Characterization of dry-stack interlocking compressed earth blocks

Earth has been a traditional building material to construct houses in Africa. One of the most common techniques is the use of sun dried or kiln fired adobe bricks with mud mortar. Fired bricks are the main cause for deforestation in countries like Malawi. Although this technique is low-cost, the bricks vary largely in shape, strength and durability. This leads to weak houses which suffer considerable damage during floods and seismic events. One solution is the use of dry-stack masonry with stabilized interlocking compressed earth blocks (ICEB). This technology has the potential of substituting the current bricks by a more sustainable kind of block. This study was made in the context of the HiLoTec project, which focuses on houses in rural areas of developing countries. For this study, Malawi was chosen for a case study. This paper presents the experimental results of tests made with dry-stack ICEBs. Soil samples from Malawi were taken and studied. Since the experimental campaign could not be carried out in Malawi, a homogenization process of Portuguese soil was made to produce ICEBs at the University of Minho, Portugal. Then, the compression and tensile strength of the materials was determined via small cylinder samples. Subsequently, the compression and flexural strength of units were determined. Finally, tests to determine the compressive strength of both prisms and masonry wallets and to determine the initial shear strength of the dry interfaces were carried out. This work provides valuable data for low-cost eco-efficient housingThis work was carried out under the research project HiLoTec - Development of a Sustainable Self-Construction System for Developing Countries. The authors wish to thank Mota-Engil Constructing Group for supporting this project

Knowledge Graph Exploration: A Usability Evaluation of Query Builders for Laypeople

SPARQL enables users to access and browse knowledge graphs in a precise way. However, using SPARQL requires knowledge that many casual users lack. To counter this, specific tools have been created that enable more casual users to browse and query results. This paper evaluates and compares the most prominent techniques, QueryVOWL, SPARKLIS and the Wikidata Query Service (WQS), through a usability evaluation, using a mixed-method evaluation based on usability metrics and heuristics, containing both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings show that while WQS achieved the best results, usability problems were encountered in all tools. Key aspects for usability, extracted from the evaluation, serve as important contributions for future query builders

UKMenCar4: A cross-sectional survey of asymptomatic meningococcal carriage amongst UK adolescents at a period of low invasive meningococcal disease incidence.

Carriage of Neisseria meningitidis, the meningococcus, is a prerequisite for invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), a potentially devastating infection that disproportionately afflicts infants and children. Humans are the sole known reservoir for the meningococcus, and it is carried asymptomatically in the nasopharynx of ~10% of the population. Rates of carriage are dependent on age of the host and social and behavioural factors. In the UK, meningococcal carriage has been studied through large, multi-centre carriage surveys of adolescents in 1999, 2000, and 2001, demonstrating carriage can be affected by immunisation with the capsular group C meningococcal conjugate vaccine, inducing population immunity against carriage. Fifteen years after these surveys were carried out, invasive meningococcal disease incidence had declined from a peak in 1999.  The UKMenCar4 study was conducted in 2014/15 to investigate rates of carriage amongst the adolescent population during a period of low disease incidence. The protocols and methodology used to perform UKMenCar4, a large carriage survey, are described here

PEPtalk2: results of a pilot randomised controlled trial to compare VZIG and aciclovir as postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) against chickenpox in children with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the likely rate of patient randomisation and to facilitate sample size calculation for a full-scale phase III trial of varicella zoster immunoglobulin (VZIG) and aciclovir as postexposure prophylaxis against chickenpox in children with cancer. DESIGN: Multicentre pilot randomised controlled trial of VZIG and oral aciclovir. SETTING: England, UK. PATIENTS: Children under 16 years of age with a diagnosis of cancer: currently or within 6 months of receiving cancer treatment and with negative varicella zoster virus (VZV) serostatus at diagnosis or within the last 3 months. INTERVENTIONS: Study participants who have a significant VZV exposure were randomised to receive PEP in the form of VZIG or aciclovir after the exposure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of patients registered and randomised within 12 months of the trial opening to recruitment and incidence of breakthrough varicella. RESULTS: The study opened in six sites over a 13-month period. 482 patients were screened for eligibility, 32 patients were registered and 3 patients were randomised following VZV exposure. All three were randomised to receive aciclovir and there were no cases of breakthrough varicella. CONCLUSIONS: Given the limited recruitment to the PEPtalk2 pilot, it is unlikely that the necessary sample size would be achievable using this strategy in a full-scale trial. The study identified factors that could be used to modify the design of a definitive trial but other options for defining the best means to protect such children against VZV should be explored. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN48257441, EudraCT number: 2013-001332-22, sponsor: University of Birmingham

Magnetic loop antenna with electronic tuning for frequencies below 30MHz

Tento projekt se zabývá návrhem elektronického ladění a automatizovaného přizpůsobení magnetických, smyčkových antén, pracujících v oblasti krátkých vln. Celá práce je rozdělena do tří částí (ladící, přizpůsobovací a řídící). Ladící část je realizovaná změnou kapacity pomocí kaskády kondenzátorů a přizpůsobování je provedeno různými změnami bodů napájení. Celý systém je řízen mikroprocesorem ATmega16. Dle požadavků obslužného programu, spíná mikroprocesor příslušné kapacity, čímž ladí anténu na potřebný kmitočet, pracovává informace o výkonovém přizpůsobení a automaticky dolaďuje anténu změnou polohy napájení.This project deals with electronic tuning and automated adjustment of magnetic loop antennas, working in the High Frequencys. The whole work is divided into three parts tuning, adjustment and control). The tuning part is realized by changing the capacity of the array capacitors and adjustment is done by different changes of power points. The whole system is controlled by a microprocessor ATmega16. According to utility switches the microprocessor capacity, which tunes the antenna to the required frequency, processes information about power adjustment and autimatically fine-tuning the antenna by changing the position of charging.

Assessing the Value of DNA Barcodes and Other Priority Gene Regions for Molecular Phylogenetics of Lepidoptera

BACKGROUND: Despite apparently abundant amounts of observable variation and species diversity, the order Lepidoptera exhibits a morphological homogeneity that has provided only a limited number of taxonomic characters and led to widespread use of nucleotides for inferring relationships. This study aims to characterize and develop methods to quantify the value of priority gene regions designated for Lepidoptera molecular systematics. In particular, I assess how the DNA barcode segment of the mitochondrial COI gene performs across a broad temporal range given its number one position of priority, most sequenced status, and the conflicting opinions on its phylogenetic performance. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Gene regions commonly sequenced for lepidoptera phylogenetics were scored using multiple measures across three categories: practicality, which includes universality of primers and sequence quality; phylogenetic utility; and phylogenetic signal. I found that alternative measures within a category often appeared correlated, but high scores in one category did not necessarily translate into high scores in another. The DNA barcode was easier to sequence than other genes, and had high scores for utility but low signal above the genus level. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Given limited financial resources and time constraints, careful selection of gene regions for molecular phylogenetics is crucial to avoid wasted effort producing partially informative data. This study introduces an approach to assessing the value of gene regions prior to the initiation of new studies and presents empirical results to help guide future selections

Does smoking among friends explain apparent genetic effects on current smoking in adolescence and young adulthood?

We used data from a prospective cohort study of twins to investigate the influence of unmeasured genetic and measured and unmeasured environmental factors on the smoking behaviour of adolescents and young adults. Twins were surveyed in 1988 (aged 11–18 years), 1991, 1996 and 2004 with data from 1409, 1121, 732 and 758 pairs analysed from each survey wave, respectively. Questionnaires assessed the smoking behaviour of twins and the perceived smoking behaviour of friends and parents. Using a novel logistic regression analysis, we simultaneously modelled individual risk and excess concordance for current smoking as a function of zygosity, survey wave, parental smoking and peer smoking. Being concordant for having peers who smoked was a predictor of concordance for current smoking (P<0.001). After adjusting for peer smoking, monozygotic (MZ) pairs were no more alike than dizygotic pairs for current smoking at waves 2, 3 and 4. Genetic explanations are not needed to explain the greater concordance for current smoking among adult MZ pairs. However, if they are invoked, the role of genes may be due to indirect effects acting through the social environment. Smoking prevention efforts may benefit more by targeting social factors than attempting to identify genetic factors associated with smoking

Association studies of up to 1.2 million individuals yield new insights into the genetic etiology of tobacco and alcohol use.

Tobacco and alcohol use are leading causes of mortality that influence risk for many complex diseases and disorders1. They are heritable2,3 and etiologically related4,5 behaviors that have been resistant to gene discovery efforts6-11. In sample sizes up to 1.2 million individuals, we discovered 566 genetic variants in 406 loci associated with multiple stages of tobacco use (initiation, cessation, and heaviness) as well as alcohol use, with 150 loci evidencing pleiotropic association. Smoking phenotypes were positively genetically correlated with many health conditions, whereas alcohol use was negatively correlated with these conditions, such that increased genetic risk for alcohol use is associated with lower disease risk. We report evidence for the involvement of many systems in tobacco and alcohol use, including genes involved in nicotinic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. The results provide a solid starting point to evaluate the effects of these loci in model organisms and more precise substance use measures

Using role-play to improve students’ confidence and perceptions of communication in a simulated volcanic crisis

Traditional teaching of volcanic science typically emphasises scientific principles and tends to omit the key roles, responsibilities, protocols, and communication needs that accompany volcanic crises. This chapter provides a foundation in instructional communication, education, and risk and crisis communication research that identifies the need for authentic challenges in higher education to challenge learners and provide opportunities to practice crisis communication in real-time. We present an authentic, immersive role-play called the Volcanic Hazards Simulation that is an example of a teaching resource designed to match professional competencies. The role-play engages students in volcanic crisis concepts while simultaneously improving their confidence and perceptions of communicating science. During the role-play, students assume authentic roles and responsibilities of professionals and communicate through interdisciplinary team discussions, media releases, and press conferences. We characterised and measured the students’ confidence and perceptions of volcanic crisis communication using a mixed methods research design to determine if the role-play was effective at improving these qualities. Results showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in both communication confidence and perceptions of science communication. The exercise was most effective in transforming low-confidence and low-perception students, with some negative changes measured for our higher-learners. Additionally, students reported a comprehensive and diverse set of best practices but focussed primarily on the mechanics of science communication delivery. This curriculum is a successful example of how to improve students’ communication confidence and perceptions