BACKGROUND Varicella remains an important public health issue in China. In this study we explored the effect of weather conditions on the incidence of varicella in the temperate city of Jinan, Eastern China during 2012-2014 to inform public health prevention and control measures. METHODS Data on reported cases of varicella were obtained from National Notifiable Disease Report System. Meteorol...

Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy of pressure amorphized hexagonal ice shows that water's high-density amorphous form relaxes in approximately 1 s at 140 K and 1 GPa and that the relaxation is virtually unaffected by pressure. This indicates that the amorph is an ultraviscous liquid above 140 K, the same as would be obtained by supercooling water at 1 GPa through its ice VI phase boundary, and...

We study the performance of various binary and nonbinary modulation methods applied to coherent laser communication through the turbulent atmosphere. We compare the spectral efficiencies and SNR efficiencies of complex modulations, and consider options for atmospheric compensation, including phase correction and diversity combining techniques. Our analysis shows that high communication rates re...

The meteorological conditions during the period of spring transition over the Middle East and the Persian Gulf and adjacent land area is investigated. Monthly and seasonal variations of large-scale atmospheric patterns and wind aloft features at different levels were drawn from data collected from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and National Center for Atmospheric Researches. ...

Between 1948 and 1996, mean annual environmental parameters in the Arctic experienced a well-pronounced decadal variability with two basic circulation patterns: cyclonic and anticyclonic alternating at 5 to 7 year intervals. During cyclonic regimes, low sea-level atmospheric pressure (SLP) dominated over the Arctic Ocean driving sea ice and the upper ocean counterclockwise; the Arctic atmospher...

Wright (1912) described a method for filling ampoules based on the principle of first exhausting the air from the ampoules and then filling by atmospheric pressure. Since then many elaborate pieces of apparatus have been devised based on the same principle, but these are^ all expensive and not readily obtainable. The ^odification described below has the advantage that the apparatus required may...

While many surface foraging seabirds ingest plastic, the spatial overlap of these far-ranging predators with debris aggregations at-sea is poorly understood. We surveyed concurrent distributions of marine birds and debris along a 4400 km cruise track within a debris accumulation area in the North East Pacific Ocean using line and strip transect methods. Analysis of debris and bird distributions...

Based on epidemiologic methodology different factors related to suicide committed in Asturias (Spain) during 1983-1987 were analysed. The following factors were studied: age, sex, procedure of suicide, climate variables (atmospheric pressure, frequency of south-winds), seasons of the year and Moon phases in which suicides were committed. The incidence was 11.13/100,000. In respect to several fa...