Catholic Relief Services Develops MRE Materials

This article presents state-of-the-art unexploded ordnance detection and classification, including examples from recent field-demonstration studies. After reviewing sensor technologies, with a focus on magnetic and electromagnetic systems, the authors discuss advanced processing techniques that allow for reliable discrimination between hazardous ordnance and harmless metallic clutter. Finally, the article shows results from a large-scale field demonstration conducted in 2011. In this case study, electromagnetic data acquired with an advanced sensor is used to identify ordnance at the site, reducing the number of excavations required with conventional metal detectors by 85%

Catholic Relief Services Develops MRE Materials

Since its formation in 1943, Catholic Relief Services has followed their mission to help impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas. This article discusses how CRS successfully implemented a mine risk education project that has decreased the number of incidents involving landmines and explosive remnants of war in heavily contaminated districts of Vietnam. As a direct result of the project, CRS’s MRE curriculum has been accepted by the provincial Department of Education and integrated with primary level public school curricula

Mine Risk Education in Vietnam

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has focused their recent efforts on successfully implementing mine risk education (MRE) programs in Vietnam that have proven to increase knowledge and awareness about landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). This teacher and student MRE training prevents mine/ERW incidents in high-risk areas of Vietnam

Game-Based Learning: An Innovative and Scalable Approach to Mine Risk Education

More than 40 years after the war, Vietnam remains highly contaminated with 800,000 tons1 of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) such as artillery shells, bombs, missiles, and mortars contaminating 6.1 million hectares of land. According to the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor, landmines and UXO were the cause of 129 deaths and 241 injuries between 2008 and 2017.2 Survey findings show that children are one of the most high-risk groups in many provinces in Vietnam, including in heavily-affected provinces such as Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Binh Dinh, and Quang Nam.3 Since the end of the war, children have been disproportionately affected by mine and UXO-related accidents, of which 38 percent resulted from children playing with mines and UXO—mainly small bombs and M-79 munitions3 that they did not realize were dangerous. A CRS survey in 2015 of 1,836 post-war landmine survivors found that 16 percent experienced accidents between the ages of six and ten (primary-school age) and 18 percent experienced accidents when they were aged eleven to fourteen (secondary-school age).4 Though the Vietnam government and international organizations have made efforts to reduce the amount of contaminated land, it is likely that several decades-worth of work5 are necessary to completely clear the land and water during which time children and youth will still be at risk. Although mine risk education (MRE) has been taught in primary schools for years, lessons are not standardized and are often only included as part of other lessons or extracurricular activities. Without frequent and in-depth lessons and discussions on MRE, many students’ knowledge of the risks of mines remains dangerously insufficient

Catholic Relief Services: Information and Communication Technology in Monitoring and Evaluation

In February 2015, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Vietnam initiated a new project to support the reintegration and rehabilitation of survivors of accidents involving landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). With funding from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA), CRS’ Access and Reintegration (A&R) project takes a comprehensive approach to serving the needs of 3,219 survivors of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces. Through collaboration with the Government of Vietnam’s provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA), CRS provides survivors with access to medical care, rehabilitation, and social and livelihood support services. The key to success has been establishing an effective and functional coordination system at the local level for referrals, strengthening a network of community-based workers, and supporting families to provide appropriate, home-based care and support. CRS’ A&R project creates a network of support that ensures increased access to comprehensive services for survivors and advances their reintegration into society. The A&R Project has established a model for scaling to six affected districts in the targeted provinces and beyond

Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has a heritability of 60-80%1, much of which is attributable to common risk alleles. Here, in a two-stage genome-wide association study of up to 76,755 individuals with schizophrenia and 243,649 control individuals, we report common variant associations at 287 distinct genomic loci. Associations were concentrated in genes that are expressed in excitatory and inhibitory neurons of the central nervous system, but not in other tissues or cell types. Using fine-mapping and functional genomic data, we identify 120 genes (106 protein-coding) that are likely to underpin associations at some of these loci, including 16 genes with credible causal non-synonymous or untranslated region variation. We also implicate fundamental processes related to neuronal function, including synaptic organization, differentiation and transmission. Fine-mapped candidates were enriched for genes associated with rare disruptive coding variants in people with schizophrenia, including the glutamate receptor subunit GRIN2A and transcription factor SP4, and were also enriched for genes implicated by such variants in neurodevelopmental disorders. We identify biological processes relevant to schizophrenia pathophysiology; show convergence of common and rare variant associations in schizophrenia and neurodevelopmental disorders; and provide a resource of prioritized genes and variants to advance mechanistic studies

Bandwidth-enhancement of circularly-polarized fabry-perot antenna using single-layer partially reflective surface

In this article, we investigate bandwidth-enhancement of a circularly-polarized (CP) Fabry-Perot antenna (FPA) using single-layer partially reflective surface (PRS). The FPA is composed of a single-feed truncated-corner square patch antenna, which is covered by the PRS formed by a square aperture array. We revealed that the finite-sized PRS produces extra resonances and CP radiations for the antenna system, which broadened the impedance matching and axial ratio (AR) bandwidths significantly. For verification, a broadband CP FPA prototype operating near 5.8 GHz was realized and tested. The fabricated antenna with overall size of 125 mm x 125 mm x 23.5 mm achieves a |S-11| < -10 dB bandwidth of 31.7% (5.23-7.2 GHz), an AR < 3-dB bandwidth of 13.7% (5.45-6.25 GHz), the peak gain of 13.3 dBic, a 3-dB gain bandwidth of 22.38% (5.0-6.26 GHz), and a radiation efficiency of >91%

Speciation Analysis of Arsenic Compounds by HPLC-ICP-MS: Application for Human Serum and Urine

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in combination with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) as an elemental specific detector was used for the speciation analysis of arsenic compounds in urine and serum samples from Vietnam. Five arsenic species including arsenite (AsIII), arsenate (AsV), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), and arsenobetaine (AsB) were studied. A gradient elution of ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2CO3), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (Na2EDTA), and methanol at pH 9.0 utilizing Hamilton PRP-X100 strong anion-exchange column allowed the chromatographic separation of five arsenic species. In this study, urine and serum samples were prepared by dilution in solvent and protein precipitation by trichloroacetic acid, respectively. The extraction efficiency was greater than 91% for urine matrix, and recoveries from spiked samples were in the range of 94–139% for the arsenic species in human serum. The method limit of detection (MDL) and limit of quantification (MQL), which were calculated by signal to noise ratio, were found to be 0.3–1.5 and 1.0–5.0 ng·mL−1, respectively. The concentration of arsenic species in 17 pairs of urine and serum samples from Vietnam was also quantified and evaluated. The major species of arsenic in the urine and serum samples were AsB and DMA