Domesticating the Drone: The Demilitarisation of Unmanned Aircraft for Civil Markets

Remotely piloted aviation systems (RPAS) or ‘drones’ are well known for their military applications, but could also be used for a range of non-military applications for state, industrial, commercial and recreational purposes. The technology is advanced and regulatory changes are underway which will allow their use in domestic airspace. As well as the functional and economic benefits of civilian RPAS (C-RPAS) sector, the potential benefits for the military (M-RPAS) sector are also recognised. A wide range of actors have nurtured this dual-use aspect of C-RPAS development, and celebrated militaristic visions of the technology. However, concerns have been raised about the public rejecting the technology because of their association M-RPAS and concerns about some potentially controversial applications, for example in policing and border control. In contrast with the enthusiasm for dual-use exhibited throughout the consultation process, the strategy for avoiding public rejection would downplay the connection between military and non-military RPAS and focus upon less controversial applications such as search and rescue. We reflect upon this contrast in the context of the European agenda of responsible research and innovation. In doing so, we do not rely upon critique of RPAS development per se, in their neither their civilian nor military guise, but explore the extent to which current strategies are compatible with a responsible and socially beneficial C-RPAS development.JRC.G.6-Digital Citizen Securit

Alien Registration- Boucher, Mrs. Philip (Rumford, Oxford County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/12750/thumbnail.jp

Textiles and Clothing Manufacturing: Vision for 2025 and Actions Needed

This project is set in the context of the European industrial policy objective declared in 2010 to bring the share of industry in EU GDP from 15 to 20 per cent by 2020. It applies the Industrial Landscape Vision 2025 (ILV2025), a forward looking tool developed in a previous JRC foresight study and endorsed by DG GROW and its Task Force on advanced manufacturing. This tool provides a generic model of industry in Europe 10 years from now. The main objective of the project is to understand the long-term needs and challenges faced by European industry, to develop a vision for identifying key opportunities and challenges, and to develop potential responses by industry actors and policy makers.JRC.I.2-Foresight, Behavioural Insights and Design for Polic

Pooled-sera hSBA titres predict individual seroprotection in infants and toddlers vaccinated with 4CMenB

AbstractThe Serum Bactericidal Antibody assay with human complement (hSBA) using individual immune sera is a surrogate of protection for meningococcal vaccines. Strain coverage of 4CMenB, a licensed vaccine against serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) disease, has been extensively assessed in hSBA using pooled sera, directly or through the Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (MATS). The extent to which pooled-sera hSBA titres reflect individual protection is not yet fully understood.We analysed more than 17000 individual hSBA titres from infants and toddlers vaccinated with 4CMenB, pooled-serum hSBA titres from subsets therein and MATS data from a 40 strain panel representative of invasive MenB disease in England and Wales.Individual hSBA titres segregated in two normal distributions, respectively from responding and non-responding subjects (fit_model-data: r=0.996, p-values <0.05). No individual subject showed abnormally high titres compared to the distributions. Also, when sera from the same subjects were tested individually and in pool, pooled-sera titre and average of individual titres from the same group were substantially indistinguishable (r=0.97, p-value <<0.001).We identified a robust mathematical relationship between the mean of individual hSBA titres and the proportion of subjects achieving a protective titre (seroprotection rate, r=0.95, p-value <<0.001). Using this relation, the seroprotection rate in 15 groups of vaccinees tested against 11 diverse meningococcal isolates was accurately predicted by the hSBA titre of the respective pooled sera (average prediction error 9%).Finally, strains defined covered by MATS had on average 77% predicted seroprotection rate (interquartile range, IQR: 66–100%) and 39% for non-covered strains (IQR: 19–46%).We conclude that seroprotection rates in infants and toddlers vaccinated with 4CMenB can be accurately predicted by pooled-serum hSBA, and that strain coverage defined by MATS is associated with high seroprotection rates.SummaryThe Serum Bactericidal Antibody assay (SBA) from individual sera is a surrogate of protection for meningococcal vaccines. We show that SBA performed on pooled sera predicts individual protection

Cómo puede cambiar nuestra vida la tecnología de la cadena de bloques: análisis en profundidad

El ISBN corresponde a la versión electrónica del documentoLa tecnología de la cadena de bloques interesa cada vez más a ciudadanos, empresas y legisladores de toda la Unión. Este informe tiene como objetivo facilitar un punto de entrada a los curiosos de la tecnología de la cadena de bloques, con el fin de estimular el interés y suscitar un debate en torno a su posible repercusión. La introducción general viene seguida por un análisis más minucioso de ocho ámbitos en los que se ha descrito que la cadena de bloques tiene una posible repercusión sustancial. En cada uno de ellos se explica cómo se podría desarrollar la tecnología en ese ámbito particular, los posibles efectos que podría tener este desarrollo y cuáles son las posibles cuestiones que deben anticiparse en materia de políticas

Cation distribution in manganese cobaltite spinels Co3−xMnxO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) determined by thermal analysis

Thermogravimetric analysis was used in order to study the reduction in air of submicronic powders of Co3−x Mn x O4 spinels, with 0 ≤ x ≤ 1. For x = 0 (i.e. Co3O4), cation reduction occurred in a single step. It involved the CoIII ions at the octahedral sites, which were reduced to Co2+ on producing CoO. For 0 < x ≤ 1, the reduction occurred in two stages at increasing temperature with increasing amounts of manganese. The first step corresponded to the reduction of octahedral CoIII ions and the second was attributed to the reduction of octahedral Mn4+ ions to Mn3+. From the individual weight losses and the electrical neutrality of the lattice, the CoIII and Mn4+ ion concentrations were calculated. The distribution of cobalt and manganese ions present on each crystallographic site of the spinel was determined. In contrast to most previous studies that took into account either CoIII and Mn3+ or Co2+, CoIII and Mn4+ only, our thermal analysis study showed that Co2+/CoIII and Mn3+/Mn4+ pairs occupy the octahedral sites. These results were used to explain the resistivity measurements carried out on dense ceramics prepared from our powders sintered at low temperature (700–750 °C) in a Spark Plasma Sintering apparatus

Cost-Effectiveness of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) in Preventing HIV-1 Infections in Rural Zambia: A Modeling Study

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with tenofovir and emtricitabine effectively prevents new HIV infections. The optimal scenario for implementing PrEP where most infections are averted at the lowest cost is unknown. We determined the impact of different PrEP strategies on averting new infections, prevalence, drug resistance and cost-effectiveness in Macha, a rural setting in Zambia. Methods: A deterministic mathematical model of HIV transmission was constructed using data from the Macha epidemic (antenatal prevalence 7.7%). Antiretroviral therapy is started at CD4/mm 3 . We compared the number of infections averted, cost-effectiveness, and potential emergence of drug resistance of two ends of the prioritization spectrum: prioritizing PrEP to half of the most sexually active individuals (5-15% of the total population), versus randomly putting 40-60% of the total population on PrEP. Results: Prioritizing PrEP to individuals with the highest sexual activity resulted in more infections averted than a non-prioritized strategy over ten years (31% and 23% reduction in new infections respectively), and also a lower HIV prevalence after ten years (5.7%, 6.4% respectively). The strategy was very cost-effective at $323 per quality adjusted life year gained and appeared to be both less costly and more effective than the non-prioritized strategy. The prevalence of drug resistance due to PrEP was as high as 11.6% when all assumed breakthrough infections resulted in resistance, and as low as 1.3% when 10% of breakthrough infections resulted in resistance in both our prioritized and non-prioritized scenarios. Conclusions: Even in settings with low test rates and treatment retention, the use of PrEP can still be a useful strategy in averting infections. Our model has shown that PrEP is a cost-effective strategy for reducing HIV incidence, even when adherence is suboptimal and prioritization is imperfect