2,679 research outputs found
Strategies to guide HIV prevention approaches: Correlation of sexually transmitted infections and sexual behaviour with risk of HIV infection
B polarization of cosmic background radiation from second-order scattering sources
B-mode polarization of the cosmic background radiation is induced from purely
scalar primordial sources at second order in perturbations of the homogeneous,
isotropic universe. We calculate the B-mode angular power spectrum C_l^{BB}
sourced by the second-order scattering term in the full second-order Boltzmann
equations for the polarized radiation phase-space density, which have recently
become available. We find that at l\approx 200 the second-order effect is
comparable to the first-order effect for a tensor-to-scalar ratio of r=10^{-6},
and to about 2\cdot 10^{-4} at l\approx 1000. It is always negligible relative
to the weak-lensing induced contribution.Comment: 32 page
Virus Sharing, Genetic Sequencing, and Global Health Security
The WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework was a milestone global agreement designed to promote the international sharing of biological samples to develop vaccines, while that ensuring poorer countries would have access to those vaccines. Since the PIP Framework was negotiated, scientists have developed the capacity to use genetic sequencing data (GSD) to develop synthetic viruses rapidly for product development of life-saving technologies in a time-sensitive global emergency—threatening to unravel the Framework. Access to GSD may also have major implications for biosecurity, biosafety, and intellectual property (IP).
By rendering the physical transfer of viruses antiquated, GSD may also undermine the effectiveness of the PIP Framework itself, with disproportionate impacts on poorer countries. We examine the changes that need to be made to the PIP Framework to address the growing likelihood that GSD might be shared instead of physical virus samples. We also propose that the international community harness this opportunity to expand the scope of the PIP Framework beyond only influenza viruses with pandemic potential.
In light of non-influenza pandemic threats such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, we call for an international agreement on the sharing of the benefits of research – such as vaccines and treatments – for other infectious diseases to ensure not only a more secure and healthy world, but also a more just world, for humanity
Global health and foreign policy.
Health has long been intertwined with the foreign policies of states. In recent years, however, global health issues have risen to the highest levels of international politics and have become accepted as legitimate issues in foreign policy. This elevated political priority is in many ways a welcome development for proponents of global health, and it has resulted in increased funding for and attention to select global health issues. However, there has been less examination of the tensions that characterize the relationship between global health and foreign policy and of the potential effects of linking global health efforts with the foreign-policy interests of states. In this paper, the authors review the relationship between global health and foreign policy by examining the roles of health across 4 major components of foreign policy: aid, trade, diplomacy, and national security. For each of these aspects of foreign policy, the authors review current and historical issues and discuss how foreign-policy interests have aided or impeded global health efforts. The increasing relevance of global health to foreign policy holds both opportunities and dangers for global efforts to improve health
Irritancy testing of sodium laurate and other anionic detergents using an open exposure model
Background/aims: The irritant potency of soap (sodium laurate, LAU) as opposed to other anionic detergents is not uniformly agreed upon. The aim of the study was to compare the irritancy of sodium laurate with that of sodium laurylsulphate (SLS), sodium cocoyl isethionate and disodium lauryl 3-ethoxysulphosuccinate by means of a 4-day repeated open exposure model in order to achieve a more realistic mimicry of daily practice.Methods: The effects of the exposures were evaluated by: a) number of fulfilled exposures, b) visual score after exposures, and c) transepidermal water loss (TEWL) after exposures.Results: in the majority of subjects, exposure to LAU had to be stopped because of burning sensations, erythema and/or scaling. The number of fulfilled exposures to LAU was lower than that of SLS. The other agents were tolerated very well. These less irritative agents had much lower visual scores and TEWL values after the repeated exposures compared with LAU and SLS.Conclusions: The explanation for the irritant nature of LAU in the present study might be the type of alkyl chain length distribution. Its 12-carbon chain content was ≤ 99%, and this agent can therefore be designated as pure sodium laurate. The same holds true for SLS. In daily practice, however, soap is a mixture of different - less irritant - chain lengths. Therefore, these findings cannot be extrapolated to commercially available soap bars.</p
Recommended from our members
Monitoring a large construction site using wireless sensor networks
Despite the significant advances made by wireless sensor network research, deployments of such networks in real application environments are fraught with significant difficulties and challenges that include robust topology design, network diagnostics and maintenance. Based on our experience of a six-month-long wireless sensor network deployment in a large construction site, we highlight these challenges and argue the need for new tools and enhancements to current protocols to address these challenges.This research has been funded by the EPSRC Innovation and Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction project (EP/K000314/1). We would like to thank Costain-Skanska Joint Venture (CSJV) and our industrial partner Crossrail for allowing access and instrumentation of the Paddington site. We would also like to thank Dr Munenori Shibata from Japan Railway Technical Research Institute for his assistance with network deployment.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ACM via http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2820990.2820997 Data supporting this paper is available from https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/250538
Recommended from our members
A handheld diagnostic system for 6LoWPAN networks
The successful deployment of low-power wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in real application environments is a much broader exercise than just the simple instrumentation of the intended monitoring site. Many problems, from node malfunctions to connectivity issues, may arise during commissioning of these networks. These need to be corrected on the spot, often within limited time, to avoid undesired delays in commissioning and yet a fully functional system does not guarantee that no new problems will occur after leaving the site. In this paper we present the first ever (to our knowledge) implementation of a handheld diagnostic system for fast on-site commissioning of low-power IPv6 (6LoWPAN) WSNs as well as troubleshooting of network problems during and after deployment. This system can be used where traditional solutions are insufficient to ascertain the root causes of any problems encountered at no additional complexity in the implementation of the WSN. The embedded diagnosis capability in our system is based on a lightweight decision tree that distills the functioning of communication protocols in use by the network, with a major focus on interoperable IPv6 standards and protocols for low-power WSNs. To show the applicability of our system, we present a set of experiments based on results from a real deployment in a large construction site. Through these experiments, important performance insights are gained that can be used as guidelines for improvement of operation and maintenance of 6LoWPAN networks.This research has been funded by the EPSRC Innovation and Knowledge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction project (EP/K000314/1). The authors wish to thank Costain-Skanska Joint Venture (CSJV) and our industrial partner Crossrail for allowing access and instrumentation of the Paddington site referenced in this paper
Multiscale nature of hysteretic phenomena: Application to CoPt-type magnets
We suggest a workable approach for the description of multiscale
magnetization reversal phenomena in nanoscale magnets and apply it to CoPt-type
alloys. We show that their hysteretic properties are governed by two effects
originating at different length scales: a peculiar splitting of domain walls
and their strong pinning at antiphase boundaries. We emphasize that such
multiscale nature of hysteretic phenomena is a generic feature of nanoscale
magnetic materials.Comment: 4 pages (revtex 4), 2 color EPS figure
Recommended from our members
Wireless sensor monitoring of Paddington Station Box Corner
This paper presents the real performance of three diaphragm wall panels on the southeast corner of Paddington Station Box during excavation, monitored using a wireless sensor network. In total, 15 LPDT displacement sensors, 12 tilt sensors, 13 relay nodes and a gateway were deployed at three different stages. Each wireless sensor node is programmed with Contiki OS using the in-built IPv6-based network layer (6LoWPAN/RPL) for link-local addressing and routing, and ContikiMAC at the medium access control (MAC) layer for radio duty cycling. Extensive testing and calibration was carried out in the laboratory to ensure that the system functioned as expected. Wireless tilt and displacement sensors were installed to measure the inclination, angular distortion and relative displacement of these corner panels at three different depths. The monitoring data reveal that the corner produced a stiffening effect on the station box, which might result in a breakdown of plane strain conditions. The network performance characteristics (e.g. message reception ratio and network topology status) and challenges are also highlighted and discussed
Ultrafast intramolecular electronic energy transfer in rigidly linked aminopyrenyl-aminobenzanthronyl dyads-a femtosecond study.
- …