scholarly journals Keeping Communications Flowing During Large-scale Disasters: Leveraging Amateur Radio Innovations for Disaster Medicine

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor H. Cid ◽  
Andrew R. Mitz ◽  
Stacey J. Arnesen
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Disaster Medicine ◽  
End User ◽  
Communications Networks ◽  
Telecommunications Infrastructure ◽  
Amateur Radio ◽  
Major Disaster ◽  
Medical Facilities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Landline Telephone

AbstractMedical facilities may struggle to maintain effective communications during a major disaster. Natural and man-made disasters threaten connectivity by degrading or crippling Internet, cellular/mobile, and landline telephone services across wide areas. Communications among staff, between facilities, and to resources outside the disaster area may be lost for an extended time. A prototype communications system created by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) provides basic communication services that ensure essential connectivity in the face of widespread infrastructure loss. It leverages amateur radio to provide resilient email service to local users, enabling them to reach intact communications networks outside the disaster zone. Because amateur radio is inexpensive, always available, and sufficiently independent of terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure, it has often augmented telecommunications capabilities of medical facilities. NLM’s solution is unique in that it provides end-user to end-user direct email communications, without requiring the intervention of a radio operator in the handling of the messages. Medical staff can exchange email among themselves and with others outside the communications blackout zone. The technology is portable, is deployable on short notice, and can be powered in a variety of ways to adapt to the circumstances of each crisis. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:257–264)

scholarly journals How community medical facilities can promote resilient community constructions under the background of pandemics

2022 ◽  
pp. 1420326X2110485
Author(s):  
Fang Wang ◽  
Yuanyang Fang ◽  
Handuo Deng ◽  
Fangzhen Wei
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Community Resilience ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Medical Facilities ◽  
The Face

Nowadays, urban and community resilience have become the core issues of urban theoretical research and construction practices. While there are many studies on climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution, relatively less attention has been paid to public and human health. However, the current COVID-19 pandemic, which is a major global public health crisis, is posing severe challenges to the resilience of cities and communities in the context of high-mobility, high-density and high-intensity, as well as expands the connotation of community resilience to public health. To compensate for the lack of current research, this study examined the characteristics of community medical facilities in response to pandemics at urban, community and individual multi-spatial scales based on a thorough review of current research and relevant practice. It also emphasized the significant role played by community medical facilities in improving resilient community constructions in the face of large-scale public health emergencies. These characteristics were fully utilized to explore ways to build and govern the ‘resilience' of communities in the future, help people to survive better as well as develop in complex and changeable external environments.

Ban Ki-moon, 2007–2016

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gowan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cautious Approach ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Council Decision ◽  
The Face

During Ban Ki-moon’s tenure, the Security Council was shaken by P5 divisions over Kosovo, Georgia, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine. Yet it also continued to mandate and sustain large-scale peacekeeping operations in Africa, placing major burdens on the UN Secretariat. The chapter will argue that Ban initially took a cautious approach to controversies with the Council, and earned a reputation for excessive passivity in the face of crisis and deference to the United States. The second half of the chapter suggests that Ban shifted to a more activist pressure as his tenure went on, pressing the Council to act in cases including Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, and Syria. The chapter will argue that Ban had only a marginal impact on Council decision-making, even though he made a creditable effort to speak truth to power over cases such as the Central African Republic (CAR), challenging Council members to live up to their responsibilities.

scholarly journals Reframing refugee crisis: A “European crisis of migration” or a “crisis of protection”?

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442198970
Author(s):  
Maissaa Almustafa
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Global South ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Developing Regions ◽  
International Protection ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The Face ◽  
Global North ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Resettlement Programs

The end of 2015 witnessed a global record in the number of forcibly displaced people fleeing because of wars and persecution. The unprecedented total of 65.3 million displaced individuals, out of which 21.3 million were refugees, was the highest number that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded since its establishment in 1950. During the same year and in the face of this large-scale crisis, only 107,100 refugees were admitted for resettlement through official resettlement programs, whereas 3.2 million people applied for asylum globally. And in spite of the fact that the majority of the world refugees are hosted in ten developing regions, the dominant narrative in the global media was about the “unauthorized” arrival of more than one million asylum seekers in Europe by sea during 2015. This paper argues that the unexpected nature of refugees’ arrivals has proven that refugees were supposed to be contained in their camps in the Global South, deterred from reaching the territories of the Global North, represented here by Europe. Thus, the paper proposes that these arrivals are rather reflections of a crisis of protection that developed in the Global South where containment and deterrence strategies against refugees from the Global South exacerbate their inhumane displacement conditions in home regions. In the same context, the paper discusses how international protection structures have been reconstructed to serve the same goals of containment and deterrence, with the ultimate aim of putting people ‘back in place’ with minimal access to protection and rights.

Conservation of animal genetic resources: approaches and technologies for in situ and ex situ conservation

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Woolliams ◽  
O. Matika ◽  
J. Pattison
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Animal Genetic Resources ◽  
The Face ◽  
Livestock Products

SummaryLivestock production faces major challenges through the coincidence of major drivers of change, some with conflicting directions. These are:1. An unprecedented global change in demands for traditional livestock products such as meat, milk and eggs.2. Large changes in the demographic and regional distribution of these demands.3. The need to reduce poverty in rural communities by providing sustainable livelihoods.4. The possible emergence of new agricultural outputs such as bio-fuels making a significant impact upon traditional production systems.5. A growing awareness of the need to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production.6. The uncertainty in the scale and impact of climate change. This paper explores these challenges from a scientific perspective in the face of the large-scale and selective erosion of our animal genetic resources, and concludes thai there is a stronger and more urgent need than ever before to secure the livestock genetic resources available to humankind through a comprehensive global conservation programme.

Analyzing and optimizing the carbon utilization and lipid yield at different light intensities for Scenedesmus arcuatus

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
K. Vasumathi ◽  
Raja Vadivu G. Nadana ◽  
E.M. Nithiya ◽  
K. Sundar ◽  
M. Premalatha
Keyword(s):  
Light Intensity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Biomass Yield ◽  
Osmotic Shock ◽  
High Light Intensity ◽  
Carbon Utilization ◽  
Lipid Yield ◽  
The Face ◽  
Photosynthetic Microorganism ◽  
Pre Treatment

Microalgae, the photosynthetic microorganism growing abundantly in marine and aquatic ecosystems, are potential source for biological sequestration of CO2. The carbon uptake differs in the presence of other nutrients, light intensity etc. The biomass yield of Scenedesmus arcuatus var capitatus was studied based on the Face Centred Central Composite design (FCCD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for nitrate, phosphate and carbonate under different conditions (laboratory, room and sunlight conditions). Various pre-treatments (osmotic shock, autoclaving, microwave and ultrasonication) were employed to find the best method for maximum lipid yield. The biomass yield reached a maximum of 1 g/L under sunlight conditions of nitrate concentration 500 ppm and carbonate 2000 ppm. The laboratory conditions resulted in a biomass yield of 0.59 g/L at 500 ppm nitrate, 1000 ppm carbonate and 250 ppm phosphate. Under room conditions, the yield was very low (0.11 g/L). Osmotic shock resulted in higher lipid yield than the other pre-treatment methods. The ability of Scenedesmus arcuatus to uptake high carbon under sunlight conditions and to adapt to high light intensity and fluctuations in light intensity concludes that this species is suitable for large-scale open pond cultivation for CO2 sequestration and production of metabolites.

scholarly journals Personalized Avatars for Mobile Entertainment

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomislav Kosutic ◽  
Miran Mosmondor ◽  
Ivan Andrisek ◽  
Mario Weber ◽  
Maja Matijasevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Synthesis ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
End User ◽  
Face Animation ◽  
Mobile Networking ◽  
Famous Person ◽  
The Face ◽  
Networking Technologies ◽  
Mobile Market

With evolution in computer and mobile networking technologies comes the challenge of offering novel and complex multimedia applications and end-user services in heterogeneous environments for both developers and service providers. This paper describes one novel service, called LiveMail that explores the potential of existing face animation technologies for innovative and attractive services intended for the mobile market. This prototype service allows mobile subscribers to communicate using personalized 3D face models created from images taken by their phone cameras. The user can take a snapshot of someone's face – a friend, famous person, themselves, even a pet – using the mobile phone's camera. After a quick manipulation on the phone, a 3D model of that face is created and can be animated simply by typing in some text. Speech and appropriate animation of the face are created automatically by speech synthesis. Furthermore, these highly personalized animations can be sent to others as real 3D animated messages or as short videos in MMS. The clients were implemented on different platforms, and different network and face animation techniques, and connected into one complex system. This paper presents the architecture and experience gained in building such a system.

scholarly journals Large-scale unsupervised clustering of Orca vocalizations: a model for describing orca communication systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Poupard ◽  
Paul Best ◽  
Jan Schlüter ◽  
Helena Symonds ◽  
Paul Spong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Call Type ◽  
Recording Station ◽  
The Face ◽  
Multichannel Recordings ◽  
Type Classification ◽  
Anthropic Pressure

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) can produce 3 types of signals: clicks, whistles and vocalizations. This study focuses on Orca vocalizations from northern Vancouver Island (Hanson Island) where the NGO Orcalab developed a multi-hydrophone recording station to study Orcas. The acoustic station is composed of 5 hydrophones and extends over 50 km 2 of ocean. Since 2015 we are continuously streaming the hydrophone signals to our laboratory in Toulon, France, yielding nearly 50 TB of synchronous multichannel recordings. In previous work, we trained a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to detect Orca vocalizations, using transfer learning from a bird activity dataset. Here, for each detected vocalization, we estimate the pitch contour (fundamental frequency). Finally, we cluster vocalizations by features describing the pitch contour. While preliminary, our results demonstrate a possible route towards automatic Orca call type classification. Furthermore, they can be linked to the presence of particular Orca pods in the area according to the classification of their call types. A large-scale call type classification would allow new insights on phonotactics and ethoacoustics of endangered Orca populations in the face of increasing anthropic pressure.

scholarly journals Widespread variation in heat tolerance and symbiont load are associated with growth tradeoffs in the coral Acropora hyacinthus in Palau

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Cornwell ◽  
Katrina Armstrong ◽  
Nia S Walker ◽  
Marilla Lippert ◽  
Victor Nestor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Natural Resistance ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Coral Reef Resilience ◽  
The Face ◽  
Lower Growth Rate ◽  
Acropora Hyacinthus ◽  
The Cost

Climate change is dramatically changing ecosystem composition and productivity, leading scientists to consider the best approaches to map natural resistance and foster ecosystem resilience in the face of these changes. Here we present results from a large-scale experimental assessment of coral bleaching resistance, a critical trait for coral population persistence as oceans warm, in 221 colonies of the coral Acropora hyacinthus across 37 reefs in Palau. We find that bleaching resistant individuals inhabit most reefs but are found more often in warmer microhabitats. Our survey also found wide variation in symbiont concentration among colonies, and that colonies with lower symbiont load tended to be more bleaching resistant. By contrast, our data show that low symbiont load comes at the cost of lower growth rate, a tradeoff that may operate widely among corals across environments. Corals with high bleaching resistance have been suggested as a source for habitat restoration or selective breeding in order to increase coral reef resilience to climate change. Our maps show where these resilience corals can be found, but the existence of tradeoffs with heat resistance may suggest caution in unilateral use of this one trait in restoration.

scholarly journals Face Perception Deficits in Developmental Prosopagnosia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ella Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Face Memory ◽  
The Face ◽  
Component Processes ◽  
Severe Difficulty ◽  
Scale Experiment

<p>Face recognition is a fundamental cognitive function that is essential for social interaction – yet not everyone has it. Developmental prosopagnosia is a lifelong condition in which people have severe difficulty recognising faces but have normal intellect and no brain damage. Despite much research, the component processes of face recognition that are impaired in developmental prosopagnosia are not well understood. Two core processes are face perception, being the formation of visual representations of a currently seen face, and face memory, being the storage, maintenance, and retrieval of those representations. Most studies of developmental prosopagnosia focus on face memory deficits, but a few recent studies indicate that face perception deficits might also be important. Characterising face perception in developmental prosopagnosia is crucial for a better understanding of the condition. In this thesis, I addressed this issue in a large-scale experiment with 108 developmental prosopagnosics and 136 matched controls. I assessed face perception abilities with multiple measures and ran a broad range of analyses to establish the severity, scope, and nature of face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia. Three major results stand out. First, face perception deficits in developmental prosopagnosia were severe, and could be comparable in size to face memory deficits. Second, the face perception deficits were widespread, affecting the whole sample rather than a subset of individuals. Third, the deficits were mainly driven by impairments to mechanisms specialised for processing upright faces. Further analyses revealed several other features of the deficits, including the use of atypical and inconsistent strategies for perceiving faces, difficulties matching the same face across different pictures, equivalent impact of lighting and viewpoint variations in face images, and atypical perceptual and non-perceptual components of test performance. Overall, my thesis shows that face perception deficits are more central to developmental prosopagnosia than previously thought and motivates further research on the issue.</p>

scholarly journals Representational drift in the mouse visual cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Deitch ◽  
Alon Rubin ◽  
Yaniv Ziv
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Electrophysiological Recordings ◽  
The Face ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Mouse Visual Cortex ◽  
Over Time

AbstractNeuronal representations in the hippocampus and related structures gradually change over time despite no changes in the environment or behavior. The extent to which such ‘representational drift’ occurs in sensory cortical areas and whether the hierarchy of information flow across areas affects neural-code stability have remained elusive. Here, we address these questions by analyzing large-scale optical and electrophysiological recordings from six visual cortical areas in behaving mice that were repeatedly presented with the same natural movies. We found representational drift over timescales spanning minutes to days across multiple visual areas. The drift was driven mostly by changes in individual cells’ activity rates, while their tuning changed to a lesser extent. Despite these changes, the structure of relationships between the population activity patterns remained stable and stereotypic, allowing robust maintenance of information over time. Such population-level organization may underlie stable visual perception in the face of continuous changes in neuronal responses.

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