Modelling prevention strategies in Public Health

Various schemes of prevention measures in public health are developed and analyzed on the basis of a general mathematical model. Features related to cost issues, including primary and secondary prevention interventions, differential survival experiences and communicable diseases are in turn used to show the potentialities of the theoretical framework. Statistical estimation procedures are briefly discussed and a numerical application is presented with reference to Italian cancer data

Application of p-adic analysis to models of spontaneous breaking of the replica symmetry

Methods of p-adic analysis are applied to the investigation of the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the models of spin glasses. A p-adic expression for the replica matrix is given and moreover the replica matrix in the models of spontaneous breaking of the replica symmetry in the simplest case is expressed in the form of the Vladimirov operator of p-adic fractional differentiation. Also the model of hierarchical diffusion (that was proposed to describe relaxation of spin glasses) investigated using p-adic analysis.Comment: Latex, 8 page

Investigation of unstabilized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for use as a long-term UV dosimeter: preliminary results

A new chemical UV dosimeter with a larger dose-capacity than the existing chemical dosimeters has been investigated for long-term UV measurements. Unstabilized Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), cast in 40 μm thick film, has been found to respond to at least 745 SED (Standard Erythema Dose = 100 J/m2) of erythemal solar UV radiation. This is equivalent to about two to three summer weeks of exposure in subtropical sites. The UV-induced changes in the PVC dosimeter were quantified using a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer and the decrease in the absorption intensity of the 1064 cm-1 peak was employed to quantify these changes. Dose response curves have been established by relating the decrease in the PVC dosimeter's absorption intensity at 1064 cm-1 to the corresponding erythemal UV exposure. The spectral response of the dosimeter was measured and found to be comparable to the erythema action spectrum. Some other optical characteristics of the dosimeter, such as the dose-rate dependency and the angular response were analysed. The dosimeter was found to have the potential to measure long periods of exposure to solar UV radiation as well as exposures to artificial UV

Imaging the environmental ultraviolet

A technique has been developed to visually represent measured environmental ultraviolet radiation using a digital photograph and measurements of the UV and visible light intensity. The method involves the use of a personal pocket UV meter, an optional lux meter and a simple image processing technique to present visual images that are weighted to the ambient ultraviolet, providing images that highlight regions of high ultraviolet intensity that can be compared with a visible photograph. The technique described, provides a method students can follow to better develop an understanding of the potentially harmful ultraviolet irradiance with respect to visible daylight, indicating that the ambient ultraviolet and visible environment are not directly related, with ultraviolet intensity being dependent on many different factors and not the visual brightness of the location alone

Assessment of ultraviolet radiation exposures in photobiological experiments

The interfering effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the natural function of biological processes is wavelength specific and the UV spectrum must be weighted with the action spectrum for the process. The UV spectral irradiance may be measured with calibrated spectroradiometers. Alternatively, the biologically effective UV may be measured with broadband devices. This paper reviews the techniques for assessing biologically effective exposures in photobiological experiments. UV meters, such as the Robertson-Berger (RB) meter, or passive dosimeters, such as polysulphone, that possess a spectral response approximating the human erythemal response can be used to estimate erythemally effective exposure or actinic exposure due to solar UV. The sensitivity of the RB meter is about 0.56 uW cm-2 and polysulphone can record an exposure of about 2mJ cm-2. For photobiological processes other than erythema these devices are not suitable to determine the exposure. In terms of these applications, a spectrum evaluator consisting of four different types of dosimeter material can be employed to evaluate the UV spectrum of the source. This method can be useful both for solar UV studies and research with UV lamps that possess radiation wavelengths shorter than 295nm. The device can be used to measure exposures where the actinic and erythemal action spectra differ significantly. It can also be used to assess exposure due to low levels of UV (about 0.01uW cm-2) caused by radiation filtered through glasses or plastic

The dynamical structure factor in disordered systems

We study the spectral width as a function of the external momentum for the dynamical structure factor of a disordered harmonic solid, considered as a toy model for supercooled liquids and glasses. Both in the context of single-link coherent potential approximation and of a single-defect approximation, two different regimes are clearly identified: if the density of states at zero energy is zero, the Rayleigh $p^4$ law is recovered for small momentum. On the contrary, if the disorder induces a non vanishing density of states at zero energy, a linear behaviour is obtained. The dynamical structure factor is numerically calculated in lattices as large as $96^3$, and satisfactorily agrees with the analytical computations.Comment: 7 pages plus 4 postscript figure

Effect of cloud on UVA and exposure to humans

The daily autumn and winter UVA exposures and 6-minute UVA irradiance data for a Southern Hemisphere, subtropical site (Toowoomba, Australia, 27.6 S, 151.9 E) are presented. This data is used to quantify the effect of cloud on UVA using an integrated sky-camera and radiation system. Additionally, an estimate of the effect of enhanced UVA exposure on humans is made. The measurement system consisted of broadband visible-infrared and UVA sensors together with a sun tracking, wide-angle video camera. The mean daily June exposure was found to be 409 kJm-2. Under the constraints of the uncertainty of both the UVA measurement system and clear-sky model, one case of enhanced UVA irradiance was found. Three cases of cloud enhancement of daily UVA exposure, approaching clear-sky levels, were also determined using a calculated clear-sky envelope. It was also determined that for a fulltime outdoor worker, the additional UVA exposure could approach approximately that of one third of a full winter's day. For indoor workers with an outside lunch break of noon to 1 pm, the additional UVA exposure was on average 6.9 kJm-2 over three cloud enhanced days. To the authors' knowledge this is the first paper to present some evidence of cloud enhanced UVA human exposure

Finite-size scaling study of the d=4 site-diluted Ising

We study the four dimensional site-diluted Ising model using finite-size scaling techniques. We explore the whole parameter space (density-coupling) in order to determine the Universality Class of the transition line. Our data are compatible with Mean Field behavior plus logarithmic corrections.Comment: Contribution to LATTICE 9

Vibrations in glasses and Euclidean Random Matrix theory

We study numerically and analytically a simple off-lattice model of scalar harmonic vibrations by means of Euclidean random matrix theory. Since the spectrum of this model shares the most puzzling spectral features with the high-frequency domain of glasses (non-Rayleigh broadening of the Brillouin peak, boson peak and secondary peak), the Euclidean random matrix theory provide a single and fairly simple theoretical framework to their explanation.Comment: 11 pages, 7 postscript figures, Proceedings of Statphys 2