Metingen aan twee luchtwassystemen in een vleeskuikenstal met conditionering van ingaande ventilatielucht = Measurements on two air scrubbing systems on broiler houses with heat exchanger for inlet ventilation air

The performance of two experimental air scrubber was investigated during 9 months on two broiler houses. The inlet ventilation air of the houses is led through a subsoil heat exchanger. In this report the removal efficiencies of the scrubber are reported for ammonia, odour and fine dust (PM10 and PM2.5)

Maatregelen ter vermindering van fijnstofemissie uit pluimveehouderij: validatie van een luchtwassysteem met water als wasvloeistof bij twee pluimveebedrijven = Measures to reduce fine dust emissions from poultry housings: validation of a scrubber system with water as scrubbing solution at two poultry farms

In this study the removal efficiency for fine dust (PM10 and PM2.5) has been determined at two scrubbers located at two different poultry houses in addition, inlet and outlet concentrations were measured for ammonia, greenhouse gases and odour

Spectroscopic survey of the Galaxy with Gaia I. Design and performance of the Radial Velocity Spectrometer

The definition and optimisation studies for the Gaia satellite spectrograph, the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS), converged in late 2002 with the adoption of the instrument baseline. This paper reviews the characteristics of the selected configuration and presents its expected performance. The RVS is a 2.0 by 1.6 degree integral field spectrograph, dispersing the light of all sources entering its field of view with a resolving power R=11 500 over the wavelength range [848, 874] nm. The RVS will continuously and repeatedly scan the sky during the 5 years of the Gaia mission. On average, each source will be observed 102 times over this period. The RVS will collect the spectra of about 100-150 million stars up to magnitude V~17-18. At the end of the mission, the RVS will provide radial velocities with precisions of ~2 km/s at V=15 and \~15-20 km/s at V=17, for a solar metallicity G5 dwarf. The RVS will also provide rotational velocities, with precisions (at the end of the mission) for late type stars of sigma_vsini ~5 km/s at V~15 as well as atmospheric parameters up to V~14-15. The individual abundances of elements such as Silicon and Magnesium, vital for the understanding of Galactic evolution, will be obtained up to V~12-13. Finally, the presence of the 862.0 nm Diffuse Interstellar Band (DIB) in the RVS wavelength range will make it possible to derive the three dimensional structure of the interstellar reddening.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Fig. 1,2,4,5, 6 in degraded resolution; available in full resolution at http://blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08282.x/pd

Disability weights for comorbidity and their influence on Health-adjusted Life Expectancy

BACKGROUND: Comorbidity complicates estimations of health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) using disease prevalences and disability weights from Burden of Disease studies. Usually, the exact amount of comorbidity is unknown and no disability weights are defined for comorbidity. METHODS: Using data of the Dutch national burden of disease study, the effects of different methods to adjust for comorbidity on HALE calculations are estimated. The default multiplicative adjustment method to define disability weights for comorbidity is compared to HALE estimates without adjustment for comorbidity and to HALE estimates in which the amount of disability in patients with multiple diseases is solely determined by the disease that leads to most disability (the maximum adjustment method). To estimate the amount of comorbidity, independence between diseases is assumed. RESULTS: Compared to the multiplicative adjustment method, the maximum adjustment method lowers HALE estimates by 1.2 years for males and 1.9 years for females. Compared to no adjustment, a multiplicative adjustment lowers HALE estimates by 1.0 years for males and 1.4 years for females. CONCLUSION: The differences in HALE caused by the different adjustment methods demonstrate that adjusting for comorbidity in HALE calculations is an important topic that needs more attention. More empirical research is needed to develop a more general theory as to how comorbidity influences disability

Monitoringsprogramma experimentele gecombineerde luchtwassers op veehouderijbedrijven = Measurement program on experimental multi-pollutant air scrubbers at animal houses

A measurement program was carried out in which the performance of 5 experimental scrubbers on animal farms was monitored for the removal of ammonia, odour and fine dust (PM10, PM2.5). This reports discusses and evaluates the realization of the program and its results

Spectroscopic survey of the Galaxy with Gaia- I. Design and performance of the Radial Velocity Spectrometer

The definition and optimization studies for the Gaia satellite spectrograph, the ‘radial velocity spectrometer' (RVS), converged in late 2002 with the adoption of the instrument baseline. This paper reviews the characteristics of the selected configuration and presents its expected performance. The RVS is a 2.0 × 1.6 degree integral field spectrograph, dispersing the light of all sources entering its field of view with a resolving power R=λ/Δλ= 11 500 over the wavelength range [848, 874] nm. The RVS will continuously and repeatedly scan the sky during the 5‐yr Gaia mission. On average, each source will be observed 102 times over this period. The RVS will collect the spectra of about 100-150 million stars up to magnitude V≃ 17-18. At the end of the mission, the RVS will provide radial velocities with precisions of ∼2 km s−1 at V= 15 and ∼15-20 km s−1 at V= 17, for a solar‐metallicity G5 dwarf. The RVS will also provide rotational velocities, with precisions (at the end of the mission) for late‐type stars of σvsin i≃ 5 km s−1 at V≃ 15 as well as atmospheric parameters up to V≃ 14-15. The individual abundances of elements such as silicon and magnesium, vital for the understanding of Galactic evolution, will be obtained up to V≃ 12-13. Finally, the presence of the 862.0‐nm diffuse interstellar band (DIB) in the RVS wavelength range will make it possible to derive the three‐dimensional structure of the interstellar reddenin

Measuring the Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Global Burden of Disease Framework

Reliable, comparable information about the main causes of disease and injury in populations, and how these are changing, is a critical input for debates about priorities in the health sector. Traditional sources of information about the descriptive epidemiology of diseases, injuries, and risk factors are generally incomplete, fragmented, and of uncertain reliability and comparability. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has provided a conceptual and methodological framework to quantify and compare the health of populations using a summary measure of both mortality and disability, the disability-adjusted life year (DALY)