Using the LANDSAT data collection system for field geophysics: Operations in the British Virgin Islands

This particular application was to vertical geodesy by tide gauge and tiltmeter on a small desert island in the British Virgin Islands. The performance of the LANDSAT system under potentially marginal circumstances was found to be excellent

Ultrareliable, fault-tolerant control systems: A conceptual description

An Ultrareliable, Fault-Tolerant, Control-System (UFTCS) concept is described using a systems design philosophy which allows development of system structures containing virtually no common elements. Common elements limit achievable system reliability and can cause catastrophic loss of fault-tolerant system function. The UFTCS concept provides the means for removing common system elements by permitting the elements of the system to operate as independent, uncoupled entities. Multiple versions of the application program are run on dissimilar hardware. Fault tolerance is achieved through the use of static redundancy management

Epidemiological Interactions between Urogenital and Intestinal Human Schistosomiasis in the Context of Praziquantel Treatment across Three West African Countries

© 2015 Knowles et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Tectonic motion site survey of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, West Virginia

A geological and geophysical site survey was made of the area around the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) to determine whether there are at present local tectonic movements that could introduce significant errors to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) geodetic measurements. The site survey consisted of a literature search, photogeologic mapping with Landsat and Skylab photographs, a field reconnaissance, and installation of a seismometer at the NRAO. It is concluded that local tectonic movement will not contribute significantly to VLBI errors. It is recommended that similar site surveys be made of all locations used for VLBI or laser ranging

Effective Dose and Persistence of Rhodamine-B in Wild Pig Vibrissae

As a result of substantial ecological and economic damage attributed to wild pigs (Sus scrofa), there is international interest in using pharmaceutical baits to control populations. To assess the efficacy and specificity of baiting programs, chemical biomarkers can be used to evaluate uptake of pharmaceutical baits. Rhodamine B (RB) is known to be an effective biomarker in wild pigs. However, significant data gaps exist regarding the minimum effective dosage and persistence of RB in wild pigs. We used a controlled doubleblind study experiment conducted in spring of 2014 on the Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina, USA, wherein we administered a one-time dose of RB at 3 treatment levels (5 mg/kg, 15mg/kg, or 30 mg/kg) to 15 captive pigs, with 5 pigs/treatment group to investigate persistence of RB. Facial vibrissae were collected pre-RB ingestion as a control and every 2 weeks post-RB ingestion for 12 weeks. We examined samples for RB presence and used a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) to determine the influence of treatment dose on persistence of RB. Additionally, we measured distance moved by the RB mark away from the vibrissae root and used a GLMM to assess movement rates of RB bands along growing vibrissae. We found consistently greater persistence of RB in the 15- and 30-mg/kg treatments across the sampling period. A significant, positive movement trend in RB bands was observed within the 15mg/kg and 30 mg/kg groups. Based on our results, a 15 mg/kg dosage can be considered a minimum effective dose for wild pigs and will reliably produce a detectable RB mark up to and likely beyond 12 weeks after ingestion

Elimination of Schistosomiasis Transmission in Zanzibar: Baseline Findings before the Onset of a Randomized Intervention Trial.

Gaining and sustaining control of schistosomiasis and, whenever feasible, achieving local elimination are the year 2020 targets set by the World Health Organization. In Zanzibar, various institutions and stakeholders have joined forces to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis within 5 years. We report baseline findings before the onset of a randomized intervention trial designed to assess the differential impact of community-based praziquantel administration, snail control, and behavior change interventions. In early 2012, a baseline parasitological survey was conducted in ∼20,000 people from 90 communities in Unguja and Pemba. Risk factors for schistosomiasis were assessed by administering a questionnaire to adults. In selected communities, local knowledge about schistosomiasis transmission and prevention was determined in focus group discussions and in-depths interviews. Intermediate host snails were collected and examined for shedding of cercariae. The baseline Schistosoma haematobium prevalence in school children and adults was 4.3% (range: 0-19.7%) and 2.7% (range: 0-26.5%) in Unguja, and 8.9% (range: 0-31.8%) and 5.5% (range: 0-23.4%) in Pemba, respectively. Heavy infections were detected in 15.1% and 35.6% of the positive school children in Unguja and Pemba, respectively. Males were at higher risk than females (odds ratio (OR): 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-2.03). Decreasing adult age (OR: 1.04; CI: 1.02-1.06), being born in Pemba (OR: 1.48; CI: 1.02-2.13) or Tanzania (OR: 2.36; CI: 1.16-4.78), and use of freshwater (OR: 2.15; CI: 1.53-3.03) showed higher odds of infection. Community knowledge about schistosomiasis was low. Only few infected Bulinus snails were found. The relatively low S. haematobium prevalence in Zanzibar is a promising starting point for elimination. However, there is a need to improve community knowledge about disease transmission and prevention. Control measures tailored to the local context, placing particular attention to hot-spot areas, high-risk groups, and individuals, will be necessary if elimination is to be achieved

Isothermal Recombinase Polymerase amplification (RPA) of Schistosoma haematobium DNA and oligochromatographic lateral flow detection

© 2015 Rosser et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. The attached file is the published version of the article

Sensitivity and Specificity of Multiple Kato-Katz Thick Smears and a Circulating Cathodic Antigen Test for Schistosoma mansoni Diagnosis Pre- and Post-repeated-Praziquantel Treatment

Two Kato-Katz thick smears (Kato-Katzs) from a single stool are currently recommended for diagnosing Schistosoma mansoni infections to map areas for intervention. This ‘gold standard’ has low sensitivity at low infection intensities. The urine point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen test (POC-CCA) is potentially more sensitive but how accurately they detect S. mansoni after repeated praziquantel treatments, their suitability for measuring drug efficacy and their correlation with egg counts remain to be fully understood. We compared the accuracies of one to six Kato-Katzs and one POC-CCA for the diagnosis of S. mansoni in primary-school children who have received zero to ten praziquantel treatments. We determined the impact each diagnostic approach may have on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and drug-efficacy findings

Intergalactic HII Regions Discovered in SINGG

A number of very small isolated HII regions have been discovered at projected distances up to 30 kpc from their nearest galaxy. These HII regions appear as tiny emission line objects in narrow band images obtained by the NOAO Survey for Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SINGG). We present spectroscopic confirmation of four isolated HII regions in two systems, both systems have tidal HI features. The results are consistent with stars forming in interactive debris due to cloud-cloud collisions. The H-alpha luminosities of the isolated HII regions are equivalent to the ionizing flux of only a few O stars each. They are most likely ionized by stars formed in situ, and represent atypical star formation in the low density environment of the outer parts of galaxies. A small but finite intergalactic star formation rate will enrich and ionize the surrounding medium. In one system, NGC 1533, we calculate a star formation rate of 1.5e-3 msun/yr, resulting in a metal enrichment of ~1e-3 solar for the continuous formation of stars. Such systems may have been more common in the past and a similar enrichment level is measured for the `metallicity floor' in damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems.Comment: accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 19 pages, including 5 figures, some low resolution. Paper with high resolution images can be downloaded from http://astro.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~eryan/publications/eldots.ps.g