A Socio-Ecological Model to Assess Tuberculosis in Migrant Farmworkers in the US-Mexico Border Region

The migrant and seasonal farmworker toiling in the fields and orchards of the United States of America surmounts innumerable problems daily. Some of these problems pertain to the overall health of the farmworker in addition to the various occupational hazards that he or she faces. This research paper focuses on Tuberculosis infection—both latent and active—in the migrant farmworkers in the United States with a special focus on the US-Mexico border. Using the Socio-Ecological Model as a theoretical framework, the TB health issues faced by this group are studied. The various determinants of health at every level of the Socio-Ecological Model are cogitated upon and culturally appropriate interventions are suggested. This research paper corroborates the fact that health issues facing mobile communities like migrant farmworkers require a synergistic approach by various stakeholders spanning the length and breadth of the Americas

Incipient Wigner Localization in Circular Quantum Dots

We study the development of electron-electron correlations in circular quantum dots as the density is decreased. We consider a wide range of both electron number, N<=20, and electron gas parameter, r_s<18, using the diffusion quantum Monte Carlo technique. Features associated with correlation appear to develop very differently in quantum dots than in bulk. The main reason is that translational symmetry is necessarily broken in a dot, leading to density modulation and inhomogeneity. Electron-electron interactions act to enhance this modulation ultimately leading to localization. This process appears to be completely smooth and occurs over a wide range of density. Thus there is a broad regime of ``incipient'' Wigner crystallization in these quantum dots. Our specific conclusions are: (i) The density develops sharp rings while the pair density shows both radial and angular inhomogeneity. (ii) The spin of the ground state is consistent with Hund's (first) rule throughout our entire range of r_s for all 4<N<20. (iii) The addition energy curve first becomes smoother as interactions strengthen -- the mesoscopic fluctuations are damped by correlation -- and then starts to show features characteristic of the classical addition energy. (iv) Localization effects are stronger for a smaller number of electrons. (v) Finally, the gap to certain spin excitations becomes small at the strong interaction (large r_s) side of our regime.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

Peristaltic Induced Flow of a Particulate Suspension in a Non-Uniform Geometry

The flow induced by sinusoidal peristaltic waves of a particle-fluid suspension in a twodimensional diverging channel under low Reynolds number and long wavelength approximation has been investigated. The analytical expression for the flow characteristics-the flow rate, pressure rise and friction force have been derived. Moreover, we present some results concerning the dependence of these quantities on the geometrical parameters

Health impacts of traffic related air pollution

Ambient air pollution can be a serious cause of concern for any community. Anthropogenic ambient air pollutants can emanate from industries, traffic, geological sources and domestic heating and cooking. However, studies have shown that traffic related air pollution can have far more detrimental health effects than non-combustion sources. These adverse health effects are most profound in sensitive populations like the elderly and young children. The World Health Organization (WHO) attributes more than 300 million deaths every year to ambient air pollution. The WHO’s Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) and the United States Environment Protection Agency’s (USEPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) provide specific ambient air quality standards for several air pollutants. This review paper describes some of the criteria air pollutants (as designated by USEPA) like particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Short and long term exposures to these pollutants can lead to cardiovascular, respiratory morbidity and premature death in some cases. In the elderly population, exposure to particulate matter has shown an increase in cases of atherosclerosis, irregular heartbeats, emphysema and onset of myocardial infarction. Young children are particularly vulnerable to damaging effects of traffic air pollutants. Children’s lungs are in the process of development and their airway exposure per unit time is more than adults. Also, their defense mechanisms are evolving, thereby, raising their susceptibility to air pollution. In young asthmatic children, exposure to high levels of particulate matter has led to the exacerbation of their asthma. High levels of nitrogen dioxide have shown a decrement in the lung function of young children. This leads to increased rates of school absenteeism, greater use of asthma medications, emergency room visits and hospital admissions. Elucidating the various health effects of traffic pollutants on these sensitive populations is another focal point of this paper

Interaction-Induced Strong Localization in Quantum Dots

We argue that Coulomb blockade phenomena are a useful probe of the cross-over to strong correlation in quantum dots. Through calculations at low density using variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (up to r_s ~ 55), we find that the addition energy shows a clear progression from features associated with shell structure to those caused by commensurability of a Wigner crystal. This cross-over (which occurs near r_s ~ 20 for spin-polarized electrons) is, then, a signature of interaction-driven localization. As the addition energy is directly measurable in Coulomb blockade conductance experiments, this provides a direct probe of localization in the low density electron gas.Comment: 4 pages, published version, revised discussio

Report on Owned Dog Population Survey In Lingayen, Philippines

The Philippines is among the Southeast Asian countries that has a long-standing problem with rabies. About 200 people die of rabies each year in the Philippines, and most are attributed to dog bite cases (Deray, 2015). The sources of infection of more than 95% of human rabies cases worldwide have been reported to be domestic dogs (Cleaveland, et al., 2006). Focusing on the main source rather than the human population, is therefore, the best strategy to eliminate rabies. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends covering at least 70% of the existing domestic dog population with rabies vaccination in the shortest time possible (WHO, 2015). Experts and epidemiologists also recommend maintaining the population immunity above this critical level for at least twelve months, which also interrupts the transmission of rabies among the target population (Coleman & Dye, 1996; Cleaveland, et al., 2003; Hampson, et al., 2009; Morters, et al., 2013)

Blood Flow through a Composite Stenosis in an Artery with Permeable Wall

The present work concerns the fluid mechanical study on the effects of the permeability of the wall through an artery with a composite stenosis. The expressions for the blood flow characteristics, the flow resistance, the wall shear stress, shearing stress at the stenosis throat have been derived. Results for the effect of permeability on these flow characteristics are shown graphically and discussed briefly

Report on Owned Dog Population Survey In Zamboanga, Philippines

The Philippines is among the Southeast Asian countries that has a long-standing problem with rabies. About 200 people die of rabies each year in the Philippines, and most are attributed to dog bite cases (Deray, 2015). The sources of infection of more than 95% of human rabies cases worldwide have been reported to be domestic dogs (Cleaveland, et al., 2006). Focusing on the main source rather than the human population, is therefore, the best strategy to eliminate rabies. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends covering at least 70% of the existing domestic dog population with rabies vaccination in the shortest time possible (WHO, 2015). Experts and epidemiologists also recommend maintaining the population immunity above this critical level for at least twelve months, which also interrupts the transmission of rabies among the target population (Coleman & Dye, 1996; Cleaveland, et al., 2003; Hampson, et al., 2009; Morters, et al., 2013)

On the Four-Dimensional Diluted Ising Model

In this letter we show strong numerical evidence that the four dimensional Diluted Ising Model for a large dilution is not described by the Mean Field exponents. These results suggest the existence of a new fixed point with non-gaussian exponents.Comment: 9 pages. compressed ps-file (uufiles