Temporal Trends and Predictors of Modern Contraceptive Use in Lusaka, Zambia, 2004-2011.

INTRODUCTION: Although increasing access to family planning has been an important part of the global development agenda, millions of women continue to face unmet need for contraception. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed data from a repeated cross-sectional community survey conducted in Lusaka, Zambia, over an eight-year period. We described prevalence of modern contraceptive use, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), among female heads of household aged 16-50 years. We also identified predictors of LARC versus short-term contraceptive use among women using modern methods. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Twelve survey rounds were completed between November 2004 and September 2011. Among 29,476 eligible respondents, 17,605 (60%) reported using modern contraception. Oral contraceptive pills remained the most popular method over time, but use of LARC increased significantly, from less than 1% in 2004 to 9% by 2011 (p < 0.001). Younger women (OR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.61) and women with lower levels of education (OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.89) were less likely to report LARC use compared to women using short-term modern methods. CONCLUSIONS: Population-based assessments of contraceptive use over time can guide programs and policies. To achieve reproductive health equity and reduce unmet contraceptive need, future efforts to increase LARC use should focus on young women and those with less education

Proglacial streams runoff dynamics in Devil´s Bay, Vega Island, Antarctica

Increasing temperatures in Antarctica have resulted in the enlargement of proglacial regions on the Antarctic Peninsula, following glacier melt. This melt has increased river activity yet direct runoff measurements remain scarce in Antarctica, despite it acting as a proxy for glacial ablation. Here, we present discharge and water temperature data from 2013 for three streams on Vega Island and discuss their relationship with air temperature. The average discharge at the largest stream was 0.523 m3s−1 with a maximum of 5.510 m3s−1 – among the highest recorded in Antarctica. The rivers continued to flow even when temperatures dropped to −7°C, indicating that a large proportion of the total runoff originated sub-glacially. This is supported by the one-day time lag between air and water temperatures. Using river discharge as a proxy, we measured 124.5 ± 14.4 mm w.e. of ablation. This indirect measurement proved an effective tool to complement classic glaciological observations

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Land cover change across the major proglacial regions of the sub-Antarctic islands, Antarctic Peninsula, and McMurdo Dry Valleys, during the 21st century

Land cover information is essential for understanding Earth surface processes and ecosystems. Here, we use K-means clustering to classify Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images covering six proglacial sites of sub-Antarctic islands, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the McMurdo Dry Valleys at 30-m resolution. We quantify spatial patterns of water, bedrock, vegetation, and sediments to an accuracy of 77 percent. Vegetation is most abundant on South Georgia (7 percent of the proglacial area) and the South Shetland Islands (1 to 2 percent). Furthermore, we use change vector analysis (CVA) to discriminate landcover change in the twenty-first century. A latitudinal pattern is evident in ice loss and proglacial landscape change; for example, loss of ice on South Georgia and proglacial landcover change is two orders of magnitude greater than in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Four of the studied sites had similar landscape stability (64 to 68 percent unchanged), with Alexander Island an exception (50 percent change) due to recent enhanced glacier melt. Overall, we show how landcover of proglacial regions of the climaticallysensitive sub-Antarctic and Antarctica has changed since 2000, with a CVA accuracy of 80 percent. These findings inform understanding of geomorphological activity and sediment and nutrient fluxes and hence terrestrial and marine ecosystems

Social disparities in food preparation behaviours: a DEDIPAC study

BACKGROUND: The specific role of major socio-economic indicators in influencing food preparation behaviours could reveal distinct socio-economic patterns, thus enabling mechanisms to be understood that contribute to social inequalities in health. This study investigated whether there was an independent association of each socio-economic indicator (education, occupation, income) with food preparation behaviours. METHODS: A total of 62,373 adults participating in the web-based NutriNet-Santé cohort study were included in our cross-sectional analyses. Cooking skills, preparation from scratch and kitchen equipment were assessed using a 0-10-point score; frequency of meal preparation, enjoyment of cooking and willingness to cook better/more frequently were categorical variables. Independent associations between socio-economic factors (education, income and occupation) and food preparation behaviours were assessed using analysis of covariance and logistic regression models stratified by sex. The models simultaneously included the three socio-economic indicators, adjusting for age, household composition and whether or not they were the main cook in the household. RESULTS: Participants with the lowest education, the lowest income group and female manual and office workers spent more time preparing food daily than participants with the highest education, those with the highest income and managerial staff (P < 0.0001). The lowest educated individuals were more likely to be non-cooks than those with the highest education level (Women: OR = 3.36 (1.69;6.69); Men: OR = 1.83 (1.07;3.16)) while female manual and office workers and the never-employed were less likely to be non-cooks (OR = 0.52 (0.28;0.97); OR = 0.30 (0.11;0.77)). Female manual and office workers had lower scores of preparation from scratch and were less likely to want to cook more frequently than managerial staff (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001). Women belonging to the lowest income group had a lower score of kitchen equipment (P < 0.0001) and were less likely to enjoy cooking meal daily (OR = 0.68 (0.45;0.86)) than those with the highest income. CONCLUSION: Lowest socio-economic groups, particularly women, spend more time preparing food than high socioeconomic groups. However, female manual and office workers used less raw or fresh ingredients to prepare meals than managerial staff. In the unfavourable context in France with reduced time spent preparing meals over last decades, our findings showed socioeconomic disparities in food preparation behaviours in women, whereas few differences were observed in men

Geomorphology of Stansbury Peninsula, Nelson Island, Antarctic Peninsula

The proglacial landscapes of Antarctica offer critical insights into past and ongoing deglaciation processes and the impacts of climate change. This study presents the first geomorphological map of the proglacial part of Stansbury Peninsula (Rip Point) and Cariz Cabo Cape in the northern part of Nelson Island. We identify and characterise a variety of glacial, proglacial, paraglacial, and periglacial landforms using high-resolution drone imagery, fieldwork, and geological data. The defined landforms presented reflect a complex interplay of erosional and depositional processes shaped by multiple glacial advance-retreat cycles since the Last Glacial Maximum, with evidence for significant glacial activity during the Holocene. The presence of hyaloclastite and crystalline erratic boulders further contributes to the reconstruction of glacial dynamics in the region. Our findings provide a crucial dataset and baseline for studies on future Antarctic deglaciation, periglacial processes, and the expansion of proglacial landscapes driven by ongoing climate change

Search for new physics in the multijet and missing transverse momentum final state in proton-proton collisions at √s=8 Tev

Peer reviewe

Coincident evolution of glaciers and ice-marginal proglacial lakes across the Southern Alps, New Zealand: Past, present and future

Global glacier mass loss is causing expansion of proglacial landscapes and producing meltwater that can become impounded as lakes within natural topographic depressions or ‘overdeepenings’. It is important to understand the evolution of these proglacial landscapes for water resources, natural hazards and ecosystem services. In this study we (i) overview contemporary loss of glacier ice across the Southern Alps of New Zealand, (ii) analyse ice-marginal lake development since the 1980s, (iii) utilise modelled glacier ice thickness to suggest the position and size of future lakes, and (iv) employ a large-scale glacier evolution model to suggest the timing of future lake formation and future lake expansion rate. In recent decades, hundreds of Southern Alps glaciers have been lost and those remaining have fragmented both by separation of tributaries and by detachment of ablation zones. Glaciers with ice-contact margins in proglacial lakes (n > 0.1 km2 = 20 in 2020) have experienced the greatest terminus retreat and typically twice as negative mass balance compared to similar-sized land-terminating glaciers. Our analysis indicates a positive relationship between mean glacier mass balance and rate of lake growth (R2 = 0.34) and also with length of an ice-contact lake boundary (R2 = 0.44). We project sustained and relatively homogenous glacier volume loss for east-draining basins but in contrast a heterogeneous pattern of volume loss for west-draining basins. Our model results show that ice-marginal lakes will increase in combined size by ~150% towards 2050 and then decrease to 2100 as glaciers disconnect from them. Overall, our findings should inform (i) glacier evolution models into which ice-marginal lake effects need incorporating, (ii) studies of rapid landscape evolution and especially of meltwater and sediment delivery, and (iii) considerations of future meltwater supply and water quality

Measurement of Higgs boson production and properties in the WW decay channel with leptonic final states

Peer reviewe

Study of hadronic event-shape variables in multijet final states in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe