Planning and implementation of a countrywide campaign to deliver over 16 million long-lasting insecticidal nets in Mozambique.

BACKGROUND: In 2016/2017, Mozambique conducted a countrywide long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) universal coverage campaign (UCC). This paper aims to describe the planning and implementation process of the campaign in Mozambique. METHODS: A cross-sectional and descriptive design was used for reporting the planning and implementation process of the UCC. The UCC used a collaborative approach, involving institutional and non-institutional actors, namely: National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), provincial and district health authorities, community members and civil society partners. A new household registration strategy based on coupons, stickers, and one LLIN per two persons as allocation criterion was implemented. The campaign was implemented in phases, allowing for continuous improvement of implementation quality by applying lessons learnt from each phase. RESULTS: A total of 7,049,894 households were registered corresponding to a total of 31,972,626 registered persons. A total of 16,557,818 LLINs were distributed between November 2016 and December 2017, corresponding to 97% of LLINs needs based on household registration, and covering 95% of the registered households (6,708,585 households), resulting in an estimated 85% of the total Mozambican population with LLIN access. CONCLUSIONS: The collaborative planning process and strong coordination of campaign actors allowed Mozambique's NMCP and partners to successfully carry out the first countrywide LLINs UCC in the country. The increased access to LLINs in households will likely result in increased LLIN use and a reduction of the malaria burden in the country, therefore contributing to the achievement of the 2016-2030 Global Technical Strategy for Malaria goals.

Thermal noise of mechanical oscillators in steady states with a heat flux.

We present an experimental investigation of the statistical properties of the position fluctuations of low-loss oscillators in nonequilibrium steady states. The oscillators are coupled to a heat bath, and a nonequilibrium steady state is produced by flowing a constant heat flux, setting a temperature difference across the oscillators. We investigated the distribution of the measurements of the square of the oscillator position and searched for signs of changes with respect to the equilibrium case. We found that, after normalization by the mean value, the second, third, and fourth standardized statistical moments are not modified by the underlying thermodynamic state. This differs from the behavior of the absolute, i.e., not normalized, second moment, which is strongly affected by temperature gradients and heat fluxes. We illustrate this with a numerical experiment in which we study via molecular dynamics the fluctuations of the length of a one-dimensional chain of identical particles interacting via anharmonic interparticle potentials, with the extremes thermostated at different temperatures: we use the variance of the length in correspondence to its first elastic mode of resonance to define an effective temperature which we observe to depart from the thermodynamic one in the nonequilibrium states. We investigate the effect of changing the interparticle potential and show that the qualitative behavior of the nonequilibrium excess is unchanged. Our numerical results are consistent with the chain length being Gaussian distributed in the nonequilibrium states. Our experimental investigation reveals that the position variance is the only, and crucially easily accessible, observable for distinguishing equilibrium from nonequilibrium steady states. The consequences of this fact for the design of interferometric gravitational wave detectors are discussed.

Integration of water, sanitation, and hygiene for the prevention and control of neglected tropical diseases: a rationale for inter-sectoral collaboration.

Improvements of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and appropriate health-seeking behavior are necessary for achieving sustained control, elimination, or eradication of many neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Indeed, the global strategies to fight NTDs include provision of WASH, but few programs have specific WASH targets and approaches. Collaboration between disease control programs and stakeholders in WASH is a critical next step. A group of stakeholders from the NTD control, child health, and WASH sectors convened in late 2012 to discuss opportunities for, and barriers to, collaboration. The group agreed on a common vision, namely "Disease-free communities that have adequate and equitable access to water and sanitation, and that practice good hygiene." Four key areas of collaboration were identified, including (i) advocacy, policy, and communication; (ii) capacity building and training; (iii) mapping, data collection, and monitoring; and (iv) research. We discuss strategic opportunities and ways forward for enhanced collaboration between the WASH and the NTD sectors.

Elasticity of mechanical oscillators in nonequilibrium steady states: experimental, numerical, and theoretical results.

We study experimentally, numerically, and theoretically the elastic response of mechanical resonators along which the temperature is not uniform, as a consequence of the onset of steady-state thermal gradients. Two experimental setups and designs are employed, both using low-loss materials. In both cases, we monitor the resonance frequencies of specific modes of vibration, as they vary along with variations of temperatures and of temperature differences. In one case, we consider the first longitudinal mode of vibration of an aluminum alloy resonator; in the other case, we consider the antisymmetric torsion modes of a silicon resonator. By defining the average temperature as the volume-weighted mean of the temperatures of the respective elastic sections, we find out that the elastic response of an object depends solely on it, regardless of whether a thermal gradient exists and, up to 10% imbalance, regardless of its magnitude. The numerical model employs a chain of anharmonic oscillators, with first- and second-neighbor interactions and temperature profiles satisfying Fourier's Law to a good degree. Its analysis confirms, for the most part, the experimental findings and it is explained theoretically from a statistical mechanics perspective with a loose notion of local equilibrium.