JMM Profile: Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae: a major cause of lung disease in pigs but difficult to control and eradicate

The Gram-negative bacterium Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the causative agent of pleuropneumonia in pigs, its only known natural host. Typical symptoms of peracute disease include fever, apathy and anorexia, and time from infection to death may only be 6 h. Severe lung lesions result from presence of one or two of the ApxI-III toxins. Control is through good husbandry practice, vaccines and antibiotic use. Culture and presence of the species-specific apxIV gene by PCR confirms diagnosis, and identification of serovar, of which 19 are known, informs on appropriate vaccine use and epidemiology

Health Facility Characteristics and Their Relationship to Coverage of PMTCT of HIV Services across Four African Countries: The PEARL Study

Background: Health facility characteristics associated with effective prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) coverage in sub-Saharan are poorly understood. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted surveys in health facilities with active PMTCT services in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, and Zambia. Data was compiled via direct observation and exit interviews. We constructed composite scores to describe provision of PMTCT services across seven topical areas: antenatal quality, PMTCT quality, supplies available, patient satisfaction, patient understanding of medication, and infrastructure quality. Pearson correlations and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to account for clustering of facilities within countries were used to evaluate the relationship between the composite scores, total time of visit and select individual variables with PMTCT coverage among women delivering. Between July 2008 and May 2009, we collected data from 32 facilities; 78 % were managed by the government health system. An opt-out approach for HIV testing was used in 100 % of facilities in Zambia, 63 % in Cameroon, and none in Côte d’Ivoire or South Africa. Using Pearson correlations, PMTCT coverage (median of 55%, (IQR: 33–68) was correlated with PMTCT quality score (rho = 0.51; p = 0.003); infrastructure quality score (rho = 0.43; p = 0.017); time spent at clinic (rho = 0.47

Global gas flaring and energy justice : An empirical ethics analysis of stakeholder perspectives

Global gas flaring harms human and non-human health and well-being while contributing to climate change. Flaring activity in the global oil and gas sector is a significant matter of energy justice – concerning the distribution of risks, benefits and harms, recognition of rights, and decision-making influence within gas-flaring-affected communities. This mixed method empirical ethical analysis of gas flaring and energy justice combines Q-methodology and stakeholder interviews with representatives of 14 gas-flaring-affected countries (n = 35) to evaluate the context-sensitivity of distributive, procedural, recognition, and cosmopolitan justice principles to gas-flaring governance. Four dominant normative perspectives emerge around this topic. These perspectives concern: a) government-led zero flaring policy; b) multi-scalar economic governance; c) business responsibility and social license; and d) localism and community empowerment. We find that: first, there is strong stakeholder support for zero-flaring globally. Second, coordinated multi-scalar governance from international-national-local regulatory authorities is desired to protect marginalised communities. Third, egalitarian rights-based approaches are prioritised over utilitarian approaches in planning for oil and gas extraction. Fourth, business responsibility necessitates transparent communication of flaring activities and impacts and the Polluter Pays Principle of environmental redress to affected communities. Finally, stakeholder disagreement centres upon the practical mechanisms to achieve just outcomes - including compensation, the role of local authorities, regulatory agencies, Environmental Impact Assessment, and efforts to tackle rent-seeking and corruption. We conclude that further stakeholder engagement is needed on the implementation processes for gas flaring elimination, rather than the goal itself, through carefully facilitated dialogue and negotiation

A GAS JET BEAM HALO MONITOR FOR LINACS

The gas jet beam profile monitor is a non-invasive beam monitor that is currently being commissioned at the Cockcroft Institute. It utilises a supersonic gas curtain which traverses the beam perpendicular to its propagation and measures beam-induced ionisation interactions of the gas. A 2D transverse beam profile image is created by orientating the gas jet 45 degrees to obtain both X and Y distributions of the beam. This paper builds upon previously used single-slit skimmers and improves their ability to form the gas jet into a desired distribution for imaging beam halo. A skimmer device removes off-momentum gas particles and forms the jet into a dense thin curtain, suitable for transverse imaging of the beam. The use of a novel double-slit skimmer is shown to provide a mask-like void of gas over the beam core, increasing the relative intensity of the halo interactions for measurement. Such a non-invasive monitor would be beneficial to linacs by providing real time beam characteristic measurements without affecting the beam. More specifically, beam halo behaviour is a key characteristic associated with beam losses within linacs

The Challenge of Machine Learning in Space Weather Nowcasting and Forecasting

The numerous recent breakthroughs in machine learning (ML) make imperative to carefully ponder how the scientific community can benefit from a technology that, although not necessarily new, is today living its golden age. This Grand Challenge review paper is focused on the present and future role of machine learning in space weather. The purpose is twofold. On one hand, we will discuss previous works that use ML for space weather forecasting, focusing in particular on the few areas that have seen most activity: the forecasting of geomagnetic indices, of relativistic electrons at geosynchronous orbits, of solar flares occurrence, of coronal mass ejection propagation time, and of solar wind speed. On the other hand, this paper serves as a gentle introduction to the field of machine learning tailored to the space weather community and as a pointer to a number of open challenges that we believe the community should undertake in the next decade. The recurring themes throughout the review are the need to shift our forecasting paradigm to a probabilistic approach focused on the reliable assessment of uncertainties, and the combination of physics-based and machine learning approaches, known as gray-box.Comment: under revie

DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTUM GAS JET BEAM PROFILE MONITOR FOR sub-mm BEAMS

The development work of a high-resolution quantum gas jet beam profile monitor for highly energetic sub-mm particle beams is in progress at the Cockcroft Institute (CI), UK. This device is designed on the principle of detecting the secondary ions from the ionisation induced in the interaction between the quantum gas jet and charged particle beams. This monitor aims to generate an intense gas jet with a diameter of less than 100 µm, which can ultimately lead to superior position resolution and high signal intensity resulting from a strongly focused quantum gas jet. This is done by exploiting the quantum wave feature of the neutral gas atoms to generate an interference pattern with a single maximum acting as an ultra-thin gas jet using an 'atom sieve' which is similar to the light focusing with a Fresnel zone plate. This device will be minimally interceptive and will work analogously to a mechanical wire scanner. This contribution gives a general overview of the design, working principle of the monitor and experimental results obtained from the electron beam profile measurements carried out at the Cockcroft Institute

Postpartum endometritis and infection following incomplete or complete abortion: Case definition & guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of maternal immunization safety data

Abstract are not provided by the author/publishe

Runaway Events Dominate the Heavy Tail of Citation Distributions

Statistical distributions with heavy tails are ubiquitous in natural and social phenomena. Since the entries in heavy tail have disproportional significance, the knowledge of its exact shape is very important. Citations of scientific papers form one of the best-known heavy tail distributions. Even in this case there is a considerable debate whether citation distribution follows the log-normal or power-law fit. The goal of our study is to solve this debate by measuring citation distribution for a very large and homogeneous data. We measured citation distribution for 418,438 Physics papers published in 1980-1989 and cited by 2008. While the log-normal fit deviates too strong from the data, the discrete power-law function with the exponent $\gamma=3.15$ does better and fits 99.955% of the data. However, the extreme tail of the distribution deviates upward even from the power-law fit and exhibits a dramatic "runaway" behavior. The onset of the runaway regime is revealed macroscopically as the paper garners 1000-1500 citations, however the microscopic measurements of autocorrelation in citation rates are able to predict this behavior in advance.Comment: 6 pages, 5 Figure