A critical analysis of Peru's HIV grant proposals to the Global Fund.

Peru has applied to six of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) rounds for funding, achieving success on four occasions. The process of proposal development has, however, been criticised, especially concerning the use of evidence, relevance/consistency and performance indicators. We aimed to analyse the Peruvian Global Fund proposals according to those dimensions, providing feedback to improve future local efforts and inform global discussions around Global Fund procedures. We analysed the content of four HIV-focused proposals (rounds 2, 5, 6 and 8) regarding epidemic context, needs identification and prioritisation and monitoring and evaluation systems. Peruvian proposals submitted after round 1 were described as resulting from collaborative inputs involving formerly unrepresented sectors, principally 'vulnerable populations'. However, difficulties arose regarding the amount and quality of evidence about the epidemiological context; limited consideration of social determinants of the epidemic; lack of theory-driven interventions, and little synergy across projects and the inclusion of weak monitoring and evaluation systems, with poor indicators and measurement procedures. Prioritising the development of analytical and technical skills to generate Global Fund proposals would enhance the country's capacity to produce and utilise evidence, improve the technical-political interface, strengthen information systems and lead to more informed decision making and accountability

Controlling Excitations Inversion of a Cooper Pair Box Interacting with a Nanomechanical Resonator

We investigate the action of time dependent detunings upon the excitation inversion of a Cooper pair box interacting with a nanomechanical resonator. The method employs the Jaynes-Cummings model with damping, assuming different decay rates of the Cooper pair box and various fixed and t-dependent detunings. It is shown that while the presence of damping plus constant detunings destroy the collapse/revival effects, convenient choices of time dependent detunings allow one to reconstruct such events in a perfect way. It is also shown that the mean excitation of the nanomechanical resonator is more robust against damping of the Cooper pair box for convenient values of t-dependent detunings.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Logarithmic growth dynamics in software networks

In a recent paper, Krapivsky and Redner (Phys. Rev. E, 71 (2005) 036118) proposed a new growing network model with new nodes being attached to a randomly selected node, as well to all ancestors of the target node. The model leads to a sparse graph with an average degree growing logarithmically with the system size. Here we present compeling evidence for software networks being the result of a similar class of growing dynamics. The predicted pattern of network growth, as well as the stationary in- and out-degree distributions are consistent with the model. Our results confirm the view of large-scale software topology being generated through duplication-rewiring mechanisms. Implications of these findings are outlined.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, published in Europhysics Letters (2005

Light attenuation in photobioreactors and algal pigmentation under different growth conditions – model identification and complexity assessment

Microalgae are photosynthetic organisms, and thus one of the most important factors affecting their growth is light. Yet, effective design and operation of algal cultivation systems still lacks robust numerical tools. Here, a comprehensive and mathematically consistent simulation model is presented in the ASM-A framework that can accurately predict light availability and its impact on microalgae growth in photobioreactors (PBR). Three cylindrical column reactors, mimicking typical open pond reactors, with different diameters were used to conduct experiments where the light distribution was monitored inside the reactor. A batch experiment was conducted where the effect of nutrients and light availability on the pigmentation of the microalgae and light distribution was monitored. The effect of reactor size and cultivation conditions on the light distribution in PBRs was evaluated. Moreover, we assessed the effect of using different simulation model structures on the model prediction accuracy and uncertainty propagation. Results obtained show that light scattering can have a significant effect on light distribution in reactors with narrow diameter (typical to panel-type PBRs) and under cultivation conditions that promote low pigmentation or low biomass concentration. The light attenuation coefficient was estimated using the Lambert-Beer equation and it was compared to Schuster's law. The light attenuation was found to be dependent on biomass concentration and microalgae pigmentation. Using a discretized layer model to describe the light distribution in PBRs resulted in the most accurate prediction of microalgal growth and lowest uncertainty on model predictions. Due to model complexity a trade-off needs to be made between accuracy of the prediction ac simulation time.</p

First record of Rachiplusia nu (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as host of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma bruni (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae).

Autoria: QUERINO [i.e. SILVA], R. B. Q. da. RANYSE BARBOSA QUERINO DA SILVA

Trichogramma bruni Nagaraja (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) is recorded parasitizing eggs of the "sunflower looper", Rachiplusia nu (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

This is the first report of this important pest as host of this egg parasitoid. The association was registered in soybean crops in Tucumán, Argentina.Se reporta por primera vez a Trichogramma bruni Nagaraja (Hymenoptera : trichogrammatidae) parasitando huevos de la "oruga medidora" Rachiplusia nu (Guenée) (Lepdoptera: Noctuidae). Este es el primer registro de esta importante plaga como hospedador de T. bruni. Esta asociación fue registrada en cultivos de soja en Tucumán, ArgentinaFil: Valverde, Liliana. Fund.Miguel Lillo. Dir.de Zoologia. Instituto de Entomologia; ArgentinaFil: Querino, Ranyse B.. Ministerio Da Agricultura Pecuaria E Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Virla, Eduardo Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tucumán. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (i); Argentin

Traffic on complex networks: Towards understanding global statistical properties from microscopic density fluctuations

We study the microscopic time fluctuations of traffic load and the global statistical properties of a dense traffic of particles on scale-free cyclic graphs. For a wide range of driving rates R the traffic is stationary and the load time series exhibits antipersistence due to the regulatory role of the superstructure associated with two hub nodes in the network. We discuss how the superstructure affects the functioning of the network at high traffic density and at the jamming threshold. The degree of correlations systematically decreases with increasing traffic density and eventually disappears when approaching a jamming density Rc. Already before jamming we observe qualitative changes in the global network-load distributions and the particle queuing times. These changes are related to the occurrence of temporary crises in which the network-load increases dramatically, and then slowly falls back to a value characterizing free flow