Integrated atomistic process and device simulation of decananometre MOSFETs

In this paper we present a methodology for the integrated atomistic process and device simulation of decananometre MOSFETs. The atomistic process simulations were carried out using the kinetic Monte Carlo process simulator DADOS, which is now integrated into the Synopsys 3D process and device simulation suite Taurus. The device simulations were performed using the Glasgow 3D statistical atomistic simulator, which incorporates density gradient quantum corrections. The overall methodology is illustrated in the atomistic process and device simulation of a well behaved 35 nm physical gate length MOSFET reported by Toshiba

Sero-prevalence of HIV among patients with cervical cancer managed at the Tikur Anbassa Hospital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the world. Globally, according to the 2010 report, 493,243 women diagnosed with cervical cancer and 273, 505 of them died from the disease. It is also the commonest gynecologic cancer in the Ethiopian women. Ethiopia is one of the Sub- Saharan African countries with high HIV prevalence. Studies done in different parts of the world demonstrated clear association between HIV and premalignant cervical lesions but studies on HIV prevalence in invasive cervical cancer are few and showed a wide range of variations. Objective: To determine the sero-prevalence of HIV among patients with histologically confirmed cervical cancer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Design: A facility based cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: Tikur Anbassa hospital, Addis Ababa, the only comprehensive cancer treatment center in Ethiopia. Main variables: Prevalence of HIV, mean age, diagnosis of cervical cancer. Materials and methods: All newly diagnosed, and biopsy proven uterine cervical cancer patients who were managed at Tikur Anbassa hospital records were sought. The records were identified perused and those found to fulfil study entry criteria were evaluated and information collected using structured questionnaire. Data required from each study subject included; socio-demographic, reproductive characteristics and clinical information. Data was then pooled, screened and entered in SPSS. The results were computed and presented in the form of; tables and figures, mean with standard deviation and proportion for quantitative and qualitative statistic respectively. T-test for equality, Chi-square test, and logistic regression were used to measure associations. Significance level was set at P value of 0.05.Result: Of the 255 subjects studied, majority has late clinical stage and squamous cell carcinoma histologically, 64.7% and 92.5% respectively. Similarly,34 out of the 255 were positive for HIV, making the overall sero-prevalence rate of 13.3%. The mean age of the total study population was 46 ±10.55 years. Significant difference was observed in the mean age of cervical cancer occurrence for HIV infected cases compared to the non-infected, 37.01 ± 6.7 and 48.23±10.26 years, respectively (p=000). HIV status and CD4 count were not shown to have any association with clinical stage and histologic variants. Having more than one lifetime sex partner and age less than 40 years were independently shown to have significant association with HIV sero-positivity. Mean CD4 count of the HIV positive subjects was 442.2±251.27. Conclusion and recommendation: In this study HIV infected women with cervical cancer were 8 to 14 years younger than HIV- negative women with cervical cancer. The disease stage and histology were not different in both groups, and without evidence of advanced disease in immune compromised state. It is recommending that further larger scale multicenter study, to explore the reasons for the younger age of occurrence of invasive cervical cancer in patients with HIV/AIDS

Associations between physical fitness and adiposity among school-age children from Monteria, Colombia

Los niveles bajos de condición física se han asociado con adiposidad elevada. Ambas condiciones pueden predecir alteraciones cardiovasculares y metabólicas. El objetivo fue analizar la relación entre la condición física y los indicadores antropométricos de adiposidad. Estudio transversal, en 534 escolares de 6 a 12 años de edad del municipio de Montería. Se midió la condición cardiorrespiratoria (CCR), flexibilidad, fuerza explosiva de miembros inferiores (FEMI), fuerza resistencia abdominal (FRA), Índice de Masa Corporal (IMC), masa adiposa (PMA), y perímetro abdominal (PA). Las asociaciones entre adiposidad y la condición física se analizaron con modelos de regresión logística. Se encontró que el sobrepeso está asociado a baja CCR (ORa = 2,7, p<0,0001); el PA elevado está asociado a baja FRA (ORa = 2,2, p<0,02), y a baja CCR (ORa = 3,3, p<0,001); el PMA elevado está asociado a baja CCR (ORa = 2,7, p<0,0001). Conclusión, la condición física está asociada a la adiposidadLow physical fitness levels have been associated with elevated adiposity. Both conditions may predict cardiovascular and metabolic alterations. The objective was to analyze the associations between health-related physical fitness and adipose. A cross-sectional study in 534 school-age children aged 6-12 in Monteria, Colombia. Measurements included cardiorespiratory fitness (CCR), flexibility, explosive strength of lower limbs (FEMI), abdominal strength endurance (ASE), body mass index (BMI), percentage of adipose mass (PAM), and waist circumference (WC). The associations between adiposity and physical fitness were calculated by logistic regression models. Results indicate that overweight is associated with low CCR (aOR = 2.7, p<0.0001). Elevated PA was associated with low ASE (aOR = 2.2, p<0.02), and with low CCR (aOR = 3.3, p<0.001). Elevated PMA was associated with low CCR (aOR=2.7, p<0.0001). In conclusion, physical fitness is associated with adiposity

Genetic variability on worldwide populations of the scale insect Pulvinariella mesembryanthemi

The South African scale insect Pulvinariella mesembryanthemi was introduced worldwide in several coastal areas with Mediterranean climate, probably through infested plants of Carpobrotus sp. Its high host specificity and its capacity to produce severe damages in the invasive Carpobrotus sp. plants makes this insect a potential biocontrol agent. To test the efficiency and host range of insects used for biocontrol, population genetic studies can help to unravel cryptic complexes and intraspecific diversity. In this study we performed a genetic analysis including native and exotic populations of P. mesembryanthemi, through Sanger sequencing of mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase I, COI) and ribosomal (D2–D3 expansion segments of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene 28S) gene fragments. Accidentally, an endosymbiont was sequenced with one of the pair of primers used. The exotic populations of the insect did not show any variability among populations for both studied genes, which suggest a common origin of all studied introduced populations. Contrastingly, native populations showed high variability and seemed to be a cryptic species complex. Moreover, the Gauteng populations (from NE South Africa) were phylogenetically the closest to the exotic ones, suggesting that the exotic populations could be original from somewhere near this area. An endosymbiont of P. mesembryanthemi was detected, and the sequenced coxA gene was similar to that of the Rickettsiaceae family from the α-Proteobacteria, and close to other insect endosymbionts. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first mention of this endosymbiont in P. mesembryanthemi, although α-Proteobacteria endosymbionts have been reported for other sap-sucking insects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The micro in the macro: Microscopic treatment of macrobotanical remains for the identification of practices and ways of relating to the vegetal surrounding in the archaeological study of vegetal domestication

El entendimiento en profundidad del proceso de domesticación vegetal implica romper con dicotomías arraigadas en los estudios sobre el mismo tales como silvestre - domesticado y recolector-agricultor. En este trabajo se entiende que dicha ruptura debe hacerse primero desde lo conceptual, para luego plantear una metodología de investigación acorde. El quiebre conceptual viene dado por el estudio de las prácticas de manejo sobre el entorno vegetal, las cuales se combinan de diferente manera a lo largo del tiempo. Su detección en el registro arqueológico ha de hacerse a partir de la implementación de diversas líneas de aná­lisis tanto en el estudio del contexto arqueológico en general, como de los restos vegetales en particular. En este último caso el estudio macroscópico usado en la arqueología del Noroeste argentino, ha mayormente reforzado las dicotomías antes planteadas. La adición de estudios microscópicos permite reclasificar a los mismos a nivel taxonómico, alcanzar una mejor resolución en la identificación de formas intermedias o transicionales y analizar los rasgos que efectivamente están siendo modificados, a fin de reconstruir de ma­nera mas ajustada los modos de relación de las poblaciones humanas con su entorno vegetal. Tras el análisis de conjuntos arqueobotánicos de C. maxima procedentes de dos sitios formativos de la provincia de Salta se plantea la existencia pretérita de complejos cultivo-maleza-domesticado en el marco de prácticas de manejo que favorecieron la diversidad en el pasado de la región.In order to achieve an in depth understanding of the plant domestication process, dichotomies such as wild-domesticated or gatherer- farmer, which are rooted in its study must be broken off. In this paper is considered that such a rupture should be made first in the conceptual area to establish an appropriated research methodology thereafter. The conceptual breakdown is achieved when human management practices related to plants are considered, which usually are combined in different ways along time. Its recognition in the archaeological record should be made applying different analytical pathways, not only when studying the archaeological context, but also when archaeobotanical remains are being analysed. In the latter, macroscopical analysis used in Argentinean Northwest archaeology have mainly reinforced the dichotomies previously named. The addition of microscopical analysis allows a taxonomical reclassification of macroremains, the achievement of a better resolution in the identification of intermediate or transitional forms and the analysis of characters which are being modified in order to reconstruct in a more precisely way the modalities of relationship between human populations and their plant environment. After analysing archaeobotanical assemblages of C. maxima recovered in two formative sites from Salta province, the presence of ancient wild-weedy-crop complexes derived from management practices which enhanced diversity is stated for the former developments at this region

Controller Coordination Strategy for DC Microgrid Using Distributed Predictive Control Improving Voltage Stability

The paper presents the design and control strategy of an isolated DC microgrid, which is based on classical control techniques, predictive control and iterative algorithms. The design control parameters are maximum overshoot, settling time and voltage ripple. The strategy is designed to operate in two different modes, end-users minimum and maximum demand scenarios, and this is achieved through the incorporation of network dynamic loads. The control methodology developed allows to obtain a fast response of the design set points, and an efficient control for disturbance rejection. The simulation results obtained satisfy the proposed design guidelines by obtaining a maximum overshoot of 4.8%, settling time of 0.012 seconds and a voltage ripple of 0.1 percentage. The implemented system simulation was developed in Matlab-Simulink software

Nutrition: Africa RISING science, innovations and technologies with scaling potential from the Ethiopian highlands

United States Agency for International Developmen

Modification of characters linked to Cucurbita maxima domestication. Using morphometry as a tool for identification

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en reconocer patrones de variación morfométrica –mediante la aplicación de análisis multivariado para tamaño y forma- en semillas de C. maxima que sean diagnósticos para formas domesticadas, silvestres e híbridas actuales, a fin de aplicarlos a la identificación de semillas arqueológicas. Para lograr este objetivo se midieron con calibre digital 1317 semillas de las formas antedichas y de nueve sitios arqueológicos de Argentina y Perú. Se exploró el patrón de variación entre las mismas en tamaño y forma mediante análisis multivariado. Se identificó una tendencia general hacia la disminución de la variabilidad en forma y tamaño a lo largo del tiempo, con una primera etapa donde se mantuvieron ejemplares híbridos, generándose nuevas formas y una segunda donde se mantuvieron los rasgos de momentos previos y el aumento del tamaño de las semillas