BACKGROUND Tenofovir gel has entered into clinical trials for use as a topical microbicide to prevent HIV-1 infection but has no published data regarding pre-clinical testing using in vitro and ex vivo models. To validate our findings with on-going clinical trial results, we evaluated topical tenofovir gel for safety and efficacy. We also modeled systemic application of tenofovir for efficacy. ...

Consider a first order linear time-invariant discrete time system driven by process noise, a preprocessor that accepts causal measurements of the state of the system, and a state estimator. The preprocessor and the state estimator are not co-located, and, at every time-step, the pre-processor transmits either a real number or an erasure symbol to the estimator. We seek the pre-processor and the...

Rilpivirine long-acting (RPV-LA) is a parenteral formulation enabling prolonged plasma exposure. We explored its multiple-compartment pharmacokinetics (PK) after a single dose, for pre-exposure prophylaxis. Sixty-six HIV-negative volunteers were enrolled: women received an intramuscular dose of 300, 600, or 1,200 mg, with plasma and genital levels measured to 84 days postdose; men receiving 600...

We investigate the canonical structure of the (2+1)-dimensional non-linear σ model in a polynomial formulation. A current density defined in the non-linear σ model is a vector field which satisfies a formal flatness (or pure gauge) condition. It is the polynomial formulation in which the vector field is regarded as a dynamical variable on which the flatness condition is imposed as a constraint ...

Degradation of cleavage fracture toughness for low carbon steels due to pre-straining and irradiation was investigated on the basis of the local fracture criterion approach. Formulation of cleavage fracture toughness through the statistical modelling proposed by BEREMIN has been simplified by the present authors to the expression involving yield stress and cleavage fracture stress of materials....

The problem of optimal sensor placement for FDI consists in determining the set of sensors that minimizes a pre-defined cost function satisfying at the same time a pre-established set of FDI specifications for a given set of faults. This paper recalls three model-based optimal sensor location approaches: an Incremental search, a Heuristic search and a Binary Integer Linear Programming (BILP) fo...

In this paper we present a new method for fast histogram computing and its extension to bin to bin histogram distance computing. The idea consists in using the information of spatial differences between images, or between regions of images (a current one and a reference one), and encoding it into a specific data structure: a tree. The histogram of the current image or of one of its regions is t...

The problem of finding a work assignment for airline crew members in a given time horizon is addressed. In the literature this problem is usually referred to as the airline crew rostering problem. It consists of constructing monthly schedules for crew members by assigning them pairings, rest periods, annual and sick leave, training periods, union activities, and so forth, so as to satisfy the c...