981 research outputs found
Risk of Dengue for Tourists and Teams during the World Cup 2014 in Brazil
Abstract:Background:This year, Brazil will host about 600,000 foreign visitors during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The concern of possible dengue transmission during this event has been raised given the high transmission rates reported in the past by this country.Methodology/Principal Findings:We used dengue incidence rates reported by each host city during previous years (2001-2013) to estimate the risk of dengue during the World Cup for tourists and teams. Two statistical models were used: a percentile rank (PR) and an Empirical Bayes (EB) model. Expected IR's during the games were generally low (<10/100,000) but predictions varied across locations and between models. Based on current ticket allocations, the mean number of expected symptomatic dengue cases ranged from 26 (PR, 10th-100th percentile: 5-334 cases) to 59 (EB, 95% credible interval: 30-77 cases) among foreign tourists but none are expected among teams. These numbers will highly depend on actual travel schedules and dengue immunity among visitors. Sensitivity analysis for both models indicated that the expected number of cases could be as low as 4 or 5 with 100,000 visitors and as high as 38 or 70 with 800,000 visitors (PR and EB, respectively).Conclusion/Significance:The risk of dengue among tourists during the World Cup is expected to be small due to immunity among the Brazil host population provided by last year's epidemic with the same DENV serotypes. Quantitative risk estimates by different groups and methodologies should be made routinely for mass gathering events. © 2014 van Panhuis et al
Accuracy assessment of Precise Point Positioning with multi-constellation GNSS data under ionospheric scintillation effects
GPS and GLONASS are currently the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) with full 16 operational capacity. The integration of GPS, GLONASS and future GNSS constellations can 17 provide better accuracy and more reliability in geodetic positioning, in particular for kinematic 18 Precise Point Positioning (PPP), where the satellite geometry is considered a limiting factor to 19 achieve centimeter accuracy. The satellite geometry can change suddenly in kinematic 20 positioning in urban areas or under conditions of strong atmospheric effects such as for instance 21 ionospheric scintillation that may degrade satellite signal quality, causing cycle slips and even 22 loss of lock. Scintillation is caused by small scale irregularities in the ionosphere and is 23 characterized by rapid changes in amplitude and phase of the signal, which are more severe in 24 equatorial and high latitudes geomagnetic regions. In this work, geodetic positioning through the 25 PPP method was evaluated with integrated GPS and GLONASS data collected in the equatorial 26 region under varied scintillation conditions. The GNSS data were processed in kinematic PPP 27 mode and the analyses show accuracy improvements of up to 60% under conditions of strong 28 scintillation when using multi-constellation data instead of GPS data alone. The concepts and 29 analyses related to the ionospheric scintillation effects, the mathematical model involved in PPP 30 with GPS and GLONASS data integration as well as accuracy assessment with data collected 31 under ionospheric scintillation effects are presented
A CDCL-style calculus for solving non-linear constraints
In this paper we propose a novel approach for checking satisfiability of
non-linear constraints over the reals, called ksmt. The procedure is based on
conflict resolution in CDCL style calculus, using a composition of symbolical
and numerical methods. To deal with the non-linear components in case of
conflicts we use numerically constructed restricted linearisations. This
approach covers a large number of computable non-linear real functions such as
polynomials, rational or trigonometrical functions and beyond. A prototypical
implementation has been evaluated on several non-linear SMT-LIB examples and
the results have been compared with state-of-the-art SMT solvers.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures; accepted at FroCoS 2019; software available at
<http://informatik.uni-trier.de/~brausse/ksmt/
Light controlled spin polarization in asymmetric n-type resonant tunneling diode
The authors have observed a strong dependence of the circular polarization degree from the quantum well emission in an asymmetric n-type GaAs/AlAs/AlGaAs resonant tunneling diode on both the laser excitation intensity and the applied bias voltage. The sign of the circular polarization can be reversed by increasing the light excitation intensity when the structure is biased with voltages slightly larger than the first electron resonance. The variation of polarization is associated with a large density of photogenerated holes accumulated in the quantum well, which is enhanced due to the asymmetry of the structure. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.91
Exploration of the Eucalyptus globulus gene pool
The first Europeans to discover Eucalyptus
globulus were French explorers in 1792. Its seed
was rapidly spread throughout the world in the
19th century and this was the species by which
much of the world first knew the genus.
However, it was in the industrial forests of the
20th century that this species, once considered
the ‘Prince of Eucalypts’, achieved greatest
prominence due to its fast growth and superior
pulp qualities. Formal breeding first commenced
in 1966 in Portugal and in the late 1980’s large
base population trials from open-pollinated seed
collections from native stands were established
in many countries. These trials have provided
unprecedented insights into the quantitative
genetic control of numerous traits of economic
and ecological importance and how this variation
is spatially distributed in the native range of the
species. However with large, fully pedigreed
breeding populations becoming available for
quantitative analysis and the rapidly expanding
knowledge of DNA sequence variation, we are
now at the threshold of a new understanding of
this important eucalypt gene pool. Indications of
the significance of non-additive genetic effects
are becoming available. The E. globulus
chloroplast genome has now been sequenced
and several genome maps have been published.
Studies of the variation in nuclear microsatellites
and the lignin biosynthesis gene CCR confirm
the complex, spatially structured nature of the
native gene pool. Strong spatial structuring of
the chloroplast genome has provided a tool for
tracking seed migration and the geographic
origin of exotic landraces. Highly divergent
lineages of chloroplast DNA have been
discovered and studies of the hypervariable JLA+
region argue that some components of the E.
globulus gene pool have been assimilated from
other species following hybridisation
Polarization resolved luminescence in asymmetric n-type GaAs/AlGaAs resonant tunneling diodes
We have investigated the polarized emission from a n-type GaAs/AlGaAs resonant tunneling diode under magnetic field. The GaAs contact layer emission shows a large constant negative circular polarization. A similar result is observed for the quantum well, but only when electrons are injected from the substrate, while for inverted biases, the polarization tends to become positive for small voltages and large laser excitation intensities. We believe that the quantum well polarization may be associated to the partial thermalization of minority carriers on the well subbands and is thus critically dependent on the bias-controlled density of carriers accumulated in the well.921
Zeeman splitting and spin dynamics tuning by exciton charging in two-dimensional systems
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)We report a study of magnetic responses of neutral and charged excitons in quantum wells, which are very sensitive to the strong spin hybridization of holes. This effect can be used to engineer the spin character of excitonic complexes in two-dimensional systems tuned by the magnetic field strength. Conditions for spin flip for each kind of excitonic complex is detailed and the nature of the effect discussed. Differences in the effective Zeeman splitting between neutral and charged excitons are theoretically predicted and unambiguously confirmed experimentally. Circularly polarized resolved photoluminescence has been used to study these effects under applied magnetic fields. The intertwining of spin dynamics of excitons and trions is discussed.8420Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES
Novel hydroxyapatite/carboxymethylchitosan composite scaffolds prepared through an innovative ‘‘autocatalytic’’ electroless coprecipitation route
A developmental composite scaffold for bone
tissue engineering applications composed of hydroxyapatite
(HA) and carboxymethylchitosan (CMC) was obtained
using a coprecipitation method, which is based on the
‘‘autocatalytic’’ electroless deposition route. The results
revealed that the pores of the scaffold were regular, interconnected,
and possess a size in the range of 20–500 lm.
Furthermore, the Fourier transform infra-red spectrum of
the composite scaffolds exhibited all the characteristic
peaks of apatite, and the appearance of typical bands from
CMC, thus showing that coprecipitation of both organic
and inorganic phases was effective. The X-ray diffraction
pattern of composite scaffolds demonstrated that calciumphosphates
consisted of crystalline HA. From microcomputed
tomography analysis, it was possible to determine
that composite scaffolds possess a 58.9% 6 6% of porosity.
The 2D morphometric analysis demonstrated that on
average the scaffolds consisted of 24% HA and 76%
CMC. The mechanical properties were assessed using
compressive tests, both in dry and wet states. Additionally,
in vitro tests were carried out to evaluate the wateruptake
capability, weight loss, and bioactive behavior
of the composite scaffolds. The novel hydroxyapatite/
carboxymethylchitosan composite scaffolds showed
promise whenever degradability and bioactivity are simultaneously
desired, as in the case of bone tissue-engineering
scaffolding applications.Contract grant sponsor: European Union (STREP Project HIPPOCRATES); contract grant number: NMP3-CT-2003-50575
Superresonance effect from a rotating acoustic black hole and Lorentz symmetry breaking
We investigate the possibility of the acoustic superresonance phenomenon
(analog to the superradiance in black hole physics), i.e., the amplification of
a sound wave by reflection from the ergoregion of a rotating acoustic black
hole with Lorentz symmetry breaking. For rotating black holes the effect of
superradiance corresponds to the situation where the incident waves has
reflection coefficient greater than one, and energy is extracted from them. For
an acoustic Kerr-like black hole its rate of loss of mass is affected by the
Lorentz symmetry breaking. We also have shown that for suitable values of the
Lorentz violating parameter a wider spectrum of particle wave function can be
scattered with increased amplitude by the acoustic black hole.Comment: 9 pages, version to appear in PL
A matrix-matched reference material for validating petroleum Re-Os measurements
This study presents two matrix-matched reference materials developed for petroleum Re-Os measurements. We present the Re and Os mass fractions and 187Re/188Os and 187Os/188Os values (ratio of the number of atoms of the isotopes) for repeatedly measured aliquots (ca. 120–150 mg test portions) of the NIST Research Material 8505 (RM 8505) crude oil, and its asphaltene and maltene fractions, and ~ 90 g of homogeneous asphaltene powder isolated from this oil. Measurements were performed using the Carius tube-isotope dilution negative-thermal ionisation mass spectrometry methodology. The RM 8505 crude oil contains 1.98 ± 0.07 ng g−1 Re and 25.0 ± 1.1 pg g−1 Os, with Re-Os isotope amount ratios of 452 ± 6 for 187Re/188Os and 1.51 ± 0.01 for 187Os/188Os (n = 20, 95% conf.). The homogeneous asphaltene sample contains 16.52 ± 0.10 ng g−1 Re and 166.0 ± 0.9 pg g−1 total Os, and possesses isotope amount ratios of 574 ± 3 for 187Re/188Os and 1.64 ± 0.01 for 187Os/188Os (n = 24, 95% conf.). The intermediate precision of these data makes the RM 8505 whole oil and the (~ 90 g) homogenised asphaltene appropriate petroleum matrix-matched reference materials for Re-Os measurements. The asphaltene fraction of the oil is the main carrier of Re and Os of the RM 8505 whole oil, and caution is suggested in using asphaltene and maltene fractions of a single oil for Re-Os geochronology
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