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Current knowledge of dengue virus (DENV) transmission provides only a partial understanding of a complex and dynamic system yielding a public health track record that has more failures than successes. An important part of the problem is that the foundation for contemporary interventions includes a series of longstanding, but untested, assumptions based on a relatively small portion of the human population; i.e., people who are convenient to study because they manifest clinically apparent disease. Approaching dengue from the perspective of people with overt illness has produced an extensive body of useful literature. It has not, however, fully embraced heterogeneities in virus transmission dynamics that are increasingly recognized as key information still missing in the struggle to control the most important insect-transmitted viral infection of humans. Only in the last 20 years have there been significant efforts to carry out comprehensive longitudinal dengue studies. This manuscript provides the rationale and comprehensive, integrated description of the methodology for a five-year longitudinal cohort study based in the tropical city of Iquitos, in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon. Primary data collection for this study was completed in 2019. Although some manuscripts have been published to date, our principal objective here is to support subsequent publications by describing in detail the structure, methodology, and significance of a specific research program. Our project was designed to study people across the entire continuum of disease, with the ultimate goal of quantifying heterogeneities in human variables that affect DENV transmission dynamics and prevention. Because our study design is applicable to other Aedes transmitted viruses, we used it to gain insights into Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission when during the project period ZIKV was introduced and circulated in Iquitos. Our prospective contact cluster investigation design was initiated by detecttion of a person with a symptomatic DENV infection and then followed that person’s immediate contacts. This allowed us to monitor individuals at high risk of DENV infection, including people with clinically inapparent and mild infections that are otherwise difficult to detect. We aimed to fill knowledge gaps by defining the contribution to DENV transmission dynamics of (1) the understudied majority of DENV-infected people with inapparent and mild infections and (2) epidemiological, entomological, and socio-behavioral sources of heterogeneity. By accounting for factors underlying variation in each person’s contribution to transmission we sought to better determine the type and extent of effort needed to better prevent virus transmission and disease.

Additional file 4: Supplement Table 1. The intervention effect and adjusted means for customers��� outcomes at 6- and 12-months post-baseline by gender and condition.

Additional file 1. CONSORT checklist for clustered randomized controlled trial (C-RCT). Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials checklist shows the evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting randomized trials. The CONSORT checklist includes 25 items, and is accompanied by the CONSORT flow diagram (Fig. 1).

Additional file 3. Empirical study requested additional information. Data on how the sample was recruited, how representative the sample was of the target group, how the analysed sample differed from the recruited sample and how any missing data were handled.

Additional file 2. TIDieR checklist. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication is a 12-item checklist providing information to describe an intervention, and the location of the information within the manuscript.

Additional file 2. Survey questions for stakeholder engagement.

Additional file 1. AAMC Principles of Trustworthiness (9).

Additional file 2: Table 2.Fe En Accion Descriptive statistics outcomes and potentials mediators M1 – M3.

Additional file 1: Table 1. Characteristics of participants at baseline by study condition and overall. Fe en Acción, San Diego, CA.

Demand for social protection is growing in low income countries and fragile situations. In recent years, the success of social protection (SP) interventions in middle income countries (MICs) like Brazil and Mexico, along with the series of food, fuel, and financial crises, has prompted policymakers in low income countries (LICs) and fragile situations (FSs) to examine the possibility of introducing such programs in their own countries. Flagship programs in countries as diverse as Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, and Rwanda have shown the adaptability of social protection interventions to the LIC context. Yet, despite growing levels of support for these initiatives, many challenges remain. In LICs and FSs, governments are confronted with a nexus of mutually reinforcing deficits that increase the need for SP programs and simultaneously reduce their ability to successfully respond. Governments face hard choices about the type, affordability, and sustainability of SP interventions. The paper reviews how these factors affect SP programs in these countries and identifies ways to address the deficits. It supports the establishment of resilient SP systems to address specific needs and vulnerabilities and to respond flexibly to both slow and sudden onset crises. To achieve this, both innovation and pragmatism are required in three strategic areas: (i) building the basic blocks of SP systems (e.g., targeting, payments, and monitoring and evaluation); (ii) ensuring financial sustainability; and (iii) promoting good governance and transparency. These issues suggest the possibility of a different trajectory in the development of social protection in LICs than in MICs. The implications for World Bank support include the need to focus on increasing knowledge and operational effectiveness of SP programs, fostering institutional links between multiple SP programs, and using community capacity and technological innovations to overcome bottlenecks in operations.

The study of employer associations in Australia has focused on the activities of state employers’ federations and peak employer organisations in the federal sphere and on the effect on those organisations of Australia’s compulsory conciliation and arbitration system. The majority of literature has continued to mainly focus on national employer associations and on their difficulties in achieving national unity due to the differing views of their State branches. Despite their historic relevance, state employer associations that were established during the colonial era have been virtually ignored. Whilst single industry associations at the state level have also had to come to terms with the demands of Australia’s dual industrial relations systems, the role of the state systems and of the state-based employer associations appear to have attracted comparatively little academic interest. The effect on employer associations of the character and status of those who direct and influence their operations has received little, if any, analysis. Leading builders who were the major contractors of their time established the Master Builders Association of NSW (MBA/NSW) during the colonial era, and those that led the association throughout the turmoil of the 1890s, a major depression and two world wars continued to be the leading builders in the State of New South Wales. Following the Second World War, the character of the MBA/NSW changed with the absorption of suburban associations that comprised small to medium-sized builders. That development was compounded by the changes in the size, height and complexity of buildings within the Central Business District of Sydney and in other centres throughout the metropolitan area. Enormous capital was required to fund construction works and large corporations were formed and the bench-mark of what constituted a major contractor was raised considerably. Those events had an enormous impact on the character and operations of the MBA/NSW. This historical thesis seeks to explain why the MBA/NSW was successfully established in 1873 after two previous attempts; and, what accounts for its subsequent survival and growth. It analyses the various challenges that faced the MBA/NSW during its first one hundred years and the effect on that association of the policies and practices of iii architects, governments, trade unions and other employer associations. It traces the 1890 establishment of the Master Builders Federation of Australia (MBFA), the oldest federal industry association in Australia, by the MBA/NSW and its sister associations from other areas of Australia and analyses the manner in which the State-based Master Builders Associations each fought to retain their individual independence and reject any attempts to cede their powers so as to convert their federation into a national centralised body. The need for quick national responses of major building companies during the 1970s was addressed through a composite organization created by the Master Builder movement and the Australian Federation of Construction Contractors due to the continued refusal of the Master Builders associations to cede their powers to MBFA. The development of the trade union movement in the building industry in New South Wales is also analysed together with reference to the history of building industry awards in this State. The study also outlines the history of MBA/NSW initiatives and policies related to tendering and industrial relations which came under increasing pressure due to legal challenges from disciplined members and to changes arising from industrial and trade practices legislation. The practice of convening tender meetings, the introduction of Builders Licensing in New South Wales and, the origins of the MBA/NSW Group Apprenticeship Scheme are each described.

Background The protease inhibitor, TL-3, demonstrated broad efficacy in vitro against FIV, HIV and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), and exhibited very strong protective effects on early neurologic alterations in the CNS of FIV-PPR infected cats. In this study, we analyzed TL-3 efficacy using a highly pathogenic FIV-C isolate, which causes a severe acute phase immunodeficiency syndrome, with high early mortality rates. Results Twenty cats were infected with uncloned FIV-C and half were treated with TL-3 while the other half were left untreated. Two uninfected cats were used as controls. The general health and the immunological and virological status of the animals was monitored for eight weeks following infection. All infected animals became viremic independent of TL-3 treatment and seven of 20 FIV-C infected animals developed severe immunodepletive disease in conjunction with significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher viral RNA loads as compared to asymptomatic animals. A marked and progressive increase in CD8+ T lymphocytes in animals surviving acute phase infection was noted, which was not evident in symptomatic animals (p ≤ 0.05). Average viral loads were lower in TL-3 treated animals and of the 6 animals requiring euthanasia, four were from the untreated cohort. At eight weeks post infection, half of the TL-3 treated animals and only one of six untreated animals had viral loads below detection limits. Analysis of protease genes in TL-3 treated animals with higher than average viral loads revealed sequence variations relative to wild type protease. In particular, one mutant, D105G, imparted 5-fold resistance against TL-3 relative to wild type protease. Conclusions The findings indicate that the protease inhibitor, TL-3, when administered orally as a monotherapy, did not prevent viremia in cats infected with high dose FIV-C. However, the modest lowering of viral loads with TL-3 treatment, the greater survival rate in symptomatic animals of the treated cohort, and the lower average viral load in TL-3 treated animals at eight weeks post infection is indicative of a therapeutic effect of the compound on virus infection.

Australia, during the twenty five years that followed the end of the Second World War, experienced increased prosperity and a stable industrial relations system in which the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (the federal commission) played a dominant and authoritative role. The NSW building boom which began in the latter part of the 1950s introduced new technology, concentrated building workers in the central business district of Sydney, and broadened the range of skills required of builders' labourers. The major NSW building tradesmen's union, the Building Workers' Industrial Union (NSW/BWIU), had a communist leadership. The national body of that union lost its federal industrial registration in 1948, and the NSW/BWIU moderated its behaviour after it nearly lost its own, NSW state, registration in 1957. The Australian Building Construction Employees and Builders' Labourers Federation (ABLF) had a federal award under which most of the members of its NSW branch (NSW/BLF) were employed. The leadership of both the ABLF and of the NSW/BLF were communist. The Communist Party of Australia (CPA) suffered a defection by the ABLF leadership in the early 1960s to a communist party which endorsed Marxist- Leninist policies. The BWIU leadership also left the CPA (and formed the Socialist Party of Australia) following an announced shift in policy direction by the CPA in 1969. That shift in policy abandoned the `united front' concept and adopted ultra-left policies which advocated vanguard action by small groups. The announcement by the CPA of its new policies occurred after the gaoling of a Victorian union leader which signalled the virtual collapse of the previously authoritative, and punitive, role of the federal commission. The structure and politics of society underwent enormous change during the 1960s and early 1970s which was an era of protest during which various social movements were formed. The NSW/BLF became a major participant in those protests and movements, and conducted various industrial and social campaigns during the first half of the 1970s. Those campaigns were conducted in line with the ultra-left policies of the CPA, and this isolated the NSW/BLF from its federal body and from the trade union movement generally. This thesis analyses some of the campaigns conducted by the NSW/BLF during the period 1970-1974 and the various responses by the Master Builders Association of NSW (MBA/NSW) to those campaigns. The MBA/NSW broadened its membership base during the 1950s, and the effect that its new membership structure had on its decision-making processes is also considered.

A time series “reversal” design demonstrated that behavioral counseling increased medication adherence from about 60 to 100% for a black, hypertensive patient. However, inadequate pharmacological treatment yielded no clinically important blood pressure decrease. The combination of improved compliance and minimal blood pressure reduction led the patient's physician to explore higher doses and alternate medications to achieve blood pressure control. The physician's aggressive medical treatment was initiated only after the patient's compliance had been improved. Thus, this study suggests that paraprofessional counseling can increase compliance and illustrates the need for both behavioral and physiological data in clinical management to avoid blaming patients for poorly controlled blood pressure.

Karyotypes of nine species of Venezuelan annual killifishes were compared. Karyotypic differences were found between species and between some genera. A chromosomal sexual dimorphism was found in Pterolebias hoignei (2N = 46). Males of this species possess a single large "Y" chromosome. No chromosomal divergence was detected among conspecific populations from different localities. Pterolebias hoignei and Pterolebias zonatus were found to differ both in diploid number (46 and 42 respectively) and in metacentric chromosome number (6 and 12 respectively). All Rachoviaspecies were found to have a diploid number of 44. Rachovia maculipinnisand R. brevis were found to differ from one another in metacentric chromosome number (20 and 12 respectively). Rachovia hummelincki and R. pyropunctata both possess metacentric chromosome counts of 10. No karyotypic differences were found between Austrofundulus transilis and Austrofundulus limnaeus (2N = 44, metacentrics = 12). Several populations of the latter although divergent in male color patterns, did not differ karyotypically. All species examined, except Rivulus stellifer, departed from the presumptive ancestral teleost diploid number of 48. The degree of chromosomal variation appears not to be as high among the New World as among the Old World annuals. This difference among lineages with similar life histories and reproductive strategies suggests that stochastic events have not played a major role in mediating chromosomal divergence in annual fishes. Master of Science

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This paper consists of two parts, a theoretical followed by an empirical contribution. We first give a new framework for fractional differencing in discrete time and show how the definition of fractional differencing that is commonly employed in empirical financial applications arises as a special case. We then use these methods to estimate the fractional differencing parameter in the return and volatility for three Comex metal futures contracts. The metal futures are sampled at very high frequenciesfive-minute intervals over a nearly eight year period. Refereed/Peer-reviewed