No reserved communication lanes for high energy

The American particle physics community is in jeopardy and may end up drowning in a boundless sea trying to grasp at non-existing funds, dragging US physics and science as a whole to the bottom. This is a price the most powerful and high-tech country of the world cannot afford, as warned by the editors of a report published in late April by the National Academy of Sciences1. Behind so much alarm is the International Linear Collider (ILC) – a large particle accelerator facility which, according to the report, should be built on American territory, if research on the elementary constituents of nature is to survive in the United States. The ILC will probably cost a total of five hundred million dollars in the first five years, whereas billions will have to be invested in the subsequent seven years. Hardly impressive, however, if compared with the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), the biggest and costliest machine ever conceived in the history of science. Devised to describe the first instants of the universe, as many will recall, the SSC project was severely hampered by political and bureaucratic plots in 1993, when the Clinton administration decided to halt work on the accelerator, after ten years and approximately two billion dollars already spent

Filling the gap between theory and practice

Jcom’s adventure was launched nearly eight years ago, when a group of lecturers and former students of the Master’s degree in Science Communication at SISSA of Trieste, decided to have training joined by the commitment to research on science communication issues

Introduction of a Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccine in Italy: a Budget Impact Analysis

In Italy the MoH offer for free, every year, influenza vaccination to all subjects at risk and to all subjects aged ≥ 65 year old.Since the last flu season, TIVs were the only strategy used in Italy.Traditional TIVs contain antigens from three viral strains: A(H1N1), A(H3N2), and one of two B lineages, B(Victoria) or B(Yamagata). Each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) decides which viral strains should be included in the next seasonal influenza vaccine.However, accurately predicting which B-lineage strain will predominate in the upcoming season has proven to be a challenging task due to the co-circulation of both lineages.To address the issue of B-mismatch, it’s been developed a new QIV containing both strains from each B-lineage to offer a broader protection against influenza.The new QIV was reimbursed in Italy in 2015and included by the MoH in the national recommendations for the seasonal immunization campaign against influenza 2015-2016.Recently a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Report showed that the new QIV when compared to TIVs is cost effective (ICER=18.883€/QALY) according to Italian NHS perspective.The Budget Impact Analysis (BIA) showed that the introduction of the QIV with 9% market share in the vaccine mix for the flu campaign 2015-2016 provides an annual saving of -674.089 €, mainly due to the wider protection offered by QIV vs TIVs with an estimated 49,12% B-mismatch

A handheld radial shape discrimination hyperacuity test: Assessment of variability in a clinical population.

Purpose: A novel handheld Radial Shape Discrimination test (hRSD), presented on an Apple iPod Touch, has been reported to differentiate between early and neovascular Age Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD; Wang et al., 2013). We have investigated the use of this test in a UK clinical setting. Methods: Fifty-five participants (aged 78±7 years old) being treated for nAMD in their first eye, performed a supervised hRSD test with their fellow (non-nAMD) eye at two sessions, 45±17 days apart. 32 participants also performed the test with no near Addition. Test-retest differences, and the effect of performing the test without near Addition, were assessed using paired t-tests, Bland-Altman analysis and Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC). Results: Mean (±SD) hRSD thresholds were not statistically significantly different for the first and second sessions (S1: -0.55±0.17; S2: -0.56±0.18logMAR; t(54)=0.72, p>0.05). The upper and lower Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement were 0.25 and -0.27 logMAR and the ICC (95%CI) was 0.71 (0.55 to 0.82). A small but statistically significant decrease in threshold was seen when near addition was not used (t(31)=2.99,

Science in advertising: uses and consumptions in the Italian press

Among the social practices that the world of advertising draws upon in order to convey its message, science is used to convince the target audience of the effectiveness of the product it is promoting. The study of the presence and use of science to encourage consumer spending provides information on the public perception of science itself. The present work analyzes these aspects with reference to the Italian press. A quantitative study was carried out on a sample of daily, weekly and monthly publications throughout 2002 and 2003, using a coding frame that enabled the identification of the frequency of scientific messages in advertising, the occurrence of scientific content in the images, the context in which they are set and the type of language used. The results demonstrate that science has a consistent presence in advertising and the image of science that derives from this is a positive one

Radial Shape Discrimination in eyes at high risk of developing neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Aims The aim of this study was to investigate the use of a novel handheld Radial Shape Discrimination test (the hRSD test) in eyes at high risk of developing neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD). The properties of the hRSD test that were investigated include the test-retest repeatability and the stability over time in clinically stable participants. The relationship between hRSD scores and other measurements of visual function (visual acuity, VA and contrast sensitivity, CS) were explored along with the relationship with retinal structural changes (foveal large drusen, ellipsoid zone disruption, EZD and central subfield thickness, CST). Methods A sample of 100 participants with unilateral nAMD was recruited from a UK ophthalmology clinic. The unaffected eye (the study eye, SE) had no evidence of nAMD, VA≤0.4 logMAR and was considered to be at risk of developing nAMD due to contralateral involvement. Participants performed the hRSD test on five consecutive visits, spread over approximately six months. All participants performed VA and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) at all visits. CS was measured in a subgroup of 34 participants. A usability questionnaire was completed at the last visit. Results The overall mean hRSD score in SEs was -0.56 ±0.16 (95%CI -0.60 to -0.53) logMAR for a group whose mean age was 77±7 years. Older participants had worse hRSD scores (r=0.37, p=0.0005) which corresponded to a deterioration of 0.08 logMAR per decade (slope of the linear regression). The test-retest repeatability over two consecutive visits revealed good agreement (bias=-0.004 logMAR, upper and lower limits of agreement: 0.27 and -0.28 logMAR). The coefficient of repeatability over five visits was 0.33 logMAR. There were no trends seen (no learning effects). The hRSD test was less repeatable than VA when compared by means of intraclass correlation coefficients (0.85 vs. 0.93). No correlation was seen between hRSD and VA (p=0.9) or CS (p=0.1). Of the three aspects of retinal structure investigated, only large drusen and EZD had a significant effect on hRSD scores (p=0.02 and p=0.01). Finally, the usability questionnaire revealed a very good acceptability of the test. Discussion The hRSD test has been suggested to be an effective mean of detecting nAMD. This study contributes to the ongoing assessment of the hRSD test in a key population with eyes at risk of nAMD. Understanding the performance of tests in the absence of disease progression is important to correctly interpret potential changes as clinically or non-clinically significant. Although the hRSD test was less repeatable than VA, the degree of variability can be considered acceptable in view of the large dynamic range seen between early and late AMD. The hRSD test has the advantage of being portable, capable of self-administration and well accepted by patients. The results from this study support the idea that the hRSD test is a better indicator of foveal integrity in the early stages of AMD compared to VA, as shown by the results of the correlations with structural parameters

Estudio preliminar de zonas de conflicto aeropuerto Mariscal La Mar de la ciudad de Cuenca-Ecuador

Los obstáculos existentes en las inmediaciones de un aeropuerto pueden generar interacciones que pueden conllevar limitaciones operacionales de las aeronaves que ahí operan. Para lo cual, se realiza un análisis siguiendo la normativa de OACI (Organización Internacional de Aviación Civil) respecto a la restricción y eliminación de obstáculos contenida en el capítulo 4 del Anexo 14 “Diseño y Operaciones de Aeródromos” del Convenio de Chicago. La finalidad de las especificaciones de este capítulo son definir el espacio aéreo que debe mantenerse libre de obstáculos alrededor de los aeródromos para que puedan llevarse a cabo con seguridad las operaciones de los aviones previstos y evitar que los aeródromos queden inutilizados por la multiplicidad de obstáculos en sus alrededores. Esto se logra mediante una serie de superficies limitadoras de obstáculos (SLO) que marcan los limites hasta donde pueden proyectarse los objetos en el espacio aéreo. Así mismo en el presente trabajo se abordan determinados aspectos generales relacionados vinculados a: la franja de pista y a las áreas de seguridad de extremo de pista con el fin detectar zonas de interacción y de potencial conflicto entre los requerimientos de diseño y operación y las propias instalaciones aeroportuarias y el entorno urbano inmediato.Facultad de Ingenierí