The Ark and the Archive.

Between the mid-seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries, the figure of Noah’s Ark played an intriguing role in guiding principles of preserving, ordering and interpreting collections of natural and artificial commodities. Three exemplary collections are chosen to bring out this relation between the archival and the ambiguous character of such assemblages of goods and specimens: projects to make sense of naval antiquity in the early modern maritime world of Pepys and his colleagues; the exchange of goods between European and Polynesian navigators in the wake of the British entry into the Pacific at the period of Cook’s voyages; and the notorious collections of British artefacts shipped to China in the East India Company’s frustrated embassy of 1793. In each case, the temporal and historical ambiguities of the elements making up such collections were dramatised through the challenges of placing them in providentialist and political histories of navigation and technical prowess. Such episodes, which each had important literary and ideological aftermaths, help clarify the equivocation that often governed cross-cultural traffic in the classical age

Oriental Metrology and the Politics of Antiquity in Nineteenth-Century Survey Sciences

Argument Metrological techniques to establish shared quantitative measures have often been seen as signs of rational modernization. The cases considered here show instead the close relation of such techniques with antiquarian and revivalist programs under imperial regimes. Enterprises in survey sciences in Egypt in the wake of the French invasion of 1798 and in India during the East India Company's revenue surveys involved the promotion of a new kind of oriental metrology designed to represent colonizers' measures as restorations of ancient values to be applied to current systems of survey and measurement. Surveyors' practice and hardware help clarify the significance of the complex historical and political functions of scientific standards. The balance of the paper discusses the survey work of later nineteenth-century indigenous Egyptian astronomers at a conjuncture of major economic and political dislocation to explore the various versions of antiquity at stake in these metrological programs

Dynamics of HPV vaccination initiation in Flanders (Belgium) 2007-2009: a Cox regression model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We investigated dynamic patterns and predictors of HPV vaccination initiation in Flanders (Belgium) by girls aged 12 to 18, between 2007 and 2009, the period immediately after the introduction of the HPV vaccines on the Belgian market. During this period the initiative for vaccination was taken by the girl, her family or the general practitioner/pediatrician/gynecologist.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used a Cox regression model with time constant and time varying predictors to model hazard rates of HPV vaccination initiation. The sample existed of 117,151 female members of the National Alliance of Christian Mutualities, the largest sickness fund in Flanders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study showed that the hazard of HPV vaccination initiation was higher (1) for older girls, (2) for girls with a more favorable socio-economic background, (3) under more generous reimbursement regimes (with this effect being more pronounced for girls with weak socioeconomic backgrounds), (4) for girls that were informed personally about the reimbursement rules.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>When the initiative for HPV vaccination lies with the girls, their families or the physicians (no organized setting) the uptake of the vaccines is affected by both individual and organizational factors.</p

Impact of the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on immunization coverage among infants

Background The introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) to the U.S. recommended childhood immunization schedule in the year 2000 added three injections to the number of vaccinations a child is expected to receive during the first year of life. Surveys have suggested that the addition of PCV has led some immunization providers to move other routine childhood vaccinations to later ages, which could increase the possibility of missing these vaccines. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether introduction of PCV affected immunization coverage for recommended childhood vaccinations among 13-month olds in four large provider groups. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed computerized data on vaccinations for 33,319 children in four large provider groups before and after the introduction of PCV. The primary outcome was whether the child was up to date for all non-PCV recommended vaccinations at 13 months of age. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between PCV introduction and the primary outcome. The secondary outcome was the number of days spent underimmunized by 13 months. The association between PCV introduction and the secondary outcome was evaluated using a two-part modelling approach using logistic and negative binomial regression. Results Overall, 93% of children were up-to-date at 13 months, and 70% received all non-PCV vaccinations without any delay. Among the entire study population, immunization coverage was maintained or slightly increased from the pre-PCV to post-PCV periods. After multivariate adjustment, children born after PCV entered routine use were less likely to be up-to-date at 13 months in one provider group (Group C: OR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3 – 0.8) and were less likely to have received all vaccine doses without any delay in two Groups (Group B: OR = 0.4, 95% CI: 0.3 – 0.6; Group C: OR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.4 – 0.7). This represented 3% fewer children in Group C who were up-to-date and 14% (Group C) to 16% (Group B) fewer children who spent no time underimmunized at 13 months after PCV entered routine use compared to the pre-PCV baseline. Some disruptions in immunization delivery were also observed concurrent with temporary recommendations to suspend the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine, preceding the introduction of PCV. Conclusion These findings suggest that the introduction of PCV did not harm overall immunization coverage rates in populations with good access to primary care. However, we did observe some disruptions in the timely delivery of other vaccines coincident with the introduction of PCV and the suspension of the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine. This study highlights the need for continued vigilance in coming years as the U.S. introduces new childhood vaccines and policies that may change the timing of existing vaccines

Population Dynamics Constrain the Cooperative Evolution of Cross-Feeding

Cross-feeding is the exchange of nutrients among species of microbes. It has two potential evolutionary origins, one as an exchange of metabolic wastes or byproducts among species, the other as a form of cooperation known as reciprocal altruism. This paper explores the conditions favoring the origin of cooperative cross-feeding between two species. There is an extensive literature on the evolution of cooperation, and some of the requirements for the evolution of cooperative cross-feeding follow from this prior work–specifically the requirement that interactions be limited to small groups of individuals, such as colonies in a spatially structured environment. Evolution of cooperative cross-feeding by a species also requires that cross-feeding from the partner species already exists, so that the cooperating mutant will automatically be reciprocated for its actions. Beyond these considerations, some unintuitive dynamical constraints apply. In particular, the benefit of cooperative cross-feeding applies only in the range of intermediate cell densities. At low density, resource concentrations are too low to offset the cost of cooperation. At high density, resources shared by both species become limiting, and the two species become competitors. These considerations suggest that the evolution of cooperative cross-feeding in nature may be more challenging than for other types of cooperation. However, the principles identified here may enable the experimental evolution of cross-feeding, as born out by a recent study

First Neutrino Observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location, the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 10 figures, Invited paper at Neutrino 2000 Conference, Sudbury, Canada, June 16-21, 2000 to be published in the Proceeding

Zgamma Production in pbarp Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV and Limits on Anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma Couplings

We present a study of Z +gamma + X production in p-bar p collisions at sqrt{S}=1.8 TeV from 97 (87) pb^{-1} of data collected in the eegamma (mumugamma) decay channel with the D0 detector at Fermilab. The event yield and kinematic characteristics are consistent with the Standard Model predictions. We obtain limits on anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma couplings for form factor scales Lambda = 500 GeV and Lambda = 750 GeV. Combining this analysis with our previous results yields 95% CL limits |h{Z}_{30}| < 0.36, |h{Z}_{40}| < 0.05, |h{gamma}_{30}| < 0.37, and |h{gamma}_{40}| < 0.05 for a form factor scale Lambda=750 GeV.Comment: 17 Pages including 2 Figures. Submitted to PR

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal