Examining Changes in Radioxenon Isotope Activity Ratios during Subsurface Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Annewandter, R.

2013-12-01

The Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE) has demonstrated and modelled the usefulness of barometric pumping induced soil gas sampling during On-Site inspections. Gas transport has been widely studied with different numerical codes. However, gas transport of all radioxenons in the post-detonation regime and their possible fractionation is still neglected in the open literature. Atmospheric concentrations of the radioxenons Xe-135, Xe-133m, Xe-133 and Xe-131m can be used to discriminate between civilian releases (nuclear power plants or medical isotope facilities), and nuclear explosion sources. It is based on the isotopic activity ratio method. Yet it is not clear whether subsurface migration of the radioxenons, with eventual release into the atmosphere, can affect the activity ratios due to fractionation. Fractionation can be caused by different diffusivities due to mass differences between the radioxenons. A previous study showed surface arrival time of a chemically inert gaseous tracer is affected by its diffusivity. They observed detectable amount for SF6 50 days after detonation and 375 days for He-3. They predict 50 and 80 days for Xe-133 and Ar-37 respectively. Cyclical changes in atmospheric pressure can drive subsurface gas transport. This barometric pumping phenomenon causes an oscillatoric flow in upward trending fractures which, combined with diffusion into the porous matrix, leads to a net transport of gaseous components - a ratcheting effect. We use a general purpose reservoir simulator (Complex System Modelling Platform, CSMP++) which has been applied in a range of fields such as deep geothermal systems, three-phase black oil simulations , fracture propagation in fractured, porous media, Navier-Stokes pore-scale modelling among others. It is specifically designed to account for structurally complex geologic situation of fractured, porous media. Parabolic differential equations are solved by a continuous Galerkin finite-element method, hyperbolic

A review of the developments of radioxenon detectors for nuclear explosion monitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sivels, Ciara B.; McIntyre, Justin I.; Bowyer, Theodore W.; Kalinowski, Martin B.; Pozzi, Sara A.

2017-09-27

Developments in radioxenon monitoring since the implementation of the International Monitoring System are reviewed with emphasis on the most current technologies to improve detector sensitivity and resolution. The nuclear detectors reviewed include combinations of plastic and NaI(Tl) detectors, high purity germanium detectors, silicon detectors, and phoswich detectors. The minimum detectable activity and calibration methods for the various detectors are also discussed.

Atomic layer deposition α-Al2O3 diffusion barriers to eliminate the memory effect in beta-gamma radioxenon detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warburton, W.K.; Wolfgang Hennig; Bertrand, J.A.; George, S.M.; Steven Biegalski

2013-01-01

Well designed scintillator detectors, including such examples as ARSA, SAUNA, and XIA's 'PhosWatch', can readily achieve the state of the art radioxenon detection limits required for nuclear explosion monitoring. They are also reliable, robust detectors that do not require cryogenic cooling for operation. All three employ the principle of beta-gamma coincidence detection to reduce background counting rates, using a BC-404 plastic scintillator to detect the betas and a CsI or NaI scintillator to detect the gamma-rays. As a consequence of this commonality of design, all three also display a 'memory effect' arising from the diffusion of Xe into BC-404. Thus, when one sample is pumped out of the detector, a fraction remains behind, embedded in the BC-404, where it artificially raises the signal counting rate for the next sample. While this is not a fatal flaw in scintillator detectors, developing a method to eliminate the memory effect would significantly enhance their utility. This paper reports efforts to develop thin, amorphous Al 2 O 3 films, deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) to act as diffusion barriers on the BC-404 surfaces exposed to radioxenon. Using radon as a convenient substitute for Xe, film thicknesses between 2 and 10 nm were originally investigated and found to show a memory effect to varying degrees. A second set of 20 and 30 nm films was then produced, which appeared to completely eliminate the radon memory effect, but, when consequentially tested with radioxenon, were found to exhibit xenon memory effects that were approximately half of the effect found on uncoated BC-404. We draw two conclusions from this result. The first is that it will be necessary to develop an improved method for depositing thicker ALD Al 2 O 3 films at lower temperatures while still retaining high film quality. The second is that, since xenon is required to test for the xenon memory effect, we need a test method that does not require xenon radio-isotopes in order to

Memory effect, resolution, and efficiency measurements of an Al2O3 coated plastic scintillator used for radioxenon detection

Science.gov (United States)

Bläckberg, L.; Fritioff, T.; Mårtensson, L.; Nielsen, F.; Ringbom, A.; Sjöstrand, H.; Klintenberg, M.

2013-06-01

A cylindrical plastic scintillator cell, used for radioxenon monitoring within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, has been coated with 425 nm Al2O3 using low temperature Atomic Layer Deposition, and its performance has been evaluated. The motivation is to reduce the memory effect caused by radioxenon diffusing into the plastic scintillator material during measurements, resulting in an elevated detection limit. Measurements with the coated detector show both energy resolution and efficiency comparable to uncoated detectors, and a memory effect reduction of a factor of 1000. Provided that the quality of the detector is maintained for a longer period of time, Al2O3 coatings are believed to be a viable solution to the memory effect problem in question.

Memory effect, resolution, and efficiency measurements of an Al2O3 coated plastic scintillator used for radioxenon detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bläckberg, L.; Fritioff, T.; Mårtensson, L.; Nielsen, F.; Ringbom, A.; Sjöstrand, H.; Klintenberg, M.

2013-01-01

A cylindrical plastic scintillator cell, used for radioxenon monitoring within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, has been coated with 425 nm Al 2 O 3 using low temperature Atomic Layer Deposition, and its performance has been evaluated. The motivation is to reduce the memory effect caused by radioxenon diffusing into the plastic scintillator material during measurements, resulting in an elevated detection limit. Measurements with the coated detector show both energy resolution and efficiency comparable to uncoated detectors, and a memory effect reduction of a factor of 1000. Provided that the quality of the detector is maintained for a longer period of time, Al 2 O 3 coatings are believed to be a viable solution to the memory effect problem in question

Preparation of radioxenon and radioargon mixed sources for IFE14

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biegalski, S.R.; Tipping, T.N.; Klingberg, F.J.

2016-01-01

The Integrated Field Exercise (IFE14) was conducted from November 3, 2014 through December 9, 2014 in Jordan. This was an exercise to test the capabilities for On-Site Inspection (OSI) as part of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. One important OSI technology is the measurement of noble gasses that are produced within a nuclear explosion. To support IFE14, radioxenon samples and radioargon samples were created at The University of Texas at Austin TRIGA reactor facility. The goal was to produce a mixed sample containing 131m Xe, 133 Xe, and 37 Ar in activity ratios consistent with the nuclear explosion scenario defined for the exercise. (author)

Investigations of surface coatings to reduce memory effect in plastic scintillator detectors used for radioxenon detection

Science.gov (United States)

Bläckberg, L.; Fay, A.; Jõgi, I.; Biegalski, S.; Boman, M.; Elmgren, K.; Fritioff, T.; Johansson, A.; Mårtensson, L.; Nielsen, F.; Ringbom, A.; Rooth, M.; Sjöstrand, H.; Klintenberg, M.

2011-11-01

In this work Al2O3 and SiO2 coatings are tested as Xe diffusion barriers on plastic scintillator substrates. The motivation is improved beta-gamma coincidence detection systems, used to measure atmospheric radioxenon within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. One major drawback with the current setup of these systems is that the radioxenon tends to diffuse into the plastic scintillator material responsible for the beta detection, resulting in an unwanted memory effect. Here, coatings with thicknesses between 20 and 900 nm have been deposited onto plastic scintillators, and investigated using two different experimental techniques. The results show that all tested coatings reduce the Xe diffusion into the plastic. The reduction is observed to increase with coating thickness for both coating materials. The 425 nm Al2O3 coating is the most successful one, presenting a diffusion reduction of a factor 100, compared to uncoated plastic. In terms of memory effect reduction this coating is thus a viable solution to the problem in question.

Investigations of surface coatings to reduce memory effect in plastic scintillator detectors used for radioxenon detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blaeckberg, L.; Fay, A.; Jogi, I.; Biegalski, S.; Boman, M.; Elmgren, K.; Fritioff, T.; Johansson, A.; Martensson, L.; Nielsen, F.; Ringbom, A.; Rooth, M.; Sjoestrand, H.; Klintenberg, M.

2011-01-01

In this work Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 coatings are tested as Xe diffusion barriers on plastic scintillator substrates. The motivation is improved beta-gamma coincidence detection systems, used to measure atmospheric radioxenon within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. One major drawback with the current setup of these systems is that the radioxenon tends to diffuse into the plastic scintillator material responsible for the beta detection, resulting in an unwanted memory effect. Here, coatings with thicknesses between 20 and 900 nm have been deposited onto plastic scintillators, and investigated using two different experimental techniques. The results show that all tested coatings reduce the Xe diffusion into the plastic. The reduction is observed to increase with coating thickness for both coating materials. The 425 nm Al 2 O 3 coating is the most successful one, presenting a diffusion reduction of a factor 100, compared to uncoated plastic. In terms of memory effect reduction this coating is thus a viable solution to the problem in question.

Memory effect, resolution, and efficiency measurements of an Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} coated plastic scintillator used for radioxenon detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bläckberg, L., E-mail: lisa.blackberg@physics.uu.se [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala (Sweden); Fritioff, T.; Mårtensson, L.; Nielsen, F.; Ringbom, A. [Division of Defence and Security Systems, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), SE-17290 Stockholm (Sweden); Sjöstrand, H.; Klintenberg, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala (Sweden)

2013-06-21

A cylindrical plastic scintillator cell, used for radioxenon monitoring within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, has been coated with 425 nm Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} using low temperature Atomic Layer Deposition, and its performance has been evaluated. The motivation is to reduce the memory effect caused by radioxenon diffusing into the plastic scintillator material during measurements, resulting in an elevated detection limit. Measurements with the coated detector show both energy resolution and efficiency comparable to uncoated detectors, and a memory effect reduction of a factor of 1000. Provided that the quality of the detector is maintained for a longer period of time, Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} coatings are believed to be a viable solution to the memory effect problem in question.

Analysis method for beta-gamma coincidence spectra from radio-xenon isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Wenjing; Yin Jingpeng; Huang Xiongliang; Cheng Zhiwei; Shen Maoquan; Zhang Yang

2012-01-01

Radio-xenon isotopes monitoring is one important method for the verification of CTBT, what includes the measurement methods of HPGe γ spectrometer and β-γ coincidence. The article describes the analytic flowchart and method of three-dimensional beta-gamma coincidence spectra from β-γ systems, and analyses in detail the principles and methods of the regions of interest of coincidence spectra and subtracting the interference, finally gives the formula of radioactivity of Xenon isotopes and minimum detectable concentrations. Studying on the principles of three-dimensional beta-gamma coincidence spectra, which can supply the foundation for designing the software of β-γ coincidence systems. (authors)

Improvements of low-level radioxenon detection sensitivity by a state-of-the art coincidence setup.

Science.gov (United States)

Cagniant, A; Le Petit, G; Gross, P; Douysset, G; Richard-Bressand, H; Fontaine, J-P

2014-05-01

The ability to quantify isotopic ratios of 135, 133 m, 133 and 131 m radioxenon is essential for the verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In order to improve detection limits, CEA has developed a new on-site setup using photon/electron coincidence (Le Petit et al., 2013. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., DOI : 10.1007/s 10697-013-2525-8.). Alternatively, the electron detection cell equipped with large silicon chips (PIPS) can be used with HPGe detector for laboratory analysis purpose. This setup allows the measurement of β/γ coincidences for the detection of (133)Xe and (135)Xe; and K-shell Conversion Electrons (K-CE)/X-ray coincidences for the detection of (131m)Xe, (133m)Xe and (133)Xe as well. Good energy resolution of 11 keV at 130 keV and low energy threshold of 29 keV for the electron detection were obtained. This provides direct discrimination between K-CE from (133)Xe, (133m)Xe and (131m)Xe. Estimation of Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) for (131m)Xe is in the order of 1mBq over a 4 day measurement. An analysis of an environmental radioxenon sample using this method is shown. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Global Warming and the Microwave Background

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robitaille P.-M.

2009-04-01

Full Text Available In the work, the importance of assigning the microwave background to the Earth is ad- dressed while emphasizing the consequences for global climate change. Climate mod- els can only produce meaningful forecasts when they consider the real magnitude of all radiative processes. The oceans and continents both contribute to terrestrial emis- sions. However, the extent of oceanic radiation, particularly in the microwave region, raises concerns. This is not only since the globe is covered with water, but because the oceans themselves are likely to be weaker emitters than currently believed. Should the microwave background truly be generated by the oceans of the Earth, our planet would be a much less efficient emitter of radiation in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Furthermore, the oceans would appear unable to increase their emissions in the microwave in response to temperature elevation, as predicted by Stefan’s law. The results are significant relative to the modeling of global warming.

Examining Changes in Radioxenon Isotope Activity Ratios during Subsurface Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Annewandter, Robert

2014-05-01

The Non-Proliferation Experiment (NPE) has demonstrated and modelled the usefulness of barometric pumping induced gas transport and subsequent soil gas sampling during On-Site inspections. Generally, gas transport has been widely studied with different numerical codes. However, gas transport of radioxenons and radioiodines in the post-detonation regime and their possible fractionation is still neglected in the open peer-reviewed literature. Atmospheric concentrations of the radioxenons Xe-135, Xe-133m, Xe-133 and Xe-131m can be used to discriminate between civilian releases (nuclear power plants or medical isotope facilities), and nuclear explosion sources. It is based on the multiple isotopic activity ratio method. Yet it is not clear whether subsurface migration of the radionuclides, with eventual release into the atmosphere, can affect the activity ratios due to fractionation. Fractionation can be caused by different mass diffusivities due to mass differences between the radionuclides. Cyclical changes in atmospheric pressure can drive subsurface gas transport. This barometric pumping phenomenon causes an oscillatoric flow in upward trending fractures or highly conductive faults which, combined with diffusion into the porous matrix, leads to a net transport of gaseous components - a so-called ratcheting effect. We use a general purpose reservoir simulator (Complex System Modelling Platform, CSMP++) which is recognized by the oil industry as leading in Discrete Fracture-Matrix (DFM) simulations. It has been applied in a range of fields such as deep geothermal systems, three-phase black oil simulations, fracture propagation in fractured, porous media, and Navier-Stokes pore-scale modelling among others. It is specifically designed to account for structurally complex geologic situation of fractured, porous media. Parabolic differential equations are solved by a continuous Galerkin finite-element method, hyperbolic differential equations by a complementary finite

Effects of surface coatings on the light collection in plastic scintillators used for radioxenon detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bläckberg, L; Klintenberg, M; Sjöstrand, H; Ringbom, A

2012-01-01

Atomic layer deposition coatings are under investigation to reduce the diffusion of radioxenon into plastic scintillators. This paper investigates the impact of such surface coating on the light collection efficiency in a cylindrical geometry. A high and uniform light collection efficiency is important to preserve detector resolution. Monte Carlo simulations and measurements have been carried out to study the influence of coating thickness, refractive index and surface quality. It was found that it is important to achieve a smooth coating and good optical match between the refractive indices of the coating and the plastic scintillator. Taking into account these considerations, the detector under study could be coated without a significant degradation of its resolution.

Global symmetries of open strings in an electromagnetic background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrer, E.J.; de la Incera, V.

1994-01-01

The global symmetries of open bosonic strings in an electromagnetic background are investigated. The Poincare subalgebra and the mass of the open charged string are derived. These results are useful for computing the background electric field dependence of the one-loop free energy and Hagedorn temperature of a neutral string gas

Cosmic microwave background constraints for global strings and global monopoles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez-Eiguren, Asier; Lizarraga, Joanes; Urrestilla, Jon; Hindmarsh, Mark

2017-01-01

We present the first cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectra from numerical simulations of the global O( N ) linear σ-model, with N =2,3, which have global strings and monopoles as topological defects. In order to compute the CMB power spectra we compute the unequal time correlators (UETCs) of the energy-momentum tensor, showing that they fall off at high wave number faster than naive estimates based on the geometry of the defects, indicating non-trivial (anti-)correlations between the defects and the surrounding Goldstone boson field. We obtain source functions for Einstein-Boltzmann solvers from the UETCs, using a recently developed method that improves the modelling at the radiation-matter transition. We show that the interpolation function that mimics the transition is similar to other defect models, but not identical, confirming the non-universality of the interpolation function. The CMB power spectra for global strings and global monopoles have the same overall shape as those obtained using the non-linear σ-model approximation, which is well captured by a large- N calculation. However, the amplitudes are larger than the large- N calculation would naively predict, and in the case of global strings much larger: a factor of 20 at the peak. Finally we compare the CMB power spectra with the latest CMB data in other to put limits on the allowed contribution to the temperature power spectrum at multipole l = 10 of 1.7% for global strings and 2.4% for global monopoles. These limits correspond to symmetry-breaking scales of 2.9× 10 15 GeV (6.3× 10 14 GeV with the expected logarithmic scaling of the effective string tension between the simulation time and decoupling) and 6.4× 10 15 GeV respectively. The bound on global strings is a significant one for the ultra-light axion scenario with axion masses m a ∼< 10 −28 eV . These upper limits indicate that gravitational waves from global topological defects will not be observable at the gravitational wave

Cosmic microwave background constraints for global strings and global monopoles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lopez-Eiguren, Asier; Lizarraga, Joanes; Urrestilla, Jon [Department of Theoretical Physics, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 48080 Bilbao (Spain); Hindmarsh, Mark, E-mail: asier.lopez@ehu.eus, E-mail: joanes.lizarraga@ehu.eus, E-mail: m.b.hindmarsh@sussex.ac.uk, E-mail: jon.urrestilla@ehu.eus [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)

2017-07-01

We present the first cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectra from numerical simulations of the global O( N ) linear σ-model, with N =2,3, which have global strings and monopoles as topological defects. In order to compute the CMB power spectra we compute the unequal time correlators (UETCs) of the energy-momentum tensor, showing that they fall off at high wave number faster than naive estimates based on the geometry of the defects, indicating non-trivial (anti-)correlations between the defects and the surrounding Goldstone boson field. We obtain source functions for Einstein-Boltzmann solvers from the UETCs, using a recently developed method that improves the modelling at the radiation-matter transition. We show that the interpolation function that mimics the transition is similar to other defect models, but not identical, confirming the non-universality of the interpolation function. The CMB power spectra for global strings and global monopoles have the same overall shape as those obtained using the non-linear σ-model approximation, which is well captured by a large- N calculation. However, the amplitudes are larger than the large- N calculation would naively predict, and in the case of global strings much larger: a factor of 20 at the peak. Finally we compare the CMB power spectra with the latest CMB data in other to put limits on the allowed contribution to the temperature power spectrum at multipole l = 10 of 1.7% for global strings and 2.4% for global monopoles. These limits correspond to symmetry-breaking scales of 2.9× 10{sup 15} GeV (6.3× 10{sup 14} GeV with the expected logarithmic scaling of the effective string tension between the simulation time and decoupling) and 6.4× 10{sup 15} GeV respectively. The bound on global strings is a significant one for the ultra-light axion scenario with axion masses m {sub a} ∼< 10{sup −28} eV . These upper limits indicate that gravitational waves from global topological defects will not be observable at

Effect of Kepler calibration on global seismic and background parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salabert David

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Calibration issues associated to scrambled collateral smear affecting the Kepler short-cadence data were discovered in the Data Release 24 and were found to be present in all the previous data releases since launch. In consequence, a new Data Release 25 was reprocessed to correct for these problems. We perform here a preliminary study to evaluate the impact on the extracted global seismic and background parameters between data releases. We analyze the sample of seismic solar analogs observed by Kepler in short cadence between Q5 and Q17. We start with this set of stars as it constitutes the best sample to put the Sun into context along its evolution, and any significant differences on the seismic and background parameters need to be investigated before any further studies of this sample can take place. We use the A2Z pipeline to derive both global seismic parameters and background parameters from the Data Release 25 and previous data releases and report on the measured differences.

Detection of nuclear testing from surface concentration measurements: Analysis of radioxenon from the February 2013 underground test in North Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Kurzeja, R. J.; Buckley, R. L.; Werth, D. W.; Chiswell, S. R.

2018-03-01

A method is outlined and tested to detect low level nuclear or chemical sources from time series of concentration measurements. The method uses a mesoscale atmospheric model to simulate the concentration signature from a known or suspected source at a receptor which is then regressed successively against segments of the measurement series to create time series of metrics that measure the goodness of fit between the signatures and the measurement segments. The method was applied to radioxenon data from the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) collection site in Ussuriysk, Russia (RN58) after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) underground nuclear test on February 12, 2013 near Punggye. The metrics were found to be a good screening tool to locate data segments with a strong likelihood of origin from Punggye, especially when multiplied together to a determine the joint probability. Metrics from RN58 were also used to find the probability that activity measured in February and April of 2013 originated from the Feb 12 test. A detailed analysis of an RN58 data segment from April 3/4, 2013 was also carried out for a grid of source locations around Punggye and identified Punggye as the most likely point of origin. Thus, the results support the strong possibility that radioxenon was emitted from the test site at various times in April and was detected intermittently at RN58, depending on the wind direction. The method does not locate unsuspected sources, but instead, evaluates the probability of a source at a specified location. However, it can be extended to include a set of suspected sources. Extension of the method to higher resolution data sets, arbitrary sampling, and time-varying sources is discussed along with a path to evaluate uncertainty in the calculated probabilities.

A prototype detection system for atmospheric monitoring of xenon radioisotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Czyz, Steven A.; Farsoni, Abi T.; Ranjbar, Lily

2018-03-01

The design of a radioxenon detection system utilizing a CdZeTe crystal and a plastic scintillator coupled to an array of SiPMs to conduct beta-gamma coincidence detection for atmospheric radioxenon monitoring, as well as the measurement of 135Xe and 133/133mXe, have been detailed previously. This paper presents recent measurements of 133/133mXe and 131mXe and the observation of conversion electrons in their coincidence spectra, as well as a 48-hour background measurement to calculate the Minimum Detectable Concentration (MDC) of radioxenon isotopes in the system. The identification of Regions of Interest (ROIs) in the coincidence spectra yielded from the radioxenon measurements, and the subsequent calculation of the MDCs of the system for 135Xe, 133/133mXe, and 131mXe, are also discussed. Calculated MDCs show that the detection system preforms respectably when compared to other state of the art radioxenon detection systems and achieved an MDC of less than 1 mBq/m3 for 131mXe, 133Xe, and 133mXe, in accordance with limits set by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO). The system also provides the advantage of room temperature operation, compactness, low noise operation and having simple readout electronics.

A Multi-Layer Phoswich Radioxenon Detection System, Reporting Period 07/01/07 - 09/30/07

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David M. Hamby

2007-01-01

previous simulations, to confirm convergence of the solutions provided by our software methods. We have initiated our investigation into the radon signature expected in our XEPHWICH system. We intend to utilize this signature to confirm earth movement, in the event of an underground nuclear explosion, by continuously monitoring radon levels and noting increases in radon concentration in conjunction with increased levels of radioxenons. The research group is also designing and constructing a fission chamber to be used for the collection of radioxenon gases following neutron bombardment of HEU in the Oregon State University TRIGA reactor. To this point, we have completed milling the aluminum housing and have modeled fission product nuclide production associated with the fissioning of HEU. Additionally, the students have been busy compiling the appropriate information in preparation for irradiation approvals. Using beta spectra of three initial nuclides collected on the prototype phoswich detector, spectral identification by a preliminary neural network was compared to that of solvers of a linear system of equations. Pre-processing in areas such as smoothing and endpoint identification is also being investigated as a means of improving spectral identification

Noble Gas Surface Flux Simulations And Atmospheric Transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carrigan, Charles R. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Sun, Yunwei [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Simpson, Matthew D. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2017-09-30

Signatures from underground nuclear explosions or UNEs are strongly influenced by the containment regime surrounding them. The degree of gas leakage from the detonation cavity to the surface obviously affects the magnitude of surface fluxes of radioxenon that might be detected during the course of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty On-Site Inspection. In turn, the magnitude of surface fluxes will influence the downwind detectability of the radioxenon atmospheric signature from the event. Less obvious is the influence that leakage rates have on the evolution of radioxenon isotopes in the cavity or the downwind radioisotopic measurements that might be made. The objective of this letter report is to summarize our attempt to better understand how containment conditions affect both the detection and interpretation of radioxenon signatures obtained from sampling at the ground surface near an event as well as at greater distances in the atmosphere. In the discussion that follows, we make no attempt to consider other sources of radioactive noble gases such as natural backgrounds or atmospheric contamination and, for simplicity, only focus on detonation-produced radioxenon gases. Summarizing our simulations, they show that the decay of radioxenon isotopes (e.g., Xe-133, Xe-131m, Xe-133m and Xe-135) and their migration to the surface following a UNE means that the possibility of detecting these gases exists within a window of opportunity. In some cases, seeps or venting of detonation gases may allow significant quantities to reach the surface and be released into the atmosphere immediately following a UNE. In other release scenarios – the ones we consider here – hours to days may be required for gases to reach the surface at detectable levels. These release models are most likely more characteristic of “fully contained” events that lack prompt venting, but which still leak gas slowly across the surface for periods of months.

Delayed signatures of underground nuclear explosions

Science.gov (United States)

Carrigan, Charles R.; Sun, Yunwei; Hunter, Steven L.; Ruddle, David G.; Wagoner, Jeffrey L.; Myers, Katherine B. L.; Emer, Dudley F.; Drellack, Sigmund L.; Chipman, Veraun D.

2016-03-01

Radionuclide signals from underground nuclear explosions (UNEs) are strongly influenced by the surrounding hydrogeologic regime. One effect of containment is delay of detonation-produced radioxenon reaching the surface as well as lengthening of its period of detectability compared to uncontained explosions. Using a field-scale tracer experiment, we evaluate important transport properties of a former UNE site. We observe the character of signals at the surface due to the migration of gases from the post-detonation chimney under realistic transport conditions. Background radon signals are found to be highly responsive to cavity pressurization suggesting that large local radon anomalies may be an indicator of a clandestine UNE. Computer simulations, using transport properties obtained from the experiment, track radioxenon isotopes in the chimney and their migration to the surface. They show that the chimney surrounded by a fractured containment regime behaves as a leaky chemical reactor regarding its effect on isotopic evolution introducing a dependence on nuclear yield not previously considered. This evolutionary model for radioxenon isotopes is validated by atmospheric observations of radioxenon from a 2013 UNE in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Our model produces results similar to isotopic observations with nuclear yields being comparable to seismic estimates.

Method and apparatus for detecting dilute concentrations of radioactive xenon in samples of xenon extracted from the atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Warburton, William K.; Hennig, Wolfgang G.

2018-01-02

A method and apparatus for measuring the concentrations of radioxenon isotopes in a gaseous sample wherein the sample cell is surrounded by N sub-detectors that are sensitive to both electrons and to photons from radioxenon decays. Signal processing electronics are provided that can detect events within the sub-detectors, measure their energies, determine whether they arise from electrons or photons, and detect coincidences between events within the same or different sub-detectors. The energies of detected two or three event coincidences are recorded as points in associated two or three-dimensional histograms. Counts within regions of interest in the histograms are then used to compute estimates of the radioxenon isotope concentrations. The method achieves lower backgrounds and lower minimum detectable concentrations by using smaller detector crystals, eliminating interference between double and triple coincidence decay branches, and segregating double coincidences within the same sub-detector from those occurring between different sub-detectors.

Regional and global modeling estimates of policy relevant background ozone over the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Emery, Christopher; Jung, Jaegun; Downey, Nicole; Johnson, Jeremiah; Jimenez, Michele; Yarwood, Greg; Morris, Ralph

2012-02-01

Policy Relevant Background (PRB) ozone, as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), refers to ozone concentrations that would occur in the absence of all North American anthropogenic emissions. PRB enters into the calculation of health risk benefits, and as the US ozone standard approaches background levels, PRB is increasingly important in determining the feasibility and cost of compliance. As PRB is a hypothetical construct, modeling is a necessary tool. Since 2006 EPA has relied on global modeling to establish PRB for their regulatory analyses. Recent assessments with higher resolution global models exhibit improved agreement with remote observations and modest upward shifts in PRB estimates. This paper shifts the paradigm to a regional model (CAMx) run at 12 km resolution, for which North American boundary conditions were provided by a low-resolution version of the GEOS-Chem global model. We conducted a comprehensive model inter-comparison, from which we elucidate differences in predictive performance against ozone observations and differences in temporal and spatial background variability over the US. In general, CAMx performed better in replicating observations at remote monitoring sites, and performance remained better at higher concentrations. While spring and summer mean PRB predicted by GEOS-Chem ranged 20-45 ppb, CAMx predicted PRB ranged 25-50 ppb and reached well over 60 ppb in the west due to event-oriented phenomena such as stratospheric intrusion and wildfires. CAMx showed a higher correlation between modeled PRB and total observed ozone, which is significant for health risk assessments. A case study during April 2006 suggests that stratospheric exchange of ozone is underestimated in both models on an event basis. We conclude that wildfires, lightning NO x and stratospheric intrusions contribute a significant level of uncertainty in estimating PRB, and that PRB will require careful consideration in the ozone standard setting process.

Global, exact cosmic microwave background data analysis using Gibbs sampling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wandelt, Benjamin D.; Larson, David L.; Lakshminarayanan, Arun

2004-01-01

We describe an efficient and exact method that enables global Bayesian analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. The method reveals the joint posterior density (or likelihood for flat priors) of the power spectrum C l and the CMB signal. Foregrounds and instrumental parameters can be simultaneously inferred from the data. The method allows the specification of a wide range of foreground priors. We explicitly show how to propagate the non-Gaussian dependency structure of the C l posterior through to the posterior density of the parameters. If desired, the analysis can be coupled to theoretical (cosmological) priors and can yield the posterior density of cosmological parameter estimates directly from the time-ordered data. The method does not hinge on special assumptions about the survey geometry or noise properties, etc., It is based on a Monte Carlo approach and hence parallelizes trivially. No trace or determinant evaluations are necessary. The feasibility of this approach rests on the ability to solve the systems of linear equations which arise. These are of the same size and computational complexity as the map-making equations. We describe a preconditioned conjugate gradient technique that solves this problem and demonstrate in a numerical example that the computational time required for each Monte Carlo sample scales as n p 3/2 with the number of pixels n p . We use our method to analyze the data from the Differential Microwave Radiometer on the Cosmic Background Explorer and explore the non-Gaussian joint posterior density of the C l from the Differential Microwave Radiometer on the Cosmic Background Explorer in several projections

The 2014 Integrated Field Exercise of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty revisited: the case for data fusion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burnett, Jonathan L.; Miley, Harry S.; Bowyer, Theodore W.; Cameron, Ian M.

2018-04-18

The International Monitoring System of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) uses a global network of radionuclide monitoring stations to detect evidence of a nuclear explosion. The two radionuclide technologies employed—particulate and noble gas (radioxenon) detection—have applications for data fusion to improve detection of a nuclear explosion. Using the hypothetical 0.5 kT nuclear explosive test scenario of the CTBTO 2014 Integrated Field Exercise, the intrinsic relationship between particulate and noble gas signatures has been examined. This study shows that, depending upon the time of the radioxenon release, the particulate progeny can produce the more detectable signature. Thus, as both particulate and noble gas signatures are inherently coupled, the authors recommend that the sample categorization schemes should be linked.

Global universe anisotropy probed by the alignment of structures in the cosmic microwave background.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiaux, Y; Vielva, P; Martínez-González, E; Vandergheynst, P

2006-04-21

We question the global universe isotropy by probing the alignment of local structures in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. The original method proposed relies on a steerable wavelet decomposition of the CMB signal on the sphere. The analysis of the first-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data identifies a mean preferred plane with a normal direction close to the CMB dipole axis, and a mean preferred direction in this plane, very close to the ecliptic poles axis. Previous statistical anisotropy results are thereby synthesized, but further analyses are still required to establish their origin.

Changes in US background ozone due to global anthropogenic emissions from 1970 to 2020

Science.gov (United States)

Nopmongcol, Uarporn; Jung, Jaegun; Kumar, Naresh; Yarwood, Greg

2016-09-01

Estimates of North American and US Background (NAB and USB) ozone (O3) are critical in setting and implementing the US National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and therefore influence population exposure to O3 across the US. NAB is defined as the O3 concentration in the absence of anthropogenic O3 precursor emissions from North America whereas USB excludes anthropogenic emissions inside the US alone. NAB and USB vary geographically and with time of year. Analyses of O3 trends at rural locations near the west coast suggest that background O3 is rising in response to increasing non-US emissions. As the O3 NAAQS is lowered, rising background O3 would make attaining the NAAQS more difficult. Most studies of changing US background O3 have inferred trends from observations whereas air quality management decisions tend to rely on models. Thus, it is important that the models used to develop O3 management strategies are able to represent the changes in background O3 in order to increase confidence that air quality management strategies will succeed. We focus on how changing global emissions influence USB rather than the effects of inter-annual meteorological variation or long-term climate change. We use a regional model (CAMx) nested within a global model (GEOS-Chem) to refine our grid resolution over high terrain in the western US and near US borders where USB tends to be higher. We determine USB from CAMx simulations that exclude US anthropogenic emissions. Over five decades, from 1970 to 2020, estimated USB for the annual fourth highest maximum daily 8-h average O3 (H4MDA8) in the western US increased from mostly in the range of 40-55 ppb to 45-60 ppb, but remained below 45 ppb in the eastern US. USB increases in the southwestern US are consistent with rising emissions in Asia and Mexico. USB decreases in the northeast US after 1990 follow declining Canadian emissions. Our results show that the USB increases both for the top 30 MDA8 days and the H4MDA8 (the former

Background monitoring and its role in global estimation and forecast of the state of the biosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Izrael, Y A

1982-12-01

(1) Scientific grounds and the concept of monitoring as the system for observations, assessment and prediction of man-induced changes in the state of natural environment, the program and aims of the background monitoring were developed by the author in 1972-1980. These questions were discussed in detail at the International Symposium on Global Integrated Monitoring (Riga, U.S.S.R., December, 1978). It should be stressed that along with significant anthropogenic loading on large cities and industrial areas, natural ecosystems covering most of the Earth's territory are also exposed to quite extended, though insignificant anthropogenic effects. This paper proposes to consider the ways of the background information use for the biosphere state assessment and prediction. (2) Classification of objects for monitoring from the point of view of the consequences of the man-made impact, pollution in the first hand, is as follows: - population (public health); - ecosystem elements employed by man whose production is used by population (soil, water bodies, forest, etc.); - biotic elements of ecosystems (without the immediate consumed production); - abiotic constituents of natural ecosystems, considerable components of the biosphere, climatic system. (3) Historically, monitoring in all countries involves the first two spheres. The background monitoring also extends on the next two spheres. It should differentially take into account physical, chemical and biological factors of impacts. Indentification of biological effects is most complex and vital. Human impact at the background level proceeds indirectly through a general (global or regional) deterioration of the state of the biosphere. (4) Gradually the background monitoring is being practiced on a larger and larger scale. It is shown that the long-range atmospheric transport of pollutants in various regions leads to a gradual general increase of all the natural media pollution and to perceptible biological effects (soil and

The 2014 Integrated Field Exercise of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty revisited: The case for data fusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Burnett, Jonathan L; Miley, Harry S; Bowyer, Theodore W; Cameron, Ian M

2018-09-01

The International Monitoring System of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) uses a global network of radionuclide monitoring stations to detect evidence of a nuclear explosion. The two radionuclide technologies employed-particulate and noble gas (radioxenon) detection-have applications for data fusion to improve detection of a nuclear explosion. Using the hypothetical 0.5 kT nuclear explosive test scenario of the CTBTO 2014 Integrated Field Exercise, the intrinsic relationship between particulate and noble gas signatures has been examined. This study shows that, depending upon the time of the radioxenon release, the particulate progeny can produce the more detectable signature. Thus, as both particulate and noble gas signatures are inherently coupled, the authors recommend that the sample categorization schemes should be linked. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Surface Coatings as Xenon Diffusion Barriers for Improved Detection of Clandestine Nuclear Explosions

OpenAIRE

Bläckberg, Lisa

2014-01-01

This thesis investigates surface coatings as xenon diffusion barriers on plastic scintillators. The motivation for the work is improved radioxenon detection systems, used within the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). One type of radioxenon detection systems used in this context is the Swedish SAUNA system. This system uses a cylindrical plastic scintillator cell to measure the beta decay from radioxenon isotopes. The detector cell also acts as a container...

Study of medical isotope production facility stack emissions and noble gas isotopic signature using automatic gamma-spectra analysis platform

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Weihua; Hoffmann, Emmy; Ungar, Kurt; Dolinar, George; Miley, Harry; Mekarski, Pawel; Schrom, Brian; Hoffman, Ian; Lawrie, Ryan; Loosz, Tom

2013-04-01

The nuclear industry emissions of the four CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty) relevant radioxenon isotopes are unavoidably detected by the IMS along with possible treaty violations. Another civil source of radioxenon emissions which contributes to the global background is radiopharmaceutical production companies. To better understand the source terms of these background emissions, a joint project between HC, ANSTO, PNNL and CRL was formed to install real-time detection systems to support 135Xe, 133Xe, 131mXe and 133mXe measurements at the ANSTO and CRL 99Mo production facility stacks as well as the CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) primary coolant monitoring system at CRL. At each site, high resolution gamma spectra were collected every 15 minutes using a HPGe detector to continuously monitor a bypass feed from the stack or CANDU primary coolant system as it passed through a sampling cell. HC also conducted atmospheric monitoring for radioxenon at approximately 200 km distant from CRL. A program was written to transfer each spectrum into a text file format suitable for the automatic gamma-spectra analysis platform and then email the file to a server. Once the email was received by the server, it was automatically analysed with the gamma-spectrum software UniSampo/Shaman to perform radionuclide identification and activity calculation for a large number of gamma-spectra in a short period of time (less than 10 seconds per spectrum). The results of nuclide activity together with other spectrum parameters were saved into the Linssi database. This database contains a large amount of radionuclide information which is a valuable resource for the analysis of radionuclide distribution within the noble gas fission product emissions. The results could be useful to identify the specific mechanisms of the activity release. The isotopic signatures of the various radioxenon species can be determined as a function of release time. Comparison of 133mXe and 133Xe activity

Global biosurveillance: enabling science and technology. Workshop background and motivation: international scientific engagement for global security

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cui, Helen H [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2011-01-18

Through discussion the conference aims to: (1) Identify core components of a comprehensive global biosurveillance capability; (2) Determine the scientific and technical bases to support such a program; (3) Explore the improvement in biosurveillance to enhance regional and global disease outbreak prediction; (4) Recommend an engagement approach to establishing an effective international community and regional or global network; (5) Propose implementation strategies and the measures of effectiveness; and (6) Identify the challenges that must be overcome in the next 3-5 years in order to establish an initial global biosurveillance capability that will have significant positive impact on BioNP as well as public health and/or agriculture. There is also a look back at the First Biothreat Nonproliferation Conference from December 2007. Whereas the first conference was an opportunity for problem solving to enhance and identify new paradigms for biothreat nonproliferation, this conference is moving towards integrated comprehensive global biosurveillance. Main reasons for global biosurveillance are: (1) Rapid assessment of unusual disease outbreak; (2) Early warning of emerging, re-emerging and engineered biothreat enabling reduced morbidity and mortality; (3) Enhanced crop and livestock management; (4) Increase understanding of host-pathogen interactions and epidemiology; (5) Enhanced international transparency for infectious disease research supporting BWC goals; and (6) Greater sharing of technology and knowledge to improve global health.

Background Killing vectors and conservation laws in Rosen's bimetric theories of gravitation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Israelit, M.

1979-01-01

The problem of global energy, linear momentum, and angular momentum in Rosen's bimetric theories of gravitation is considered from the point of view of motions of the background space-time. It turns out that by means of background Killing vectors global mechanical integrals for matter and field can be defined in a correct manner. For the flat-background bimetric theory conditions are obtained which have been imposed on the algebraic structure of the matter tensor Tsub(μ)sup(ν) in order to get global mechanical conservation laws. For bimetric gravitation theories based on a cosmological (nonflat) background the set of Killing vectors is found. For these theories the obtained restrictions on the algebraic structure of Tsub(μ)sup(ν) lead to global generation laws (instead of conservation laws in the flat-background theory) for mechanical quantities. In particular cases the generation effect vanishes and then conservation laws exist. By means of the method developed in this paper, Rosen's homogeneous isotropic universe in the framework of the cosmological-background bimetric theory with k = 1 is considered. It turns out that such a universe does not generate globally, but will generate locally. The global energy of this universe is found to be zero. (author)

The background scale Ward identity in quantum gravity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Percacci, Roberto [International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Trieste, Trieste (Italy); Vacca, Gian Paolo [INFN, Sezione di Bologna, Bologna (Italy)

2017-01-15

We show that with suitable choices of parametrization, gauge fixing and cutoff, the anomalous variation of the effective action under global rescalings of the background metric is identical to the derivative with respect to the cutoff, i.e. to the beta functional, as defined by the exact RG equation. The Ward identity and the RG equation can be combined, resulting in a modified flow equation that is manifestly invariant under global background rescalings. (orig.)

Background removal in X-ray fiber diffraction patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Millane, R.P.; Arnott, S.

1985-01-01

Background can be a major source of error in measurement of diffracted intensities in fiber diffraction patterns. Errors can be large when poorly oriented less-crystalline specimens give diffraction patterns with little uncontaminated background. A method for estimating and removing a general global background in such cases is described and illustrated with an example. (orig.)

On Day-to-Day Variability of Global Lightning Activity as Quantified from Background Schumann Resonance Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Mushtak, V. C.; Williams, E. R.

2011-12-01

Among the palette of methods (satellite, VLF, ELF) for monitoring global lightning activity, observations of the background Schumann resonances (SR) provide a unique prospect for estimating the integrated activity of global lightning activity in absolute units (coul2 km2/sec). This prospect is ensured by the SR waves' low attenuation, with wavelengths commensurate with the dimensions of dominant regional lightning "chimneys", and by the accumulating methodology for background SR techniques. Another benefit is the reduction of SR measurements into a compact set of resonance characteristics (modal frequencies, intensities, and quality factors). Suggested and tested in numerical simulations by T.R. Madden in the 1960s, the idea to invert the SR characteristics for the global lightning source has been farther developed, statistically substantiated, and practically realized here on the basis of the computing power and the quantity of experimental material way beyond what the SR pioneers had at their disposal. The critical issue of the quality of the input SR parameters is addressed by implementing a statistically substantiated sanitizing procedure to dispose of the fragments of the observed time series containing unrepresentative elements - local interference of various origin and strong ELF transients originating outside the major "chimneys" represented in the source model. As a result of preliminary research, a universal empirical sanitizing criterion has been established. Due to the fact that the actual observations have been collected from a set of individually organized ELF stations with various equipment sets and calibration techniques, the relative parameters in both input (the intensities) and output (the "chimney" activities) are being used as far as possible in the inversion process to avoid instabilities caused by calibration inconsistencies. The absolute regional activities - and so the sought for global activity in absolute units - is determined in the

Global Issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seitz, J.L.

2001-10-15

Global Issues is an introduction to the nature and background of some of the central issues - economic, social, political, environmental - of modern times. This new edition of this text has been fully updated throughout and features expanded sections on issues such as global warming, biotechnology, and energy. Fully updated throughout and features expanded sections on issues such as global warming, biotechnology, and energy. An introduction to the nature and background of some of the central issues - economic, social, political, environmental - of modern times. Covers a range of perspectives on a variety of societies, developed and developing. Extensively illustrated with diagrams and photographs, contains guides to further reading, media, and internet resources, and includes suggestions for discussion and studying the material. (author)

Globalizing Globalization: The Neo-Institutional Concept of a World Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Trohler, Daniel

2009-01-01

In this paper, the author focuses on how globalization and education are addressed in research. More precisely, he concentrates on only one dominant approach to analyzing globalization and its effects on education and also the educational role within globalization. His thesis is that, with the background of Max Weber's Protestant ethic thesis,…

Surface coatings as xenon diffusion barriers on plastic scintillators : Improving Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty verification

OpenAIRE

Bläckberg, Lisa

2011-01-01

This thesis investigates the ability of transparent surface coatings to reduce xenon diffusion into plastic scintillators. The motivation for the work is improved radioxenon monitoring equipment, used with in the framework of the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. A large part of the equipment used in this context incorporates plastic scintillators which are in direct contact with the radioactive gas to be detected. One problem with such setup is that radioxenon...

Globalization and social determinants of health: Introduction and methodological background (part 1 of 3)

Science.gov (United States)

Labonté, Ronald; Schrecker, Ted

2007-01-01

Globalization is a key context for the study of social determinants of health (SDH). Broadly stated, SDH are the conditions in which people live and work, and that affect their opportunities to lead healthy lives. In this first article of a three-part series, we describe the origins of the series in work conducted for the Globalization Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health and in the Commission's specific concern with health equity. We explain our rationale for defining globalization with reference to the emergence of a global marketplace, and the economic and political choices that have facilitated that emergence. We identify a number of conceptual milestones in studying the relation between globalization and SDH over the period 1987–2005, and then show that because globalization comprises multiple, interacting policy dynamics, reliance on evidence from multiple disciplines (transdisciplinarity) and research methodologies is required. So, too, is explicit recognition of the uncertainties associated with linking globalization – the quintessential "upstream" variable – with changes in SDH and in health outcomes. PMID:17578568

A definition of background independence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gryb, Sean

2010-01-01

We propose a definition for background (in)/dependence in dynamical theories of the evolution of configurations that have a continuous symmetry and test this definition on particle models and on gravity. Our definition draws from Barbour's best matching framework developed for the purpose of implementing spatial and temporal relationalism. Among other interesting theories, general relativity can be derived within this framework in novel ways. We study the detailed canonical structure of a wide range of best matching theories and show that their actions must have a local gauge symmetry. When gauge theory is derived in this way, we obtain at the same time a conceptual framework for distinguishing between background-dependent and -independent theories. Gauge invariant observables satisfying Kuchar's criterion are identified and, in simple cases, explicitly computed. We propose a procedure for inserting a global background time into temporally relational theories. Interestingly, using this procedure in general relativity leads to unimodular gravity.

Background modelling of diffraction data in the presence of ice rings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James M. Parkhurst

2017-09-01

Full Text Available An algorithm for modelling the background for each Bragg reflection in a series of X-ray diffraction images containing Debye–Scherrer diffraction from ice in the sample is presented. The method involves the use of a global background model which is generated from the complete X-ray diffraction data set. Fitting of this model to the background pixels is then performed for each reflection independently. The algorithm uses a static background model that does not vary over the course of the scan. The greatest improvement can be expected for data where ice rings are present throughout the data set and the local background shape at the size of a spot on the detector does not exhibit large time-dependent variation. However, the algorithm has been applied to data sets whose background showed large pixel variations (variance/mean > 2 and has been shown to improve the results of processing for these data sets. It is shown that the use of a simple flat-background model as in traditional integration programs causes systematic bias in the background determination at ice-ring resolutions, resulting in an overestimation of reflection intensities at the peaks of the ice rings and an underestimation of reflection intensities either side of the ice ring. The new global background-model algorithm presented here corrects for this bias, resulting in a noticeable improvement in R factors following refinement.

Background noise spectra of global seismic stations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wada, M.M.; Claassen, J.P.

1996-08-01

Over an extended period of time station noise spectra were collected from various sources for use in estimating the detection and location performance of global networks of seismic stations. As the database of noise spectra enlarged and duplicate entries became available, an effort was mounted to more carefully select station noise spectra while discarding others. This report discusses the methodology and criteria by which the noise spectra were selected. It also identifies and illustrates the station noise spectra which survived the selection process and which currently contribute to the modeling efforts. The resulting catalog of noise statistics not only benefits those who model network performance but also those who wish to select stations on the basis of their noise level as may occur in designing networks or in selecting seismological data for analysis on the basis of station noise level. In view of the various ways by which station noise were estimated by the different contributors, it is advisable that future efforts which predict network performance have available station noise data and spectral estimation methods which are compatible with the statistics underlying seismic noise. This appropriately requires (1) averaging noise over seasonal and/or diurnal cycles, (2) averaging noise over time intervals comparable to those employed by actual detectors, and (3) using logarithmic measures of the noise.

Building Global Learning Communities

Science.gov (United States)

Cochrane, Thomas; Buchem, Ilona; Camacho, Mar; Cronin, Catherine; Gordon, Averill; Keegan, Helen

2013-01-01

Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC) for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning…

The Role of Atmospheric Heating over the South China Sea and Western Pacific Regions in Modulating Asian Summer Climate under the Global Warming Background

Science.gov (United States)

He, B.

2015-12-01

Global warming is one of the most significant climate change signals at the earth's surface. However, the responses of monsoon precipitation to global warming show very distinct regional features, especially over the South China Sea (SCS) and surrounding regions during boreal summer. To understand the possible dynamics in these specific regions under the global warming background, the changes in atmospheric latent heating and their possible influences on global climate are investigated by both observational diagnosis and numerical sensitivity simulations. Results indicate that summertime latent heating has intensified in the SCS and western Pacific, accompanied by increased precipitation, cloud cover, lower-tropospheric convergence, and decreased sea level pressure. Sensitivity experiments show that middle and upper tropospheric heating causes an east-west feedback pattern between SCS-western Pacific and South Asia, which strengthens the South Asian High in the upper troposphere and moist convergence in the lower troposphere, consequently forcing a descending motion and adiabatic warming over continental South Asia and leading to a warm and dry climate. When air-sea interaction is considered, the simulation results are overall more similar to observations, and in particular the bias of precipitation over the Indian Ocean simulated by AGCMs has been reduced. The results highlight the important role of latent heating in adjusting the changes in sea surface temperature through atmospheric dynamics.

The global burden of dengue: an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.D. Stanaway (Jeffrey D.); D.S. Shepard (Donald); E.A. Undurraga (Eduardo); Halasa, Y.A. (Yara A); L.E. Coffeng (Luc); Brady, O.J. (Oliver J); Hay, S.I. (Simon I); Bedi, N. (Neeraj); I.M. Bensenor (Isabela M.); C.A. Castañeda-Orjuela (Carlos A); T.-W. Chuang (Ting-Wu); K.B. Gibney (Katherine B); Z.A. Memish (Ziad); A. Rafay (Anwar); K.N. Ukwaja (Kingsley N); N. Yonemoto (Naohiro); C.J.L. Murray (Christopher)

2016-01-01

textabstractBackground Dengue is the most common arbovirus infection globally, but its burden is poorly quantified. We estimated dengue mortality, incidence, and burden for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Methods We modelled mortality from vital registration, verbal autopsy, and

Dirac fermions in nontrivial topology black hole backgrounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gozdz, Marek; Nakonieczny, Lukasz; Rogatko, Marek

2010-01-01

We discuss the behavior of the Dirac fermions in a general spherically symmetric black hole background with a nontrivial topology of the event horizon. Both massive and massless cases are taken into account. We will conduct an analytical study of intermediate and late-time behavior of massive Dirac hair in the background of a black hole with a global monopole and dilaton black hole pierced by a cosmic string. In the case of a global monopole swallowed by a static black hole, the intermediate late-time behavior depends on the mass of the Dirac field, the multiple number of the wave mode, and the global monopole parameter. The late-time behavior is quite independent of these factors and has a decay rate proportional to t -5/6 . As far as the black hole pierced by a cosmic string is concerned, the intermediate late-time behavior depends only on the hair mass and the multipole number of the wave mode, while the late-time behavior dependence is the same as in the previous case. The main modification stems from the topology of the S 2 sphere pierced by a cosmic string. This factor modifies the eigenvalues of the Dirac operator acting on the transverse manifold.

Comparison of global storm activity rate calculated from Schumann resonance background components to electric field intensity E0 Z

Science.gov (United States)

Nieckarz, Zenon; Kułak, Andrzej; Zięba, Stanisław; Kubicki, Marek; Michnowski, Stanisław; Barański, Piotr

2009-02-01

This work presents the results of a comparison between the global storm activity rate IRS and electric field intensity E0 Z. The permanent analysis of the IRS may become an important tool for testing Global Electric Circuit models. IRS is determined by a new method that uses the background component of the first 7 Schumann resonances (SR). The rate calculations are based on ELF observations carried out in 2005 and 2006 in the observatory station "Hylaty" of the Jagiellonian University in the Eastern Carpathians (Kułak, A., Zięba, S., Micek, S., Nieckarz, Z., 2003. Solar variations in extremely low frequency propagation parameters: I. A two-dimensional telegraph equation (TDTE) model of ELF propagation and fundamental parameters of Schumann resonances, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 1270, doi:10.1029/2002JA009304). Diurnal runs of the IRS rate were compared with diurnal runs of E0 Z amplitudes registered at the Earth's surface in the Geophysical Observatory of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Świder (Kubicki, M., 2005. Results of Atmospheric Electricity and Meteorological Observations, S. Kalinowski Geophysical Observatory at Świder 2004, Pub. Inst. Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences, D-68 (383), Warszawa.). The days with the highest values of the correlation coefficient ( R) between amplitudes of both observed parameters characterizing atmosphere electric activity are shown. The seasonal changes of R, IRS and E0 Z are also presented.

Gamma-Ray Background Variability in Mobile Detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Aucott, Timothy John

Gamma-ray background radiation significantly reduces detection sensitivity when searching for radioactive sources in the field, such as in wide-area searches for homeland security applications. Mobile detector systems in particular must contend with a variable background that is not necessarily known or even measurable a priori. This work will present measurements of the spatial and temporal variability of the background, with the goal of merging gamma-ray detection, spectroscopy, and imaging with contextual information--a "nuclear street view" of the ubiquitous background radiation. The gamma-ray background originates from a variety of sources, both natural and anthropogenic. The dominant sources in the field are the primordial isotopes potassium-40, uranium-238, and thorium-232, as well as their decay daughters. In addition to the natural background, many artificially-created isotopes are used for industrial or medical purposes, and contamination from fission products can be found in many environments. Regardless of origin, these backgrounds will reduce detection sensitivity by adding both statistical as well as systematic uncertainty. In particular, large detector arrays will be limited by the systematic uncertainty in the background and will suffer from a high rate of false alarms. The goal of this work is to provide a comprehensive characterization of the gamma-ray background and its variability in order to improve detection sensitivity and evaluate the performance of mobile detectors in the field. Large quantities of data are measured in order to study their performance at very low false alarm rates. Two different approaches, spectroscopy and imaging, are compared in a controlled study in the presence of this measured background. Furthermore, there is additional information that can be gained by correlating the gamma-ray data with contextual data streams (such as cameras and global positioning systems) in order to reduce the variability in the background

Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-24

FY2008, Congress rejected the requested funding for this program, but the Navy has continued to consider the possibility of deploying intermediate ...10 Submarine-Launched Intermediate -Range Global Strike .................................................. 11 Air Force Programs...Missiles............................................................................ 36 Submarine-Launched Intermediate -Range Ballistic Missiles

[Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Anisotropies

Science.gov (United States)

Silk, Joseph

1998-01-01

One of the main areas of research is the theory of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and analysis of CMB data. Using the four year COBE data we were able to improve existing constraints on global shear and vorticity. We found that, in the flat case (which allows for greatest anisotropy), (omega/H)0 less than 10(exp -7), where omega is the vorticity and H is the Hubble constant. This is two orders of magnitude lower than the tightest, previous constraint. We have defined a new set of statistics which quantify the amount of non-Gaussianity in small field cosmic microwave background maps. By looking at the distribution of power around rings in Fourier space, and at the correlations between adjacent rings, one can identify non-Gaussian features which are masked by large scale Gaussian fluctuations. This may be particularly useful for identifying unresolved localized sources and line-like discontinuities. Levin and collaborators devised a method to determine the global geometry of the universe through observations of patterns in the hot and cold spots of the CMB. We have derived properties of the peaks (maxima) of the CMB anisotropies expected in flat and open CDM models. We represent results for angular resolutions ranging from 5 arcmin to 20 arcmin (antenna FWHM), scales that are relevant for the MAP and COBRA/SAMBA space missions and the ground-based interferometer. Results related to galaxy formation and evolution are also discussed.

On the background independence of two-dimensional topological gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Imbimbo, Camillo

1995-04-01

We formulate two-dimensional topological gravity in a background covariant Lagrangian framework. We derive the Ward identities which characterize the dependence of physical correlators on the background world-sheet metric defining the gauge-slice. We point out the existence of an "anomaly" in Ward identitites involving correlators of observables with higher ghost number. This "anomaly" represents an obstruction for physical correlators to be globally defined forms on moduli space which could be integrated in a background independent way. Starting from the anomalous Ward identities, we derive "descent" equations whose solutions are cocycles of the Lie algebra of the diffeomorphism group with values in the space of local forms on the moduli space. We solve the descent equations and provide explicit formulas for the cocycles, which allow for the definition of background independent integrals of physical correlators on the moduli space.

New global ICT-based business models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The New Global Business model (NEWGIBM) book describes the background, theory references, case studies, results and learning imparted by the NEWGIBM project, which is supported by ICT, to a research group during the period from 2005-2011. The book is a result of the efforts and the collaborative ...... The NEWGIBM Cases Show? The Strategy Concept in Light of the Increased Importance of Innovative Business Models Successful Implementation of Global BM Innovation Globalisation Of ICT Based Business Models: Today And In 2020......The New Global Business model (NEWGIBM) book describes the background, theory references, case studies, results and learning imparted by the NEWGIBM project, which is supported by ICT, to a research group during the period from 2005-2011. The book is a result of the efforts and the collaborative....... The NEWGIBM book serves as a part of the final evaluation and documentation of the NEWGIBM project and is supported by results from the following projects: M-commerce, Global Innovation, Global Ebusiness & M-commerce, The Blue Ocean project, International Center for Innovation and Women in Business, NEFFICS...

The United Nations Global Compact

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasche, Andreas; Waddock, Sandra; McIntosh, Malcolm

2013-01-01

This article reviews the interdisciplinary literature on the UN Global Compact. The review identifies three research perspectives, which scholars have used to study the UN Global Compact so far: a historical perspective discussing the Global Compact in the context of UN-business relations...... key empirical as well as conceptual scholarly contributions. The remainder of this article contains focused summaries of the articles selected for this Special Issue. All articles are introduced and evaluated against the background of the three research perspectives....

The global variability of diatomaceous earth toxicity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nattrass, C; Horwell, C J; Damby, D E

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Diatomaceous earth (DE) is mined globally and is potentially of occupational respiratory health concern due to the high crystalline silica content in processed material. DE toxicity, in terms of variability related to global source and processing technique, is poorly understood...

Ozone, Climate, and Global Atmospheric Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Levine, Joel S.

1992-01-01

Presents an overview of global atmospheric problems relating to ozone depletion and global warming. Provides background information on the composition of the earth's atmosphere and origin of atmospheric ozone. Describes causes, effects, and evidence of ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect. A vignette provides a summary of a 1991 assessment of…

Generalized global symmetries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaiotto, Davide; Kapustin, Anton; Seiberg, Nathan; Willett, Brian

2015-01-01

A q-form global symmetry is a global symmetry for which the charged operators are of space-time dimension q; e.g. Wilson lines, surface defects, etc., and the charged excitations have q spatial dimensions; e.g. strings, membranes, etc. Many of the properties of ordinary global symmetries (q=0) apply here. They lead to Ward identities and hence to selection rules on amplitudes. Such global symmetries can be coupled to classical background fields and they can be gauged by summing over these classical fields. These generalized global symmetries can be spontaneously broken (either completely or to a subgroup). They can also have ’t Hooft anomalies, which prevent us from gauging them, but lead to ’t Hooft anomaly matching conditions. Such anomalies can also lead to anomaly inflow on various defects and exotic Symmetry Protected Topological phases. Our analysis of these symmetries gives a new unified perspective of many known phenomena and uncovers new results.

Gravitational effects of global strings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aryal, M.; Everett, A.E.

1986-01-01

We have obtained the gravitational field, in the weak-field approximation, of cosmic strings formed in a phase transition in which a global symmetry is broken (global strings). The effect of this field on light rays passing a global string is found, and the resulting formation of double images and production of discontinuities in the microwave background temperature compared with the corresponding results for gauge strings. There are some differences in the case of global strings, reflecting the fact that the space surrounding such strings is not purely conical. However, the differences between gauge and global strings with masses suitable to explain galaxy formation are small, and the task of distinguishing them observationally appears difficult at best

Awareness And Perception of Global Warming Among ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

BACKGROUND: Increase in the emission of green house gases and the attendant climatic changes have led to the phenomenon of global warming with all its catastrophic consequences. OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge and perception of the concept of global warming among undergraduate medical students

Comments on global symmetries, anomalies, and duality in (2+1)d

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benini, Francesco [School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study,Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States); SISSA & INFN,via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste (Italy); Hsin, Po-Shen [Department of Physics, Princeton University,Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Seiberg, Nathan [School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study,Princeton, NJ 08540 (United States)

2017-04-21

We analyze in detail the global symmetries of various (2+1)d quantum field theories and couple them to classical background gauge fields. A proper identification of the global symmetries allows us to consider all non-trivial bundles of those background fields, thus finding more subtle observables. The global symmetries exhibit interesting ’t Hooft anomalies. These allow us to constrain the IR behavior of the theories and provide powerful constraints on conjectured dualities.

Background-independent measurement of θ13 in Double Chooz

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abe, Y.; Anjos, J.C. dos; Barriere, J.C.; Baussan, E.; Bekman, I.; Bergevin, M.; Bezerra, T.J.C.; Bezrukov, L.; Blucher, E.; Buck, C.; Busenitz, J.; Cabrera, A.; Caden, E.; Camilleri, L.; Carr, R.; Cerrada, M.; Chang, P.-J.; Chauveau, E.

2014-01-01

The oscillation results published by the Double Chooz Collaboration in 2011 and 2012 rely on background models substantiated by reactor-on data. In this analysis, we present a background-model-independent measurement of the mixing angle θ 13 by including 7.53 days of reactor-off data. A global fit of the observed antineutrino rates for different reactor power conditions is performed, yielding a measurement of both θ 13 and the total background rate. The results on the mixing angle are improved significantly by including the reactor-off data in the fit, as it provides a direct measurement of the total background rate. This reactor rate modulation analysis considers antineutrino candidates with neutron captures on both Gd and H, whose combination yields sin 2 (2θ 13 )=0.102±0.028(stat.)±0.033(syst.). The results presented in this study are fully consistent with the ones already published by Double Chooz, achieving a competitive precision. They provide, for the first time, a determination of θ 13 that does not depend on a background model

Comprehensive evaluation of global energy interconnection development index

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lin; Zhang, Yi

2018-04-01

Under the background of building global energy interconnection and realizing green and low-carbon development, this article constructed the global energy interconnection development index system which based on the current situation of global energy interconnection development. Through using the entropy method for the weight analysis of global energy interconnection development index, and then using gray correlation method to analyze the selected countries, this article got the global energy interconnection development index ranking and level classification.

Global World: A Problem of Governance

Science.gov (United States)

Chumakov, Alexander Nikolayevich

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to include the following items: to show the absolute necessity of managing the international community, to explore the fundamental possibility of managing the global world, to prove or disprove such a possibility, to determine the real background of global governance in modern conditions and to show the…

Operation and technology development of the radioactive xenon and krypton detection equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Wanno; Choi, Sangdo; Ji, Youngyong; Lim, Jong Myoung; Cho, Young Hyun; Kang, Han Beul; Lee, Hoon; Kang, Moon Ja; Choi, Kun Sik

2013-03-01

Operation and technology development of the radioactive xenon and krypton detection equipment - Advancement, independence of operation technology for BfS-IAR system(the simultaneous analysis of xenon and krypton) installed after North Korea nuclear tests in 2006 and establishment of background base-line for xenon and krypton radioactivity. - Enhanced detection and analysis capabilities for neighborhood nuclear activities through advanced research of noble gas detection technology. Results of the Project · The operation of xenon and krypton analysis system (BfS-IAR) · Operation of fixed adsorption system. · Operation of portable adsorption system · Exercise of emergency response and proficiency test with SAUNA. · Measurement of noble gas background at specific region in Korea. - Radioxenon levels at Dongdu Cheon is approximately 1.6 mBq/m 3 · Development of automation filling system for absorber cooling

How warm was the year 2010? Background; Wie warm war das Jahr 2010? Hintergrund

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-05-06

In the background paper under consideration, the Federal Environment Agency (Dessau-Rosslau, Federal Republic of Germany) reports on a global measurement of the surface air temperature in order to obtain a global mean temperature. The global mean temperature of the year 2010 is not very significant. The deviation of the global mean temperature of the year 2010 from the mean temperature in a recent, extended period of time is more significant. The long-term trend in the global mean temperature shows a progressive global warming. The year 2010 was the warmest calendar year with the largest amount of rainfall since the records began in the 19th century. The global mean surface air temperature was very slight above the average temperature of the previous record year 2005.

The new global health.

Science.gov (United States)

De Cock, Kevin M; Simone, Patricia M; Davison, Veronica; Slutsker, Laurence

2013-08-01

Global health reflects the realities of globalization, including worldwide dissemination of infectious and noninfectious public health risks. Global health architecture is complex and better coordination is needed between multiple organizations. Three overlapping themes determine global health action and prioritization: development, security, and public health. These themes play out against a background of demographic change, socioeconomic development, and urbanization. Infectious diseases remain critical factors, but are no longer the major cause of global illness and death. Traditional indicators of public health, such as maternal and infant mortality rates no longer describe the health status of whole societies; this change highlights the need for investment in vital registration and disease-specific reporting. Noncommunicable diseases, injuries, and mental health will require greater attention from the world in the future. The new global health requires broader engagement by health organizations and all countries for the objectives of health equity, access, and coverage as priorities beyond the Millennium Development Goals are set.

Quality management for noble gas trace analysis; Qualitaetssicherung bei der Edelgasspurenanalyse

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmid, S.; Konrad, M.; Kumberg, T.; Schlosser, C. [Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz (BfS), Freiburg (Germany); Gohla, H. [Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Vienna International Centre, Vienna (Austria). Preparatory Commission

2014-01-20

The Federal Office for Radiation Protection operates measurement systems to determine the activity concentrations of Krypton-85 and Xenon-133 in air samples since the early 70s. Certified standards with stable noble gas admixtures are still missing for quality assurance (certified activity concentrations). The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is currently establishing a global noble gas monitoring network for the verification of compliance with the Treaty. In cooperation with CTBTO the BfS currently develops concepts of quality assurance for noble gas measurements. Opportunities for quality assurance without using certified standards are discussed by comparisons between individual laboratories and internal audits. The results from the first CTBTO laboratory intercomparison with synthetic radioxenon samples look very promising.

Role of atmospheric heating over the South China Sea and western Pacific regions in modulating Asian summer climate under the global warming background

Science.gov (United States)

He, Bian; Yang, Song; Li, Zhenning

2016-05-01

The response of monsoon precipitation to global warming, which is one of the most significant climate change signals at the earth's surface, exhibits very distinct regional features, especially over the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent regions in boreal summer. To understand the possible atmospheric dynamics in these specific regions under the global warming background, changes in atmospheric heating and their possible influences on Asian summer climate are investigated by both observational diagnosis and numerical simulations. Results indicate that heating in the middle troposphere has intensified in the SCS and western Pacific regions in boreal summer, accompanied by increased precipitation, cloud cover, and lower-tropospheric convergence and decreased sea level pressure. Sensitivity experiments show that middle and upper tropospheric heating causes an east-west feedback pattern between SCS and western Pacific and continental South Asia, which strengthens the South Asian High in the upper troposphere and moist convergence in the lower troposphere, consequently forcing a descending motion and adiabatic warming over continental South Asia. When air-sea interaction is considered, the simulation results are overall more similar to observations, and in particular the bias of precipitation over the Indian Ocean simulated by AGCMs has been reduced. The result highlights the important role of air-sea interaction in understanding the changes in Asian climate.

Enhanced Global Signal of Neutral Hydrogen Due to Excess Radiation at Cosmic Dawn

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Chang; Holder, Gilbert

2018-05-01

We revisit the global 21 cm signal calculation incorporating a possible radio background at early times, and find that the global 21 cm signal shows a much stronger absorption feature, which could enhance detection prospects for future 21 cm experiments. In light of recent reports of a possible low-frequency excess radio background, we propose that detailed 21 cm calculations should include a possible early radio background.

Exact scale-invariant background of gravitational waves from cosmic defects.

Science.gov (United States)

Figueroa, Daniel G; Hindmarsh, Mark; Urrestilla, Jon

2013-03-08

We demonstrate that any scaling source in the radiation era produces a background of gravitational waves with an exact scale-invariant power spectrum. Cosmic defects, created after a phase transition in the early universe, are such a scaling source. We emphasize that the result is independent of the topology of the cosmic defects, the order of phase transition, and the nature of the symmetry broken, global or gauged. As an example, using large-scale numerical simulations, we calculate the scale-invariant gravitational wave power spectrum generated by the dynamics of a global O(N) scalar theory. The result approaches the large N theoretical prediction as N(-2), albeit with a large coefficient. The signal from global cosmic strings is O(100) times larger than the large N prediction.

Salient Region Detection by Fusing Foreground and Background Cues Extracted from Single Image

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiangqiang Zhou

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Saliency detection is an important preprocessing step in many application fields such as computer vision, robotics, and graphics to reduce computational cost by focusing on significant positions and neglecting the nonsignificant in the scene. Different from most previous methods which mainly utilize the contrast of low-level features, various feature maps are fused in a simple linear weighting form. In this paper, we propose a novel salient object detection algorithm which takes both background and foreground cues into consideration and integrate a bottom-up coarse salient regions extraction and a top-down background measure via boundary labels propagation into a unified optimization framework to acquire a refined saliency detection result. Wherein the coarse saliency map is also fused by three components, the first is local contrast map which is in more accordance with the psychological law, the second is global frequency prior map, and the third is global color distribution map. During the formation of background map, first we construct an affinity matrix and select some nodes which lie on border as labels to represent the background and then carry out a propagation to generate the regional background map. The evaluation of the proposed model has been implemented on four datasets. As demonstrated in the experiments, our proposed method outperforms most existing saliency detection models with a robust performance.

Inversion of Multi-Station Schumann Resonance Background Records for Global Lightning Activity in Absolute Units

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, E. R.; Mushtak, V. C.; Guha, A.; Boldi, R. A.; Bor, J.; Nagy, T.; Satori, G.; Sinha, A. K.; Rawat, R.; Hobara, Y.; Sato, M.; Takahashi, Y.; Price, C. G.; Neska, M.; Alexander, K.; Yampolski, Y.; Moore, R. C.; Mitchell, M. F.; Fraser-Smith, A. C.

2014-12-01

Every lightning flash contributes energy to the TEM mode of the natural global waveguide that contains the Earth's Schumann resonances. The modest attenuation at ELF (0.1 dB/Mm) allows for the continuous monitoring of the global lightning with a small number of receiving stations worldwide. In this study, nine ELF receiving sites (in Antarctica (3 sites), Hungary, India, Japan, Poland, Spitsbergen and USA) are used to provide power spectra at 12-minute intervals in two absolutely calibrated magnetic fields and occasionally, one electric field, with up to five resonance modes each. The observables are the extracted modal parameters (peak intensity, peak frequency and Q-factor) for each spectrum. The unknown quantities are the geographical locations of three continental lightning 'chimneys' and their lightning source strengths in absolute units (C2 km2/sec). The unknowns are calculated from the observables by the iterative inversion of an evolving 'sensitivity matrix' whose elements are the partial derivatives of each observable for all receiving sites with respect to each unknown quantity. The propagation model includes the important day-night asymmetry of the natural waveguide. To overcome the problem of multiple minima (common in inversion problems of this kind), location information from the World Wide Lightning Location Network has been used to make initial guess solutions based on centroids of stroke locations in each chimney. Results for five consecutive days in 2009 (Jan 7-11) show UT variations with the African chimney dominating on four of five days, and America dominating on the fifth day. The amplitude variations in absolute source strength exceed that of the 'Carnegie curve' of the DC global circuit by roughly twofold. Day-to-day variations in chimney source strength are of the order of tens of percent. Examination of forward calculations performed with the global inversion solution often show good agreement with the observed diurnal variations at

Implementing the global plan to stop TB, 2011-2015 - optimizing allocations and the global fund's contribution: A scenario projections study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E.L. Korenromp (Eline); P. Glaziou (Philippe); C. Fitzpatrick (Christopher); K. Floyd (Katherine); M. Hosseini (Mehran); M.C. Raviglione (Mario); R. Atun (Rifat); B. Williams (Brian)

2012-01-01

textabstractBackground: The Global Plan to Stop TB estimates funding required in low- and middle-income countries to achieve TB control targets set by the Stop TB Partnership within the context of the Millennium Development Goals. We estimate the contribution and impact of Global Fund investments

Global Mercury Assessment 2013

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

mercury pollution. This summary report and the accompanying. Technical Background Report for the Global. Mercury Assessment 2013 are developed in response to Decision 25/5, paragraph ... The use of different pollution control technologies in different ...... vegetation, snow, freshwater, and seawater. One of the largest ...

The physics and history of global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Yongyun

2012-01-01

Global warming is not only a hot research area in atmospheric sciences and even all Earth sciences but is also a controversial topic in the international community. The purpose of this paper is not to clarify these controversies, but instead, to address the physical basis on which our understanding of global warming is founded, and to briefly review the nearly 200-year history of global warming sciences. We hope the paper will help readers, who have no background in the atmospheric and climate sciences, understand scientific issues of global warming. (author)

Global environment and cogeneration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyahara, Atsushi

1992-01-01

The environment problems on global scale have been highlighted in addition to the local problems due to the rapid increase of population, the increase of energy demand and so on. The global environment summit was held in Brazil. Now, global environment problems are the problems for mankind, and their importance seems to increase toward 21st century. In such circumstances, cogeneration can reduce carbon dioxide emission in addition to energy conservation, therefore, attention has been paid as the countermeasure for global environment. The background of global environment problems is explained. As to the effectiveness of cogeneration for global environment, the suitability of city gas to environment, energy conservation, the reduction of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emission are discussed. As for the state of spread of cogeneration, as of March, 1992, those of 2250 MW in terms of power generation capacity have been installed in Japan. It is forecast that cogeneration will increase hereafter. As the future systems of cogeneration, city and industry energy center conception, industrial repowering, multiple house cogeneration and fuel cells are described. (K.I.)

Global Mortality Impact of the 1957-1959 Influenza Pandemic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Viboud, Cécile; Simonsen, Lone; Fuentes, Rodrigo

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Quantitative estimates of the global burden of the 1957 influenza pandemic are lacking. Here we fill this gap by modeling historical mortality statistics. METHODS: We used annual rates of age- and cause-specific deaths to estimate pandemic-related mortality in excess of background...... levels in 39 countries in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Americas. We modeled the relationship between excess mortality and development indicators to extrapolate the global burden of the pandemic. RESULTS: The pandemic-associated excess respiratory mortality rate was 1.9/10,000 population (95...... excess deaths (95% CI, .7 million-1.5 million excess deaths) globally to the 1957-1959 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The global mortality rate of the 1957-1959 influenza pandemic was moderate relative to that of the 1918 pandemic but was approximately 10-fold greater than that of the 2009 pandemic. The impact...

WMO background air pollution monitoring network (BAPMON)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koehler, A

1980-01-01

The objectives of the network include the establishment of baseline measurements of the global troposphere against which subsequent changes can be measured. The minimum program includes analysis of wet precipitation, observation of the aerosol optical depth, and sampling of suspended particulates. Standardization efforts have resulted in accuracies in rainwater samples to within 10%. Pollutant levels are shown for regional, urban and continental stations. The possibility of establishing median values for different modes of operation at a station (background and nonbackground mode) is examined. The interference of water vapor with CO/sub 2/ measurements is discussed.

Change of ENSO characteristics in response to global warming

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, X.; Xia, Y.; Yan, Y.; Feng, W.; Huang, F.; Yang, X. Q.

2017-12-01

By using datasets of HadISST monthly SST from 1895 to 2014 and 600-year simulations of two CESM model experiments with/without doubling of CO2 concentration, ENSO characteristics are compared pre- and post- global warming. The main results are as follows. Due to global warming, the maximum climatological SST warming occurs in the tropical western Pacific (La Niña-like background warming) and the tropical eastern Pacific (El Niño-like background warming) for observations and model, respectively, resulting in opposite zonal SST gradient anomalies in the tropical Pacific. The La Niña-like background warming induces intense surface divergence in the tropical central Pacific, which enhances the easterly trade winds in the tropical central-western Pacific and shifts the strongest ocean-atmosphere coupling westward, correspondingly. On the contrary, the El Niño-like background warming causes westerly winds in the whole tropical Pacific and moves the strongest ocean-atmosphere coupling eastward. Under the La Niña-like background warming, ENSO tends to develop and mature in the tropical central Pacific, because the background easterly wind anomaly weakens the ENSO-induced westerly wind anomaly in the tropical western Pacific, leading to the so-called "Central Pacific ENSO (CP ENSO)". However, the so-called "Eastern Pacific ENSO (EP ENSO)" is likely formed due to increased westerly wind anomaly by the El Niño-like background warming. ENSO lifetime is significantly extended under both the El Niño-like and the La Niña-like background warmings, and especially, it can be prolonged by up to 3 months in the situation of El Niño-like background warming. The prolonged El Nino lifetime mainly applies to extreme El Niño events, which is caused by earlier outbreak of the westerly wind bursts, shallower climatological thermocline depth and weaker "discharge" rate of the ENSO warm signal in response to global warming. Results from both observations and the model also show that

A Figure-of-Merit for Beta Cell Detector Characterization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foxe, Michael P. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Miller, Brian W. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Suarez, Rey [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hayes, James C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-09-02

In order to decrease the minimum detectable activities (MDAs) of beta-gamma radioxenon detectors, it is important to increase the ability to resolve the individual isotopes. One proposed method for doing this is to increase the energy resolution of the beta cell through the use of silicon detectors. While silicon detectors can improve the energy resolution, it is accompanied with a decrease in detection efficiency compared to plastic scintillator beta cells. Due to the uncertainty on the impact of the competing variables, we have developed a figure-of-merit (FOM) capable of determining the impact of detector parameters on the MDAs. By utilizing the FOM to analyze different detectors, we are able to directly compare current and future detectors and estimate their impact on the radioxenon MDAs.

Forest ecosystems and the global climatic change. Background and need to act

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellmann, K.; Grassl, H.; Kaiser, M.; Kuerzinger, J.; Lindner, M.; Mueller-Kraenner, S.; Schmidt, R.; Schuett, P.; Sperber, G.

1994-01-01

The consequences of the climatic change and of the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer are of global significance and can only be controlled through worldwide measures. Mainly fossil fuels which cover most of our energy demand, industrial production, traffic, industrial intensive agriculture, and deforestation are responsible for trace gases which cause the greenhouse effect. The possible effects of the expected climatic change are discussed, and suitable political, social and silvicultural approaches to the maintenance of stable forest ecosystems are pointed out. Emphasis is placed on forestry and on ecosystems research in Central Europe. (MG) [de

Global Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries

OpenAIRE

Aksoy, M. Ataman; Beghin, John C.

2005-01-01

Global Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries explores the outstanding issues in global agricultural trade policy and evolving world production and trade patterns. This book presents research findings based on a series of commodity studies of significant economic importance to developing countries. Setting the stage with background chapters and investigations of cross-cutting issues, the authors describe trade and domestic policy regimes affecting agricultural and food markets and analyz...

Contextual cueing by global features

Science.gov (United States)

Kunar, Melina A.; Flusberg, Stephen J.; Wolfe, Jeremy M.

2008-01-01

In visual search tasks, attention can be guided to a target item, appearing amidst distractors, on the basis of simple features (e.g. find the red letter among green). Chun and Jiang’s (1998) “contextual cueing” effect shows that RTs are also speeded if the spatial configuration of items in a scene is repeated over time. In these studies we ask if global properties of the scene can speed search (e.g. if the display is mostly red, then the target is at location X). In Experiment 1a, the overall background color of the display predicted the target location. Here the predictive color could appear 0, 400 or 800 msec in advance of the search array. Mean RTs are faster in predictive than in non-predictive conditions. However, there is little improvement in search slopes. The global color cue did not improve search efficiency. Experiments 1b-1f replicate this effect using different predictive properties (e.g. background orientation/texture, stimuli color etc.). The results show a strong RT effect of predictive background but (at best) only a weak improvement in search efficiency. A strong improvement in efficiency was found, however, when the informative background was presented 1500 msec prior to the onset of the search stimuli and when observers were given explicit instructions to use the cue (Experiment 2). PMID:17355043

Time to go global: a consultation on global health competencies for postgraduate doctors

Science.gov (United States)

Walpole, Sarah C.; Shortall, Clare; van Schalkwyk, May CI; Merriel, Abi; Ellis, Jayne; Obolensky, Lucy; Casanova Dias, Marisa; Watson, Jessica; Brown, Colin S.; Hall, Jennifer; Pettigrew, Luisa M.; Allen, Steve

2016-01-01

Background Globalisation is having profound impacts on health and healthcare. We solicited the views of a wide range of stakeholders in order to develop core global health competencies for postgraduate doctors. Methods Published literature and existing curricula informed writing of seven global health competencies for consultation. A modified policy Delphi involved an online survey and face-to-face and telephone interviews over three rounds. Results Over 250 stakeholders participated, including doctors, other health professionals, policymakers and members of the public from all continents of the world. Participants indicated that global health competence is essential for postgraduate doctors and other health professionals. Concerns were expressed about overburdening curricula and identifying what is ‘essential’ for whom. Conflicting perspectives emerged about the importance and relevance of different global health topics. Five core competencies were developed: (1) diversity, human rights and ethics; (2) environmental, social and economic determinants of health; (3) global epidemiology; (4) global health governance; and (5) health systems and health professionals. Conclusions Global health can bring important perspectives to postgraduate curricula, enhancing the ability of doctors to provide quality care. These global health competencies require tailoring to meet different trainees' needs and facilitate their incorporation into curricula. Healthcare and global health are ever-changing; therefore, the competencies will need to be regularly reviewed and updated. PMID:27241136

Pathways to Global Markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Smith, David E.; Mitry, Darryl J.

2011-01-01

. An important case study is McDonald‘s corporation, the world‘s largest fast food restaurant chain. This company has employed divergent marketing and economic strategies in both domestic and the international markets to become a leader in the global marketplace. An overview of the company‘s background......, organizational structures, mission and vision illustrate McDonald‘s strategic focus on its proactive evolution from a small drive-through operation to a global fast-food giant. The strategy is based on its ability to adapt to the cultural differences of the markets that McDonald‘s serves while preserving its...

Energy futures project : backgrounder for consultation sessions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhargava, A.

2006-05-01

The National Energy Board periodically publishes a long-term energy and demand report as part of an ongoing monitoring program. The next report is planned for release in 2007. This background document provided background information to ensure that consultation participants have a common understanding of key issues to be addressed during the cross-country consultations that have been planned before the release of the final version of the report. An outline of the proposed analytical approach was presented, as well as details of major assumptions and scenario storylines. Scenario themes included: economic, energy and environmental sustainability; a security-focused world shaped by war and civil strife; and strong global economic growth fueled by the rapid growth of the Chinese and Indian economies. A methodology overview was provided as well as a reference case. Issues related to energy supply included oil; natural gas liquids; natural gas; and electricity. Issues related to energy demand included the residential sector; the commercial sector; the industrial sector; and the transportation sector. Historical trends and forecasts were outlined using the macroeconomic variable of interest. Supply, demand, and supporting infrastructure across all energy forms within a North American and global context were considered. The impact of environmental management strategies were reviewed, as well as the role of the government in shaping policies. It was concluded that the purpose of the final report is to serve as a standard of references for parties interested in Canadian energy issues and trends as well as to inform decision makers of key risks and uncertainties facing the energy future.9 tabs., 1 fig

Xenon recovery from molybdenum-99 production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jubin, R.T.; Paviet, P.D.; Bresee, J.C.

2016-01-01

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) sponsors research and development on the recycle of used commercial nuclear fuel as an option for future nuclear fuel cycles that offers increased use of uranium and thorium resources and a possible reduction in the overall cost of nuclear waste management. The two alternatives, direct disposal of used fuel and fuel recycle, are broadly referred to as open and closed fuel cycles. One requirement of a closed fuel cycle is the safe management of radioactive off-gases, which includes 14 C, radioiodine and the noble gases, including radio-xenon. The longest lived relevant radio-xenon isotope is 127 Xe; with a half-life of just 36.35 days it is feasible to trap and hold the radio-xenon to allow for decay to safe environmental levels. However, the very weak chemical bonds of noble gases, in this case xenon, make them difficult to trap, which led to an extensive DOE-NE study of noble gas adsorption on various molecular sieves as an alternative to costly cryogenics processes. Preliminary results indicate that xenon adsorption at near room temperature on molecular sieves, both synthetic and natural, may have both cost and efficiency advantages over cryogenic processes. These results appear to have direct application in helping achieve the United Nations Security Council goal of reducing xenon emissions from medical isotope producers

Cardiovascular disease: A Global Epidemic extending into Sub ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Cardiovascular disease is a global epidemic; the prevalence is currently stable in the developed world but is on a rapid rise in the developing world particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the commonest cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Its victims are older in the developed world but younger in Africa ...

Evidence of a tropospheric aerosol backscatter background mode

Science.gov (United States)

Rothermel, Jeffry; Bowdle, David A.; Vaughan, J. Michael; Post, Madison J.

1989-01-01

Vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosol backscatter coefficients at 10.6 microns obtained with airborne and ground-based lidar are compared. Both sets of profiles show a high frequency of occurrence of low backscatter over a limited range of values in the middle and upper troposphere. It is suggested that this narrow range indicates a ubiquitous background mode for atmospheric backscatter around the globe. Implications of such a mode for global scale aerosol models and for the design of satellite-borne lidar-based sensors are discussed.

Global health politics: neither solidarity nor policy: Comment on "Globalization and the diffusion of ideas: why we should acknowledge the roots of mainstream ideas in global health".

Science.gov (United States)

Méndez, Claudio A

2014-07-01

The global health agenda has been dominating the current global health policy debate. Furthermore, it has compelled countries to embrace strategies for tackling health inequalities in a wide range of public health areas. The article by Robert and colleagues highlights that although globalization has increased opportunities to share and spread ideas, there is still great asymmetry of power according to the countries' economic and political development. It also emphasizes how policy diffusion from High Income Countries (HICs) to Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) have had flaws at understanding their political, economic, and cultural backgrounds while they are pursuing knowledge translation. Achieving a fair global health policy diffusion of ideas would imply a call for a renewal on political elites worldwide at coping global health politics. Accordingly, moving towards fairness in disseminating global health ideas should be driven by politics not only as one of the social determinants of health, but the main determinant of health and well-being among-and within-societies.

The exceptional generalised geometry of supersymmetric AdS flux backgrounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ashmore, Anthony [Merton College, University of Oxford,Merton Street, Oxford, OX1 4JD (United Kingdom); Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Andrew Wiles Building,Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG (United Kingdom); Petrini, Michela [Sorbonne Université, UPMC Paris 06, UMR 7589,LPTHE, 75005 Paris (France); Waldram, Daniel [Department of Physics, Imperial College London,Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)

2016-12-29

We analyse generic AdS flux backgrounds preserving eight supercharges in D=4 and D=5 dimensions using exceptional generalised geometry. We show that they are described by a pair of globally defined, generalised structures, identical to those that appear for flat flux backgrounds but with different integrability conditions. We give a number of explicit examples of such “exceptional Sasaki-Einstein” backgrounds in type IIB supergravity and M-theory. In particular, we give the complete analysis of the generic AdS{sub 5} M-theory backgrounds. We also briefly discuss the structure of the moduli space of solutions. In all cases, one structure defines a “generalised Reeb vector” that generates a Killing symmetry of the background corresponding to the R-symmetry of the dual field theory, and in addition encodes the generic contact structures that appear in the D=4 M-theory and D=5 type IIB cases. Finally, we investigate the relation between generalised structures and quantities in the dual field theory, showing that the central charge and R-charge of BPS wrapped-brane states are both encoded by the generalised Reeb vector, as well as discussing how volume minimisation (the dual of a- and F-maximisation) is encoded.

A global warming forum: Scientific, economic, and legal overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geyer, R.A.

1993-01-01

A Global Warming Forum covers in detail five general subject areas aimed at providing first, the scientific background and technical information available on global warming and second, a study and evaluation of the role of economic, legal, and political considerations in global warming. The five general topic areas discussed are the following: (1) The role of geophysical and geoengineering methods to solve problems related to global climatic change; (2) the role of oceanographic and geochemical methods to provide evidence for global climatic change; (3) the global assessment of greenhouse gas production including the need for additional information; (4) natural resource management needed to provide long-term global energy and agricultural uses; (5) legal, policy, and educational considerations required to properly evaluate global warming proposals

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.J.L. Murray (Christopher); K.F. Ortblad (Katrina F); C. Guinovart (Caterina); S.S. Lim (Stephen); T.M. Wolock (Timothy M); D.A. Roberts (D Allen); E.A. Dansereau (Emily A); N. Graetz (Nicholas); R.M. Barber (Ryan); J.C. Brown (Jonathan C); H. Wang (Haidong); H.C. Duber (Herbert C); M. Naghavi (Morteza); D. Dicker (Daniel); L. Dandona (Lalit); J.A. Salomon (Joshua); K.R. Heuton (Kyle R); K. Foreman (Kyle); D.E. Phillips (David E); T.D. Fleming (Thomas D); A.D. Flaxman (Abraham D); B.K. Phillips (Bryan K); E.M. Johnson (Elizabeth); M.S. Coggeshall (Megan S); F. Abd-Allah (Foad); S.F. Abera (Semaw Ferede); J.P. Abraham (Jerry); I. Abubakar (Ibrahim); L.J. Abu-Raddad (Laith J); N.M. Abu-Rmeileh (Niveen Me); T. Achoki (Tom); A. Adeyemo (Adebowale); A.K. Adou (Arsène Kouablan); J.C. Adsuar (José C); E.E. Agardh (Emilie Elisabet); D. Akena (Dickens); M.J. Al Kahbouri (Mazin J); D. Alasfoor (Deena); M.I. Albittar (Mohammed I); G. Alcalá-Cerra (Gabriel); M.A. Alegretti (Miguel Angel); G. Alemu (Getnet ); R. Alfonso-Cristancho (Rafael); S. Alhabib (Samia); R. Ali (Raghib); F. Alla (Francois); P.J. Allen (Peter); U. Alsharif (Ubai); E. Alvarez (Elena); N. Alvis-Guzman (Nelson); A.A. Amankwaa (Adansi A); A.T. Amare (Azmeraw T); H. Amini (Hassan); K.A. Ammar; B.O. Anderson (Benjamin); C.A.T. Antonio (Carl Abelardo T); P. Anwari (Palwasha); J. Ärnlöv (Johan); V.S.A. Arsenijevic (Valentina S Arsic); A. Artaman (Ali); R.J. Asghar (Rana J); R. Assadi (Reza); L.S. Atkins (Lydia S); A.F. Badawi (Alaa); A. Banerjee (Amitava); S. Basu (Saonli); J. Beardsley (Justin); T. Bekele (Tolesa); M.L. Bell (Michelle Lee); E. Bernabe (Eduardo); T.J. Beyene (Tariku Jibat); N. Bhala (Neeraj); P.L. Bhalla (Pankaj); Z.A. Bhutta (Zulfiqar A); A.B. Abdulhak (Aref Bin); A. Binagwaho (Agnes); J.D. Blore (Jed D); D. Bose (Dipan); M. Brainin (Michael); N. Breitborde (Nicholas); C.A. Castañeda-Orjuela (Carlos A); F. Catalá-López (Ferrán); D. Chadha; J.-C. Chang (Jung-Chen); Y.T. Chiang; T.-W. Chuang (Ting-Wu); M. Colomar (Mercedes); L.T. Cooper Jr. (Leslie Trumbull); C. Cooper (Charles); K.J. Courville (Karen J); M.R. Cowie (Martin R.); M. Criqui (Michael); R. Dandona (Rakhi); A. Dayama (Anand); D. de Leo (Diego); F. Degenhardt; B. Del Pozo-Cruz (Borja); K. Deribe (Kebede); D.C. Des Jarlais (Don C); M. Dessalegn (Muluken); S.D. Dharmaratne (Samath D); U. Dilmen (Uǧur); E.L. Ding (Eric); J.M. Driscoll; Z. Durrani; R.G. Ellenbogen (Richard G); S. Ermakov (Sergey); A. Esteghamati (Alireza); E.J.A. Faraon (Emerito Jose A); F. Farzadfar (Farshad); S.-M. Fereshtehnejad (Seyed-Mohammad); D.O. Fijabi (Daniel Obadare); M.H. Forouzanfar (Mohammad H); U. Fra.Paleo (Urbano); L. Gaffikin (Lynne); A. Gamkrelidze (Amiran); F.G. Gankpé (Fortuné Gbètoho); J.M. Geleijnse (Marianne); B.D. Gessner (Bradford D); K.B. Gibney (Katherine B); I.A.M. Ginawi (Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed); E.L. Glaser (Elizabeth L); P. Gona (Philimon); A. Goto (Akimoto); H.N. Gouda (Hebe N); H.C. Gugnani (Harish Chander); R. Gupta (Rajeev); R. Gupta (Rajeev); N. Hafezi-Nejad (Nima); R.R. Hamadeh (Randah Ribhi); M. Hammami (Mouhanad); G.J. Hankey (Graeme); H.L. Harb (Hilda L); J.M. Haro (Josep Maria); R. Havmoeller (Rasmus); S.I. Hay (Simon I); M.T. Hedayati (Mohammad T); I.B.H. Pi (Ileana B Heredia); H.W. Hoek (Hans); J.C. Hornberger (John C); H.D. Hosgood (H Dean); P.J. Hotez (Peter); D.G. Hoy (Damian G); J. Huang (Jian); K.M. Iburg (Kim M); B.T. Idrisov (Bulat T); K. Innos (Kaire); K.H. Jacobsen (Kathryn H); P. Jeemon (Panniyammakal); P.N. Jensen (Paul N); V. Jha (Vivekanand); G. Jiang (Guohong); J.B. Jonas; K. Juel (Knud); H. Kan (Haidong); I. Kankindi (Ida); V. Karam (Vincent); F. Karch (Francois); C.K. Karema (Corine Kakizi); A. Kaul (Anil); N. Kawakami (Norito); D.S. Kazi (Dhruv S); A.H. Kemp (Andrew H); A.P. Kengne (Andre Pascal); A. Keren (Andre); M. Kereselidze (Maia); Y.S. Khader (Yousef Saleh); S.E.A.H. Khalifa (Shams Eldin Ali Hassan); E.A. Khan (Ejaz Ahmed); Y.-H. Khang (Young-Ho); I. Khonelidze (Irma); Y. Kinfu (Yohannes); J.M. Kinge (Jonas M); L. Knibbs (Luke); Y. Kokubo (Yoshihiro); S. Kosen (Soewarta); B.K. Defo (Barthelemy Kuate); V.S. Kulkarni (Veena S); C. Kulkarni (Chanda); K. Kumar (Kuldeep); R.B. Kumar (Ravi B); G.A. Kumar (G Anil); G.F. Kwan (Gene F); T. Lai (Taavi); A.L. Balaji (Arjun Lakshmana); H. Lam (Hilton); Q. Lan (Qing); V.C. Lansingh (Van C); H.J. Larson (Heidi J); A. Larsson (Anders); J.-T. Lee (Jong-Tae); P.N. Leigh (Nigel); M. Leinsalu (Mall); R. Leung (Ricky); Y. Li (Yichong); Y. Li (Yongmei); G.M.F. de Lima (Graça Maria Ferreira); H.-H. Lin (Hsien-Ho); S.E. Lipshultz (Steven); S. Liu (Simin); Y. Liu (Yang); B.K. Lloyd (Belinda K); P.A. Lotufo (Paulo A); V.M.P. Machado (Vasco Manuel Pedro); J.H. Maclachlan (Jennifer H); C. Magis-Rodriguez (Carlos); M. Majdan (Marek); C.C. Mapoma (Christopher Chabila); W. Marcenes (Wagner); M.B. Marzan (Melvin Barrientos); J.R. Masci (Joseph R); R. Mashal; A.J. Mason-Jones (Amanda J); B.M. Mayosi (Bongani); T.T. Mazorodze (Tasara T); M.J. Mckay (Michael); M.J. Meaney; M.M. Mehndiratta (Man Mohan); F. Mejia-Rodriguez (Fabiola); Y.A. Melaku (Yohannes Adama); Z.A. Memish (Ziad); W. Mendoza (Walter); T.R. Miller (Ted R); E.J. Mills (Edward J); K.A. Mohammad (Karzan Abdulmuhsin); A.H. Mokdad (Ali H); G.L. Mola (Glen Liddell); L. Monasta (Lorenzo); M. Montico (Marcella); A.R. Moore (Ami R); R. Mori (Riccardo); W.N. Moturi (Wilkister Nyaora); M. Mukaigawara (Mitsuru); A.C. Murthy (Adeline C.); A. Naheed (Aliya); K.S. Naidoo (Kovin S); L. Naldi; M. Nangia (Monika); K.M.V. Narayan (Venkat); J.H.E. Nash (John); C. Nejjari (Chakib); R.D. Nelson (Robert); S.P. Neupane (Sudan Prasad); C. Newton (Cameron); M. Ng (Marie); M.I. Nisar (Muhammad Imran); S. Nolte (Sandra); O.F. Norheim (Ole F); V. Nowaseb (Vincent); L. Nyakarahuka (Luke); I.-H. Oh (In-Hwan); T. Ohkubo (Takayoshi); B.O. Olusanya (Bolajoko O); S.B. Omer (Saad B); J.N. Opio (John Nelson); O.E. Orisakwe (Orish Ebere); N.G. Pandian (Natesa); C. Papachristou; M.S. Caicedo (Marco); J. Patten; V.K. Paul (Vinod K); B.I. Pavlin (Boris Igor); N. Pearce (Neil); D.M. Pereira (David M); Z. Pervaiz (Zahid); K. Pesudovs (Konrad); M. Petzold (Max); F. Pourmalek (Farshad); D. Qato (Dima); A.D. Quezada (Amado D); D.A. Quistberg (D Alex); A. Rafay (Anwar); K. Rahimi (Kazem); V. Rahimi-Movaghar (Vafa); S.U. Rahman (Sajjad Ur); M. Raju (Murugesan); S.M. Rana (Saleem M); H. Razavi (Homie); R.Q. Reilly (Robert Quentin); G. Remuzzi (Giuseppe); J.H. Richardus (Jan Hendrik); L. Ronfani (Luca); N. van Roy (Nadine); M.L. Sabin (Miriam Lewis); M.Y. Saeedi (Mohammad Yahya); M.A. Sahraian (Mohammad Ali); G.M.J. Samonte (Genesis May J); M.S. Sawhney (Monika); I.J.C. Schneider (Ione J C); D.C. Schwebel (David C); S. Seedat (Soraya); S.G. Sepanlou (Sadaf G); E.E. Servan-Mori (Edson E); S. Sheikhbahaei (Sara); K. Shibuya (Kenji); H.H. Shin (Hwashin Hyun); I. Shiue (Ivy); R. Shivakoti (Rupak); I.D. Sigfusdottir (Inga Dora); D.H. Silberberg (Donald H); A.P. Silva (Andrea P); J. Simard (Jacques); J.A. Singh (Jasvinder); V. Skirbekk (Vegard); K. Sliwa (Karen); S. Soneji (Samir); S.S. Soshnikov (Sergey S); C.T. Sreeramareddy (Chandrashekhar T); V.K. Stathopoulou (Vasiliki Kalliopi); K. Stroumpoulis (Konstantinos); S. Swaminathan; B.C. Sykes (Bryan); K.M. Tabb (Karen M); R.T. Talongwa (Roberto Tchio); E.Y. Tenkorang (Eric Yeboah); A.S. Terkawi (Abdullah Sulieman); A.J. Thomson (Alan J); A.L. Thorne-Lyman (Andrew L); J.A. Towbin (Jeffrey A); J. Traebert (Jefferson); B.X. Tran (Bach X); Z.T. Dimbuene (Zacharie Tsala); M. Tsilimbaris (Miltiadis); U.S. Uchendu (Uche S); K.N. Ukwaja (Kingsley N); S.R. Vallely (Stephen); T.J. Vasankari (Tommi J); N. Venketasubramanian (Narayanaswamy); F.S. Violante (Francesco S); V.V. Vlassov (Vasiliy Victorovich); P. Waller (Patrick); M.T. Wallin (Mitchell T); L. Wang (Linhong); S.X. Wang; Y. Wang (Yanping); S. Weichenthal (Scott); E. Weiderpass (Elisabete); R.G. Weintraub (Robert G); R. Westerman (Ronny); R.G. White (Richard); J.D. Wilkinson (James D); T.N. Williams (Thomas Neil); S.M. Woldeyohannes (Solomon Meseret); J.B. Wong (John); G. Xu (Gelin); Y.C. Yang (Yang C); K.-I. Yano; P. Yip (Paul); N. Yonemoto (Naohiro); S.-J. Yoon (Seok-Jun); M. Younis (Mustafa); C. Yu (Chuanhua); K.Y. Jin (Kim Yun); M. El Sayed Zaki (Maysaa); Y. Zhao (Yong); Y. Zheng (Yuhui); K. Balakrishnan (Kalpana); M. Zhou (Ming); J. Zhu (Jun); X.N. Zou (Xiao Nong); A.D. Lopez (Alan D); T. Vos (Theo)

2014-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Background: The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach

Background Noise Analysis in a Few-Photon-Level Qubit Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Mittiga, Thomas; Kupchak, Connor; Jordaan, Bertus; Namazi, Mehdi; Nolleke, Christian; Figeroa, Eden

2014-05-01

We have developed an Electromagnetically Induced Transparency based polarization qubit memory. The device is composed of a dual-rail probe field polarization setup colinear with an intense control field to store and retrieve any arbitrary polarization state by addressing a Λ-type energy level scheme in a 87Rb vapor cell. To achieve a signal-to-background ratio at the few photon level sufficient for polarization tomography of the retrieved state, the intense control field is filtered out through an etalon filtrating system. We have developed an analytical model predicting the influence of the signal-to-background ratio on the fidelities and compared it to experimental data. Experimentally measured global fidelities have been found to follow closely the theoretical prediction as signal-to-background decreases. These results suggest the plausibility of employing room temperature memories to store photonic qubits at the single photon level and for future applications in long distance quantum communication schemes.

Building global learning communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Averill Gordon

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Within the background where education is increasingly driven by the economies of scale and research funding, we propose an alternative online open and connected framework (OOC for building global learning communities using mobile social media. We critique a three year action research case study involving building collaborative global learning communities around a community of practice of learning researchers and practitioners. The results include the development of a framework for utilising mobile social media to support collaborative curriculum development across international boundaries. We conclude that this framework is potentially transferrable to a range of educational contexts where the focus is upon student-generated mobile social media projects.

An ethics curriculum for short-term global health trainees

OpenAIRE

DeCamp, Matthew; Rodriguez, Joce; Hecht, Shelby; Barry, Michele; Sugarman, Jeremy

2013-01-01

Background Interest in short-term global health training and service programs continues to grow, yet they can be associated with a variety of ethical issues for which trainees or others with limited global health experience may not be prepared to address. Therefore, there is a clear need for educational interventions concerning these ethical issues. Methods We developed and evaluated an introductory curriculum, ?Ethical Challenges in Short-term Global Health Training.? The curriculum was deve...

Global malaria connectivity through air travel

OpenAIRE

Huang, Zhuojie; Tatem, Andrew J

2013-01-01

Background Air travel has expanded at an unprecedented rate and continues to do so. Its effects have been seen on malaria in rates of imported cases, local outbreaks in non-endemic areas and the global spread of drug resistance. With elimination and global eradication back on the agenda, changing levels and compositions of imported malaria in malaria-free countries, and the threat of artemisinin resistance spreading from Southeast Asia, there is a need to better understand how the modern flow...

Aliasing of the Schumann resonance background signal by sprite-associated Q-bursts

Science.gov (United States)

Guha, Anirban; Williams, Earle; Boldi, Robert; Sátori, Gabriella; Nagy, Tamás; Bór, József; Montanyà, Joan; Ortega, Pascal

2017-12-01

The Earth's naturally occurring Schumann resonances (SR) are composed of a quasi-continuous background component and a larger-amplitude, short-duration transient component, otherwise called 'Q-burst' (Ogawa et al., 1967). Sprites in the mesosphere are also known to accompany the energetic positive ground flashes that launch the Q-bursts (Boccippio et al., 1995). Spectra of the background Schumann Resonances (SR) require a natural stabilization period of ∼10-12 min for the three conspicuous modal parameters to be derived from Lorentzian fitting. Before the spectra are computed and the fitting process is initiated, the raw time series data need to be properly filtered for local cultural noise, narrow band interference as well as for large transients in the form of global Q-bursts. Mushtak and Williams (2009) describe an effective technique called Isolated Lorentzian (I-LOR), in which, the contributions from local cultural and various other noises are minimized to a great extent. An automated technique based on median filtering of time series data has been developed. These special lightning flashes are known to have greater contribution in the ELF range (below 1 kHz) compared to general negative CG strikes (Huang et al., 1999; Cummer et al., 2006). The global distributions of these Q-bursts have been studied by Huang et al. (1999) Rhode Island, USA by wave impedance methods from single station ELF measurements at Rhode Island, USA and from Japan Hobara et al. (2006). The present work aims to demonstrate the effect of Q-bursts on SR background spectra using GPS time-stamped observation of TLEs. It is observed that the Q-bursts selected for the present work do alias the background spectra over a 5-s period, though the amplitudes of these Q-bursts are far below the background threshold of 16 Core Standard Deviation (CSD) so that they do not strongly alias the background spectra of 10-12 min duration. The examination of one exceptional Q-burst shows that appreciable

Pilot Institute on Global Change on Trace Gases and the Biosphere, 1988

Science.gov (United States)

Eddy, J. A.; Moore, B.

1998-01-01

Table of Contents: Summary; Background; General Framework for a Series of Institutes on Global Change; The 1988 Pilot Institute on Global Changes: Trace Gases and the Biosphere; Budget; List of Acronyms; and Attachments.

Age-related decline in global form suppression

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiegand, Iris Michaela; Finke, Kathrin; Töllner, Thomas

2015-01-01

. Selective attention, i.e., the ability to focus on relevant and ignore irrelevant information, declines with increasing age; however, how this deficit affects selection of global vs. local configurations remains unknown. On this background, the present study examined for age-related differences in a global...... differences in the subsequent (250–500 ms) posterior contralateral negativity (PCN) indicated that attentional resources were allocated faster to Kanisza, as compared to non-Kanisza, targets in both age groups, while the allocation of spatial attention seemed to be generally delayed in older relative...... to younger age. Our results suggest that the enhanced global-local asymmetry in the older age group originated from less effective suppression of global distracter forms on early processing stages – indicative of older observers having difficulties with disengaging from a global default selection mode...

Global Education: What the Research Shows. Information Capsule. Volume 0604

Science.gov (United States)

Blazer, Christie

2006-01-01

Teaching from a global perspective is important because the lives of people around the world are increasingly interconnected through politics, economics, technology, and the environment. Global education teaches students to understand and appreciate people from different cultural backgrounds; view events from a variety of perspectives; recognize…

Developing Intercultural Competence through Global Link Experiences in Physical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Bomna; Boswell, Boni; Yoon, Seok

2015-01-01

Background: Recognition of the importance of the development of intercultural competence (ICC) has placed intense pressure on teacher education programs to infuse a global perspective into their programs. Several studies have proposed integration of global elements into teacher education programs. Although the use of online tools for…

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990-2013 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Murray, Christopher J. L.; Ortblad, Katrina F.; Guinovart, Caterina; Lim, Stephen S.; Wolock, Timothy M.; Roberts, D. Allen; Dansereau, Emily A.; Graetz, Nicholas; Barber, Ryan M.; Brown, Jonathan C.; Wang, Haidong; Duber, Herbert C.; Naghavi, Mohsen; Dicker, Daniel; Dandona, Lalit; Salomon, Joshua A.; Heuton, Kyle R.; Foreman, Kyle; Phillips, David E.; Fleming, Thomas D.; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Phillips, Bryan K.; Johnson, Elizabeth K.; Coggeshall, Megan S.; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Abraham, Jerry P.; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen Me; Achoki, Tom; Adeyemo, Austine Olufemi; Adou, Arsene Kouablan; Adsuar, Jose C.; Agardh, Emilie Elisabet; Akena, Dickens; Al Kahbouri, Mazin J.; Alasfoor, Deena; Albittar, Mohammed I.; Alcala-Cerra, Gabriel; Angel Alegretti, Miguel; Alemu, Zewdie Aderaw; Alfonso-Cristancho, Rafael; Alhabib, Samia; Ali, Raghib; Alla, Francois; Allen, Peter J.; Alsharif, Ubai; Alvarez, Elena; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amankwaa, Adansi A.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Amini, Hassan; Ammar, Walid; Anderson, Benjamin O.; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T.; Anwari, Palwasha; Arnlov, Johan; Arsenijevic, Valentina S. Arsic; Artaman, Ali; Asghar, Rana J.; Assadi, Reza; Atkins, Lydia S.; Badawi, Alaa; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Banerjee, Amitava; Basu, Sanjay; Beardsley, Justin; Bekele, Tolesa; Bell, Michelle L.; Bernabe, Eduardo; Beyene, Tariku Jibat; Bhala, Neeraj; Bhalla, Ashish; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Bin Abdulhak, Aref; Binagwaho, Agnes; Blore, Jed D.; Basara, Berrak Bora; Bose, Dipan; Brainin, Michael; Breitborde, Nicholas; Castaneda-Orjuela, Carlos A.; Catala-Lopez, Ferran; Chadha, Vineet K.; Chang, Jung-Chen; Chiang, Peggy Pei-Chia; Chuang, Ting-Wu; Colomar, Mercedes; Cooper, Leslie Trumbull; Cooper, Cyrus; Courville, Karen J.; Cowie, Benjamin C.; Criqui, Michael H.; Dandona, Rakhi; Dayama, Anand; De Leo, Diego; Degenhardt, Louisa; Del Pozo-Cruz, Borja; Deribe, Kebede; Des Jarlais, Don C.; Dessalegn, Muluken; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Dilmen, Ugur; Ding, Eric L.; Driscoll, Tim R.; Durrani, Adnan M.; Ellenbogen, Richard G.; Ermakov, Sergey Petrovich; Esteghamati, Alireza; Faraon, Emerito Jose A.; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Fijabi, Daniel Obadare; Forouzanfar, Mohammad H.; Paleo, Urbano Fra; Gaffikin, Lynne; Gamkrelidze, Amiran; Gankpe, Fortune Gbetoho; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Gessner, Bradford D.; Gibney, Katherine B.; Ginawi, Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed; Glaser, Elizabeth L.; Gona, Philimon; Goto, Atsushi; Gouda, Hebe N.; Gugnani, Harish Chander; Gupta, Rajeev; Gupta, Rahul; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hamadeh, Randah Ribhi; Hammami, Mouhanad; Hankey, Graeme J.; Harb, Hilda L.; Maria Haro, Josep; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hay, Simon I.; Hedayati, Mohammad T.; Heredia Pi, Ileana B.; Hoek, Hans W.; Hornberger, John C.; Hosgood, H. Dean; Hotez, Peter J.; Hoy, Damian G.; Huang, John J.; Iburg, Kim M.; Idrisov, Bulat T.; Innos, Kaire; Jacobsen, Kathryn H.; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Jensen, Paul N.; Jha, Vivekanand; Jiang, Guohong; Jonas, Jost B.; Juel, Knud; Kan, Haidong; Kankindi, Ida; Karam, Nadim E.; Karch, Andre; Karema, Corine Kakizi; Kaul, Anil; Kawakami, Norito; Kazi, Dhruv S.; Kemp, Andrew H.; Kengne, Andre Pascal; Keren, Andre; Kereselidze, Maia; Khader, Yousef Saleh; Khalifa, Shams Eldin Ali Hassan; Khan, Ejaz Ahmed; Khang, Young-Ho; Khonelidze, Irma; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kinge, Jonas M.; Knibbs, Luke; Kokubo, Yoshihiro; Kosen, S.; Defo, Barthelemy Kuate; Kulkarni, Veena S.; Kulkarni, Chanda; Kumar, Kaushalendra; Kumar, Ravi B.; Kumar, G. Anil; Kwan, Gene F.; Lai, Taavi; Balaji, Arjun Lakshmana; Lam, Hilton; Lan, Qing; Lansingh, Van C.; Larson, Heidi J.; Larsson, Anders; Lee, Jong-Tae; Leigh, James; Leinsalu, Mall; Leung, Ricky; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Ferreira De Lima, Graca Maria; Lin, Hsien-Ho; Lipshultz, Steven E.; Liu, Shiwei; Liu, Yang; Lloyd, Belinda K.; Lotufo, Paulo A.; Pedro Machado, Vasco Manuel; Maclachlan, Jennifer H.; Magis-Rodriguez, Carlos; Majdan, Marek; Mapoma, Christopher Chabila; Marcenes, Wagner; Barrieotos Marzan, Melvin; Masci, Joseph R.; Mashal, Mohammad Taufiq; Mason-Jones, Amanda J.; Mayosi, Bongani M.; Mazorodze, Tasara T.; Mckay, Abigail Cecilia; Meaney, Peter A.; Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Mejia-Rodriguez, Fabiola; Melaku, Yohannes Adama; Memish, Ziad A.; Mendoza, Walter; Miller, Ted R.; Mills, Edward J.; Mohammad, Karzan Abdulmuhsin; Mokdad, Ali H.; Mola, Glen Liddell; Monasta, Lorenzo; Montico, Marcella; Moore, Ami R.; Mori, Rintaro; Moturi, Wilkister Nyaora; Mukaigawara, Mitsuru; Murthy, Kinnari S.; Naheed, Aliya; Naidoo, Kovin S.; Naldi, Luigi; Nangia, Vinay; Narayan, K. M. Venkat; Nash, Denis; Nejjari, Chakib; Nelson, Robert G.; Neupane, Sudan Prasad; Newton, Charles R.; Ng, Marie; Nisar, Muhammad Imran; Nolte, Sandra; Norheim, Ole F.; Nowaseb, Vincent; Nyakarahuka, Luke; Oh, In-Hwan; Ohkubo, Takayoshi; Olusanya, Bolajoko O.; Omer, Saad B.; Opio, John Nelson; Orisakwe, Orish Ebere; Pandian, Jeyaraj D.; Papachristou, Christina; Paternina Caicedo, Angel J.; Patten, Scott B.; Paul, Vinod K.; Pavlin, Boris Igor; Pearce, Neil; Pereira, David M.; Pervaiz, Aslam; Pesudovs, Konrad; Petzold, Max; Pourmalek, Farshad; Qato, Dima; Quezada, Amado D.; Quistberg, D. Alex; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi, Kazem; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Sajjad Ur; Raju, Murugesan; Rana, Saleem M.; Razavi, Homie; Reilly, Robert Quentin; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Richardus, Jan Hendrik; Ronfani, Luca; Roy, Nobhojit; Sabin, Nsanzimana; Saeedi, Mohammad Yahya; Sahraian, Mohammad Ali; Samonte, Genesis May J.; Sawhney, Monika; Schneider, Ione J. C.; Schwebel, David C.; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G.; Servan-Mori, Edson E.; Sheikhbahaei, Sara; Shibuya, Kenji; Shin, Hwashin Hyun; Shiue, Ivy; Shivakoti, Rupak; Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora; Silberberg, Donald H.; Silva, Andrea P.; Simard, Edgar P.; Singh, Jasvinder A.; Skirbekk, Vegard; Sliwa, Karen; Soneji, Samir; Soshnikov, Sergey S.; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T.; Stathopoulou, Vasiliki Kalliopi; Stroumpoulis, Konstantinos; Swaminathan, Soumya; Sykes, Bryan L.; Tabb, Karen M.; Talongwa, Roberto Tchio; Tenkorang, Eric Yeboah; Terkawi, Abdullah Sulieman; Thomson, Alan J.; Thorne-Lyman, Andrew L.; Towbin, Jeffrey A.; Traebert, Jefferson; Tran, Bach X.; Dimbuene, Zacharie Tsala; Tsilimbaris, Miltiadis; Uchendu, Uche S.; Ukwaja, Kingsley N.; Uzun, Selen Begum; Vallely, Andrew J.; Vasankari, Tommi J.; Venketasubramanian, N.; Violante, Francesco S.; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Waller, Stephen; Wallin, Mitchell T.; Wang, Linhong; Wang, XiaoRong; Wang, Yanping; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G.; Westerman, Ronny; White, Richard A.; Wilkinson, James D.; Williams, Thomas Neil; Woldeyohannes, Solomon Meseret; Wong, John Q.; Xu, Gelin; Yang, Yong C.; Yano, Yuichiro; Yentur, Gokalp Kadri; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Younis, Mustafa; Yu, Chuanhua; Jin, Kim Yun; Zaki, Maysaa El Sayed; Zhao, Yong; Zheng, Yingfeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Zhu, Jun; Zou, Xiao Nong; Lopez, Alan D.; Vos, Theo

2014-01-01

Background The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach to disease estimation for between

Dynamic characteristics of background seismic noise according to records of nuclear monitoring seismic stations in Kazakstan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belyashova, N.N.; Sinyova, Z.I.; Komarov, I.I.; Mikhailova, N.N.

1998-01-01

The seismic stations of Kazakstan, included into nuclear monitoring network (see fig.1) are equipped with broad hand seismometers; seismic data are recorded in digital format. All this allows to investigate spectral and time characteristics of seismic background noise in very large frequency diapason (more than 3-5 orders), for all three components of oscillation vector. The spectral density of background seismic noise for vertical and both horizontal components (fig.2) was calculated for all of the observation points. The regular features of structure of noise spectra, inherent for all of the studied observation points, as well as some features, specific for studied places were found. The curves of spectral noise density were compared with global noise model, determined by the data of Global Seismological Network (GSN)

Background Stress Inventory: Developing a Measure of Understudied Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Terrill, Alexandra L; Gjerde, Jill M; Garofalo, John P

2015-10-01

Background stress is an understudied source of stress that involves both ambient stress and daily hassles upon which new stressors are superimposed. To date, an accurate measure of the background stress construct has not been available. We developed the Background Stress Inventory, a 25-item self-report measure that asks respondents to indicate how distressed they have felt over the past month and the majority of the past year across five domains: financial, occupation, environment, health and social. Seven hundred seventy-two participants completed the paper-and-pencil measure; the sample was randomly split into two separate subsamples for analyses. Exploratory factor analysis suggested five factors corresponding to these domains, and confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable global fit (X(2)(255) = 456.47, comparative fit index = 0.94, root mean square error of approximation = 0.045). Cronbach's alpha (0.89) indicated good internal reliability. Construct validity analyses showed significant positive relationships with measures of perceived stressfulness (r = 0.62) and daily hassles (0.41), p's < 0.01. Depressive symptoms (0.62) and basal blood pressure (0.21) were both significantly associated with background stress, p's < 0.01. The importance of the proposed measure is reflected in the limited research base on the impact of background stress. Systematic investigation of this measure will provide insight into this understudied form of chronic stress and its potential influence on both psychological and physical endpoints. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Virasoro conformal blocks and thermality from classical background fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fitzpatrick, A. Liam [Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stanford University,Via Pueblo, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory,Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States); Kaplan, Jared [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University,Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Walters, Matthew T. [Department of Physics, Boston University,Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 (United States)

2015-11-30

We show that in 2d CFTs at large central charge, the coupling of the stress tensor to heavy operators can be re-absorbed by placing the CFT in a non-trivial background metric. This leads to a more precise computation of the Virasoro conformal blocks between heavy and light operators, which are shown to be equivalent to global conformal blocks evaluated in the new background. We also generalize to the case where the operators carry U(1) charges. The refined Virasoro blocks can be used as the seed for a new Virasoro block recursion relation expanded in the heavy-light limit. We comment on the implications of our results for the universality of black hole thermality in AdS{sub 3}, or equivalently, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis for CFT{sub 2} at large central charge.

Measurement of natural background radiation intensity on a train

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Y. F.; Lin, J. W.; Sheu, R. J.; Lin, U. T.; Jiang, S. H.

2011-01-01

This work aims to measure different components of natural background radiation on a train. A radiation measurement system consisting of four types of radiation detectors, namely, a Berkeley Lab cosmic-ray detector, moderated 3He detector, high pressure ionisation chamber and NaI(Tl) spectrometer, associated with a global positioning system unit was established for this purpose. For the commissioning of the system, a test measurement on a train along the railway around the northern Taiwan coast from Hsinchu to Hualien with a distance of ∼275 km was carried out. No significant variation of the intensities of the different components of natural background radiation was observed, except when the train went underground or in the tunnels. The average external dose rate received by the crew of the train was estimated to be 62 nSv h -1 . (authors)

Hanford Site background: Part 1, Soil background for nonradioactive analytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-04-01

Volume two contains the following appendices: Description of soil sampling sites; sampling narrative; raw data soil background; background data analysis; sitewide background soil sampling plan; and use of soil background data for the detection of contamination at waste management unit on the Hanford Site

Global ethics and principlism.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, John-Stewart

2011-09-01

This article examines the special relation between common morality and particular moralities in the four-principles approach and its use for global ethics. It is argued that the special dialectical relation between common morality and particular moralities is the key to bridging the gap between ethical universalism and relativism. The four-principles approach is a good model for a global bioethics by virtue of its ability to mediate successfully between universal demands and cultural diversity. The principle of autonomy (i.e., the idea of individual informed consent), however, does need to be revised so as to make it compatible with alternatives such as family- or community-informed consent. The upshot is that the contribution of the four-principles approach to global ethics lies in the so-called dialectical process and its power to deal with cross-cultural issues against the background of universal demands by joining them together.

Moving towards global health equity: Opportunities and threats: An ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: The theme of the 13th World Congress on Public Health, “Moving Towards Global Health Equity: Opportunities and Threats”, strikes an optimistic note as the gaps within and between countries are greater than at any time in recent history. There is no consensus on what globalization is, but most agree that it will ...

SoilGrids1km— global soil information based on automated mapping

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hengl, T.; Mendes de Jesus, J.S.; Macmillan, R.A.; Batjes, N.H.; Heuvelink, G.B.M.; Carvalho Ribeiro, E.D.; Samuel Rosa, A.; Kempen, B.; Leenaars, J.G.B.; Walsh, M.G.; Ruiperez Gonzalez, M.

2014-01-01

Background Soils are widely recognized as a non-renewable natural resource and as biophysical carbon sinks. As such, there is a growing requirement for global soil information. Although several global soil information systems already exist, these tend to suffer from inconsistencies and limited

A statistical background noise correction sensitive to the steadiness of background noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Oppenheimer, Charles H

2016-10-01

A statistical background noise correction is developed for removing background noise contributions from measured source levels, producing a background noise-corrected source level. Like the standard background noise corrections of ISO 3741, ISO 3744, ISO 3745, and ISO 11201, the statistical background correction increases as the background level approaches the measured source level, decreasing the background noise-corrected source level. Unlike the standard corrections, the statistical background correction increases with steadiness of the background and is excluded from use when background fluctuation could be responsible for measured differences between the source and background noise levels. The statistical background noise correction has several advantages over the standard correction: (1) enveloping the true source with known confidence, (2) assuring physical source descriptions when measuring sources in fluctuating backgrounds, (3) reducing background corrected source descriptions by 1 to 8 dB for sources in steady backgrounds, and (4) providing a means to replace standardized background correction caps that incentivize against high precision grade methods.

Xenon recovery from molybdenum-99 production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jubin, R.T. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Rd, Oak Ridge, TN, 37931 (United States); Paviet, P.D.; Bresee, J.C. [U.S. Department of Energy,1000 Independence Ave, S.W., Washington DC, 20585-1290 (United States)

2016-07-01

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) sponsors research and development on the recycle of used commercial nuclear fuel as an option for future nuclear fuel cycles that offers increased use of uranium and thorium resources and a possible reduction in the overall cost of nuclear waste management. The two alternatives, direct disposal of used fuel and fuel recycle, are broadly referred to as open and closed fuel cycles. One requirement of a closed fuel cycle is the safe management of radioactive off-gases, which includes {sup 14}C, radioiodine and the noble gases, including radio-xenon. The longest lived relevant radio-xenon isotope is {sup 127}Xe; with a half-life of just 36.35 days it is feasible to trap and hold the radio-xenon to allow for decay to safe environmental levels. However, the very weak chemical bonds of noble gases, in this case xenon, make them difficult to trap, which led to an extensive DOE-NE study of noble gas adsorption on various molecular sieves as an alternative to costly cryogenics processes. Preliminary results indicate that xenon adsorption at near room temperature on molecular sieves, both synthetic and natural, may have both cost and efficiency advantages over cryogenic processes. These results appear to have direct application in helping achieve the United Nations Security Council goal of reducing xenon emissions from medical isotope producers.

Global elimination of leprosy by 2020: are we on track?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

D.J. Blok (David); S.J. de Vlas (Sake); J.H. Richardus (Jan Hendrik)

2015-01-01

textabstractBackground: Every year more than 200,000 new leprosy cases are registered globally. This number has been fairly stable over the past 8 years. WHO has set a target to interrupt the transmission of leprosy globally by 2020. The aim of this study is to investigate whether this target,

Global earthquake fatalities and population

Science.gov (United States)

Holzer, Thomas L.; Savage, James C.

2013-01-01

Modern global earthquake fatalities can be separated into two components: (1) fatalities from an approximately constant annual background rate that is independent of world population growth and (2) fatalities caused by earthquakes with large human death tolls, the frequency of which is dependent on world population. Earthquakes with death tolls greater than 100,000 (and 50,000) have increased with world population and obey a nonstationary Poisson distribution with rate proportional to population. We predict that the number of earthquakes with death tolls greater than 100,000 (50,000) will increase in the 21st century to 8.7±3.3 (20.5±4.3) from 4 (7) observed in the 20th century if world population reaches 10.1 billion in 2100. Combining fatalities caused by the background rate with fatalities caused by catastrophic earthquakes (>100,000 fatalities) indicates global fatalities in the 21st century will be 2.57±0.64 million if the average post-1900 death toll for catastrophic earthquakes (193,000) is assumed.

The future of global health education: training for equity in global health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisa V. Adams

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Among academic institutions in the United States, interest in global health has grown substantially: by the number of students seeking global health opportunities at all stages of training, and by the increase in institutional partnerships and newly established centers, institutes, and initiatives to house global health programs at undergraduate, public health and medical schools. Witnessing this remarkable growth should compel health educators to question whether the training and guidance that we provide to students today is appropriate, and whether it will be applicable in the next decade and beyond. Given that “global health” did not exist as an academic discipline in the United States 20 years ago, what can we expect it will look like 20 years from now and how can we prepare for that future? Discussion Most clinicians and trainees today recognize the importance of true partnership and capacity building in both directions for successful international collaborations. The challenge is in the execution of these practices. There are projects around the world where this is occurring and equitable partnerships have been established. Based on our experience and observations of the current landscape of academic global health, we share a perspective on principles of engagement, highlighting instances where partnerships have thrived, and examples of where we, as a global community, have fallen short. Conclusions As the world moves beyond the charity model of global health (and its colonial roots, it is evident that the issue underlying ethical global health practice is partnership and the pursuit of health equity. Thus, achieving equity in global health education and practice ought to be central to our mission as educators and advisors when preparing trainees for careers in this field. Seeking to eliminate health inequities wherever they are ingrained will reveal the injustices around the globe and in our own cities and

Optimised polarimeter configurations for measuring the Stokes parameters of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

OpenAIRE

Couchot, F.; Delabrouille, J.; Kaplan, J.; Revenu, B.

1998-01-01

We present configurations of polarimeters which measure the three linear Stokes parameters of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation with a nearly diagonal error matrix, independent of the global orientation of the polarimeters in the focal plane. These configurations also provide the smallest possible error box volume.

Making stillbirths visible : A systematic review of globally reported causes of stillbirth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reinebrant, H. E.; Leisher, S. H.; Coory, M.; Henry, S.; Wojcieszek, A. M.; Gardener, G.; Lourie, R.; Ellwood, D.; Teoh, Z.; Allanson, E.; Blencowe, H.; Draper, E. S.; Erwich, J. J.; Froen, J. F.; Gardosi, J.; Gold, K.; Gordijn, S.; Gordon, A.; Heazell, A. E. P.; Khong, T. Y.; Korteweg, F.; Lawn, J. E.; McClure, E. M.; Oats, J.; Pattinson, R.; Pettersson, K.; Siassakos, D.; Silver, R. M.; Smith, G. C. S.; Tuncalp, O. E.; Flenady, V.

Background: Stillbirth is a global health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) application of the International Classification of Diseases for perinatal mortality (ICD-PM) aims to improve data on stillbirth to enable prevention. Objectives: To identify globally reported causes of stillbirth,

Global chemical pollution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Travis, C.C.; Hester, S.T.

1991-01-01

Over the past decade, public and governmental awareness of environmental problems has grown steadily, with an accompanying increase in the regulation of point sources of pollution. As a result, great strides have been made in cleaning polluted rivers and decreasing air pollution near factories. However, traditional regulatory approaches to environmental pollution have focused primarily on protecting the maximally exposed individual located in the immediate vicinity of the pollution source. Little attention has been given to the global implications of human production and use of synthetic chemicals. A consensus is emerging that even trace levels of environmental contamination can have potentially devastating environmental consequences. The authors maintain that ambient levels of pollution have risen to the point where human health is being affected on a global scale. Atmospheric transport is recognized as the primary mode of global distribution and entry into the food chain for organic chemicals. The following are examples of global chemical pollutants that result in human exposure of significant proportions: PCBs, dioxins, benzene, mercury and lead. Current regulatory approaches for environmental pollution do not incorporate ways of dealing with global pollution. Instead the major focus has been on protecting the maximally exposed individual. If we do not want to change our standard of living, the only way to reduce global chemical pollution is to make production and consumption processes more efficient and to lower the levels of production of these toxic chemicals. Thus the only reasonable solution to global pollution is not increased regulation of isolated point sources, but rather an increased emphasis on waste reduction and materials recycling. Until we focus on these issues, we will continue to experience background cancer risk in the 10 -3 range

Adaptive removal of background and white space from document images using seam categorization

Science.gov (United States)

Fillion, Claude; Fan, Zhigang; Monga, Vishal

2011-03-01

Document images are obtained regularly by rasterization of document content and as scans of printed documents. Resizing via background and white space removal is often desired for better consumption of these images, whether on displays or in print. While white space and background are easy to identify in images, existing methods such as naïve removal and content aware resizing (seam carving) each have limitations that can lead to undesirable artifacts, such as uneven spacing between lines of text or poor arrangement of content. An adaptive method based on image content is hence needed. In this paper we propose an adaptive method to intelligently remove white space and background content from document images. Document images are different from pictorial images in structure. They typically contain objects (text letters, pictures and graphics) separated by uniform background, which include both white paper space and other uniform color background. Pixels in uniform background regions are excellent candidates for deletion if resizing is required, as they introduce less change in document content and style, compared with deletion of object pixels. We propose a background deletion method that exploits both local and global context. The method aims to retain the document structural information and image quality.

Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution : an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cohen, Aaron J; Brauer, Michael; Burnett, Richard; Anderson, H Ross; Frostad, Joseph; Estep, Kara; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Brunekreef, Bert|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/067548180; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; Feigin, Valery; Freedman, Greg; Hubbell, Bryan; Jobling, Amelia; Kan, Haidong; Knibbs, Luke; Liu, Yang|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/411298119; Martin, Randall; Morawska, Lidia; Pope, C Arden; Shin, Hwashin; Straif, Kurt; Shaddick, Gavin; Thomas, Matthew; van Dingenen, Rita; van Donkelaar, Aaron; Vos, Theo; Murray, Christopher J L; Forouzanfar, Mohammad H

BACKGROUND: Exposure to ambient air pollution increases morbidity and mortality, and is a leading contributor to global disease burden. We explored spatial and temporal trends in mortality and burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution from 1990 to 2015 at global, regional, and country

Global Farm Animal Production and Global Warming: Impacting and Mitigating Climate Change

OpenAIRE

Koneswaran, Gowri; Nierenberg, Danielle

2008-01-01

Background The farm animal sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to many environmental problems, including global warming and climate change. Objectives The aim of this study was to synthesize and expand upon existing data on the contribution of farm animal production to climate change. Methods We analyzed the scientific literature on farm animal production and documented greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as various mitigation strategies. Discussions An a...

Global Strategy: The World is your Oyster (if you can shuck it!)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T.H. Reus (Taco)

2014-01-01

textabstractIn this inaugural lecture, Taco briefly describes the disciplinary background, central research questions, and themes of Global Strategy, and he presents what may be the dominant framework of understanding how global strategy works and what determines its success. In a nutshell, the

Dynamics of Plasma Jets and Bubbles Launched into a Transverse Background Magnetic Field

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yue

2017-10-01

A coaxial magnetized plasma gun has been utilized to launch both plasma jets (open B-field) and plasma bubbles (closed B-field) into a transverse background magnetic field in the HelCat (Helicon-Cathode) linear device at the University of New Mexico. These situations may have bearing on fusion plasmas (e.g. plasma injection for tokamak fueling, ELM pacing, or disruption mitigation) and astrophysical settings (e.g. astrophysical jet stability, coronal mass ejections, etc.). The magnetic Reynolds number of the gun plasma is 100 , so that magnetic advection dominates over magnetic diffusion. The gun plasma ram pressure, ρjetVjet2 >B02 / 2μ0 , the background magnetic pressure, so that the jet or bubble can easily penetrate the background B-field, B0. When the gun axial B-field is weak compared to the gun azimuthal field, a current-driven jet is formed with a global helical magnetic configuration. Applying the transverse background magnetic field, it is observed that the n = 1 kink mode is stabilized, while magnetic probe measurements show contrarily that the safety factor q(a) drops below unity. At the same time, a sheared axial jet velocity is measured. We conclude that the tension force arising from increasing curvature of the background magnetic field induces the measured sheared flow gradient above the theoretical kink-stabilization threshold, resulting in the emergent kink stabilization of the injected plasma jet. In the case of injected bubbles, spheromak-like plasma formation is verified. However, when the spheromak plasma propagates into the transverse background magnetic field, the typical self-closed global symmetry magnetic configuration does not hold any more. In the region where the bubble toroidal field opposed the background B-field, the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor (MRT) instability has been observed. Details of the experiment setup, diagnostics, experimental results and theoretical analysis will be presented. Supported by the National Science Foundation

Global Advocacy for Physical Activity (GAPA): global leadership towards a raised profile.

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchard, Claire; Shilton, Trevor; Bull, Fiona

2013-12-01

Physical inactivity has been recognised by the World Health Organization as one of the leading causes of death due to non-communicable disease (NCD), worldwide. The benefits of action over inactivity can cut across health, environment, transportation, sport, culture and the economy. Despite the evidence, the policies and strategies to increase population-wide participation in physical activity receive insufficient priority from across high, middle and low-income countries; where physical inactivity is a rapidly-emerging issue. There is an increased need for all countries to invest in policies, strategies and supportive environments that inform, motivate and support individuals and communities to be active in ways that are safe, accessible and enjoyable. This commentary presents some recent efforts towards physical activity promotion globally, led by the Global Advocacy for Physical Activity (GAPA). It provides an overview of the background and history of GAPA; describes GAPA and the council's key achievements and milestones; places physical activity promotion within the global NCD agenda; presents GAPA flagships; and reflects on the lessons learned, ingredients for success and the major challenges that remain. The commentary documents insights into the effectiveness and challenges faced by a small non-governmental organisation (NGO) in mounting global advocacy. These lessons may be transferrable to other areas of health promotion advocacy.

Hanford Site background: Part 1, Soil background for nonradioactive analytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-04-01

The determination of soil background is one of the most important activities supporting environmental restoration and waste management on the Hanford Site. Background compositions serve as the basis for identifying soil contamination, and also as a baseline in risk assessment processes used to determine soil cleanup and treatment levels. These uses of soil background require an understanding of the extent to which analytes of concern occur naturally in the soils. This report documents the results of sampling and analysis activities designed to characterize the composition of soil background at the Hanford Site, and to evaluate the feasibility for use as Sitewide background. The compositions of naturally occurring soils in the vadose Zone have been-determined for-nonradioactive inorganic and organic analytes and related physical properties. These results confirm that a Sitewide approach to the characterization of soil background is technically sound and is a viable alternative to the determination and use of numerous local or area backgrounds that yield inconsistent definitions of contamination. Sitewide soil background consists of several types of data and is appropriate for use in identifying contamination in all soils in the vadose zone on the Hanford Site. The natural concentrations of nearly every inorganic analyte extend to levels that exceed calculated health-based cleanup limits. The levels of most inorganic analytes, however, are well below these health-based limits. The highest measured background concentrations occur in three volumetrically minor soil types, the most important of which are topsoils adjacent to the Columbia River that are rich in organic carbon. No organic analyte levels above detection were found in any of the soil samples

Response of Land Use Planning in Less Developed Areas to Economic Globalization

OpenAIRE

Liu, Xiang-nan

2012-01-01

Under the background of economic globalization, the development mechanisms of various regions faces potential deep transformation, and the effective participation of less developed areas in China in economic globalization is of great significance to the sustainable development of Chinese economy and society. In this study, we summarized the characteristics and influences of economic globalization from the aspects of industrial recombination and transfer, competition, economic relevance and de...

Global bioethics – myth or reality?

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Søren; Williams-Jones, Bryn

2006-01-01

Background There has been debate on whether a global or unified field of bioethics exists. If bioethics is a unified global field, or at the very least a closely shared way of thinking, then we should expect bioethicists to behave the same way in their academic activities anywhere in the world. This paper investigates whether there is a 'global bioethics' in the sense of a unified academic community. Methods To address this question, we study the web-linking patterns of bioethics institutions, the citation patterns of bioethics papers and the buying patterns of bioethics books. Results All three analyses indicate that there are geographical and institutional differences in the academic behavior of bioethicists and bioethics institutions. Conclusion These exploratory studies support the position that there is no unified global field of bioethics. This is a problem if the only reason is parochialism. But these regional differences are probably of less concern if one notices that bioethics comes in many not always mutually understandable dialects. PMID:16965631

Beam, background and luminosity monitoring in LHCb and upgrade of the LHCb fast readout control

CERN Document Server

Alessio, Federico; Le Gac, R

2011-01-01

The work described in this thesis was developed, implemented and completely put in operations during the first year of physics data taking at the LHC. It is shown here that it is aimed at studying beam and background characteristics, monitor the global timing of the experiment, monitor online the luminosity at LHCb and monitor most the experimental conditions which can affect the LHCb physics data quality. The many functionalities of the presented systems are outlined in great detail and some selected topics of analysis are presented in order to validate the good performance. The various systems in fact showed high reliability, completeness and robustness and hence it heavily contributed to the global efficiency of the LHCb experiment and also contributed directly to the commissioning and running of the LHC machine for first physics runs. Some important concepts are also brought to attention in this thesis as possible solutions to be taken into account at the LHC. A scintillator system for beam, background an...

WorldWideScience.org: the global science gateway.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzpatrick, Roberta Bronson

2009-10-01

WorldWideScience.org is a Web-based global gateway connecting users to both national and international scientific databases and portals. This column will provide background information on the resource as well as introduce basic searching practices for users.

The Influence of Low-carbon Economy on Global Trade Pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao-jing, Guo

Since global warming has seriously endangered the living environment of human being and their health and safety, the development of low-carbon economy has become an irreversible global trend. Under the background of economic globalization, low-carbon economy will surely exert a significant impact on global trade pattern. Countries are paying more and more attention to the green trade. The emission permits trade of carbon between the developed countries and the developing countries has become more mature than ever. The carbon tariff caused by the distribution of the "big cake" will make the low-cost advantage in developing countries cease to exist, which will, in turn, affect the foreign trade, economic development, employment and people's living in developing countries. Therefore, under the background of this trend, we should perfect the relevant laws and regulations on trade and environment as soon as possible, optimize trade structure, promote greatly the development of service trade, transform thoroughly the mode of development in foreign trade, take advantage of the international carbon trading market by increasing the added value of export products resulted from technological innovation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results and promote common development.

Zero modes in de Sitter background

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Einhorn, Martin B. [Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California,Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4030 (United States); Jones, D.R. Timothy [Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California,Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4030 (United States); Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool,Liverpool L69 3BX (United Kingdom)

2017-03-28

There are five well-known zero modes among the fluctuations of the metric of de Sitter (dS) spacetime. For Euclidean signature, they can be associated with certain spherical harmonics on the S{sup 4} sphere, viz., the vector representation 5 of the global SO(5) isometry. They appear, for example, in the perturbative calculation of the on-shell effective action of dS space, as well as in models containing matter fields. These modes are shown to be associated with collective modes of S{sup 4} corresponding to certain coherent fluctuations. When dS space is embedded in flat five dimensions E{sup 5}, they may be seen as a legacy of translation of the center of the S{sup 4} sphere. Rigid translations of the S{sup 4}-sphere on E{sup 5} leave the classical action invariant but are unobservable displacements from the point of view of gravitational dynamics on S{sup 4}. Thus, unlike similar moduli, the center of the sphere is not promoted to a dynamical degree of freedom. As a result, these zero modes do not signify the possibility of physically realizable fluctuations or flat directions for the metric of dS space. They are not associated with Killing vectors on S{sup 4} but can be identified with certain non-isometric, conformal Killing forms that locally correspond to a rescaling of the volume element dV{sub 4}. We frame much of our discussion in the context of renormalizable gravity, but, to the extent that they only depend upon the global symmetry of the background, the conclusions should apply equally to the corresponding zero modes found in Einstein gravity. Although their existence has only been demonstrated at one-loop, we expect that these zero modes will be present to all orders in perturbation theory. They will occur for Lorentzian signature as well, so long as the hyperboloid H{sup 4} is locally stable, but there remain certain infrared issues that need to be clarified. We conjecture that they will appear in any gravitational theory having dS background as a

A Snapshot of the World of Global Multinationals – An Industry Based Analysis of Fortune Global 500 Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ogrean Claudia

2017-08-01

Full Text Available For better or for worse, the “corporations rule the world” assertion is nowadays more actual and accurate than ever before, as multinational companies represent the undisputable engine of the globalization process, and the latter continuously (recreates the background against which global multinationals are flourishing, while reinforcing their “domination”. Since 1995, the Fortune Global 500 ranking (FG 500 annually provides a comprehensive and eloquent image of the world of global multinationals; the merits of the FG 500 ranking go beyond the synchronic approach of the characteristics of global multinationals (in terms of revenues, profits, assets and employees - by sector, industry and country, as it also favors diachronic analysis and comparisons - which are essential for strategists in identifying evolving trends and substantiating corporate strategies able to lead to sustainable competitiveness. The paper aims to determine the contribution of sectors to FG 500 ranking in 2016, on one hand, and to emphasize on some industry-based dynamics in FG 500 - by comparatively analyzing the 2016 and 1996 rankings, on the other hand.

Global gas company profiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

This report provides a detailed assessment of 60 of the top gas companies form around the world, analysing them according to their internal dynamics and in relation to their competitors. It devotes each chapter to an individual company, providing invaluable insight into the organisation's operational background, financial performance and strategic goals. Using the most up-to-date information available, Global Gas Company Profiles allows you to make detailed analysis of each company's performance and future direction. (author)

An overview of background environmental radiological surveillance around Kudankulam nuclear power project site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rajan, M.P.; Vijayakumar, B.; George, Thomas; Rajan, P.S.; Rana, B.K.; Kumar, M.; Hegde, A.G.; Chougaonkar, M.P.

2005-01-01

A modern Environmental Survey Laboratory (ESL) equipped with state-of-art nuclear counting, chemical and ecological equipment's has been set up at Kudankulam at the very beginning of construction activities to carry out pre operational and baseline radioactivity measurements. Construction activities for the two VVER type 1000 MWe reactors at the site are progressing ahead of schedule and the first unit is slated to be critical in the year 2007. This paper presents the results of environmental radiological surveillance carried out for the last one year in Kudankulam environs. General radiation background in the area varies in the range of 0.1 - 0.7 μGy/h and elevated levels as high as 20 μGy/h are noticed in beach areas. The major contribution to the background radiation in high background areas comes from 232 Th and its daughter products. The concentrations of 40 K are of normal order and comparable to other NPP sites and normal background areas. The concentrations of fallout nuclides are very low and are at global fallout levels. (author)

Temperature fluctuations superimposed on background temperature change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otto, James; Roberts, J.A.

2016-01-01

Proxy data allows the temperature of the Earth to be mapped over long periods of time. In this work the temperature fluctuations for over 200 proxy data sets were examined and from this set 50 sets were analyzed to test for periodic and quasi-periodic fluctuations in the data sets. Temperature reconstructions over 4 different time scales were analyzed to see if patterns emerged. Data were put into four time intervals; 4,000 years, 14,000 years, 1,000,000 years, and 3,000,000 years and analyzed with a goal to understanding periodic and quasi-periodic patterns in global temperature change superimposed on a “background” average temperature change. Quasi-periodic signatures were identified that predate the Industrial Revolution, during much of which direct data on temperature are not available. These data indicate that Earth temperatures have undergone a number of periodic and quasi-periodic intervals that contain both global warming and global cooling cycles. The fluctuations are superimposed on a background of temperature change that has a declining slope during the two periods, pre-ice age and post ice age with a transition about 12,000 BCE. The data are divided into “events” that span the time periods 3,000,000 BCE to “0” CE, 1,000,000 BCE to “0” CE, 12,000 BCE to 2,000 CE and 2,000 BCE to 2,000 CE. An equation using a quasi-periodic (frequency modulated sine waves) patterns was developed to analyze the date sets for quasi-periodic patterns. “Periodicities” which show reasonable agreement with the predictions of Milankovitch and other investigators were found in the data sets.

Global environmental security: Research and policy strategies for the 1990s

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazaro, M.A.; Wang, Hua.

1992-01-01

The subject of global environmental change is emerging as one of the most hotly debated international issues for the 1990s. In fact, our earth system has undergone a nature-induced gradual change in climate on both a temporal scale that spans over millions of years and a spatial scale ranging from regional to transcontinental. Pollutant emissions associated with population growth and industrial activities manifest the anthropogenic climatic forcing that has been superimposed on the background of natural climate fluctuations. Our incomplete understanding of the global impacts of environmental pollution on the earth systems (atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere), however, make the prediction of the timing, magnitude, and patterns of future global change uncertain. This paper examines the science and policy background of global environmental change. The major scientific uncertainties and policy issues confronting decision makers are identified; and the scientific framework, as well as current national and international research programs aimed at resolving the scientific uncertainties, are discussed. A coherent, stable, and flexible policy is needed to provide a foundation for coordinated international-interagency programs of observation, research, analysis, and international negotiation toward a policy consensus concerning global environmental security. On the basis of what is currently known about global change, recommendations are presented on both near-term and long-term policy option decisions

Global environmental security: Research and policy strategies for the 1990s

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazaro, M.A.; Wang, Hua

1992-09-01

The subject of global environmental change is emerging as one of the most hotly debated international issues for the 1990s. In fact, our earth system has undergone a nature-induced gradual change in climate on both a temporal scale that spans over millions of years and a spatial scale ranging from regional to transcontinental. Pollutant emissions associated with population growth and industrial activities manifest the anthropogenic climatic forcing that has been superimposed on the background of natural climate fluctuations. Our incomplete understanding of the global impacts of environmental pollution on the earth systems (atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere), however, make the prediction of the timing, magnitude, and patterns of future global change uncertain. This paper examines the science and policy background of global environmental change. The major scientific uncertainties and policy issues confronting decision makers are identified; and the scientific framework, as well as current national and international research programs aimed at resolving the scientific uncertainties, are discussed. A coherent, stable, and flexible policy is needed to provide a foundation for coordinated international-interagency programs of observation, research, analysis, and international negotiation toward a policy consensus concerning global environmental security. On the basis of what is currently known about global change, recommendations are presented on both near-term and long-term policy option decisions.

Global environmental security: Research and policy strategies for the 1990s

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazaro, M.A.; Wang, Hua.

1992-01-01

The subject of global environmental change is emerging as one of the most hotly debated international issues for the 1990s. In fact, our earth system has undergone a nature-induced gradual change in climate on both a temporal scale that spans over millions of years and a spatial scale ranging from regional to transcontinental. Pollutant emissions associated with population growth and industrial activities manifest the anthropogenic climatic forcing that has been superimposed on the background of natural climate fluctuations. Our incomplete understanding of the global impacts of environmental pollution on the earth systems (atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere), however, make the prediction of the timing, magnitude, and patterns of future global change uncertain. This paper examines the science and policy background of global environmental change. The major scientific uncertainties and policy issues confronting decision makers are identified; and the scientific framework, as well as current national and international research programs aimed at resolving the scientific uncertainties, are discussed. A coherent, stable, and flexible policy is needed to provide a foundation for coordinated international-interagency programs of observation, research, analysis, and international negotiation toward a policy consensus concerning global environmental security. On the basis of what is currently known about global change, recommendations are presented on both near-term and long-term policy option decisions.

WHO Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Havelaar, Arie H.; Cawthorne, Amy; Angulo, Fred

2013-01-01

BackgroundThe public health impact of foodborne diseases globally is unknown. The WHO Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases was launched out of the need to fill this data gap. It is anticipated that this effort will enable policy makers and other stakeholders to set...... appropriate, evidence-informed priorities in the area of food safety. MethodsThe Initiative aims to provide estimates on the global burden of foodborne diseases by age, sex, and region; strengthen country capacity for conducting burden of foodborne disease assessments in parallel with food safety policy...

Cosmological constraints on the very low frequency gravitational-wave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seto, Naoki; Cooray, Asantha

2006-01-01

The curl modes of cosmic microwave background polarization allow one to indirectly constrain the primordial background of gravitational waves with frequencies around 10 -18 to 10 -16 Hz. The proposed high precision timing observations of a large sample of millisecond pulsars with the pulsar timing array or with the square kilometer array can either detect or constrain the stochastic gravitational-wave background at frequencies greater than roughly 0.1 yr -1 . While existing techniques are limited to either observe or constrain the gravitational-wave background across six or more orders of magnitude between 10 -16 and 10 -10 Hz, we suggest that the anisotropy pattern of time variation of the redshift related to a sample of high-redshift objects can be used to study the background around a frequency of 10 -12 Hz. Useful observations to detect an anisotropy signal in the global redshift change include spectroscopic observations of the Ly-α forest in absorption towards a sample of quasars, redshifted 21 cm line observations either in absorption or emission towards a sample of neutral HI regions before or during reionization, and high-frequency (0.1 to 1 Hz) gravitational-wave analysis of a sample of neutron star-neutron star binaries detected with gravitational-wave instruments such as the Decihertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (DECIGO). For reasonable observations expected in the future involving extragalactic sources, we find limits at the level of Ω GW -6 at a frequency around 10 -12 Hz while the ultimate limit is likely to be around Ω GW -11 . On the other hand, if there is a background of gravitational waves at 10 -12 Hz with an amplitude larger than this limit, its presence will be visible as a measurable anisotropy in the time-evolving redshift of extragalactic sources

Self-Orientation Modulates the Neural Correlates of Global and Local Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Liddell, Belinda J; Das, Pritha; Battaglini, Eva; Malhi, Gin S; Felmingham, Kim L; Whitford, Thomas J; Bryant, Richard A

2015-01-01

Differences in self-orientation (or "self-construal") may affect how the visual environment is attended, but the neural and cultural mechanisms that drive this remain unclear. Behavioral studies have demonstrated that people from Western backgrounds with predominant individualistic values are perceptually biased towards local-level information; whereas people from non-Western backgrounds that support collectivist values are preferentially focused on contextual and global-level information. In this study, we compared two groups differing in predominant individualistic (N = 15) vs collectivistic (N = 15) self-orientation. Participants completed a global/local perceptual conflict task whilst undergoing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning. When participants high in individualistic values attended to the global level (ignoring the local level), greater activity was observed in the frontoparietal and cingulo-opercular networks that underpin attentional control, compared to the match (congruent) baseline. Participants high in collectivistic values activated similar attentional control networks o only when directly compared with global processing. This suggests that global interference was stronger than local interference in the conflict task in the collectivistic group. Both groups showed increased activity in dorsolateral prefrontal regions involved in resolving perceptual conflict during heightened distractor interference. The findings suggest that self-orientation may play an important role in driving attention networks to facilitate interaction with the visual environment.

Observations and modeling of seismic background noise

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Jon R.

1993-01-01

The preparation of this report had two purposes. One was to present a catalog of seismic background noise spectra obtained from a worldwide network of seismograph stations. The other purpose was to refine and document models of seismic background noise that have been in use for several years. The second objective was, in fact, the principal reason that this study was initiated and influenced the procedures used in collecting and processing the data.With a single exception, all of the data used in this study were extracted from the digital data archive at the U.S. Geological Survey's Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (ASL). This archive dates from 1972 when ASL first began deploying digital seismograph systems and collecting and distributing digital data under the sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). There have been many changes and additions to the global seismograph networks during the past twenty years, but perhaps none as significant as the current deployment of very broadband seismographs by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) under the scientific direction of the IRIS consortium. The new data acquisition systems have extended the bandwidth and resolution of seismic recording, and they utilize high-density recording media that permit the continuous recording of broadband data. The data improvements and continuous recording greatly benefit and simplify surveys of seismic background noise.Although there are many other sources of digital data, the ASL archive data were used almost exclusively because of accessibility and because the data systems and their calibration are well documented for the most part. Fortunately, the ASL archive contains high-quality data from other stations in addition to those deployed by the USGS. Included are data from UCSD IRIS/IDA stations, the Regional Seismic Test Network (RSTN) deployed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the TERRAscope network

The profound reach of the 11 April 2012 M 8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake: Short‐term global triggering followed by a longer‐term global shadow

Science.gov (United States)

Pollitz, Fred; Burgmann, Roland; Stein, Ross S.; Sevilgen, Volkan

2014-01-01

The 11 April 2012 M 8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake was an unusually large intraoceanic strike‐slip event. For several days, the global M≥4.5 and M≥6.5 seismicity rate at remote distances (i.e., thousands of kilometers from the mainshock) was elevated. The strike‐slip mainshock appears through its Love waves to have triggered a global burst of strike‐slip aftershocks over several days. But the M≥6.5 rate subsequently dropped to zero for the succeeding 95 days, although the M≤6.0 global rate was close to background during this period. Such an extended period without an M≥6.5 event has happened rarely over the past century, and never after a large mainshock. Quiescent periods following previous large (M≥8) mainshocks over the past century are either much shorter or begin so long after a given mainshock that no physical interpretation is warranted. The 2012 mainshock is unique in terms of both the short‐lived global increase and subsequent long quiescent period. We believe that the two components are linked and interpret this pattern as the product of dynamic stressing of a global system of faults. Transient dynamic stresses can encourage short‐term triggering, but, paradoxically, it can also inhibit rupture temporarily until background tectonic loading restores the system to its premainshock stress levels.

Climate change - New directions for the Northeast: background paper

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

This background paper was developed in preparation for a workshop to bring forward action options to be used for developing an action plan for the consideration of the next meeting of New England Governors/ Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference in September 2001. The background paper is the product of the cooperative effort of all eleven jurisdictions. The paper examines climate science in its global and regional aspects; climate changes impacts, identifying environmental, natural resources and infrastructure issues; monitoring of emission levels and progress in reductions; policy processes, such as leadership, cooperation, emission trading and Kyoto mechanisms; mitigation action options to reduce emissions in the Northeast context, adaptation options and their effects on the natural environment, such a coastal and forestry concerns; infrastructure development; and common Northeast issues and opportunities. A series of options in each of these areas have been identified, including gaps in options. Attention is drawn to the need to consider social and ecological objectives which will become more acute as more climate change policies and programs are implemented. 45 refs

Aluminum as a source of background in low background experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Majorovits, B., E-mail: bela@mppmu.mpg.de [MPI fuer Physik, Foehringer Ring 6, 80805 Munich (Germany); Abt, I. [MPI fuer Physik, Foehringer Ring 6, 80805 Munich (Germany); Laubenstein, M. [Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, INFN, S.S.17/bis, km 18 plus 910, I-67100 Assergi (Italy); Volynets, O. [MPI fuer Physik, Foehringer Ring 6, 80805 Munich (Germany)

2011-08-11

Neutrinoless double beta decay would be a key to understanding the nature of neutrino masses. The next generation of High Purity Germanium experiments will have to be operated with a background rate of better than 10{sup -5} counts/(kg y keV) in the region of interest around the Q-value of the decay. Therefore, so far irrelevant sources of background have to be considered. The metalization of the surface of germanium detectors is in general done with aluminum. The background from the decays of {sup 22}Na, {sup 26}Al, {sup 226}Ra and {sup 228}Th introduced by this metalization is discussed. It is shown that only a special selection of aluminum can keep these background contributions acceptable.

Global health initiative investments and health systems strengthening: a content analysis of global fund investments

OpenAIRE

Warren, Ashley E; Wyss, Kaspar; Shakarishvili, George; Atun, Rifat; de Savigny, Don

2013-01-01

Background: Millions of dollars are invested annually under the umbrella of national health systems strengthening. Global health initiatives provide funding for low- and middle-income countries through disease-oriented programmes while maintaining that the interventions simultaneously strengthen systems. However, it is as yet unclear which, and to what extent, system-level interventions are being funded by these initiatives, nor is it clear how much funding they allocate to disease-specific a...

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990-2016 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, Theo; Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abbafati, Cristiana; Abbas, Kaja M.; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abdulle, Abdishakur M.; Abebo, Teshome Abuka; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Aboyans, Victor; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Ackerman, Ilana N.; Adamu, Abdu Abdullahi; Adetokunboh, Olatunji; Afarideh, Mohsen; Afshin, Ashkan; Agarwal, Sanjay Kumar; Aggarwal, Rakesh; Agrawal, Anurag; Agrawal, Sutapa; Kiadaliri, Aliasghar Ahmad; Ahmadieh, Hamid; Ahmed, Muktar Beshir; Aichour, Amani Nidhal; Aichour, Ibtihel; Aichour, Miloud Taki Eddine; Aiyar, Sneha; Akinyemi, Rufus Olusola; Akseer, Nadia; Al Lami, Faris Hasan; Alahdab, Fares; Al-Aly, Ziyad; Alam, Khurshid; Alam, Noore; Alam, Tahiya; Alasfoor, Deena; Alene, Kefyalew Addis; Ali, Raghib; Alizadeh-Navaei, Reza; Alkerwi, Ala'a; Alla, Francois; Allebeck, Peter; Allen, Christine; Al-Maskari, Fatma; Al-Raddadi, Rajaa; Alsharif, Ubai; Alsowaidi, Shirina; Altirkawi, Khalid A.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Amini, Erfan; Ammar, Walid; Amoako, Yaw Ampem; Andersen, Hjalte H.; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T.; Anwari, Palwasha; Arnlov, Johan; Artaman, Al; Aryal, Krishna Kumar; Asayesh, Hamid; Asgedom, Solomon W.; Assadi, Reza; Atey, Tesfay Mehari; Atnafu, Niguse Tadele; Atre, Sachin R.; Avila-Burgos, Leticia; Avokpaho, Euripide Frinel G. Arthur; Awasthi, Ashish; Ayala Quintanilla, Beatriz Paulina; Saleem, Huda Omer Ba; Bacha, Umar; Badawi, Alaa; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Banerjee, Amitava; Bannick, Marlena S.; Barac, Aleksandra; Barber, Ryan M.; Barker-Collo, Suzanne L.; Baernighausen, Till; Barquera, Simon; Barregard, Lars; Barrero, Lope H.; Basu, Sanjay; Battista, Bob; Battle, Katherine E.; Baune, Bernhard T.; Bazargan-Hejazi, Shahrzad; Beardsley, Justin; Bedi, Neeraj; Beghi, Ettore; Bejot, Yannick; Bekele, Bayu Begashaw; Bell, Michelle L.; Bennett, Derrick A.; Bensenor, Isabela M.; Benson, Jennifer; Berhane, Adugnaw; Berhe, Derbew Fikadu; Bernabe, Eduardo; Betsu, Balem Demtsu; Beuran, Mircea; Beyene, Addisu Shunu; Bhala, Neeraj; Bhansali, Anil; Bhatt, Samir; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Biadgilign, Sibhatu; Bienhoff, Kelly; Bikbov, Boris; Birungi, Charles; Biryukov, Stan; Bisanzio, Donal; Bizuayehu, Habtamu Mellie; Boneya, Dube Jara; Boufous, Soufiane; Bourne, Rupert R. A.; Brazinova, Alexandra; Brugha, Traolach S.; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Bulto, Lemma Negesa Bulto; Bumgarner, Blair R.; Butt, Zahid A.; Cahuana-Hurtado, Lucero; Cameron, Ewan; Car, Mate; Carabin, Helene; Carapetis, Jonathan R.; Cardenas, Rosario; Carpenter, David O.; Carrero, Juan Jesus; Carter, Austin; Carvalho, Felix; Casey, Daniel C.; Caso, Valeria; Castaneda-Orjuela, Carlos A.; Castle, Chris D.; Catala-Lopez, Ferran; Chang, Hsing-Yi; Chang, Jung-Chen; Charlson, Fiona J.; Chen, Honglei; Chibalabala, Mirriam; Chibueze, Chioma Ezinne; Chisumpa, Vesper Hichilombwe; Chitheer, Abdulaal A.; Christopher, Devasahayam Jesudas; Ciobanu, Liliana G.; Cirillo, Massimo; Colombara, Danny; Cooper, Cyrus; Cortesi, Paolo Angelo; Criqui, Michael H.; Crump, John A.; Dadi, Abel Fekadu; Dalal, Koustuv; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; das Neves, Jose; Davitoiu, Dragos V.; de Courten, Barbora; De Leo, Diego; Degenhardt, Louisa; Deiparine, Selina; Dellavalle, Robert P.; Deribe, Kebede; Des Jarlais, Don C.; Dey, Subhojit; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Dhillon, Preet Kaur; Dicker, Daniel; Ding, Eric L.; Djalalinia, Shirin; Huyen Phuc Do,; Dorsey, E. Ray; Bender dos Santos, Kadine Priscila; Douwes-Schultz, Dirk; Doyle, Kerrie E.; Driscoll, Tim R.; Dubey, Manisha; Duncan, Bruce Bartholow; El-Khatib, Ziad Ziad; Ellerstrand, Jerisha; Enayati, Ahmadali; Endries, Aman Yesuf; Ermakov, Sergey Petrovich; Erskine, Holly E.; Eshrati, Babak; Eskandarieh, Sharareh; Esteghamati, Alireza; Estep, Kara; Fanuel, Fanuel Belayneh Bekele; Sa Farinha, Carla Sofia e; Faro, Andre; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fazeli, Mir Sohail; Feigin, Valery L.; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Fernandes, Joao C.; Ferrari, Alize J.; Feyissa, Tesfaye Regassa; Filip, Irina; Fischer, Florian; Fitzmaurice, Christina; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Flor, Luisa Sorio; Foigt, Nataliya; Foreman, Kyle J.; Franklin, Richard C.; Fullman, Nancy; Furst, Thomas; Furtado, Joao M.; Futran, Neal D.; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Ganji, Morsaleh; Garcia-Basteiro, Alberto L.; Gebre, Teshome; Gebrehiwot, Tsegaye Tewelde; Geleto, Ayele; Gemechu, Bikila Lencha; Gesesew, Hailay Abrha; Gething, Peter W.; Ghajar, Alireza; Gibney, Katherine B.; Gill, Paramjit Singh; Gillum, Richard F.; Ginawi, Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed; Giref, Ababi Zergay; Gishu, Melkamu Dedefo; Giussani, Giorgia; Godwin, William W.; Gold, Audra L.; Goldberg, Ellen M.; Gona, Philimon N.; Goodridge, Amador; Gopalani, Sameer Vali; Goto, Atsushi; Goulart, Alessandra Carvalho; Griswold, Max; Gugnani, Harish Chander; Gupta, Rahul; Gupta, Rajeev; Gupta, Tanush; Gupta, Vipin; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hailu, Alemayehu Desalegne; Hailu, Gessessew Bugssa; Hamadeh, Randah Ribhi; Hamidi, Samer; Handal, Alexis J.; Hankey, Graeme J.; Hao, Yuantao; Harb, Hilda L.; Hareri, Habtamu Abera; Maria Haro, Josep; Harvey, James; Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hawley, Caitlin; Hay, Roderick J.; Hay, Simon I.; Henry, Nathaniel J.; Beatriz Heredia-Pi, Ileana; Heydarpour, Pouria; Hoek, Hans W.; Hoffman, Howard J.; Horita, Nobuyuki; Hosgood, H. Dean; Hostiuc, Sorin; Hotez, Peter J.; Hoy, Damian G.; Htet, Aung Soe; Hu, Guoqing; Huang, Hsiang; Huynh, Chantal; Iburg, Kim Moesgaard; Igumbor, Ehimario Uche; Ikeda, Chad; Irvine, Caleb Mackay Salpeter; Jacobsen, Kathryn H.; Jahanmehr, Nader; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo B.; Jassal, Simerjot K.; Javanbakht, Mehdi; Jayaraman, Sudha P.; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Jensen, Paul N.; Jha, Vivekanand; Jiang, Guohong; John, Denny; Johnson, Catherine O.; Johnson, Sarah Charlotte; Jonas, Jost B.; Jurisson, Mikk; Kabir, Zubair; Kadel, Rajendra; Kahsay, Amaha; Kamal, Ritul; Kan, Haidong; Karam, Nadim E.; Karch, Andre; Karema, Corine Kakizi; Kasaeian, Amir; Kassa, Getachew Mullu; Kassaw, Nigussie Assefa; Kassebaum, Nicholas J.; Kastor, Anshul; Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal; Kaul, Anil; Kawakami, Norito; Keiyoro, Peter Njenga; Kengne, Andre Pascal; Keren, Andre; Khader, Yousef Saleh; Khalil, Ibrahim A.; Khan, Ejaz Ahmad; Khang, Young-Ho; Khosravi, Ardeshir; Khubchandani, Jagdish; Kieling, Christian; Kim, Daniel; Kim, Pauline; Kim, Yun Jin; Kimokoti, Ruth W.; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kisa, Adnan; Kissimova-Skarbek, Katarzyna A.; Kivimaki, Mika; Knudsen, Ann Kristin; Kokubo, Yoshihiro; Kolte, Dhaval; Kopec, Jacek A.; Kosen, Soewarta; Koul, Parvaiz A.; Koyanagi, Ai; Kravchenko, Michael; Krishnaswami, Sanjay; Krohn, Kristopher J.; Defo, Barthelemy Kuate; Bicer, Burcu Kucuk; Kumar, G. Anil; Kumar, Pushpendra; Kumar, Sanjiv; Kyu, Hmwe H.; Lal, Dharmesh Kumar; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lambert, Nkurunziza; Lan, Qing; Larsson, Anders; Lavados, Pablo M.; Leasher, Janet L.; Lee, Jong-Tae; Lee, Paul H.; Leigh, James; Leshargie, Cheru Tesema; Leung, Janni; Leung, Ricky; Levi, Miriam; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Li Kappe, Darya; Liang, Xiaofeng; Liben, Misgan Legesse; Lim, Stephen S.; Linn, Shai; Liu, Angela; Liu, Patrick Y.; Liu, Shiwei; Liu, Yang; Lodha, Rakesh; Logroscino, Giancarlo; London, Stephanie J.; Looker, Katharine J.; Lopez, Alan D.; Lorkowski, Stefan; Lotufo, Paulo A.; Low, Nicola; Lozano, Rafael; Lucas, Timothy C. D.; Macarayan, Erlyn Rachelle King; Abd El Razek, Hassan Magdy; Abd El Razek, Mohammed Magdy; Mahdavi, Mahdi; Majdan, Marek; Majdzadeh, Reza; Majeed, Azeem; Malekzadeh, Reza; Malhotra, Rajesh; Malta, Deborah Carvalho; Mamun, Abdullah A.; Manguerra, Helena; Manhertz, Treh; Mantilla, Ana; Mantovani, Lorenzo G.; Mapoma, Chabila C.; Marczak, Laurie B.; Martinez-Raga, Jose; Martins-Melo, Francisco Rogerlandio; Martopullo, Ira; Maerz, Winfried; Mathur, Manu Raj; Mazidi, Mohsen; McAlinden, Colm; McGaughey, Madeline; McGrath, John J.; Mckee, Martin; McNellan, Claire; Mehata, Suresh; Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Mekonnen, Tefera Chane; Memiah, Peter; Memish, Ziad A.; Mendoza, Walter; Mengistie, Mubarek Abera; Mengistu, Desalegn Tadese; Mensah, George A.; Meretoja, Atte; Meretoja, Tuomo J.; Mezgebe, Haftay Berhane; Micha, Renata; Millear, Anoushka; Miller, Ted R.; Mills, Edward J.; Mirarefin, Mojde; Mirrakhimov, Erkin M.; Misganaw, Awoke; Mishra, Shiva Raj; Mitchell, Philip B.; Mohammad, Karzan Abdulmuhsin; Mohammadi, Alireza; Mohammed, Kedir Endris; Mohammed, Shafiu; Mohanty, Sanjay K.; Mokdad, Ali H.; Mollenkopf, Sarah K.; Monasta, Lorenzo; Montanez Hernandez, Julio; Montico, Marcella; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Moraga, Paula; Mori, Rintaro; Morozoff, Chloe; Morrison, Shane D.; Moses, Mark; Mountjoy-Venning, Cliff; Mruts, Kalayu Birhane; Mueller, Ulrich O.; Muller, Kate; Murdoch, Michele E.; Murthy, Gudlavalleti Venkata Satyanarayana; Musa, Kamarul Imran; Nachega, Jean B.; Nagel, Gabriele; Naghavi, Mohsen; Naheed, Aliya; Naidoo, Kovin S.; Naldi, Luigi; Nangia, Vinay; Natarajan, Gopalakrishnan; Negasa, Dumessa Edessa; Negoi, Ionut; Negoi, Ruxandra Irina; Newton, Charles R.; Ngunjiri, Josephine Wanjiku; Cuong Tat Nguyen,; Nguyen, Grant; Nguyen, Minh; Quyen Le Nguyen, [Unknown; Trang Huyen Nguyen,; Nichols, Emma; Ningrum, Dina Nur Anggraini; Nolte, Sandra; Vuong Minh Nong,; Norrving, Bo; Noubiap, Jean Jacques N.; O'Donnell, Martin J.; Ogbo, Felix Akpojene; Oh, In-Hwan; Okoro, Anselm; Oladimeji, Olanrewaju; Olagunju, Andrew Toyin; Olagunju, Tinuke Oluwasefunmi; Olsen, Helen E.; Olusanya, Bolajoko Olubukunola; Olusanya, Jacob Olusegun; Ong, Kanyin; Opio, John Nelson; Oren, Eyal; Ortiz, Alberto; Osgood-Zimmerman, Aaron; Osman, Majdi; Owolabi, Mayowa O.; Mahesh, P. A.; Pacella, Rosana E.; Pana, Adrian; Panda, Basant Kumar; Papachristou, Christina; Park, Eun-Kee; Parry, Charles D.; Parsaeian, Mahboubeh; Patten, Scott B.; Patton, George C.; Paulson, Katherine; Pearce, Neil; Pereira, David M.; Perico, Norberto; Pesudovs, Konrad; Peterson, Carrie Beth; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael Robert; Pigott, David M.; Pillay, Julian David; Pinho, Christine; Plass, Dietrich; Pletcher, Martin A.; Popova, Svetlana; Poulton, Richie G.; Pourmalek, Farshad; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Prasad, Narayan; Prasad, Noela M.; Purcell, Carrie; Qorbani, Mostafa; Quansah, Reginald; Rabiee, Rynaz H. S.; Radfar, Amir; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi, Kazem; Rahimi-Movaghar, Afarin; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Mahfuzar; Rahman, Mohammad Hifz Ur; Rai, Rajesh Kumar; Rajsic, Sasa; Ram, Usha; Ranabhat, Chhabi Lal; Rankin, Zane; Rao, Paturi Vishnupriya; Rao, Puja C.; Rawaf, Salman; Ray, Sarah E.; Reiner, Robert C.; Reinig, Nikolas; Reitsma, Marissa B.; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Renzaho, Andre M. N.; Resnikoff, Serge; Rezaei, Satar; Ribeiro, Antonio L.; Ronfani, Luca; Roshandel, Gholamreza; Roth, Gregory A.; Roy, Ambuj; Rubagotti, Enrico; Ruhago, George Mugambage; Saadat, Soheil; Sadat, Nafis; Safdarian, Mahdi; Safi, Sare; Safiri, Saeid; Sagar, Rajesh; Sahathevan, Ramesh; Salama, Joseph; Salomon, Joshua A.; Salvi, Sundeep Santosh; Samy, Abdallah M.; Sanabria, Juan R.; Santomauro, Damian; Santos, Itamar S.; Santos, Joao Vasco; Milicevic, Milena M. Santric; Sartorius, Benn; Satpathy, Maheswar; Sawhney, Monika; Saxena, Sonia; Schmidt, Maria Ines; Schneider, Ione J. C.; Schoettker, Ben; Schwebel, David C.; Schwendicke, Falk; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G.; Servan-Mori, Edson E.; Setegn, Tesfaye; Shackelford, Katya Anne; Shaheen, Amira; Shaikh, Masood Ali; Shamsipour, Mansour; Islam, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful; Sharma, Jayendra; Sharma, Rajesh; She, Jun; Shi, Peilin; Shields, Chloe; Shigematsu, Mika; Shinohara, Yukito; Shiri, Rahman; Shirkoohi, Reza; Shirude, Shreya; Shishani, Kawkab; Shrime, Mark G.; Sibai, Abla Mehio; Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora; Santos Silva, Diego Augusto; Silva, Joao Pedro; Alves Silveira, Dayane Gabriele; Singh, Jasvinder A.; Singh, Narinder Pal; Sinha, Dhirendra Narain; Skiadaresi, Eirini; Skirbekk, Vegard; Slepak, Erica Leigh; Sligar, Amber; Smith, David L.; Smith, Mari; Sobaih, Badr H. A.; Sobngwi, Eugene; Sorensen, Reed J. D.; Moraes Sousa, Tatiane Cristina; Sposato, Luciano A.; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T.; Srinivasan, Vinay; Stanaway, Jeffrey D.; Stathopoulou, Vasiliki; Steel, Nicholas; Stein, Dan J.; Stein, Murray B.; Steiner, Caitlyn; Steiner, Timothy J.; Steinke, Sabine; Stokes, Mark Andrew; Stovner, Lars Jacob; Strub, Bryan; Subart, Michelle; Sufiyan, Muawiyyah Babale; Abdulkader, Rizwan Suliankatchi; Sunguya, Bruno F.; Sur, Patrick J.; Swaminathan, Soumya; Sykes, Bryan L.; Sylte, Dillon O.; Tabares-Seisdedos, Rafael; Taffere, Getachew Redae; Takala, Jukka S.; Tandon, Nikhil; Tavakkoli, Mohammad; Taveira, Nuno; Taylor, Hugh R.; Tehrani-Banihashemi, Arash; Tekelab, Tesfalidet; Shifa, Girma Temam; Terkawi, Abdullah Sulieman; Tesfaye, Dawit Jember; Tesssema, Belay; Thamsuwan, Ornwipa; Thomas, Katie E.; Thrift, Amanda G.; Tiruye, Tenaw Yimer; Tobe-Gai, Ruoyan; Tollanes, Mette C.; Tonelli, Marcello; Topor-Madry, Roman; Tortajada, Miguel; Touvier, Mathilde; Bach Xuan Tran,; Tripathi, Suryakant; Troeger, Christopher; Truelsen, Thomas; Tsoi, Derrick; Tuem, Kald Beshir; Tuzcu, Emin Murat; Tyrovolas, Stefanos; Ukwaja, Kingsley N.; Undurraga, Eduardo A.; Uneke, Chigozie Jesse; Updike, Rachel; Uthman, Olalekan A.; Uzochukwu, Benjamin S. Chudi; van Boven, Job F. M.; Varughese, Santosh; Vasankari, Tommi; Venkatesh, S.; Venketasubramanian, Narayanaswamy; Vidavalur, Ramesh; Violante, Francesco S.; Vladimirov, Sergey K.; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Wadilo, Fiseha; Wakayo, Tolassa; Wang, Yuan-Pang; Weaver, Marcia; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G.; Werdecker, Andrea; Westerman, Ronny; Whiteford, Harvey A.; Wijeratne, Tissa; Wiysonge, Charles Shey; Wolfe, Charles D. A.; Woodbrook, Rachel; Woolf, Anthony D.; Workicho, Abdulhalik; Hanson, Sarah Wulf; Xavier, Denis; Xu, Gelin; Yadgir, Simon; Yaghoubi, Mohsen; Yakob, Bereket; Yan, Lijing L.; Yano, Yuichiro; Ye, Pengpeng; Yimam, Hassen Hamid; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Yotebieng, Marcel; Younis, Mustafa Z.; Zaidi, Zoubida; Zaki, Maysaa El Sayed; Zegeye, Elias Asfaw; Zenebe, Zerihun Menlkalew; Zhang, Xueying; Zhou, Maigeng; Zipkin, Ben; Zodpey, Sanjay; Zuhlke, Liesl Joanna; Murray, Christopher J. L.

2017-01-01

Background As mortality rates decline, life expectancy increases, and populations age, non-fatal outcomes of diseases and injuries are becoming a larger component of the global burden of disease. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive

Educational Imperatives for Globalization in Nigeria | Tabotndip ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Globalization is an integrative world economic policy that can improve the productivity level of member nations and boost their general growth and development. Though it is has lots of limitations due to its background idealology it is highly rewarding to member nations who strive to meet its demands. Most of these ...

Global bioethics – myth or reality?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Williams-Jones Bryn

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There has been debate on whether a global or unified field of bioethics exists. If bioethics is a unified global field, or at the very least a closely shared way of thinking, then we should expect bioethicists to behave the same way in their academic activities anywhere in the world. This paper investigates whether there is a 'global bioethics' in the sense of a unified academic community. Methods To address this question, we study the web-linking patterns of bioethics institutions, the citation patterns of bioethics papers and the buying patterns of bioethics books. Results All three analyses indicate that there are geographical and institutional differences in the academic behavior of bioethicists and bioethics institutions. Conclusion These exploratory studies support the position that there is no unified global field of bioethics. This is a problem if the only reason is parochialism. But these regional differences are probably of less concern if one notices that bioethics comes in many not always mutually understandable dialects.

Background radioactivity in sediments near Los Alamos, New Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLin, Stephen G.

2004-01-01

remained relatively constant since the early 1980s. These results suggest that clay contents in terrestrial sediments are often more important at concentrating background radionuclides than many other environmental factors, including geology, climate and vegetation. Hence, reservoirs and floodplains represent ideal radionuclide sampling locations because fine-grained materials are more easily trapped here. Ultimately, most of these differences still reflect spatial and temporal variability originating from global atmospheric nuclear weapons testing and disintegration of nuclear-powered satellites upon atmospheric reentry

Estimates of global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and mortality of HIV, 1980-2015 : the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, Haidong; Wolock, Tim M.; Carter, Austin; Nguyen, Grant; Kyu, Hmwe Hmwe; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Hay, Simon I.; Mills, Edward J.; Trickey, Adam; Msemburi, William; Coates, Matthew M.; Mooney, Meghan D.; Fraser, Maya S.; Sligar, Amber; Salomon, Joshua; Larson, Heidi J.; Friedman, Joseph; Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abbas, Kaja M.; Abd El Razek, Mohamed Magdy; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abdulle, Abdishakur M.; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M. E.; Abyu, Gebre Yitayih; Adebiyi, Akindele Olupelumi; Adedeji, Isaac Akinkunmi; Adelekan, Ademola Lukman; Adofo, Koranteng; Adou, Arsene Kouablan; Ajala, Oluremi N.; Akinyemiju, Tomi F.; Akseer, Nadia; Al Lami, Faris Hasan; Al-Aly, Ziyad; Alam, Khurshid; Alam, Noore K. M.; Alasfoor, Deena; Aldhahri, Saleh Fahed S.; Aldridge, Robert William; Alegretti, Miguel Angel; Aleman, Alicia V.; Alemu, Zewdie Aderaw; Alfonso-Cristancho, Rafael; Ali, Raghib; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Hoek, Hans W.

Background Timely assessment of the burden of HIV/AIDS is essential for policy setting and programme evaluation. In this report from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 (GBD 2015), we provide national estimates of levels and trends of HIV/AIDS incidence, prevalence, coverage of antiretroviral

Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Naghavi, Mohsen; Wang, Haidong; Lozano, Rafael; Davis, Adrian; Liang, Xiaofeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Vollset, Stein Emil; Ozgoren, Ayse Abbasoglu; Abdalla, Safa; Abd-Allah, Foad; Aziz, Muna I. Abdel; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Aboyans, Victor; Abraham, Biju; Abraham, Jerry P.; Abuabara, Katrina E.; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M. E.; Achoki, Tom; Adelekan, Ademola; Ademi, Zanfi Na; Adofo, Koranteng; Adou, Arsene Kouablan; Adsuar, Jose C.; Aernlov, Johan; Agardh, Emilie Elisabet; Akena, Dickens; Al Khabouri, Mazin J.; Alasfoor, Deena; Albittar, Mohammed; Alegretti, Miguel Angel; Aleman, Alicia V.; Alemu, Zewdie Aderaw; Alfonso-Cristancho, Rafael; Alhabib, Samia; Ali, Mohammed K.; Ali, Raghib; Alla, Francois; Al Lami, Faris; Allebeck, Peter; AlMazroa, Mohammad A.; Salman, Rustam Al-Shahi; Alsharif, Ubai; Alvarez, Elena; Alviz-Guzman, Nelson; Amankwaa, Adansi A.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Ameli, Omid; Hoek, Hans W.

2015-01-01

Background Up-to-date evidence on levels and trends for age-sex-specifi c all-cause and cause-specifi c mortality is essential for the formation of global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) we estimated yearly deaths for 188 countries

The evolution of global health teaching in undergraduate medical curricula

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rowson Mike

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Since the early 1990s there has been a burgeoning interest in global health teaching in undergraduate medical curricula. In this article we trace the evolution of this teaching and present recommendations for how the discipline might develop in future years. Discussion Undergraduate global health teaching has seen a marked growth over the past ten years, partly as a response to student demand and partly due to increasing globalization, cross-border movement of pathogens and international migration of health care workers. This teaching has many different strands and types in terms of topic focus, disciplinary background, the point in medical studies in which it is taught and whether it is compulsory or optional. We carried out a survey of medical schools across the world in an effort to analyse their teaching of global health. Results indicate that this teaching is rising in prominence, particularly through global health elective/exchange programmes and increasing teaching of subjects such as globalization and health and international comparison of health systems. Our findings indicate that global health teaching is moving away from its previous focus on tropical medicine towards issues of more global relevance. We suggest that there are three types of doctor who may wish to work in global health – the ‘globalised doctor’, ‘humanitarian doctor’ and ‘policy doctor’ – and that each of these three types will require different teaching in order to meet the required competencies. This teaching needs to be inserted into medical curricula in different ways, notably into core curricula, a special overseas doctor track, optional student selected components, elective programmes, optional intercalated degrees and postgraduate study. Summary We argue that teaching of global health in undergraduate medical curricula must respond to changing understandings of the term global health. In particular it must be taught from the

Globalization and Health: A Critical Appraisal | Swende | Nigerian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Health has long been recognized as a central feature of development. Globalization tends to be understood as a process of economic integration, but it implies more. It entails openness to trade, ideas, investment, people and culture all of which impact health. Method: Review of relevant literature on ...

Introduction to Global Urban Climatology

Science.gov (United States)

Varquez, A. C. G.; Kanda, M.; Kawano, N.; Darmanto, N. S.; Dong, Y.

2016-12-01

Urban heat island (UHI) is a widely investigated phenomenon in the field of urban climate characterized by the warming of urban areas relative to its surrounding rural environs. Being able to understand the mechanism behind the UHI formation of a city and distinguish its impact from that of global climate change is indispensable when identifying adaptation and mitigation strategies. However, the lack of UHI studies many cities especially for developing countries makes it difficult to generalize the mechanism for UHI formation. Thus, there is an impending demand for studies that focus on the simultaneous analyses of UHI and its trends throughout the world. Hence, we propose a subfield of urban climatology, called "global urban climatology" (GUC), which mainly focuses on the uniform understanding of urban climates across all cities, globally. By using globally applicable methodologies to quantify and compare urban heat islands of cities with diverse backgrounds, including their geography, climate, socio-demography, and other factors, a universal understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of the phenomenon can be established. The implementation of GUC involves the use of globally acquired historical observation networks, gridded meteorological parameters from climate models, global geographic information system datasets; the construction of a distributed urban parameter database; and the development of techniques necessary to model the urban climate. Research under GUC can be categorized into three approaches. The collaborative approach (1st) relies on the collection of data from micro-scale experiments conducted worldwide with the aid or development of professional social networking platforms; the analytical approach (2nd) relies on the use of global weather station datasets and their corresponding objectively analysed global outputs; and the numerical approach (3rd) relies on the global estimation of high-resolution urban-representative parameters as

Design, characterization and optimization of various β γ measurement systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schroettner, T.

2010-01-01

This thesis is based on four peer reviewed publications and reflects the scientific work from 2002 to 2009. These four papers correspond to four main chapters of the thesis. The common sense of the work is the focus on physics and electronics of measurement systems for ionizing radiation. The common aim is to increase measurement performance and sensitivity by increasing the signal to noise ratio (SNR). This has been realized by reduction of the terrestrial and cosmic radiation background and by minimizing of electromagnetic interference (EMI) and noise pick up by electronic measures. Another method, applied to increase the SNR, utilized adaptive integration time to optimize the ratio of recorded signal and background counts. For spectroscopic systems, also the stability of the energy calibration plays a key role for high SNR, as the detection limit depends on the energy resolution and stability of energy calibration. The first paper 'Optimization of an active anti cosmic veto shielding' (Schroettner at al., 2004) deals with optimization of a low level gamma spectroscopy system. Time spectroscopy of the cosmic muons passing the guard detector and the related background signals in the high purity germanium (HPGe) detector has been applied to optimize the veto time window. The fluctuation of the muon flux has been investigated and the possible induced drop and variation of measurement efficiency have been calculated and minimized. To extend the operation of the active veto towards lower γ-energies, the electronic noise and interference has been reduced by systematic location and elimination of the sources. A totally isolated power net employs filtering and regeneration of the power line for the laboratory. The second paper 'Enhancing sensitivity of portal monitoring at varying transit speed' (Schroettner at al., 2009) contains a characterization of a plastic scintillation based portal monitoring system and presents a method to increase the sensitivity of the system

Social security for seafarers globally

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Olaf; Canals, Luisa; Haarløv, Erik

2013-01-01

Social security for seafarers globally Background: Social security protection is one of the essential elements of decent work. The issue is complex and no previous epidemiological studies of the coverage among seafarers have yet been performed. Objectives: The aim was to overcome the gap...... of knowledge to promote the discussion and planning of the implementation of social security for all seafarers. Methods: The seafarers completed a short questionnaire concerning their knowledge about their social security status. Results: Significant disparities of coverage of social security were pointed out...... comes from poorer countries without substantial social security systems. The solutions suggested are to implement the minimum requirements as recommended by the ILO 2006 Convention, to survey the implementation and in the long term to struggle for global social equality. Key words: Social security...

Global and regional burden of stroke during 1990-2010

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feigin, Valery L; Forouzanfar, Mohammad H; Krishnamurthi, Rita

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Although stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide, no comprehensive and comparable assessment of incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, and epidemiological trends has been estimated for most regions. We used data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Ri...

Evolution and patterns of global health financing 1995-2014

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dieleman, Joseph; Campbell, Madeline; Chapin, Abigail; Eldrenkamp, Erika; Fan, Victoria Y.; Haakenstad, Annie; Kates, Jennifer; Liu, Yingying; Matyasz, Taylor; Micah, Angela; Reynolds, Alex; Sadat, Nafis; Schneider, Matthew T.; Sorensen, Reed; Evans, Tim; Evans, David; Kurowski, Christoph; Tandon, Ajay; Abbas, Kaja M.; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Ahmad Kiadaliri, Aliasghar; Ahmed, Kedir Yimam; Ahmed, Muktar Beshir; Alam, Khurshid; Alizadeh-Navaei, Reza; Alkerwi, A.; Amini, Erfan; Ammar, Walid; Amrock, Stephen Marc; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T.; Atey, Tesfay Mehari; Avila-Burgos, Leticia; Awasthi, Ashish; Barac, Aleksandra; Bernal, Oscar Alberto; Beyene, Addisu Shunu; Beyene, Tariku Jibat; Birungi, Charles; Bizuayehu, Habtamu Mellie; Breitborde, Nicholas J.K.; Cahuana-Hurtado, Lucero; Castro, Ruben Estanislao; Catalá-López, Ferran; Dalal, Koustuv; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; Jager, De Pieter; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Dubey, Manisha; Sa Farinha, Carla Sofia E.; Faro, Andre; Feigl, Andrea B.; Fischer, Florian; Fitchett, Joseph Robert Anderson; Foigt, Nataliya; Giref, Ababi Zergaw; Gupta, Rahul; Hamidi, Samer; Harb, Hilda L.; Hay, Simon I.; Hendrie, Delia; Horino, Masako; Jürisson, Mikk; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo B.; Javanbakht, Mehdi; John, Denny; Jonas, Jost B.; Karimi, Seyed M.; Khang, Young Ho; Khubchandani, Jagdish; Kim, Yun Jin; Kinge, Jonas M.; Krohn, Kristopher J.; Kumar, G.A.; Magdy Abd El Razek, Hassan; Magdy Abd El Razek, Mohammed; Majeed, Azeem; Malekzadeh, Reza; Masiye, Felix; Meier, Toni; Meretoja, Atte; Miller, Ted R.; Mirrakhimov, Erkin M.; Mohammed, Shafiu; Nangia, Vinay; Olgiati, Stefano; Osman, Abdalla Sidahmed; Owolabi, Mayowa O.; Patel, Tejas; Paternina Caicedo, Angel J.; Pereira, David M.; Perelman, Julian; Polinder, Suzanne; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rai, Rajesh Kumar; Ram, Usha; Ranabhat, Chhabi Lal; Roba, Hirbo Shore; Salama, Joseph; Savic, Miloje; Sepanlou, Sadaf G.; Shrime, Mark G.; Talongwa, Roberto Tchio; Ao, Te Braden J.; Tediosi, Fabrizio; Tesema, Azeb Gebresilassie; Thomson, Alan J.; Tobe-Gai, Ruoyan; Topor-Madry, Roman; Undurraga, Eduardo A.; Vasankari, Tommi; Violante, Francesco S.; Werdecker, Andrea; Wijeratne, Tissa; Xu, Gelin; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Younis, Mustafa Z.; Yu, Chuanhua; Zaidi, Zoubida; Sayed Zaki, El Maysaa; Murray, Christopher J.L.

2017-01-01

Background: An adequate amount of prepaid resources for health is important to ensure access to health services and for the pursuit of universal health coverage. Previous studies on global health financing have described the relationship between economic development and health financing. In this

Global initiative for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia (GLIMP)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aliberti, Stefano; Reyes, Luis F; Faverio, Paola

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic resistance is a major global health problem and pathogens such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have become of particular concern in the management of lower respiratory tract infections. However, few data are available on the worldwide prevalence and ris...

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990-2013

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Murray, Christopher J L; Ortblad, Katrina F; Guinovart, Caterina

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach to disease estimation for betw...

JEM-X background models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huovelin, J.; Maisala, S.; Schultz, J.

2003-01-01

Background and determination of its components for the JEM-X X-ray telescope on INTEGRAL are discussed. A part of the first background observations by JEM-X are analysed and results are compared to predictions. The observations are based on extensive imaging of background near the Crab Nebula...... on revolution 41 of INTEGRAL. Total observing time used for the analysis was 216 502 s, with the average of 25 cps of background for each of the two JEM-X telescopes. JEM-X1 showed slightly higher average background intensity than JEM-X2. The detectors were stable during the long exposures, and weak orbital...... background was enhanced in the central area of a detector, and it decreased radially towards the edge, with a clear vignetting effect for both JEM-X units. The instrument background was weakest in the central area of a detector and showed a steep increase at the very edges of both JEM-X detectors...

Study on generation investment decision-making considering multi-agent benefit for global energy internet

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Pai; Huang, Yuehui; Jia, Yanbing; Liu, Jichun; Niu, Yi

2018-02-01

Abstract . This article has studies on the generation investment decision in the background of global energy interconnection. Generation investment decision model considering the multiagent benefit is proposed. Under the back-ground of global energy Interconnection, generation investors in different clean energy base not only compete with other investors, but also facing being chosen by the power of the central area, therefor, constructing generation investment decision model considering multiagent benefit can be close to meet the interests demands. Using game theory, the complete information game model is adopted to solve the strategies of different subjects in equilibrium state.

Effects of Sacubitril/Valsartan in the PARADIGM-HF Trial (Prospective Comparison of ARNI with ACEI to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in Heart Failure) According to Background Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Okumura, Naoki; Jhund, Pardeep S; Gong, Jianjian; Lefkowitz, Martin P; Rizkala, Adel R; Rouleau, Jean L; Shi, Victor C; Swedberg, Karl; Zile, Michael R; Solomon, Scott D; Packer, Milton; McMurray, John J V

2016-09-01

In the PARADIGM-HF trial (Prospective Comparison of ARNI with ACEI to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in Heart Failure), the angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril/valsartan was more effective than the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitorenalapril in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction. We examined whether this benefit was consistent irrespective of background therapy. We examined the effect of study treatment in the following subgroups: diuretics (yes/no), digitalis glycoside (yes/no), mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (yes/no),and defibrillating device (implanted defibrillating device, yes/no). We also examined the effect of study drug according to β-blocker dose (≥50% and sacubitril/valsartan versus enalapril hazard ratio for the primary composite end point was 0.80 (95% confidence interval,0.73-0.87;Psacubitril/valsartan was consistent across all subgroups examined. The hazard ratio for primary end point ranged from 0.74 to 0.85 and for cardiovascular death rangedfrom 0.75 to 0.89, with no treatment-by-subgroup interaction. The benefit of sacubitril/valsartan, over an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, was consistent regardless of background therapy and irrespective of previouscoronary revascularization or β-blocker dose. URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01035255. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

A study on the birth and globalization of sports originated from each continent.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Byung Jin; Kim, Tae Young

2016-02-01

The purpose of this research is to see how continent specific sports rose to its modern-day status through globalization. This research focuses on the historical background of how England's football, America's national pastime, baseball, Japan's Judo, and Korea's Taekwondo developed into sports in addition to the reasoning behind its globalization. Promoted by England and the rest of the European continent, Soccer is considered to be one of the world's most popular sports and has served its function as a form of cultural imperialism. It has also advanced alongside commerce, missionary work and other types of cultural clashes. In America, baseball was used to integrate its multicultural society and developed so that the team captain leads the rest of his team. The sports of Oriental countries were reborn through modernization that was influenced by the modern rationality, education etc. of its Western counterparts. Judo and Taekwondo were introduced globally through the Olympic Games. As mentioned above the birth of sporting events has a close connection to a nation's cultural background and globalization has taken different forms depending on which continent it originated from.

The impact of different background errors in the assimilation of satellite radiances and in-situ observational data using WRFDA for three rainfall events over Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Zakeri, Zeinab; Azadi, Majid; Ghader, Sarmad

2018-01-01

Satellite radiances and in-situ observations are assimilated through Weather Research and Forecasting Data Assimilation (WRFDA) system into Advanced Research WRF (ARW) model over Iran and its neighboring area. Domain specific background error based on x and y components of wind speed (UV) control variables is calculated for WRFDA system and some sensitivity experiments are carried out to compare the impact of global background error and the domain specific background errors, both on the precipitation and 2-m temperature forecasts over Iran. Three precipitation events that occurred over the country during January, September and October 2014 are simulated in three different experiments and the results for precipitation and 2-m temperature are verified against the verifying surface observations. Results show that using domain specific background error improves 2-m temperature and 24-h accumulated precipitation forecasts consistently, while global background error may even degrade the forecasts compared to the experiments without data assimilation. The improvement in 2-m temperature is more evident during the first forecast hours and decreases significantly as the forecast length increases.

Background outdoor radiation dose to inhabitants around Narwapahar mine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srivastava, V.S.; Jha, V.N.; Topno, R.; Dandpat, B.L.; Patnaik, R.I.; Kumar, R.; Tripathi, R.M.; Puranik, V.D.

2012-01-01

Mining of uranium ore due to their inherent radiological characteristics may lead to release radionuclides into the environment. Monitoring of radiological parameters in the villages surrounding the mining areas are of significant concern for the evaluation of public exposure. The monitoring objectives will include the natural distribution of radionuclides in the environment as well as contribution of the source (mine), if any. Radon and its short lived progeny present in the environment contributes maximum natural background radiation dose due to inhalation. Apart from this, terrestrial radionuclides ( 238 U, 232 Th series and 40 K) present in trace level in earth crust are significant contributor of external exposure in the environment. The variation in the levels of these radionuclides depends on the geological strata of the area. Measured radiological parameters are comparable to the global average variation of exposure level due to these natural sources. Statistical treatment of the database reveals that the variation in radon and gamma level is natural and contribution of mining activities at the site is insignificant. The same is attributed to natural uranium mineralization of Singhbhum shear zone. Apart from this, seasonal variation in radon profile is globally reported

Exploring the Cross-Cultural Experiences of College Students with Diverse Backgrounds Performing International Service-Learning in Myanmar

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ruo-lan; Lee, Hsin-hua

2011-01-01

Background: In view of the growing globalization, volunteer service organizations, local universities, colleges, and student groups have begun extending their service programs from Taiwan to other countries. This study employs a self-organized, self-funded group of university students participating in international service-learning as its subject,…

Assessment of natural background radiation in one of the highest regions of Ecuador

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Mario; Chávez, Estefanía; Echeverría, Magdy; Córdova, Rafael; Recalde, Celso

2018-05-01

Natural background radiation was measured in the province of Chimborazo (Ecuador) with the following reference coordinates 1°40'00''S 78°39'00''W, where the furthest point to the center of the planet is located. Natural background radiation measurements were performed at 130 randomly selected sites using a Geiger Müller GCA-07W portable detector; these measurements were run at 6 m away from buildings or walls and 1 m above the ground. The global average natural background radiation established by UNSCEAR is 2.4 mSv y-1. In the study area measurements ranged from 0.57 mSv y-1 to 3.09 mSv y-1 with a mean value of 1.57 mSv y-1, the maximum value was recorded in the north of the study area at 5073 metres above sea level (m.a.s.l.), and the minimum value was recorded in the southwestern area at 297 m.a.s.l. An isodose map was plotted to represent the equivalent dose rate due to natural background radiation. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) between the data of the high and low regions of the study area showed a significant difference (p < α), in addition a linear correlation coefficient of 0.92 was obtained, supporting the hypothesis that in high altitude zones extraterrestrial radiation contributes significantly to natural background radiation.

Optimal background matching camouflage.

Science.gov (United States)

Michalis, Constantine; Scott-Samuel, Nicholas E; Gibson, David P; Cuthill, Innes C

2017-07-12

Background matching is the most familiar and widespread camouflage strategy: avoiding detection by having a similar colour and pattern to the background. Optimizing background matching is straightforward in a homogeneous environment, or when the habitat has very distinct sub-types and there is divergent selection leading to polymorphism. However, most backgrounds have continuous variation in colour and texture, so what is the best solution? Not all samples of the background are likely to be equally inconspicuous, and laboratory experiments on birds and humans support this view. Theory suggests that the most probable background sample (in the statistical sense), at the size of the prey, would, on average, be the most cryptic. We present an analysis, based on realistic assumptions about low-level vision, that estimates the distribution of background colours and visual textures, and predicts the best camouflage. We present data from a field experiment that tests and supports our predictions, using artificial moth-like targets under bird predation. Additionally, we present analogous data for humans, under tightly controlled viewing conditions, searching for targets on a computer screen. These data show that, in the absence of predator learning, the best single camouflage pattern for heterogeneous backgrounds is the most probable sample. © 2017 The Authors.

National ownership in the implementation of global climate policy in Uganda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, K.H.

2006-01-01

This article explores the history, from a developing country perspective, of how external interventions to implement global policies on the Climate Convention and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have been integrated into national development policy frameworks in the period 1990-2005. The main...... question asked is to what extent external interventions have formed part of a country-driven approach in Uganda. The conflicting national and global priorities concerning the need for adaptation to the impacts of climate change versus the need for global mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are explored...... first. Against this background, Uganda's policy response to climate change is reviewed. National climate policies are found not to exist, and the implementation of global policies is not integrated into national policy frameworks, partly due to conflicting national and global priorities. Given limited...

A global map of dominant malaria vectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sinka Marianne E

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Global maps, in particular those based on vector distributions, have long been used to help visualise the global extent of malaria. Few, however, have been created with the support of a comprehensive and extensive evidence-based approach. Methods Here we describe the generation of a global map of the dominant vector species (DVS of malaria that makes use of predicted distribution maps for individual species or species complexes. Results Our global map highlights the spatial variability in the complexity of the vector situation. In Africa, An. gambiae, An. arabiensis and An. funestus are co-dominant across much of the continent, whereas in the Asian-Pacific region there is a highly complex situation with multi-species coexistence and variable species dominance. Conclusions The competence of the mapping methodology to accurately portray DVS distributions is discussed. The comprehensive and contemporary database of species-specific spatial occurrence (currently available on request will be made directly available via the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP website from early 2012.

A global data set of land-surface parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Claussen, M.; Lohmann, U.; Roeckner, E.; Schulzweida, U.

1994-01-01

A global data set of land surface parameters is provided for the climate model ECHAM developed at the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Meteorologie in Hamburg. These parameters are: background (surface) albedo α, surface roughness length z 0y , leaf area index LAI, fractional vegetation cover or vegetation ratio c y , and forest ratio c F . The global set of surface parameters is constructed by allocating parameters to major exosystem complexes of Olson et al. (1983). The global distribution of ecosystem complexes is given at a resolution of 0.5 0 x 0.5 0 . The latter data are compatible with the vegetation types used in the BIOME model of Prentice et al. (1992) which is a potential candidate of an interactive submodel within a comprehensive model of the climate system. (orig.)

Background Material

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zandersen, Marianne; Hyytiäinen, Kari; Saraiva, Sofia

This document serves as a background material to the BONUS Pilot Scenario Workshop, which aims to develop harmonised regional storylines of socio-ecological futures in the Baltic Sea region in a collaborative effort together with other BONUS projects and stakeholders.......This document serves as a background material to the BONUS Pilot Scenario Workshop, which aims to develop harmonised regional storylines of socio-ecological futures in the Baltic Sea region in a collaborative effort together with other BONUS projects and stakeholders....

Alignment of global supply networks based on strategic groups of supply chains

OpenAIRE

Nikos G. Moraitakis; Jiazhen Huo; Hans-Christian Pfohl

2017-01-01

Background: From a supply chain perspective, often big differences exist between global raw material suppliers’ approaches to supply their respective local markets. The progressing complexity of large centrally managed global supply networks and their often-unknown upstream ramifications increase the likelihood of undetected bottlenecks and inefficiencies. It is therefore necessary to develop an approach to strategically master the upstream complexity of such networks from a holistic su...

GlobalSoilMap and Global Carbon Predictions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hempel, Jonathan; McBratney, Alex B.; Arrouays, Dominique

consistently produced soil property information at 100 m resolution across the world. This information will aid in solving some of the key environment and societal issues of the day, including food security, global climate change land degradation and carbon sequestration. Data would be produced using mostly...... the storehouse of existing legacy soils data along with geographic information and a range of covariates. A range of modeling techniques is used dependant on the complexity of the background soil survey information. The key soil properties that would be most useful to the modeling community and other users are...... of soil property values throughout the depth of each profile. Maps have been produced at the country level in the Australia, Canada, Denmark, Nigeria, South Korea and the US and work is on-going in many other parts of the world....

Cosmic Microwave Background Timeline

Science.gov (United States)

Cosmic Microwave Background Timeline 1934 : Richard Tolman shows that blackbody radiation in an will have a blackbody cosmic microwave background with temperature about 5 K 1955: Tigran Shmaonov anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background, this strongly supports the big bang model with gravitational

Characterization, propagation, and simulation of sources and backgrounds; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 2, 3, 1991

Science.gov (United States)

Watkins, Wendell R.; Clement, Dieter

The present conference discusses the design of IR imaging radiometers, IR clutter measurements of marine backgrounds, a global evaluation of thermal IR countermeasures, the estimation of scene-correlation lengths, the dimension and lacunarity measurement of IR images using Hilbert scanning, modeling the time-dependent obscuration in simulated imaging of dust and smoke clouds, and the thermal and radiometric modeling of terrain backgrounds. Also discussed are the simulation of partially obscured scenes using the 'radiosity' method, dynamic sea-image generation, atmospheric propagation effects on pattern recognition by neural networks, a thermal model for real-time textured IR background simulation, and interferometric measurements of a high velocity mixing/shear layer. (No individual items are abstracted in this volume)

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, 1990-2013 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, Theo; Barber, Ryan M.; Bell, Brad; Bertozzi-Villa, Amelia; Biryukov, Stan; Bolliger, Ian; Charlson, Fiona; Davis, Adrian; Degenhardt, Louisa; Dicker, Daniel; Duan, Leilei; Erskine, Holly; Feigin, Valery L.; Ferrari, Alize J.; Fitzmaurice, Christina; Fleming, Thomas; Graetz, Nicholas; Guinovart, Caterina; Haagsma, Juanita; Hansen, Gillian M.; Hanson, Sarah Wulf; Heuton, Kyle R.; Higashi, Hideki; Kassebaum, Nicholas; Kyu, Hmwe; Laurie, Evan; Liang, Xiofeng; Lofgren, Katherine; Lozano, Rafael; MacIntyre, Michael F.; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Naghavi, Mohsen; Nguyen, Grant; Odell, Shaun; Ortblad, Katrina; Roberts, David Allen; Roth, Gregory A.; Sandar, Logan; Serina, Peter T.; Stanaway, Jeffrey D.; Steiner, Caitlyn; Thomas, Bernadette; Vollset, Stein Emil; Whiteford, Harvey; Wolock, Timothy M.; Ye, Pengpeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Avila, Marco A.; Aasvang, Gunn Marit; Hoek, Hans W.

2015-01-01

Background Up-to-date evidence about levels and trends in disease and injury incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) is an essential input into global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013), we estimated these quantities

Hanford Site background: Part 1, Soil background for nonradioactive analytes. Revision 1, Volume 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-04-01

Volume two contains the following appendices: Description of soil sampling sites; sampling narrative; raw data soil background; background data analysis; sitewide background soil sampling plan; and use of soil background data for the detection of contamination at waste management unit on the Hanford Site.

The Uncertainty of Local Background Magnetic Field Orientation in Anisotropic Plasma Turbulence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gerick, F.; Saur, J.; Papen, M. von, E-mail: felix.gerick@uni-koeln.de [Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, Cologne (Germany)

2017-07-01

In order to resolve and characterize anisotropy in turbulent plasma flows, a proper estimation of the background magnetic field is crucially important. Various approaches to calculating the background magnetic field, ranging from local to globally averaged fields, are commonly used in the analysis of turbulent data. We investigate how the uncertainty in the orientation of a scale-dependent background magnetic field influences the ability to resolve anisotropy. Therefore, we introduce a quantitative measure, the angle uncertainty, that characterizes the uncertainty of the orientation of the background magnetic field that turbulent structures are exposed to. The angle uncertainty can be used as a condition to estimate the ability to resolve anisotropy with certain accuracy. We apply our description to resolve the spectral anisotropy in fast solar wind data. We show that, if the angle uncertainty grows too large, the power of the turbulent fluctuations is attributed to false local magnetic field angles, which may lead to an incorrect estimation of the spectral indices. In our results, an apparent robustness of the spectral anisotropy to false local magnetic field angles is observed, which can be explained by a stronger increase of power for lower frequencies when the scale of the local magnetic field is increased. The frequency-dependent angle uncertainty is a measure that can be applied to any turbulent system.

The Uncertainty of Local Background Magnetic Field Orientation in Anisotropic Plasma Turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerick, F.; Saur, J.; Papen, M. von

2017-01-01

In order to resolve and characterize anisotropy in turbulent plasma flows, a proper estimation of the background magnetic field is crucially important. Various approaches to calculating the background magnetic field, ranging from local to globally averaged fields, are commonly used in the analysis of turbulent data. We investigate how the uncertainty in the orientation of a scale-dependent background magnetic field influences the ability to resolve anisotropy. Therefore, we introduce a quantitative measure, the angle uncertainty, that characterizes the uncertainty of the orientation of the background magnetic field that turbulent structures are exposed to. The angle uncertainty can be used as a condition to estimate the ability to resolve anisotropy with certain accuracy. We apply our description to resolve the spectral anisotropy in fast solar wind data. We show that, if the angle uncertainty grows too large, the power of the turbulent fluctuations is attributed to false local magnetic field angles, which may lead to an incorrect estimation of the spectral indices. In our results, an apparent robustness of the spectral anisotropy to false local magnetic field angles is observed, which can be explained by a stronger increase of power for lower frequencies when the scale of the local magnetic field is increased. The frequency-dependent angle uncertainty is a measure that can be applied to any turbulent system.

Background sources at PEP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lynch, H.; Schwitters, R.F.; Toner, W.T.

1988-01-01

Important sources of background for PEP experiments are studied. Background particles originate from high-energy electrons and positrons which have been lost from stable orbits, γ-rays emitted by the primary beams through bremsstrahlung in the residual gas, and synchrotron radiation x-rays. The effect of these processes on the beam lifetime are calculated and estimates of background rates at the interaction region are given. Recommendations for the PEP design, aimed at minimizing background are presented. 7 figs., 4 tabs

School students' knowledge and understanding of the Global Solar ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background. The Global Solar Ultraviolet Index (UVI) is a health communication tool used to inform the public about the health risks of excess solar UV radiation and encourage appropriate sun-protection behaviour. Knowledge and understanding of the UVI has been evaluated among adult populations but not among ...

RELEVANT PROBLEMS OF UKRAINE’S INTEGRATION INTO GLOBAL ECONOMY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yevheniia Duliba

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to study the main problems that prevent Ukraine from integrating into the global economy and to determine correct focuses of the foreign economic policy of Ukraine against the background of strengthening of globalization tendencies throughout the world. The bases of this research are bases of business development of the foreign economic policy of Ukraine and improvement of Ukrainian economy against the background of international integration. At the heart of the research methodology is a dialectical method of scientific knowledge and, besides, special methods of research based on modern scientific bases of economic, management and related to them knowledge: economic and statistic method – for the assessment of the modern state of foreign trade and investment activity of Ukraine; method of analysis and synthesis – for the determination of tendencies of development of integration processed in Ukraine; comparative analysis – for comparison of information concerning development of specific indicators of foreign economic activities in Ukraine. Results. As a result of research, the main blocks of problems, which impede the integration of Ukraine into the global economy, and requirements for their complex solution are determined. Besides, interdependence and interdetermination of problems, which impede the integration of Ukraine into the global economy, and requirements for their complex solution are explained. Political and legal, economic, sociocultural, and infrastructural preconditions that are necessary for effective integration of Ukraine into the global economy are highlighted. Practical implications. Analysis of the existing problems related to the actual economy, investments, innovation processes gives the possibility to determine the vector of development of Ukraine’s economy taking to account recommendations concerning its improvement for the purposes of integration into global economy. Value

Late time neutrino masses, the LSND experiment, and the cosmic microwave background.

Science.gov (United States)

Chacko, Z; Hall, Lawrence J; Oliver, Steven J; Perelstein, Maxim

2005-03-25

Models with low-scale breaking of global symmetries in the neutrino sector provide an alternative to the seesaw mechanism for understanding why neutrinos are light. Such models can easily incorporate light sterile neutrinos required by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector experiment. Furthermore, the constraints on the sterile neutrino properties from nucleosynthesis and large-scale structure can be removed due to the nonconventional cosmological evolution of neutrino masses and densities. We present explicit, fully realistic supersymmetric models, and discuss the characteristic signatures predicted in the angular distributions of the cosmic microwave background.

Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders during 1990-2015

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Comparable data on the global and country-specific burden of neurological disorders and their trends are crucial for health-care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study provides such information but does not routinely...... aggregate results that are of interest to clinicians specialising in neurological conditions. In this systematic analysis, we quantified the global disease burden due to neurological disorders in 2015 and its relationship with country development level. METHODS: We estimated global and country......-specific prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs), and years lived with disability (YLDs) for various neurological disorders that in the GBD classification have been previously spread across multiple disease groupings. The more inclusive grouping of neurological...

Global Dispersal Pattern of HIV Type 1 Subtype CRF01_AE

OpenAIRE

Poljak, Mario; Angelis, Konstantinos; Albert, Jan; Mamais, Ioannis; Magiorkinis, Gkikas; Hatzakis, Angelos; Hamouda, Osamah; Stuck, Daniel; Vercauteren, Jurgen; Wensing, Annemarie; Alexiev, Ivailo

2016-01-01

Background. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype CRF01_AE originated in Africa and then passed to Thailand, where it established a major epidemic. Despite the global presence of CRF01_AE, little is known about its subsequent dispersal pattern. Methods. We assembled a global data set of 2736 CRF01_AE sequences by pooling sequences from public databases and patient-cohort studies. We estimated viral dispersal patterns, using statistical phylogeographic analysis run over bootstrap...

Summarizing background report for Energy Strategy 2025

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-06-01

The Danish Government's long-term energy strategy follows up on the political agreement of 29 March 2004. The energy strategy is a coherent formulation of the Government's long-term energy policy. The pivotal point for the energy strategy is liberalized energy markets and market based tools for obtaining goals such as efficiency, security of supply and environment. The focus is increasingly on the substantial business potential within development of new and more efficient energy technology, in which Denmark takes up several globally strong positions. Furthermore, transportation energy consumption has been included directly in an energy strategy for the first time. At the same time as the energy strategy is presented, a summarizing background report from the Danish Energy Agency with facts, analyses and evaluations is published, as well as a report from energinet.dk that summarizes the system responsibilities' input to that part of the energy strategy that deals with power infrastructure. (BA)

A study on the birth and globalization of sports originated from each continent

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Byung Jin; Kim, Tae Young

2016-01-01

The purpose of this research is to see how continent specific sports rose to its modern-day status through globalization. This research focuses on the historical background of how England’s football, America’s national pastime, baseball, Japan’s Judo, and Korea’s Taekwondo developed into sports in addition to the reasoning behind its globalization. Promoted by England and the rest of the European continent, Soccer is considered to be one of the world’s most popular sports and has served its function as a form of cultural imperialism. It has also advanced alongside commerce, missionary work and other types of cultural clashes. In America, baseball was used to integrate its multicultural society and developed so that the team captain leads the rest of his team. The sports of Oriental countries were reborn through modernization that was influenced by the modern rationality, education etc. of its Western counterparts. Judo and Taekwondo were introduced globally through the Olympic Games. As mentioned above the birth of sporting events has a close connection to a nation’s cultural background and globalization has taken different forms depending on which continent it originated from. PMID:26933653

Outputs of paired Gabor filters summed across the background frame of reference predict the direction of movement

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Teri B.

1989-01-01

A cortical neural network that computes the visibility of shifts in the direction of movement is proposed. The network computes: (1) the magnitude of the position difference between the test and background patterns, (2) localized contrast differences at different spatial scales analyzed by computing temporal gradients of the difference and sum of the outputs of paired even- and odd-symmetric bandpass filters convolved with the input pattern, and (3) using global processes that pool the output from paired even- and odd-symmetric simple and complex cells across the spatial extent of the background frame of reference the direction a test pattern moved relative to a textured background. Evidence that magnocellular pathways are used to discriminate the direction of movement is presented. Since magnocellular pathways are used to discriminate the direction of movement, this task is not affected by small pattern changes such as jitter, short presentations, blurring, and different background contrasts that result when the veiling illumination in a scene changes.

Public engagement on global health challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minhas Gunjeet S

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Experience with public engagement activities regarding the risks and benefits of science and technology (S&T is growing, especially in the industrialized world. However, public engagement in the developing world regarding S&T risks and benefits to explore health issues has not been widely explored. Methods This paper gives an overview about public engagement and related concepts, with a particular focus on challenges and benefits in the developing world. We then describe an Internet-based platform, which seeks to both inform and engage youth and the broader public on global water issues and their health impacts. Finally, we outline a possible course for future action to scale up this and similar online public engagement platforms. Results The benefits of public engagement include creating an informed citizenry, generating new ideas from the public, increasing the chances of research being adopted, increasing public trust, and answering ethical research questions. Public engagement also fosters global communication, enables shared experiences and methodology, standardizes strategy, and generates global viewpoints. This is especially pertinent to the developing world, as it encourages previously marginalized populations to participate on a global stage. One of the core issues at stake in public engagement is global governance of science and technology. Also, beyond benefiting society at large, public engagement in science offers benefits to the scientific enterprise itself. Conclusion Successful public engagement with developing world stakeholders will be a critical part of implementing new services and technologies. Interactive engagement platforms, such as the Internet, have the potential to unite people globally around relevant health issues.

Chasing the limelight: Belgrade and Istanbul in the global competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stupar Aleksandra

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare main changes of contemporary Belgrade and Istanbul - two urban nodes at the crossroads of different and multileveled flows. Following the same pattern of global activation, inevitable competition and networking, these cities are trying to synchronize their multidimensional background, establish new patterns of global behavior and adjust them to the dynamism of modern life. Consequently, their historical role has been modified, urban tissue has been developed, recreated and regenerated, and the output of this process represents an attractive testimony of their global initiation. Revealing the ambiguous nature of strong economic forces as well as a new fusion of urban cultures, Belgrade and Istanbul are structuring the globalized image with the new key-elements. However, their true potential and the real efficiency of this process should be re-evaluated - the changed physiognomy of the city could improve its position in the global hierarchy and facilitate its integration into the global community, but, sometimes, local limitations are too complex and too strong to be ignored.

Global patterns of evolutionary distinct and globally endangered amphibians and mammals.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamran Safi

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Conservation of phylogenetic diversity allows maximising evolutionary information preserved within fauna and flora. The "EDGE of Existence" programme is the first institutional conservation initiative that prioritises species based on phylogenetic information. Species are ranked in two ways: one according to their evolutionary distinctiveness (ED and second, by including IUCN extinction status, their evolutionary distinctiveness and global endangerment (EDGE. Here, we describe the global patterns in the spatial distribution of priority ED and EDGE species, in order to identify conservation areas for mammalian and amphibian communities. In addition, we investigate whether environmental conditions can predict the observed spatial pattern in ED and EDGE globally. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Priority zones with high concentrations of ED and EDGE scores were defined using two different methods. The overlap between mammal and amphibian zones was very small, reflecting the different phylo-biogeographic histories. Mammal ED zones were predominantly found on the African continent and the neotropical forests, whereas in amphibians, ED zones were concentrated in North America. Mammal EDGE zones were mainly in South-East Asia, southern Africa and Madagascar; for amphibians they were in central and south America. The spatial pattern of ED and EDGE was poorly described by a suite of environmental variables. CONCLUSIONS: Mapping the spatial distribution of ED and EDGE provides an important step towards identifying priority areas for the conservation of mammalian and amphibian phylogenetic diversity in the EDGE of existence programme.

Aerosol and gamma background measurements at Basic Environmental Observatory Moussala

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelov Christo

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Trans boundary and local pollution, global climate changes and cosmic rays are the main areas of research performed at the regional Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW station Moussala BEO (2925 m a.s.l., 42°10’45’’ N, 23°35’07’’ E. Real time measurements and observations are performed in the field of atmospheric chemistry and physics. Complex information about the aerosol is obtained by using a threewavelength integrating Nephelometer for measuring the scattering and backscattering coefficients, a continuous light absorption photometer and a scanning mobile particle sizer. The system for measuring radioactivity and heavy metals in aerosols allows us to monitor a large scale radioactive aerosol transport. The measurements of the gamma background and the gamma-rays spectrum in the air near Moussala peak are carried out in real time. The HYSPLIT back trajectory model is used to determine the origin of the data registered. DREAM code calculations [2] are used to forecast the air mass trajectory. The information obtained combined with a full set of corresponding meteorological parameters is transmitted via a high frequency radio telecommunication system to the Internet.

The global burden of listeriosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.M. de Noordhout (Charline Maertens); B. Devleesschauwer (Brecht); F.J. Angulo (Frederick); G. Verbeke (Geert); J.A. Haagsma (Juanita); M. Kirk (Martyn); A.H. Havelaar (Arie); N. Speybroeck (Niko)

2014-01-01

textabstractBackground: Listeriosis, caused by Listeria monocytogenes, is an important foodborne disease that can be difficult to control and commonly results in severe clinical outcomes. We aimed to provide the first estimates of global numbers of illnesses, deaths, and disability-adjusted

Global Justice Protest Events and the Production of Knowledge about Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Daro, Vinci E. F.

2009-01-01

Recent social movement activities--in particular, transnationally-coordinated global justice mobilizations--require participants to work across substantial differences in languages, cultural backgrounds, political visions, and organizing traditions. Negotiating such differences is an active, adaptive, and learning-intensive process. In contrast to…

Disability weights for the Global Burden of Disease 2013 study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Salomon, Joshua A.; Haagsma, Juanita A.; Davis, Adrian; de Noordhout, Charline Maertens; Polinder, Suzanne; Havelaar, Arie H.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/072306122; Cassini, Alessandro; Devleesschauwer, Brecht; Kretzschmar, Mirjam; Speybroeck, Niko; Murray, Christopher J L; Vos, Theo

2015-01-01

Background: The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study assesses health losses from diseases, injuries, and risk factors using disability-adjusted life-years, which need a set of disability weights to quantify health levels associated with non-fatal outcomes. The objective of this study was to estimate

Disability weights for the Global Burden of Disease 2013 study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Salomon, Joshua A; Haagsma, Juanita A; Davis, Adrian; de Noordhout, Charline Maertens; Polinder, Suzanne; Havelaar, Arie H; Cassini, Alessandro; Devleesschauwer, Brecht; Kretzschmar, MEE; Speybroeck, Niko; Murray, Christopher J L; Vos, Theo

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study assesses health losses from diseases, injuries, and risk factors using disability-adjusted life-years, which need a set of disability weights to quantify health levels associated with non-fatal outcomes. The objective of this study was to estimate

Developing global health technology standards: what can other industries teach us?

Science.gov (United States)

Masum, Hassan; Lackman, Rebecca; Bartleson, Karen

2013-10-17

There is a lack of effective and affordable technologies to address health needs in the developing world. One way to address problems of innovation and affordability is to design global health technologies to follow agreed-upon standards. This Debate article argues that we can better develop standards for global health technologies if we learn lessons from other industries. The article's Background section begins by explaining why standards are needed in global health. For example, if global health technologies can be modularized into independent interfacing parts, these parts can then interact via well-defined standards in a "plug and play" fashion. This can avoid development of mutually incompatible solutions by different organizations, speed the pace of innovation, unlock health systems from single providers and approaches, and lower barriers to entry. The Background then gives a brief primer on standards and discusses incentives for health standards. The article's Discussion section begins with brief relevant cases of standards development from other industries, including electricity, container shipping, CD standards, Universal Serial Bus (USB), and the Internet. It then explores lessons from these and other industries that suggest how to develop standards for global health technologies. The remainder of the Discussion considers intellectual property and regulatory issues and standards-based global health business models, and ends with a checklist of considerations for health standards development leaders. (The associated Additional file discusses observations from standards development for cell phones and semiconductors, as well as challenges in the standards development process itself.) Throughout the article, point-of-care diagnostics are used as an illustrative example. An initiative is already underway to explore standardized diagnostics platforms. This Debate article aims to convince the reader that standards can benefit global health technologies if we

Gravitational waves from global second order phase transitions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jr, John T. Giblin [Department of Physics, Kenyon College, 201 North College Rd, Gambier, OH 43022 (United States); Price, Larry R.; Siemens, Xavier; Vlcek, Brian, E-mail: giblinj@kenyon.edu, E-mail: larryp@caltech.edu, E-mail: siemens@gravity.phys.uwm.edu, E-mail: bvlcek@uwm.edu [Center for Gravitation and Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201 (United States)

2012-11-01

Global second-order phase transitions are expected to produce scale-invariant gravitational wave spectra. In this manuscript we explore the dynamics of a symmetry-breaking phase transition using lattice simulations. We explicitly calculate the stochastic gravitational wave background produced during the transition and subsequent self-ordering phase. We comment on this signal as it compares to the scale-invariant spectrum produced during inflation.

Detecting signatures of cosmological recombination and reionization in the cosmic radio background

Science.gov (United States)

Subrahmanyan, Ravi; Shankar Narayana Rao, Udaya; Sathyanarayana Rao, Mayuri; Singh, Saurabh

2015-08-01

Evolution of the baryons during the Epochs of cosmological Recombination and Reionization has left traces in the cosmic radio background in the form of spectral distortions (Sunyaev & Chluba 2008 Astron. Nachrichten, 330, 657; Pritchard & Loeb 2012 Rep Prog Phys 75(8):086901). The spectral signature depends on the evolution in the ionization state in hydrogen and helium and on the spin temperature of hydrogen. These probe the physics of energy release beyond the last scattering surface at redshifts exceeding 1090 and the nature of the first sources and gas evolution down to redshift about 6. The spectral distortions are sensitive to the nature of the first stars, ultra-dwarf galaxies, accreting compact objects, and the evolving ambient radiation field: X-rays and UV from the first sources. Detection of the all-sky or global spectral distortions in the radio background is hence a probe of cosmological recombination and reionization.We present new spectral radiometers that we have purpose designed for precision measurements of spectral distortions at radio wavelengths. New antenna elements include frequency independent and electrically small fat-dipole (Raghunathan et al. 2013 IEEE TAP, 61, 3411) and monopole designs. Receiver configurations have been devised that are self-calibratable (Patra et al. 2013 Expt Astron, 36, 319) so that switching of signal paths and of calibration noise sources provide real time calibration for systematics and receiver noise. Observing strategies (Patra et al. arXiv:1412.7762) and analysis methods (Satyanarayana Rao et al. arXiv:1501.07191) have been evolved that are capable of discriminating between the cosmological signals and the substantially brighter foregrounds. We have also demonstrated the value of system designs that exploit advantages of interferometer detection (Mahesh et al. arXiv:1406.2585) of global spectral distortions.Finally we discuss how the Square Kilometer Array stations may be outfitted with precision spectral

Global Isomorphism and Governance Reform in Chinese Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Yuzhuo

2010-01-01

In the past three decades, higher education reforms have taken place almost everywhere in the world, and governance or the way that higher education is or should be coordinated has become a global topic. The governance reform in Chinese higher education emerged against such a background. The current studies on Chinese higher education reforms…

Teacher Education, the Global Financial Crisis, Frogs and Bicycles

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Lorraine

2012-01-01

Background: The extent to which the global financial crisis (GFC) has impacted upon teacher education in universities in Australia is potentially, like most other aspects of teacher education, a contested area. Purpose, aims/questions: The aim of this article is to examine the impact the GFC along with other funding constraints, has had on teacher…

Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980-2016 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoek, H. W.; van Boven, Job; Postma, Maarten

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Monitoring levels and trends in premature mortality is crucial to understanding how societies can address prominent sources of early death. The Global Burden of Disease 2016 Study (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive assessment of cause-specific mortality for 264 causes in 195 locations

Global spacetime symmetries in the functional Schroedinger picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Halliwell, J.J.

1991-01-01

In the conventional functional Schroedinger quantization of field theory, the background spacetime manifold is foliated into a set of three-surfaces and the quantum state of the field is represented by a wave functional of the field configurations on each three-surface. Although this procedure may be covariantly described, the wave functionals generally fail to carry a representation of the complete spacetime symmetry group of the background, such as the Poincare group in Minkowski spacetime, because spacetime symmetries generally involve distortions or motions of the three-surfaces themselves within that spacetime. In this paper, we show that global spacetime symmetries in the functional Schroedinger picture may be represented by parametrizing the field theory---raising to the status of dynamical variables the embedding variables describing the spacetime location of each three-surface. In particular, we show that the embedding variables provide a connection between the purely geometrical operation of an isometry group on the spacetime and the operation of the usual global symmetry generators (constructed from the energy-momentum tensor) on the wave functionals of the theory. We study the path-integral representation of the wave functionals of the parametrized field theory. We show how to construct, from the path integral, wave functionals that are annihilated by the global symmetry generators, i.e., that are invariant under global spacetime symmetry groups. The invariance of the class of histories summed over in the path integral is identified as the source of the invariance of the wave functionals. We apply this understanding to a study of vacuum states in the de Sitter spacetime. We make mathematically precise a previously given heuristic argument for the de Sitter invariance of the matter wave functionals defined by the no-boundary proposal of Hartle and Hawking

Background enhancement in breast MR: Correlation with breast density in mammography and background echotexture in ultrasound

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ko, Eun Sook; Lee, Byung Hee; Choi, Hye Young; Kim, Rock Bum; Noh, Woo-Chul

2011-01-01

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether background enhancement on MR was related to mammographic breast density or ultrasonographic background echotexture in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Materials and methods: We studied 142 patients (79 premenopausal, 63 postmenopausal) who underwent mammography, ultrasonography, and breast MR. We reviewed the mammography for overall breast density of the contralateral normal breast according to the four-point scale of the BI-RADS classification. Ultrasound findings were classified as homogeneous or heterogeneous background echotexture according to the BI-RADS lexicon. We rated background enhancement on a contralateral breast MR into four categories based on subtraction images: absent, mild, moderate, and marked. All imaging findings were interpreted independently by two readers without knowledge of menstrual status, imaging findings of other modalities. Results: There were significant differences between the premenopausal and postmenopausal group in distribution of mammographic breast density, ultrasonographic background echotexture, and degree of background enhancement. Regarding the relationship between mammographic density and background enhancement, there was no significant correlation. There was significant relationship between ultrasonographic background echotexture and background enhancement in both premenopausal and postmenopausal groups. Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between ultrasonographic background echotexture and background enhancement in MR regardless of menopausal status. Interpreting breast MR, or scheduling for breast MR of women showing heterogeneous background echotexture needs more caution.

How does the dengue vector mosquito Aedes albopictus respond to global warming?

OpenAIRE

Jia, Pengfei; Chen, Xiang; Chen, Jin; Lu, Liang; Liu, Qiyong; Tan, Xiaoyue

2017-01-01

Background Global warming has a marked influence on the life cycle of epidemic vectors as well as their interactions with human beings. The Aedes albopictus mosquito as the vector of dengue fever surged exponentially in the last decade, raising ecological and epistemological concerns of how climate change altered its growth rate and population dynamics. As the global warming pattern is considerably uneven across four seasons, with a confirmed stronger effect in winter, an emerging need arises...

Visual signal detection in structured backgrounds. II. Effects of contrast gain control, background variations, and white noise

Science.gov (United States)

Eckstein, M. P.; Ahumada, A. J. Jr; Watson, A. B.

1997-01-01

Studies of visual detection of a signal superimposed on one of two identical backgrounds show performance degradation when the background has high contrast and is similar in spatial frequency and/or orientation to the signal. To account for this finding, models include a contrast gain control mechanism that pools activity across spatial frequency, orientation and space to inhibit (divisively) the response of the receptor sensitive to the signal. In tasks in which the observer has to detect a known signal added to one of M different backgrounds grounds due to added visual noise, the main sources of degradation are the stochastic noise in the image and the suboptimal visual processing. We investigate how these two sources of degradation (contrast gain control and variations in the background) interact in a task in which the signal is embedded in one of M locations in a complex spatially varying background (structured background). We use backgrounds extracted from patient digital medical images. To isolate effects of the fixed deterministic background (the contrast gain control) from the effects of the background variations, we conduct detection experiments with three different background conditions: (1) uniform background, (2) a repeated sample of structured background, and (3) different samples of structured background. Results show that human visual detection degrades from the uniform background condition to the repeated background condition and degrades even further in the different backgrounds condition. These results suggest that both the contrast gain control mechanism and the background random variations degrade human performance in detection of a signal in a complex, spatially varying background. A filter model and added white noise are used to generate estimates of sampling efficiencies, an equivalent internal noise, an equivalent contrast-gain-control-induced noise, and an equivalent noise due to the variations in the structured background.

Global suppression of electrocortical activity in unilateral perinatal thalamic stroke.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Kharoshankaya, Liudmila

2014-07-01

We present an unusual case of persistent generalized electroencephalography (EEG) suppression and right-sided clonic seizures in a male infant born at 40(+2) weeks\\' gestation, birthweight 3240g, with an isolated unilateral thalamic stroke. The EEG at 13 hours after birth showed a generalized very low amplitude background pattern, which progressed to frequent electrographic seizures over the left hemisphere. The interictal background EEG pattern remained grossly abnormal over the next 48 hours, showing very low background amplitudes (<10μV). Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an isolated acute left-sided thalamic infarction. This is the first description of severe global EEG suppression caused by an isolated unilateral thalamic stroke and supports the role of the thalamus as the control centre for cortical electrical activity.

Translation on Its Own Terms? Toward Education for Global Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Naoko

2017-01-01

Roger Ames' keynote provides a powerful orientation for thinking about translation. Against the background of his outstanding research career as a mediator between East and West, he offers a clear vision of global cultivation through what he calls "cultural translation." Encouraging and insightful as Ames' account of translation is, and…

Global Burden of Leptospirosis: Estimated in Terms of Disability Adjusted Life Years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Torgerson, Paul R.; Hagan, José E.; Costa, Federico; Calcagno, Juan; Kane, Michael; Martinez-Silveira, Martha S.; Goris, Marga G. A.; Stein, Claudia; Ko, Albert I.; Abela-Ridder, Bernadette

2015-01-01

Background Leptospirosis, a spirochaetal zoonosis, occurs in diverse epidemiological settings and affects vulnerable populations, such as rural subsistence farmers and urban slum dwellers. Although leptospirosis can cause life-threatening disease, there is no global burden of disease estimate in

Peripheral global neglect in high versus low autistic tendency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Paul Crewther

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In addition to its core social deficits, autism is characterised by altered visual perception, with a preference for local percept in those high in autistic tendency. Here, the balance of global versus local percepts for the perceptually rivalrous diamond illusion was assessed between groups scoring high and low on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ. The global percept of a diamond shape oscillating horizontally behind three occluders can as easily be interpreted as the local percept of four line elements, each moving vertically. Increasing the luminance contrast of the occluders with respect to background resulted in an increase of initial global percept in both groups, with no difference in sensitivity between groups. Presenting the target further into the periphery resulted in a marked increase in the percentage of global perception with visual field eccentricity. However, while the performance for centrally presented diamond targets was not different between AQ groups, the peripheral global performance of the High AQ group was significantly reduced compared with the Low AQ group. On the basis of other imaging studies, this peripheral but not foveal global perceptual neglect may indicate an abnormal interaction between striate cortex and the Lateral Occipital Complex, or to differences in the deployment of attention between the two groups.

Background noise levels in Europe

OpenAIRE

Gjestland, Truls

2008-01-01

- This report gives a brief overview of typical background noise levels in Europe, and suggests a procedure for the prediction of background noise levels based on population density. A proposal for the production of background noise maps for Europe is included.

Global yellow fever vaccination coverage from 1970 to 2016: an adjusted retrospective analysis

OpenAIRE

Shearer, FM; Moyes, CL; Pigott, DM; Marinho, F; Deshpande, A; Longbottom, J; Browne, AJ; Kraemer, MUG; O’Reilly, KM; Hombach, J; Yactayo, S; de Araújo, VEM; da Nόbrega, AA; Mosser, JF; Stanaway, JD

2017-01-01

Summary Background: Substantial outbreaks of yellow fever in Angola and Brazil in the past 2 years, combined with global shortages in vaccine stockpiles, highlight a pressing need to assess present control strategies. The aims of this study were to estimate global yellow fever vaccination coverage from 1970 through to 2016 at high spatial resolution and to calculate the number of individuals still requiring vaccination to reach population coverage thresholds for outbreak prevention. Methods: ...

Toward international law on global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shultz, E.B. Jr.; Johns, C.; Pauken, M.T.

1991-01-01

Legal precedent in the history of international environmental law is considered. Then, the legal principles, rights and obligations related to transboundary environmental interference are drawn from the precedent. From this legal and historical background, and a brief overview of the principal technical aspects of the emerging global warming problem, the authors suggest a number of possible international protocols. These include outlines of multilateral treaties on energy efficiency, reduction in utilization of coal, increased adoption efficiency, reduction in utilization of coal, increased adoption of renewable and solar energy, and stimulation of several types of forestation, with creation of practical regimes and remedies. Each protocol has its own environmental social and economic merits and urgency, apart from the prevention of global warming. In each suggested protocol, the political obstacles are analyzed. Suggestions are presented for reduction of levels of disagreement standing in the way of obtaining viable treaties likely to be upheld in practice by the signatories. An agenda for study and action is presented, on the assumption that prudence dictates that international environmental law must be expanded as soon as feasible to regulate global warming

E-Waste and Harm to Vulnerable Populations : A Growing Global Problem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heacock, Michelle; Kelly, Carol B; Asante, Kwadwo A; Birnbaum, Linda S; Bergman, Ake L; Bruné, Marie-Noel; Buka, Irena; Carpenter, David O; Chen, Aimin; Huo, Xia; Kamel, Mostafa; Landrigan, Philip J; Magalini, Federico; Diaz-Barriga, Fernando; Neira, Maria; Omar, Magdy; Pascale, Antonio; Ruchirawat, Mathuros; Sly, Leith; Sly, Peter D; Van den Berg, Martin; Suk, William A

BACKGROUND: Electronic waste (e-waste) is produced in staggering quantities, estimated globally to be 41.8 million tonnes in 2014. Informal e-waste recycling is a source of much-needed income in many low- to middle-income countries. However, its handling and disposal in underdeveloped countries is

Robustness of cosmic neutrino background detection in the cosmic microwave background

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Audren, Benjamin [Institut de Théorie des Phénomènes Physiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne (Switzerland); Bellini, Emilio; Cuesta, Antonio J.; Verde, Licia [Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, IEEC-UB, Martí i Franquès 1, E08028 Barcelona (Spain); Gontcho, Satya Gontcho A; Pérez-Ràfols, Ignasi [Dept. d' Astronomia i Meteorologia, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, IEEC-UB, Martí i Franquès 1, E08028 Barcelona (Spain); Lesgourgues, Julien [CERN, Theory Division, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Niro, Viviana [Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Calle Nicolás Cabrera 13-15, Cantoblanco, E-28049 Madrid (Spain); Pellejero-Ibanez, Marcos; Tramonte, Denis [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), C/Vía Láctea s/n, E-38200, La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Poulin, Vivian [LAPTh, Université de Savoie, CNRS, B.P.110, Annecy-le-Vieux F-74941 (France); Tram, Thomas, E-mail: emilio.bellini@icc.ub.edu [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3FX (United Kingdom)

2015-03-01

The existence of a cosmic neutrino background can be probed indirectly by CMB experiments, not only by measuring the background density of radiation in the universe, but also by searching for the typical signatures of the fluctuations of free-streaming species in the temperature and polarisation power spectrum. Previous studies have already proposed a rather generic parametrisation of these fluctuations, that could help to discriminate between the signature of ordinary free-streaming neutrinos, or of more exotic dark radiation models. Current data are compatible with standard values of these parameters, which seems to bring further evidence for the existence of a cosmic neutrino background. In this work, we investigate the robustness of this conclusion under various assumptions. We generalise the definition of an effective sound speed and viscosity speed to the case of massive neutrinos or other dark radiation components experiencing a non-relativistic transition. We show that current bounds on these effective parameters do not vary significantly when considering an arbitrary value of the particle mass, or extended cosmological models with a free effective neutrino number, dynamical dark energy or a running of the primordial spectrum tilt. We conclude that it is possible to make a robust statement about the detection of the cosmic neutrino background by CMB experiments.

Progress towards a global nuclear liability regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

During its April 2014 meeting, the Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy held a policy debate on 'Progress towards a Global Nuclear Liability Regime'. The Steering Committee heard presentations from several experts on nuclear liability issues. To prepare the delegates to the Steering Committee for the policy debate, the NEA Secretariat prepared a background note on the status of the nuclear liability regimes, as well as on current issues and challenges in implementing the regimes. This article is based on the background note and is intended to provide basic information on the relevant international conventions and an overview of recent developments to enhance the understanding of the legal framework in which policy-makers and practitioners are engaging to respond to the call for broader adherence to the international liability instruments. (authors)

Non-collision backgrounds in ATLAS

CERN Document Server

Gibson, S M; The ATLAS collaboration

2012-01-01

The proton-proton collision events recorded by the ATLAS experiment are on top of a background that is due to both collision debris and non-collision components. The latter comprises of three types: beam-induced backgrounds, cosmic particles and detector noise. We present studies that focus on the first two of these. We give a detailed description of beam-related and cosmic backgrounds based on the full 2011 ATLAS data set, and present their rates throughout the whole data-taking period. Studies of correlations between tertiary proton halo and muon backgrounds, as well as, residual pressure and resulting beam-gas events seen in beam-condition monitors will be presented. Results of simulations based on the LHC geometry and its parameters will be presented. They help to better understand the features of beam-induced backgrounds in each ATLAS sub-detector. The studies of beam-induced backgrounds in ATLAS reveal their characteristics and serve as a basis for designing rejection tools that can be applied in physic...

Requirements for Xenon International

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hayes, James C.; Ely, James H.

2013-09-26

This document defines the requirements for the new Xenon International radioxenon system. The output of this project will be a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed prototype and a manufacturer-developed production prototype. The two prototypes are intended to be as close to matching as possible; this will be facilitated by overlapping development cycles and open communication between PNNL and the manufacturer.

Requirements for Xenon International

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hayes, James C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Ely, James H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Haas, Derek A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Harper, Warren W. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Heimbigner, Tom R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Hubbard, Charles W. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Humble, Paul H. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Madison, Jill C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Morris, Scott J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Panisko, Mark E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Ripplinger, Mike D. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Stewart, Timothy L. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-12-30

This document defines the requirements for the new Xenon International radioxenon system. The output of this project will be a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed prototype and a manufacturer-developed production prototype. The two prototypes are intended to be as close to matching as possible; this will be facilitated by overlapping development cycles and open communication between PNNL and the manufacturer.

The Weakly Nonlinear Magnetorotational Instability in a Global, Cylindrical Taylor–Couette Flow

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clark, S. E. [Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Oishi, Jeffrey S., E-mail: seclark@astro.columbia.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240 (United States)

2017-05-20

We conduct a global, weakly nonlinear analysis of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a Taylor–Couette flow. This is a multiscale, perturbative treatment of the nonideal, axisymmetric MRI near threshold, subject to realistic radial boundary conditions and cylindrical geometry. We analyze both the standard MRI, initialized by a constant vertical background magnetic field, and the helical MRI, with an azimuthal background field component. This is the first weakly nonlinear analysis of the MRI in a global Taylor–Couette geometry, as well as the first weakly nonlinear analysis of the helical MRI. We find that the evolution of the amplitude of the standard MRI is described by a real Ginzburg–Landau equation (GLE), whereas the amplitude of the helical MRI takes the form of a complex GLE. This suggests that the saturated state of the helical MRI may itself be unstable on long spatial and temporal scales.

Background subtraction theory and practice

CERN Document Server

Elgammal, Ahmed

2014-01-01

Background subtraction is a widely used concept for detection of moving objects in videos. In the last two decades there has been a lot of development in designing algorithms for background subtraction, as well as wide use of these algorithms in various important applications, such as visual surveillance, sports video analysis, motion capture, etc. Various statistical approaches have been proposed to model scene backgrounds. The concept of background subtraction also has been extended to detect objects from videos captured from moving cameras. This book reviews the concept and practice of back

Global public health today: connecting the dots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Lomazzi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Global public health today faces new challenges and is impacted by a range of actors from within and outside state boundaries. The diversity of the actors involved has created challenges and a complex environment that requires a new context-tailored global approach. The World Federation of Public Health Associations has embarked on a collaborative consultation with the World Health Organization to encourage a debate on how to adapt public health to its future role in global health. Design: A qualitative study was undertaken. High-level stakeholders from leading universities, multilateral organizations, and other institutions worldwide participated in the study. Inductive content analyses were performed. Results: Stakeholders underscored that global public health today should tackle the political, commercial, economic, social, and environmental determinants of health and social inequalities. A multisectoral and holistic approach should be guaranteed, engaging public health in broad dialogues and a concerted decision-making process. The connection between neoliberal ideology and public health reforms should be taken into account. The WHO must show leadership and play a supervising and technical role. More and better data are required across many programmatic areas of public health. Resources should be allocated in a sustainable and accountable way. Public health professionals need new skills that should be provided by a collaborative global education system. A common framework context-tailored to influence governments has been evaluated as useful. Conclusions: The study highlighted some of the main public health challenges currently under debate in the global arena, providing interesting ideas. A more inclusive integrated vision of global health in its complexity, shared and advocated for by all stakeholders involved in decision-making processes, is crucial. This vision represents the first step in innovating public health at the

Global public health today: connecting the dots

Science.gov (United States)

Lomazzi, Marta; Jenkins, Christopher; Borisch, Bettina

2016-01-01

Background Global public health today faces new challenges and is impacted by a range of actors from within and outside state boundaries. The diversity of the actors involved has created challenges and a complex environment that requires a new context-tailored global approach. The World Federation of Public Health Associations has embarked on a collaborative consultation with the World Health Organization to encourage a debate on how to adapt public health to its future role in global health. Design A qualitative study was undertaken. High-level stakeholders from leading universities, multilateral organizations, and other institutions worldwide participated in the study. Inductive content analyses were performed. Results Stakeholders underscored that global public health today should tackle the political, commercial, economic, social, and environmental determinants of health and social inequalities. A multisectoral and holistic approach should be guaranteed, engaging public health in broad dialogues and a concerted decision-making process. The connection between neoliberal ideology and public health reforms should be taken into account. The WHO must show leadership and play a supervising and technical role. More and better data are required across many programmatic areas of public health. Resources should be allocated in a sustainable and accountable way. Public health professionals need new skills that should be provided by a collaborative global education system. A common framework context-tailored to influence governments has been evaluated as useful. Conclusions The study highlighted some of the main public health challenges currently under debate in the global arena, providing interesting ideas. A more inclusive integrated vision of global health in its complexity, shared and advocated for by all stakeholders involved in decision-making processes, is crucial. This vision represents the first step in innovating public health at the global level and should lead

Load and Global Response of Ships

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Jørgen Juncher

The present monograph covers wave load and global structural response for ships. It is primary written as a textbook for students with an introductionary background in naval architecture and a basic knowledge of statistics and strength of materials. The subjects are treated in details starting from...... first principles. The aim has been to derive and present the necessary theoretical framework for predicting the extreme loads and the corresponding hull girder stresses the ship may be subjected to during its operational lifetime.Although some account is given to reliabiity analysis, the present...

Correlation of Global N-Acetyl Aspartate With Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kahr Mathiesen, Henrik; Jonsson, Agnete; Tscherning, Thomas

2006-01-01

BACKGROUND: Whole-brain N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), a measure of neuronal function, can be assessed by multislice echo-planar spectroscopic imaging. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that the global brain NAA/creatine (Cr) ratio is a better predictor of cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis...

Towards a coherent global framework for health financing: recommendations and recent developments.

Science.gov (United States)

Ottersen, Trygve; Elovainio, Riku; Evans, David B; McCoy, David; Mcintyre, Di; Meheus, Filip; Moon, Suerie; Ooms, Gorik; Røttingen, John-Arne

2017-04-01

The articles in this special issue have demonstrated how unprecedented transitions have come with both challenges and opportunities for health financing. Against the background of these challenges and opportunities, the Working Group on Health Financing at the Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security laid out, in 2014, a set of policy responses encapsulated in 20 recommendations for how to make progress towards a coherent global framework for health financing. These recommendations pertain to domestic financing of national health systems, global public goods for health, external financing for national health systems and the cross-cutting issues of accountability and agreement on a new global framework. Since the Working Group concluded its work, multiple events have reinforced the group's recommendations. Among these are the agreement on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and the release of the Panama Papers. These events also represent new stepping stones towards a new global framework.

Recognition of people with an opinion that nuclear power generation causes global warming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukue, Chiyokazu

2004-01-01

Almost a half of the people are thinking that nuclear power generation causes global warming. We conducted a survey in order to explore the recognition and background for the thinking of people. Consequently, the existence of the right knowledge ''nuclear power generation does not discharge carbon dioxide at the time of power generation'' influenced most the idea which nuclear power generation prevents global warming. On the other hand, the misunderstanding as ''the radioactive material produced from a nuclear power plant advances global warming'' has influenced the idea considered as a cause, and it is though that this misunderstanding depend on the negative image to nuclear power generation. Moreover, many people do not recognize the mechanism of global warming, and it is thought that they confuse global warming with the other global environment problems, such as acid rain or ozone layer destruction. Therefore, it is required to spread the knowledge that nuclear power generation does not discharge carbon dioxide, and to promote the understanding that a radioactive material is not related to global warming. Furthermore, it is required to distinguish global warming from the other global environment problems, and to explain them intelligibly. (author)

Robustness of cosmic neutrino background detection in the cosmic microwave background

CERN Document Server

Audren, Benjamin; Cuesta, Antonio J; Gontcho, Satya Gontcho A; Lesgourgues, Julien; Niro, Viviana; Pellejero-Ibanez, Marcos; Pérez-Ràfols, Ignasi; Poulin, Vivian; Tram, Thomas; Tramonte, Denis; Verde, Licia

2015-01-01

The existence of a cosmic neutrino background can be probed indirectly by CMB experiments, not only by measuring the background density of radiation in the universe, but also by searching for the typical signatures of the fluctuations of free-streaming species in the temperature and polarisation power spectrum. Previous studies have already proposed a rather generic parametrisation of these fluctuations, that could help to discriminate between the signature of ordinary free-streaming neutrinos, or of more exotic dark radiation models. Current data are compatible with standard values of these parameters, which seems to bring further evidence for the existence of a cosmic neutrino background. In this work, we investigate the robustness of this conclusion under various assumptions. We generalise the definition of an effective sound speed and viscosity speed to the case of massive neutrinos or other dark radiation components experiencing a non-relativistic transition. We show that current bounds on these effectiv...

Order in the turbulent phase of globally coupled maps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez, G.; Sinha, S.; Cerdeira, H.A.

1991-04-01

The very surprising broad peaks seen in the power spectra of the mean field in a globally coupled map system, indicating subtle coherences between the elements even in the ''turbulent'' phase, are investigated in detail with respect to number of elements coupled, nonlinearity and global coupling strength. We find that the peaks are determined by two distinct components: effective renormalization of the nonlinearity parameter in the local mapping and the strength of the mean field iteration term. We also demonstrate the influence of background noise on the peaks - which is quite counterintuitive, as the peaks become sharper with increase in strength of noise, up to a certain critical noise strength. (author). 11 refs, 10 figs

GLOBAL WARMING: IS A NEW THREAT?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ayca Eminoglu

2008-09-30

In the Post Cold War era, the concepts of ''security'', ''national security'', and ''international security'' have changed with regard to their contents and meanings. Such developments made states to renew their national security policies. Security is a special form of politics as well. All security issues are political problems but not all political conflicts are security issues. In the Post Cold War era, differentiating and increasing numbers of elements that constitutes threat changed the concept of threat and widen the capacity of security. In this term, many elements lost its effect of being a threat but also new threatening elements emerged. Environmental problems, human rights, mass migration, micro nationalism, ethnic conflicts, religious fundamentalism, contagious diseases, international terrorism, economic instabilities, drug and weapon smuggling and human trafficking are the new problems emerged in international security agenda. Environmental problems no longer take place in security issues and can be mentioned as a ''low security'' issue. They are threats to the global commons i.e. the oceans, the seas, the ozone layer and the climate system, which are life supports for mankind as a whole. Global warming is one of the most important environmental issues of our day that effects human life in every field and can be defined as a 'serious threat to international security'. Because of global warming, environmental changes will occur and these changes will cause conflicting issues in international relations. Because of global warming dwindling freshwater supplies, food shortages, political instability and other conflicts may take place. Some IR scholars see a need for global cooperation in order to face the threat. At the background of global warming and its effects, states have to get preventive measures and normally, each state form its own measures, therefore as a

Global, regional, and national deaths, prevalence, disability-adjusted life years, and years lived with disability for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soriano, Joan B.; Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Agrawal, Anurag; Ahmed, Muktar Beshir; Aichour, Amani Nidhal; Aichour, Ibtihel; Aichour, Miloud Taki Eddine; Alam, Khurshid; Alam, Noore; Alkaabi, Juma M.; Al-Maskari, Fatma; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amberbir, Alemayehu; Amoako, Yaw Ampem; Ansha, Mustafa Geleto; Anto, Josep M.; Asayesh, Hamid; Atey, Tesfay Mehari; Avokpaho, Euripide Frinel G. Arthur; Barac, Aleksandra; Basu, Sanjay; Bedi, Neeraj; Bensenor, Isabela M.; Berhane, Adugnaw; Beyene, Addisu Shunu; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Biryukov, Stan; Boneya, Dube Jara; Brauer, Michael; Carpenter, David O.; Casey, Daniel; Christopher, Devasahayam Jesudas; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Huyen Phuc Do,; Fischer, Florian; Geleto, Ayele; Ghoshal, Aloke Gopal; Gillum, Richard F.; Ginawi, Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed; Gupta, Vipin; Hay, Simon I.; Hedayati, Mohammad T.; Horita, Nobuyuki; Hosgood, H. Dean; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo (Michael) B.; van Boven, Job F. M.

2017-01-01

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are common diseases with a heterogeneous distribution worldwide. Here, we present methods and disease and risk estimates for COPD and asthma from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) 2015 study. The GBD

Forest ecosystems and the global climatic change. Background and need to act; Waldoekosysteme im globalen Klimawandel. Hintergruende und Handlungsbedarf

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bellmann, K; Grassl, H; Kaiser, M; Kuerzinger, J; Lindner, M; Mueller-Kraenner, S; Schmidt, R; Schuett, P; Sperber, G

1994-12-31

The consequences of the climatic change and of the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer are of global significance and can only be controlled through worldwide measures. Mainly fossil fuels which cover most of our energy demand, industrial production, traffic, industrial intensive agriculture, and deforestation are responsible for trace gases which cause the greenhouse effect. The possible effects of the expected climatic change are discussed, and suitable political, social and silvicultural approaches to the maintenance of stable forest ecosystems are pointed out. Emphasis is placed on forestry and on ecosystems research in Central Europe. (MG) [Deutsch] Die Folgen der Klimaaenderung und des Abbaus der stratosphaerischen Ozonschicht sind von globaler Bedeutung und nur durch weltweite Massnahmen einzudaemmen. Der hauptsaechlich durch fossile Brennstoffe gedeckte Energiebedarf, industrielle Produktion, Verkehr, industrielle Intensivlandwirtschaft und die Rodung von Waeldern sind die Hauptverursacher von Spurengasen, die zum Treibhauseffekt fuehren. Ausgehend von den moeglichen Auswirkungen der zu erwartenden Klimaaenderung wird aufgezeigt, welche Wege Politik, Gesellschaft und Forstwirtschaft einschlagen sollen, um stabile Waldoekosysteme erhalten zu koennen. Forstwirtschaft und Oekosystemforschung in Mitteleuropa stehen dabei im Vordergrund. (MG)

Preserving the global environment: The challenge of shared leadership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matthews, J.T.

1993-01-01

This book brings together essays commissioned as background reading for an April 1990 conference on the global environment co-sponsored by the American Assembly and the World Resources Institute. Among the topic areas covered are the following: technical aspects of energy policy and climatic change; harnessing the power of the marketplace; international cooperation; international regulatory regimes; world economic climate; deforestation and species loss; human population growth

Impact of local and non-local sources of pollution on background US Ozone: synergy of a low-earth orbiting and geostationary sounder constellation

Science.gov (United States)

Bowman, K. W.; Lee, M.

2015-12-01

Dramatic changes in the global distribution of emissions over the last decade have fundamentally altered source-receptor pollution impacts. A new generation of low-earth orbiting (LEO) sounders complimented by geostationary sounders over North America, Europe, and Asia providing a unique opportunity to quantify the current and future trajectory of emissions and their impact on global pollution. We examine the potential of this constellation of air quality sounders to quantify the role of local and non-local sources of pollution on background ozone in the US. Based upon an adjoint sensitivity method, we quantify the role synoptic scale transport of non-US pollution on US background ozone over months representative of different source-receptor relationships. This analysis allows us distinguish emission trajectories from megacities, e.g. Beijing, or regions, e.g., western China, from natural trends on downwind ozone. We subsequently explore how a combination of LEO and GEO observations could help quantify the balance of local emissions against changes in distant sources . These results show how this unprecedented new international ozone observing system can monitor the changing structure of emissions and their impact on global pollution.

Estimates of global HIV/AIDS mortality, prevalence and incidence rates, and their association with the Human Development Index

OpenAIRE

Kamyar Mansori; Erfan Ayubi; Fatemeh Khosravi Shadmani; Shiva Mansouri Hanis; Somayeh Khazaei; Mohadeseh Sani; Yousef Moradi; Salman Khazaei; Abolfazl Mohammadbeigi

2017-01-01

Background: HIV/AIDS is one of greatest global public health concerns today due to the high incidence, prevalence and mortality rates. The aim of this research was investigate and estimate the global HIV/AIDS mortality, prevalence and incidence rates, and explore their associations with the Human Development Index. Methods: The global age-standardized rates of mortality, prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS were obtained from the UNAIDS for different countries in 2015. The human developm...

A study on the birth and globalization of sports originated from each continent

OpenAIRE

Lee, Byung Jin; Kim, Tae Young

2016-01-01

The purpose of this research is to see how continent specific sports rose to its modern-day status through globalization. This research focuses on the historical background of how England?s football, America?s national pastime, baseball, Japan?s Judo, and Korea?s Taekwondo developed into sports in addition to the reasoning behind its globalization. Promoted by England and the rest of the European continent, Soccer is considered to be one of the world?s most popular sports and has served its f...

Combined discriminative global and generative local models for visual tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Liujun; Zhao, Qingjie; Chen, Yanming; Lv, Peng

2016-03-01

It is a challenging task to develop an effective visual tracking algorithm due to factors such as pose variation, rotation, and so on. Combined discriminative global and generative local appearance models are proposed to address this problem. Specifically, we develop a compact global object representation by extracting the low-frequency coefficients of the color and texture of the object based on two-dimensional discrete cosine transform. Then, with the global appearance representation, we learn a discriminative metric classifier in an online fashion to differentiate the target object from its background, which is very important to robustly indicate the changes in appearance. Second, we develop a new generative local model that exploits the scale invariant feature transform and its spatial geometric information. To make use of the advantages of the global discriminative model and the generative local model, we incorporate them into Bayesian inference framework. In this framework, the complementary models help the tracker locate the target more accurately. Furthermore, we use different mechanisms to update global and local templates to capture appearance changes. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach performs favorably against state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy.

Globalization and Self-Organization in the Knowledge-Based Society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Fuchs

2008-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper I suggest that a theory of self-organization can be used as a consistent background theory for explaining the dynamics and logics of globalization. Globalization is not confined to the human realm, it is an attribute of all complex, self-organizing systems. Globalization in a synchronous sense means a micro-macro-link where bottom-up-emergence of new qualities in the self-reproduction of complex systems takes place, it is accompanied by a macro-micro-link of top-down-localization. A dynamic interaction between a global and a local level (glocalization results in the permanent overall self-reproduction of the system. Globalization in a diachronic sense means the emergence of a new, higher level of self-organization during a phase of instability and heavy fluctuations by order through fluctuation. Globalization is shaped by a dialectic of change and continuity: in the hierarchy that stems from emergent evolution there are both general aspects of globalization and aspects that are specific for each organizational level. Applying this general notion of globalization to society means that human globalization is both a general process that can be found in all societies and a specific process with emergent qualities in concrete phases of societal development. Globalization processes in modern society are based on structural antagonisms that result in uneven developments in the technosphere, the ecosphere, the economy, polity, and culture. The transition to Postfordist, informational capitalism has been a consequence of the development of the structural antagonisms of Fordism and has been accompanied by a new phase of globalization that has transformed the subsystems of society and has resulted in new antagonism that are an expression of general antagonisms that shape modern societies. Hence we find antagonistic tendencies of contemporary globalization in all subsystems of society that result in both risks and opportunities. Human beings

Climate change: Some elements from the scientific background and the scientific process; Klimafaglig oppdatering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alfsen, Knut H [Cicero, Oslo (Norway)

1998-07-01

The paper reviews the background on mechanisms behind climate variations in the past and man-made climate change and also briefly what is said by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) about the likely future impact of anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases. The IPCC is presented in some detail. The problem of climate change is not important mainly because of increased global average temperature, but because of a potential variability and instability of the global climate and the local weather. In the past, the climate system has fluctuated strongly and rapidly for natural causes. But the stable climate regime observed after the last ice age is currently perturbed by the large outpouring of greenhouse gases from a variety of human activities. Can the stability of the current climate regime withstand this disturbance? The problem of climate change is riddled with uncertainties, and our main challenge to this situation is to find out how to respond in a rational way. 19 refs., 15 figs.

Global, regional, and national levels of maternal mortality, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

OpenAIRE

GBD Maternal Mortality Collaborators

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: In transitioning from the Millennium Development Goal to the Sustainable Development Goal era, it is imperative to comprehensively assess progress toward reducing maternal mortality to identify areas of success, remaining challenges, and frame policy discussions. We aimed to quantify maternal mortality throughout the world by underlying cause and age from 1990 to 2015. METHODS: We estimated maternal mortality at the global, regional, and national levels from 1990 to 2015 for ages ...

A sense of self-suspicion: global legal pluralism and the claim to legal authority

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariano Croce

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Legal pluralism has become common currency in many contemporary debates on law and globalization. Its main claim is that a form of global legal pluralism represents both the most accurate description of law in times of globalization and the best normative option. On the descriptive level, global legal pluralism is considered more reliable than state-based accounts. On the normative level, global legal pluralism is understood as a possibility to open up the legal realm to previously unheard voices. This article assesses these claims against the background of classic legal-pluralist scholarship. After reconstructing the emergence of global legal pluralism and then examining its epistemic and normative versions, the last two sections identify the shortcoming of this approach by underlining the absence of what the authors call ‘a sense of self-suspicion’ in drawing the map of legalities in the global sphere. The main argument put forward is that global legal pluralism is oblivious of a few key insights offered by the founding fathers of classic legal pluralism.

The role of the background: texture segregation and figure-ground segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Caputo, G

1996-09-01

The effects of a texture surround composed of line elements on a stimulus within which a target line element segregates, were studied. Detection and discrimination of the target when it had the same orientation as the surround were impaired at short presentation time; on the other hand, no effect was present when they were reciprocally orthogonal. These results are interpreted as background completion in texture segregation; a texture made up of similar elements is represented as a continuous surface with contour and contrast of an embedded element inhibited. This interpretation is further confirmed with a simple line protruding from an annulus. Generally, the results are taken as evidence that local features are prevented from segmenting when they are parts of a global entity.

Relation of EEG alpha background to cognitive fuction, brain atrophy, and cerebral metabolism in Down's syndrome. Age-specific changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Devinsky, O.; Sato, S.; Conwit, R.A.; Schapiro, M.B.

1990-01-01

We studied 19 young adults (19 to 37 years old) and 9 older patients (42 to 66 years old) with Down's syndrome (DS) and a control group of 13 healthy adults (22 to 38 years old) to investigate the relation of electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha background to cognitive function and cerebral metabolism. Four of the older patients with DS had a history of mental deterioration, disorientation, and memory loss and were demented. Patients and control subjects had EEGs, psychometric testing, quantitative computed tomography, and positron emission tomography with fludeoxyglucose F 18. A blinded reader classified the EEGs into two groups--those with normal alpha background or those with abnormal background. All the control subjects, the 13 young adult patients with DS, and the 5 older patients with DS had normal EEG backgrounds. In comparison with the age-matched patients with DS with normal alpha background, older patients with DS with decreased alpha background had dementia, fewer visuospatial skills, decreased attention span, larger third ventricles, and a global decrease in cerebral glucose utilization with parietal hypometabolism. In the young patients with DS, the EEG background did not correlate with psychometric or positron emission tomographic findings, but the third ventricles were significantly larger in those with abnormal EEG background. The young patients with DS, with or without normal EEG background, had positron emission tomographic findings similar to those of the control subjects. The mechanism underlying the abnormal EEG background may be the neuropathologic changes of Alzheimer's disease in older patients with DS and may be cerebral immaturity in younger patients with DS

The Global Positioning System: Theory and operation

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Lester Plunkett

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study is to document the theory, development, and training needs of the United States Global Positioning System for the United States Air Force. This subject area had very little information and to assess the United States Air Force training needs required an investigation into existing training accomplished on the Global Positioning System. The United States Air Force has only one place to obtain the data at Headquarters Air Education and Training Command. Findings and conclusion. The United States Air Force, at the time of this study, does not have a theory and operations course dealing with the newest technology advancement in world navigation. Although this new technology is being provided on aircraft in the form of new navigation hardware, no official course of study is provided by the United States Air Force to it's pilots and navigators dealing with theory and operation. Based on the latest reports dealing with the Global Positioning System, a course on the Global Positioning System was developed in the Instructional Systems Design format to provide background information and understanding of this new technology. Readers of this study must be aware that the information contained in this study is very dynamic. Technology is advancing so fast in this area that it might make this information obsolete in a short amount of time.

Background current of radioisotope manometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vydrik, A.A.

1987-01-01

The technique for calculating the main component of the background current of radioisotopic monometers, current from direct collision of ionizing particles and a collector, is described. The reasons for appearance of background photoelectron current are clarified. The most effective way of eliminating background current components is collector protection from the source by a screen made of material with a high gamma-quanta absorption coefficient, such as lead, for example

The personality, motivational, and need-based background of problematic Tinder use.

Science.gov (United States)

Orosz, Gábor; Benyó, Mária; Berkes, Bernadett; Nikoletti, Edina; Gál, Éva; Tóth-Király, István; Bőthe, Beáta

2018-04-12

Background and aims Tinder is a geo-located online dating application, which is present in almost 200 countries and has 10 million daily users. The aim of the present research was to investigate the motivational, personality, and basic psychological need-related background of problematic Tinder use. Methods After qualitative pretest and item construction, in Study 1 (N = 414), confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to corroborate the different motivational factors behind Tinder use. In Study 2 (N = 346), the associations between Big Five traits, Tinder motivations, and problematic Tinder use were examined with structural equation modeling (SEM). In Study 3 (N = 298), the potential role of general self-esteem, relatedness need satisfaction, and frustration in relation to Tinder-use motivations and problematic Tinder use was examined with SEM. Results In Study 1, a 16-item first-order factor structure was identified with four motivational factors, such as sex, love, self-esteem enhancement, and boredom. In Study 2, problematic Tinder use was mainly related to using Tinder for self-esteem enhancement. The Big Five personality factors were only weakly related to the four motivations and to problematic Tinder use. Counterintuitively, Study 3 showed that instead of global self-esteem, relatedness need frustration was the strongest predictor of self-esteem enhancement Tinder-use motivation which, in turn, was the strongest predictor of problematic Tinder use. Discussion Four motivational factors were identified as predictors of problematic use with need frustration being a relevant background variable instead of general personality traits.

Low background infrared (LBIR) facility

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Low background infrared (LBIR) facility was originally designed to calibrate user supplied blackbody sources and to characterize low-background IR detectors and...

Slavnov-Taylor constraints for nontrivial backgrounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Binosi, D.; Quadri, A.

2011-01-01

We devise an algebraic procedure for the evaluation of Green's functions in SU(N) Yang-Mills theory in the presence of a nontrivial background field. In the ghost-free sector the dependence of the vertex functional on the background is shown to be uniquely determined by the Slavnov-Taylor identities in terms of a certain 1-PI correlator of the covariant derivatives of the ghost and the antighost fields. At nonvanishing background this amplitude is shown to encode the quantum deformations to the tree-level background-quantum splitting. The approach only relies on the functional identities of the model (Slavnov-Taylor identities, b-equation, antighost equation) and thus it is valid beyond perturbation theory, and, in particular, in a lattice implementation of the background field method. As an example of the formalism we analyze the ghost two-point function and the Kugo-Ojima function in an instanton background in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory, quantized in the background Landau gauge.

Global warming: Towards a strategy for Ontario

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

A discussion paper is provided as background to a proposed public review of a strategy for Ontario's response to global warming. Global warming arises from the generation of greenhouse gases, which come from the use of fossil fuels, the use of chlorofluorocarbons, and deforestation. Energy policy is the backbone of achieving climate stability since the burning of fossil fuels releases most of the greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide. Canada is, by international standards, a very energy-intensive country and is among the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide on a per capita basis. Ontario is the largest energy-using province in Canada, and fossil fuels represent over 80% of provincial energy use. A proposed goal for Ontario is to provide leadership in stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases, while minimizing the social, economic, and environmental costs in Ontario of adapting to global warming. A proposed first step to address global warming is to achieve reductions in expected emissions of the greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, so that levels by the year 2000 are lower than in 1989. Current policies and regulations helping to reduce the greenhouse effect include some of the current controls on automotive emissions and the adoption by the provincial electric utility of targets to reduce electricity demand. New initiatives include establishment of minimum energy efficiency standards and reduction of peak-day electricity use. Action steps for future consideration are detailed in the categories of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, carbon dioxide absorption, and research and analysis into global warming

Background radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnott, D.

1985-01-01

The effects of background radiation, whether natural or caused by man's activities, are discussed. The known biological effects of radiation in causing cancers or genetic mutations are explained. The statement that there is a threshold below which there is no risk is examined critically. (U.K.)

PENGARUH BACKGROUND MAHASISWA TERHADAP KINERJA AKADEMIK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trianasari Angkawijaya

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The Effect of Students’ Background on Academic Performance. This study examines the effect of background variables on the academic performance of accounting students in a private university in Surabaya. The background variables under study included previous academic performance, prior knowledge on accounting, sex, motivation, preparedness, and expectations. The results show that previous academic performance, motivation, and expectations have positive and significant effects on the students’ overall academic performance in accounting, while preparedness affects only the students’ performance in management accounting. In contrast, prior knowledge on accounting and sex do not give significant impacts to the students’ overall academic performance.These findings indicate the importance of previous aca­demic performance as well as motivation and expectations as background variables in current academic performance. Keywords: students’ background, academic performance, accounting Abstrak: Pengaruh Background Mahasiswa terhadap Kinerja Akademik. Penelitian ini mengkaji pengaruh variabel background terhadap kinerja akademik mahasiswa akuntansi di Universitas Surabaya. Lima variabel background utama dipergunakan, yaitu kinerja akademik sebelumnya, pengetahuan akun­tansi sebelumnya, jenis kelamin, motivasi, kesiapan, dan ekspektasi. Hipotesis diuji menggunakan model regresi linier berganda OLS dan Robust Standar Error. Hasil penelitian memerlihatkan bahwa kinerja akademik sebelumnya, motivasi, dan ekspektasi memiliki pengaruh positif signifikan terhadap kinerja akademik keseluruhan, sementara kesiapan memberikan pengaruh positif hanya pada kinerja akademik akuntansi manajemen. Sebaliknya, pengetahuan akuntansi sebelumnya dan jenis kelamin tidak memberi­kan pengaruh signifikan terhadap kinerja akademik keseluruhan. Temuan ini mengindikasikan bahwa kinerja akademik sebelumnya beserta motivasi dan ekspektasi adalah variabel background

Looking for Cosmic Neutrino Background

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiaki eYanagisawa

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Since the discovery of neutrino oscillation in atmospheric neutrinos by the Super-Kamiokande experiment in 1998, study of neutrinos has been one of exciting fields in high-energy physics. All the mixing angles were measured. Quests for 1 measurements of the remaining parameters, the lightest neutrino mass, the CP violating phase(s, and the sign of mass splitting between the mass eigenstates m3 and m1, and 2 better measurements to determine whether the mixing angle theta23 is less than pi/4, are in progress in a well-controlled manner. Determining the nature of neutrinos, whether they are Dirac or Majorana particles is also in progress with continuous improvement. On the other hand, although the ideas of detecting cosmic neutrino background have been discussed since 1960s, there has not been a serious concerted effort to achieve this goal. One of the reasons is that it is extremely difficult to detect such low energy neutrinos from the Big Bang. While there has been tremendous accumulation of information on Cosmic Microwave Background since its discovery in 1965, there is no direct evidence for Cosmic Neutrino Background. The importance of detecting Cosmic Neutrino Background is that, although detailed studies of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Cosmic Microwave Background give information of the early Universe at ~a few minutes old and ~300 k years old, respectively, observation of Cosmic Neutrino Background allows us to study the early Universe at $sim$ 1 sec old. This article reviews progress made in the past 50 years on detection methods of Cosmic Neutrino Background.

Care ethics and the global practice of commercial surrogacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Parks, Jennifer A

2010-09-01

This essay will focus on the moral issues relating to surrogacy in the global context, and will critique the liberal arguments that have been offered in support of it. Liberal arguments hold sway concerning reproductive arrangements made between commissioning couples from wealthy nations and the surrogates from socioeconomically weak backgrounds that they hire to do their reproductive labor. My argument in this paper is motivated by a concern for controlling harms by putting the practice of globalized commercial surrogacy into the context of care ethics. As I will argue, the unstable situations into which children of global surrogacy arrangements are born is symbolic of the crisis of care that the practice raises. Using the Baby Manji case as my touch point, I will suggest that liberalism cannot address the harms experienced by Manji and children like her who are created through the global practice of assisted reproductive technology. I will argue that, if commissioning couples consider their proposed surrogacy contracts from a care ethics point of view, they will begin to think relationally about their actions, considering the practice from an ethical lens, not just an economic or contractual one.

Berkeley Low Background Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, K. J.; Norman, E. B.; Smith, A. R.; Poon, A. W. P.; Chan, Y. D.; Lesko, K. T.

2015-01-01

The Berkeley Low Background Facility (BLBF) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California provides low background gamma spectroscopy services to a wide array of experiments and projects. The analysis of samples takes place within two unique facilities; locally within a carefully-constructed, low background laboratory on the surface at LBNL and at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. These facilities provide a variety of gamma spectroscopy services to low background experiments primarily in the form of passive material screening for primordial radioisotopes (U, Th, K) or common cosmogenic/anthropogenic products; active screening via neutron activation analysis for U,Th, and K as well as a variety of stable isotopes; and neutron flux/beam characterization measurements through the use of monitors. A general overview of the facilities, services, and sensitivities will be presented. Recent activities and upgrades will also be described including an overview of the recently installed counting system at SURF (recently relocated from Oroville, CA in 2014), the installation of a second underground counting station at SURF in 2015, and future plans. The BLBF is open to any users for counting services or collaboration on a wide variety of experiments and projects

Global optimization of maintenance and surveillance testing based on reliability and probabilistic safety assessment. Research project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martorell, S.; Serradell, V.; Munoz, A.; Sanchez, A.

1997-01-01

Background, objective, scope, detailed working plan and follow-up and final product of the project ''Global optimization of maintenance and surveillance testing based on reliability and probabilistic safety assessment'' are described

Global effects of scalar matter production in quantum cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barvinskij, A.O.; Ponomarev, V.N.

1978-01-01

Within the framework of the geometrodynamical approach global effects of the production of scalar matter filling the closed uniform Friedman Universe are considered. The physical situation is discussed, which corresponds to such a scale of space-time intervals and energies, at which the matter is essentially quantum and the quantized gravitational field is within the quasi-classical limits when its spatial inhomogeneities are small and only global quantum effects are considerable. The only dynamic variable of the gravitational field is the Friedman Universe radius. The main principles of the formalism of the canonical superspace quantization of gravitational and material fields are considered. The method shows the applicability limits of the field theory on the background of classical geometry and leads to the principally new types of interaction

Association of Radon Background and Total Background Ionizing Radiation with Alzheimer's Disease Deaths in U.S. States.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehrer, Steven; Rheinstein, Peter H; Rosenzweig, Kenneth E

2017-01-01

Exposure of the brain to ionizing radiation might promote the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Analysis of AD death rates versus radon background radiation and total background radiation in U.S. states. Total background, radon background, cosmic and terrestrial background radiation measurements are from Assessment of Variations in Radiation Exposure in the United States and Report No. 160 - Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States. 2013 AD death rates by U.S. state are from the Alzheimer's Association. Radon background ionizing radiation was significantly correlated with AD death rate in 50 states and the District of Columbia (r = 0.467, p = 0.001). Total background ionizing radiation was also significantly correlated with AD death rate in 50 states and the District of Columbia (r = 0.452, p = 0.001). Multivariate linear regression weighted by state population demonstrated that AD death rate was significantly correlated with radon background (β= 0.169, p ionizing radiation is a risk factor for AD. Intranasal inhalation of radon gas could subject the rhinencephalon and hippocampus to damaging radiation that initiates AD. The damage would accumulate over time, causing age to be a powerful risk factor.

Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980-2015 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, Haidong; Naghavi, Mohsen; Allen, Christine; Barber, Ryan M.; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Carter, Austin; Casey, Daniel C.; Charlson, Fiona J.; Chen, Alan Zian; Coates, Matthew M.; Coggeshall, Megan; Dandona, Lalit; Dicker, Daniel J.; Erskine, Holly E.; Ferrari, Alize J.; Fitzmaurice, Christina; Foreman, Kyle; Forouzanfar, Mohammad H.; Fraser, Maya S.; Pullman, Nancy; Gething, Peter W.; Goldberg, Ellen M.; Graetz, Nicholas; Haagsma, Juanita A.; Hay, Simon I.; Huynh, Chantal; Johnson, Catherine; Kassebaum, Nicholas J.; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kulikoff, Xie Rachel; Kutz, Michael; Kyu, Hmwe H.; Larson, Heidi J.; Leung, Janni; Liang, Xiaofeng; Lim, Stephen S.; Lind, Margaret; Lozano, Rafael; Marquez, Neal; Mensah, George A.; Mikesell, Joe; Mokdad, Ali H.; Mooney, Meghan D.; Nguyen, Grant; Nsoesie, Elaine; Pigott, David M.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Hoek, Hans W.; Singh, Abhishek; Tura, Abera Kenay

2016-01-01

Background Improving survival and extending the longevity of life for all populations requires timely, robust evidence on local mortality levels and trends. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes

Genotypic Diversity of Staphylococcus aureus α-Hemolysin Gene (hla and Its Association with Clonal Background: Implications for Vaccine Development.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng Xiao

Full Text Available The α-hemolysin, encoded by the hla gene, is a major virulence factor in S. aureus infections. Changes in key amino acid residues of α-hemolysin can result in reduction, or even loss, of toxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the diversity of the hla gene sequence and the relationship of hla variants to the clonal background of S. aureus isolates. A total of 47 clinical isolates from China were used in this study, supplemented with in silico analysis of 318 well-characterized whole genome sequences from globally distributed isolates. A total of 28 hla genotypes were found, including three unique to isolates from China, 20 found only in the global genomes and five found in both. The hla genotype generally correlated with the clonal background, particularly the multilocus sequence type, but was not related to geographic origin, host source or methicillin-resistance phenotype. In addition, the hla gene showed greater diversity than the seven loci utilized in the MLST scheme for S. aureus. Our investigation has provided genetic data which may be useful for future studies of toxicity, immunogenicity and vaccine development.

Methodological framework for World Health Organization estimates of the global burden of foodborne disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B. Devleesschauwer (Brecht); J.A. Haagsma (Juanita); F.J. Angulo (Frederick); D.C. Bellinger (David); D. Cole (Dana); D. Döpfer (Dörte); A. Fazil (Aamir); E.M. Fèvre (Eric); H.J. Gibb (Herman); T. Hald (Tine); M.D. Kirk (Martyn); R.J. Lake (Robin); C. Maertens De Noordhout (Charline); C. Mathers (Colin); S.A. McDonald (Scott); S.M. Pires (Sara); N. Speybroeck (Niko); M.K. Thomas (Kate); D. Torgerson; F. Wu (Felicia); A.H. Havelaar (Arie); N. Praet (Nicolas)

2015-01-01

textabstractBackground: The Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG) was established in 2007 by the World Health Organization to estimate the global burden of foodborne diseases (FBDs). This paper describes the methodological framework developed by FERG's Computational Task Force

Investigation of MHD Instabilities in Jets and Bubbles Using a Compact Coaxial Plasma Gun in a Background Magnetized Plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Fisher, D. M.; Wallace, B.; Gilmore, M.; Hsu, S. C.

2016-10-01

A compact coaxial plasma gun is employed for experimental investigation of launching plasma into a lower density background magnetized plasma. Experiments are being conducted in the linear device HelCat at UNM. Four distinct operational regimes with qualitatively different dynamics are identified by fast CCD camera images. For regime I plasma jet formation, a global helical magnetic configuration is determined by a B-dot probe array data. Also the m =1 kink instability is observed and verified. Furthermore, when the jet is propagating into background magnetic field, a longer length and lifetime jet is formed. Axial shear flow caused by the background magnetic tension force contributes to the increased stability of the jet body. In regime II, a spheromak-like plasma bubble formation is identified when the gun plasma is injected into vacuum. In contrast, when the bubble propagates into a background magnetic field, the closed magnetic field configuration does not hold anymore and a lateral side, Reilgh-Taylor instability develops. Detailed experimental data and analysis will be presented for these cases.

Diffuse Cosmic Infrared Background Radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Dwek, Eli

2002-01-01

The diffuse cosmic infrared background (CIB) consists of the cumulative radiant energy released in the processes of structure formation that have occurred since the decoupling of matter and radiation following the Big Bang. In this lecture I will review the observational data that provided the first detections and limits on the CIB, and the theoretical studies explaining the origin of this background. Finally, I will also discuss the relevance of this background to the universe as seen in high energy gamma-rays.

A New Global LAI Product and Its Use for Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, J. M.; Liu, R.; Ju, W.; Liu, Y.

2014-12-01

For improving the estimation of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the terrestrial carbon cycle, a new time series of the leaf area index (LAI) is generated for the global land surface at 8 km resolution from 1981 to 2012 by combining AVHRR and MODIS satellite data. This product differs from existing LAI products in the following two aspects: (1) the non-random spatial distribution of leaves with the canopy is considered, and (2) the seasonal variation of the vegetation background is included. The non-randomness of the leaf spatial distribution in the canopy is considered using the second vegetation structural parameter named clumping index (CI), which quantifies the deviation of the leaf spatial distribution from the random case. Using the MODIS Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function product, a global map of CI is produced at 500 m resolution. In our LAI algorithm, CI is used to convert the effective LAI obtained from mono-angle remote sensing into the true LAI, otherwise LAI would be considerably underestimated. The vegetation background is soil in crop, grass and shrub but includes soil, grass, moss, and litter in forests. Through processing a large volume of MISR data from 2000 to 2010, monthly red and near-infrared reflectances of the vegetation background is mapped globally at 1 km resolution. This new LAI product has been validated extensively using ground-based LAI measurements distributed globally. In carbon cycle modeling, the use of CI in addition to LAI allows for accurate separation of sunlit and shaded leaves as an important step in terrestrial photosynthesis and respiration modeling. Carbon flux measurements over 100 sites over the globe are used to validate an ecosystem model named Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS). The validated model is run globally at 8 km resolution for the period from 1981 to 2012 using the LAI product and other spatial datasets. The modeled results suggest that changes in vegetation structure as quantified

Global health education: a pilot in trans-disciplinary, digital instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Wipfli, Heather; Press, David J.; Kuhn, Virginia

2013-01-01

Background The development of new global health academic programs provides unique opportunities to create innovative educational approaches within and across universities. Recent evidence suggests that digital media technologies may provide feasible and cost-effective alternatives to traditional classroom instruction; yet, many emerging global health academic programs lag behind in the utilization of modern technologies. Objective We created an inter-departmental University of Southern California (USC) collaboration to develop and implement a course focused on digital media and global health. Design Course curriculum was based on core tenants of modern education: multi-disciplinary, technologically advanced, learner-centered, and professional application of knowledge. Student and university evaluations were reviewed to qualitatively assess course satisfaction and educational outcomes. Results ‘New Media for Global Health’ ran for 18 weeks in the Spring 2012 semester with N=41 students (56.1% global health and 43.9% digital studies students). The course resulted in a number of high quality global health-related digital media products available at http://iml420.wordpress.com/. Challenges confronted at USC included administrative challenges related to co-teaching and frustration from students conditioned to a rigid system of teacher-led learning within a specific discipline. Quantitative and qualitative course evaluations reflected positive feedback for the course instructors and mixed reviews for the organization of the course. Conclusion The development of innovative educational programs in global health requires on-going experimentation and information sharing across departments and universities. Digital media technologies may have implications for future efforts to improve global health education. PMID:23643297

Global health education: a pilot in trans-disciplinary, digital instruction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heather Wipfli

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Background: The development of new global health academic programs provides unique opportunities to create innovative educational approaches within and across universities. Recent evidence suggests that digital media technologies may provide feasible and cost-effective alternatives to traditional classroom instruction; yet, many emerging global health academic programs lag behind in the utilization of modern technologies. Objective: We created an inter-departmental University of Southern California (USC collaboration to develop and implement a course focused on digital media and global health. Design: Course curriculum was based on core tenants of modern education: multi-disciplinary, technologically advanced, learner-centered, and professional application of knowledge. Student and university evaluations were reviewed to qualitatively assess course satisfaction and educational outcomes. Results: ‘New Media for Global Health’ ran for 18 weeks in the Spring 2012 semester with N=41 students (56.1% global health and 43.9% digital studies students. The course resulted in a number of high quality global health-related digital media products available at http://iml420.wordpress.com/. Challenges confronted at USC included administrative challenges related to co-teaching and frustration from students conditioned to a rigid system of teacher-led learning within a specific discipline. Quantitative and qualitative course evaluations reflected positive feedback for the course instructors and mixed reviews for the organization of the course. Conclusion: The development of innovative educational programs in global health requires on-going experimentation and information sharing across departments and universities. Digital media technologies may have implications for future efforts to improve global health education.

Enhancing collaborative rule-making on global sustainability concerns through Participatory Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buhmann, Karin

This short paper outlines the background and prospects for a potential research agenda of Participatory Design (PD) in the area of collaborative transnational rule-making on global sustainability concerns. The paper adopts a pragmatic approach to interdisciplinary work, identifying new...... with opportunities to involve a global citizenry in the evolution of norms of conduct that may affect the lives and futures of individuals. The paper describes research potential for PD towards enhancing information technology assisted inclusion of views, needs and concerns of individuals in transnational rule......-making. It does so by drawing on the process that led to the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This process exemplifies challenges in collaborative and inclusive global rule-making that that may be assisted by increased and informed deployment of IT in order to enhance broad...

Greenhouse gases, radiative forcing, global warming potential and waste management – an introduction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scheutz, Charlotte; Kjeldsen, Peter; Gentil, Emmanuel

2009-01-01

forcing (RF) and global warming potential (GWP). This paper provides a general introduction of the factors that define a GHG and explains the scientific background for estimating RF and GWP, thereby exposing the lay reader to a brief overview of the methods for calculating the effects of GHGs on climate......Management of post-consumer solid waste contributes to emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) representing about 3% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Most GHG reporting initiatives around the world utilize two metrics proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): radiative...

Bioethical concerns are global, bioethics is Western

Science.gov (United States)

Chattopadhyay, Subrata; De Vries, Raymond

2009-01-01

Modern bioethics was born in the West and thus reflects, not surprisingly, the traditions of Western moral philosophy and political and social theory. When the work of bioethics was confined to the West, this background of socio-political theory and moral tradition posed few problems, but as bioethics has moved into other cultures - inside and outside of the Western world - it has become an agent of moral imperialism. We describe the moral imperialism of bioethics, discuss its dangers, and suggest that global bioethics will succeed only to the extent that it is local. PMID:19593391

Bioethical concerns are global, bioethics is Western.

Science.gov (United States)

Chattopadhyay, Subrata; De Vries, Raymond

2008-07-01

Modern bioethics was born in the West and thus reflects, not surprisingly, the traditions of Western moral philosophy and political and social theory. When the work of bioethics was confined to the West, this background of socio-political theory and moral tradition posed few problems, but as bioethics has moved into other cultures - inside and outside of the Western world - it has become an agent of moral imperialism. We describe the moral imperialism of bioethics, discuss its dangers, and suggest that global bioethics will succeed only to the extent that it is local.

Beam-gas Background Observations at LHC

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00214737; The ATLAS collaboration; Alici, Andrea; Lazic, Dragoslav-Laza; Alemany Fernandez, Reyes; Alessio, Federico; Bregliozzi, Giuseppe; Burkhardt, Helmut; Corti, Gloria; Guthoff, Moritz; Manousos, Athanasios; Sjoebaek, Kyrre; D'Auria, Saverio

2017-01-01

Observations of beam-induced background at LHC during 2015 and 2016 are presented in this paper. The four LHC experiments use the non-colliding bunches present in the physics-filling pattern of the accelerator to trigger on beam-gas interactions. During luminosity production the LHC experiments record the beam-gas interactions using dedicated background monitors. These data are sent to the LHC control system and are used to monitor the background levels at the experiments during accelerator operation. This is a very important measurement, since poor beam-induced background conditions can seriously affect the performance of the detectors. A summary of the evolution of the background levels during 2015 and 2016 is given in these proceedings.

Implementing the global plan to stop TB, 2011-2015--optimizing allocations and the Global Fund's contribution: a scenario projections study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eline L Korenromp

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The Global Plan to Stop TB estimates funding required in low- and middle-income countries to achieve TB control targets set by the Stop TB Partnership within the context of the Millennium Development Goals. We estimate the contribution and impact of Global Fund investments under various scenarios of allocations across interventions and regions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using Global Plan assumptions on expected cases and mortality, we estimate treatment costs and mortality impact for diagnosis and treatment for drug-sensitive and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB, including antiretroviral treatment (ART during DOTS for HIV-co-infected patients, for four country groups, overall and for the Global Fund investments. In 2015, China and India account for 24% of funding need, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA for 33%, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA for 20%, and other low- and middle-income countries for 24%. Scale-up of MDR-TB treatment, especially in EECA, drives an increasing global TB funding need--an essential investment to contain the mortality burden associated with MDR-TB and future disease costs. Funding needs rise fastest in SSA, reflecting increasing coverage need of improved TB/HIV management, which saves most lives per dollar spent in the short term. The Global Fund is expected to finance 8-12% of Global Plan implementation costs annually. Lives saved through Global Fund TB support within the available funding envelope could increase 37% if allocations shifted from current regional demand patterns to a prioritized scale-up of improved TB/HIV treatment and secondly DOTS, both mainly in Africa--with EECA region, which has disproportionately high per-patient costs, funded from alternative resources. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings, alongside country funding gaps, domestic funding and implementation capacity and equity considerations, should inform strategies and policies for international donors, national governments and

The future role of nuclear power in addressing global environmental problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stumpf, W.

1995-01-01

Decision makers have to increasingly balance the costs versus benefits of various energy choices against a background of global environmental deterioration. This is particularly so in the choice of long term electricity production strategies where these have to be balanced against the potential of a very severe disruption of the world's climate due to global warming. In this presentation, the threat of global warming is quantified and scenarios are developed of future predicted energy consumption patterns and their impact on international policies to curb global warming, are analyzed. The conclusion is reached that the threat of global warming is so severe that, on the macro level, an international accepted strategy of utilising a proper balance between all forms of electricity production, is a matter of priority and that all national energy choices should be taken against this framework. Such strategic decisions on the macro level must, however, also translate into the micro level of energy production on topics which include: - more efficient plant utilisation; - more effective risk management; correct choice and application of technology; and - better understanding of issues concerning safety, quality and environmental impact. (author)

Two-dimensional structure of the MAAS-Global rating list for consultation skills of doctors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Es, Judy M.; Schrijver, Charles J. W.; Oberink, Riëtta H. H.; Visser, Mechteld R. M.

2012-01-01

Background: The MAAS-Global (MG) is widely used to assess doctor-patient communication skills. Reliability and validity have been investigated, but little is known about its dimensionality. Assuming physicians tend to adopt certain styles or preferences in their communication with patients, a

Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, Haidong; Naghavi, Mohsen; Allen, Christine; Barber, R.M.; Bhutta, Zulfiqar; Carter, Austin; Casey, Daniel C.; Charlson, Fiona J.; Chen, Alan Z.; Coates, M.; Geleijnse, J.M.

2016-01-01

Background
Improving survival and extending the longevity of life for all populations requires timely, robust evidence on local mortality levels and trends. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 249

The global intellectual property ecosystem for insulin and its public health implications: an observational study

OpenAIRE

Kaplan, Warren A.; Beall, Reed F.

2016-01-01

Background Lack of access to insulin and poor health outcomes are issues for both low and high income countries. This has been accompanied by a shift from relatively inexpensive human insulin to its more expensive analogs, marketed by three to four main global players. Nonetheless, patent-based market exclusivities are beginning to expire there for the first generation insulin analogs. This paper adds a global dimension to information on the U.S. patent landscape for insulin by reviewing the ...

The impact of globalization on the characteristics of European countries’ tax systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luković Stevan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the international literature, a great number of studies have sought to determine the relationship between the characteristics of the national tax systems and globalization. Most of the research was conducted to prove the impact of the tax system on the competitiveness of the national economy, in order to give a clear recommendation for how economic and fiscal policy should create a stimulating economic background and enable greater involvement of the national economy in international flows. However, the process can be viewed from the reverse perspective, in the sense that the process of globalization and international competition can shape the characteristics of national tax systems. This paper aims to determine by empirical evidence the impact of the process of globalization and international competition on the characteristics of taxation in observed European countries.

Global health and global health ethics

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Benatar, S. R; Brock, Gillian

2011-01-01

...? What are our responsibilities and how can we improve global health? Global Health and Global Health Ethics addresses these questions from the perspective of a range of disciplines, including medicine, philosophy and the social sciences...

Sources of the Radio Background Considered

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singal, J.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U.; Stawarz, L.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U. /Jagiellonian U., Astron. Observ.; Lawrence, A.; /Edinburgh U., Inst. Astron. /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U.; Petrosian, V.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept.

2011-08-22

We investigate possible origins of the extragalactic radio background reported by the ARCADE 2 collaboration. The surface brightness of the background is several times higher than that which would result from currently observed radio sources. We consider contributions to the background from diffuse synchrotron emission from clusters and the intergalactic medium, previously unrecognized flux from low surface brightness regions of radio sources, and faint point sources below the flux limit of existing surveys. By examining radio source counts available in the literature, we conclude that most of the radio background is produced by radio point sources that dominate at sub {mu}Jy fluxes. We show that a truly diffuse background produced by elections far from galaxies is ruled out because such energetic electrons would overproduce the observed X-ray/{gamma}-ray background through inverse Compton scattering of the other photon fields. Unrecognized flux from low surface brightness regions of extended radio sources, or moderate flux sources missed entirely by radio source count surveys, cannot explain the bulk of the observed background, but may contribute as much as 10%. We consider both radio supernovae and radio quiet quasars as candidate sources for the background, and show that both fail to produce it at the observed level because of insufficient number of objects and total flux, although radio quiet quasars contribute at the level of at least a few percent. We conclude that the most important population for production of the background is likely ordinary starforming galaxies above redshift 1 characterized by an evolving radio far-infrared correlation, which increases toward the radio loud with redshift.

Global, regional, and national age–sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geleijnse, J.M.

2015-01-01

Background

Up-to-date evidence on levels and trends for age-sex-specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality is essential for the formation of global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) we estimated yearly deaths for 188

Moving the Borders: Multiculturalism and Global Citizenship in the German Social Studies Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Ortloff, Debora Hinderliter

2011-01-01

Background: In many countries, working towards a truly inclusive national citizenship means deconstructing hegemonic structures that are deeply entrenched. Moving outside of the borders toward a global citizenship hints at giving up on what has been a long road toward multicultural citizenship. A balance between including and empowering diverse…

Studies of global warming and global energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inaba, Atsushi

1993-01-01

Global warming caused by increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentration has been the focus of many recent global energy studies. CO 2 is emitted to the atmosphere mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels. This means that global warming is fundamentally a problem of the global energy system. An analysis of the findings of recent global energy studies is made in this report. The results are categorized from the viewpoint of concern about global warming. The analysis includes energy use and CO 2 emissions, measures taken to restrain CO 2 emissions and the cost of such measure, and suggestions for long term global energy generation. Following this comparative analysis, each of the studies is reviewed in detail. (author) 63 refs

Barriers to global health development: An international quantitative survey.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahr Weiss

Full Text Available Global health's goal of reducing low-and-middle-income country versus high-income country health disparities faces complex challenges. Although there have been discussions of barriers, there has not been a broad-based, quantitative survey of such barriers.432 global health professionals were invited via email to participate in an online survey, with 268 (62% participating. The survey assessed participants' (A demographic and global health background, (B perceptions regarding 66 barriers' seriousness, (C detailed ratings of barriers designated most serious, (D potential solutions.Thirty-four (of 66 barriers were seen as moderately or more serious, highlighting the widespread, significant challenges global health development faces. Perceived barrier seriousness differed significantly across domains: Resource Limitations mean = 2.47 (0-4 Likert scale, Priority Selection mean = 2.20, Corruption, Lack of Competence mean = 1.87, Social and Cultural Barriers mean = 1.68. Some system-level predictors showed significant but relatively limited relations. For instance, for Global Health Domain, HIV and Mental Health had higher levels of perceived Social and Cultural Barriers than other GH Domains. Individual-level global health experience predictors had small but significant effects, with seriousness of (a Corruption, Lack of Competence, and (b Priority Selection barriers positively correlated with respondents' level of LMIC-oriented (e.g., weeks/year spent in LMIC but Academic Global Health Achievement (e.g., number of global health publications negatively correlated with overall barrier seriousness.That comparatively few system-level predictors (e.g., Organization Type were significant suggests these barriers may be relatively fundamental at the system-level. Individual-level and system-level effects do have policy implications; e.g., Priority Selection barriers were among the most serious, yet effects on seriousness of how LMIC-oriented a professional

Global, Regional, and National Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases for 10 Causes, 1990 to 2015

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roth, Gregory A; Johnson, Catherine; Abajobir, Amanuel

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: The burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remains unclear in many regions of the world. OBJECTIVES: The GBD (Global Burden of Disease) 2015 study integrated data on disease incidence, prevalence, and mortality to produce consistent, up-to-date estimates for cardiovascular burden......-income countries. Ischemic heart disease was the leading cause of CVD health lost globally, as well as in each world region, followed by stroke. As SDI increased beyond 0.25, the highest CVD mortality shifted from women to men. CVD mortality decreased sharply for both sexes in countries with an SDI >0...... be used to guide policymakers who are focused on reducing the overall burden of noncommunicable disease and achieving specific global health targets for CVD....

Global justice, poverty and maternal mortality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flor de María Cáceres M

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Global justice is currently situated in an ambiance of tension and debate, facing a series of statements attempting to explain relationships among countries, based on the background of agreements already accomplished by supranational agencies. This network of relationships, not always fair nor equitable, has resulted in an increased accumulation of wealth in just a few hands and poverty in a growing number of people in poor countries and geographic areas with restrictions to access both to resources and to technological and scientific advances. Poverty, exclusion and inequalities limit all together the opportunities for development in these communities, with the outcome of serious consequences such as the deterioration in basic indicators of development. Maternal mortality rate (mm is considered a sentinel indicator since it belongs in most cases to premature deaths which would be avoidable through proper measures in education, health promotion and timely access to quality health services. The purpose of this essay is to defend the thesis that the lack of global justice has limited the scope of the goals related to poverty and mm reduction

Maintaining the Background Dust Opacity During Northern Hemisphere Summer Mars Using Wind Stress Based Dust Lifting

Science.gov (United States)

Jha, V.; Kahre, M. A.

2017-12-01

The Mars atmosphere has low levels of dust during Northern Hemisphere (NH) spring and summer (the non-dusty season) and increased levels during NH autumn and winter (the dusty season). In the absence of regional or global storms, dust devils and local storms maintain a background minimum dust loading during the non-dusty season. While observational surveys and Global Climate Model (GCM) studies suggest that dust devils are likely to be major contributors to the background haze during NH spring and summer, a complete understanding of the relative contribution of dust devils and local dust storms has not yet been achieved. We present preliminary results from an investigation that focuses on the effects of radiatively active water ice clouds on dust lifting processes during these seasons. Water ice clouds are known to affect atmospheric temperatures directly by absorption and emission of thermal infrared radiation and indirectly through dynamical feedbacks. Our goal is to understand how clouds affect the contribution by local (wind stress) dust storms to the background dust haze during NH spring and summer. The primary tool for this work is the NASA Ames Mars GCM, which contains physical parameterizations for a fully interactive dust cycle. Three simulations that included wind stress dust lifting were executed for a period of 5 Martian years: a case that included no cloud formation, a case that included radiatively inert cloud formation and a case that included radiatively active cloud (RAC) formation. Results show that when radiatively active clouds are included, the clouds in the aphelion cloud belt radiatively heat the atmosphere aloft in the tropics (Figure 1). This heating produces a stronger overturning circulation, which in turn produces an enhanced low-level flow in the Hadley cell return branch. The stronger low-level flow drives higher surface stresses and increased dust lifting in those locations. We examine how realistic these simulated results are by

Atlas of the Global Burden of Stroke (1990-2013)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feigin, Valery L; Mensah, George A; Norrving, Bo

2015-01-01

for ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke in the world for 1990-2013. METHODOLOGY: Stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, DALYs and YLDs were estimated following the general approach of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 with several important improvements in methods. Data were updated for mortality......BACKGROUND: World mapping is an important tool to visualize stroke burden and its trends in various regions and countries. OBJECTIVES: To show geographic patterns of incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and years lived with disability (YLDs) and their trends...... estimates of global population. All estimates have been computed with 95% uncertainty intervals. RESULTS: Age-standardized incidence, mortality, prevalence and DALYs/YLDs declined over the period from 1990 to 2013. However, the absolute number of people affected by stroke has substantially increased across...

Backgrounds and characteristics of arsonists

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Labree, W.; Nijman, H.L.I.; Marle, H.J.C. van; Rassin, E.

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to gain more insight in the backgrounds and characteristics of arsonists. For this, the psychiatric, psychological, personal, and criminal backgrounds of all arsonists (n = 25), sentenced to forced treatment in the maximum security forensic hospital “De Kijvelanden”, were

16 CFR 1404.2 - Background.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Background. 1404.2 Section 1404.2 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT REGULATIONS CELLULOSE INSULATION § 1404.2 Background. Based on available fire incident information, engineering analysis of the probable...

Extragalactic background light measurements and applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooray, Asantha

2016-03-01

This review covers the measurements related to the extragalactic background light intensity from γ-rays to radio in the electromagnetic spectrum over 20 decades in wavelength. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the best measured spectrum with an accuracy better than 1%. The measurements related to the cosmic optical background (COB), centred at 1 μm, are impacted by the large zodiacal light associated with interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. The best measurements of COB come from an indirect technique involving γ-ray spectra of bright blazars with an absorption feature resulting from pair-production off of COB photons. The cosmic infrared background (CIB) peaking at around 100 μm established an energetically important background with an intensity comparable to the optical background. This discovery paved the way for large aperture far-infrared and sub-millimetre observations resulting in the discovery of dusty, starbursting galaxies. Their role in galaxy formation and evolution remains an active area of research in modern-day astrophysics. The extreme UV (EUV) background remains mostly unexplored and will be a challenge to measure due to the high Galactic background and absorption of extragalactic photons by the intergalactic medium at these EUV/soft X-ray energies. We also summarize our understanding of the spatial anisotropies and angular power spectra of intensity fluctuations. We motivate a precise direct measurement of the COB between 0.1 and 5 μm using a small aperture telescope observing either from the outer Solar System, at distances of 5 AU or more, or out of the ecliptic plane. Other future applications include improving our understanding of the background at TeV energies and spectral distortions of CMB and CIB.

The evolution of global health teaching in undergraduate medical curricula.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowson, Mike; Smith, Abi; Hughes, Rob; Johnson, Oliver; Maini, Arti; Martin, Sophie; Martineau, Fred; Miranda, J Jaime; Pollit, Vicki; Wake, Rae; Willott, Chris; Yudkin, John S

2012-11-13

Since the early 1990s there has been a burgeoning interest in global health teaching in undergraduate medical curricula. In this article we trace the evolution of this teaching and present recommendations for how the discipline might develop in future years. Undergraduate global health teaching has seen a marked growth over the past ten years, partly as a response to student demand and partly due to increasing globalization, cross-border movement of pathogens and international migration of health care workers. This teaching has many different strands and types in terms of topic focus, disciplinary background, the point in medical studies in which it is taught and whether it is compulsory or optional. We carried out a survey of medical schools across the world in an effort to analyse their teaching of global health. Results indicate that this teaching is rising in prominence, particularly through global health elective/exchange programmes and increasing teaching of subjects such as globalization and health and international comparison of health systems. Our findings indicate that global health teaching is moving away from its previous focus on tropical medicine towards issues of more global relevance. We suggest that there are three types of doctor who may wish to work in global health - the 'globalised doctor', 'humanitarian doctor' and 'policy doctor' - and that each of these three types will require different teaching in order to meet the required competencies. This teaching needs to be inserted into medical curricula in different ways, notably into core curricula, a special overseas doctor track, optional student selected components, elective programmes, optional intercalated degrees and postgraduate study. We argue that teaching of global health in undergraduate medical curricula must respond to changing understandings of the term global health. In particular it must be taught from the perspective of more disciplines than just biomedicine, in order to reflect

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2016 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gakidou, Emmanuela; Afshin, Ashkan; Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abbafati, Cristiana; Abbas, Kaja M.; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abdulle, Abdishakur M.; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Aboyans, Victor; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M. E.; Abyu, Gebre Yitayih; Adedeji, Isaac Akinkunmi; Adetokunboh, Olatunji; Afarideh, Mohsen; Agrawal, Anurag; Agrawal, Sutapa; Kiadaliri, Aliasghar Ahmad; Ahmadieh, Hamid; Ahmed, Muktar Beshir; Aichour, Amani Nidhal; Aichour, Ibtihel; Aichour, Miloud Taki Eddine; Akinyemi, Rufus Olusola; Akseer, Nadia; Alahdab, Fares; Al-Aly, Ziyad; Alam, Khurshid; Alam, Noore; Alam, Tahiya; Alasfoor, Deena; Alene, Kefyalew Addis; Ali, Komal; Alizadeh-Navaei, Reza; Alkerwi, Ala'a; Alla, Francois; Allebeck, Peter; Al-Raddadi, Rajaa; Alsharif, Ubai; Altirkawi, Khalid A.; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Amini, Erfan; Ammar, Walid; Amoako, Yaw Ampem; Ansari, Hossein; Berhe, Derbew Fikadu; Hoek, Hans W.; van Boven, Job F. M.

2017-01-01

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive assessment of risk factor exposure and attributable burden of disease. By providing estimates over a long time series, this study can monitor risk exposure trends critical to health

Background suppression in Gerda Phase II and its study in the LArGe low background set-up

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Budjas, Dusan [Physik-Department E15, Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany); Collaboration: GERDA-Collaboration

2013-07-01

In Phase II of the Gerda experiment additional ∝20 kg of BEGe-type germanium detectors, enriched in {sup 76}Ge, will be deployed in liquid argon (LAr) to further increase the sensitivity for the half-life of neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of {sup 76}Ge to > 2 . 10{sup 26} yr. To reduce background by a factor of 10 to the required level of < 10{sup -3} cts/(keV.kg.yr), it is necessary to employ active background-suppression techniques, including anti-Compton veto using scintillation light detection from LAr and pulse shape discrimination exploiting the characteristic electrical field distribution inside BEGe detectors. The latter technique can identify single-site events (typical for 0νββ) and efficiently reject multi-site events (mainly from γ-rays), as well as different types of background events from detector surfaces. The combined power of these techniques was studied for {sup 42}K and other background sources at the low background facility LArGe. Together with extensive simulations, the information from tracking of the Phase II detector material exposure to cosmic rays and based on the background contributions observed in Phase I, the expected background level in Phase II in the region of interest at 2039 keV, the Q{sub ββ} energy of {sup 76}Ge, is estimated. The preliminary analysis shows that contributions from all expected background components after all cuts are in line with the goal of Gerda Phase II.

Zambia Country Background Report

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hampwaye, Godfrey; Jeppesen, Søren; Kragelund, Peter

This paper provides background data and general information for the Zambia studies focusing on local food processing sub­‐sector; and the local suppliers to the mines as part of the SAFIC project (Successful African Firms and Institutional Change).......This paper provides background data and general information for the Zambia studies focusing on local food processing sub­‐sector; and the local suppliers to the mines as part of the SAFIC project (Successful African Firms and Institutional Change)....

Approach on a global HTGR R and D network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lensa, W. von

1997-01-01

The present situation of nuclear power in general and of the innovative nuclear reactor systems in particular requires more comprehensive, coordinated R and D efforts on a broad international level to respond to today's requirements with respect to public and economic acceptance as well as to globalization trends and global environmental problems. HTGR technology development has already reached a high degree of maturity that will be complemented by the operation of the two new test reactors in Japan and China, representing technological milestones for the demonstration of HTGR safety characteristics and Nuclear Process Heat generation capabilities. It is proposed by the IAEA 'International Working Group on Gas-Cooled Reactors' to establish a 'Global HTGR R and D Network' on basic HTGR technology for the stable, long-term advancement of the specific HTGR features and as a basis for the future market introduction of this innovative reactor system. The background and the motivation for this approach are illustrated, as well as first proposals on the main objectives, the structure and the further procedures for the implementation of such a multinational working sharing R and D network. Modern telecooperation methods are foreseen as an interactive tool for effective communication and collaboration on a global scale. (author)

Spectral characterization of natural backgrounds

Science.gov (United States)

Winkelmann, Max

2017-10-01

As the distribution and use of hyperspectral sensors is constantly increasing, the exploitation of spectral features is a threat for camouflaged objects. To improve camouflage materials at first the spectral behavior of backgrounds has to be known to adjust and optimize the spectral reflectance of camouflage materials. In an international effort, the NATO CSO working group SCI-295 "Development of Methods for Measurements and Evaluation of Natural Background EO Signatures" is developing a method how this characterization of backgrounds has to be done. It is obvious that the spectral characterization of a background will be quite an effort. To compare and exchange data internationally the measurements will have to be done in a similar way. To test and further improve this method an international field trial has been performed in Storkow, Germany. In the following we present first impressions and lessons learned from this field campaign and describe the data that has been measured.

Low Background Micromegas in CAST

CERN Document Server

Garza, J.G.; Aznar, F.; Calvet, D.; Castel, J.F.; Christensen, F.E.; Dafni, T.; Davenport, M.; Decker, T.; Ferrer-Ribas, E.; Galán, J.; García, J.A.; Giomataris, I.; Hill, R.M.; Iguaz, F.J.; Irastorza, I.G.; Jakobsen, A.C.; Jourde, D.; Mirallas, H.; Ortega, I.; Papaevangelou, T.; Pivovaroff, M.J.; Ruz, J.; Tomás, A.; Vafeiadis, T.; Vogel, J.K.

2015-11-16

Solar axions could be converted into x-rays inside the strong magnetic field of an axion helioscope, triggering the detection of this elusive particle. Low background x-ray detectors are an essential component for the sensitivity of these searches. We report on the latest developments of the Micromegas detectors for the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST), including technological pathfinder activities for the future International Axion Observatory (IAXO). The use of low background techniques and the application of discrimination algorithms based on the high granularity of the readout have led to background levels below 10$^{-6}$ counts/keV/cm$^2$/s, more than a factor 100 lower than the first generation of Micromegas detectors. The best levels achieved at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) are as low as 10$^{-7}$ counts/keV/cm$^2$/s, showing good prospects for the application of this technology in IAXO. The current background model, based on underground and surface measurements, is presented, as well as ...

Global Surveillance of Emerging Influenza Virus Genotypes by Mass Spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

2007-05-30

Intercontinental circulation of human influenza A( H1N2 ) reassortant viruses during the 2001–2002 influenza season. J Infect Dis 186: 1490–1493. 6. Taubenberger...Global Surveillance of Emerging Influenza Virus Genotypes by Mass Spectrometry Rangarajan Sampath1*, Kevin L. Russell2, Christian Massire1, Mark W...Infections and Immunity, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America Background. Effective influenza surveillance requires

Transient global amnesia and neurological events: the Framingham Heart Study

OpenAIRE

Jose Rafael Romero; Jose Rafael Romero; Melissa eMercado; Alexa S Beiser; Alexa S Beiser; Alexa S Beiser; Aleksandra ePikula; Aleksandra ePikula; Sudha eSeshadri; Sudha eSeshadri; Margaret eKelly-Hayes; Philip A Wolf; Philip A Wolf; Carlos S Kase; Carlos S Kase

2013-01-01

Background/ objective: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a temporary amnestic syndrome characterized by lack of other focal neurological deficits. Cerebrovascular disease, migraine and seizures have been suggested as underlying mechanisms. TGA may be a risk factor for cerebrovascular or other neurological events. We studied the relation of TGA, vascular risk factors, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) indices of subclinical ischemia and neurological events in a community-based sample. Des...

Simulation of Experimental Background using FLUKA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rokni, Sayed

1999-05-11

In November 1997, Experiment T423 began acquiring data with the intentions of understanding the energy spectra of high-energy neutrons generated in the interaction of electrons with lead. The following describes a series of FLUKA simulations studying (1) particle yields in the absence of all background; (2) the background caused from scattering in the room; (3) the effects of the thick lead shielding which surrounded the detector; (4) the sources of neutron background created in this lead shielding; and (5) the ratio of the total background to the ideal yield. In each case, particular attention is paid to the neutron yield.

Background report to the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030. Overviews, details, and methodology of model-based analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakkes, J.A.; Bagnoli, P.; Chateau, J.; Corfee-Morlot, J.; Kim, Y.G.

2008-01-01

This background report provides overviews and details of the model-based analyses for the Outlook. The global analyses have been conducted for 24 regions. They cover: climate change; urban air pollution and related health impacts; nutrient loading to the aquatic environment by agriculture and by trends in sanitation and sewerage; terrestrial biodiversity. A baseline scenario has been developed, as well as three policy packages. Most of the model-based analyses for the Environmental Outlook include a retrospect to 1970 and a look forward up to 2050. This enables an assessment of the cost of policy inaction and of the delaying of such action. This background report compares the impacts of the baseline for the various regions of the world. It also assesses the impact of uncertainties in the modelling for the key messages of the Environmental Outlook

28 CFR 23.2 - Background.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 23.2 Section 23.2 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS OPERATING POLICIES § 23.2 Background. It is... potential threats to the privacy of individuals to whom such data relates, policy guidelines for Federally...

Globalization challenges in a globalized world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr.Sc. Gjon Boriçi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Globalization is an ongoing phenomenon trying to redefine the economic, social, cultural and political dynamics of contemporary societies. The communication among countries and not only them, has been increased expanding political ties, making possible greater economic integration and wider cultural relations combined with augmented global wealth across the world. But, the process of globalization is in wider terms considered a beneficial one, but also viewed by some countries as a menace to national sovereignty and national culture. This paper tries to explain the obstacles to the process of globalization and its attendant benefits. Although globalization has arisen as a result of a more stable world, the factors that had contributed to its rise also help the factions interested to bring destabilization. In an academic approach in this article, between the research and comparative methods, I have been trying to get the maxims between economy, politics and diplomacy in their efforts of affecting the global era.

Long-term costs and health impact of continued global fund support for antiretroviral therapy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J. Stover (John); E.L. Korenromp (Eline); M. Blakley (Matthew); R. Komatsu (Ryuichi); K.M. Viisainen (Kirsi); L. Bollinger (Lori); R. Atun (Rifat)

2011-01-01

textabstractBackground: By the end of 2011 Global Fund investments will be supporting 3.5 million people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 104 low- and middle-income countries. We estimated the cost and health impact of continuing treatment for these patients through 2020. Methods and Findings:

LOFT gamma densitometer background fluxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimesey, R.A.; McCracken, R.T.

1978-01-01

Background gamma-ray fluxes were calculated at the location of the γ densitometers without integral shielding at both the hot-leg and cold-leg primary piping locations. The principal sources for background radiation at the γ densitometers are 16 N activity from the primary piping H 2 O and γ radiation from reactor internal sources. The background radiation was calculated by the point-kernel codes QAD-BSA and QAD-P5A. Reasonable assumptions were required to convert the response functions calculated by point-kernel procedures into the gamma-ray spectrum from reactor internal sources. A brief summary of point-kernel equations and theory is included

On the spatial behavior of background plasma in different background pressure in CPS device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samantaray, Subrata; Paikaray, Rita; Sahoo, Gourishankar; Das, Parthasarathi; Ghosh, Joydeep; Sanyasi, Amulya Kumar

2015-01-01

Blob formation and transport is a major concern for investigators as it greatly reduces the efficiency of the devices. Initial results from CPS device confirm the role of fast neutrals inside the bulk plasma in the process of blob formation and transport. 2-D simulation of curvature and velocity shear instability in plasma structures suggest that in the presence of background plasma, secondary instability do not grow non-linearly to a high level and stabilizes the flow. Adiabaticity effect also creates a radial barrier for interchange modes. In the absence of background plasma the blob fragments even at the modest level of viscosity. The fast neutrals outside bulk plasma supposed to stabilize the system. The background plasma set up is aimed at creating fast neutrals outside main plasma column, hence; the background plasma set up is done in CPS device. The spatial behavior of plasma column in between electrodes is different for different base pressure in CPS device. The spatial variation of electron temperature of plasma column between electrodes is presented in this communication. Electron temperature is measured from emission spectroscopy data. The maximum electron temperature (line averaged) is ∼ 1.5 eV. (author)

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015 : A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Forouzanfar, Mohammad H.; Afshin, Ashkan; Alexander, Lily T.; Anderson, H. Ross; Bhutta, Zulficiar A.; Biryukov, Stan; Brauer, Michael; Burnett, Richard; Cercy, Kelly; Charlson, Fiona J.; Cohen, Aaron J.; Dandona, Lalit; Estep, Kara; Ferrari, Alize J.; Frostad, Joseph J.; Fullman, Nancy; Gething, Peter W.; Godwin, William W.; Griswold, Max; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kyu, Hmwe H.; Larson, Heidi J.; Liang, Xiaofeng; Lim, Stephen S.; Liu, Patrick Y.; Lopez, Alan D.; Lozano, Rafael; Marczak, Laurie; Mensah, George A.; Mokdad, Ali H.; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Naghavi, Mohsen; Neal, Bruce; Reitsma, Marissa B.; Roth, Gregory A.; Salomon, Joshua A.; Sur, Patrick J.; Vos, Theo; Wagner, Joseph A.; Wang, Haidong; Zhao, Yi; Zhou, Maigeng; Aasvang, Gunn Marit; Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abbafati, Cristiana; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Hoek, Hans W.; Singh, Abhishek; Tura, Abera Kenay

2016-01-01

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform

Aircraft and background noise annoyance effects

Science.gov (United States)

Willshire, K. F.

1984-01-01

To investigate annoyance of multiple noise sources, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment, which used 48 subjects, was designed to establish annoyance-noise level functions for three community noise sources presented individually: jet aircraft flyovers, air conditioner, and traffic. The second experiment, which used 216 subjects, investigated the effects of background noise on aircraft annoyance as a function of noise level and spectrum shape; and the differences between overall, aircraft, and background noise annoyance. In both experiments, rated annoyance was the dependent measure. Results indicate that the slope of the linear relationship between annoyance and noise level for traffic is significantly different from that of flyover and air conditioner noise and that further research was justified to determine the influence of the two background noises on overall, aircraft, and background noise annoyance (e.g., experiment two). In experiment two, total noise exposure, signal-to-noise ratio, and background source type were found to have effects on all three types of annoyance. Thus, both signal-to-noise ratio, and the background source must be considered when trying to determine community response to combined noise sources.

Real-Time Adaptive Foreground/Background Segmentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sridha Sridharan

2005-08-01

Full Text Available The automatic analysis of digital video scenes often requires the segmentation of moving objects from a static background. Historically, algorithms developed for this purpose have been restricted to small frame sizes, low frame rates, or offline processing. The simplest approach involves subtracting the current frame from the known background. However, as the background is rarely known beforehand, the key is how to learn and model it. This paper proposes a new algorithm that represents each pixel in the frame by a group of clusters. The clusters are sorted in order of the likelihood that they model the background and are adapted to deal with background and lighting variations. Incoming pixels are matched against the corresponding cluster group and are classified according to whether the matching cluster is considered part of the background. The algorithm has been qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated against three other well-known techniques. It demonstrated equal or better segmentation and proved capable of processing 320×240 PAL video at full frame rate using only 35%–40% of a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4 computer.

Risk Assessment of Diabetes Mellitus by Chaotic Globals to Heart Rate Variability via Six Power Spectra

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Garner David M.

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: The priniciple objective here is to analyze cardiovascular dynamics in diabetic subjects by actions related to heart rate variability (HRV. The correlation of chaotic globals is vital to evaluate the probability of dynamical diseases.

Preparing for a Global Scientific Workforce: Lessons Learned by the Chemistry Community

Science.gov (United States)

Baranovic, M.; Nameroff, T.

2005-12-01

Globalization has significant implications for science, science education, and the workforce. Flows of capital and knowledge are altering patterns of economic and technological development. Technology is allowing science to be conducted in real time on a global scale. International connections and mobility are increasing worldwide. At the same time science is becoming a truly global endeavor, the convergence of disciplines suggests that scientists from different backgrounds can learn from each other's experiences in addressing these challenges and opportunities. This presentation reviews some of the impacts of globalization on the chemically related sciences, students, and profession. As a result of globalization, today's practitioners of chemistry need an ever-expanding skill set to succeed. In addition to a strong command of the basic principles of chemistry, students and practitioners need to know how to work on multicultural teams, have knowledge of other languages, and be able to communicate effectively. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is coming to terms with and responding to changes in the nature of chemistry and its practice. This presentation will explore some of the innovative efforts of ACS to meet the challenges for chemistry in an era of globalization. The Earth and space sciences community may benefit from the chemistry community's "lessons learned."

The Global Burden of Road Injury: Its Relevance to the Emergency Physician

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharon Chekijian

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Road traffic crash fatalities in the United States are at the lowest level since 1950. The reduction in crash injury burden is attributed to several factors: public education and prevention programs, traffic safety policies and enforcement, improvements in vehicle design, and prehospital services coupled with emergency and acute trauma care. Globally, the disease burden of road traffic injuries is rising. In 1990, road traffic injuries ranked ninth in the ten leading causes of the global burden of disease. By 2030, estimates show that road traffic injuries will be the fifth leading causes of death in the world. Historically, emergency medicine has played a pivotal role in contributing to the success of the local, regional, and national traffic safety activities focused on crash and injury prevention. Objective. We report on the projected trend of the global burden of road traffic injuries and fatalities and describe ongoing global initiatives to reduce road traffic morbidity and mortality. Discussion. We present key domains where emergency medicine can contribute through international collaboration to address global road traffic-related morbidity and mortality. Conclusion. International collaborative programs and research offer important opportunities for emergency medicine physicians to make a meaningful impact on the global burden of disease.

Global Seasonality of Rotavirus Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Manish M.; Pitzer, Virginia; Alonso, Wladimir J.; Vera, David; Lopman, Ben; Tate, Jacqueline; Viboud, Cecile; Parashar, Umesh D.

2012-01-01

Background A substantial number of surveillance studies have documented rotavirus prevalence among children admitted for dehydrating diarrhea. We sought to establish global seasonal patterns of rotavirus disease before widespread vaccine introduction. Methods We reviewed studies of rotavirus detection in children with diarrhea published since 1995. We assessed potential relationships between seasonal prevalence and locality by plotting the average monthly proportion of diarrhea cases positive for rotavirus according to geography, country development, and latitude. We used linear regression to identify variables that were potentially associated with the seasonal intensity of rotavirus. Results Among a total of 99 studies representing all six geographical regions of the world, patterns of year-round disease were more evident in low- and low-middle income countries compared with upper-middle and high income countries where disease was more likely to be seasonal. The level of country development was a stronger predictor of strength of seasonality (P=0.001) than geographical location or climate. However, the observation of distinctly different seasonal patterns of rotavirus disease in some countries with similar geographical location, climate and level of development indicate that a single unifying explanation for variation in seasonality of rotavirus disease is unlikely. Conclusion While no unifying explanation emerged for varying rotavirus seasonality globally, the country income level was somewhat more predictive of the likelihood of having seasonal disease than other factors. Future evaluation of the effect of rotavirus vaccination on seasonal patterns of disease in different settings may help understand factors that drive the global seasonality of rotavirus disease. PMID:23190782

Impact of global economic disparities on practices and outcomes of chronic peritoneal dialysis in children: insights from the International Pediatric Peritoneal Dialysis Network Registry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaefer, Franz; Borzych-Duzalka, Dagmara; Azocar, Marta; Munarriz, Reyner Loza; Sever, Lale; Aksu, Nejat; Barbosa, Lorena Sànchez; Galan, Yajaira Silva; Xu, Hong; Coccia, Paula A.; Szabo, Attila; Wong, William; Salim, Rosana; Vidal, Enrico; Pottoore, Stephen; Warady, Bradley A.; Alconcher, L.; Sojo, E.; Coccia, P. A.; Suarez, A.; Valles, P. G.; Salim, R.; Salta, S. A.; van Hoeck, K.; Koch, V.; Feber, J.; Geary, D. A.; White, C.; Valenzuela, M.; Villagra, J.; Cano, F.; Contreras, M. A.; Vogel, A.; Zambrano, P.; Berrocal, P.; Tse, K. C.; Xu, H.; Vondrak, K.; Rönnholm, K.; Harambat, J.; Ranchin, B.; Roussey, G.; Ulinski, T.; Fischbach, M.; Büscher, R.; Kemper, M.; Pape, L.; Schaefer, F.; Borzych, D.; Groothoff, J. W.

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES, AND METHODS: The number of patients on chronic peritoneal dialysis (CPD) is increasing rapidly on a global scale. We analyzed the International Pediatric Peritoneal Dialysis Network (IPPN) registry, a global database active in 33 countries spanning a wide range in gross

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abbafati, Cristiana; Abbas, Kaja M.; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abdulle, Abdishakur M.; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Aboyans, Victor; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M E; Abyu, Gebre Yitayih; Adedeji, Isaac Akinkunmi; Adetokunboh, Olatunji; Afarideh, Mohsen; Afshin, Ashkan; Agrawal, Anurag; Agrawal, Sutapa; Ahmadieh, Hamid; Ahmed, Muktar Beshir; Aichour, Miloud Taki Eddine; Aichour, Amani Nidhal; Aichour, Ibtihel; Akinyemi, Rufus Olusola; Akseer, Nadia; Alahdab, Fares; Al-Aly, Ziyad; Alam, Khurshid; Alam, Noore; Alam, Tahiya; Alasfoor, Deena; Alene, Kefyalew Addis; Ali, Komal; Alizadeh-Navaei, Reza; Alkerwi, Ala'a; Alla, François; Allebeck, Peter; Al-Raddadi, Rajaa; Alsharif, Ubai; Altirkawi, Khalid A.; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amare, Azmeraw T; Amini, Erfan; Ammar, Walid; Amoako, Yaw Ampem; Ansari, Hossein; Antó, Josep M.; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T; Anwari, Palwasha; Arian, Nicholas; Ärnlöv, Johan; Artaman, Al; Aryal, Krishna Kumar; Asayesh, Hamid; Asgedom, Solomon Weldegebreal; Atey, Tesfay Mehari; Avila-Burgos, Leticia; Avokpaho, Euripide Frinel G.Arthur; Awasthi, Ashish; Azzopardi, Peter; Bacha, Umar; Badawi, Alaa; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Ballew, Shoshana H.; Barac, Aleksandra; Barber, Ryan M; Barker-Collo, Suzanne L; Bärnighausen, Till; Barquera, Simon; Barregard, Lars; Barrero, Lope H; Batis, Carolina; Battle, Katherine E.; Baumgarner, Blair R.; Baune, Bernhard T.; Beardsley, Justin; Bedi, Neeraj; Beghi, Ettore; Bell, Michelle L; Bennett, Derrick A; Bennett, James R.; Bensenor, Isabela M.; Berhane, Adugnaw; Berhe, Derbew Fikadu; Bernabé, Eduardo; Betsu, Balem Demtsu; Beuran, Mircea; Beyene, Addisu Shunu; Bhansali, Anil; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Bicer, Burcu Kucuk; Bikbov, Boris; Birungi, Charles; Biryukov, Stan; Blosser, Christopher D.; Boneya, Dube Jara; Bou-Orm, Ibrahim R.; Brauer, Michael; Breitborde, Nicholas J.K.; Brenner, Hermann; Brugha, Traolach S; Bulto, Lemma Negesa Bulto; Butt, Zahid A.; Cahuana-Hurtado, Lucero; Cárdenas, Rosario; Carrero, Juan Jesus; Castañeda-Orjuela, Carlos A; Catalá-López, Ferrán; Cercy, Kelly; Chang, Hsing Yi; Charlson, Fiona J; Chimed-Ochir, Odgerel; Chisumpa, Vesper Hichilombwe; Chitheer, Abdulaal A.; Christensen, Hanne; Christopher, Devasahayam Jesudas; Cirillo, Massimo; Cohen, Aaron J; Comfort, Haley; Cooper, Cyrus; Coresh, Josef; Cornaby, Leslie; Cortesi, Paolo Angelo; Criqui, Michael H; Crump, John A; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; das Neves, José; Davey, Gail; Davitoiu, Dragos V; Davletov, Kairat; de Courten, Barbora; Defo, Barthelemy Kuate; Degenhardt, Louisa; Deiparine, Selina; Dellavalle, Robert P; Deribe, Kebede; Deshpande, Aniruddha; Dharmaratne, Samath D; Ding, Eric L; Djalalinia, Shirin; Do, Huyen Phuc; Dokova, Klara; Doku, David Teye; Donkelaar, Aaron van; Dorsey, E Ray; Driscoll, Tim R; Dubey, Manisha; Duncan, Bruce Bartholow; Duncan, Sarah; Ebrahimi, Hedyeh; El-Khatib, Ziad Ziad; Enayati, Ahmadali; Endries, Aman Yesuf; Ermakov, Sergey Petrovich; Erskine, Holly E; Eshrati, Babak; Eskandarieh, Sharareh; Esteghamati, Alireza; Estep, Kara; Faraon, Emerito Jose Aquino; Farinha, Carla Sofia e.Sa; Faro, André; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fay, Kairsten; Feigin, Valery L; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Fernandes, João C.; Ferrari, Alize J; Feyissa, Tesfaye Regassa; Filip, Irina; Fischer, Florian; Fitzmaurice, Christina; Flaxman, Abraham D; Foigt, Nataliya; Foreman, Kyle J; Frostad, Joseph J; Fullman, Nancy; Fürst, Thomas; Furtado, Joao M.; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Ganji, Morsaleh; Garcia-Basteiro, Alberto L.; Gebrehiwot, Tsegaye Tewelde; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Geleto, Ayele; Gemechu, Bikila Lencha; Gesesew, Hailay Abrha; Gething, Peter W.; Ghajar, Alireza; Gibney, Katherine B; Gill, Paramjit Singh; Gillum, Richard F; Giref, Ababi Zergaw; Gishu, Melkamu Dedefo; Giussani, Giorgia; Godwin, William W.; Gona, Philimon N.; Goodridge, Amador; Gopalani, Sameer Vali; Goryakin, Yevgeniy; Goulart, Alessandra Carvalho; Graetz, Nicholas; Gugnani, Harish Chander; Guo, Jingwen; Gupta, Rajeev; Gupta, Tanush; Gupta, Vipin; Gutiérrez, Reyna A; Hachinski, Vladimir; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hailu, Gessessew Bugssa; Hamadeh, Randah Ribhi; Hamidi, Samer; Hammami, Mouhanad; Handal, Alexis J.; Hankey, Graeme J.; Hanson, Sarah Wulf; Harb, Hilda L; Hareri, Habtamu Abera; Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hawley, Caitlin; Hay, Simon I; Hedayati, Mohammad T; Hendrie, Delia; Heredia-Pi, Ileana Beatriz; Hernandez, Julio Cesar Montañez; Hoek, Hans W; Horita, Nobuyuki; Hosgood, H. Dean; Hostiuc, Sorin; Hoy, Damian G; Hsairi, Mohamed; Hu, Guoqing; Huang, John J; Huang, Hsiang; Ibrahim, Norlinah Mohamed; Iburg, Kim Moesgaard; Ikeda, Chad; Inoue, Manami; Irvine, Caleb Mackay Salpeter; Jackson, Maria Delores; Jacobsen, Kathryn H; Jahanmehr, Nader; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo B.; Jauregui, Alejandra; Javanbakht, Mehdi; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Johansson, Lars R.K.; Johnson, Catherine O.; Jonas, Jost B; Jürisson, Mikk; Kabir, Zubair; Kadel, Rajendra; Kahsay, Amaha; Kamal, Ritul; Karch, André; Karema, Corine Kakizi; Kasaeian, Amir; Kassebaum, Nicholas J.; Kastor, Anshul; Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal; Kawakami, Norito; Keiyoro, Peter Njenga; Kelbore, Sefonias Getachew; Kemmer, Laura; Kengne, Andre Pascal; Kesavachandran, Chandrasekharan Nair; Khader, Yousef Saleh; Khalil, Ibrahim A.; Khan, Ejaz Ahmad; Khang, Young-Ho; Khosravi, Ardeshir; Khubchandani, Jagdish; Kiadaliri, Aliasghar Ahmad; Kieling, Christian; Kim, Jun Y.; Kim, Yun Jin; Kim, Daniel; Kimokoti, Ruth W; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kisa, Adnan; Kissimova-Skarbek, Katarzyna A.; Kivimaki, Mika; Knibbs, Luke D; Knudsen, Ann Kristin; Kopec, Jacek A.; Kosen, Soewarta; Koul, Parvaiz A.; Koyanagi, Ai; Kravchenko, Michael; Krohn, Kristopher J.; Kromhout, Hans|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/074385224; Kumar, G Anil; Kutz, Michael; Kyu, Hmwe H; Lal, Dharmesh Kumar; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lallukka, Tea; Lan, Qing; Lansingh, Van C; Larsson, Anders; Lee, Paul H.; Lee, Alexander; Leigh, James; Leung, Janni; Levi, Miriam; Levy, Teresa Shamah; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Liang, Xiaofeng; Liben, Misgan Legesse; Lim, Stephen S; Linn, Shai; Liu, Patrick; Lodha, Rakesh; Logroscino, Giancarlo; Looker, Katherine J.; Lopez, Alan D; Lorkowski, Stefan; Lotufo, Paulo A; Lozano, Rafael; Lunevicius, Raimundas; Macarayan, Erlyn Rachelle King; Magdy Abd El Razek, Hassan; Magdy Abd El Razek, Mohammed; Majdan, Marek; Majdzadeh, Reza; Majeed, Azeem; Malekzadeh, Reza; Malhotra, Rajesh; Malta, Deborah Carvalho; Mamun, Abdullah A.; Manguerra, Helena; Mantovani, Lorenzo G.; Mapoma, Chabila C.; Martin, Randall V; Martinez-Raga, Jose; Martins-Melo, Francisco Rogerlândio; Mathur, Manu Raj; Matsushita, Kunihiro; Matzopoulos, Richard; Mazidi, Mohsen; McAlinden, Colm; McGrath, John W; Mehata, Suresh; Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Meier, Toni; Melaku, Yohannes Adama; Memiah, Peter; Memish, Ziad A.; Mendoza, Walter; Mengesha, Melkamu Merid; Mensah, George A; Mensink, Gert B.M.; Mereta, Seid Tiku; Meretoja, Tuomo J.; Meretoja, Atte; Mezgebe, Haftay Berhane; Micha, Renata; Millear, Anoushka; Miller, Ted R; Minnig, Shawn; Mirarefin, Mojde; Mirrakhimov, Erkin M.; Misganaw, Awoke; Mishra, Shiva Raj; Mohammad, Karzan Abdulmuhsin; Mohammed, Kedir Endris; Mohammed, Shafiu; Mohan, Murali B.V.; Mokdad, Ali H; Monasta, Lorenzo; Montico, Marcella; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Moraga, Paula; Morawska, Lidia; Morrison, Shane D.; Mountjoy-Venning, Cliff; Mueller, Ulrich O; Mullany, Erin C; Muller, Kate; Murray, Christopher J L; Murthy, Gudlavalleti Venkata Satyanarayana; Musa, Kamarul Imran; Naghavi, Mohsen; Naheed, Aliya; Nangia, Vinay; Natarajan, Gopalakrishnan; Negoi, Ruxandra Irina; Negoi, Ionut; Nguyen, Cuong Tat; Nguyen, Quyen Le; Nguyen, Trang Huyen; Nguyen, Grant; Nguyen, Minh Hao; Nichols, Emma; Ningrum, Dina Nur Anggraini; Nomura, Marika; Nong, Vuong Minh; Norheim, Ole F; Norrving, Bo; Noubiap, Jean Jacques N.; Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf; Ogbo, Felix Akpojene; Oh, In-Hwan; Oladimeji, Olanrewaju; Olagunju, Andrew Toyin; Olagunju, Tinuke Oluwasefunmi; Olivares, Pedro R.; Olsen, Helen E.; Olusanya, Bolajoko Olubukunola; Olusanya, Jacob Olusegun; Opio, John Nelson; Oren, Eyal; Ortiz, Alberto; Ota, Erika; Owolabi, Mayowa O.; PA, Mahesh; Pacella, Rosana E.; Pana, Adrian; Panda, Basant Kumar; Panda-Jonas, Songhomitra; Pandian, Jeyaraj D; Papachristou, Christina; Park, Eun-Kee; Parry, Charles D; Patten, Scott B; Patton, George C.; Pereira, David M; Perico, Norberto; Pesudovs, Konrad; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael Robert; Pillay, Julian David; Piradov, Michael A.; Pishgar, Farhad; Plass, Dietrich; Pletcher, Martin A.; Polinder, Suzanne; Popova, Svetlana; Poulton, Richie G.; Pourmalek, Farshad; Prasad, Narayan; Purcell, Carrie; Qorbani, Mostafa; Radfar, Amir; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi-Movaghar, Afarin; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Mohammad Hifz Ur; Rahman, Muhammad Aziz; Rahman, Mahfuzar; Rai, Rajesh Kumar; Rajsic, Sasa; Ram, Usha; Rawaf, Salman; Rehm, Colin D.; Rehm, Jürgen; Reiner, Robert C.; Reitsma, Marissa B.; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Renzaho, Andre M.N.; Resnikoff, Serge; Reynales-Shigematsu, Luz Myriam; Rezaei, Satar; Ribeiro, Antonio L; Rivera, Juan A.; Roba, Kedir Teji; Rojas-Rueda, David; Roman, Yesenia; Room, Robin; Roshandel, Gholamreza; Roth, Gregory A.; Rothenbacher, Dietrich; Rubagotti, Enrico; Rushton, Lesley; Sadat, Nafis; Safdarian, Mahdi; Safi, Sare; Safiri, Saeid; Sahathevan, Ramesh; Salama, Joseph; Salomon, Joshua A; Samy, Abdallah M.; Sanabria, Juan Ramon; Sanchez-Niño, Maria Dolores; Sánchez-Pimienta, Tania G; Santomauro, Damian; Santos, Itamar S; Santric Milicevic, Milena M.; Sartorius, Benn; Satpathy, Maheswar; Sawhney, Monika; Saxena, Sonia; Schmidt, Maria Inês; Schneider, Ione J C; Schutte, Aletta E.; Schwebel, David C; Schwendicke, Falk; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G; Serdar, Berrin; Servan-Mori, Edson E; Shaddick, Gavin; Shaheen, Amira; Shahraz, Saeid; Shaikh, Masood Ali; Shamsipour, Mansour; Shamsizadeh, Morteza; Shariful Islam, Sheikh Mohammed; Sharma, Jayendra; Sharma, Rajesh; She, Jun; Shen, Jiabin; Shi, Peilin; Shibuya, Kenji; Shields, Chloe; Shiferaw, Mekonnen Sisay; Shigematsu, Mika; Shin, Min Jeong; Shiri, Rahman; Shirkoohi, Reza; Shishani, Kawkab; Shoman, Haitham; Shrime, Mark G.; Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora; Silva, Diego Augusto Santos; Silva, João Pedro; Silveira, Dayane Gabriele Alves; Singh, Jasvinder A; Singh, Virendra; Sinha, Dhirendra Narain; Skiadaresi, Eirini; Slepak, Erica Leigh; Smith, David L.; Smith, Mari; Sobaih, Badr H.A.; Sobngwi, Eugene; Soneji, Samir; Sorensen, Reed J.D.; Sposato, Luciano A; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T; Srinivasan, Vinay; Steel, Nicholas; Stein, Dan J.; Steiner, Caitlyn; Steinke, Sabine; Stokes, Mark Andrew; Strub, Bryan; Subart, Michelle; Sufiyan, Muawiyyah Babale; Suliankatchi, Rizwan Abdulkader; Sur, Patrick J.; Swaminathan, Soumya; Sykes, Bryan L; Szoeke, Cassandra E.I.; Tabarés-Seisdedos, Rafael; Tadakamadla, Santosh Kumar; Takahashi, Ken; Takala, Jukka S.; Tandon, Nikhil; Tanner, Marcel; Tarekegn, Yihunie L.; Tavakkoli, Mohammad; Tegegne, Teketo Kassaw; Tehrani-Banihashemi, Arash; Terkawi, Abdullah Sulieman; Tesssema, Belay; Thakur, J. S.; Thamsuwan, Ornwipa; Thankappan, Kavumpurathu Raman; Theis, Andrew M.; Thomas, Matthew Lloyd; Thomson, Alan J.; Thrift, Amanda G; Tillmann, Taavi; Tobe-Gai, Ruoyan; Tobollik, Myriam; Tollanes, Mette C.; Tonelli, Marcello; Topor-Madry, Roman; Torre, Anna; Tortajada, Miguel; Touvier, Mathilde; Tran, Bach Xuan; Truelsen, Thomas; Tuem, Kald Beshir; Tuzcu, Emin Murat; Tyrovolas, Stefanos; Ukwaja, Kingsley Nnanna; Uneke, Chigozie Jesse; Updike, Rachel; Uthman, Olalekan A.; van Boven, Job F.M.; Varughese, Santosh; Vasankari, Tommi J; Veerman, Lennert J; Venkateswaran, Vidhya; Venketasubramanian, Narayanaswamy; Violante, Francesco S; Vladimirov, Sergey K.; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Vos, Theo; Wadilo, Fiseha; Wakayo, Tolassa; Wallin, Mitchell T; Wang, Yuan Pang; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G; Weiss, Daniel J.; Werdecker, Andrea; Westerman, Ronny; Whiteford, Harvey A; Wiysonge, Charles Shey; Woldeyes, Belete Getahun; Wolfe, Charles D A; Woodbrook, Rachel; Workicho, Abdulhalik; Xavier, Denis; Xu, Gelin; Yadgir, Simon; Yakob, Bereket; Yan, Lijing L; Yaseri, Mehdi; Yimam, Hassen Hamid; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Yotebieng, Marcel; Younis, Mustafa Z; Zaidi, Zoubida; Zaki, Maysaa El Sayed; Zavala-Arciniega, Luis; Zhang, Xueying; Zimsen, Stephanie Raman M.; Zipkin, Ben; Zodpey, Sanjay

2017-01-01

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive assessment of risk factor exposure and attributable burden of disease. By providing estimates over a long time series, this study can monitor risk exposure trends critical to health

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gakidou, Emmanuela; Geleijnse, J.M.

2017-01-01

Background
The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) provides a comprehensive assessment of risk factor exposure and attributable burden of disease. By providing estimates over a long time series, this study can monitor risk exposure trends critical to

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific Cold Tongue Mode on ENSO Diversity Under Global Warming

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Li, Jianping; Zhang, Wenjun; Chen, Quanliang; Feng, Juan; Zheng, Fei; Wang, Wei; Zhou, Xin

2017-11-01

The causes of ENSO diversity, although being of great interest in recent research, do not have a consistent explanation. This study provides a possible mechanism focused on the background change of the tropical Pacific as a response to global warming. The second empirical orthogonal function mode of the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the tropical Pacific, namely the cold tongue mode (CTM), represents the background change of the tropical Pacific under global warming. Using composite analysis with surface observations and subsurface ocean assimilation data sets, we find ENSO spatial structure diversity is closely associated with the CTM. A positive CTM tends to cool the SST in the eastern equatorial Pacific and warm the SST outside, as well as widen (narrow) zonal and meridional scales for El Niño (La Niña), and vice versa. Particularly in the positive CTM phase, the air-sea action center of El Niño moves west, resembling the spatial pattern of CP-El Niño. This westward shift of center is related to the weakened Bjerknes feedback (BF) intensity by the CTM. By suppressing the SSTA growth of El Niño in the eastern equatorial Pacific, the CTM contributes to more frequent occurrence of CP-El Niño under global warming.

The natural radiation background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duggleby, J.C.

1982-01-01

The components of the natural background radiation and their variations are described. Cosmic radiation is a major contributor to the external dose to the human body whilst naturally-occurring radionuclides of primordial and cosmogenic origin contribute to both the external and internal doses, with the primordial radionuclides being the major contributor in both cases. Man has continually modified the radiation dose to which he has been subjected. The two traditional methods of measuring background radiation, ionisation chamber measurements and scintillation counting, are looked at and the prospect of using thermoluminescent dosimetry is considered

A Multi-Layer Phoswich Radioxenon Detection System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David M. Hamby

2007-01-01

Further work was performed in optical modeling of the modified (dual planar) XEPHWICH design. Modeling capabilities and understanding were expanded through the performance of three additional simulations. The efficiency of the entire optical modeling process was increased by developing custom software to interface with both the input and output of the simulation program. Work continues on the design and implementation of the analog portion of the read-out system. This component is being prototyped and is nearing completion. The PCB (printed circuit board) is in its design phase for the two-channel digital pulse processor, necessary for the dual planar XEPHWICH. System components are being selected for the signal processor based on a balance of cost and our expectations of quality. Outside the scope of the grant, but entirely related, we continue to work on developing a source of fission-product xenon gases that will be produced in the OSU TRIGA reactor. The amount of HEU necessary to provide the needed activities of xenon fission products, as well as build-in times for each isotope of importance following irradiation, have been calculated. Irradiation times in the TRIGA have been determined. We've finalized our design of the xenon-fission-product collection chamber and initiated in-house fabrication. PNNL will be supplying the thin foils of enriched uranium necessary for xenon production

The thermal environment of the human being on the global scale

OpenAIRE

Jendritzky, Gerd; Tinz, Birger

2009-01-01

Background: The close relationship between human health, performance, well-being and the thermal environment is obvious. Nevertheless, most studies of climate and climate change impacts show amazing shortcomings in the assessment of the environment. Populations living in different climates have different susceptibilities, due to socio-economic reasons, and different customary behavioural adaptations. The global distribution of risks of hazardous thermal exposure has not been analysed before. ...

Anti-Globalization or Alter-Globalization? Mapping the Political Ideology of the Global Justice Movement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B. Steger, Manfred; Wilson, E.K.

Steger, Manfred B. and Erin K. Wilson. (2012) Anti-Globalization or Alter-Globalization? Mapping the Political Ideology of the Global Justice Movement. International Studies Quarterly, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2478.2012.00740.x?(c) 2012 International Studies Association Globalization has unsettled

12 CFR 408.1 - Background.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Background. 408.1 Section 408.1 Banks and Banking EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES PROCEDURES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT General § 408.1 Background. (a) The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C...

Gaps in studies of global health education: an empirical literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Liu

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Global health has stimulated a lot of students and has attracted the interest of many faculties, thereby initiating the establishment of many academic programs on global health research and education. global health education reflects the increasing attention toward social accountability in medical education. Objective: This study aims to identify gaps in the studies on global health education. Design: A critical literature review of empirical studies was conducted using Boolean search techniques. Results: A total of 238 articles, including 16 reviews, were identified. There had been a boom in the numbers of studies on global health education since 2010. Four gaps were summarized. First, 94.6% of all studies on global health education were conducted in North American and European countries, of which 65.6% were carried out in the United States, followed by Canada (14.3% and the United Kingdom (9.2%. Only seven studies (2.9% were conducted in Asian countries, five (2.1% in Oceania, and two (0.8% in South American/Caribbean countries. A total of 154 studies (64.4% were qualitative studies and 64 studies (26.8% were quantitative studies. Second, elective courses and training or programs were the most frequently used approach for global health education. Third, there was a gap in the standardization of global health education. Finally, it was mainly targeted at medical students, residents, and doctors. It had not granted the demands for global health education of all students majoring in medicine-related studies. Conclusions: Global health education would be a potentially influential tool for achieving health equity, reducing health disparities, and also for future professional careers. It is the time to build and expand education in global health, especially among developing countries. Global health education should be integrated into primary medical education. Interdisciplinary approaches and interprofessional collaboration were

Research Investments in Global Health: A Systematic Analysis of UK Infectious Disease Research Funding and Global Health Metrics, 1997–2013

Science.gov (United States)

Head, Michael G.; Fitchett, Joseph R.; Nageshwaran, Vaitehi; Kumari, Nina; Hayward, Andrew; Atun, Rifat

2015-01-01

Background Infectious diseases account for a significant global burden of disease and substantial investment in research and development. This paper presents a systematic assessment of research investments awarded to UK institutions and global health metrics assessing disease burden. Methods We systematically sourced research funding data awarded from public and philanthropic organisations between 1997 and 2013. We screened awards for relevance to infection and categorised data by type of science, disease area and specific pathogen. Investments were compared with mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and years lived with disability (YLD) across three time points. Findings Between 1997–2013, there were 7398 awards with a total investment of £3.7 billion. An increase in research funding across 2011–2013 was observed for most disease areas, with notable exceptions being sexually transmitted infections and sepsis research where funding decreased. Most funding remains for pre-clinical research (£2.2 billion, 59.4%). Relative to global mortality, DALYs and YLDs, acute hepatitis C, leishmaniasis and African trypanosomiasis received comparatively high levels of funding. Pneumonia, shigellosis, pertussis, cholera and syphilis were poorly funded across all health metrics. Tuberculosis (TB) consistently attracts relatively less funding than HIV and malaria. Interpretation Most infections have received increases in research investment, alongside decreases in global burden of disease in 2013. The UK demonstrates research strengths in some neglected tropical diseases such as African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis, but syphilis, cholera, shigellosis and pneumonia remain poorly funded relative to their global burden. Acute hepatitis C appears well funded but the figures do not adequately take into account projected future chronic burdens for this condition. These findings can help to inform global policymakers on resource allocation for research investment

Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 333 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2016 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hay, Simon I.; Abajobir, Amanuel Alemu; Abate, Kalkidan Hassen; Abbafati, Cristiana; Abbas, Kaja M.; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abdulle, Abdishakur M.; Abebo, Teshome Abuka; Abera, Semaw Ferede; Aboyans, Victor; Abu-Raddad, Laith J.; Ackerman, Ilana N.; Adedeji, Isaac A.; Adetokunboh, Olatunji; Afshin, Ashkan; Aggarwal, Rakesh; Agrawal, Sutapa; Agrawal, Anurag; Kiadaliri, Aliasghar Ahmad; Ahmed, Muktar Beshir; Aichour, Amani Nidhal; Aichour, Ibtihel; Aichour, Miloud Taki Eddine; Aiyar, Sneha; Akinyemiju, Tomi F.; Akseer, Nadia; Al Lami, Faris Hasan; Alahdab, Fares; Al-Aly, Ziyad; Alam, Khurshid; Alam, Noore; Alam, Tahiya; Alasfoor, Deena; Alene, Kefyalew Addis; Ali, Raghib; Alizadeh-Navaei, Reza; Alkaabi, Juma M.; Alkerwi, Ala'a; Alla, Francois; Allebeck, Peter; Allen, Christine; Al-Maskari, Fatma; AlMazroa, Mohammad AbdulAziz; Al-Raddadi, Rajaa; Alsharif, Ubai; Alsowaidi, Shirina; Althouse, Benjamin M.; Altirkawi, Khalid A.; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Amini, Erfan; Ammar, Walid; Ampem, Yaw Amoako; Ansha, Mustafa Geleto; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T.; Anwari, Palwasha; Arnlov, Johan; Arora, Megha; Al Artaman, Ali; Aryal, Krishna Kumar; Asgedom, Solomon W.; Atey, Tesfay Mehari; Atnafu, Niguse Tadele; Avila-Burgos, Leticia; Avokpaho, Euripide Frinel G. Arthur; Awasthi, Ashish; Awasthi, Shally; Quintanilla, Beatriz Paulina Ayala; Azarpazhooh, Mahmoud Reza; Azzopardi, Peter; Babalola, Tesleem Kayode; Bacha, Umar; Badawi, Alaa; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Bannick, Marlena S.; Barac, Aleksandra; Barker-Collo, Suzanne L.; Barnighausen, Till; Barquera, Simon; Barrero, Lope H.; Basu, Sanjay; Battista, Robert; Battle, Katherine E.; Baune, Bernhard T.; Bazargan-Hejazi, Shahrzad; Beardsley, Justin; Bedi, Neeraj; Bejot, Yannick; Bekele, Bayu Begashaw; Bell, Michelle L.; Bennett, Derrick A.; Bennett, James R.; Bensenor, Isabela M.; Benson, Jennifer; Berhane, Adugnaw; Berhe, Derbew Fikadu; Bernabe, Eduardo; Betsu, Balem Demtsu; Beuran, Mircea; Beyene, Addisu Shunu; Bhansali, Anil; Bhatt, Samir; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Biadgilign, Sibhatu; Bienhoff, Kelly; Bikbov, Boris; Birungi, Charles; Biryukov, Stan; Bisanzio, Donal; Bizuayehu, Habtamu Mellie; Blyth, Fiona M.; Boneya, Dube Jara; Bose, Dipan; Bou-Orm, Ibrahim R.; Bourne, Rupert R. A.; Brainin, Michael; Brayne, Carol E. G.; Brazinova, Alexandra; Breitborde, Nicholas J. K.; Briant, Paul S.; Britton, Gabrielle; Brugha, Traolach S.; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Bulto, Lemma Negesa Bulto; Bumgarner, Blair; Butt, Zahid A.; Cahuana-Hurtado, Lucero; Cameron, Ewan; Ricardo Campos-Nonato, Ismael; Carabin, Helene; Cardenas, Rosario; Carpenter, David O.; Carrero, Juan Jesus; Carter, Austin; Carvalho, Felix; Casey, Daniel; Castaneda-Orjuela, Carlos A.; Rivas, Jacqueline Castillo; Castle, Chris D.; Catala-Lopez, Ferran; Chang, Jung-Chen; Charlson, Fiona J.; Chaturvedi, Pankaj; Chen, Honglei; Chibalabala, Mirriam; Chibueze, Chioma Ezinne; Chisumpa, Vesper Hichilombwe; Chitheer, Abdulaal A.; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Christopher, Devasahayam Jesudas; Ciobanu, Liliana G.; Cirillo, Massimo; Colombara, Danny; Cooper, Leslie Trumbull; Cooper, Cyrus; Cortesi, Paolo Angelo; Cortinovis, Monica; Criqui, Michael H.; Cromwell, Elizabeth A.; Cross, Marita; Crump, John A.; Dadi, Abel Fekadu; Dalal, Koustuv; Damasceno, Albertino; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; das Neves, Jose; Davitoiu, Dragos V.; Davletov, Kairat; de Courten, Barbora; de Leo, Diego; De Steur, Hans; Degenhardt, Louisa; Deiparine, Selina; Dellavalle, Robert P.; Deribe, Kebede; Deribew, Amare; Des Jarlais, Don C.; Dey, Subhojit; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Dhillon, Preet K.; Dicker, Daniel; Djalalinia, Shirin; Huyen Phuc Do,; Dokova, Klara; Doku, David Teye; Dorsey, E. Ray; Bender dos Santos, Kadine Priscila; Driscoll, Tim R.; Dubey, Manisha; Duncan, Bruce Bartholow; Ebel, Beth E.; Echko, Michelle; El-Khatib, Ziad Ziad; Enayati, Ahmadali; Endries, Aman Yesuf; Ermakov, Sergey Petrovich; Erskine, Holly E.; Eshetie, Setegn; Eshrati, Babak; Esteghamati, Alireza; Estep, Kara; Fanuel, Fanuel Belayneh Bekele; Farag, Tamer; Sofia, Carla; Farinha, Sa; Faro, Andre; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fazeli, Mir Sohail; Feigin, Valery L.; Feigl, Andrea B.; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Fernandes, Joao C.; Ferrari, Alize J.; Feyissa, Tesfaye Regassa; Filip, Irina; Fischer, Florian; Fitzmaurice, Christina; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Foigt, Nataliya; Foreman, Kyle J.; Franklin, Richard C.; Frostad, Joseph J.; Fullman, Nancy; Furst, Thomas; Furtado, Joao M.; Futran, Neal D.; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Garcia-Basteiro, Alberto L.; Gebre, Teshome; Gebregergs, Gebremedhin Berhe; Gebrehiwot, Tsegaye Tewelde; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Geleto, Ayele; Gemechu, Bikila Lencha; Gesesew, Hailay Abrha; Gething, Peter W.; Ghajar, Alireza; Gibney, Katherine B.; Gillum, Richard F.; Ginawi, Ibrahim Abdelmageem Mohamed; Gishu, Melkamu Dedefo; Giussani, Giorgia; Godwin, William W.; Goel, Kashish; Goenka, Shifalika; Goldberg, Ellen M.; Gona, Philimon N.; Goodridge, Amador; Gopalani, Sameer Vali; Gosselin, Richard A.; Gotay, Carolyn C.; Goto, Atsushi; Goulart, Alessandra Carvalho; Graetz, Nicholas; Gugnani, Harish Chander; Gupta, Rajeev; Gupta, Prakash C.; Gupta, Tanush; Gupta, Vipin; Gupta, Rahul; Gutierrez, Reyna A.; Hachinski, Vladimir; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hailu, Alemayehu Desalegne; Hailu, Gessessew Bugssa; Hamadeh, Randah Ribhi; Hamidi, Samer; Hammami, Mouhanad; Handal, Alexis J.; Hankey, Graeme J.; Hao, Yuantao; Harb, Hilda L.; Hareri, Habtamu Abera; Haro, Josep Maria; Harun, Kimani M.; Harvey, James; Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hay, Roderick J.; Hedayati, Mohammad T.; Hendrie, Delia; Henry, Nathaniel J.; Heredia-Pi, Ileana Beatriz; Heydarpour, Pouria; Hoek, Hans W.; Hoffman, Howard J.; Horino, Masako; Horita, Nobuyuki; Hosgood, H. Dean; Hostiuc, Sorin; Hotez, Peter J.; Hoy, Damian G.; Htet, Aung Soe; Hu, Guoqing; Huang, John J.; Huynh, Chantal; Iburg, Kim Moesgaard; Igumbor, Ehimario Uche; Ikeda, Chad; Irvine, Caleb Mackay Salpeter; Jacobsen, Kathryn H.; Jahanmehr, Nader; Jakovljevic, Mihajlo B.; James, Peter; Jassal, Simerjot K.; Javanbakht, Mehdi; Jayaraman, Sudha P.; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Jensen, Paul N.; Jha, Vivekanand; Jiang, Guohong; John, Denny; Johnson, Catherine O.; Johnson, Sarah Charlotte; Jonas, Jost B.; Jurisson, Mikk; Kabir, Zubair; Kadel, Rajendra; Kahsay, Amaha; Kamal, Ritul; Kar, Chittaranjan; Karam, Nadim E.; Karch, Andre; Karema, Corine Kakizi; Karimi, Seyed M.; Karimkhani, Chante; Kasaeian, Amir; Kassa, Getachew Mullu; Kassebaum, Nicholas J.; Kassaw, Nigussie Assefa; Kastor, Anshul; Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal; Kaul, Anil; Kawakami, Norito; Keiyoro, Peter Njenga; Kemmer, Laura; Kengne, Andre Pascal; Keren, Andre; Kesavachandran, Chandrasekharan Nair; Khader, Yousef Saleh; Khalil, Ibrahim A.; Khan, Ejaz Ahmad; Khang, Young-Ho; Khoja, Abdullah T.; Khosravi, Ardeshir; Khubchandani, Jagdish; Kieling, Christian; Kim, Yun Jin; Kim, Daniel; Kimokoti, Ruth W.; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kisa, Adnan; Kissimova-Skarbek, Katarzyna A.; Kissoon, Niranjan; Kivimaki, Mika; Knudsen, Ann Kristin; Kokubo, Yoshihiro; Kolte, Dhaval; Kopec, Jacek A.; Kosen, Soewarta; Kotsakis, Georgios A.; Koul, Parvaiz A.; Koyanagi, Ai; Kravchenko, Michael; Krohn, Kristopher J.; Defo, Barthelemy Kuate; Bicer, Burcu Kucuk; Kumar, G. Anil; Kumar, Pushpendra; Kyu, Hmwe H.; Lager, Anton Carl Jonas; Lal, Dharmesh Kumar; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lallukka, Tea; Lambert, Nkurunziza; Lan, Qing; Lansingh, Van C.; Larsson, Anders; Leasher, Janet L.; Lee, Paul H.; Leigh, James; Leshargie, Cheru Tesema; Leung, Janni; Leung, Ricky; Levi, Miriam; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Liang, Xiaofeng; Liben, Misgan Legesse; Lim, Stephen S.; Linn, Shai; Liu, Angela; Liu, Patrick Y.; Liu, Shiwei; Liu, Yang; Lodha, Rakesh; Logroscino, Giancarlo; Looker, Katharine J.; Lopez, Alan D.; Lorkowski, Stefan; Lotufo, Paulo A.; Lozano, Rafael; Lucas, Timothy C. D.; Lunevicius, Raimundas; Lyons, Ronan A.; Macarayan, Erlyn Rachelle King; Maddison, Emilie R.; Abd el Razek, Hassan Magdy; Magis-Rodriguez, Carlos; Mahdavi, Mahdi; Majdan, Marek; Majdzadeh, Reza; Majeed, Azeem; Malekzadeh, Reza; Malhotra, Rajesh; Malta, Deborah Carvalho; Mamun, Abdullah A.; Manguerra, Helena; Manhertz, Treh; Mantovani, Lorenzo G.; Mapoma, Chabila C.; March, Lyn M.; Marczak, Laurie B.; Martinez-Raga, Jose; Henrique, Paulo; Martins, Viegas; Martins-Melo, Francisco Rogerlndio; Martopullo, Ira; Marz, Winfried; Mathur, Manu Raj; Mazidi, Mohsen; McAlinden, Colm; McGaughey, Madeline; McGrath, John J.; Mckee, Martin; Mehata, Suresh; Meier, Toni; Meles, Kidanu Gebremariam; Memiah, Peter; Memish, Ziad A.; Mendoza, Walter; Mengesha, Melkamu Merid; Mengistie, Mubarek Abera; Mengistu, Desalegn Tadese; Mensah, George A.; Meretoja, Atte; Meretoja, Tuomo J.; Mezgebe, Haftay Berhane; Micha, Renata; Millear, Anoushka; Miller, Ted R.; Minnig, Shawn; Mirarefin, Mojde; Mirrakhimov, Erkin M.; Misganaw, Awoke; Mishra, Shiva Raj; Mitchell, Philip B.; Mohammad, Karzan Abdulmuhsin; Mohammadi, Alireza; Mohammed, Shafiu; Mohammed, Kedir Endris; Mohammed, Muktar Sano Kedir; Mohan, Murali B. V.; Mokdad, Ali H.; Mollenkopf, Sarah K.; Monasta, Lorenzo; Montanez Hernandez, Julio Cesar; Montico, Marcella; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Moraga, Paula; Morawska, Lidia; Mori, Rintaro; Morrison, Shane D.; Moses, Mark; Mountjoy-Venning, Cliff; Mruts, Kalayu Birhane; Mueller, Ulrich O.; Muller, Kate; Mudoch, Michele E.; Murthy, Srinivas; Murthy, Gudlavalleti Venkata Satyanarayana; Musa, Kamarul Imran; Nachega, Jean B.; Nagel, Gabriele; Naghavi, Mohsen; Naheed, Aliya; Naidoo, Kovin S.; Nangia, Vinay; Nasher, Jamal T.; Natarajan, Gopalakrishnan; Negasa, Dumessa Edessa; Negoi, Ionut; Negoi, Ruxandra Irina; Newton, Charles R.; Ngunjiri, Josephine Wanjiku; Cuong Tat Nguyen,; Quyen Le Nguyen, [Unknown; Grant Nguyen,; Trang Huyen Nguyen,; Minh Nguyen, [No Value; Nichols, Emma; Ningrum, Dina Nur Anggraini; Vuong Minh Nong,; Norheim, Ole F.; Norrving, Bo; Noubiap, Jean Jacques N.; Nyandwi, Alypio; Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf; O'Donnell, Martin J.; Ogbo, Felix Akpojene; Oh, In-Hwan; Okoro, Anselm; Oladimeji, Olanrewaju; Olagunju, Andrew Toyin; Olagunju, Tinuke Oluwasefunmi; Olsen, Helen E.; Olusanya, Bolajoko Olubukunola; Olusanya, Jacob Olusegun; Ong, Kanyin; Opio, John Nelson; Oren, Eyal; Ortiz, Alberto; Osborne, Richard H.; Osgood-Zimmerman, Aaron; Osman, Majdi; Ota, Erika; Owolabi, Mayowa O.; Pa, Mahesh; Pacella, Rosana E.; Panda, Basant Kumar; Pandian, Jeyaraj D.; Papachristou, Christina; Park, Eun-Kee; Parry, Charles D.; Parsaeian, Mahboubeh; Patil, Snehal T.; Patten, Scott B.; Patton, George C.; Paudel, Deepak; Paulson, Katherine; Pearce, Neil; Pereira, David M.; Perez, Krystle Marie; Perico, Norberto; Pesudovs, Konrad; Peterson, Carrie Beth; Petri, William Arthur; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael Robert; Phipps, Geoffrey; Pigott, David M.; Pillay, Julian David; Pinho, Christine; Piradov, Michael A.; Plass, Dietrich; Pletcher, Martin A.; Popova, Svetlana; Poulton, Richie G.; Pourmalek, Farshad; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Prasad, Narayan; Purcell, Carrie; Purwar, Manorama; Qorbani, Mostafa; Rabiee, Rynaz H. S.; Radfar, Amir; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi, Kazem; Rahimi-Movaghar, Afarin; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Mahfuzar; Rahman, Muhammad Aziz; Rahman, Mohammad Hifz Ur; Rai, Rajesh Kumar; Rajsic, Sasa; Ram, Usha; Ranabhat, Chhabi Lal; Rangaswamy, Thara; Rankin, Zane; Rao, Paturi Vishnupriya; Rao, Puja C.; Rawaf, Salman; Ray, Sarah E.; Reiner, Robert C.; Reinig, Nikolas; Reitsma, Marissa; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Renzaho, Andre M. N.; Resnikoff, Serge; Rezaei, Satar; Ribeiro, Antonio L.; Roba, Hirbo Shore; Robinson, Stephen R.; Rojas-Rueda, David; Rokni, Mohammad Bagher; Ronfani, Luca; Roshandel, Gholamreza; Roth, Gregory A.; Rothenbacher, Dietrich; Roy, Ambuj; Rubagotti, Enrico; Ruhago, George Mugambage; Saadat, Soheil; Safdarian, Mahdi; Safiri, Saeid; Sagar, Rajesh; Sahathevan, Ramesh; Sahraian, Mohammad Ali; Salama, Joseph; Saleh, Muhammad Muhammad; Salomon, Joshua A.; Salvi, Sundeep Santosh; Samy, Abdallah M.; Sanabria, Juan Ramon; Dolores Sanchez-Nino, Maria; Santomauro, Damian; Santos, Joao Vasco; Santos, Itamar S.; Milicevic, Milena M. Santric; Sartorius, Benn; Satpathy, Maheswar; Sawhney, Monika; Saxena, Sonia; Schelonka, Kathryn; Schmidt, Maria Ines; Schneider, Ione J. C.; Ben Schottker,; Schutte, Aletta E.; Schwebel, David C.; Schwendicke, Falk; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G.; Servan-Mori, Edson E.; Shaheen, Amira; Shaikh, Masood Ali; Shamsipour, Mansour; Islam, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful; Sharma, Rajesh; Sharma, Jayendra; She, Jun; Shi, Peilin; Shibuya, Kenji; Shields, Chloe; Shiferaw, Mekonnen Sisay; Shigematsu, Mika; Shiri, Rahman; Shirkoohi, Reza; Shirude, Shreya; Shishani, Kawkab; Shoman, Haitham; Siabani, Soraya; Sibai, Abla Mehio; Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora; Silberberg, Donald H.; Silva, Joao Pedro; Santos Silva, Diego Augusto; Alves Silveira, Dayane Gabriele; Singh, Jasvinder A.; Singh, Virendra; Singh, Om Prakash; Singh, Narinder Pal; Sinha, Dhirendra Narain; Skiadaresi, Eirini; Skirbekk, Vegard; Slepak, Erica Leigh; Smith, David L.; Smith, Mari; Sobaih, Badr H. A.; Sobngwi, Eugene; Soljak, Michael; Sorensen, Reed J. D.; Moraes Sousa, Tatiane Cristina; Sposato, Luciano A.; Sufiyan, Muawiyyah Babale; Abdulkader, Rizwan Suliankatchi; Sunguya, Bruno F.; Sur, Patrick J.; Swaminathan, Soumya; Sykes, Bryan L.; Sylte, Dillon; Szoeke, Cassandra E. I.; Tabares-Seisdedos, Rafael; Tadakamadla, Santosh Kumar; Taffere, Getachew Redae; Takala, Jukka S.; Tandon, Nikhil; Tanne, David; Tarekegn, Yihunie L.; Tavakkoli, Mohammad; Taveira, Nuno; Taylor, Hugh R.; Tegegne, Teketo Kassaw; Tehrani-Banihashemi, Arash; Tekelab, Tesfalidet; Shifa, Girma Temam; Terkawi, Abdullah Sulieman; Tesfaye, Dawit Jember; Tesssema, Belay; Thakur, J. S.; Thamsuwan, Ornwipa; Theadom, Alice M.; Theis, Andrew M.; Thomas, Katie E.; Thomas, Nihal; Thompson, Robert; Thrift, Amanda G.; Tobe-Gai, Ruoyan; Tobollik, Myriam; Tonelli, Marcello; Topor-Madry, Roman; Tortajada, Miguel; Touvier, Mathilde; Traebert, Jefferson; Tran, Bach Xuan; Troeger, Christopher; Truelsen, Thomas; Tsoi, Derrick; Tuzcu, Emin Murat; Tymeson, Hayley; Tyrovolas, Stefanos; Ukwaja, Kingsley Nnanna; Undurraga, Eduardo A.; Uneke, Chigozie Jesse; Updike, Rachel; Uthman, Olalekan A.; Uzochukwu, Benjamin S. Chudi; van Boven, Job F. M.; Varughese, Santosh; Vasankari, Tommi; Veerman, Lennert J.; Venkatesh, S.; Venketasubramanian, Narayanaswamy; Vidavalur, Ramesh; Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; Violante, Francesco S.; Vishnu, Abhishek; Vladimirov, Sergey K.; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Vos, Theo; Wadilo, Fiseha; Wakayo, Tolassa; Wallin, Mitchell T.; Wang, Yuan-Pang; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G.; Weiss, Daniel J.; Werdecker, Andrea; Westerman, Ronny; Whiteford, Harvey A.; Wijeratne, Tissa; Williams, Hywel C.; Wiysonge, Charles Shey; Woldeyes, Belete Getahun; Wolfe, Charles D. A.; Woodbrook, Rachel; Woolf, Anthony D.; Workicho, Abdulhalik; Xavier, Denis; Xu, Gelin; Yadgir, Simon; Yaghoubi, Mohsen; Yakob, Bereket; Yan, Lijing L.; Yano, Yuichiro; Ye, Pengpeng; Yihdego, Mahari Gidey; Yimam, Hassen Hamid; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Yotebieng, Marcel; Younis, Mustafa Z.; Yu, Chuanhua; Zaidi, Zoubida; Zaki, Maysaa El Sayed; Zegeye, Elias Asfaw; Zenebe, Zerihun Menlkalew; Zhang, Xueying; Zheng, Yingfeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Zipkin, Ben; Zodpey, Sanjay; Zoeckler, Leo; Zuhlke, Liesl Joanna; Murray, Christopher J. L.

2017-01-01

Background Measurement of changes in health across locations is useful to compare and contrast changing epidemiological patterns against health system performance and identify specific needs for resource allocation in research, policy development, and programme decision making. Using the Global

Quantum background independence in string theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Witten, E.

1994-01-01

Not only in physical string theories, but also in some highly simplified situations, background independence has been difficult to understand. It is argued that the ''holomorphic anomaly'' of Bershadsky, Cecotti, Ooguri and Vafa gives a fundamental explanation of some of the problems. Moreover, their anomaly equation can be interpreted in terms of a rather peculiar quantum version of background independence: in systems afflicted by the anomaly, background independence does not hold order by order in perturbation theory, but the exact partition function as a function of the coupling constants has a background independent interpretation as a state in an auxiliary quantum Hilbert space. The significance of this auxiliary space is otherwise unknown. (author). 23 refs

Global climate change: Mitigation opportunities high efficiency large chiller technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stanga, M.V.

1997-12-31

This paper, comprised of presentation viewgraphs, examines the impact of high efficiency large chiller technology on world electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Background data are summarized, and sample calculations are presented. Calculations show that presently available high energy efficiency chiller technology has the ability to substantially reduce energy consumption from large chillers. If this technology is widely implemented on a global basis, it could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 65 million tons by 2010.

Background of SAM atom-fraction profiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ernst, Frank

2017-01-01

Atom-fraction profiles acquired by SAM (scanning Auger microprobe) have important applications, e.g. in the context of alloy surface engineering by infusion of carbon or nitrogen through the alloy surface. However, such profiles often exhibit an artifact in form of a background with a level that anti-correlates with the local atom fraction. This article presents a theory explaining this phenomenon as a consequence of the way in which random noise in the spectrum propagates into the discretized differentiated spectrum that is used for quantification. The resulting model of “energy channel statistics” leads to a useful semi-quantitative background reduction procedure, which is validated by applying it to simulated data. Subsequently, the procedure is applied to an example of experimental SAM data. The analysis leads to conclusions regarding optimum experimental acquisition conditions. The proposed method of background reduction is based on general principles and should be useful for a broad variety of applications. - Highlights: • Atom-fraction–depth profiles of carbon measured by scanning Auger microprobe • Strong background, varies with local carbon concentration. • Needs correction e.g. for quantitative comparison with simulations • Quantitative theory explains background. • Provides background removal strategy and practical advice for acquisition

Background of SAM atom-fraction profiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ernst, Frank

2017-03-15

Atom-fraction profiles acquired by SAM (scanning Auger microprobe) have important applications, e.g. in the context of alloy surface engineering by infusion of carbon or nitrogen through the alloy surface. However, such profiles often exhibit an artifact in form of a background with a level that anti-correlates with the local atom fraction. This article presents a theory explaining this phenomenon as a consequence of the way in which random noise in the spectrum propagates into the discretized differentiated spectrum that is used for quantification. The resulting model of “energy channel statistics” leads to a useful semi-quantitative background reduction procedure, which is validated by applying it to simulated data. Subsequently, the procedure is applied to an example of experimental SAM data. The analysis leads to conclusions regarding optimum experimental acquisition conditions. The proposed method of background reduction is based on general principles and should be useful for a broad variety of applications. - Highlights: • Atom-fraction–depth profiles of carbon measured by scanning Auger microprobe • Strong background, varies with local carbon concentration. • Needs correction e.g. for quantitative comparison with simulations • Quantitative theory explains background. • Provides background removal strategy and practical advice for acquisition.

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Forouzanfar, Mohammad Hossein; Afshin, Ashkan; Alexander, Lily T.; Ross Anderson, H.; Bhutta, Zulfiqar; Biryukov, Stan; Brauer, M.; Burnett, Richard; Cercy, Kelly; Charlson, Fiona J.; Geleijnse, J.M.

2016-01-01

Background
The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform

The global burden of alveolar echinococcosis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul R Torgerson

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE is known to be common in certain rural communities in China whilst it is generally rare and sporadic elsewhere. The objective of this study was to provide a first estimate of the global incidence of this disease by country. The second objective was to estimate the global disease burden using age and gender stratified incidences and estimated life expectancy with the disease from previous results of survival analysis. Disability weights were suggested from previous burden studies on echinococcosis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We undertook a detailed review of published literature and data from other sources. We were unable to make a standardised systematic review as the quality of the data was highly variable from different countries and hence if we had used uniform inclusion criteria many endemic areas lacking data would not have been included. Therefore we used evidence based stochastic techniques to model uncertainty and other modelling and estimating techniques, particularly in regions where data quality was poor. We were able to make an estimate of the annual global incidence of disease and annual disease burden using standard techniques for calculation of DALYs. Our studies suggest that there are approximately 18,235 (CIs 11,900-28,200 new cases of AE per annum globally with 16,629 (91% occurring in China and 1,606 outside China. Most of these cases are in regions where there is little treatment available and therefore will be fatal cases. Based on using disability weights for hepatic carcinoma and estimated age and gender specific incidence we were able to calculate that AE results in a median of 666,434 DALYs per annum (CIs 331,000-1.3 million. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The global burden of AE is comparable to several diseases in the neglected tropical disease cluster and is likely to be one of the most important diseases in certain communities in rural China on the Tibetan plateau.

The background in the experiment Gerda

Science.gov (United States)

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Andreotti, E.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Barnabé Heider, M.; Barros, N.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Becerici-Schmidt, N.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Belyaev, S. T.; Benato, G.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode, T.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Budjáš, D.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; Cossavella, F.; Demidova, E. V.; Domula, A.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Ferella, A.; Freund, K.; Frodyma, N.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gotti, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Guthikonda, K. K.; Hampel, W.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Heusser, G.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Ioannucci, L.; Csáthy, J. Janicskó; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Klimenko, A.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Lehnert, B.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Liu, X.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Macolino, C.; Machado, A. A.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Nemchenok, I.; Nisi, S.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Palioselitis, D.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pessina, G.; Pullia, A.; Riboldi, S.; Sada, C.; Salathe, M.; Schmitt, C.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Schönert, S.; Shevchik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Strecker, H.; Tarka, M.; Ur, C. A.; Vasenko, A. A.; Volynets, O.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Walter, M.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zavarise, P.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2014-04-01

The GERmanium Detector Array ( Gerda) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double beta () decay of Ge. The signature of the signal is a monoenergetic peak at 2039 keV, the value of the decay. To avoid bias in the signal search, the present analysis does not consider all those events, that fall in a 40 keV wide region centered around . The main parameters needed for the analysis are described. A background model was developed to describe the observed energy spectrum. The model contains several contributions, that are expected on the basis of material screening or that are established by the observation of characteristic structures in the energy spectrum. The model predicts a flat energy spectrum for the blinding window around with a background index ranging from 17.6 to 23.8 cts/(keV kg yr). A part of the data not considered before has been used to test if the predictions of the background model are consistent. The observed number of events in this energy region is consistent with the background model. The background at is dominated by close sources, mainly due to K, Bi, Th, Co and emitting isotopes from the Ra decay chain. The individual fractions depend on the assumed locations of the contaminants. It is shown, that after removal of the known peaks, the energy spectrum can be fitted in an energy range of 200 keV around with a constant background. This gives a background index consistent with the full model and uncertainties of the same size.

Global Citizenship and Global Universities. The Age of Global Interdependence and Cosmopolitanism

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Carlos Alberto

2015-01-01

This article focuses on the role of global universities and globalisations in an age of global interdependence and cosmopolitanism. Competing agendas that result from actions and reactions to multiple globalisations are considered in relation to global citizenship education. These agendas are crucial in understanding dilemmas of the local and the…

The cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silk, J.

1991-01-01

Recent limits on spectral distortions and angular anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background are reviewed. The various backgrounds are described, and the theoretical implications are assessed. Constraints on inflationary cosmology dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) and on open cosmological models dominated by baryonic dark matter (BDM), with, respectively, primordial random phase scale-invariant curvature fluctuations or non-gaussian isocurvature fluctuations are described. More exotic theories are addressed, and I conclude with the 'bottom line': what theories expect experimentalists to be measuring within the next two to three years without having to abandon their most cherished theorists. (orig.)

Measurement of natural background neutron

CERN Document Server

Li Jain, Ping; Tang Jin Hua; Tang, E S; Xie Yan Fong

1982-01-01

A high sensitive neutron monitor is described. It has an approximate counting rate of 20 cpm for natural background neutrons. The pulse amplitude resolution, sensitivity and direction dependence of the monitor were determined. This monitor has been used for natural background measurement in Beijing area. The yearly average dose is given and compared with the results of KEK and CERN.

Origin of the cosmic x-ray background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Margon, B.

1983-01-01

Since 1962, it has been known that every part of the sky emits a uniform glow of x-rays. After two decades of intense study the origin of this diffuse x-ray background is still a subject of controversy. The near perfect isotropy of the x-ray background is clearly a vital clue to its origin. A second clue to the origin of the x-ray background arises from the fact that it is x-radiation tha is generated, rather than some longer wavelength radiation. Two hypotheses of the origin of this x-ray background are discussed. One hypothesis is that the x-ray background can be attributed to bremsstrahlung from a hot intergalactic medium. The second hypothesis is that the x-ray background originates from a large number of quasars. Because there is no estimate independent of the intensity of the x-ray background of how much hot intergalactic medium exists (if any), there is a real possibility that both sources contribute to the observed x-rays. (SC)

Globalization

OpenAIRE

Tulio Rosembuj

2006-01-01

There is no singular globalization, nor is the result of an individual agent. We could start by saying that global action has different angles and subjects who perform it are different, as well as its objectives. The global is an invisible invasion of materials and immediate effects.

Projected loss of a salamander diversity hotspot as a consequence of projected global climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph R. Milanovich; William E. Peterman; Nathan P. Nibbelink; John C. Maerz

2010-01-01

Background: Significant shifts in climate are considered a threat to plants and animals with significant physiological limitations and limited dispersal abilities. The southern Appalachian Mountains are a global hotspot for plethodontid salamander diversity. Plethodontids are lungless ectotherms, so their ecology is strongly governed by temperature and precipitation....

Why Popper can't resolve the debate over global warming: Problems with the uses of philosophy of science in the media and public framing of the science of global warming.

Science.gov (United States)

Mercer, David

2018-02-01

A notable feature in the public framing of debates involving the science of Anthropogenic Global Warming are appeals to uncritical 'positivist' images of the ideal scientific method. Versions of Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of falsification appear most frequently, featuring in many Web sites and broader media. This use of pop philosophy of science forms part of strategies used by critics, mainly from conservative political backgrounds, to manufacture doubt, by setting unrealistic standards for sound science, in the veracity of science of Anthropogenic Global Warming. It will be shown, nevertheless, that prominent supporters of Anthropogenic Global Warming science also often use similar references to Popper to support their claims. It will also be suggested that this pattern reflects longer traditions of the use of Popperian philosophy of science in controversial settings, particularly in the United States, where appeals to the authority of science to legitimize policy have been most common. It will be concluded that studies of the science of Anthropogenic Global Warming debate would benefit from taking greater interest in questions raised by un-reflexive and politically expedient public understanding(s) of the philosophy of science of both critics and supporters of the science of Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Conceptualising global health: theoretical issues and their relevance for teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rowson Mike

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There has long been debate around the definition of the field of education, research and practice known as global health. In this article we step back from attempts at definition and instead ask what current definitions tell us about the evolution of the field, identifying gaps and points of debate and using these to inform discussions of how global health might be taught. Discussion What we now know as global health has its roots in the late 19th century, in the largely colonial, biomedical pursuit of ‘international health’. The twentieth century saw a change in emphasis of the field towards a much broader conceptualisation of global health, encompassing broader social determinants of health and a truly global focus. The disciplinary focus has broadened greatly to include economics, anthropology and political science, among others. There have been a number of attempts to define the new field of global health. We suggest there are three central areas of contention: what the object of knowledge of global health is, the types of knowledge to be used and around the purpose of knowledge in the field of global health. We draw a number of conclusions from this discussion. First, that definitions should pay attention to differences as well as commonalities in different parts of the world, and that the definitions of global health themselves depend to some extent on the position of the definer. Second, global health’s core strength lies in its interdisciplinary character, in particular the incorporation of approaches from outside biomedicine. This approach recognises that political, social and economic factors are central causes of ill health. Last, we argue that definition should avoid inclusion of values. In particular we argue that equity, a key element of many definitions of global health, is a value-laden concept and carries with it significant ideological baggage. As such, its widespread inclusion in the definitions of

Low energy background radiation in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gopinath, D.V.

1980-01-01

Spectral distribution of background radiation at 9 locations spread all over India has been measured. Specifications of the counting set-up standardised for measurement are given. At one of the places, the background spectrum was measured with four different types of detectors. A broad peak in 60-100 keV with differing intensity and standard deviation is observed in all the spectra. In the Kalpakkam area, the peak near the seashore is observed to be more intense than away from the shore. This could be due to the presence of monazite sands on the seashore. The natural background radiation is observed to have a steep rise below 20 keV. Peak intensity is found to be independent of both the location (i.e. the source of energy) and the type of detector used for measurement. The calculated spectra due to multiple scattered radiation (with a nominal source energy of 1 MeV) through paraffin wax and the measured background spectrum with the detector shielded with 20 cm wax show good agreement above 40 keV. This shows that 80 keV hump in the natural background radiation is a property of air. The peak, therefore, in the spectra of natural background radiation is essentially a property of medium and it is independent of location or detector. (M.G.B.)

Laterality across languages: Results from a global dichotic listening study using a smartphone application.

Science.gov (United States)

Bless, Josef J; Westerhausen, René; von Koss Torkildsen, Janne; Gudmundsen, Magne; Kompus, Kristiina; Hugdahl, Kenneth

2015-01-01

Left-hemispheric language dominance has been suggested by observations in patients with brain damages as early as the 19th century, and has since been confirmed by modern behavioural and brain imaging techniques. Nevertheless, most of these studies have been conducted in small samples with predominantly Anglo-American background, thus limiting generalization and possible differences between cultural and linguistic backgrounds may be obscured. To overcome this limitation, we conducted a global dichotic listening experiment using a smartphone application for remote data collection. The results from over 4,000 participants with more than 60 different language backgrounds showed that left-hemispheric language dominance is indeed a general phenomenon. However, the degree of lateralization appears to be modulated by linguistic background. These results suggest that more emphasis should be placed on cultural/linguistic specificities of psychological phenomena and on the need to collect more diverse samples.

Global Awareness in the Classroom: Global Classroom Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Education Canada, 2004

2004-01-01

As countries around the world move toward global integration, knowledge of how Canada interrelates globally is becoming an increasingly useful asset. It is important that young Canadians learn what it means to become responsible global citizens. Awareness about global issues and appreciation of Canada's efforts in international development offer a…

A simple model for variations in global mean temperature: implications for decadal variability, the global warming hiatus, and recent temperature rise

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, S.; Fedorov, A. V.

2017-12-01

Global mean surface temperature (GMST) has steadily risen since the mid-19th century, and at the same time experienced significant variations on interannual and decadal timescales. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain such variations, ranging from the Pacific decadal oscillation to volcanic eruptions. In this study, we construct a simple, physically-based model of GMST variations that incorporates greenhouse gas emissions, ENSO forcing, and stratospheric sulfate aerosols. The model closely reproduces the history of GMST changes since 1880 with the mean squared error about 0.05°C for the past 60 years, smaller than the typical error of GMST observations (see the figure attached). It also accurately captures decadal GMST variations, including the global warming hiatus in the early 21stcentury. This model can be used to understand the causes of the observed GMST variations and requires little computational resource. Our results confirm that weak El Niño activity was the major cause of the recent global warming hiatus, while the rapid temperature rise since 2014 is due to atmospheric heat release during 2014-2016 El Niño conditions in addition to the continuing background global warming trend. The model can be also used to make predictions for next-year GMST in the short term, and future climate projections in the long term. We will also discuss the implications of this simple model for paleoclimate reconstructions and GCM performance evaluations.

THE INFLUENCE OF GLOBALIZATION ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PAUL BOGDAN ZAMFIR

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper we propose to emphasize the structural changes involved by globalization process who generate a semnificative influence on the economic growth in Romania. Thus, on this background it is important to point out that even though the phenomenon of globalization represents manny opportunities for Romanian economic growth, nevertheles, our country must regard at the same time all the systemic risks that are involved in this process. From this perspective, an important role has the activity of romanian small and medium sized enterprises that through its specific creates jobs and contributes substantially to growth in Romania. In terms of risks, for our country is necessary to develop effective mechanisms of self-defense against involved economic dangers. Also, should not be ignored that the quality of European Union member offers for Romania a strong base and in the same time the chance to benefit from the positive effects of the single market and the opportunities offered by the global market. In this framework, Romanian economy is not exempted from stiff competition in the field of trade in goods and services from countries like China or India who succeed through competition, to "break down trade barriers" of economic blocs. More than that, Romanian high tech industry can take advantage for themselves from the positive effects of globalization process by penetrating on third country markets.

Cosmic microwave background, where next?

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2009-01-01

Ground-based, balloon-borne and space-based experiments will observe the Cosmic Microwave Background in greater details to address open questions about the origin and the evolution of the Universe. In particular, detailed observations the polarization pattern of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation have the potential to directly probe physics at the GUT scale and illuminate aspects of the physics of the very early Universe.

Measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature at 1.47 GHz

Science.gov (United States)

Bensadoun, M.; Bersanelli, M.; De Amici, G.; Kogut, A.; Levin, S. M.; Limon, M.; Smoot, G. F.; Witebsky, C.

1993-01-01

We have used a radio-frequency-gain total-power radiometer to measure the intensity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at a frequency of 1.47 GHz (20.4 cm wavelength) from White Mountain, California in 1988 September and from the South Pole in 1989 December. The CMB thermodynamic temperature, T(CMB), is 2.27 +/- 0.25 K (68 percent confidence limit) measured from White Mountain and 2.26 +/- 0.20 K from the South Pole site. The combined result is 2.26 +/- 0.19 K. The correction for Galactic emission has been derived from scaled low-frequency maps and constitutes the main source of error. The atmospheric signal is extrapolated from our zenith scan measurements at higher frequencies. These results are consistent with our previous measurement at 1.41 GHz and about 2.5 sigma from the 2.74 +/- 0.01 K global average CMB temperature.

Background-cross-section-dependent subgroup parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Toshihisa

2003-01-01

A new set of subgroup parameters was derived that can reproduce the self-shielded cross section against a wide range of background cross sections. The subgroup parameters are expressed with a rational equation which numerator and denominator are expressed as the expansion series of background cross section, so that the background cross section dependence is exactly taken into account in the parameters. The advantage of the new subgroup parameters is that they can reproduce the self-shielded effect not only by group basis but also by subgroup basis. Then an adaptive method is also proposed which uses fitting procedure to evaluate the background-cross-section-dependence of the parameters. One of the simple fitting formula was able to reproduce the self-shielded subgroup cross section by less than 1% error from the precise evaluation. (author)

Background music: effects on attention performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Shih, Yi-Nuo; Huang, Rong-Hwa; Chiang, Hsin-Yu

2012-01-01

Previous studies indicate that noise may affect worker attention. However, some background music in the work environment can increase worker satisfaction and productivity. This study compared how music with, and without, lyrics affects human attention. One hundred and two participants, aged 20-24 years, were recruited into this study. Fifty-six males and 46 females participated in this study. Background music with, and without lyrics, was tested for effects on listener concentration in attention testing using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study. The comparison results revealed that background music with lyrics had significant negative effects on concentration and attention. The findings suggest that, if background music is played in the work environment, music without lyrics is preferable because songs with lyrics are likely to reduce worker attention and performance.

Globalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tulio Rosembuj

2006-12-01

Full Text Available There is no singular globalization, nor is the result of an individual agent. We could start by saying that global action has different angles and subjects who perform it are different, as well as its objectives. The global is an invisible invasion of materials and immediate effects.

In-beam background suppression shield

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Santoro, V.; Cai, Xiao Xiao; DiJulio, D. D.

2015-01-01

The long (3 ms) proton pulse of the European Spallation Source (ESS) gives rise to unique and potentially high backgrounds for the instrument suite. In such a source an instrument's capabilities will be limited by its Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio. The instruments with a direct view of the moderator......, which do not use a bender to help mitigate the fast neutron background, are the most challenging. For these beam lines we propose the innovative shielding of placing blocks of material directly into the guide system, which allow a minimum attenuation of the cold and thermal fluxes relative...... to the background suppression. This shielding configuration has been worked into a beam line model using Geant4. We study particularly the advantages of single crystal sapphire and silicon blocks....

Effects of background music on concentration of workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Rong-Hwa; Shih, Yi-Nuo

2011-01-01

Background music is a common element in daily living and the workplace. Determination of whether background music affects human work concentration is a relevant concern. Studies have found background music influences human behavior, and this study attempts to understand how background music and listener fondness for types of music affects worker concentration. This study analyzes how different types of background music--and how listeners' degree of preference for the background music--can affect listener concentration in attention testing through Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). Data were collected from 89 workers. The participants ranged in age between 19 and 28 years old, with an average age of 24 years old. We conclude background music influenced listener attention. This influence has more to do with listener fondness for the music than with type of music. Compared to situations without background music, the likelihood of background music affecting test-taker attention performance is likely to increase with the degree to which the test-taker likes or dislikes the music. It is important not to select music that workers strongly like or dislike when making a selection of background music to avoid negatively affecting worker concentration.

Effects of background radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knox, E.G.; Stewart, A.M.; Gilman, E.A.; Kneale, G.W.

1987-01-01

The primary objective of this investigation is to measure the relationship between exposure to different levels of background gamma radiation in different parts of the country, and different Relative Risks for leukaemias and cancers in children. The investigation is linked to an earlier analysis of the effects of prenatal medical x-rays upon leukaemia and cancer risk; the prior hypothesis on which the background-study was based, is derived from the earlier results. In a third analysis, the authors attempted to measure varying potency of medical x-rays delivered at different stages of gestation and the results supply a link between the other two estimates. (author)

The Cosmic Background Explorer

Science.gov (United States)

Gulkis, Samuel; Lubin, Philip M.; Meyer, Stephan S.; Silverberg, Robert F.

1990-01-01

The Cosmic Background Explorer (CBE), NASA's cosmological satellite which will observe a radiative relic of the big bang, is discussed. The major questions connected to the big bang theory which may be clarified using the CBE are reviewed. The satellite instruments and experiments are described, including the Differential Microwave Radiometer, which measures the difference between microwave radiation emitted from two points on the sky, the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer, which compares the spectrum of radiation from the sky at wavelengths from 100 microns to one cm with that from an internal blackbody, and the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment, which searches for the radiation from the earliest generation of stars.

Combinatorial-topological framework for the analysis of global dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Justin; Gameiro, Marcio; Harker, Shaun; Kokubu, Hiroshi; Mischaikow, Konstantin; Obayashi, Ippei; Pilarczyk, Paweł

2012-12-01

We discuss an algorithmic framework based on efficient graph algorithms and algebraic-topological computational tools. The framework is aimed at automatic computation of a database of global dynamics of a given m-parameter semidynamical system with discrete time on a bounded subset of the n-dimensional phase space. We introduce the mathematical background, which is based upon Conley's topological approach to dynamics, describe the algorithms for the analysis of the dynamics using rectangular grids both in phase space and parameter space, and show two sample applications.

Combinatorial-topological framework for the analysis of global dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Justin; Gameiro, Marcio; Harker, Shaun; Kokubu, Hiroshi; Mischaikow, Konstantin; Obayashi, Ippei; Pilarczyk, Paweł

2012-12-01

We discuss an algorithmic framework based on efficient graph algorithms and algebraic-topological computational tools. The framework is aimed at automatic computation of a database of global dynamics of a given m-parameter semidynamical system with discrete time on a bounded subset of the n-dimensional phase space. We introduce the mathematical background, which is based upon Conley's topological approach to dynamics, describe the algorithms for the analysis of the dynamics using rectangular grids both in phase space and parameter space, and show two sample applications.

Do instantons like a colorful background?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gies, H.; Pawlowski, J.M.; Wetterich, C. [Heidelberg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Jaeckel, J. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

2006-08-15

We investigate chiral symmetry breaking and color symmetry breaking in QCD. The effective potential of the corresponding scalar condensates is discussed in the presence of non-perturbative contributions from the semiclassical one-instanton sector. We concentrate on a color singlet scalar background which can describe chiral condensation, as well as a color cotet scalar background which can generate mass for the gluons. Whereas a non-vanishing singlet chiral field is favored by the instantons, we have found no indication for a preference of color octet backgrounds. (orig.)

Global Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Peter Ping

2013-01-01

Global strategy differs from domestic strategy in terms of content and process as well as context and structure. The content of global strategy can contain five key elements, while the process of global strategy can have six major stages. These are expounded below. Global strategy is influenced...... by rich and complementary local contexts with diverse resource pools and game rules at the national level to form a broad ecosystem at the global level. Further, global strategy dictates the interaction or balance between different entry strategies at the levels of internal and external networks....

The spinorial geometry of supersymmetric backgrounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillard, J; Gran, U; Papadopoulos, G

2005-01-01

We propose a new method to solve the Killing spinor equations of 11-dimensional supergravity based on a description of spinors in terms of forms and on the Spin(1, 10) gauge symmetry of the supercovariant derivative. We give the canonical form of Killing spinors for backgrounds preserving two supersymmetries, N = 2, provided that one of the spinors represents the orbit of Spin(1, 10) with stability subgroup SU(5). We directly solve the Killing spinor equations of N = 1 and some N = 2, N = 3 and N = 4 backgrounds. In the N = 2 case, we investigate backgrounds with SU(5) and SU(4) invariant Killing spinors and compute the associated spacetime forms. We find that N = 2 backgrounds with SU(5) invariant Killing spinors admit a timelike Killing vector and that the space transverse to the orbits of this vector field is a Hermitian manifold with an SU(5)-structure. Furthermore, N = 2 backgrounds with SU(4) invariant Killing spinors admit two Killing vectors, one timelike and one spacelike. The space transverse to the orbits of the former is an almost Hermitian manifold with an SU(4)-structure. The spacelike Killing vector field leaves the almost complex structure invariant. We explore the canonical form of Killing spinors for backgrounds preserving more than two supersymmetries, N > 2. We investigate a class of N = 3 and N = 4 backgrounds with SU(4) invariant spinors. We find that in both cases the space transverse to a timelike vector field is a Hermitian manifold equipped with an SU(4)-structure and admits two holomorphic Killing vector fields. We also present an application to M-theory Calabi-Yau compactifications with fluxes to one dimension

The spinorial geometry of supersymmetric backgrounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gillard, J; Gran, U; Papadopoulos, G [Department of Mathematics, King' s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom)

2005-03-21

We propose a new method to solve the Killing spinor equations of 11-dimensional supergravity based on a description of spinors in terms of forms and on the Spin(1, 10) gauge symmetry of the supercovariant derivative. We give the canonical form of Killing spinors for backgrounds preserving two supersymmetries, N = 2, provided that one of the spinors represents the orbit of Spin(1, 10) with stability subgroup SU(5). We directly solve the Killing spinor equations of N = 1 and some N = 2, N = 3 and N = 4 backgrounds. In the N = 2 case, we investigate backgrounds with SU(5) and SU(4) invariant Killing spinors and compute the associated spacetime forms. We find that N = 2 backgrounds with SU(5) invariant Killing spinors admit a timelike Killing vector and that the space transverse to the orbits of this vector field is a Hermitian manifold with an SU(5)-structure. Furthermore, N = 2 backgrounds with SU(4) invariant Killing spinors admit two Killing vectors, one timelike and one spacelike. The space transverse to the orbits of the former is an almost Hermitian manifold with an SU(4)-structure. The spacelike Killing vector field leaves the almost complex structure invariant. We explore the canonical form of Killing spinors for backgrounds preserving more than two supersymmetries, N > 2. We investigate a class of N = 3 and N = 4 backgrounds with SU(4) invariant spinors. We find that in both cases the space transverse to a timelike vector field is a Hermitian manifold equipped with an SU(4)-structure and admits two holomorphic Killing vector fields. We also present an application to M-theory Calabi-Yau compactifications with fluxes to one dimension.

Measurements of the cosmic background radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weiss, R.

1980-01-01

Measurements of the attributes of the 2.7-K microwave background radiation (CBR) are reviewed, with emphasis on the analytic phase of CBR studies. Methods for the direct measurement of the CBR spectrum are discussed. Attention is given to receivers, antennas, absolute receiver calibration, atmospheric emission and absorption, the galactic background contribution, the analysis of LF measurements, and recent HF observations of the CBR spectrum. Measurements of the large-angular-scale intensity distribution of the CBR (the most convincing evidence that the radiation is of cosmological origin) are examined, along with limits on the linear polarization of the CBR. A description is given of the NASA-sponsored Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite mission. The results of the COBE mission will be a set of sky maps showing, in the wave number range from 1 to 10,000 kaysers, the galactic background radiation due to synchrotron emission from galactic cosmic rays, to diffuse thermal emission from H II regions, and to diffuse thermal emission from interstellar and interplanetary dust, as well as a residue consisting of the CBR and whatever other cosmological background might exist

Alopecia in association with lamotrigine use : an analysis of individual case safety reports in a global database

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tengstrand, Maria; Star, Kristina; van Puijenbroek, Eugène P; Hill, Richard

BACKGROUND: The WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring, maintained by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC), has more than 90 member countries contributing individual case safety reports (ICSRs) from their existing national pharmacovigilance systems; these reports are stored in the WHO global

Global Spent Fuel Logistics Systems Study (GSFLS). Volume 2A. GSFLS visit findings (appendix). Interim report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-01-01

This appendix is a part of the interim report documentation for the Global Spent Fuel Logistics System (GSFLS) study. This appendix provides the legal/regulatory reference material, supportive of Volume 2 - GSFLS Visit Finding and Evaluations; and certain background material on British Nuclear Fuel Limited

Sources and Dynamic Processes Controlling Background and Peak Concentrations of TGM in Nanjing, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Casey B. Hall

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Total gaseous mercury (TGM data from urban Nanjing, at the western edge of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD region in China, over nine months, were analyzed for peak and background mercury concentrations. The background concentration of TGM was found to be 2.2 ng∙m−3. In examining episodic influences of free tropospheric air masses on the surface TGM concentrations in Nanjing, we hypothesize heterogeneity in the global distribution of TGM concentrations in the free troposphere. The nine-month averaged diurnal cycles of TGM indicate a strong co-emission with SO2 and an underestimation of greater than 80% TGM emissions in current inventories. Regular peak concentrations of mercury were investigated and the major causes were YRD emissions, transport from rural areas, and monsoonal transport. Transport of rural emissions is hypothesized to be from illegal artisanal small-scale gold mining that are currently missing in the emission inventories. Enhancement of TGM associated with summer monsoon contributed to a maximum TGM concentration in mid-May–early June, an inverse seasonality in comparison to most other observations in China, North America, and Europe.

Background field method in gauge theories and on linear sigma models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

van de Ven, A.E.M.

1986-01-01

This dissertation constitutes a study of the ultraviolet behavior of gauge theories and two-dimensional nonlinear sigma-models by means of the background field method. After a general introduction in chapter 1, chapter 2 presents algorithms which generate the divergent terms in the effective action at one-loop for arbitrary quantum field theories in flat spacetime of dimension d ≤ 11. It is demonstrated that global N = 1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in six dimensions in one-loop UV-finite. Chapter 3 presents an algorithm which produces the divergent terms in the effective action at two-loops for renormalizable quantum field theories in a curved four-dimensional background spacetime. Chapter 4 presents a study of the two-loop UV-behavior of two-dimensional bosonic and supersymmetric non-linear sigma-models which include a Wess-Zumino-Witten term. It is found that, to this order, supersymmetric models on quasi-Ricci flat spaces are UV-finite and the β-functions for the bosonic model depend only on torsionful curvatures. Chapter 5 summarizes a superspace calculation of the four-loop β-function for two-dimensional N = 1 and N = 2 supersymmetric non-linear sigma-models. It is found that besides the one-loop contribution which vanishes on Ricci-flat spaces, the β-function receives four-loop contributions which do not vanish in the Ricci-flat case. Implications for superstrings are discussed. Chapters 6 and 7 treat the details of these calculations

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Forouzanfar, Mohammad H; Alexander, Lily; Anderson, H Ross; Bachman, Victoria F; Biryukov, Stan; Brauer, Michael; Burnett, Richard; Casey, Daniel; Coates, Matthew M; Cohen, Aaron; Delwiche, Kristen; Estep, Kara; Frostad, Joseph J; Kc, Astha; Kyu, Hmwe H; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Ng, Marie; Slepak, Erica Leigh; Thomas, Bernadette A; Wagner, Joseph; Aasvang, Gunn Marit; Abbafati, Cristiana; Ozgoren, Ayse Abbasoglu; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abera, Semaw F; Aboyans, Victor; Abraham, Biju; Abraham, Jerry Puthenpurakal; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M E; Aburto, Tania C; Achoki, Tom; Adelekan, Ademola; Adofo, Koranteng; Adou, Arsène K; Adsuar, José C; Afshin, Ashkan; Agardh, Emilie E; Al Khabouri, Mazin J; Al Lami, Faris H; Alam, Sayed Saidul; Alasfoor, Deena; Albittar, Mohammed I; Alegretti, Miguel A; Aleman, Alicia V; Alemu, Zewdie A; Alfonso-Cristancho, Rafael; Alhabib, Samia; Ali, Raghib; Ali, Mohammed K; Alla, François; Allebeck, Peter; Allen, Peter J; Alsharif, Ubai; Alvarez, Elena; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amankwaa, Adansi A; Amare, Azmeraw T; Ameh, Emmanuel A; Ameli, Omid; Amini, Heresh; Ammar, Walid; Anderson, Benjamin O; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T; Anwari, Palwasha; Cunningham, Solveig Argeseanu; Arnlöv, Johan; Arsenijevic, Valentina S Arsic; Artaman, Al; Asghar, Rana J; Assadi, Reza; Atkins, Lydia S; Atkinson, Charles; Avila, Marco A; Awuah, Baffour; Badawi, Alaa; Bahit, Maria C; Bakfalouni, Talal; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Balalla, Shivanthi; Balu, Ravi Kumar; Banerjee, Amitava; Barber, Ryan M; Barker-Collo, Suzanne L; Barquera, Simon; Barregard, Lars; Barrero, Lope H; Barrientos-Gutierrez, Tonatiuh; Basto-Abreu, Ana C; Basu, Arindam; Basu, Sanjay; Basulaiman, Mohammed O; Ruvalcaba, Carolina Batis; Beardsley, Justin; Bedi, Neeraj; Bekele, Tolesa; Bell, Michelle L; Benjet, Corina; Bennett, Derrick A; Benzian, Habib; Bernabé, Eduardo; Beyene, Tariku J; Bhala, Neeraj; Bhalla, Ashish; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Bikbov, Boris; Abdulhak, Aref A Bin; Blore, Jed D; Blyth, Fiona M; Bohensky, Megan A; Başara, Berrak Bora; Borges, Guilherme; Bornstein, Natan M; Bose, Dipan; Boufous, Soufiane; Bourne, Rupert R; Brainin, Michael; Brazinova, Alexandra; Breitborde, Nicholas J; Brenner, Hermann; Briggs, Adam D M; Broday, David M; Brooks, Peter M; Bruce, Nigel G; Brugha, Traolach S; Brunekreef, Bert|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/067548180; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Bui, Linh N; Bukhman, Gene; Bulloch, Andrew G; Burch, Michael; Burney, Peter G J; Campos-Nonato, Ismael R; Campuzano, Julio C; Cantoral, Alejandra J; Caravanos, Jack; Cárdenas, Rosario; Cardis, Elisabeth; Carpenter, David O; Caso, Valeria; Castañeda-Orjuela, Carlos A; Castro, Ruben E; Catalá-López, Ferrán; Cavalleri, Fiorella; Çavlin, Alanur; Chadha, Vineet K; Chang, Jung-Chen; Charlson, Fiona J; Chen, Honglei; Chen, Wanqing; Chen, Zhengming; Chiang, Peggy P; Chimed-Ochir, Odgerel; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Christophi, Costas A; Chuang, Ting-Wu; Chugh, Sumeet S; Cirillo, Massimo; Claßen, Thomas Kd; Colistro, Valentina; Colomar, Mercedes; Colquhoun, Samantha M; Contreras, Alejandra G; Cooper, Cyrus; Cooperrider, Kimberly; Cooper, Leslie T; Coresh, Josef; Courville, Karen J; Criqui, Michael H; Cuevas-Nasu, Lucia; Damsere-Derry, James; Danawi, Hadi; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; Dargan, Paul I; Davis, Adrian; Davitoiu, Dragos V; Dayama, Anand; de Castro, E Filipa; De la Cruz-Góngora, Vanessa; De Leo, Diego; de Lima, Graça; Degenhardt, Louisa; Del Pozo-Cruz, Borja; Dellavalle, Robert P; Deribe, Kebede; Derrett, Sarah; Jarlais, Don C Des; Dessalegn, Muluken; deVeber, Gabrielle A; Devries, Karen M; Dharmaratne, Samath D; Dherani, Mukesh K; Dicker, Daniel; Ding, Eric L; Dokova, Klara; Dorsey, E Ray; Driscoll, Tim R; Duan, Leilei; Durrani, Adnan M; Ebel, Beth E; Ellenbogen, Richard G; Elshrek, Yousef M; Endres, Matthias; Ermakov, Sergey P; Erskine, Holly E; Eshrati, Babak; Esteghamati, Alireza; Fahimi, Saman; Faraon, Emerito Jose A; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fay, Derek F J; Feigin, Valery L; Feigl, Andrea B; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Ferrari, Alize J; Ferri, Cleusa P; Flaxman, Abraham D; Fleming, Thomas D; Foigt, Nataliya; Foreman, Kyle J; Paleo, Urbano Fra; Franklin, Richard C; Gabbe, Belinda; Gaffikin, Lynne; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Gamkrelidze, Amiran; Gankpé, Fortuné G; Gansevoort, Ron T; García-Guerra, Francisco A; Gasana, Evariste; Geleijnse, Johanna M; Gessner, Bradford D; Gething, Pete; Gibney, Katherine B; Gillum, Richard F; Ginawi, Ibrahim A M; Giroud, Maurice; Giussani, Giorgia; Goenka, Shifalika; Goginashvili, Ketevan; Dantes, Hector Gomez; Gona, Philimon; de Cosio, Teresita Gonzalez; González-Castell, Dinorah; Gotay, Carolyn C; Goto, Atsushi; Gouda, Hebe N; Guerrant, Richard L; Gugnani, Harish C; Guillemin, Francis; Gunnell, David; Gupta, Rahul; Gupta, Rajeev; Gutiérrez, Reyna A; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hagan, Holly; Hagstromer, Maria; Halasa, Yara A; Hamadeh, Randah R; Hammami, Mouhanad; Hankey, Graeme J; Hao, Yuantao; Harb, Hilda L; Haregu, Tilahun Nigatu; Haro, Josep Maria; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hay, Simon I; Hedayati, Mohammad T; Heredia-Pi, Ileana B; Hernandez, Lucia; Heuton, Kyle R; Heydarpour, Pouria; Hijar, Martha; Hoek, Hans W; Hoffman, Howard J; Hornberger, John C|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304838993; Hosgood, H Dean; Hoy, Damian G; Hsairi, Mohamed; Hu, Guoqing; Hu, Howard; Huang, Cheng; Huang, John J; Hubbell, Bryan J; Huiart, Laetitia; Husseini, Abdullatif; Iannarone, Marissa L; Iburg, Kim M; Idrisov, Bulat T; Ikeda, Nayu; Innos, Kaire; Inoue, Manami; Islami, Farhad; Ismayilova, Samaya; Jacobsen, Kathryn H; Jansen, Henrica A; Jarvis, Deborah L; Jassal, Simerjot K; Jauregui, Alejandra; Jayaraman, Sudha; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Jensen, Paul N; Jha, Vivekanand; Jiang, Fan; Jiang, Guohong; Jiang, Ying; Jonas, Jost B; Juel, Knud; Kan, Haidong; Roseline, Sidibe S Kany; Karam, Nadim E; Karch, André; Karema, Corine K; Karthikeyan, Ganesan; Kaul, Anil; Kawakami, Norito; Kazi, Dhruv S; Kemp, Andrew H; Kengne, Andre P; Keren, Andre; Khader, Yousef S; Khalifa, Shams Eldin Ali Hassan; Khan, Ejaz A; Khang, Young-Ho; Khatibzadeh, Shahab; Khonelidze, Irma; Kieling, Christian; Kim, Daniel; Kim, Sungroul; Kim, Yunjin; Kimokoti, Ruth W; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kinge, Jonas M; Kissela, Brett M; Kivipelto, Miia; Knibbs, Luke D; Knudsen, Ann Kristin; Kokubo, Yoshihiro; Kose, M Rifat; Kosen, Soewarta; Kraemer, Alexander; Kravchenko, Michael; Krishnaswami, Sanjay; Kromhout, Hans|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/074385224; Ku, Tiffany; Defo, Barthelemy Kuate; Bicer, Burcu Kucuk; Kuipers, Ernst J; Kulkarni, Chanda; Kulkarni, Veena S; Kumar, G Anil; Kwan, Gene F; Lai, Taavi; Balaji, Arjun Lakshmana; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lallukka, Tea; Lam, Hilton; Lan, Qing; Lansingh, Van C; Larson, Heidi J; Larsson, Anders; Laryea, Dennis O; Lavados, Pablo M; Lawrynowicz, Alicia E; Leasher, Janet L; Lee, Jong-Tae; Leigh, James; Leung, Ricky; Levi, Miriam; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Liang, Juan; Liang, Xiaofeng; Lim, Stephen S; Lindsay, M Patrice; Lipshultz, Steven E; Liu, Shiwei; Liu, Yang; Lloyd, Belinda K; Logroscino, Giancarlo; London, Stephanie J; Lopez, Nancy; Lortet-Tieulent, Joannie; Lotufo, Paulo A; Lozano, Rafael; Lunevicius, Raimundas; Ma, Jixiang; Ma, Stefan; Machado, Vasco M P; MacIntyre, Michael F; Magis-Rodriguez, Carlos; Mahdi, Abbas A; Majdan, Marek; Malekzadeh, Reza; Mangalam, Srikanth; Mapoma, Christopher C; Marape, Marape; Marcenes, Wagner; Margolis, David J; Margono, Christopher; Marks, Guy B; Martin, Randall V; Marzan, Melvin B; Mashal, Mohammad T; Masiye, Felix; Mason-Jones, Amanda J; Matsushita, Kunihiro; Matzopoulos, Richard; Mayosi, Bongani M; Mazorodze, Tasara T; McKay, Abigail C; McKee, Martin; McLain, Abigail; Meaney, Peter A; Medina, Catalina; Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Mejia-Rodriguez, Fabiola; Mekonnen, Wubegzier; Melaku, Yohannes A; Meltzer, Michele; Memish, Ziad A; Mendoza, Walter; Mensah, George A; Meretoja, Atte; Mhimbira, Francis Apolinary; Micha, Renata; Miller, Ted R; Mills, Edward J; Misganaw, Awoke; Mishra, Santosh; Ibrahim, Norlinah Mohamed; Mohammad, Karzan A; Mokdad, Ali H; Mola, Glen L; Monasta, Lorenzo; Hernandez, Julio C Montañez; Montico, Marcella; Moore, Ami R; Morawska, Lidia; Mori, Rintaro; Moschandreas, Joanna; Moturi, Wilkister N; Mozaffarian, Dariush; Mueller, Ulrich O; Mukaigawara, Mitsuru; Mullany, Erin C; Murthy, Kinnari S; Naghavi, Mohsen; Nahas, Ziad; Naheed, Aliya; Naidoo, Kovin S; Naldi, Luigi; Nand, Devina; Nangia, Vinay; Narayan, Km Venkat; Nash, Denis; Neal, Bruce; Nejjari, Chakib; Neupane, Sudan P; Newton, Charles R; Ngalesoni, Frida N; de Dieu Ngirabega, Jean; Nguyen, Grant; Nguyen, Nhung T; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J; Nisar, Muhammad I; Nogueira, José R; Nolla, Joan M; Nolte, Sandra; Norheim, Ole F; Norman, Rosana E; Norrving, Bo; Nyakarahuka, Luke; Oh, In-Hwan; Ohkubo, Takayoshi; Olusanya, Bolajoko O; Omer, Saad B; Opio, John Nelson; Orozco, Ricardo; Pagcatipunan, Rodolfo S; Pain, Amanda W; Pandian, Jeyaraj D; Panelo, Carlo Irwin A; Papachristou, Christina; Park, Eun-Kee; Parry, Charles D; Caicedo, Angel J Paternina; Patten, Scott B; Paul, Vinod K; Pavlin, Boris I; Pearce, Neil; Pedraza, Lilia S; Pedroza, Andrea; Stokic, Ljiljana Pejin; Pekericli, Ayfer; Pereira, David M; Perez-Padilla, Rogelio; Perez-Ruiz, Fernando; Perico, Norberto; Perry, Samuel A L; Pervaiz, Aslam; Pesudovs, Konrad; Peterson, Carrie B; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael R; Phua, Hwee Pin; Plass, Dietrich; Poenaru, Dan; Polanczyk, Guilherme V; Polinder, Suzanne; Pond, Constance D; Pope, C Arden; Pope, Daniel; Popova, Svetlana; Pourmalek, Farshad; Powles, John; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Prasad, Noela M; Qato, Dima M; Quezada, Amado D; Quistberg, D Alex A; Racapé, Lionel; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi, Kazem; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Sajjad Ur; Raju, Murugesan; Rakovac, Ivo; Rana, Saleem M; Rao, Mayuree; Razavi, Homie; Reddy, K Srinath; Refaat, Amany H; Rehm, Jürgen; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Ribeiro, Antonio L; Riccio, Patricia M; Richardson, Lee; Riederer, Anne; Robinson, Margaret; Roca, Anna; Rodriguez, Alina; Rojas-Rueda, David; Romieu, Isabelle; Ronfani, Luca; Room, Robin; Roy, Nobhojit; Ruhago, George M; Rushton, Lesley; Sabin, Nsanzimana; Sacco, Ralph L; Saha, Sukanta; Sahathevan, Ramesh; Sahraian, Mohammad Ali; Salomon, Joshua A; Salvo, Deborah; Sampson, Uchechukwu K; Sanabria, Juan R; Sanchez, Luz Maria; Sánchez-Pimienta, Tania G; Sanchez-Riera, Lidia; Sandar, Logan; Santos, Itamar S; Sapkota, Amir; Satpathy, Maheswar; Saunders, James E; Sawhney, Monika; Saylan, Mete I; Scarborough, Peter; Schmidt, Jürgen C; Schneider, Ione J C; Schöttker, Ben; Schwebel, David C; Scott, James G; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G; Serdar, Berrin; Servan-Mori, Edson E; Shaddick, Gavin; Shahraz, Saeid; Levy, Teresa Shamah; Shangguan, Siyi; She, Jun; Sheikhbahaei, Sara; Shibuya, Kenji; Shin, Hwashin H; Shinohara, Yukito; Shiri, Rahman; Shishani, Kawkab; Shiue, Ivy; Sigfusdottir, Inga D; Silberberg, Donald H; Simard, Edgar P; Sindi, Shireen; Singh, Abhishek; Singh, Gitanjali M; Singh, Jasvinder A; Skirbekk, Vegard; Sliwa, Karen; Soljak, Michael; Soneji, Samir; Søreide, Kjetil; Soshnikov, Sergey; Sposato, Luciano A; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T; Stapelberg, Nicolas J C; Stathopoulou, Vasiliki; Steckling, Nadine; Stein, Dan J; Stein, Murray B; Stephens, Natalie; Stöckl, Heidi; Straif, Kurt; Stroumpoulis, Konstantinos; Sturua, Lela; Sunguya, Bruno F; Swaminathan, Soumya; Swaroop, Mamta; Sykes, Bryan L; Tabb, Karen M; Takahashi, Ken; Talongwa, Roberto T; Tandon, Nikhil; Tanne, David; Tanner, Marcel; Tavakkoli, Mohammad; Te Ao, Braden J; Teixeira, Carolina M; Téllez Rojo, Martha M; Terkawi, Abdullah S; Texcalac-Sangrador, José Luis; Thackway, Sarah V; Thomson, Blake; Thorne-Lyman, Andrew L; Thrift, Amanda G; Thurston, George D; Tillmann, Taavi; Tobollik, Myriam; Tonelli, Marcello; Topouzis, Fotis; Towbin, Jeffrey A; Toyoshima, Hideaki; Traebert, Jefferson; Tran, Bach X; Trasande, Leonardo; Trillini, Matias; Trujillo, Ulises; Dimbuene, Zacharie Tsala; Tsilimbaris, Miltiadis; Tuzcu, Emin Murat; Uchendu, Uche S; Ukwaja, Kingsley N; Uzun, Selen B; van de Vijver, Steven; Van Dingenen, Rita; van Gool, Coen H; van Os, Jim; Varakin, Yuri Y; Vasankari, Tommi J; Vasconcelos, Ana Maria N; Vavilala, Monica S; Veerman, Lennert J; Velasquez-Melendez, Gustavo; Venketasubramanian, N; Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; Villalpando, Salvador; Violante, Francesco S; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Wagner, Gregory R; Waller, Stephen G; Wallin, Mitchell T; Wan, Xia; Wang, Haidong; Wang, JianLi; Wang, Linhong; Wang, Wenzhi; Wang, Yanping; Warouw, Tati S; Watts, Charlotte H; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G; Werdecker, Andrea; Wessells, K Ryan; Westerman, Ronny; Whiteford, Harvey A; Wilkinson, James D; Williams, Hywel C; Williams, Thomas N; Woldeyohannes, Solomon M; Wolfe, Charles D A; Wong, John Q; Woolf, Anthony D; Wright, Jonathan L; Wurtz, Brittany; Xu, Gelin; Yan, Lijing L; Yang, Gonghuan; Yano, Yuichiro; Ye, Pengpeng; Yenesew, Muluken; Yentür, Gökalp K; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Younis, Mustafa Z; Younoussi, Zourkaleini; Yu, Chuanhua; Zaki, Maysaa E; Zhao, Yong; Zheng, Yingfeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Zhu, Jun; Zhu, Shankuan; Zou, Xiaonong; Zunt, Joseph R; Lopez, Alan D; Vos, Theo; Murray, Christopher J

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013 : A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Forouzanfar, Mohammad H.; Alexander, Lily; Anderson, H. Ross; Bachman, Victoria F.; Biryukov, Stan; Brauer, Michael; Burnett, Richard; Casey, Daniel; Coates, Matthew M.; Cohen, Aaron; Delwiche, Kristen; Estep, Kara; Frostad, Joseph J.; Astha, K. C.; Kyu, Hmwe H.; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Ng, Marie; Slepak, Erica Leigh; Thomas, Bernadette A.; Wagner, Joseph; Aasvang, Gunn Marit; Abbafati, Cristiana; Ozgoren, Ayse Abbasoglu; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abera, Semaw F.; Aboyans, Victor; Abraham, Biju; Abraham, Jerry Puthenpurakal; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M. E.; Aburto, Tania C.; Achoki, Tom; Adelekan, Ademola; Adofo, Koranteng; Adou, Arsene K.; Adsuar, Jose C.; Afshin, Ashkan; Agardh, Emilie E.; Al Khabouri, Mazin J.; Al Lami, Faris H.; Alam, Sayed Saidul; Alasfoor, Deena; Albittar, Mohammed I.; Alegretti, Miguel A.; Aleman, Alicia V.; Alemu, Zewdie A.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Gansevoort, Ron T.; Hoek, Hans W.; Liu, Yang

2015-01-01

Background The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Forouzanfar, Mohammad H.; Alexander, Lily; Anderson, H. Ross; Bachman, Victoria F.; Biryukov, Stan; Brauer, Michael; Burnett, Richard; Casey, Daniel; Coates, Matthew M.; Cohen, Aaron; Delwiche, Kristen; Estep, Kara; Frostad, Joseph J.; Astha, K. C.; Kyu, Hmwe H.; Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar; Ng, Marie; Slepak, Erica Leigh; Thomas, Bernadette A.; Wagner, Joseph; Aasvang, Gunn Marit; Abbafati, Cristiana; Abbasoglu Ozgoren, Ayse; Abd-Allah, Foad; Abera, Semaw F.; Aboyans, Victor; Abraham, Biju; Abraham, Jerry Puthenpurakal; Abubakar, Ibrahim; Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M. E.; Aburto, Tania C.; Achoki, Tom; Adelekan, Ademola; Adofo, Koranteng; Adou, Arsène K.; Adsuar, José C.; Afshin, Ashkan; Agardh, Emilie E.; Al Khabouri, Mazin J.; Al Lami, Faris H.; Alam, Sayed Saidul; Alasfoor, Deena; Albittar, Mohammed I.; Alegretti, Miguel A.; Aleman, Alicia V.; Alemu, Zewdie A.; Alfonso-Cristancho, Rafael; Alhabib, Samia; Ali, Raghib; Ali, Mohammed K.; Alla, François; Allebeck, Peter; Allen, Peter J.; Alsharif, Ubai; Alvarez, Elena; Alvis-Guzman, Nelson; Amankwaa, Adansi A.; Amare, Azmeraw T.; Ameh, Emmanuel A.; Ameli, Omid; Amini, Heresh; Ammar, Walid; Anderson, Benjamin O.; Antonio, Carl Abelardo T.; Anwari, Palwasha; Argeseanu Cunningham, Solveig; Arnlöv, Johan; Arsenijevic, Valentina S. Arsic; Artaman, Al; Asghar, Rana J.; Assadi, Reza; Atkins, Lydia S.; Atkinson, Charles; Avila, Marco A.; Awuah, Baffour; Badawi, Alaa; Bahit, Maria C.; Bakfalouni, Talal; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Balalla, Shivanthi; Balu, Ravi Kumar; Banerjee, Amitava; Barber, Ryan M.; Barker-Collo, Suzanne L.; Barquera, Simon; Barregard, Lars; Barrero, Lope H.; Barrientos-Gutierrez, Tonatiuh; Basto-Abreu, Ana C.; Basu, Arindam; Basu, Sanjay; Basulaiman, Mohammed O.; Batis Ruvalcaba, Carolina; Beardsley, Justin; Bedi, Neeraj; Bekele, Tolesa; Bell, Michelle L.; Benjet, Corina; Bennett, Derrick A.; Benzian, Habib; Bernabé, Eduardo; Beyene, Tariku J.; Bhala, Neeraj; Bhalla, Ashish; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A.; Bikbov, Boris; Bin Abdulhak, Aref A.; Blore, Jed D.; Blyth, Fiona M.; Bohensky, Megan A.; Bora Başara, Berrak; Borges, Guilherme; Bornstein, Natan M.; Bose, Dipan; Boufous, Soufiane; Bourne, Rupert R.; Brainin, Michael; Brazinova, Alexandra; Breitborde, Nicholas J.; Brenner, Hermann; Briggs, Adam D. M.; Broday, David M.; Brooks, Peter M.; Bruce, Nigel G.; Brugha, Traolach S.; Brunekreef, Bert; Buchbinder, Rachelle; Bui, Linh N.; Bukhman, Gene; Bulloch, Andrew G.; Burch, Michael; Burney, Peter G. J.; Campos-Nonato, Ismael R.; Campuzano, Julio C.; Cantoral, Alejandra J.; Caravanos, Jack; Cárdenas, Rosario; Cardis, Elisabeth; Carpenter, David O.; Caso, Valeria; Castañeda-Orjuela, Carlos A.; Castro, Ruben E.; Catalá-López, Ferrán; Cavalleri, Fiorella; Çavlin, Alanur; Chadha, Vineet K.; Chang, Jung-Chen; Charlson, Fiona J.; Chen, Honglei; Chen, Wanqing; Chen, Zhengming; Chiang, Peggy P.; Chimed-Ochir, Odgerel; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Christophi, Costas A.; Chuang, Ting-Wu; Chugh, Sumeet S.; Cirillo, Massimo; Claßen, Thomas K. D.; Colistro, Valentina; Colomar, Mercedes; Colquhoun, Samantha M.; Contreras, Alejandra G.; Cooper, Cyrus; Cooperrider, Kimberly; Cooper, Leslie T.; Coresh, Josef; Courville, Karen J.; Criqui, Michael H.; Cuevas-Nasu, Lucia; Damsere-Derry, James; Danawi, Hadi; Dandona, Lalit; Dandona, Rakhi; Dargan, Paul I.; Davis, Adrian; Davitoiu, Dragos V.; Dayama, Anand; de Castro, E. Filipa; de la Cruz-Góngora, Vanessa; de Leo, Diego; de Lima, Graça; Degenhardt, Louisa; del Pozo-Cruz, Borja; Dellavalle, Robert P.; Deribe, Kebede; Derrett, Sarah; des Jarlais, Don C.; Dessalegn, Muluken; deVeber, Gabrielle A.; Devries, Karen M.; Dharmaratne, Samath D.; Dherani, Mukesh K.; Dicker, Daniel; Ding, Eric L.; Dokova, Klara; Dorsey, E. Ray; Driscoll, Tim R.; Duan, Leilei; Durrani, Adnan M.; Ebel, Beth E.; Ellenbogen, Richard G.; Elshrek, Yousef M.; Endres, Matthias; Ermakov, Sergey P.; Erskine, Holly E.; Eshrati, Babak; Esteghamati, Alireza; Fahimi, Saman; Faraon, Emerito Jose A.; Farzadfar, Farshad; Fay, Derek F. J.; Feigin, Valery L.; Feigl, Andrea B.; Fereshtehnejad, Seyed-Mohammad; Ferrari, Alize J.; Ferri, Cleusa P.; Flaxman, Abraham D.; Fleming, Thomas D.; Foigt, Nataliya; Foreman, Kyle J.; Paleo, Urbano Fra; Franklin, Richard C.; Gabbe, Belinda; Gaffikin, Lynne; Gakidou, Emmanuela; Gamkrelidze, Amiran; Gankpé, Fortuné G.; Gansevoort, Ron T.; García-Guerra, Francisco A.; Gasana, Evariste; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Gessner, Bradford D.; Gething, Pete; Gibney, Katherine B.; Gillum, Richard F.; Ginawi, Ibrahim A. M.; Giroud, Maurice; Giussani, Giorgia; Goenka, Shifalika; Goginashvili, Ketevan; Gomez Dantes, Hector; Gona, Philimon; Gonzalez de Cosio, Teresita; González-Castell, Dinorah; Gotay, Carolyn C.; Goto, Atsushi; Gouda, Hebe N.; Guerrant, Richard L.; Gugnani, Harish C.; Guillemin, Francis; Gunnell, David; Gupta, Rahul; Gupta, Rajeev; Gutiérrez, Reyna A.; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Hagan, Holly; Hagstromer, Maria; Halasa, Yara A.; Hamadeh, Randah R.; Hammami, Mouhanad; Hankey, Graeme J.; Hao, Yuantao; Harb, Hilda L.; Haregu, Tilahun Nigatu; Haro, Josep Maria; Havmoeller, Rasmus; Hay, Simon I.; Hedayati, Mohammad T.; Heredia-Pi, Ileana B.; Hernandez, Lucia; Heuton, Kyle R.; Heydarpour, Pouria; Hijar, Martha; Hoek, Hans W.; Hoffman, Howard J.; Hornberger, John C.; Hosgood, H. Dean; Hoy, Damian G.; Hsairi, Mohamed; Hu, Guoqing; Hu, Howard; Huang, Cheng; Huang, John J.; Hubbell, Bryan J.; Huiart, Laetitia; Husseini, Abdullatif; Iannarone, Marissa L.; Iburg, Kim M.; Idrisov, Bulat T.; Ikeda, Nayu; Innos, Kaire; Inoue, Manami; Islami, Farhad; Ismayilova, Samaya; Jacobsen, Kathryn H.; Jansen, Henrica A.; Jarvis, Deborah L.; Jassal, Simerjot K.; Jauregui, Alejandra; Jayaraman, Sudha; Jeemon, Panniyammakal; Jensen, Paul N.; Jha, Vivekanand; Jiang, Fan; Jiang, Guohong; Jiang, Ying; Jonas, Jost B.; Juel, Knud; Kan, Haidong; Kany Roseline, Sidibe S.; Karam, Nadim E.; Karch, André; Karema, Corine K.; Karthikeyan, Ganesan; Kaul, Anil; Kawakami, Norito; Kazi, Dhruv S.; Kemp, Andrew H.; Kengne, Andre P.; Keren, Andre; Khader, Yousef S.; Khalifa, Shams Eldin Ali Hassan; Khan, Ejaz A.; Khang, Young-Ho; Khatibzadeh, Shahab; Khonelidze, Irma; Kieling, Christian; Kim, Daniel; Kim, Sungroul; Kim, Yunjin; Kimokoti, Ruth W.; Kinfu, Yohannes; Kinge, Jonas M.; Kissela, Brett M.; Kivipelto, Miia; Knibbs, Luke D.; Knudsen, Ann Kristin; Kokubo, Yoshihiro; Kose, M. Rifat; Kosen, Soewarta; Kraemer, Alexander; Kravchenko, Michael; Krishnaswami, Sanjay; Kromhout, Hans; Ku, Tiffany; Kuate Defo, Barthelemy; Kucuk Bicer, Burcu; Kuipers, Ernst J.; Kulkarni, Chanda; Kulkarni, Veena S.; Kumar, G. Anil; Kwan, Gene F.; Lai, Taavi; Lakshmana Balaji, Arjun; Lalloo, Ratilal; Lallukka, Tea; Lam, Hilton; Lan, Qing; Lansingh, Van C.; Larson, Heidi J.; Larsson, Anders; Laryea, Dennis O.; Lavados, Pablo M.; Lawrynowicz, Alicia E.; Leasher, Janet L.; Lee, Jong-Tae; Leigh, James; Leung, Ricky; Levi, Miriam; Li, Yichong; Li, Yongmei; Liang, Juan; Liang, Xiaofeng; Lim, Stephen S.; Lindsay, M. Patrice; Lipshultz, Steven E.; Liu, Shiwei; Liu, Yang; Lloyd, Belinda K.; Logroscino, Giancarlo; London, Stephanie J.; Lopez, Nancy; Lortet-Tieulent, Joannie; Lotufo, Paulo A.; Lozano, Rafael; Lunevicius, Raimundas; Ma, Jixiang; Ma, Stefan; Machado, Vasco M. P.; MacIntyre, Michael F.; Magis-Rodriguez, Carlos; Mahdi, Abbas A.; Majdan, Marek; Malekzadeh, Reza; Mangalam, Srikanth; Mapoma, Christopher C.; Marape, Marape; Marcenes, Wagner; Margolis, David J.; Margono, Christopher; Marks, Guy B.; Martin, Randall V.; Marzan, Melvin B.; Mashal, Mohammad T.; Masiye, Felix; Mason-Jones, Amanda J.; Matsushita, Kunihiro; Matzopoulos, Richard; Mayosi, Bongani M.; Mazorodze, Tasara T.; McKay, Abigail C.; McKee, Martin; McLain, Abigail; Meaney, Peter A.; Medina, Catalina; Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Mejia-Rodriguez, Fabiola; Mekonnen, Wubegzier; Melaku, Yohannes A.; Meltzer, Michele; Memish, Ziad A.; Mendoza, Walter; Mensah, George A.; Meretoja, Atte; Mhimbira, Francis Apolinary; Micha, Renata; Miller, Ted R.; Mills, Edward J.; Misganaw, Awoke; Mishra, Santosh; Mohamed Ibrahim, Norlinah; Mohammad, Karzan A.; Mokdad, Ali H.; Mola, Glen L.; Monasta, Lorenzo; Montañez Hernandez, Julio C.; Montico, Marcella; Moore, Ami R.; Morawska, Lidia; Mori, Rintaro; Moschandreas, Joanna; Moturi, Wilkister N.; Mozaffarian, Dariush; Mueller, Ulrich O.; Mukaigawara, Mitsuru; Mullany, Erin C.; Murthy, Kinnari S.; Naghavi, Mohsen; Nahas, Ziad; Naheed, Aliya; Naidoo, Kovin S.; Naldi, Luigi; Nand, Devina; Nangia, Vinay; Narayan, K. M. Venkat; Nash, Denis; Neal, Bruce; Nejjari, Chakib; Neupane, Sudan P.; Newton, Charles R.; Ngalesoni, Frida N.; Ngirabega, Jean de Dieu; Nguyen, Grant; Nguyen, Nhung T.; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.; Nisar, Muhammad I.; Nogueira, José R.; Nolla, Joan M.; Nolte, Sandra; Norheim, Ole F.; Norman, Rosana E.; Norrving, Bo; Nyakarahuka, Luke; Oh, In-Hwan; Ohkubo, Takayoshi; Olusanya, Bolajoko O.; Omer, Saad B.; Opio, John Nelson; Orozco, Ricardo; Pagcatipunan, Rodolfo S.; Pain, Amanda W.; Pandian, Jeyaraj D.; Panelo, Carlo Irwin A.; Papachristou, Christina; Park, Eun-Kee; Parry, Charles D.; Paternina Caicedo, Angel J.; Patten, Scott B.; Paul, Vinod K.; Pavlin, Boris I.; Pearce, Neil; Pedraza, Lilia S.; Pedroza, Andrea; Pejin Stokic, Ljiljana; Pekericli, Ayfer; Pereira, David M.; Perez-Padilla, Rogelio; Perez-Ruiz, Fernando; Perico, Norberto; Perry, Samuel A. L.; Pervaiz, Aslam; Pesudovs, Konrad; Peterson, Carrie B.; Petzold, Max; Phillips, Michael R.; Phua, Hwee Pin; Plass, Dietrich; Poenaru, Dan; Polanczyk, Guilherme V.; Polinder, Suzanne; Pond, Constance D.; Pope, C. Arden; Pope, Daniel; Popova, Svetlana; Pourmalek, Farshad; Powles, John; Prabhakaran, Dorairaj; Prasad, Noela M.; Qato, Dima M.; Quezada, Amado D.; Quistberg, D. Alex A.; Racapé, Lionel; Rafay, Anwar; Rahimi, Kazem; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa; Rahman, Sajjad Ur; Raju, Murugesan; Rakovac, Ivo; Rana, Saleem M.; Rao, Mayuree; Razavi, Homie; Reddy, K. Srinath; Refaat, Amany H.; Rehm, Jürgen; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Ribeiro, Antonio L.; Riccio, Patricia M.; Richardson, Lee; Riederer, Anne; Robinson, Margaret; Roca, Anna; Rodriguez, Alina; Rojas-Rueda, David; Romieu, Isabelle; Ronfani, Luca; Room, Robin; Roy, Nobhojit; Ruhago, George M.; Rushton, Lesley; Sabin, Nsanzimana; Sacco, Ralph L.; Saha, Sukanta; Sahathevan, Ramesh; Sahraian, Mohammad Ali; Salomon, Joshua A.; Salvo, Deborah; Sampson, Uchechukwu K.; Sanabria, Juan R.; Sanchez, Luz Maria; Sánchez-Pimienta, Tania G.; Sanchez-Riera, Lidia; Sandar, Logan; Santos, Itamar S.; Sapkota, Amir; Satpathy, Maheswar; Saunders, James E.; Sawhney, Monika; Saylan, Mete I.; Scarborough, Peter; Schmidt, Jürgen C.; Schneider, Ione J. C.; Schöttker, Ben; Schwebel, David C.; Scott, James G.; Seedat, Soraya; Sepanlou, Sadaf G.; Serdar, Berrin; Servan-Mori, Edson E.; Shaddick, Gavin; Shahraz, Saeid; Levy, Teresa Shamah; Shangguan, Siyi; She, Jun; Sheikhbahaei, Sara; Shibuya, Kenji; Shin, Hwashin H.; Shinohara, Yukito; Shiri, Rahman; Shishani, Kawkab; Shiue, Ivy; Sigfusdottir, Inga D.; Silberberg, Donald H.; Simard, Edgar P.; Sindi, Shireen; Singh, Abhishek; Singh, Gitanjali M.; Singh, Jasvinder A.; Skirbekk, Vegard; Sliwa, Karen; Soljak, Michael; Soneji, Samir; Søreide, Kjetil; Soshnikov, Sergey; Sposato, Luciano A.; Sreeramareddy, Chandrashekhar T.; Stapelberg, Nicolas J. C.; Stathopoulou, Vasiliki; Steckling, Nadine; Stein, Dan J.; Stein, Murray B.; Stephens, Natalie; Stöckl, Heidi; Straif, Kurt; Stroumpoulis, Konstantinos; Sturua, Lela; Sunguya, Bruno F.; Swaminathan, Soumya; Swaroop, Mamta; Sykes, Bryan L.; Tabb, Karen M.; Takahashi, Ken; Talongwa, Roberto T.; Tandon, Nikhil; Tanne, David; Tanner, Marcel; Tavakkoli, Mohammad; te Ao, Braden J.; Teixeira, Carolina M.; Téllez Rojo, Martha M.; Terkawi, Abdullah S.; Texcalac-Sangrador, José Luis; Thackway, Sarah V.; Thomson, Blake; Thorne-Lyman, Andrew L.; Thrift, Amanda G.; Thurston, George D.; Tillmann, Taavi; Tobollik, Myriam; Tonelli, Marcello; Topouzis, Fotis; Towbin, Jeffrey A.; Toyoshima, Hideaki; Traebert, Jefferson; Tran, Bach X.; Trasande, Leonardo; Trillini, Matias; Trujillo, Ulises; Dimbuene, Zacharie Tsala; Tsilimbaris, Miltiadis; Tuzcu, Emin Murat; Uchendu, Uche S.; Ukwaja, Kingsley N.; Uzun, Selen B.; van de Vijver, Steven; van Dingenen, Rita; van Gool, Coen H.; van Os, Jim; Varakin, Yuri Y.; Vasankari, Tommi J.; Vasconcelos, Ana Maria N.; Vavilala, Monica S.; Veerman, Lennert J.; Velasquez-Melendez, Gustavo; Venketasubramanian, N.; Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; Villalpando, Salvador; Violante, Francesco S.; Vlassov, Vasiliy Victorovich; Vollset, Stein Emil; Wagner, Gregory R.; Waller, Stephen G.; Wallin, Mitchell T.; Wan, Xia; Wang, Haidong; Wang, JianLi; Wang, Linhong; Wang, Wenzhi; Wang, Yanping; Warouw, Tati S.; Watts, Charlotte H.; Weichenthal, Scott; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Weintraub, Robert G.; Werdecker, Andrea; Wessells, K. Ryan; Westerman, Ronny; Whiteford, Harvey A.; Wilkinson, James D.; Williams, Hywel C.; Williams, Thomas N.; Woldeyohannes, Solomon M.; Wolfe, Charles D. A.; Wong, John Q.; Woolf, Anthony D.; Wright, Jonathan L.; Wurtz, Brittany; Xu, Gelin; Yan, Lijing L.; Yang, Gonghuan; Yano, Yuichiro; Ye, Pengpeng; Yenesew, Muluken; Yentür, Gökalp K.; Yip, Paul; Yonemoto, Naohiro; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Younis, Mustafa Z.; Younoussi, Zourkaleini; Yu, Chuanhua; Zaki, Maysaa E.; Zhao, Yong; Zheng, Yingfeng; Zhou, Maigeng; Zhu, Jun; Zhu, Shankuan; Zou, Xiaonong; Zunt, Joseph R.; Lopez, Alan D.; Vos, Theo; Murray, Christopher J.

2015-01-01

Background The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for

Global and regional trends in particulate air pollution and attributable health burden over the past 50 years

Science.gov (United States)

Butt, E. W.; Turnock, S. T.; Rigby, R.; Reddington, C. L.; Yoshioka, M.; Johnson, J. S.; Regayre, L. A.; Pringle, K. J.; Mann, G. W.; Spracklen, D. V.

2017-10-01

Long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM2.5, mass of particles with an aerodynamic dry diameter of air quality has changed rapidly. Here we used the HadGEM3-UKCA coupled chemistry-climate model, integrated exposure-response relationships, demographic and background disease data to provide the first estimate of the changes in global and regional ambient PM2.5 concentrations and attributable health burdens over the period 1960 to 2009. Over this period, global mean population-weighted PM2.5 concentrations increased by 38%, dominated by increases in China and India. Global attributable deaths increased by 89% to 124% over the period 1960 to 2009, dominated by large increases in China and India. Population growth and ageing contributed mostly to the increases in attributable deaths in China and India, highlighting the importance of demographic trends. In contrast, decreasing PM2.5 concentrations and background disease dominated the reduction in attributable health burden in Europe and the United States. Our results shed light on how future projected trends in demographics and uncertainty in the exposure-response relationship may provide challenges for future air quality policy in Asia.

Legislative background of food and nutrition policy in Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Andreeva

2012-07-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The importance of effective policy aimed at improving nutrition practices is highly recognized by the global community. METHODS: Analysis of Ukrainian legislative documents was conducted to clarify the situation in the field of policy initiatives and legislation devoted to nutrition in Ukraine. Documents in force adopted from 1991 to 2011 including key words “nutrition”, “health”, “concept”, and “food products” were reviewed.RESULTS: We reviewed 55 legislative acts related to nutrition and identified several groups: 18 documents are related to organization of supply, regimen, norms of nutrition in state establishments or for special populations; 12 documents related to economic and technological regulation of food preparation, quality control and distribution; 3 documents regulating nutritious and safety norms of food products for children under 3 years; 14 documents aimed to control food safety, quality and accessibility; 6 other documents partly referred to nutrition, including 4 Concepts of healthy lifestyles. Some of the principles of healthy eating are declared in the “Concept of improving food security and quality of nutrition of the population” approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2004. Principles of maintaining breastfeeding, activities aimed to reduce iodine deficiency among population as well as school educational program “Foundations of health” were those few governmental activities, which supported some of the ideas declared in the Concept. CONCLUSION: Great attention of policymakers is paid to regulation of production, distribution of food, its quality control, affordability of products for special population groups, especially children. Not much attention is devoted in the official documents to creating and maintaining the healthy eating practices of the population. Mechanisms aimed to form healthy eating practices are not specified in the legislative documents. No regulatory documents to

The global network on dental education: a new vision for IFDEA.

Science.gov (United States)

De Vries, J; Murtomaa, H; Butler, M; Cherrett, H; Ferrillo, P; Ferro, M B; Gadbury-Amyot, C; Haden, N K; Manogue, M; Mintz, J; Mulvihill, J E; Murray, B; Nattestad, A; Nielsen, D; Ogunbodede, E; Parkash, H; Plasschaert, F; Reed, M T; Rupp, R L; Tandon, S; Wang, B; Wang, S; Yucel, T; Valachovic, R W; Watkinson, A; Shanley, D

2008-02-01

The advent of globalization has changed our perspectives radically. It presents increased understanding of world affairs, new challenges and exciting opportunities. The inequitable distribution and use of finite energy resources and global warming are just two examples of challenges that can only be addressed by concerted international collaboration. Globalization has become an increasingly important influence on dentistry and dental education. The International Federation for Dental Educators and Associations (IFDEA) welcomes the challenges it now faces as a player in a complex multifaceted global community. This report addresses the new circumstances in which IFDEA must operate, taking account of the recommendations made by other working groups. The report reviews the background and evolution of IFDEA and describes the extensive developments that have taken place in IFDEA over the past year with the introductions of a new Constitution and Bylaws overseen by a newly established Board of Directors. These were the consequence of a new mission, goals and objectives for IFDEA. An expanded organization is planned using http://www.IFDEA.org as the primary instrument to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, programmes and expertise between colleagues and federated associations throughout the world, thereby promoting higher standards in oral health through education in low-, middle- and high-income countries of the world. Such aspirations are modified by the reality and enormity of poverty-related global ill health.

Global music approach to persons with dementia: evidence and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Raglio, Alfredo; Filippi, Stefania; Bellandi, Daniele; Stramba-Badiale, Marco

2014-01-01

Music is an important resource for achieving psychological, cognitive, and social goals in the field of dementia. This paper describes the different types of evidence-based music interventions that can be found in literature and proposes a structured intervention model (global music approach to persons with dementia, GMA-D). The literature concerning music and dementia was considered and analyzed. The reported studies included more recent studies and/or studies with relevant scientific characteristics. From this background, a global music approach was proposed using music and sound-music elements according to the needs, clinical characteristics, and therapeutic-rehabilitation goals that emerge in the care of persons with dementia. From the literature analysis the following evidence-based interventions emerged: active music therapy (psychological and rehabilitative approaches), active music therapy with family caregivers and persons with dementia, music-based interventions, caregivers singing, individualized listening to music, and background music. Characteristics of each type of intervention are described and discussed. Standardizing the operational methods and evaluation of the single activities and a joint practice can contribute to achieve the validation of the application model. The proposed model can be considered a low-cost nonpharmacological intervention and a therapeutic-rehabilitation method for the reduction of behavioral disturbances, for stimulation of cognitive functions, and for increasing the overall quality of life of persons with dementia.

Demonstration of Cosmic Microwave Background Delensing Using the Cosmic Infrared Background.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Patricia; Challinor, Anthony; Sherwin, Blake D; Mak, Daisy

2016-10-07

Delensing is an increasingly important technique to reverse the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and thus reveal primordial signals the lensing may obscure. We present a first demonstration of delensing on Planck temperature maps using the cosmic infrared background (CIB). Reversing the lensing deflections in Planck CMB temperature maps using a linear combination of the 545 and 857 GHz maps as a lensing tracer, we find that the lensing effects in the temperature power spectrum are reduced in a manner consistent with theoretical expectations. In particular, the characteristic sharpening of the acoustic peaks of the temperature power spectrum resulting from successful delensing is detected at a significance of 16σ, with an amplitude of A_{delens}=1.12±0.07 relative to the expected value of unity. This first demonstration on data of CIB delensing, and of delensing techniques in general, is significant because lensing removal will soon be essential for achieving high-precision constraints on inflationary B-mode polarization.

Global Peace through the Global University System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cengiz Hakan AYDIN

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Utopia is defined in Encarta Dictionary as “an ideal and perfect place or state, where everyone lives in harmony and everything is for the best.” Developments all around the world especially in the last decade have supported the idea that global peace is nothing but just a utopian dream. However, for centuries a group of believers have always been in search of global peace via different means. This book, titled as “Global Peace through the Global University System”, can be considered as one of the artifacts of this search.Actually this book is a collection of papers presented in working conference on the Global University System (GUS hosted by the University of Tampere, Finland in 1999. The main goal of the conference was bringing international experts to share their philosophy, past and present experiences about the GUS. The conference was held by the University of Tampere because UNESCO has an agreement with the University to establish the UNESCOChair in Global e-Learning.

Introduction to the background field method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abbott, L.F.; Brandeis Univ., Waltham, MA

1982-01-01

The background field approach to calculations in gauge field theories is presented. Conventional functional techniques are reviewed and the background field method is introduced. Feynman rules and renormalization are discussed and, as an example, the Yang-Mills β function is computed. (author)

The Cosmic Microwave Background

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jones Aled

1998-01-01

Full Text Available We present a brief review of current theory and observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB. New predictions for cosmological defect theories and an overview of the inflationary theory are discussed. Recent results from various observations of the anisotropies of the microwave background are described and a summary of the proposed experiments is presented. A new analysis technique based on Bayesian statistics that can be used to reconstruct the underlying sky fluctuations is summarised. Current CMB data is used to set some preliminary constraints on the values of fundamental cosmological parameters $Omega$ and $H_circ$ using the maximum likelihood technique. In addition, secondary anisotropies due to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect are described.

Global music approach to persons with dementia: evidence and practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raglio A

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Alfredo Raglio,1,2 Stefania Filippi,2 Daniele Bellandi,3 Marco Stramba-Badiale4 1Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; 2APSP “Margherita Grazioli”, Povo, Trento, Italy; 3Geriatric Department, Sospiro Foundation, Sospiro, Cremona, Italy; 4Department of Geriatrics and Cardiovascular Medicine, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy Abstract: Music is an important resource for achieving psychological, cognitive, and social goals in the field of dementia. This paper describes the different types of evidence-based music interventions that can be found in literature and proposes a structured intervention model (global music approach to persons with dementia, GMA-D. The literature concerning music and dementia was considered and analyzed. The reported studies included more recent studies and/or studies with relevant scientific characteristics. From this background, a global music approach was proposed using music and sound–music elements according to the needs, clinical characteristics, and therapeutic–rehabilitation goals that emerge in the care of persons with dementia. From the literature analysis the following evidence-based interventions emerged: active music therapy (psychological and rehabilitative approaches, active music therapy with family caregivers and persons with dementia, music-based interventions, caregivers singing, individualized listening to music, and background music. Characteristics of each type of intervention are described and discussed. Standardizing the operational methods and evaluation of the single activities and a joint practice can contribute to achieve the validation of the application model. The proposed model can be considered a low-cost nonpharmacological intervention and a therapeutic–rehabilitation method for the reduction of behavioral disturbances, for stimulation of cognitive functions, and for increasing the overall quality of life

Background characterization for the GERDA experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Becerici-Schmidt, Neslihan [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Collaboration: GERDA-Collaboration

2013-07-01

The GERmanium Detector Array (Gerda) experiment at the LNGS laboratory of INFN searches for the neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of {sup 76}Ge. A discovery of this decay can greatly advance our knowledge on the nature and properties of neutrinos. The current best limit on the half-life of {sup 76}Ge 0νββ decay is 1.9 . 10{sup 25} years (90% C.L.). In order to increase the sensitivity on the half-life with respect to past experiments, the background rate in the energy region of interest (ROI) around Q{sub ββ} = 2039 keV has been reduced by a factor 10. Gerda started data-taking with the full set of Phase I detectors in November 2011. Identification of the background in the first phase of the experiment is of major importance to further mitigate the background for Gerda Phase II. An analysis of the Phase I data resulted in a good understanding of the individual components in the Gerda background spectrum. The background components in the ROI have been identified to be mainly due to β- and γ-induced events originating from {sup 214}Bi ({sup 238}U-series), {sup 208}Tl ({sup 232}Th-series), {sup 42}K (progeny of {sup 42}Ar) and α-induced events coming from isotopes in the {sup 226}Ra decay chain. A background decomposition in the ROI will be presented, with a special emphasis on the contribution from α-induced events.

Against Globalization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Philipsen, Lotte; Baggesgaard, Mads Anders

2013-01-01

In order to understand globalization, we need to consider what globalization is not. That is, in order to understand the mechanisms and elements that work toward globalization, we must, in a sense, read against globalization, highlighting the limitations of the concept and its inherent conflicts....... Only by employing this as a critical practice will we be analytically able to gain a dynamic understanding of the forces of globalization as they unfold today and as they have developed historically....

Are national policies on global health in fact national policies on global health governance? A comparison of policy designs from Norway and Switzerland

Science.gov (United States)

Clavier, Carole; Potvin, Louise

2017-01-01

Background Since the signing of the Oslo Ministerial Declaration in 2007, the idea that foreign policy formulation should include health considerations has gained traction on the United Nations agenda as evidenced by annual General Assembly resolutions on global health and foreign policy. The adoption of national policies on global health (NPGH) is one way that some member states integrate health and foreign policymaking. This paper explores what these policies intend to do and how countries plan to do it. Methods Using a most similar systems design, we carried out a comparative study of two policy documents formally adopted in 2012. We conducted a directed qualitative content analysis of the Norwegian White Paper on Global health in foreign and development policy and the Swiss Health Foreign Policy using Schneider and Ingram's policy design framework. After replicating analysis methods for each document, we analysed them side by side to explore the commonalities and differences across elements of NPGH design. Results Analyses indicate that NPGH expect to influence change outside their borders. Targeting the international level, they aim to affect policy venues, multilateral partnerships and international institutions. Instruments for supporting desired changes are primarily those of health diplomacy, proposed as a tool for negotiating interests and objectives for global health between multiple sectors, used internally in Switzerland and externally in Norway. Conclusion Findings suggest that NPGH designs contribute to constructing the global health governance system by identifying it as a policy target, and policy instruments may elude the health sector actors unless implementation rules explicitly include them. Research should explore how future NPGH designs may construct different kinds of targets as politicised groups of actors on which national governments seek to exercise influence for global health decision-making. PMID:28589007

The global distribution of fatal pesticide self-poisoning: systematic review

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gunnell, David; Eddleston, Michael; Phillips, Michael R

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Evidence is accumulating that pesticide self-poisoning is one of the most commonly used methods of suicide worldwide, but the magnitude of the problem and the global distribution of these deaths is unknown. METHODS: We have systematically reviewed the worldwide literature to estimate......-poisoning worldwide each year, accounting for 30% (range 27% to 37%) of suicides globally. Official data from India probably underestimate the incidence of suicides; applying evidence-based corrections to India's official data, our estimate for world suicides using pesticides increases to 371,594 (range 347......, not the quantity used, that influences the likelihood they will be used in acts of fatal self-harm. CONCLUSION: Pesticide self-poisoning accounts for about one-third of the world's suicides. Epidemiological and toxicological data suggest that many of these deaths might be prevented if (a) the use of pesticides...

Global Spent Fuel Logistics Systems Study (GSFLS). Volume 2A. GSFLS visit findings (appendix). Interim report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1978-01-31

This appendix is a part of the interim report documentation for the Global Spent Fuel Logistics System (GSFLS) study. This appendix provides the legal/regulatory reference material, supportive of Volume 2 - GSFLS Visit Finding and Evaluations; and certain background material on British Nuclear Fuel Limited (BNFL).

Overall scores as an alternative to global ratings in patient experience surveys : A comparison of four methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krol, M.W.; de Boer, D.; Rademakers, J.J.D.J.M.; Delnoij, D.

2013-01-01

Background Global ratings of healthcare by patients are a popular way of summarizing patients’ experiences. Summary scores can be used for comparing healthcare provider performance and provider rankings. As an alternative, overall scores from actual patient experiences can be constructed as summary

Automatic classification for mammogram backgrounds based on bi-rads complexity definition and on a multi content analysis framework

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jie; Besnehard, Quentin; Marchessoux, Cédric

2011-03-01

Clinical studies for the validation of new medical imaging devices require hundreds of images. An important step in creating and tuning the study protocol is the classification of images into "difficult" and "easy" cases. This consists of classifying the image based on features like the complexity of the background, the visibility of the disease (lesions). Therefore, an automatic medical background classification tool for mammograms would help for such clinical studies. This classification tool is based on a multi-content analysis framework (MCA) which was firstly developed to recognize image content of computer screen shots. With the implementation of new texture features and a defined breast density scale, the MCA framework is able to automatically classify digital mammograms with a satisfying accuracy. BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting Data System) density scale is used for grouping the mammograms, which standardizes the mammography reporting terminology and assessment and recommendation categories. Selected features are input into a decision tree classification scheme in MCA framework, which is the so called "weak classifier" (any classifier with a global error rate below 50%). With the AdaBoost iteration algorithm, these "weak classifiers" are combined into a "strong classifier" (a classifier with a low global error rate) for classifying one category. The results of classification for one "strong classifier" show the good accuracy with the high true positive rates. For the four categories the results are: TP=90.38%, TN=67.88%, FP=32.12% and FN =9.62%.

Radiation effects on man health, environment, safety, security. Global Chernobyl mapping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bebeshko, V.; Bazyka, D.; Volovik, S.; Loganovsky, K.; Sushko, V.; Siedow, J.; Cohen, H.; Ginsburg, G.; Chao, N.; Chute, J.

2007-01-01

Complete text of publication follows. Objectives: Ionizing radiation is a primordial terrestrial and extraterrestrial background and archetypal environmental stress-factor for life origin, evolution, and existence. We all live in radiation world inevitably involving nuclear energy production, nuclear weapon, nuclear navy, radioactive waste, pertinent medical diagnostics and treatment, etc with connected certain probability of relevant accidents and terrorist attack, space and jet travels, high natural background radiation, etc - actual and potential sources of radiation exposures and effects. State-of- the art integral fundamental research on radiation effects on man health, environment, safety, and security (REMHESS) is nowadays paramount necessity and challenge. Methods and results: In given generalized conceptual framework unique 20 years Chernobyl multidimensional research and databases for radiation effects on man's all organism systems represent invaluable original basis and resources for mapping Chernobyl data and REMHESS challenge. Granted by DOE brand new Chernobyl Research and Service Project based on 'Sarcophagus-II' (Object 'Shelter') workers only one in radiation history baseline cohort, corresponding biorepository prospective dynamic data, integrated conceptual database system, and 'state of the art' 'omics' (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) analysis is designed specifically for coherent addressing global REMHESS problems. In this connection 'Sarcophagus-II' is only one unique universal model. Conclusions: The fundamental goals of novel strategic Project and global Chernobyl mapping are to determine specific 'omics' signatures of radiation for man depending of exposure peculiarity to understand ultimate molecular mechanisms of radiation effects, gene environment interactions, etiology of organisms systems disorders and diseases, and to develop new biomarkers and countermeasures to protect man health in the framework of global REMHESS challenge

Neutron background estimates in GESA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernandes A.C.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The SIMPLE project looks for nuclear recoil events generated by rare dark matter scattering interactions. Nuclear recoils are also produced by more prevalent cosmogenic neutron interactions. While the rock overburden shields against (μ,n neutrons to below 10−8 cm−2 s−1, it itself contributes via radio-impurities. Additional shielding of these is similar, both suppressing and contributing neutrons. We report on the Monte Carlo (MCNP estimation of the on-detector neutron backgrounds for the SIMPLE experiment located in the GESA facility of the Laboratoire Souterrain à Bas Bruit, and its use in defining additional shielding for measurements which have led to a reduction in the extrinsic neutron background to ∼ 5 × 10−3 evts/kgd. The calculated event rate induced by the neutron background is ∼ 0,3 evts/kgd, with a dominant contribution from the detector container.

Non-perturbative background field calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephens, C.R.; Department of Physics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112)

1988-01-01

New methods are developed for calculating one loop functional determinants in quantum field theory. Instead of relying on a calculation of all the eigenvalues of the small fluctuation equation, these techniques exploit the ability of the proper time formalism to reformulate an infinite dimensional field theoretic problem into a finite dimensional covariant quantum mechanical analog, thereby allowing powerful tools such as the method of Jacobi fields to be used advantageously in a field theory setting. More generally the methods developed herein should be extremely valuable when calculating quantum processes in non-constant background fields, offering a utilitarian alternative to the two standard methods of calculation: perturbation theory in the background field or taking the background field into account exactly. The formalism developed also allows for the approximate calculation of covariances of partial differential equations from a knowledge of the solutions of a homogeneous ordinary differential equation. copyright 1988 Academic Press, Inc

Non-perturbative background field calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, C. R.

1988-01-01

New methods are developed for calculating one loop functional determinants in quantum field theory. Instead of relying on a calculation of all the eigenvalues of the small fluctuation equation, these techniques exploit the ability of the proper time formalism to reformulate an infinite dimensional field theoretic problem into a finite dimensional covariant quantum mechanical analog, thereby allowing powerful tools such as the method of Jacobi fields to be used advantageously in a field theory setting. More generally the methods developed herein should be extremely valuable when calculating quantum processes in non-constant background fields, offering a utilitarian alternative to the two standard methods of calculation—perturbation theory in the background field or taking the background field into account exactly. The formalism developed also allows for the approximate calculation of covariances of partial differential equations from a knowledge of the solutions of a homogeneous ordinary differential equation.

String pair production in non homogeneous backgrounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bolognesi, S. [Department of Physics “E. Fermi” University of Pisa, and INFN - Sezione di Pisa,Largo Pontecorvo, 3, Ed. C, 56127 Pisa (Italy); Rabinovici, E. [Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,91904 Jerusalem (Israel); Tallarita, G. [Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Artes Liberales,Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7941169 (Chile)

2016-04-28

We consider string pair production in non homogeneous electric backgrounds. We study several particular configurations which can be addressed with the Euclidean world-sheet instanton technique, the analogue of the world-line instanton for particles. In the first case the string is suspended between two D-branes in flat space-time, in the second case the string lives in AdS and terminates on one D-brane (this realizes the holographic Schwinger effect). In some regions of parameter space the result is well approximated by the known analytical formulas, either the particle pair production in non-homogeneous background or the string pair production in homogeneous background. In other cases we see effects which are intrinsically stringy and related to the non-homogeneity of the background. The pair production is enhanced already for particles in time dependent electric field backgrounds. The string nature enhances this even further. For spacial varying electrical background fields the string pair production is less suppressed than the rate of particle pair production. We discuss in some detail how the critical field is affected by the non-homogeneity, for both time and space dependent electric field backgrouds. We also comment on what could be an interesting new prediction for the small field limit. The third case we consider is pair production in holographic confining backgrounds with homogeneous and non-homogeneous fields.

String pair production in non homogeneous backgrounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolognesi, S.; Rabinovici, E.; Tallarita, G.

2016-01-01

We consider string pair production in non homogeneous electric backgrounds. We study several particular configurations which can be addressed with the Euclidean world-sheet instanton technique, the analogue of the world-line instanton for particles. In the first case the string is suspended between two D-branes in flat space-time, in the second case the string lives in AdS and terminates on one D-brane (this realizes the holographic Schwinger effect). In some regions of parameter space the result is well approximated by the known analytical formulas, either the particle pair production in non-homogeneous background or the string pair production in homogeneous background. In other cases we see effects which are intrinsically stringy and related to the non-homogeneity of the background. The pair production is enhanced already for particles in time dependent electric field backgrounds. The string nature enhances this even further. For spacial varying electrical background fields the string pair production is less suppressed than the rate of particle pair production. We discuss in some detail how the critical field is affected by the non-homogeneity, for both time and space dependent electric field backgrouds. We also comment on what could be an interesting new prediction for the small field limit. The third case we consider is pair production in holographic confining backgrounds with homogeneous and non-homogeneous fields.

Global health benefits of mitigating ozone pollution with methane emission controls.

Science.gov (United States)

West, J Jason; Fiore, Arlene M; Horowitz, Larry W; Mauzerall, Denise L

2006-03-14

Methane (CH(4)) contributes to the growing global background concentration of tropospheric ozone (O(3)), an air pollutant associated with premature mortality. Methane and ozone are also important greenhouse gases. Reducing methane emissions therefore decreases surface ozone everywhere while slowing climate warming, but although methane mitigation has been considered to address climate change, it has not for air quality. Here we show that global decreases in surface ozone concentrations, due to methane mitigation, result in substantial and widespread decreases in premature human mortality. Reducing global anthropogenic methane emissions by 20% beginning in 2010 would decrease the average daily maximum 8-h surface ozone by approximately 1 part per billion by volume globally. By using epidemiologic ozone-mortality relationships, this ozone reduction is estimated to prevent approximately 30,000 premature all-cause mortalities globally in 2030, and approximately 370,000 between 2010 and 2030. If only cardiovascular and respiratory mortalities are considered, approximately 17,000 global mortalities can be avoided in 2030. The marginal cost-effectiveness of this 20% methane reduction is estimated to be approximately 420,000 US dollars per avoided mortality. If avoided mortalities are valued at 1 US dollars million each, the benefit is approximately 240 US dollars per tone of CH(4) ( approximately 12 US dollars per tone of CO(2) equivalent), which exceeds the marginal cost of the methane reduction. These estimated air pollution ancillary benefits of climate-motivated methane emission reductions are comparable with those estimated previously for CO(2). Methane mitigation offers a unique opportunity to improve air quality globally and can be a cost-effective component of international ozone management, bringing multiple benefits for air quality, public health, agriculture, climate, and energy.

Measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature at 1.47 GHz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bensadoun, Marc John [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

1991-11-01

A radiofrequency-gain total power radiometer measured the intensity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at a frequency of 1.47 GHz (20.4 cm wavelength) from White Mountain, California, in September 1988 and from the South Pole, Antarctica, in December 1989. The CMB thermodynamic temperature, TCMB, is 2.27 ± 0.25 K (68% C.L.) measured from White Mountain and 2.26 ± 0.21 K from the South Pole site. The combined result is 2.27 ± 0.19 K. The correction for galactic emission has been derived from scaled low-frequency maps and constitutes the main source, of error. The atmospheric signal is found by extrapolation from zenith scan measurements at higher frequencies. The result is consistent with previous low-frequency measurements, including a measurement at 1.41 GHz (Levin et al. 1988) made with an earlier version of this instrument. The result is ~2.5 σ (~l% probability) from the 2.74 ± 0.02,K global average CMB temperature.

Status of the Simbol-X Background Simulation Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Tenzer, C.; Briel, U.; Bulgarelli, A.; Chipaux, R.; Claret, A.; Cusumano, G.; Dell'Orto, E.; Fioretti, V.; Foschini, L.; Hauf, S.; Kendziorra, E.; Kuster, M.; Laurent, P.; Tiengo, A.

2009-05-01

The Simbol-X background simulation group is working towards a simulation based background and mass model which can be used before and during the mission. Using the Geant4 toolkit, a Monte-Carlo code to simulate the detector background of the Simbol-X focal plane instrument has been developed with the aim to optimize the design of the instrument. Achieving an overall low instrument background has direct impact on the sensitivity of Simbol-X and thus will be crucial for the success of the mission. We present results of recent simulation studies concerning the shielding of the detectors with respect to the diffuse cosmic hard X-ray background and to the cosmic-ray proton induced background. Besides estimates of the level and spectral shape of the remaining background expected in the low and high energy detector, also anti-coincidence rates and resulting detector dead time predictions are discussed.

41 CFR 128-1.8001 - Background.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 128-1.8001 Section 128-1.8001 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property Management Regulations System (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 1-INTRODUCTION 1.80-Seismic Safety Program § 128-1.8001 Background. The...

Globalization of nuclear activities and global governance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sefidvash, Farhang

1997-01-01

The safe production of nuclear energy as well as the disarmament of nuclear weapons and the peaceful utilization of nuclear materials resulting from dismantling of such weapons are some of the formidable problems of global governance. The Commission on Global Governance was established in 1992 in the belief that international developments had created a unique opportunity for strengthening global co-operation to meet the challenge of securing peace, achieving sustainable development, and universalizing democracy. Here a summary of their proposals on the globalization of nuclear activities to face challenges of the coming century is given. To follow up their activities by the worlds community in general. The research Centre for Global Governance (RCGG) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul was established. Already a great number of researchers from many different countries have adhered to the Centre. Here the program of the RCGG is described. (author)

Globalization of nuclear activities and global governance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sefidvash, Farhang [Rio Grande do Sul Univ., Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Nuclear

1997-07-01

The safe production of nuclear energy as well as the disarmament of nuclear weapons and the peaceful utilization of nuclear materials resulting from dismantling of such weapons are some of the formidable problems of global governance. The Commission on Global Governance was established in 1992 in the belief that international developments had created a unique opportunity for strengthening global co-operation to meet the challenge of securing peace, achieving sustainable development, and universalizing democracy. Here a summary of their proposals on the globalization of nuclear activities to face challenges of the coming century is given. To follow up their activities by the worlds community in general. The research Centre for Global Governance (RCGG) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul was established. Already a great number of researchers from many different countries have adhered to the Centre. Here the program of the RCGG is described. (author)

Labor markets and employment insecurity: impacts of globalization on service and healthcare-sector workforces.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostry, Aleck S; Spiegel, Jerry M

2004-01-01

Global changes in the economies of most developed nations have impacted the way healthcare is organized, even within largely public systems, and the working conditions of healthcare workers. Since the acceleration of globalization in the 1970s, service-sector workers in developed nations have faced high unemployment, increased skill requirements for most jobs, and a rise in non-traditional work arrangements. These secular shifts in service-sector labor markets have occurred against the background of an erosion of the welfare state and growing income inequality. As well, many healthcare systems, including Canada's, were severely downsized and restructured in the 1990s, exacerbating the underlying negative secular trends in the service sector, and worsening the working conditions for many healthcare workers. Globalization has altered the labor market and shifted working conditions in ways that have been unfavorable to many healthcare workers.

How Global is Global Civil Society?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neera Chandhoke

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In recent times the concept of global civil society has made its appearance on national and international intellectual, as well as political agendas, in a major way. It is of some interest that two other concepts, both of which call for transcendence of national boundaries in precisely the same way as global civil society does, have also made their appearance on the scene of intellectual debates at roughly the same time: the concept of cosmopolitanism and that of transnational justice. All three concepts have dramatically expanded the notion of commitment to one’s fellow beings beyond the nation state. And all three concepts have extended critiques of policies that violate the dignity of human beings from national governments to the practices of inter-national institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Forum. In sum the inter-related concepts of global civil society, cosmopolitanism, and transnational justice have greatly enlarged the traditional domain of political theory. And yet for any political theorist who is acutely conscious of the phenomenon of power, these concepts are not unproblematic. For the practices of global civil society may just reinforce the intellectual and the moral power of the West over the postcolonial world. This is particularly true of say global human rights organizations. This paper will attempt to raise some questions of the concept and the practices of global civil society from the perspective of the countries of the South.

Assessment of global phase uncertainty in case-control studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

van Houwelingen Hans C

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In haplotype-based candidate gene studies a problem is that the genotype data are unphased, which results in haplotype ambiguity. The measure 1 quantifies haplotype predictability from genotype data. It is computed for each individual haplotype, and for a measure of global relative efficiency a minimum value is suggested. Alternatively, we developed methods directly based on the information content of haplotype frequency estimates to obtain global relative efficiency measures: and based on A- and D-optimality, respectively. All three methods are designed for single populations; they can be applied in cases only, controls only or the whole data. Therefore they are not necessarily optimal for haplotype testing in case-control studies. Results A new global relative efficiency measure was derived to maximize power of a simple test statistic that compares haplotype frequencies in cases and controls. Application to real data showed that our proposed method gave a clear and summarizing measure for the case-control study conducted. Additionally this measure might be used for selection of individuals, who have the highest potential for improving power by resolving phase ambiguity. Conclusion Instead of using relative efficiency measure for cases only, controls only or their combined data, we link uncertainty measure to case-control studies directly. Hence, our global efficiency measure might be useful to assess whether data are informative or have enough power for estimation of a specific haplotype risk.

Left Ventricular Systolic Function Assessed by Global Longitudinal Strain is Impaired in Atrial Fibrillation Compared to Sinus Rhythm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agner, Bue Fridolin Ross; Katz, Michael G; Williams, Zachary R

2018-01-01

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common aberrant cardiac arrhythmia. Many AF patients present with symptoms of dyspnea and fatigue, but have normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Purpose: To determine the reproducibility of measurements of global longitudinal strain (GLS...

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990—2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

J L Murray, Christopher; F Ortblad, Katrina; Guinovart, Caterina

2014-01-01

Background The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach to disease estimation for between...... with and without antiretroviral therapy (ART). For concentrated epidemics, we calibrated Spectrum models to fit vital registration data corrected for misclassification of HIV deaths. In generalised epidemics, we minimised a loss function to select epidemic curves most consistent with prevalence data...... and demographic data for all-cause mortality. We analysed counterfactual scenarios for HIV to assess years of life saved through prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and ART. For tuberculosis, we analysed vital registration and verbal autopsy data to estimate mortality using cause of death ensemble...

Globalization and deficit and limitations of global governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stojanović Stanislav

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Character and dynamics of relationships in international politics, in which the stronger return to real politics content in the functioning of the foreign policy of the great powers, unequivocally affirms that globalization does not work to its declining power that is less credible design concept of modern world society. The global financial collapse that hit the world in 2008 is a convincing indication that most of the globalization is discredited. The belief in one humanity is becoming a less desirable concept. At the same time, with the increase in global issues that require solving, there are numerous human activities that involve unique or international regulation. The world is increasingly one homeostatic system of interdependent parts of a continent where many aspects of the borders between countries are difficult or even impossible to sustain. Hence the importance of global factors, some of which will fully depend on the articulation of individual and community life of people in the future, stressing the importance of the issue of joint management to ensure global peace and security and promote the prosperity around the world in a universally acceptable and effective way. Therefore, the demonstrated substantial shortcomings of global governance of the world, although they discourage belief in humanity, did not reduce the objective need for global access to many amenities of modern human existence. Many aspects of security, ranging from the security of the individual to the energy and environmental security in modern conditions are not conceivable without international access. However, global security management has been associated with numerous limitations and challenges.

The International Treaty on Global Warming: Is it Good or Bad for the Economy?

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Xinyu; Bao, Wenbin

2018-06-01

Global warming is one of the hottest topics all over the world. International authorities have worked together to negotiate the Paris Agreement on global warming. This Agreement has its supporters and critics. The key question is whether on balance is the Paris Assignment good or bad for the United States economy. This paper begins with some background information leading up to the passage of the treaty. Next, I outline what is in treaty. I then critically analyze the arguments in support of and against the Assignment. Finally, I explain the basis for my opinion that in the long run the treaty will benefit the United States economy.

The Global Health Policies of the EU and its Member States: A Common Vision?

Science.gov (United States)

Steurs, Lies; Van de Pas, Remco; Delputte, Sarah; Orbie, Jan

2018-01-01

Background: This article assesses the global health policies of the European Union (EU) and those of its individual member states. So far EU and public health scholars have paid little heed to this, despite the large budgets involved in this area. While the European Commission has attempted to define the ‘EU role in Global Health’ in 2010, member states are active in the domain of global health as well. Therefore, this article raises the question to what extent a common ‘EU’ vision on global health exists. Methods: This is examined through a comparative framing analysis of the global health policy documents of the European Commission and five EU member states (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Denmark). The analysis is informed by a two-layered typology, distinguishing global health from international health and four ‘global health frames,’ namely social justice, security, investment and charity. Results: The findings show that the concept of ‘global health’ has not gained ground the same way within European policy documents. Consequently, there are also differences in how health is being framed. While the European Commission, Belgium, and Denmark clearly support a social justice frame, the global health strategies of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France put an additional focus on the security and investment frames. Conclusion: There are different understandings of global/international health as well as different framings within relevant documents of the EU and its member states. Therefore, the existence of an ‘EU’ vision on global health is questionable. Further research is needed on how this impacts on policy implementation. PMID:29764107

Statistical distributions of optimal global alignment scores of random protein sequences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tang Jiaowei

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The inference of homology from statistically significant sequence similarity is a central issue in sequence alignments. So far the statistical distribution function underlying the optimal global alignments has not been completely determined. Results In this study, random and real but unrelated sequences prepared in six different ways were selected as reference datasets to obtain their respective statistical distributions of global alignment scores. All alignments were carried out with the Needleman-Wunsch algorithm and optimal scores were fitted to the Gumbel, normal and gamma distributions respectively. The three-parameter gamma distribution performs the best as the theoretical distribution function of global alignment scores, as it agrees perfectly well with the distribution of alignment scores. The normal distribution also agrees well with the score distribution frequencies when the shape parameter of the gamma distribution is sufficiently large, for this is the scenario when the normal distribution can be viewed as an approximation of the gamma distribution. Conclusion We have shown that the optimal global alignment scores of random protein sequences fit the three-parameter gamma distribution function. This would be useful for the inference of homology between sequences whose relationship is unknown, through the evaluation of gamma distribution significance between sequences.

Global dose to man from proposed NNTRP high altitude nuclear tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, K.R.

1975-05-01

Radionuclide measurements from past high altitude nuclear testing have enabled development of a model to estimate surface deposition and doses from 400 kt of fission products injected in winter within the Pacific Test Area at altitudes in excess of 50 km. The largest 30-year average dose to man is about 10 millirem and occurs at 30 0 to 50 0 N latitude. The principal contributor to this dose is external gamma radiation from gross fission products. Individual doses from 90 Sr via the forage-cow-milk pathway and 137 Cs via the pasture-meat pathway are about 1/5 the gross fission product doses. The global 30-year population dose is 3 x 10 7 person-rem, which compares with a 30-year natural background population dose of 1 X 10 10 person-rem. Due in large part to the global distribution of population, over 98 percent of the global person-rem from the proposed high altitude tests is received in the Northern Hemisphere, while about 75 percent of the total population dose occurs within the 30 0 --50 0 N latitude belt. Detonations in summer would decrease the global dose by about a factor of three. (U.S.)

Optimal Background Attenuation for Fielded Radiation Detection Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, Sean M.; Kaye, William R.; Schweppe, John E.; Siciliano, Edward R.

2006-01-01

Radiation detectors are often placed in positions difficult to shield from the effects of terrestrial background. This is particularly true in the case of Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) systems, as their wide viewing angle and outdoor installations make them susceptible to terrestrial background from the surrounding area. A low background is desired in most cases, especially when the background noise is of comparable strength to the signal of interest. The problem of shielding a generalized RPM from terrestrial background is considered. Various detector and shielding scenarios are modeled with the Monte-Carlo N Particle (MCNP) computer code. Amounts of nominal-density shielding needed to attenuate the terrestrial background to varying degrees are given, along with optimal shielding geometry to be used in areas where natural shielding is limited, and where radiation detection must occur in the presence of natural background. Common shielding solutions such as steel plating are evaluated based on the signal to noise ratio and the benefits are weighed against the incremental cost.

Indirect Effects of Global Change: From Physiological and Behavioral Mechanisms to Ecological Consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunderson, Alex R; Tsukimura, Brian; Stillman, Jonathon H

2017-07-01

A major focus of current ecological research is to understand how global change makes species vulnerable to extirpation. To date, mechanistic ecophysiological analyses of global change vulnerability have focused primarily on the direct effects of changing abiotic conditions on whole-organism physiological traits, such as metabolic rate, locomotor performance, cardiac function, and critical thermal limits. However, species do not live in isolation within their physical environments, and direct effects of climate change are likely to be compounded by indirect effects that result from altered interactions with other species, such as competitors and predators. The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2017 Symposium "Indirect Effects of Global Change: From Physiological and Behavioral Mechanisms to Ecological Consequences" was designed to synthesize multiple approaches to investigating the indirect effects of global change by bringing together researchers that study the indirect effects of global change from multiple perspectives across habitat, type of anthropogenic change, and level of biological organization. Our goal in bringing together researchers from different backgrounds was to foster cross-disciplinary insights into the mechanistic bases and higher-order ecological consequences of indirect effects of global change, and to promote collaboration among fields. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The 'global health' education framework: a conceptual guide for monitoring, evaluation and practice

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Background In the past decades, the increasing importance of and rapid changes in the global health arena have provoked discussions on the implications for the education of health professionals. In the case of Germany, it remains yet unclear whether international or global aspects are sufficiently addressed within medical education. Evaluation challenges exist in Germany and elsewhere due to a lack of conceptual guides to develop, evaluate or assess education in this field. Objective To propose a framework conceptualising 'global health' education (GHE) in practice, to guide the evaluation and monitoring of educational interventions and reforms through a set of key indicators that characterise GHE. Methods Literature review; deduction. Results and Conclusion Currently, 'new' health challenges and educational needs as a result of the globalisation process are discussed and linked to the evolving term 'global health'. The lack of a common definition of this term complicates attempts to analyse global health in the field of education. The proposed GHE framework addresses these problems and presents a set of key characteristics of education in this field. The framework builds on the models of 'social determinants of health' and 'globalisation and health' and is oriented towards 'health for all' and 'health equity'. It provides an action-oriented construct for a bottom-up engagement with global health by the health workforce. Ten indicators are deduced for use in monitoring and evaluation. PMID:21501519

Globalization and local response to epidemiological overlap in 21st century Ecuador

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waters William F

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Third World countries are confronted by a complex overlay of two sets of health problems. Traditional maladies, including communicable diseases, malnutrition, and environmental health hazards coexist with emerging health challenges, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and increasing levels of obesity. Using Ecuador as an example, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for linking epidemiologic overlap to emerging social structures and processes at the national and global levels. Discussion Epidemiologic trends can be seen as part of broader processes related to globalization, but this does not imply that globalization is a monolithic force that inevitably and uniformly affects nations, communities, and households in the same manner. Rather, characteristics and forms of social organization at the subnational level can shape the way that globalization takes place. Thus, globalization has affected Ecuador in specific ways and is, at the same time, intimately related to the form in which the epidemiologic transition has transpired in that country. Summary Ecuador is among neither the poorest nor the wealthiest countries and its situation may illuminate trends in other parts of the world. As in other countries, insertion into the global economy has not taken place in a vacuum; rather, Ecuador has experienced unprecedented social and demographic change in the past several decades, producing profound transformation in its social structure. Examples of local represent alternatives to centralized health systems that do not effectively address the complex overlay of traditional and emerging health problems.

THE EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION DURING THE CURRENT GLOBAL CRISIS

OpenAIRE

Sabina Tuca

2013-01-01

The current economic crisis constitutes a serious test for the process of globalization. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the current global crisis on economic globalization. To assess the impact of the current crisis on economic globalization, this paper examines the KOF Index of Globalization, before and during the crisis. The findings generally support the idea that economic globalization has been, in fact, weakened, after the onset of the current crisis. However, t...

Global dispersal pattern of HIV type 1 subtype CRF01-AE : A genetic trace of human mobility related to heterosexual sexual activities centralized in southeast Asia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Angelis, Konstantinos; Albert, Jan; Mamais, Ioannis; Magiorkinis, Gkikas; Hatzakis, Angelos; Hamouda, Osamah; Struck, Daniel; Vercauteren, Jurgen; Wensing, Annemarie M J; Alexiev, Ivailo; Åsjö, Birgitta; Balotta, Claudia; Camacho, Ricardo J.; Coughlan, Suzie; Griskevicius, Algirdas; Grossman, Zehava; Horban, Andrzej; Kostrikis, Leondios G.; Lepej, Snjezana; Liitsola, Kirsi; Linka, Marek; Nielsen, Claus; Otelea, Dan; Paredes, Roger; Poljak, Mario; Puchhammer-Stöckl, Elisabeth; Schmit, Jean Claude; Sönnerborg, Anders; Staneková, Danica; Stanojevic, Maja; Boucher, Charles A B; Kaplan, Lauren; Vandamme, Anne Mieke; Paraskevis, Dimitrios

2015-01-01

Background. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype CRF01-AE originated in Africa and then passed to Thailand, where it established a major epidemic. Despite the global presence of CRF01-AE, little is known about its subsequent dispersal pattern. Methods. We assembled a global data set

Globalization

OpenAIRE

Andru?cã Maria Carmen

2013-01-01

The field of globalization has highlighted an interdependence implied by a more harmonious understanding determined by the daily interaction between nations through the inducement of peace and the management of streamlining and the effectiveness of the global economy. For the functioning of the globalization, the developing countries that can be helped by the developed ones must be involved. The international community can contribute to the institution of the development environment of the gl...

Installation of a muon veto for low background gamma spectroscopy at the LBNL low-background facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thomas, K.J., E-mail: kjthomas@lbl.gov [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, CA 94720 (United States); Norman, E.B. [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, CA 94720 (United States); Smith, A.R.; Chan, Y.D. [Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, CA 94720 (United States)

2013-10-01

An active veto system consisting of plastic scintillation panels was installed outside the Pb shielding of a 115% n-type HPGe detector in an effort to reduce background continuum generated by cosmic ray muons on the surface. The Low Background Facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory performs low level assay (generally of primordial U, Th, K) of candidate construction materials for experiments that require a high level of radiopurity. The counting is performed in two facilities: one local surface site and a remote underground site of approximately 600 m.w.e. For the recently installed veto system at the surface location, the top scintillator panel has been in use for nearly 1 year and the full 3π anticoincidence shield was commissioned into normal counting operations in January 2013. The integrated background from 20 to 3600 keV is reduced overall by a factor of 8, where most of the energy spectrum above 100 keV achieves an overall reduction that varies from 8 to 10. A dramatic improvement of peak-to-background across the entire continuum is observed, greatly enhancing low-level peaks that would otherwise be obscured.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE VS. NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabina TUCA

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The global economic and financial crisis of 2007 highlighted the risks, threats and enormous costs of a global economy in the absence of a global government. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the importance of global governance in a world in which states are facing the erosion of national sovereignty. The two concepts are being analyzed from various points of view, including current challenges and future scenarios. Despite the fact that states, especially major powers, are not prepared to accept some elements of global governance and the limits that they would put on their national sovereignty, recent developments seem to make global governance a key component of the international scene.

Background music and cognitive performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Angel, Leslie A; Polzella, Donald J; Elvers, Greg C

2010-06-01

The present experiment employed standardized test batteries to assess the effects of fast-tempo music on cognitive performance among 56 male and female university students. A linguistic processing task and a spatial processing task were selected from the Criterion Task Set developed to assess verbal and nonverbal performance. Ten excerpts from Mozart's music matched for tempo were selected. Background music increased the speed of spatial processing and the accuracy of linguistic processing. The findings suggest that background music can have predictable effects on cognitive performance.

The NPT regime, present and future global security: an American view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, Sam.

1987-01-01

Although not perfect, an international non-proliferation regime as set out by the IAEA and Non-Proliferation Treaty is in existence. The history of the involvement of the United States in the development of this regime is mentioned as a background to explaining the current approach of the Reagan Administration to non-proliferation. Trends and challenges which may affect future global security are then identified and discussed. The author is optimistic about the future. (U.K.)

Limits of Astrophysics with Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Callister

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The recent Advanced LIGO detection of gravitational waves from the binary black hole GW150914 suggests there exists a large population of merging binary black holes in the Universe. Although most are too distant to be individually resolved by advanced detectors, the superposition of gravitational waves from many unresolvable binaries is expected to create an astrophysical stochastic background. Recent results from the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations show that this astrophysical background is within reach of Advanced LIGO. In principle, the binary black hole background encodes interesting astrophysical properties, such as the mass distribution and redshift distribution of distant binaries. However, we show that this information will be difficult to extract with the current configuration of advanced detectors (and using current data analysis tools. Additionally, the binary black hole background also constitutes a foreground that limits the ability of advanced detectors to observe other interesting stochastic background signals, for example, from cosmic strings or phase transitions in the early Universe. We quantify this effect.

Global health research needs global networking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ignaciuk, A.; Leemans, R.

2012-01-01

To meet the challenges arising from global environmental change on human health, co-developing common approaches and new alliances of science and society are necessary. The first steps towards defining cross-cutting, health-environment issues were developed by the Global Environmental Change and

Global usability

CERN Document Server

Douglas, Ian

2011-01-01

The concept of usability has become an increasingly important consideration in the design of all kinds of technology. As more products are aimed at global markets and developed through internationally distributed teams, usability design needs to be addressed in global terms. Interest in usability as a design issue and specialist area of research and education has developed steadily in North America and Europe since the 1980's. However, it is only over the last ten years that it has emerged as a global concern. Global Usability provides an introduction to the important issues in globalizing des

Perspectives on global climate change: A review of the adaptation and mitigation approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morrisette, P.M.

1992-01-01

This paper was prepared for the conference on Global Climate Change and International Security sponsored by the Midwest Consortium for International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and held in Chicago, Illinois on February 11-13, 1992. The purpose of the paper is to provide some background on the different perceptions and perspectives that are presently shaping the policy debate on how to respond to the problem of global warming. For better or worse, this debate has focused primarily on whether to adapt to climate change in the future or to mitigate climate change in the present, and as the issue has become increasingly political this debate has become polarized. The two approaches, as this paper notes, are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they share much in common. Differences, however, can be found in how proponents of each view the risks of global climate change. This paper provides a brief outline of the progression of global warming from an obscure scientific concern into a leading international political issue, reviews previous efforts by social scientists to assess attitudes and positions on global warming, and examines in detail the adaptation and mitigation perspectives and assesses how they differ on the basis of different conceptions of uncertainty and risk, equity, and technology

WMAP constraints on inflationary models with global defects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bevis, Neil; Hindmarsh, Mark; Kunz, Martin

2004-01-01

We use the cosmic microwave background angular power spectra to place upper limits on the degree to which global defects may have aided cosmic structure formation. We explore this under the inflationary paradigm, but with the addition of textures resulting from the breaking of a global O(4) symmetry during the early stages of the Universe. As a measure of their contribution, we use the fraction of the temperature power spectrum that is attributed to the defects at a multipole of 10. However, we find a parameter degeneracy enabling a fit to the first-year WMAP data to be made even with a significant defect fraction. This degeneracy involves the baryon fraction and the Hubble constant, plus the normalization and tilt of the primordial power spectrum. Hence, constraints on these cosmological parameters are weakened. Combining the WMAP data with a constraint on the physical baryon fraction from big bang nucleosynthesis calculations and high-redshift deuterium abundance limits the extent of the degeneracy and gives an upper bound on the defect fraction of 0.13 (95% confidence)

Physiologic correlates to background noise acceptance

Science.gov (United States)

Tampas, Joanna; Harkrider, Ashley; Nabelek, Anna

2004-05-01

Acceptance of background noise can be evaluated by having listeners indicate the highest background noise level (BNL) they are willing to accept while following the words of a story presented at their most comfortable listening level (MCL). The difference between the selected MCL and BNL is termed the acceptable noise level (ANL). One of the consistent findings in previous studies of ANL is large intersubject variability in acceptance of background noise. This variability is not related to age, gender, hearing sensitivity, personality, type of background noise, or speech perception in noise performance. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine if individual differences in physiological activity measured from the peripheral and central auditory systems of young female adults with normal hearing can account for the variability observed in ANL. Correlations between ANL and various physiological responses, including spontaneous, click-evoked, and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions, auditory brainstem and middle latency evoked potentials, and electroencephalography will be presented. Results may increase understanding of the regions of the auditory system that contribute to individual noise acceptance.

Background metric in supergravity theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoneya, T.

1978-01-01

In supergravity theories, we investigate the conformal anomaly of the path-integral determinant and the problem of fermion zero modes in the presence of a nontrivial background metric. Except in SO(3) -invariant supergravity, there are nonvanishing conformal anomalies. As a consequence, amplitudes around the nontrivial background metric contain unpredictable arbitrariness. The fermion zero modes which are explicitly constructed for the Euclidean Schwarzschild metric are interpreted as an indication of the supersymmetric multiplet structure of a black hole. The degree of degeneracy of a black hole is 2/sup 4n/ in SO(n) supergravity

Update on the Global Burden of Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke in 1990-2013: The GBD 2013 Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Feigin, V.L.; Krishnamurthi, R.V.; Parmar, P.; Norrving, B.; Mensah, G.A.; Bennett, D.; Barker-Collo, S.; Moran, A.E.; Sacco, R.L.; Truelsen, T.; Davis, S.C.; Pandian, J.D.; Naghavi, M.R.; Forouzanfar, M.H.; Nguyen, G.; Johnson, C.; Vos, T.; Meretoja, A.; Murray, C.J.; Roth, G.A.; Geleijnse, J.M.

2015-01-01

Background: Global stroke epidemiology is changing rapidly. Although age-standardized rates of stroke mortality have decreased worldwide in the past 2 decades, the absolute numbers of people who have a stroke every year, and live with the consequences of stroke or die from their stroke, are

Cosmic microwave background radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, R.W.

1979-01-01

The 20-ft horn-reflector antenna at Bell Laboratories is discussed in detail with emphasis on the 7.35 cm radiometer. The circumstances leading to the detection of the cosmic microwave background radiation are explored

Global solidarity, migration and global health inequity.

Science.gov (United States)

Eckenwiler, Lisa; Straehle, Christine; Chung, Ryoa

2012-09-01

The grounds for global solidarity have been theorized and conceptualized in recent years, and many have argued that we need a global concept of solidarity. But the question remains: what can motivate efforts of the international community and nation-states? Our focus is the grounding of solidarity with respect to global inequities in health. We explore what considerations could motivate acts of global solidarity in the specific context of health migration, and sketch briefly what form this kind of solidarity could take. First, we argue that the only plausible conceptualization of persons highlights their interdependence. We draw upon a conception of persons as 'ecological subjects' and from there illustrate what such a conception implies with the example of nurses migrating from low and middle-income countries to more affluent ones. Next, we address potential critics who might counter any such understanding of current international politics with a reference to real-politik and the insights of realist international political theory. We argue that national governments--while not always or even often motivated by moral reasons alone--may nevertheless be motivated to acts of global solidarity by prudential arguments. Solidarity then need not be, as many argue, a function of charitable inclination, or emergent from an acknowledgment of injustice suffered, but may in fact serve national and transnational interests. We conclude on a positive note: global solidarity may be conceptualized to helpfully address global health inequity, to the extent that personal and transnational interdependence are enough to motivate national governments into action. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, James; Battle, J.; Cooray, A.; Hristov, V.; Kawada, M.; Keating, B.; Lee, D.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuura, S.; Nam, U.; Renbarger, T.; Sullivan, I.; Tsumura, K.; Wada, T.; Zemcov, M.

2009-01-01

We are developing the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER) to search for signatures of first-light galaxy emission in the extragalactic background. The first generation of stars produce characteristic signatures in the near-infrared extragalactic background, including a redshifted Ly-cutoff feature and a characteristic fluctuation power spectrum, that may be detectable with a specialized instrument. CIBER consists of two wide-field cameras to measure the fluctuation power spectrum, and a low-resolution and a narrow-band spectrometer to measure the absolute background. The cameras will search for fluctuations on angular scales from 7 arcseconds to 2 degrees, where the first-light galaxy spatial power spectrum peaks. The cameras have the necessary combination of sensitivity, wide field of view, spatial resolution, and multiple bands to make a definitive measurement. CIBER will determine if the fluctuations reported by Spitzer arise from first-light galaxies. The cameras observe in a single wide field of view, eliminating systematic errors associated with mosaicing. Two bands are chosen to maximize the first-light signal contrast, at 1.6 um near the expected spectral maximum, and at 1.0 um; the combination is a powerful discriminant against fluctuations arising from local sources. We will observe regions of the sky surveyed by Spitzer and Akari. The low-resolution spectrometer will search for the redshifted Lyman cutoff feature in the 0.7 - 1.8 um spectral region. The narrow-band spectrometer will measure the absolute Zodiacal brightness using the scattered 854.2 nm Ca II Fraunhofer line. The spectrometers will test if reports of a diffuse extragalactic background in the 1 - 2 um band continues into the optical, or is caused by an under estimation of the Zodiacal foreground. We report performance of the assembled and tested instrument as we prepare for a first sounding rocket flight in early 2009. CIBER is funded by the NASA/APRA sub-orbital program.

Developing global climate anomalies suggest potential disease risks for 2006 – 2007

OpenAIRE

Tucker Compton J; Small Jennifer; Chretien Jean-Paul; Anyamba Assaf; Linthicum Kenneth J

2006-01-01

Abstract Background El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) related climate anomalies have been shown to have an impact on infectious disease outbreaks. The Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA/CPC) has recently issued an unscheduled El Niño advisory, indicating that warmer than normal sea surface temperatures across the equatorial eastern Pacific may have pronounced impacts on global tropical precipitation patterns extending into the northern hem...

Local Reasons to Give Globally: Identity Extension and Global Cooperation.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchan, Nancy R; Jeong, Sophia Soyoung; Ward, A K

2017-11-14

Recent political events across the world suggest a retrenchment from globalization and a possible increase in parochialism. This inward-looking threat from parochialism occurs just as the global community faces growing challenges that require trans-national cooperation. In this research, we question if strong identification with an in-group necessarily leads to parochialism and ultimately is detrimental to global cooperation. Building on research on global social identification, we explore whether strong local identification can expand in inclusiveness to global identification, and among whom this is likely to happen. The results of our global public goods study - conducted in South Korea and the United States - show that high levels of social identification with a local group can extend to the global collective, particularly for individuals who are also high in concern-for-others. Furthermore, this identification translates into behavior that benefits the global, anonymous group at a cost to oneself. These results shed light on how to avoid the trap of parochialism and instead engender cooperative behavior with the broader global community.

The Background-Field Method and Noninvariant Renormalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avdeev, L.V.; Kazakov, D.I.; Kalmykov, M.Yu.

1994-01-01

We investigate the consistency of the background-field formalism when applying various regularizations and renormalization schemes. By an example of a two-dimensional σ model it is demonstrated that the background-field method gives incorrect results when the regularization (and/or renormalization) is noninvariant. In particular, it is found that the cut-off regularization and the differential renormalization belong to this class and are incompatible with the background-field method in theories with nonlinear symmetries. 17 refs

The isotropic radio background revisited

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fornengo, Nicolao; Regis, Marco [Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica, Università di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, I–10125 Torino (Italy); Lineros, Roberto A. [Instituto de Física Corpuscular – CSIC/U. Valencia, Parc Científic, calle Catedrático José Beltrán, 2, E-46980 Paterna (Spain); Taoso, Marco, E-mail: fornengo@to.infn.it, E-mail: rlineros@ific.uv.es, E-mail: regis@to.infn.it, E-mail: taoso@cea.fr [Institut de Physique Théorique, CEA/Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cédex (France)

2014-04-01

We present an extensive analysis on the determination of the isotropic radio background. We consider six different radio maps, ranging from 22 MHz to 2.3 GHz and covering a large fraction of the sky. The large scale emission is modeled as a linear combination of an isotropic component plus the Galactic synchrotron radiation and thermal bremsstrahlung. Point-like and extended sources are either masked or accounted for by means of a template. We find a robust estimate of the isotropic radio background, with limited scatter among different Galactic models. The level of the isotropic background lies significantly above the contribution obtained by integrating the number counts of observed extragalactic sources. Since the isotropic component dominates at high latitudes, thus making the profile of the total emission flat, a Galactic origin for such excess appears unlikely. We conclude that, unless a systematic offset is present in the maps, and provided that our current understanding of the Galactic synchrotron emission is reasonable, extragalactic sources well below the current experimental threshold seem to account for the majority of the brightness of the extragalactic radio sky.

The isotropic radio background revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fornengo, Nicolao; Regis, Marco; Lineros, Roberto A.; Taoso, Marco

2014-01-01

We present an extensive analysis on the determination of the isotropic radio background. We consider six different radio maps, ranging from 22 MHz to 2.3 GHz and covering a large fraction of the sky. The large scale emission is modeled as a linear combination of an isotropic component plus the Galactic synchrotron radiation and thermal bremsstrahlung. Point-like and extended sources are either masked or accounted for by means of a template. We find a robust estimate of the isotropic radio background, with limited scatter among different Galactic models. The level of the isotropic background lies significantly above the contribution obtained by integrating the number counts of observed extragalactic sources. Since the isotropic component dominates at high latitudes, thus making the profile of the total emission flat, a Galactic origin for such excess appears unlikely. We conclude that, unless a systematic offset is present in the maps, and provided that our current understanding of the Galactic synchrotron emission is reasonable, extragalactic sources well below the current experimental threshold seem to account for the majority of the brightness of the extragalactic radio sky

Moduli stabilisation for chiral global models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cicoli, Michele; Mayrhofer, Christoph; Valandro, Roberto

2011-10-01

We combine moduli stabilisation and (chiral) model building in a fully consistent global set-up in Type IIB/F-theory. We consider compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds which admit an explicit description in terms of toric geometry. We build globally consistent compactifications with tadpole and Freed-Witten anomaly cancellation by choosing appropriate brane set-ups and world-volume fluxes which also give rise to SU(5)- or MSSM-like chiral models. We fix all the Kaehler moduli within the Kaehler cone and the regime of validity of the 4D effective field theory. This is achieved in a way compatible with the local presence of chirality. The hidden sector generating the non-perturbative effects is placed on a del Pezzo divisor that does not have any chiral intersections with any other brane. In general, the vanishing D-term condition implies the shrinking of the rigid divisor supporting the visible sector. However, we avoid this problem by generating r< n D-term conditions on a set of n intersecting divisors. The remaining (n-r) flat directions are fixed by perturbative corrections to the Kaehler potential. We illustrate our general claims in an explicit example. We consider a K3-fibred Calabi-Yau with four Kaehler moduli, that is an hypersurface in a toric ambient space and admits a simple F-theory up-lift. We present explicit choices of brane set-ups and fluxes which lead to three different phenomenological scenarios: the first with GUT-scale strings and TeV-scale SUSY by fine-tuning the background fluxes; the second with an exponentially large value of the volume and TeV-scale SUSY without fine-tuning the background fluxes; and the third with a very anisotropic configuration that leads to TeV-scale strings and two micron-sized extra dimensions. The K3 fibration structure of the Calabi-Yau three-fold is also particularly suitable for cosmological purposes. (orig.)

Moduli stabilisation for chiral global models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cicoli, Michele [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy); Mayrhofer, Christoph [Heidelberg Univ. (Germany). Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Valandro, Roberto [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik

2011-10-15

We combine moduli stabilisation and (chiral) model building in a fully consistent global set-up in Type IIB/F-theory. We consider compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds which admit an explicit description in terms of toric geometry. We build globally consistent compactifications with tadpole and Freed-Witten anomaly cancellation by choosing appropriate brane set-ups and world-volume fluxes which also give rise to SU(5)- or MSSM-like chiral models. We fix all the Kaehler moduli within the Kaehler cone and the regime of validity of the 4D effective field theory. This is achieved in a way compatible with the local presence of chirality. The hidden sector generating the non-perturbative effects is placed on a del Pezzo divisor that does not have any chiral intersections with any other brane. In general, the vanishing D-term condition implies the shrinking of the rigid divisor supporting the visible sector. However, we avoid this problem by generating rbackground fluxes; the second with an exponentially large value of the volume and TeV-scale SUSY without fine-tuning the background fluxes; and the third with a very anisotropic configuration that leads to TeV-scale strings and two micron-sized extra dimensions. The K3 fibration structure of the Calabi-Yau three-fold is also particularly suitable for cosmological purposes. (orig.)

Ablation plume dynamics in a background gas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amoruso, Salvatore; Schou, Jørgen; Lunney, James G.

2010-01-01

The expansion of a plume in a background gas of pressure comparable to that used in pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been analyzed in terms of the model of Predtechensky and Mayorov (PM). This approach gives a relatively clear and simple description of the essential hydrodynamics during the expa......The expansion of a plume in a background gas of pressure comparable to that used in pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been analyzed in terms of the model of Predtechensky and Mayorov (PM). This approach gives a relatively clear and simple description of the essential hydrodynamics during...... the expansion. The model also leads to an insightful treatment of the stopping behavior in dimensionless units for plumes and background gases of different atomic/molecular masses. The energetics of the plume dynamics can also be treated with this model. Experimental time-of-flight data of silver ions in a neon...... background gas show a fair agreement with predictions from the PM-model. Finally we discuss the validity of the model, if the work done by the pressure of the background gas is neglected....

Background {sup 99m}Tc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile uptake of breast-specific gamma imaging in relation to background parenchymal enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoon, Hai-Jeon; Kim, Bom Sahn [Ewha Womans University, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Yangchun-Ku, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Yemi [Ewha Womans University, Clinical Research Institute and Department of Conservative Dentistry, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jee Eun [Ewha Womans University, Department of Radiology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2015-01-15

This study investigated factors that could affect background uptake of {sup 99m}Tc- methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) on normal breast by breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI). In addition, the impact of background {sup 99m}Tc-MIBI uptake on the diagnostic performance of BSGI was further investigated. One hundred forty-five women with unilateral breast cancer who underwent BSGI, MRI, and mammography were retrospectively enrolled. Background uptake on BSGI was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. Patients were classified into non-dense and dense breast groups according to mammographic breast density. Background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) was rated according to BI-RADS classification. The relationship of age, menopausal status, mammographic breast density, and BPE with background {sup 99m}Tc-MIBI uptake was analyzed. Heterogeneous texture and high background uptake ratio on BSGI were significantly correlated with younger age (p < 0.001, respectively), premenopausal status (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003), dense breast (p < 0.001, respectively), and marked BPE (p < 0.001, respectively). On multivariate analysis, only BPE remained a significant factor for background MIBI uptake (p < 0.001).There was a significant reduction in positive predictive value (p = 0.024 and p = 0.002) as background MIBI uptake and BPE grade increased. BPE on MRI was the most important factor for background MIBI uptake on BSGI. High background MIBI uptake or marked BPE can diminish the diagnostic performance of BSGI. (orig.)

Global warming without global mean precipitation increase?

Science.gov (United States)

Salzmann, Marc

2016-06-01

Global climate models simulate a robust increase of global mean precipitation of about 1.5 to 2% per kelvin surface warming in response to greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing. Here, it is shown that the sensitivity to aerosol cooling is robust as well, albeit roughly twice as large. This larger sensitivity is consistent with energy budget arguments. At the same time, it is still considerably lower than the 6.5 to 7% K(-1) decrease of the water vapor concentration with cooling from anthropogenic aerosol because the water vapor radiative feedback lowers the hydrological sensitivity to anthropogenic forcings. When GHG and aerosol forcings are combined, the climate models with a realistic 20th century warming indicate that the global mean precipitation increase due to GHG warming has, until recently, been completely masked by aerosol drying. This explains the apparent lack of sensitivity of the global mean precipitation to the net global warming recently found in observations. As the importance of GHG warming increases in the future, a clear signal will emerge.

The globalization of epidemiology: introductory remarks.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Neil

2004-10-01

We are all living in the era of globalization, and like it or not, it is going to change the way we practice epidemiology, the kinds of questions we ask, and the methods we use to answer them. Increasingly, pubic health problems are being shifted from rich countries to poor countries and from rich to poor populations within Western countries. There is increasing interest and concern about the situation in non-Western populations on the part of Western epidemiologists, with regards to collaborative research, skills transfer, and 'volunteerism' to enable the 'benefits' of Western approaches to epidemiology to be shared by the non-Western world. However, most existing collaborations benefit Western epidemiologists rather than the countries in which the research is conducted. Even when research in non-Western populations is conducted as a genuine collaboration, it can too often 'export failure' from the West. On the other hand, non-Western epidemiologists are increasingly developing new and innovative approaches to health research that are more appropriate to the global public health issues they are addressing. These include recognition of the importance of context and the importance of diversity and local knowledge, and a problem-based approach to addressing the major public health problems using appropriate technology. These debates formed the background for a plenary session on 'International Epidemiology and International Health' at the recent International Epidemiological Association (IEA) meeting in Montreal, and the papers from this session are presented here. The development of a truly global epidemiology can not only better address the public health problems in non-Western populations, but can shed light on the current limitations of epidemiology in addressing the major public health problems in the West.

Isotherms clustering in cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bershadskii, A.

2006-01-01

Isotherms clustering in cosmic microwave background (CMB) has been studied using the 3-year WMAP data on cosmic microwave background radiation. It is shown that the isotherms clustering could be produced by the baryon-photon fluid turbulence in the last scattering surface. The Taylor-microscale Reynolds number of the turbulence is estimated directly from the CMB data as Re λ ∼10 2

Background television in the homes of US children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lapierre, Matthew A; Piotrowski, Jessica Taylor; Linebarger, Deborah L

2012-11-01

US parents were surveyed to determine the amount of background television that their children are exposed to as well as to isolate demographic factors associated with increased exposure to background television. After this, we ask how certain home media practices are linked to children's background television exposure. US parents/caregivers (N = 1454) with 1 child between the ages of 8 months and 8 years participated in this study. A nationally representative telephone survey was conducted. Parents were asked to report on their child's exposure to background television via a 24-hour time diary. Parents were also asked to report relevant home media behaviors related to their child: bedroom television ownership, number of televisions in the home, and how often a television was on in the home. The average US child was exposed to 232.2 minutes of background television on a typical day. With the use of multiple regression analysis, we found that younger children and African American children were exposed to more background television. Leaving the television on while no one is viewing and children's bedroom television ownership were associated with increased background television exposure. Although recent research has shown the negative consequences associated with background television, this study provides the first nationally representative estimates of that exposure. The amount of exposure for the average child is startling. This study offers practitioners potential pathways to reduce exposure.

Auditory intensity processing: Effect of MRI background noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Angenstein, Nicole; Stadler, Jörg; Brechmann, André

2016-03-01

Studies on active auditory intensity discrimination in humans showed equivocal results regarding the lateralization of processing. Whereas experiments with a moderate background found evidence for right lateralized processing of intensity, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with background scanner noise suggest more left lateralized processing. With the present fMRI study, we compared the task dependent lateralization of intensity processing between a conventional continuous echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence with a loud background scanner noise and a fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence with a soft background scanner noise. To determine the lateralization of the processing, we employed the contralateral noise procedure. Linearly frequency modulated (FM) tones were presented monaurally with and without contralateral noise. During both the EPI and the FLASH measurement, the left auditory cortex was more strongly involved than the right auditory cortex while participants categorized the intensity of FM tones. This was shown by a strong effect of the additional contralateral noise on the activity in the left auditory cortex. This means a massive reduction in background scanner noise still leads to a significant left lateralized effect. This suggests that the reversed lateralization in fMRI studies with loud background noise in contrast to studies with softer background cannot be fully explained by the MRI background noise. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A case study of global health at the university: implications for research and action

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew D. Pinto

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Global health is increasingly a major focus of institutions in high-income countries. However, little work has been done to date to study the inner workings of global health at the university level. Academics may have competing objectives, with few mechanisms to coordinate efforts and pool resources. Objective: To conduct a case study of global health at Canada's largest health sciences university and to examine how its internal organization influences research and action. Design: We drew on existing inventories, annual reports, and websites to create an institutional map, identifying centers and departments using the terms ‘global health’ or ‘international health’ to describe their activities. We compiled a list of academics who self-identified as working in global or international health. We purposively sampled persons in leadership positions as key informants. One investigator carried out confidential, semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants. Interview notes were returned to participants for verification and then analyzed thematically by pairs of coders. Synthesis was conducted jointly. Results: More than 100 academics were identified as working in global health, situated in numerous institutions, centers, and departments. Global health academics interviewed shared a common sense of what global health means and the values that underpin such work. Most academics interviewed expressed frustration at the existing fragmentation and the lack of strategic direction, financial support, and recognition from the university. This hampered collaborative work and projects to tackle global health problems. Conclusions: The University of Toronto is not exceptional in facing such challenges, and our findings align with existing literature that describes factors that inhibit collaboration in global health work at universities. Global health academics based at universities may work in institutional siloes and this limits both

Upper limit on a stochastic background of gravitational waves from seismic measurements in the range 0.05-1 Hz.

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlin, Michael; Harms, Jan

2014-03-14

In this Letter, we present an upper limit of ΩGW<1.2×108 on an isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave (GW) background integrated over a year in the frequency range 0.05-1 Hz, which improves current upper limits from high-precision laboratory experiments by about 9 orders of magnitude. The limit is obtained using the response of Earth itself to GWs via a free-surface effect described more than 40 years ago by Dyson. The response was measured by a global network of broadband seismometers selected to maximize the sensitivity.

Feeling global, acting ethically: global identification and fairtrade consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Reese, Gerhard; Kohlmann, Fabienne

2015-01-01

Global identification has become a popular construct in recent psychological debate as it relates to harmonious intergroup relations and a caring for all humanity. Based on social identity theorizing, the current research tests whether global identification can also predict consumer choices, at the expense of lower personal benefit. Importantly, we assumed that concerns about global injustice represent a crucial component of that relation. We predicted that participants who identified strongly with all humanity would rather choose a Fairtrade product alternative over a conventional one, compared with low identifiers. In addition, we assumed that this effect be mediated by perceived global injustice. Both predictions were confirmed in a consumer choice study (N = 68). Overall, global identification and globally relevant consumer behavior seem meaningfully interconnected, and we discuss these findings with regard to recent theoretical developments in Fairtrade consumption research.

Generative electronic background music system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mazurowski, Lukasz [Faculty of Computer Science, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Zolnierska Street 49, Szczecin, PL (Poland)

2015-03-10

In this short paper-extended abstract the new approach to generation of electronic background music has been presented. The Generative Electronic Background Music System (GEBMS) has been located between other related approaches within the musical algorithm positioning framework proposed by Woller et al. The music composition process is performed by a number of mini-models parameterized by further described properties. The mini-models generate fragments of musical patterns used in output composition. Musical pattern and output generation are controlled by container for the mini-models - a host-model. General mechanism has been presented including the example of the synthesized output compositions.

Children of ethnic minority backgrounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Stine Liv

2010-01-01

media products and toys just as they will have knowledge of different media texts, play genres, rhymes etc. This has consequences for their ability to access social settings, for instance in play. New research in this field will focus on how children themselves make sense of this balancing of cultures......Children of ethnic minority background balance their everyday life between a cultural background rooted in their ethnic origin and a daily life in day care, schools and with peers that is founded in a majority culture. This means, among other things, that they often will have access to different...

Generative electronic background music system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazurowski, Lukasz

2015-01-01

In this short paper-extended abstract the new approach to generation of electronic background music has been presented. The Generative Electronic Background Music System (GEBMS) has been located between other related approaches within the musical algorithm positioning framework proposed by Woller et al. The music composition process is performed by a number of mini-models parameterized by further described properties. The mini-models generate fragments of musical patterns used in output composition. Musical pattern and output generation are controlled by container for the mini-models - a host-model. General mechanism has been presented including the example of the synthesized output compositions

Overcoming High Energy Backgrounds at Pulsed Spallation Sources

CERN Document Server

Cherkashyna, Nataliia; DiJulio, Douglas D.; Khaplanov, Anton; Pfeiffer, Dorothea; Scherzinger, Julius; Cooper-Jensen, Carsten P.; Fissum, Kevin G.; Ansell, Stuart; Iverson, Erik B.; Ehlers, Georg; Gallmeier, Franz X.; Panzner, Tobias; Rantsiou, Emmanouela; Kanaki, Kalliopi; Filges, Uwe; Kittelmann, Thomas; Extegarai, Maddi; Santoro, Valentina; Kirstein, Oliver; Bentley, Phillip M.

2015-01-01

Instrument backgrounds at neutron scattering facilities directly affect the quality and the efficiency of the scientific measurements that users perform. Part of the background at pulsed spallation neutron sources is caused by, and time-correlated with, the emission of high energy particles when the proton beam strikes the spallation target. This prompt pulse ultimately produces a signal, which can be highly problematic for a subset of instruments and measurements due to the time-correlated properties, and different to that from reactor sources. Measurements of this background have been made at both SNS (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, USA) and SINQ (PSI, Villigen, Switzerland). The background levels were generally found to be low compared to natural background. However, very low intensities of high-energy particles have been found to be detrimental to instrument performance in some conditions. Given that instrument performance is typically characterised by S/N, improvements in backgrounds can both improve instrument pe...

Bremsstrahlung background and quantitation of thin biological samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, K.M.

1991-02-01

An inherent feature of all electron-excited X-ray spectra is the presence of a background upon which the characteristic peaks of interest are superimposed. To extract the x-ray intensity of the characteristics lines of interest, it is necessary to subtract this background, which may be due to both specimen generated Bremsstrahlung and extraneous sources, from a measured x-ray spectrum. Some conventional methods of background subtraction will be briefly reviewed. It has been seen that these conventional methods do not give sufficiently accurate results in biological analysis where the peaks of interest are not well-separated and most of the peaks lie in the region where the background is appreciably curved. An alternative approach of background subtraction for such samples is investigated which involves modelling the background using the currently available knowledge of x-ray physics and energy dispersive detectors. This method is particularly suitable for biological samples as well as other samples having an organic matrix. 6 figs. (author)

Globalization of Continuing Professional Development by Journal Clubs via Microblogging: A Systematic Review

OpenAIRE

Roberts, Matthew John; Perera, Marlon; Lawrentschuk, Nathan; Romanic, Diana; Papa, Nathan; Bolton, Damien

2015-01-01

Background Journal clubs are an essential tool in promoting clinical evidence-based medical education to all medical and allied health professionals. Twitter represents a public, microblogging forum that can facilitate traditional journal club requirements, while also reaching a global audience, and participation for discussion with study authors and colleagues. Objective The aim of the current study was to evaluate the current state of social media?facilitated journal clubs, specifically Twi...

Global prevalence and genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus infection in 2015

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: The 69th World Health Assembly approved the Global Health Sector Strategy to eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by 2030, which can become a reality with the recent launch of direct acting antiviral therapies. Reliable disease burden estimates are required for national...... previous estimates, largely due to more recent (lower) prevalence estimates in Africa. Additionally, increased mortality due to liver-related causes and an ageing population may have contributed to a reduction in infections. FUNDING: John C Martin Foundation....... strategies. This analysis estimates the global prevalence of viraemic HCV at the end of 2015, an update of-and expansion on-the 2014 analysis, which reported 80 million (95% CI 64-103) viraemic infections in 2013. METHODS: We developed country-level disease burden models following a systematic review of HCV...

The formation of massive primordial stars in the presence of moderate UV backgrounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Latif, M. A.; Schleicher, D. R. G.; Bovino, S. [Institut für Astrophysik, Georg-August-Universität, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany); Grassi, T. [Centre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen (Denmark); Spaans, M., E-mail: mlatif@astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de [Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, 9700-AV Groningen (Netherlands)

2014-09-01

Radiative feedback produced by stellar populations played a vital role in early structure formation. In particular, photons below the Lyman limit can escape the star-forming regions and produce a background ultraviolet (UV) flux, which consequently may influence the pristine halos far away from the radiation sources. These photons can quench the formation of molecular hydrogen by photodetachment of H{sup –}. In this study, we explore the impact of such UV radiation on fragmentation in massive primordial halos of a few times 10{sup 7} M {sub ☉}. To accomplish this goal, we perform high resolution cosmological simulations for two distinct halos and vary the strength of the impinging background UV field in units of J {sub 21} assuming a blackbody radiation spectrum with a characteristic temperature of T {sub rad} = 10{sup 4} K. We further make use of sink particles to follow the evolution for 10,000 yr after reaching the maximum refinement level. No vigorous fragmentation is observed in UV-illuminated halos while the accretion rate changes according to the thermal properties. Our findings show that a few 10{sup 2}-10{sup 4} solar mass protostars are formed when halos are irradiated by J {sub 21} = 10-500 at z > 10 and suggest a strong relation between the strength of the UV flux and mass of a protostar. This mode of star formation is quite different from minihalos, as higher accretion rates of about 0.01-0.1 M {sub ☉} yr{sup –1} are observed by the end of our simulations. The resulting massive stars are potential cradles for the formation of intermediate-mass black holes at earlier cosmic times and contribute to the formation of a global X-ray background.

IIB backgrounds with five-form flux

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gran, U.; Gutowski, J.; Papadopoulos, G.

2008-01-01

We investigate all N=2 supersymmetric IIB supergravity backgrounds with non-vanishing five-form flux. The Killing spinors have stability subgroups Spin(7) x R 8 , SU(4) x R 8 and G 2 . In the SU(4) x R 8 case, two different types of geometry arise depending on whether the Killing spinors are generic or pure. In both cases, the backgrounds admit a null Killing vector field which leaves invariant the SU(4) x R 8 structure, and an almost complex structure in the directions transverse to the lightcone. In the generic case, the twist of the vector field is trivial but the almost complex structure is non-integrable, while in the pure case the twist is non-trivial but the almost complex structure is integrable and associated with a relatively balanced Hermitian structure. The G 2 backgrounds admit a time-like Killing vector field and two spacelike closed one-forms, and the seven directions transverse to these admit a co-symplectic G 2 structure. The Spin(7) x R 8 backgrounds are pp-waves propagating in an eight-dimensional manifold with holonomy Spin(7). In addition we show that all the supersymmetric solutions of simple five-dimensional supergravity with a time-like Killing vector field, which include the AdS 5 black holes, lift to SU(4) x R 8 pure Killing spinor IIB backgrounds. We also show that the LLM solution is associated with a co-symplectic co-homogeneity one G 2 manifold which has principal orbit S 3 xS 3

Background reduction in the SNO+ experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Segui, L. [University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, OX1 Oxford (United Kingdom)

2015-08-17

SNO+ is a large multi-purpose liquid scintillator experiment, which first aim is to detect the neutrinoless double beta decay of {sup 130}Te. It is placed at SNOLAB, at 6000 m.w.e. and it is based on the SNO infrastructure. SNO+ will contain approximately 780 tonnes of liquid scintillator, loaded with {sup 130}Te inside an acrylic vessel (AV) with an external volume of ultra pure water to reduce the external backgrounds. Light produced in the scintillator by the interaction of particles will be detected with about 9,000 photomultiplier’s. For the neutrinoless double beta decay phase, due to its the extremely low rate expected, the control, knowledge and reduction of the background is essential. Moreover, it will also benefit other phases of the experiment focused on the study of solar neutrinos, nucleon decay, geoneutrinos and supernovae. In order to reduce the internal background level, a novel purification technique for tellurium loaded scintillators has been developed by the collaboration that reduces the U/Th concentration and several cosmic-activated isotopes by at least a factor 10{sup 2} -10{sup 3} in a single pass. In addition, different rejection techniques have been developed for the remaining internal backgrounds based on Monte-Carlo simulations. In this work, the scintillator purification technique and the levels obtained with it will be discussed. Furthermore, an overview of the different backgrounds for the double-beta phase will be presented, highlighting some of the techniques developed to reject the remained decays based on their expected timing differences.

Under the (legal radar screen: global health initiatives and international human rights obligations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hammonds Rachel

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Given that many low income countries are heavily reliant on external assistance to fund their health sectors the acceptance of obligations of international assistance and cooperation with regard to the right to health (global health obligations is insufficiently understood and studied by international health and human rights scholars. Over the past decade Global Health Initiatives, like the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund have adopted novel approaches to engaging with stakeholders in high and low income countries. This article explores how this experience impacted on acceptance of the international obligation to (help fulfil the right to health beyond borders. Methods The authors conducted an extensive review of international human rights law literature, transnational legal process literature, global public health literature and grey literature pertaining to Global Health Initiatives. To complement this desk work and deepen their understanding of how and why different legal norms evolve the authors conducted 19 in-depth key informant interviews with actors engaged with three stakeholders; the European Union, the United States and Belgium. The authors then analysed the interviews through a transnational legal process lens. Results Through according value to the process of examining how and why different legal norms evolve transnational legal process offers us a tool for engaging with the dynamism of developments in global health suggesting that operationalising global health obligations could advance the right to health for all. Conclusions In many low-income countries the health sector is heavily dependent on external assistance to fulfil the right to health of people thus it is vital that policies and tools for delivering reliable, long-term assistance are developed so that the right to health for all becomes more than a dream. Our research suggests that the Global Fund experience offers

Under the (legal) radar screen: global health initiatives and international human rights obligations