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Performance monitoring and evaluation are key to quality improvement in maternal and child healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study presents the experience of designing and implementing bottom-up and integrated performance evaluation tools for care pathway to monitor and manage maternity healthcare services. The research project involved four health districts and relative reference hospitals, supported by the NGO Doctors with Africa CUAMM in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. The maternal and childcare pathway developed consists of 23 indicators, calculated at hospital and district level, relating to pregnancy, childbirth and first year of life phases. The authors developed staves and performance maps, as graphical representation tools, to display longitudinally integrated health services provision performance along the continuum of care. Substantial variation was observed between the phases of each maternal and childcare pathway and across the care pathways of the different analysed settings. The most impressive results across the four settings are: 1) regarding pregnancy phase, that women tend to attend more than four antenatal classes, still with a quite high drop-out rate, and are largely tested for syphilis, 2) with respect to childbirth, that there are varying percentage levels in terms of C-sections, episiotomies and peri/intra-partum asphyxia cases, and 3) as it regards first year of life, there emerges scope for improvement considering the vaccination coverages attained for pentavalent, measles and polio vaccinations. Thanks to the collaboration with local managers and health professionals, the maternal and childcare pathway allowed to monitor the changes in the quality of maternity services provided within the analysed contexts. The benchmarking approach encouraged local professionals to learn from other settings. The use of such tool allowed the development of targeted quality improvement actions, shared among all involved stakeholders. Key messages • In collaboration with local professionals, we designed and implemented an integrated pathway for maternal and childcare, covering the phases of pregnancy, childbirth and first year of life. • Benchmarking performance results encouraged collaboration among professionals and allowed the identification of actions to improve the provision of maternal and childcare services.

Background The implementation of a health service does not necessarily equate to a health gain. Effective Coverage (EC) aims to capture the potential benefits of a health intervention by adjusting the crude coverage for quality. The aim of this study was to assess the EC of Antenatal Care (ANC), Institutional deliveries and Postnatal Care (PNC) in Oyam district, Uganda, considering the input (drugs and equipment) and the process dimension (components of care provided). Methods The study involved 19 Health Centers (HC), 12 type II, 6 type III and 1 type IV, having a catchment area of 15.603 expected deliveries per year. The analysis covered the period between April and September 2021. Data on crude coverage were retrieved from the District Health Information Software-2. Data used to assess quality domains were extracted from checklists compiled during Supportive Supervisions and were summarized by readiness and likelihood of quality care indices. The crude coverage of the interventions was adjusted to calculate the input-adjusted and the quality-adjusted coverage. Results The readiness index was 0.81 for ANC, 0.82 for institutional delivery and 0.88 for PNC, while the likelihood of quality of care was 0.73, 0.88 and 0.89 respectively. In all three areas, the loss of coverage was mainly due to lack of materials and equipment; HCs II showed lower quality indexes than HCs III, particularly for ANC (P = 0.007). Compared to the target population, EC was 40% for ANC4 visits, 48% for institutional deliveries and 77% for PNC visits. The gap between crude and EC was higher for ANC4 (-30%) compared with the one for institutional deliveries (-18%) and PNC (-23%). Conclusions EC is a useful indicator for monitoring maternal and neonatal services in low-resource countries, bringing gaps in crude coverage to the surface. Supportive Supervision provides an opportunity to assess EC at the facility level without additional resources and to support health authorities in setting priorities. Key messages

The management of free-roaming dog populations is an important matter both for the local administrations that have to manage this problem and for the defenders of the animals’ rights. This review’s first objective is to analyse the legal status of the free-roaming dogs in some European countries. A second purpose of this work is to ask questions and to consider the ethical aspects of the already-existing strategies to control free-roaming dog populations. Italian Law no. 281, which was enacted in 1991, was intended to solve the problem of free-roaming dogs in Italy; at the same time, apparently in contradiction with this objective, the law called for a no-kill policy to be enforced throughout the whole national territory. Thus, for a dog that has no chances of adoption, the ethical debate has moved to the question of whether a “life imprisonment” is better than the “capital punishment”. In terms of ethical aspects of control strategies of free-roaming dog populations, we believe that the Italian national law, and its regional applications, are more functional than the other laws of Westernized countries, with the appropriate measures suggested and with a more accurate control on their application.

COCHISE is a 2.6 meter millimetric telescope, mainly devoted to cosmological observations, located at Concordia. In this paper we report on the installation phases and preliminary operations performed with this instrument. At present, COCHISE is the largest telescope located at Concordia, for that reason it represents a pathfinder for future telescopes.

COMPASS is an on-axis 2.6 meter telescope coupled to a correlation polarimeter operating at a wavelength of 1 cm. The entire instrument was built specifically for CMB polarization studies. We report here on observations of February 2001 - April 2001 using this system. We set an upper limit on E-mode polarized anisotropies of 33.5 uK (95% confidence limit) in the l-range 200-600.

The characteristics and performance of a new class of 3He refrigerators are discussed. We introduce a 3He refrigerator, which allows a temperature of 296 m K to be reached with a starting point of 4.2 K, without pumping on the main 4He bath. The operating principle is based on the single-expansion helium liquefier: gas cooling by isothermal compression and adiabatic expansion.

Published in: Astrophys. J. 513 (1999) 23 citations recorded in [Science Citation Index] Abstract: We report simultaneous observations at 1.2 and 2 mm, with a double channel photometer on the SEST Telescope, of the X-ray cluster RXJ0658-5557 in search for the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (S-Z). The S-Z data were analyzed using the relativistically correct expression for the Comptonization parameter and we find from the detected decrement (2.60 +/- 0.79) ~ 10^{-4}, which is consistent with that computed using the X-ray (ROSAT and ASCA) observations. The uncertainty includes contributions due to statistical uncertainty in the detection and systematics and calibration. The 1.2 {mm} channel data alone gives rise to a larger Comptonization parameter and this result is discussed in terms of contamination from foreground sources and/or dust in the cluster or from a possible systematic effect. We then make use of the combined analysis of the ROSAT and ASCA X-ray satellite observations to determine an isothermal model for the S-Z surface brightness. Since the cluster is asymmetrical and probably in a merging process, models are only approximate. The associated uncertainty can, however, be estimated by exploring a set of alternative models. We then find as the global uncertainty on the Comptonization parameter a factor of 1.3. Combining the S-Z and the X-ray measurements, we determine a value for the Hubble constant. The 2 mm data are consistent with H_0(q_0 = 1/2)= 53^{+38}_{-28} km/s Mpc^{-1}, where the uncertainty is dominated by the uncertainty in models of the X-ray plasma halo.

We introduce a mini 3 He refrigerator, operating at ∼300 mK starting from 4.2 K without pumping on the main 4 He bath. The innovative idea is that the present one is suitable for a very fast operation; for its use, it is sufficient a storage 4 He Dewar. In this way we drastically reduce the time required to cool it down, because there is no need for a classic cryostat. This prototype is particularly aimed for all those operations in which it is necessary to test a large number of samples that do not require long duration measurements at low temperature.

We present new measurements of Mars at 1.25 and 2mm of wavelength, in addition to the previous ones performed on Mercury and already published in our paper “The brightness temperature of Mercury at 150 and 240GHz”. A brief description of the observational strategy is given, and brightness temperature of the planet is reported.

Radiative and dynamical energy exchanges in the planetary boundary layer are investigated by the simultaneous operation of a triaxial Doppler sodar, a zenith-pointing cryogenic radiometer with a bandpass centred around 850 μm wavelength, and additional meteorological equipment for near-ground reference. The two instruments provide measurements of the wind field and of the atmospheric radiative temperature, respectively. Two measurement campaigns were carried out in the Rome area in the periods 12–18 Sept. 1990 and 16–22 Sept. 1991. Data were analysed for correlation and used to calculate kinematic eddy sensible heat fluxes. Depending on the meteorological conditions, high values of correlation were found between the fluctuations of the height-averaged (300 m) vertical wind speed and the radiative temperature, in the presence of clear-sky convection. The highest values of correlation were obtained for delays of a few minutes, as expected in agreement with typical dimensions of convective structures in the boundary layer. Estimates of the kinematic eddy sensible heat flux gave average values as high as 0.14 K m s−1 in daytime and 0.005 K m s−1 at night.

The need for accurate and complete maps of the galaxy at radio frequencies is made evident not only by the importance of the data in the study of galactic dynamics and structure formation but also in the analysis of cosmic background radiation data. A summary of the existing radio surveys of our galaxy is presented along with their limitations. A new program, the Galactic Emission Mapping (GEM) project, to obtain calibrated and complete maps of the galaxy in the 400 to 1400 MHz range, is outlined.

During the Italian Antarctic Expedition 2004/2005 we observed Mercury at 150 and 240 GHz. The observations have been carried out by means of the 2.6 m OASI telescope. By using the responsivity of our detectors, obtained from Venus, the brightness temperature of the planet was derived.

COCHISE (Cosmological Observations at Concordia with High-sensitivity Instrument for Source Extraction) is a 2.6 m telescope located on the high Antarctic Plateau near the Italian-French Concordia Base. The telescope is mainly devoted to Cosmological observations, able to operate between 200 mu m and 3 mm of wavelength. In this paper we describe the main characteristics of the instrument. We also report on the first light, obtained during summer 2010-2011: this result marks the beginning of millimetre astrophysical observations at Concordia. Responsivity, noise equivalent temperature and field of view of the instrument are reported. At present COCHISE is the largest telescope located at Concordia. Beside the scientific expectations, the use of this kind of instrument in the Antarctic environment poses technological aspects of relevant interest: thus COCHISE can be considered as a pathfinder for future Antarctic telescopes.

OASI (Infrared and Sub-mm Antarctic Observatory) is the first large telescope permanently installed in Antarctica. It is located close to the Italian Base in Antarctica (Terra Nova Bay Station, latitude: 74.39 S, longitude: 164.09 E). The OASI first light was received in December 1990 when the wobbling secondary mirror was mounted. The telescope is planned to be an open facility which can operate in the wavelengths range between 350 μm and 3mm. The sky coverage from OASI goes down to a declination of about-35° for a 24 hours/day observing time.

In this paper it is shown how submillimetre and millimetre flux density measurements of sky fluctuations can be used to infer the characteristics of atmospheric turbulence. Two different approaches have been followed: first, by considering the observed process as due to the atmospheric turbulence, we used the r.m.s. sky fluctuations to derive some physical parametres characterizing the phenomenon; second, by investigating the power spectrum and the autocorrelation function, we derive an empirical model (the AR model) to try to deduce the physical process. In this case, the fitted power spectrum agrees strikingly with that predicted by the theory of a stationary turbulent flow for the atmosphere in the sampled frequency range. This kind of modeling can help to disentangle the atmospheric fluctuations from the extraterrestrial signal in ground-based astrophysical measurements. Measurements of the water vapour content and atmospheric transmission at the Italian Base in Antarctica, where the data have been taken, at the wavelengths of 350 μm, 1 and 2mm are also reported.

My story with Francesco

The OASI group have been active in Antarctica since 1986: from the pioneering period, though the 2.62 m mm telescope activity at Terra Nova Bay to the first observing campaigns at Dome C. The group activity significantely contributed to the development of mm Italian Antarctic astronomy, acting as a pathfinder for present success and future development. The overall italian activity is characterised by interesting scientific results, obtained even when adequate funding was not available. The historical evolution of the italian mm activities in Antarctica will be illustrated and the perspective for future experiments will be reported.

We report on millimetric continuum observations of two bright compact H II regions, which have been observed for the first time in this frequency range. For the two observed regions (G291.6-0.5 and G291.3-0.7), we derive the flux densities at the two observed wavelengths (1.25 and 2 mm) as well as the spectral index and the temperature of the surrounding dust by fitting a modified blackbody curve to our results combined with IR values obtained from the literature. We also estimate the dust mass and the bolometric luminosity of the two regions.

COMPASS is an on-axis 2.6 meter telescope coupled to a correlation polarimeter. The entire instrument was built specifically for CMB polarization studies. Careful attention was given to receiver and optics design, stability of the pointing platform, avoidance of systematic offsets, and development of data analysis techniques. Here we describe the experiment, its strengths and weaknesses, and the various things we have learned that may benefit future efforts to measure the polarization of the CMB., To be published in the proceedings of "The Cosmic Microwave Background and its Polarization", New Astronomy Reviews, (eds. S. Hanany and K.A. Olive)

COMPASS (COsmic Microwave Polarization at Small Scale) is an experiment devoted to measuring the polarization of the CMBR. Its design and characteristics are presented.

The sensitivity increase in bolometers obtained by operating temperatures of 1 K (helium-4) and 0.3 K (helium-3), with respect to standard bolometers cooled at pumped 4He temperature, represents in infrared and submillimetric astronomy a remarkable step forward in applications both on large ground telescopes and on stratospheric balloons. The characteristics are introduced of a double stage refrigerator (4He/3He) which allows a temperature of nearly 300 mK to be reached, starting from a temperature of 4.2 K. No moving parts and external links are involved, except for the electric leads, so as to exploit only the condensation and cryosorption cycles of 4He and 3He, without pumping on the main 4He bath.

Preliminary site testing at Dome C (Antarctica) is presented, using both Automatic Weather Station (AWS) meteorological data (1986-1993) and Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) measurements made by the authors. A comparison with South Pole and other sites is made. The South Pole is a well established astrophysical observing site, where extremely good conditions are reported for a large fraction of time during the year. Dome C, where Italy and France are building a new scientific station, is a potential observing site in the millimetric and sub-millimetric range. AWS are operating at both sites and they have been continuously monitoring temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction for more than ten years. Site testing instruments are already operating at the South Pole (AASTO, Automated Astrophysical Site-Testing Observatory), while ''light'' experiments have been running at Dome C (APACHE, Antarctic Plateau Anisotropy CHasing Experiment) during summertime. A direct comparison between the two sites is planned in the near future, using the AASTO. The present analysis shows that the average wind speed is lower at Dome C (~1 m/s) than at the South Pole (~2 m/s), while temperature and PWV are comparable., 10 pages, 8 figures, se also http://www.atnf.csiro.au/pasa/16_2/

Results relative to three campaigns at Dome Concordia, aimed to measure the millimetric sky noise, are presented. The atmospheric noise during summer seems to be definitely lower with respect to that measured with the same instrumentation in other geographical locations. We illustrate the scientific results obtained.

We report on observations of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect toward X-ray ROSAT clusters taken with a double-channel (1.2 and 2 mm) photometer installed at the focus of the 15 m Swedish ESO Submillimeter Telescope antenna in Chile. This paper describes the first results obtained for the high-z clusters S1077, A2744, and S295. Marginal detections were found for A2744, and at 1 mm for S1077. We discuss these data in terms of contamination of sources along the line of sight and give a constraint on the amplitude of the kinematic effect.

A balloon-borne experiment has been conceived in order to map the sub-millimetric galactic emission at four different wavelengths between 400 μm and 2 mm at an angular scale of 1°. Such measurements will make it possible both to investigate the nature of the interstellar dust and to disentangle the galactic contribution from extragalactic and cosmological signals. A binocular telescope system has been realized by means of two 37 cm of-axis wobbling parabolic mirrors, each one coupled with a two-channel 3He photometer. The first trans-Mediterranean flight is scheduled for summer 1995.

A double channel (1.2 and 2 mm) photometer has been installed at the focus of the 15m SEST antenna in Chile to perform measurements of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect towards X-ray ROSAT clusters. This paper describes the instrument and the characteristics of the system: its sensitivity, field of view, noise and the performed calibrations.

COCHISE is a 2.6 meter millimetric telescope devoted to cosmological observations. It is located near the Concordia Station, on the high Antarctic plateau, probably the best site in the world for (sub)millimetric observations. At present time, COCHISE is the largest telescope installed at Concordia: besides the scientific expectations, it is of great interest as a pathfinder for future Antarctic telescopes. The main characteristics of the telescope will be presented, including the scientific goals and the technical aspects related to the use of such an instrument at the extreme conditions of the Antarctic environment. Key aspects of the atmospheric transmission will be also discussed, by showing the preliminary results of site testing experiments.

The characteristics and performance of an improved 3 He/ 4 He double stage refrigerator are presented. It is based on the same principle as the previous double stage refrigerator described in reference 1. A new geometry was used to overcome both the extra thermal input due to gas convection in the condensation lines and the long period required to precool at 4.2 K. The improved refrigerator reaches an operative temperature of ≈0.35 K without any external mechanical pumping. The refrigerator has been used to cool 3 He bolometers.

We have considered some millimetric observations of our Galaxy and of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) taken at the Italian Base in Antarctica. Using other submm data and fitting all the observations with a modified Planck curve, we have obtained useful information about the temperaureT and the spectral index α of the dust grains both for the Galaxy and the LMC. For the galactic spectrum two different couples ofT and α match the detected fluxes:a)T=7K, α=2;b)T=15K, α=1.1. We have tried to identify the nature of the dust grains responsible for the submm and mm emission by comparing these results with the spectral trend of some cosmic analogues studied in laboratory.

Changes in production and in physico-chemical properties of bronchial mucus is a common denominator of many pulmonary diseases. A rheometer with innovative features aimed at bronchial mucus routine investigation in clinical practice at the bedside of the patient has been designed. Searle-type configuration with a coaxial cylinder sensor system and the Mooney-Ewart geometry has been adopted. Another new feature is that bob and cup are disposable. Dynamic viscoelasticity is calculated through a microprocessor with specific software and by means of a magnetic torque--motor electronically driven by the microprocessor. The self-zeroing procedure and the autorange greatly simplify the measuring-cycle which is driven by only one switch. Data (eta and G') are automatically printed on paper. The whole measuring-cycle at the bedside of the patient takes 3-5 min, so that in 1h about 12 samples can be investigated.

During the austral summer 1987/88 and 1989/90, we performed two Antarctic expeditions with the main purpose of installing the first permanent Antarctic Infrared Observatory O.A.S.I. (Osservatorio Antartico Sub-millimetrico Infrarosso). At the same time, using two small telescope (100 cm and 48 cm diameter1,2), we measured the continuum emission at millimetric wavelengths of the Large (LMC) and Small (SMC) Magellanic Clouds. In both the expeditions, we detected a strong signal, both at 1mm and 2mm wavelengths, coming from the LMC and SMC. These signals are very well spatially correlated with the 100 μm IRAS data. The resulting spectra on LMC and SMC indicate a gray-body emission from cold dust at a temperature T d = 15K and a spectral index α = 1.1. The longwavelength part of the spectrum shows an excess in the emission (Fig. 1) from the cool dust. A possible explanation of both the FIR and the mm measurements could be the follow: since the mm data and the FIR data are well spatially correlated, it is likely that the emitting source is defined in the same sky region, while the emitting dust is made of two different components. The first component, responsible of the FIR emission, is a dust at a temperature of 33 K and a spectral index α = 2. The second component is a cold dust at a temperature of about 15 K and a spectral index α = 1.1. Following Chini et al., we can also fit the longwavelength part of the spectrum with only the 100 μm IRAS data. In this case, we obtain a dust temperature of 17 K with α = 1.2. An additional consideration on this model, following Stark could be done. In the LMC spectrum, the IRAS 60 μm point is contaminated by the contribution of fine structure radiation of neutral oxygen at 63 μm for an amount of 0.1 − 0.7 MJy srad−1. After the necessary correction, the 60 μm IRAS point is reduced in intensity, fitting better the 17 K model.

Millimetric continuum observations of the Galactic disk at b about -8 deg and l about 290-310 deg has been achieved during the Italian 1987-1988 scientific expedition in Antarctica. Emission was detected from few southern clouds (the Chamaeleon region and a cirrus cloud), and their energy distributions reveal an excess in the long wavelength range. This fact is interpreted as being due to the presence of a cold component of the interstellar material coexisting with the warm dust responsible for the emission detected by IRAS. Then, a multiple nature of the interstellar dust is suggested also in regions far from the Galactic bulge. 45 refs.

In this paper we report the results of an experiment on the CBR anisotropy at 2 mm and 2.5 degrees angular resolution carried out during the Antarctic summer of 1987−88. We find evidence of statistical fluctuations at a level of T/T=2x10−4, most of which can be ascribed to both atmos pheric residual noise and/or patch galactic emission. In addition, we observed the Magellanic Clouds and obtained an excess of mm−wave radiation in dicating the presence of a cold dust component coexisting with the IRAS wa rm dust. (AIP)

The new generation of miniature 3He refrigerators, exploiting only the condensation and cryosorption cycles of 3He without moving parts and external links, represents the most common adopted solution in low temperature physics for cooling detectors such as bolometers at 0.3 K. The characteristics and performance of an improved 3He refrigerator working at a temperature of nearly 0.3 K are discussed. We introduce a new class of refrigerator (patented) which allows one to reach the operating temperature in a much shorter time than with standard 3He refrigerators, without using any thermal switch. The system has the potential to be very useful in all applications where several modifications are required.

The characteristics which make Antarctica interesting for astrophysical research are: i) atmospheric transparency, ii) remoteness iii) geographical and geomagnetic position. Because of previous experience of observation from arctic sites in northern Europe and from isolated mountain sites, groups of Italian astrophysicists were immediately ready to go to Antarctica and bring their equipment to places not easily accessible, in a difficult environment when, about ten years, ago, the antarctic regions became more accessible.

The Infrared and Submillimetric OASI Observatory is the first permanent telescope installed in Antarctica. The installation was completed in 1989 at Terra Nova Bay. The diameter of the primary mirror is 2.6 m and the receiver is a cryogenic multichannel bolometric photometer. The OASI Observatory takes advantage of the privileged position in Antarctica, where the atmosphere is very clear and the transmission is very high (≥ 90% at 2 mm wavelength). It has been designed mainly to investigate the small scale anisotropics of the Cosmic Background Radiation and Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission.

Millimetric observations (1-2 mm) toward the Magellanic Clouds from Antarctica show a good spatial correlation with the IRAS 100-micron emission in the same sky regions. Very likely a cold component coexisting with the warm dust detected by IRAS has been observed. 18 refs.

The possibilities of ground based infrared astronomy are discussed. It is shown that telescopes used up to now are not optimized and that the Diffraction Limited Detectivity conditions (DLD) cannot be reached, in the near infrared, by the larger telescopes. The maximum useful diameters for near i.r. and far i.r. telescopes have been evaluated and a new parameter (i.e. visibility) is introduced in order to describe the performances of i.r. ground based telescopes.

We show how combined large-beam infra-red and radio observations toward the Virgo Cluster may be explained by assuming the existence of a large tepid halo surrounding the giant galaxy M87. Such a halo would be able to close the cluster gravitationally. If interpreted as being due to bremmstrahlung radiation by a tepid extended halo, it also explains the infra-red observations, and it has important implications for the physics of M87.

The fluctuations in the stratospheric emission in the 800–2000 μm wavelength range have been studied by means of a special correlator operating at 0.3 K. The observed noise is about three times larger than expected from a grey body at a temperature of 250 K and an emissivity of 5 × 10−4. This fact has been interpreted as proof that about 2% of the stratospheric lines were saturated.

The far infrared atmospheric windows between 30 cm −1 and 5 cm −1 have been investigated during many months of observations at the Alpine Station of Testa Grigia (3500 m a.s.l.). The seasonal and diurnal variation of the atmospheric transmittance for each window have been measured. The contribution of the minor atmospheric components is also discussed.

We have described an instrument intended to measure the atmospheric transmission through the windows between 300 and 3000 μm. The radiometer operates automatically, scanning the sky in steps of 0.7° from the horizon to the zenith, with the time constant as selected by the operator. The spectral distribution of the radiation is measured using a Michelson interferometer with an optical path difference of ± 10 cm. Using a 77°K reference blackbody, the atmospheric transmission can be measured with an accuracy better than 1 per cent. Some preliminary results are described, obtained at the Alpine station of Testa Grigia (3500 m above sea level).

Analysis and short review of the interaction between electromagnetic field and living tissues: experimental data suggest that a complex and still undefined model can explain their effects on the electrochemical environment inside and outside the cell.

Different kinds of far i.r. bolometers are compared between 100 and 5 cm−1 in various optical arrangements. A Golay cell has been used as reference detector. The germanium bolometer seems to be about ten-times more sensitive than the other two detectors, while the carbon bolometer shows the highest responsivity.

The polarization of the Sun's radiation has been measured in the 30-10 cm −1 spectral region through the atmospheric windows at the high altitude observatory of Testa Grigia, Italy, at 3500 m a.s.l. The results are in agreement with those previously obtained during a balloon flight in the 100-5 cm −1 region. The spectral dependence of the linearly polarized component has been investigated and a possible interpretation of the obtained data is suggested.