2,028 research outputs found
Women’s groups’ perceptions of neonatal and infant health problems in rural Malawi
AimsTo present the perceptions of women in rural Malawi regarding the health problems affecting neonates and infants and to explore the relevance of these perceptions for child health policy and strategy in Malawi.MethodsWomen’s groups in Mchinji district identified newborn and infant health problems (204 groups, 3484 women), prioritised problems they considered most important (204 groups, 3338 women) and recorded these problems on monitoring forms. Qualitative data was obtained through 6 focus-groupdiscussions with the women’s groups and 22 interviews with individuals living in women’s group communities but not attending groups.ResultsWomen in Malawi do not define the neonatal period accordingto any epidemiological definition. In order of importance they identified and prioritised the following problems for newborns and infants: diarrhoea, infection, preterm birth, tetanus, malaria, asphyxia, respiratory tract infection, hypothermia, jaundice, convulsions and malnutrition.ConclusionThis study suggests that women in rural Malawi collectively have a developed understanding of neonatal and infant health problems. This makes a strong argument for the involvement of lay people in policy and strategy development and also suggests that this capacity, harnessed and strengthened through community mobilisation approaches, has thepotential to improve neonatal and infant health and reduce mortality
Density waves and density fluctuations in granular flow
We simulate the granular flow in a narrow pipe with a lattice-gas automaton
model. We find that the density in the system is characterized by two features.
One is that spontaneous density waves propagate through the system with
well-defined shapes and velocities. The other is that density waves are so
distributed to make the power spectra of density fluctuations as
noise. Three important parameters make these features observable and they are
energy dissipation, average density and the rougness of the pipe walls.Comment: Latex (with ps files appended
Community-linked maternal death review (CLMDR) to measure and prevent maternal mortality: a pilot study in rural Malawi.
In Malawi, maternal mortality remains high. Existing maternal death reviews fail to adequately review most deaths, or capture those that occur outside the health system. We assessed the value of community involvement to improve capture and response to community maternal deaths
Nuclear multifragmentation time-scale and fluctuations of largest fragment size
Distributions of the largest fragment charge, Zmax, in multifragmentation
reactions around the Fermi energy can be decomposed into a sum of a Gaussian
and a Gumbel distribution, whereas at much higher or lower energies one or the
other distribution is asymptotically dominant. We demonstrate the same generic
behavior for the largest cluster size in critical aggregation models for small
systems, in or out of equilibrium, around the critical point. By analogy with
the time-dependent irreversible aggregation model, we infer that Zmax
distributions are characteristic of the multifragmentation time-scale, which is
largely determined by the onset of radial expansion in this energy range.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters on 8/4/201
Slowly driven sandpile formation with granular mixtures
We introduce a one-dimensional sandpile model with different particle types and an infinitesimal driving rate. The parameters for the model are the N^2 critical slopes for one type of particle on top of another. The model is trivial when N=1, but for N=2 we observe four broad classes of sandpile structure in different regions of the parameter space. We describe and explain the behaviour of each of these classes, giving quantitative analysis wherever possible. The behaviour of sandpiles with N>2 essentially consists of combinations of these four classes. We investigate the model's robustness and highlight the key areas that any experiment designed to reproduce these results should focus on
Comparative Pigmentation Efficiency of High Dietary Levels of Apo-Ester and Marigold Extract on Quality Traits of Whole Liquid Egg of Two Strains of Laying Hens
This trial was carried out to compare the effect of the dietary supplementation of high doses of either synthetic pigment ethyl ester of β-apo-8'-carotenoic acid (apo-ester) or natural pigments, mainly lutein and zeaxanthin, extracted from Tagetes erecta, on egg quality of hens laying brown shell eggs (ISA Brown) and white shell eggs (Hy-Line White W-36). The hens of each strain were divided into 6 groups and fed a corn-soybean basal diet supplemented either with 40, 60, and 80 ppm of apo-ester (APO) or with 120,180, and 240 ppm of marigold extract (MAR). Egg pigmentation rose linearly and significantly (P < 0.01) as the dietary levels of apo-ester increased, but this did not occur when MAR supplementation was used. The amount of /3-carotene equivalents in whole liquid egg of MAR treatments was almost constant with varying pigment dietary dose and was significantly lower (P < 0.01) than in APO treatments. In both hen strains, whole liquid egg redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) were higher with APO supplementation. The egg component weights were highly affected (P < 0.01) by the hen strain, with yolk:egg ratio higher in the Hy-Line. The trial confirms that in spite of the higher level of MAR supplementation, APO has a better efficiency in whole liquid egg pigmentation. The ISA Brown hens showed a better ability to absorb dietary carotenoids than did the Hy-Line White
Velocity and density profiles of granular flow in channels using lattice gas automaton
We have performed two-dimensional lattice-gas-automaton simulations of
granular flow between two parallel planes. We find that the velocity profiles
have non-parabolic distributions while simultaneously the density profiles are
non-uniform. Under non-slip boundary conditions, deviation of velocity profiles
from the parabolic form of newtonian fluids is found to be characterized solely
by ratio of maximal velocity at the center to the average velocity, though the
ratio depends on the model parameters in a complex manner. We also find that
the maximal velocity () at the center is a linear function of the
driving force (g) as with non-zero in
contrast with newtonian fluids. Regarding density profiles, we observe that
densities near the boundaries are higher than those in the center. The width of
higher densities (above the average density) relative to the channel width is a
decreasing function of a variable which scales with the driving force (g),
energy dissipation parameter () and the width of the system (L) as
with exponents and . A phenomenological theory based on a scaling argument is presented to
interpret these findings.Comment: Latex, 15 figures, to appear in PR
Constrained caloric curves and phase transition for hot nuclei
Simulations based on experimental data obtained from multifragmenting
quasi-fused nuclei produced in central Xe + Sn collisions have
been used to deduce event by event freeze-out properties in the thermal
excitation energy range 4-12 AMeV [Nucl. Phys. A809 (2008) 111]. From these
properties and the temperatures deduced from proton transverse momentum
fluctuations, constrained caloric curves have been built. At constant average
volumes caloric curves exhibit a monotonic behaviour whereas for constrained
pressures a backbending is observed. Such results support the existence of a
first order phase transition for hot nuclei.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Physics Letters
Isospin diffusion in semi-peripheral + collisions at intermediate energies (I): Experimental results
Isospin diffusion in semi-peripheral collisions is probed as a function of
the dissipated energy by studying two systems + and
+ , over the incident energy range 52-74\AM. A close
examination of the multiplicities of light products in the forward part of
phase space clearly shows an influence of the isospin of the target on the
neutron richness of these products. A progressive isospin diffusion is observed
when collisions become more central, in connection with the interaction time
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