A Smooth Interface Method for Simulating Liquid Crystal Colloid Dispersions

A new method is presented for mesoscopic simulations of particle dispersions in liquid crystal solvents. It allows efficient first-principle simulations of the dispersions involving many particles with many-body interactions mediated by the solvents. Demonstrations have been performed for the aggregation of colloid dispersions in two-dimensional nematic and smectic-C* solvents neglecting hydrodynamic effects, which will be taken into account in the near future.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Simulating Particle Dispersions in Nematic Liquid-Crystal Solvents

A new method is presented for mesoscopic simulations of particle dispersions in nematic liquid crystal solvents. It allows efficient first-principle simulations of the dispersions involving many particles with many-body interactions mediated by the solvents. A simple demonstration is shown for the aggregation process of a two dimentional dispersion.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Effective forces in colloidal mixtures: from depletion attraction to accumulation repulsion

Computer simulations and theory are used to systematically investigate how the effective force between two big colloidal spheres in a sea of small spheres depends on the basic (big-small and small-small) interactions. The latter are modeled as hard-core pair potentials with a Yukawa tail which can be both repulsive or attractive. For a repulsive small-small interaction, the effective force follows the trends as predicted by a mapping onto an effective non-additive hard-core mixture: both a depletion attraction and an accumulation repulsion caused by small spheres adsorbing onto the big ones can be obtained depending on the sign of the big-small interaction. For repulsive big-small interactions, the effect of adding a small-small attraction also follows the trends predicted by the mapping. But a more subtle ``repulsion through attraction'' effect arises when both big-small and small-small attractions occur: upon increasing the strength of the small-small interaction, the effective potential becomes more repulsive. We have further tested several theoretical methods against our computer simulations: The superposition approximation works best for an added big-small repulsion, and breaks down for a strong big-small attraction, while density functional theory is very accurate for any big-small interaction when the small particles are pure hard-spheres. The theoretical methods perform most poorly for small-small attractions.Comment: submitted to PRE; New version includes an important quantitative correction to several of the simulations. The main conclusions remain unchanged thoug

Comparison of Serum HBsAg Quantitation by Four Immunoassays, and Relationships of HBsAg Level with HBV Replication and HBV Genotypes

BACKGROUND: The decline in hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) may be an early predictor of the viral efficacy of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapy. The HBsAg levels obtained by different immunoassays now need comparing and the relationships between levels of HBsAg and HBV DNA alongside HBsAg and genotype must be evaluated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: HBsAg levels were compared among 80 patients using the Abbott Architect assay, a commercial immunoassay approved for HBsAg detection and quantitation, and three other assays derived from immunoassays approved for HBsAg detection (manufactured by Diasorin, Bio-Rad and Roche). Good correlation was found between the Abbot vs. Diasorin, Bio-Rad and Roche assays with narrow 95% limits of agreement and small mean differences: -0.06 to 0.11, -0.09 log(10) IU/mL; -0.57 to 0.64, -0.04 log(10) IU/mL; -0.09 to 0.45, -0.27 log(10) IU/mL, respectively. These agreements were not affected by genotypes A or D. HBsAg was weakly correlated with HBV DNA, whatever the HBsAg assay used: Abbott, ρ = 0.36 p = 0.001, Diasorin ρ = 0.34, p = 0.002; Bio-Rad ρ = 0.37, p<0.001; or Roche ρ = 0.41, p<0.001. This relationship between levels of HBsAg and HBV DNA seemed to depend on genotypes. Whereas HBsAg (Abbott assay) tended to correlate with HBV DNA for genotype A (ρ = 0.44, p = 0.02), no such correlation was significant for genotypes D (ρ = 0.29, p = 0.15). CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The quantitation of HBsAg in routine clinical samples is comparable between the reference assay and the adapted assays with acceptable accuracy limits, low levels of variability and minimum discrepancy. While HBsAg quantitation is not affected by HBV genotype, the observed association between levels of HBsAg and HBV DNA seems genotype dependent

Landscape-scale species monitoring of agri-environment schemes (LandSpAES project). Final project report, 2022

In this project, we applied a novel, pseudo-experimental design in order to collect a baseline survey dataset of the responses of mobile taxa to local and landscape AES gradients over four years, from 54 survey squares across six regions (NCAs) in England. This is the first project to monitor the responses of multiple mobile taxa to generalised AES gradients across large spatial extents, which were applied to arable, grassland and upland agricultural systems, in order specifically to address impacts beyond AES option or agreement boundaries. This baseline dataset supported a spatial assessment of relationships between the AES gradients and taxon abundance (or activity), species richness and diversity. Strong evidence for relationships with local and / or landscape AES gradients were found for one or more response variable for butterflies, moths and bats. Little or no evidence of AES gradient relationships were found for either bees or hoverflies and weak evidence for associations with bird metrics. A future resurvey would allow analyses of the longer-term changes in target taxa in response to AES management, against this baseline. The identification of various spatial relationships is encouraging in terms of the likely power to detect AES effects on biodiversity change in the future

Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring & Modelling Programme - ERAMMP Report-60: ERAMMP Integrated Modelling Platform (IMP) Land Use Scenarios

Six scenarios consisting of changes in farm-gate prices (T1 to T6) have been applied to the ERAMMP Integrated Modelling Platform (IMP) to simulate impacts on land use change, biodiversity and ecosystem services (carbon, water quality and air quality). The scenarios were based on discussions held between stakeholders in the Evidence and Scenario subgroup (Roundtable Wales and Brexit1) and Welsh Government (WG) policy officials. These discussions took place in late 2020 before the arrangements for the UK leaving the EU were agreed, therefore are based on broad assumptions around the detail of the trade agreement with the EU as well as other third countries including Australia, New Zeland and USA. It is important to note that the outputs of these discussions which were used as inputs into the ERAMMP IMP may therefore not accurately reflect the outcomes achieved within the finalised trade agreements. The T1 scenario assumes no EU trade deal and trade liberalisation, with no tariffs applied to imported products and T2 an EU trade deal with no change to the trade arrangements with third countries. These two scenarios used the changes to farm-gate prices modelled by FAPRI2. The assumptions used in the T3 to T6 scenarios were based on expert opinion from the stakeholder group, and include impacts on farm-gate prices which potentially could have resulted from different combinations of trade deals with New Zealand, Australia and USA. Scenarios which include “no EU deal” options (T1 and T4) are no longer relevant. In no way whatsoever do T1, T3, T4, T5 and T6 represent a WG position; our understanding of the nature and impact of new and emerging trade deals has evolved significantly and the WG Trade Policy Team lead in this area. The objective of this work was to gain an early understanding of how changes in farm-gate prices potentially resulting from trading relationships may influence land use and subsequently effect entry into the Sustainable Farming Scheme. We note that many other factors are also likely to influence Welsh farmgate prices, such as (but not limited to), currency exchange rates, energy prices and extreme weather events in other parts of the world. This report provides an overview of the land use implications of all these scenarios, but focuses on the T2 scenario, which represents an EU Trade Deal. This T2 scenario is being used as the counterfactual scenario against which the costs and benefits of the land use implications of the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme will be assessed in the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the proposed Agricultural Bill. This includes the estimated environmental outcomes of the EU Trade Deal scenario and, where the ERAMMP IMP has attached monetary valuations to these, the value of these outcomes to society. In the Cost Benefit Analysis, these monetary values will inform the overall estimated Net Present Value (NPV) of this business-as-usual counterfactual. The IMP involves many assumptions and these need to be borne in mind when interpreting and using its outcomes. By necessity, all models are a simplification of the real situation, but can still provide very useful insights if applied for a specific purpose and with caution. The collaborative and iterative consortium-based approach to co-designing the IMP has meant that Welsh Government and IMP teams have clear, open channels of communication for asking questions. This ensures that the modelling represents government aspirations as well as possible and the limits of the approach are well understood. IMP outputs for the T2 scenario show that some simulated full-time farms (>1 FTE labour) come under economic pressure (7%) and are simulated to be unable to produce a sufficient Farm Business Income to be economically viable. For these farm types, no options to transition to a more alternative profitable farm type are available and they are assumed to leave full-time agriculture. A greater number of farms transition to dairying resulting in a 75% increase in the number of dairy farms. This is associated with large increases in the number of dairy cattle (73%) and reductions in sheep (-34%). A general intensification of grassland systems is simulated resulting from the farm type transitions, with a 66% increase in temporary grasslands and a 21% decrease in permanent grasslands. Overall, these changes in agriculture and land use are simulated to lead to mixed, but predominantly negative, effects on biodiversity, increases in GHG emissions and deterioration in air and water quality. The T2 scenario predicts the least change in agriculture out of the six scenarios. T1 simulates the greatest impacts on agriculture due to significant farm-gate price reductions across dairy, beef and sheep systems, with a large number of full-time farms leaving agriculture. This leads to large increases in woodland area and generally positive effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. T3 and T4 also simulate large impacts on agriculture. These are associated with significant farm transitions to dairy (due to increases in milk prices and significant decreases in beef and lamb prices) resulting in larger increases in GHG emissions and greater declines in air and water quality, compared to the T2 scenario. The T5 and T6 scenarios fall between these extremes, with T6 projecting the second greatest impacts on agriculture (after T1) in terms of farms under pressure. These simulated changes in agriculture are associated with net benefits for air and water quality, but net costs for GHG emissions; although these costs are lower than for scenarios T3-T5

Value of hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs [ASPs]:a systematic review

Abstract Background Hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) aim to promote judicious use of antimicrobials to combat antimicrobial resistance. For ASPs to be developed, adopted, and implemented, an economic value assessment is essential. Few studies demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of ASPs. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the economic and clinical impact of ASPs. Methods An update to the Dik et al. systematic review (2000–2014) was conducted on EMBASE and Medline using PRISMA guidelines. The updated search was limited to primary research studies in English (30 September 2014–31 December 2017) that evaluated patient and/or economic outcomes after implementation of hospital ASPs including length of stay (LOS), antimicrobial use, and total (including operational and implementation) costs. Results One hundred forty-six studies meeting inclusion criteria were included. The majority of these studies were conducted within the last 5 years in North America (49%), Europe (25%), and Asia (14%), with few studies conducted in Africa (3%), South America (3%), and Australia (3%). Most studies were conducted in hospitals with 500–1000 beds and evaluated LOS and change in antibiotic expenditure, the majority of which showed a decrease in LOS (85%) and antibiotic expenditure (92%). The mean cost-savings varied by hospital size and region after implementation of ASPs. Average cost savings in US studies were $732 per patient (range:$2.50 to $2640), with similar trends exhibited in European studies. The key driver of cost savings was from reduction in LOS. Savings were higher among hospitals with comprehensive ASPs which included therapy review and antibiotic restrictions. Conclusions Our data indicates that hospital ASPs have significant value with beneficial clinical and economic impacts. More robust published data is required in terms of implementation, LOS, and overall costs so that decision-makers can make a stronger case for investing in ASPs, considering competing priorities. Such data on ASPs in lower- and middle-income countries is limited and requires urgent attention