The epidemiology of cataract: a review of the literature

Cataract is a major cause of blindness, accounting for nearly half of all blindness worldwide. Epidemiological research provides the principles and methods to assess the extent of cataract, and supplies the necessary information for policy planning. Obtaining accurate epidemiological data on cataract is essential to ascertain and estimate the cost of primary and secondary eye health care needs. Determining risk factors is also necessary to reduce the economic and social repercussions associated with the disease. The following paper presents a review of the epidemiology of cataract in the middle to elderly age group

Methods for a population-based study of eye disease: the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project

The methodology of the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project, a major population-based survey of eye disease on 3,500 randomly selected individuals aged 40 years of age and over in the Melbourne metropolitan region, is presented. The aims of the study are to determine the distribution and determinants of eye disease in an urban population; the impact of eye disease on visual function and the activities of daily living; and the accessibility of eye health care services in the community. All procedures are conducted according to a standardised protocol to allow for comparison with other population-based studies, both in Australia and overseas. Information collected from this study will be employed in the development of recommendations related to eye health care service delivery and establishment of priorities for future public education programmes and health research

High gradient superconducting quadrupoles

Prototype superconducting quadrupoles with a 5 cm aperture and gradient of 16 kG/cm have been built and tested as candidate magnets for the final focus at SLC. The magnets are made from NbTi Tevatron style cable with 10 inner and 14 outer turns per quadrant. Quench performance and multipole data are presented. Design and data for a low current, high gradient quadrupole, similar in cross section but wound with a cable consisting of five insulated conductors are also discussed

d dimensional SO(d)-Higgs Models with Instanton and Sphaleron: d=2,3

The Abelian Higgs model and the Georgi-Glashow model in 2 and 3 Euclidean dimensions respectively, support both finite size instantons and sphalerons. The instantons are the familiar Nielsen-Oleson vortices and the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole solutions respectively. We have constructed the sphaleron solutions and calculated the Chern-Simons charges N_cs for sphalerons of both models and have constructed two types of noncontractible loops between topologically distinct vacuua. In the 3 dimensional model, the sphaleron and the vacuua have zero magnetic and electric flux while the configurations on the loops have non vanishing magnetic flux.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

Consequences of various landscape-scale ecosystem management strategies and fire cycles on age-class structure and harvest in boreal forests

At the landscape scale, one of the key indicators of sustainable forest management is the age-class distribution of stands, since it provides a coarse synopsis of habitat potential, structural complexity, and stand volume, and it is directly modified by timber extraction and wildfire. To explore the consequences of several landscape-scale boreal forest management strategies on age-class structure in the Mauricie region of Quebec, we used spatially explicit simulation modelling. Our study investigated three different harvesting strategies (the one currently practiced and two different strategies to maintain late seral stands) and interactions between fire and harvesting on stand age-class distribution. We found that the legacy of initial forested age structure and its spatial configuration can pose short- (<50 years) to medium-term (150-300 years) challenges to balancing wood supply and ecological objectives. Also, ongoing disturbance by fire, even at relatively long cycles in relation to historic levels, can further constrain the achievement of both timber and biodiversity goals. For example, when fire was combined with management, harvest shortfalls occurred in all scenarios with a fire cycle of 100 years and most scenarios with a fire cycle of 150 years. Even a fire cycle of 500 years led to a reduction in older forest when its maintenance was not a primary constraint. Our results highlight the need to consider the broad-scale effects of natural disturbance when developing ecosystem management policies and the importance of prioritizing objectives when planning for multiple resource use

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψKS0B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0 branching fraction

The $B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ branching fraction is measured in a data sample corresponding to 0.41$fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions affecting the sin2$\beta$ measurement from $B^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ The time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be $BF(B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0)=(1.83\pm0.28)\times10^{-5}$. This is the most precise measurement to date

Model-independent search for CP violation in D0→K−K+π−π+ and D0→π−π+π+π− decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states K−K+π−π+ and π−π+π+π− is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K−K+π−π+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the π−π+π+π− final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

Measurement of the CP-violating phase \phi s in Bs->J/\psi\pi+\pi- decays

Measurement of the mixing-induced CP-violating phase phi_s in Bs decays is of prime importance in probing new physics. Here 7421 +/- 105 signal events from the dominantly CP-odd final state J/\psi pi+ pi- are selected in 1/fb of pp collision data collected at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. A time-dependent fit to the data yields a value of phi_s=-0.019^{+0.173+0.004}_{-0.174-0.003} rad, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. No evidence of direct CP violation is found.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; minor revisions on May 23, 201

Search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓

A search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓ is performed with a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0  fb-1 of pp collisions at √s=7  TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The observed number of Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓ candidates is consistent with background expectations. Upper limits on the branching fractions of both decays are determined to be B(Bs0→e±μ∓)101  TeV/c2 and MLQ(B0→e±μ∓)>126  TeV/c2 at 95% C.L., and are a factor of 2 higher than the previous bounds