2,733 research outputs found
Ecosystem Approach to Small Scale Tropical Marine Fisheries
This is a 4-page brochure about a WorldFish led project. Throughout the world, poor fisheries management contributes to resource degradation, poverty, and food insecurity. This European Union project on an Ecosystem Approach to Small-scale Tropical Marine Fisheries is led by WorldFish and implemented in collaboration with national partners in Asia (Southeastern)-Indonesia; the Asia (Southeastern)-Philippines; the Solomon Islands and Tanzania. The overall objective is to use an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM) to improve governance of small-scale fisheries (SSF). The EAFM puts sustainability and equitability at the forefront of fisheries governance which enhances their contribution to poverty reduction.Specific objectives are to: 1. Assess existing institutional arrangements and identify opportunities for an EAFM to improve integrated SSF management; 2. Develop EAFM strategies and actions suitable for developing country contexts; 3. Strengthen the capacity of local fishery stakeholders and government agencies to collaborate and work within an EAFM. The project is taking a participatory and gender sensitive approach, both core philosophies of WorldFish. Representatives of all relevant stakeholder groups are involved in this action research project
A method for characterization of coherent backgrounds in real time and its application in gravitational wave data analysis
Many experiments, and in particular gravitational wave detectors, produce
continuous streams of data whose frequency representations contain discrete,
relatively narrowband coherent features at high amplitude. We discuss the
application of digital Fourier transforms (DFTs) to characterization of these
features, hereafter frequently referred to as lines. Application of DFTs to
continuously produced time domain data are achieved through an algorithm
hereafter referred to as EFC for efficient time-domain determination of the
Fourier coefficients of a data set. We first define EFC and discuss parameters
relating to the algorithm that determine its properties and action on the data.
In gravitational wave interferometers, these lines are commonly due to
parasitic sources of coherent background interference coupling into the
instrument. Using GEO 600 data, we next demonstrate that time domain
subtraction of lines can proceed without detrimental effects either on features
at frequencies separated from that of the subtracted line, or on features at
the frequency of the line but having different stationarity properties.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Accepted by Classical and Quantum
Gravit
A Novel, Contactless, Portable “Spot-Check” Device Accurately Measures Respiratory Rate
Respiratory rate (RR) is an important vital sign used in the assessment of acutely ill patients. It is also used as to predict serious deterioration in a patient's clinical condition. Convenient electronic devices exist for measurement of pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature. Although devices which measure RR exist, none has entered everyday clinical practice.
We developed a contactless portable respiratory rate monitor (CPRM) and evaluated the agreement in respiratory rate measurements between existing methods and our new device. The CPRM uses thermal anemometry to measure breath signals during inspiration and expiration.
RR data were collected from 52 healthy adult volunteers using respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) bands (established contact method), visual counting of chest movements (established non-contact method) and the CPRM (new method), simultaneously. Two differently shaped funnel attachments were evaluated for each volunteer.
Data showed good agreement between measurements from the CPRM and the gold standard RIP, with intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC): 0.836, mean difference 0.46 and 95% limits of agreement of -5.90 to 6.83. When separate air inlet funnels of the CPRM were analysed, stronger agreement was seen with an elliptical air inlet; ICC 0.908, mean difference 0.37 with 95% limits of agreement -4.35 to 5.08.
A contactless device for accurately and quickly measuring respiratory rate will be an important triage tool in the clinical assessment of patients. More testing is needed to explore the reasons for outlying measurements and to evaluate in the clinical setting
Order-N Density-Matrix Electronic-Structure Method for General Potentials
A new order-N method for calculating the electronic structure of general
(non-tight-binding) potentials is presented. The method uses a combination of
the ``purification''-based approaches used by Li, Nunes and Vanderbilt, and
Daw, and a representation of the density matrix based on ``travelling basis
orbitals''. The method is applied to several one-dimensional examples,
including the free electron gas, the ``Morse'' bound-state potential, a
discontinuous potential that mimics an interface, and an oscillatory potential
that mimics a semiconductor. The method is found to contain Friedel
oscillations, quantization of charge in bound states, and band gap formation.
Quantitatively accurate agreement with exact results is found in most cases.
Possible advantages with regard to treating electron-electron interactions and
arbitrary boundary conditions are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, REVTEX, 7 postscript figures (not quite perfect
Recommended from our members
Retrospective model-based inference guides model-free credit assignment
An extensive reinforcement learning literature shows that organisms assign credit efficiently, even under conditions of state uncertainty. However, little is known about credit-assignment when state uncertainty is subsequently resolved. Here, we address this problem within the framework of an interaction between model-free (MF) and model-based (MB) control systems. We present and support experimentally a theory of MB retrospective-inference. Within this framework, a MB system resolves uncertainty that prevailed when actions were taken thus guiding an MF credit-assignment. Using a task in which there was initial uncertainty about the lotteries that were chosen, we found that when participants’ momentary uncertainty about which lottery had generated an outcome was resolved by provision of subsequent information, participants preferentially assigned credit within a MF system to the lottery they retrospectively inferred was responsible for this outcome. These findings extend our knowledge about the range of MB functions and the scope of system interactions
Extending Postpartum Medicaid: State and Federal Policy Options During and After COVID-19
The United States is facing a maternal health crisis with rising rates of maternal mortality and morbidity and stark disparities in maternal outcomes by race and socioeconomic status. Among the efforts to address this issue, one policy proposal is gaining particular traction: extending the period of Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women beyond 60 days after childbirth. The authors examine the legislative and regulatory pathways most readily available for extending postpartum Medicaid, including their relative political, economic, and public health trade-offs. They also review the state and federal policy activity to date and discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prospects for policy change
Generalization of the density-matrix method to a non-orthogonal basis
We present a generalization of the Li, Nunes and Vanderbilt density-matrix
method to the case of a non-orthogonal set of basis functions. A representation
of the real-space density matrix is chosen in such a way that only the overlap
matrix, and not its inverse, appears in the energy functional. The generalized
energy functional is shown to be variational with respect to the elements of
the density matrix, which typically remains well localized.Comment: 11 pages + 2 postcript figures at the end (search for -cut here
Mean field baryon magnetic moments and sumrules
New developments have spurred interest in magnetic moments (-s) of
baryons. The measurement of some of the decuplet -s and the findings of
new sumrules from various methods are partly responsible for this renewed
interest. Our model, inspired by large colour approximation, is a relativistic
self consistent mean field description with a modified Richardson potential and
is used to describe the -s and masses of all baryons with up (u), down (d)
and strange (s) quarks. We have also checked the validity of the Franklin
sumrule (referred to as CGSR in the literature) and sumrules of Luty,
March-Russell and White. We found that our result for sumrules matches better
with experiment than the non-relativistic quark model prediction. We have also
seen that quark magnetic moments depend on the baryon in which they belong
while the naive quark model expects them to be constant.Comment: 7 pages, no figure, uses epl.cl
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