From Surviving to Thriving: Evaluation of the International Diabetes Federation Life for a Child Program

IDF-LFAC aims to provide: (1) insulin and syringes; (2) blood glucose monitoring (BGM) equipment; (3) appropriate clinical care; (4) HbA1c testing; (5) diabetes education; and (6) technical support and training for health professionals, as well as 7) facilitating relevant clinical research, and where possible 8) assisting with capacity building. IDF-LFAC receives financial and in-kind support from private foundations, individuals, and corporations. Insulin and blood glucose monitoring equipment distribution is made possible by donations of insulin and the purchase of blood glucose monitors and strips at a reduced price from large pharmaceutical companies.The goal of this evaluation is to assess IDF-LFAC's organizational structure, strategic framework, processes, program impact, and potential to catalyze longterm sustainable improvements to T1D care delivery systems in its partner countries. LSHTM were commissioned to undertake the evaluation in 2014 when IDF-LFAC had active programs in 45 countries

SHARP: Automated monitoring of spacecraft health and status

Briefly discussed here are the spacecraft and ground systems monitoring process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Some of the difficulties associated with the existing technology used in mission operations are highlighted. A new automated system based on artificial intelligence technology is described which seeks to overcome many of these limitations. The system, called the Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Prototype (SHARP), is designed to automate health and status analysis for multi-mission spacecraft and ground data systems operations. The system has proved to be effective for detecting and analyzing potential spacecraft and ground systems problems by performing real-time analysis of spacecraft and ground data systems engineering telemetry. Telecommunications link analysis of the Voyager 2 spacecraft was the initial focus for evaluation of the system in real-time operations during the Voyager spacecraft encounter with Neptune in August 1989

UG or not UG: Where is Recursion?

The operation Merge, applying to two syntactic objects to produce a third and instantiating the property of recursion, has been a fundamental and largely uncontroversial feature in the development of the Minimalist Programme. In early formulations, such as Chomsky (1995a, b), Merge is cited as a feature of the human language faculty that illustrates virtual conceptual necessity, and it is an examination of this characterisation that stimulates the concerns addressed here, where we argue that neither of the familiar routes (satisfaction of interface conditions or computational economy) provides a justification for the conceptually necessary status of Merge. A third route, via considerations of ‘languages as such,’ a notion that includes human and artificial languages, may provide the required justification, but, as Chomsky (1980) urges, the study of ‘languages as such’ is unlikely to yield empirically interesting results. Specifically, this route to justification will not locate Merge in UG if the content of UG is an empirical matter. This conclusion is damaging to the view (Hauser et al., 2002) that the emergence of recursion (and Merge) is the single development crucial to the evolution of language, an empirical proposal, albeit in a different discourse, that firmly places Merge in UG.La operación Merge, aplicada a dos objetos sintácticos para producir un tercero, y ejemplificando así la propiedad de la recursividad, ha venido siendo un rasgo fundamental y ampliamente aceptado en el desarrollo del Programa Minimalista. En sus primeras formulaciones (Chomsky 1995a,b), Merge es propuesto como un rasgo de la facultad humana del lenguaje que ilustra una necesidad virtual humana. La problemática que aquí se aborda es precisamente un examen de esta caracterización. Se defiende aquí que ninguna de las vías de justificación habitualmente propuestas (la satisfacción de las condiciones de interfaz o la economía computacional) prueba el estatus de necesidad conceptual de Merge. Una tercera vía que considera ‘las lenguas como tales,’ propuesta que incluye tanto a lenguas humanas como a las artificiales, podría ofrecer la justificación adecuada, pero, tal y como insta Chomsky (1980), el estudio de las ‘lenguas como tales’ probablemente no resultaría en conclusiones empíricamente interesantes. En concreto, esta vía de justificación no localizaría a Merge como parte de la Gramática Universal si el contenido de esta es una cuestión empírica. Esta conclusión daña la idea (Hauser et al., 2002) de que la aparición de la recursividad (y de Merge) es la principal novedad que propició la evolución del lenguaje, una propuesta empírica, si bien es cierto que en un contexto diferente, que sitúa firmemente a Merge dentro de la Gramática Universal.A operação Compor, aplicada a dois objetos sintáticos para produzir um terceiro e instanciar a propriedade de recursividade, tem sido uma característica fundamental e indiscutível ao longo do desenvolvimento do Programa Minimalista. Nas primeiras formulações, como Chomsky (1995a, b), Compor é descrito como uma propriedade da faculdade da linguagem humana que ilustra a necessidade conceptual virtual. É a análise desta caracterização que motiva este artigo, onde defendemos que nem a satisfação das condições da interface nem a economia computacional conseguem justificar a necessidade conceptual do estatuto de Compor. Um terceiro aspeto, via entendimento das ‘linguagens como tal’, uma noção que inclui a linguagem humana e as linguagens artificiais, pode fornecer a justificação pretendida. No entanto, como Chomsky (1980) reforça, o estudo das ‘linguagens como tal’ poderá não surtir resultados empiricamente interessantes. Mais especificamente, esta proposta de justificação não localiza Compor na Gramática Universal (UG) se o conteúdo da Gramática Universal (UG) for de natureza empírica. Esta conclusão não suporta a perspetiva (Hauser et al., 2002) de que a emergência da recursividade (e Compor) é o único desenvolvimento crucial para a evolução da linguagem, uma proposta empírica, embora num discurso diferente, que coloca indiscutivelmente Compor na UG

An Investigation of the Hard Contribution to phi Photoproduction

We investigate the possibility that the process of phi photoproduction may have a significant hard perturbative QCD component. This suggestion is based on a study of the energy dependence of the forward phi photoproduction cross section followed by a calculation where we show that a coherent sum of the pQCD and conventional soft Pomeron contributions provides an excellent reproduction of the experimental data. Our results suggest that the transition from the predominantly soft photoproduction of light rho and omega vector mesons to the predominantly hard photoproduction of heavy J/psi and upsilon is smooth and gradual, similar to the transition observed in deep inelastic scattering studies of the proton structure function in the small x limit. Our predictions for higher HERA energies are presented.Comment: 14 pages including 5 postscript figure

Effect of anisotropic impurity scattering on a density of states of a d-wave superconductor

We discuss the effect of an anisotropic impurity potential on the critical temperature, local density of states in the vicinity of a single impurity, and the quasiparticle density of states for a finite impurity concentration in a d-wave superconductor. Different scattering regimes are concerned.Comment: 3 pages, revtex4, 4 figure

A report on SHARP (Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Prototype) and the Voyager Neptune encounter

The development and application of the Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Prototype (SHARP) for the operations of the telecommunications systems and link analysis functions in Voyager mission operations are presented. An overview is provided of the design and functional description of the SHARP system as it was applied to Voyager. Some of the current problems and motivations for automation in real-time mission operations are discussed, as are the specific solutions that SHARP provides. The application of SHARP to Voyager telecommunications had the goal of being a proof-of-capability demonstration of artificial intelligence as applied to the problem of real-time monitoring functions in planetary mission operations. AS part of achieving this central goal, the SHARP application effort was also required to address the issue of the design of an appropriate software system architecture for a ground-based, highly automated spacecraft monitoring system for mission operations, including methods for: (1) embedding a knowledge-based expert system for fault detection, isolation, and recovery within this architecture; (2) acquiring, managing, and fusing the multiple sources of information used by operations personnel; and (3) providing information-rich displays to human operators who need to exercise the capabilities of the automated system. In this regard, SHARP has provided an excellent example of how advanced artificial intelligence techniques can be smoothly integrated with a variety of conventionally programmed software modules, as well as guidance and solutions for many questions about automation in mission operations

Morphology and distribution of taste papillae and oral denticles in the developing oropharyngeal cavity of the bamboo shark, Chiloscyllium punctatum.

Gustation in sharks is not well understood, especially within species that ingest food items using suction. This study examines the morphological and immunohistochemical characterisation of taste papillae and oral denticles in the oropharynx of the brown-banded bamboo shark Chiloscyllium punctatum and compares their distribution during development. Taste papillae of the brown-banded bamboo shark Chiloscyllium punctatum are located throughout the oropharyngeal region and are most concentrated on the oral valves (2,125-3,483 per cm(2) in embryos; 89-111 per cm(2) in mature adults) close to the tooth territories. Papillae appearance is comparable at all stages of development, with the exception of the embryos (unhatched specimens), where no microvilli are present. Oral valve papillae are comparable in structure to Type I taste buds of teleost fishes, whereas those of the rest of the oropharyngeal region are comparable to Type II. Both types of papillae show immunofluorescence for a number of markers of taste buds, including β-Catenin and Sox2. Taste papillae densities are highest in embryos with 420-941 per cm(2) compared to 8-29 per cm(2) in mature adults. The total number of papillae remains around 1,900 for all stages of development. However, the papillae increase in diameter from 72±1 µm in embryos to 310±7 µm in mature individuals. Microvilli protrude in multiple patches at the apical tip of the papilla covering ∼0.5% of the papillar surface area. We further document the relationship between taste papillae and the closely associated oral denticles within the shark orophayngeal cavity. Oral denticles first break through the epithelium in the antero-central region of the dorsal oral cavity, shortly after the emergence of teeth, around time of hatching. Denticles are located throughout the oropharyngeal epithelium of both immature and mature stages, with the highest concentrations in the antero-dorsal oral cavity and the central regions of the pharynx. These denticle-rich areas of the mouth and pharynx are therefore thought to protect the epithelium, and importantly the taste papillae, from abrasion since they correlate with regions where potential food items are processed or masticated for consumption. Taste papillae and denticles are more dense in anterior oropharyngeal regions in close association with the oral jaws and teeth, and in the juvenile/hatchling shark taste units are functional, and innervated, allowing the shark to seek out food in utero, at birth or on emergence from the egg case