Client Acceptability for Integrating Antiretroviral Therapy in Methadone Maintenance Therapy Clinics in Sichuan, China.

BackgroundUsing methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) clinics to deliver antiretroviral therapy (ART) has proven to be effective for promoting treatment initiation and adherence in drug users living with HIV.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to investigate the HIV-positive client acceptability of integrated ART services and to identify the reasons for and factors associated with service acceptability.MethodsA total of 86 HIV-positive MMT clients were recruited from 12 MMT clinics in Sichuan Province, China. They participated in a cross-sectional survey that queried their willingness to receive seven different types of MMT-based ART services. The reasons for their willingness/unwillingness to accept these services were documented. The association between service acceptability and background characteristics was examined.ResultsThe most accepted integrated services were ART-related counseling (75.6%) and referral (73.2%). Concerns regarding the provider's lack of ART expertise and confidentiality issues were common barriers for the acceptance of MMT-based ART services. A trust relationship with MMT providers was a reason for service acceptance. Service acceptability was associated with a poorer perceived health status. Conclusions/Importance: ART-related services, based on the client perspective, can be delivered at MMT clinics. However, service provider training and the protection of confidentiality must be strengthened for the effective implementation of integrated service delivery

Conjugacy Classes of Renner Monoids

In this paper we describe conjugacy classes of a Renner monoid $R$ with unit group $W$, the Weyl group. We show that every element in $R$ is conjugate to an element $ue$ where $u\in W$ and $e$ is an idempotent in a cross section lattice. Denote by $W(e)$ and $W_*(e)$ the centralizer and stabilizer of $e\in \Lambda$ in $W$, respectively. Let $W(e)$ act by conjugation on the set of left cosets of $W_*(e)$ in $W$. We find that $ue$ and $ve$ ($u, v\in W$) are conjugate if and only if $uW_*(e)$ and $vW_*(e)$ are in the same orbit. As consequences, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the conjugacy classes of $R$ and the orbits of this action. We then obtain a formula for calculating the number of conjugacy classes of $R$, and describe in detail the conjugacy classes of the Renner monoid of some $\cal J$-irreducible monoids. We then generalize the Munn conjugacy on a rook monoid to any Renner monoid and show that the Munn conjugacy coincides with the semigroup conjugacy, action conjugacy, and character conjugacy. We also show that the number of inequivalent irreducible representations of $R$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero equals the number of the Munn conjugacy classes in $R$.Comment: A reference ([13]) and Corollary 4.5 are added to show the connection between the result in Theorem 4.4 of the previous version and the results in [13]. A paragraph on page 12 is new to show that Theorem 4.4 can also be deduced from the results in [13]. Two necessary concepts from [13] to describe the connection are inserted in Section 2.

The large-scale magnetic field of a thin accretion disk with outflows

The large-scale magnetic field threading an accretion disk plays an important role in launching jets/outflows. The field may probably be advected inwards by the plasma in the accretion disk from the ambient environment (interstellar medium or a companion star). It has been suggested that the external field can be efficiently dragged inwards in a thin disk with magnetic outflows. We construct a self-consistent global disk-outflow model, in which the large-scale field is formed by the advection of the external field in the disk. The outflows are accelerated by this field co-rotating with the disk, which carry away most angular momentum of the disk and make its structure significantly different from the conventional viscous disk structure. We find that the magnetic field strength in the inner region of the disk can be several orders of magnitude higher than the external field strength for a geometrically thin disk with $H/R \sim 0.1$, if the ratio of the gas to magnetic pressure $\beta_{\rm out} \sim 10^2$ at the outer edge of the disk. The outflow velocity shows layer-like structure, i.e., it decreases with radius where it is launched. The outflow can be accelerated up to $\sim 0.2-0.3$c from the inner region of the disk, and the mass loss rate in the outflows is $\sim 10 - 70\%$ of the mass accretion rate at the outer radius of the disk, which may account for the fast outflows observed in some active galactic nuclei (AGNs).Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Homoclinic Tubes and Chaos in Perturbed Sine-Gordon Equation

In an early work, Bernoulli shift dynamics of submanifolds was established in a neighborhood of a homoclinic tube. In this article, we will present a concrete example: sine-Gordon equation under a quasi-periodic perturbation