16 research outputs found

    Elastic properties of carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions

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    Comprehensive studies on the modelling and numerical simulation of the mechanical behaviour under tension, bending and torsion of single-walled carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions are performed. It is proposed to deduce the mechanical properties of the carbon nanotubes heterojunctions from the knowledge of the mechanical properties of the single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are their constituent key unit

    Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050

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    Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US,2020US, 2020 US per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted USpercapita,andasaproportionofgrossdomesticproduct.Weusedvariousmodelstogeneratefuturehealthspendingto2050.FindingsIn2019,healthspendinggloballyreached per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached 8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or 1132(1119−1143)perperson.Spendingonhealthvariedwithinandacrossincomegroupsandgeographicalregions.Ofthistotal,1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total, 40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that 54.8billionindevelopmentassistanceforhealthwasdisbursedin2020.Ofthis,54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this, 13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. 12.3billionwasnewlycommittedand12.3 billion was newly committed and 1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. 3.1billion(22.43.1 billion (22.4%) of the funds focused on country-level coordination and 2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only 714.4million(7.7714.4 million (7.7%) of COVID-19 development assistance for health went to Latin America, despite this region reporting 34.3% of total recorded COVID-19 deaths in low-income or middle-income countries in 2020. Spending on health is expected to rise to 1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

    Elastic properties of carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions

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    Comprehensive studies on the modelling and numerical simulation of the mechanical behaviour under tension, bending and torsion of single-walled carbon nanotubes and their heterojunctions are performed. It is proposed to deduce the mechanical properties of the carbon nanotubes heterojunctions from the knowledge of the mechanical properties of the single-walled carbon nanotubes, which are their constituent key unit

    Two new species of the Drosophila serido sibling set (Diptera, Drosophilidae)

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    Drosophila antonietae sp. nov. and D. gouveai sp. nov. are members of the D. buzzatii cluster of the D. repleta species group of the genus Drosophila. They can be distinguished from their cryptic species, D. borborema Vilela & Sene, 1977, D. koepferae Fontdevila & Wasserman, 1988, D. serido Vilela & Sene, 1977, and D. seriema Tidon-Sklorz & Sene, 1995 by morphological, genetic and ecological criteria

    Influence of silicon on the development, productivity and infestation by insect pests in potato crops InfluĂȘncia de silĂ­cio no desenvolvimento de batateiras e na ocorrĂȘncia de insetos-praga

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    Potato crops are susceptible to various insect pests including the aphid Myzus persicae (Hemiptera, Aphididae) and the beetle Diabrotica speciosa (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae). Induced resistance through silicon treatment of plants represents a potential strategy in pest management. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of silicic acid on the development, productivity and level of infestation by beetles and aphids following foliar application to potato plants cultivated in the presence of organic compost or chemical fertiliser. Four experimental groups were studied, namely, plants cultivated in soil supplied with organic compost (30 t/ha) and either treated or non-treated with 0.5% silicic acid, and plants cultivated in soil supplied with NPK fertiliser (4:14:8; 4 t/ha) and either treated or non-treated with 0.5% silicic acid. The number of aphids and beetles detected on the leaves and the number of lesions caused by the beetles were evaluated. The height and the stem diameter of the plants were determined 60 days after the emergence and the productivity was determined 95 days after the planting of the seed potatoes. The results demonstrated that there were no interactions between silicic acid treatment and way of cultivation. Moreover, the incidence of beetles and aphids was not influenced by weekly application of silicon, and neither were the development and the productivity of plants. Although the development and productivity of organically cultivated plants were inferior to those grown in the presence of chemical fertiliser, plants cultivated on organic compost were less susceptible to attack by beetles.<br>A cultura da batata Ă© suscetĂ­vel a diversos insetos-praga, incluindo os pulgĂ”es (Hemiptera: Aphididae) e a vaquinha Diabrotica speciosa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). A indução de resistĂȘncia, por meio do tratamento com silĂ­cio, Ă© uma das tĂĄticas usadas no manejo integrado de pragas. Objetivou-se, no presente trabalho avaliar o efeito da aplicação foliar de ĂĄcido silĂ­cico sobre o desenvolvimento, produtividade e grau de infestação por pulgĂ”es e vaquinhas, em batateiras cultivadas em composto orgĂąnico ou fertilizante quĂ­mico. Foram testados quatro tratamentos: plantas cultivadas em solo suplementado com composto orgĂąnico (30 t/ha) (tratadas e nĂŁo tratadas com 0,5% de ĂĄcido silĂ­cico) e plantas cultivadas em solo suplementado com fertilizante NPK (4:14:8; 4 t/ha; tratadas e nĂŁo tratadas com 0,5% de ĂĄcido silĂ­cico). O nĂșmero de pulgĂ”es e vaquinhas observados nas folhas, assim como o nĂșmero de lesĂ”es causadas pelas vaquinhas, foi determinado durante o desenvolvimento das plantas. A altura e o diĂąmetro da haste foram determinados 60 dias apĂłs a emergĂȘncia das hastes, enquanto a produtividade foi determinada 95 dias apĂłs o plantio da batata-semente. Pelos resultados demonstrou-se que nĂŁo houve interação entre a aplicação de silĂ­cio e o tipo de cultivo. AlĂ©m disso, a incidĂȘncia de vaquinhas e pulgĂ”es nĂŁo foi influenciada pela aplicação foliar semanal de silĂ­cio, bem como o desenvolvimento e produtividade da cultura. Embora o desenvolvimento e produtividade das plantas cultivadas na presença de composto orgĂąnico tenha sido inferior Ă quelas cultivadas em presença de fertilizante quĂ­mico, as primeiras mostraram-se menos suscetĂ­veis ao ataque das vaquinhas

    Morphogenesis of dwarf elephant grass clones in response to intensity and frequency of defoliation in dry and rainy seasons

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    The aim of this study was to evaluate during the dry and rainy seasons the morphogenesis traits of two clones of dwarf elephant grass under different management strategies. The study was conducted in a factorial 2 × 2 × 3 design, using two clones, one green and one purple, two residual heights, 25 and 45 cm, and three frequencies of defoliation according to the light interception of 90, 95 and 100%. The design was a randomized block with three replications. The variables were leaf elongation and leaf senescence rate, stem elongation rate and phyllochron. The leaf lifespan and the number of living leaves per tiller were also estimated. The clones presented low stem elongation rates, showing adaptation for grazing use. In the rainy season, the light interception of 100% promoted the highest stem elongation rate and increased the leaf senescence rate. In the dry season, the leaf elongation rate (LER) was higher for the purple clone than for the green one (23 vs 15 mm.tiller-1.day-1). In the rainy season, the LER of the green clone exceeded that of the purple one by 71% (149 vs. 87 mm.tiller-1.day-1). The phyllochron varied among clones only in the rainy season, when the value was 4.6 days.leaf-1 for the green clone and 8.4 days.leaf-1 for the purple one; both of these values are below the mean value observed during the drought (21,6 days.leaf-1). The residual heights did not affect, in an isolated way, any of the variables. The clones are well adapted to grazing, presenting low stem elongation rates. The interval between defoliations should consider the scope of light interception between 90 and 95%. The green clone, with a greater flow of biomass, requires handling with shorter defoliation intervals

    Perspectives on the implementation of closed-loop deep brain stimulation: from neurological to psychiatric disorders

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    Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a highly efficient, evidence-based therapy to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and dystonia, which is also being applied in several psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, when they are otherwise resistant to therapy. Summary: At present, DBS is clinically applied in the so-called open-loop approach, with fixed stimulation parameters, irrespective of the patients’ clinical state(s). This approach ignores the brain states or feedback from the central nervous system or peripheral recordings, thus potentially limiting its efficacy and inducing side effects by stimulation of the targeted networks below or above the therapeutic level. Key Messages: The currently emerging closed-loop (CL) approaches are designed to adapt stimulation parameters to the electrophysiological surrogates of disease symptoms and states. CL-DBS paves the way for adaptive personalized DBS protocols. This review elaborates on the perspectives of the CL technology and discusses its opportunities as well as its potential pitfalls for both clinical and research use in neuropsychiatric disorders. Neurological Motor Disorder
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