 15 y ago, genetic, structural, and functional studies have provided insight into the roles and functioning of these secretion machineries. Here, we focus on recent advances in the elucidation of the structure and mechanism of mycobacterial T7SSs in protein secretion. As many of these systems are essential for mycobacterial growth or virulence, they provide opportunities for the development of novel therapies to combat a number of relevant mycobacterial diseases

Time to reappraise or distract? Temporal and situational context in emotion regulation in daily life

Contextual factors influence how people regulate their everyday emotions. While daily life is rich with situations that evoke emotion regulation, few studies have broadly investigated the role of context in regulating emotions in response to naturally occurring negative events. In this study, we use a structured diary technique - the Experience Sampling Method - to test how different types of contextual factors are associated with using reappraisal and distraction to regulate daily emotions in N = 74 young adults from the general population. The following contextual factors were assessed: time of the day, weekday, tiredness, event stressfulness, and event type. We found that higher stressfulness of negative events was associated with using more distraction within- and between-person and using more reappraisal between persons. Time of day and weekday were not associated with reappraisal or distraction use, suggesting that variation in people’s external environments due to temporal patterns does not influence reappraisal or distraction use. However, tiredness was positively associated with distraction and reappraisal use within persons. Exploratory analyses suggested that experiencing time pressure affords less distraction use, and that experiencing physical discomfort affords less reappraisal use. These findings underscore the dynamic nature of emotion regulation, and the importance of context in everyday emotion regulation

Чинники впливу на розвиток інвестиційної і страхової діяльності страховика

Метою статті є визначення рівня важливості чинників впливу на інвестиційну діяльність страхових компаній і дослідження внутрішньої структури можливого впливу інвестиційної діяльності страховиків на розвиток страхового ринку в Україні

Modeling of Novel Diagnostic Strategies for Active Tuberculosis – A Systematic Review: Current Practices and Recommendations

Introduction: The field of diagnostics for active tuberculosis (TB) is rapidly developing. TB diagnostic modeling can help to inform policy makers and support complicated decisions on diagnostic strategy, with important budgetary implications. Demand for TB diagnostic modeling is likely to increase, and an evaluation of current practice is important. We aimed to systematically review all studies employing mathematical modeling to evaluate cost-effectiveness or epidemiological impact of novel diagnostic strategies for active TB. Methods: Pubmed, personal libraries and reference lists were searched to identify eligible papers. We extracted data on a wide variety of model structure, parameter choices, sensitivity analyses and study conclusions, which were discussed during a meeting of content experts. Results & Discussion From 5619 records a total of 36 papers were included in the analysis. Sixteen papers included population impact/transmission modeling, 5 were health systems models, and 24 included estimates of cost-effectiveness. Transmission and health systems models included specific structure to explore the importance of the diagnostic pathway (n = 4), key determinants of diagnostic delay (n = 5), operational context (n = 5), and the pre-diagnostic infectious period (n = 1). The majority of models implemented sensitivity analysis, although only 18 studies described multi-way sensitivity analysis of more than 2 parameters simultaneously. Among the models used to make cost-effectiveness estimates, most frequent diagnostic assays studied included Xpert MTB/RIF (n = 7), and alternative nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) (n = 4). Most (n = 16) of the cost-effectiveness models compared new assays to an existing baseline and generated an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Conclusion: Although models have addressed a small number of important issues, many decisions regarding implementation of TB diagnostics are being made without the full benefits of insight from mathematical models. Further models are needed that address a wider array of diagnostic and epidemiological settings, that explore the inherent uncertainty of models and that include additional epidemiological data on transmission implications of false-negative diagnosis and the pre-diagnostic period

The Impact of Antiretroviral Therapy on Mortality in HIV Positive People during Tuberculosis Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: To quantify the impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on mortality in HIV-positive people during tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Design: We conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Studies published from 1996 through February 15, 2013, were identified by searching electronic resources (Pubmed and Embase) and conference books, manual searches of references, and expert consultation. Pooled estimates for the outcome of interest were acquired using random effects meta-analysis. Subjects The study population included individuals receiving ART before or during TB treatment. Main Outcome Measures: Main outcome measures were: (i) TB-case fatality ratio (CFR), defined as the proportion of individuals dying during TB treatment and, if mortality in HIV-positive people not on ART was also reported, (ii) the relative risk of death during TB treatment by ART status. Results: Twenty-one studies were included in the systematic review. Random effects pooled meta-analysis estimated the CFR between 8% and 14% (pooled estimate 11%). Among HIV-positive TB cases, those receiving ART had a reduction in mortality during TB treatment of between 44% and 71% (RR = 0.42, 95%CI: 0.29–0.56). Conclusion: Starting ART before or during TB therapy reduces the risk of death during TB treatment by around three-fifths in clinical settings. National programmes should continue to expand coverage of ART for HIV positive in order to control the dual epidemic

Sex Differences in Tuberculosis Burden and Notifications in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) case notification rates are usually higher in men than in women, but notification data are insufficient to measure sex differences in disease burden. This review set out to systematically investigate whether sex ratios in case notifications reflect differences in disease prevalence and to identify gaps in access to and/or utilisation of diagnostic services. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In accordance with the published protocol (CRD42015022163), TB prevalence surveys in nationally representative and sub-national adult populations (age ≥ 15 y) in low- and middle-income countries published between 1 January 1993 and 15 March 2016 were identified through searches of PubMed, Embase, Global Health, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; review of abstracts; and correspondence with the World Health Organization. Random-effects meta-analyses examined male-to-female (M:F) ratios in TB prevalence and prevalence-to-notification (P:N) ratios for smear-positive TB. Meta-regression was done to identify factors associated with higher M:F ratios in prevalence and higher P:N ratios. Eighty-three publications describing 88 surveys with over 3.1 million participants in 28 countries were identified (36 surveys in Africa, three in the Americas, four in the Eastern Mediterranean, 28 in South-East Asia and 17 in the Western Pacific). Fifty-six surveys reported in 53 publications were included in quantitative analyses. Overall random-effects weighted M:F prevalence ratios were 2.21 (95% CI 1.92-2.54; 56 surveys) for bacteriologically positive TB and 2.51 (95% CI 2.07-3.04; 40 surveys) for smear-positive TB. M:F prevalence ratios were highest in South-East Asia and in surveys that did not require self-report of signs/symptoms in initial screening procedures. The summary random-effects weighted M:F ratio for P:N ratios was 1.55 (95% CI 1.25-1.91; 34 surveys). We intended to stratify the analyses by age, HIV status, and rural or urban setting; however, few studies reported such data. CONCLUSIONS: TB prevalence is significantly higher among men than women in low- and middle-income countries, with strong evidence that men are disadvantaged in seeking and/or accessing TB care in many settings. Global strategies and national TB programmes should recognise men as an underserved high-risk group and improve men's access to diagnostic and screening services to reduce the overall burden of TB more effectively and ensure gender equity in TB care

A generic transcoding tool for making web applications adaptive

Abstract. As personalization and device independence become prominent issues in Web development, tools to adapt existing Web Information Systems (WISs) are required. Still, current development approaches lack support for adding adaptation to existing WISs. This paper presents the Generic Adaptation Component (GAC), a transcoding tool for making Web applications adaptable and adaptive. It can be seamlessly integrated into existing Web architectures as an autonomous adaptation and personalization module. For configuring the GAC an RDF-based rule language is presented, allowing to define both content adaptation and context data update rules. Moreover, based on the document generation architecture of the AMACONT project a collection of transformation operations is provided to realize these rules. The main functionality of the GAC is elucidated by an example implementation