Perceived Devaluation and STI Testing Uptake among a Cohort of Street-involved Youth in a Canadian Setting

Perceived devaluation has been shown to have adverse effects on the mental and physical health outcomes of people who use drugs. However, the impact of perceived devaluation on sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing uptake among street-involved youth, who face multiple and intersecting stigmas due to their association with drug use and risky sexual practices, has not been fully characterized. Data were obtained between December 2013 and November 2014 from a cohort of street-involved youth who use illicit drugs aged 14–26 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Multivariable generalized estimating equations were constructed to assess the independent relationship between perceived devaluation and STI testing uptake. Among 300 street-involved youth, 87.0% reported a high perceived devaluation score at baseline. In the multivariable analysis, high perceived devaluation was negatively associated with STI testing uptake after adjustment for potential confounders (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 0.38, 95% Confidence Interval 0.15–0.98). Perceived devaluation was high among street-involved youth in our sample and appears to have adverse effects on STI testing uptake. HIV prevention and care programs should be examined and improved to better meet the special needs of street-involved youth in non-stigmatizing ways

Porównanie części składowych osypu zimowego oraz ilości spor Nosema sp. pszczół rasy kraińskiej i włoskiej

The aim of the experiment is to investigate and compare the components of the winter debris of two breeds of bees: Carniolan and Italian and microscopic tests of the bees samples from the experimental debris for the presence of Nosema sp. The study was carried on 20 wintering bee colonies in the apiary of the Apiculture Division of Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW. The research material was debris falling during the winter at the bottom of the hive that was bees, wax cappings, eggs, wax, pollen pellets, dark hardened fungal clods and fecal stains on the pads. The examination was conducted during the overwintering 2008/2009. In the spring of 2009 microscopic examination was conducted (samples of bees from the experimental debris for the presence of Nosema sp.). Pollen pellets are originated from bee bread, which bees use to feed the brood and was collected from two different breeds of bees. The presence of eggs in debris testifies to the fact that in winter queen of two studied breeds of bees are also lying eggs. The presence of fecal spots in debris is sporadic but it is the sign of no-semosis. Microscopic examination confirmed the assumption that the appearance of the fecal spots was a symptom of Nosema sp. presence. Nosema sp. infects bees of both breeds. Carniolan breed bees tend to self-medicate from nosemosis. Lack of feces does not indicate the lack of nosemosis in the case of both mentioned breeds of bees.Porównanie części składowych osypu zimowego oraz ilości spor Nosema sp. pszczół rasy kraińskiej i włoskiej. Celem doświadczenia jest zbadanie i porównanie części składowych osypu zimowego pszczół dwóch ras kraińskiej i włoskiej oraz przeprowadzenie badań mikroskopowych prób pszczół z osypów doświadczalnych pod kontem występowania Nosema sp. Doświadczenie przeprowadzono na pszczole miodnej (Apis mellifera). Do badań użyto pszczół z 20 zimujących rodzin pszczelich w pasiece Pracowni Hodowli Owadów Użytkowych SGGW w Warszawie. Materiałem badawczym był osyp spadaj ący w czasie zimy na dno ula, tzn. pszczoły, łuseczki woskowe, jaja, wosk, obnóża pyłkowe, ciemne stwardniałe grudki grzybicze oraz plamy kału na podkładkach. Doświadczenie przeprowadzono podczas zimowli 2008/2009. W okresie wiosennym 2009 roku przeprowadzono badania mikroskopowe (prób pszczół z osypów doświadczalnych na występowanie Nosema sp.). Obecność obnóży pyłkowych świadczy o obecności czerwiu w rodzinach obydwu ras. Obnóża pyłkowe pochodzą z pierzgi, którą pszczoły wykorzystują do karmienia czerwiu. Obecność jaj w osypie obydwu ras pszczół świadczy o tym, że w zimie niektóre matki też czerwią. Kał występuje sporadycznie i jest symptomem nosemy. Badania mikroskopowe potwierdziły przypuszczenie, że pojawienie się kału świadczy o obecności Nosema sp. Nosema sp. poraża pszczoły obydwu ras. Pszczoły rasy kraińskiej wykazują tendencje do samoleczenia. Brak kału u dwu ras pszczół nie wskazuje na brak nosemozy

Porównanie poziomu rozwoju logistyki w krajach Unii Europejskiej z zastosowaniem metod TOPSIS i VIKOR

The purpose of the research was to compare the logistics and logistic infrastructure development level in EU countries. To evaluate overall rank of each country in term of that traits, it was used eight variables which describes logistic characteristics. In this purpose, two of the multi-criteria models of decision making: a Multicriteria Optimization (VIKOR) and Compromise Solution and a Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) were applied and the results obtained by those two methods were compared. The results showed that VIKOR is more preferable method in comparison to TOPSIS methods and the countries where the logistic is developed the most according to the scores in created rankings are Germany, France and Poland

Pickover biomorphs and non-standard complex numbers

In this study Pickover biomorphs are analysed as being dependent on the chosen complex number system in which iterations of analytic functions are performed. Moran’s spatial autocorrelation function and two forms of entropy, the Shannon entropy and the sample entropy, are chosen in order to find correlations and measure complexity in Pickover biomorphs. These turn out to be strongly correlated and low-entropy objects with a fractal dimension between 1.4 and 2. It is shown that there is a strong maximum in correlation and a strong minimum in entropy for the case of Galilean complex numbers corresponding to the square of the generalised imaginary unit being equal to zero

Characteristic of tar content and syngas composition during beech updraft gasification

This work aims at study the effect of the operating conditions like equivalence ration and temperature on the updraft gasification of beech wood. The main aspects was to analyze the influence of temperature distribution in the reactor and equivalence ratio on the fuel consumption, syngas composition as well as tar formation characteristics during the gasification process. The light tar content and composition were analysed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Experimental results have shown that the amount of air supplied does not affect the parameters of the gasification process linearly. For lower ER value there was high fuel consumption and high bed temperature in the gasifier, which results in high caloric value of syngas. The results showed that tar yield during updraft gasification depends on the temperature and equivalence ratio. With the increase value of ER and the decrease of temperature on the surface of the bed, the total amount of tar yield increased. The highest temperature on the surface of the bed leads to the smallest tar yield, which can be associated with thermal cracking. The results indicate that both light and heavy tar are changing nonlinearly with different operating conditions. In addition, with decreasing temperature and increasing ER values, the amount of phenol and oxidized aliphatic compounds in the tar samples increased while the BTEX amount decreased. The amount of PAHs, in relation to the temperature and ER, was kept low in all cases

Comparison of downdraft and updraft gasification of biomass in a fixed bed reactor

The aim of this study was to compare and analyze the gasification process of beech wood. The experimental investigation was conducted inside a gasifier, which can be operated in downdraft and updraft gasification system. The most important operating parameter studied in this paper was the influence of the amount of supply air on the temperature distribution, biomass consumption and syngas calorific value. The results show that the amount of air significantly influences the temperature in the combustion zone for the downdraft gasification process, where temperature differences reached more than 150 °C. The increased amount of air supplied to the gasifier caused an increase in fuel consumption for both experimental setups. Experimental results regarding equivalence ratio show that for value below 0.2, the updraft gasification is characterized by a higher calorific value of producer gas, while for about 0.22 a similar calorific value (6.5 MJ/Nm3) for both gasification configurations was obtained. Above this value, an increase in equivalence ratio causes a decrease in the calorific value of gas for downdraft and updraft gasifiers

Comparative characterization of beech wood and RDF gasification in a counterflow reactor

Porównano możliwości zgazowania drewna bukowego i odpadów komunalnych RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) w reaktorze przeciwprądowym małej mocy. Podano rozkłady temperatur w reaktorze podczas zgazowań oraz składy gazów generatorowych, ich kaloryczności, a także ilości i składy smół w gazach generatorowych. Wyniki wykazały, że gaz z procesu zgazowania drewna bukowego charakteryzuje się wyższą wartością opałową (5,3 MJ/Nm3) niż syngas otrzymany z miejskich odpadów stałych (4,5 MJ/Nm3). Ilość lekkiej smoły pochodzącej ze zgazowania odpadów komunalnych była znacząco wyższa (26 g/Nm3) niż w przypadku doświadczeń na bazie drewna bukowego (2 g/Nm3). Masa smół ciężkich i łączna masa smoły były wyższe w eksperymentach przeprowadzonych na drewnie bukowym (83 g/Nm3).This paper present the results of updraft gasification of muncipal waste and beech wood in a small scale reactor including temperature distribution in the reactor, syngas composition and charactirization of tar content in the syngas. The result showed that syngas from beech wood gasification was characterized by the higher heating value (5,3 MJ/Nm3) than syngas obtained from muncipal solid fuel (4,5 MJ/Nm3). The amount of light tar obtained from from muncipal waste gratification was significantly higher (26 g/Nm3) than in experiments based of beech wood (2 g/Nm3). The amount of heavy tars and the sum of tars were higher for the experiments carried out with beech wood (83 g/Nm3)