Effects of textured compression socks on postural control in physically active elderly individuals

The aim of this investigation was to analyze the role of textured compression socks on somatosensory function in a sample of physically active elderly individuals when performing a static balancing task. Both textured insoles and athletic tape are deemed to be beneficial for enhancing proprioception because of the capacity for exploiting availability of “sensorimotor system noise”, which enhances movement control and individuals’ joint position perception. It was hypothesized that the compression feature in knee length socks would provide greater stimulation to lower leg mechanoreceptors, and help participants achieve better balance control. Participants (N=8) performed a 30-s Romberg static balance test protocol under three conditions (barefoot; wearing commercial socks; wearing textured compression socks), in a counterbalanced order, with four levels of performance difficulty: (1) standing on a stable surface with open eyes (SO); (2) a stable surface with closed eyes (SC); (3) a foam surface with open eyes (FO); and (4) a foam surface with closed eyes (FC). Two commonly investigated recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) measures (% Det and entropy) were extracted from the recurrence plot for multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). There were no significant interactions between the levels of performance difficulty and the sock treatments, p> 0.05 for both % Det and entropy in both Anterior-posterior (AP) and medial-lateral (ML) directions. There was no significant main effect of sock treatments, P> 0.05). However, a main effect for performance difficulty on % Det and entropy was observed in both AP and ML directions. The RQA measures demonstrated that the sensory systems in elderly individuals are able to aid the adaptive re-organization of postural behaviour in response to changing task constraints (performance difficulty levels)

Detection of molecular gas in an ALMA [C II]-identified submillimetre galaxy at z = 4.44

We present the detection of 12CO(2–1) in the z = 4.44 submillimetre galaxy ALESS65.1 using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. A previous Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array study of submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South determined the redshift of this optically and near-infrared undetected source through the measurement of [C II] 157.74 μm emission. Using the luminosity of the 12CO(2–1) emission, we estimate the gas mass to be Mgas ∼ 1.7 × 1010 M⊙. The gas depletion time-scale of ALESS65.1 is ∼ 25 Myr, similar to other high-redshift SMGs and consistent with z > 4 SMGs being the progenitors of massive ‘red-and-dead’ galaxies at z > 2. The ratio of the [C II], 12CO and far-infrared luminosities implies a strong far-ultraviolet field of G0 ∼ 103.25, which is at the high end of the far-ultraviolet fields seen in local starbursts, but weaker than the far-ultraviolet fields of most nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). The high ratio of L[CII]/LFIR=1.0×10−3 observed in ALESS65.1, combined with L[CII]/LCO∼2300, is consistent with ALESS65.1 having more extended regions of intense star formation than local ULIRGs

The Ricci flow on noncommutative two-tori

In this paper we construct a version of Ricci flow for noncommutative 2-tori, based on a spectral formulation in terms of the eigenvalues and eigenfunction of the Laplacian and recent results on the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for noncommutative tori.Comment: 18 pages, LaTe

Supramolecular chemistry enables vat photopolymerization 3D printing of novel water-soluble tablets

YesVat photopolymerization has garnered interest from pharmaceutical researchers for the fabrication of personalised medicines, especially for drugs that require high precision dosing or are heat labile. However, the 3D printed structures created thus far have been insoluble, limiting printable dosage forms to sustained-release systems or drug-eluting medical devices which do not require dissolution of the printed matrix. Resins that produce water-soluble structures will enable more versatile drug release profiles and expand potential applications. To achieve this, instead of employing cross-linking chemistry to fabricate matrices, supramolecular chemistry may be used to impart dynamic interaction between polymer chains. In this study, water-soluble drug-loaded printlets (3D printed tablets) are fabricated via digital light processing (DLP) 3DP for the first time. Six formulations with varying ratios of an electrolyte acrylate

Rad-hard Luminosity Monitoring for the LHC

Luminosity measurements at the high luminosity points of the LHC are very challenging due to the extremely high radiation levels in the order of 180 MGy/yr. They have designed an ionization chamber that uses a flowing inorganic gas mixture and a combination of metals and ceramics. With such a choice, an additional challenge is achieving the necessary speed to be able to resolve bunch-by-bunch luminosity data. They present the design, analysis and experimental results of the early demonstration tests of this device

Complimentary Narrative Commentaries of Statutory Accounts in the Annual Reports of UK Listed Companies

This paper, for the first time, classifies narrative information into complementary and supplementary. For the purpose of the paper, complementary narrative information is defined as that information which refers to specific numbers presented in the statutory accounts (profit and loss and balance sheet). Non-specific narrative information is classified as supplementary. Having made the distinction and provided reasons for such a distinction the study investigates the extent of complementary narrative commentaries on numbers from the statutory accounts. The study also investigates which company-specific characteristics are associated with the extent of complementary narrative commentaries. An index consisting of 46 items which must be reported in the statutory accounts was used to measure the extent of complementary narrative commentaries in the annual reports of 170 listed UK companies. the findings suggest that, on average, the companies comment on 3909% of the numbers appearing in their statutory accounts. using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model, the results indicate that company size, gearing, profitability, liquidity ratio, the presence of exceptional items, and substantial institutional investment are significantly associated with the extent of complementary narrative commentaries. However, auditory type, directors' share ownership, and the proportion of non-executive directors are not significantly associated with the extent of complementary narrative commentaries. The research has important implications for accounting regulators, users of annual reports and future research into the usefulness narrative information provided in annual reports

Organic Superconductors: when correlations and magnetism walk in

This survey provides a brief account for the start of organic superconductivity motivated by the quest for high Tc superconductors and its development since the eighties'. Besides superconductivity found in 1D organics in 1980, progresses in this field of research have contributed to better understand the physics of low dimensional conductors highlighted by the wealth of new remarkable properties. Correlations conspire to govern the low temperature properties of the metallic phase. The contribution of antiferromagnetic fluctuations to the interchain Cooper pairing proposed by the theory is borne out by experimental investigations and supports supercondutivity emerging from a non Fermi liquid background. Quasi one dimensional organic superconductors can therefore be considered as simple prototype systems for the more complex high Tc materials.Comment: 41 pages, 21 figures to be published in Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetis

Measurement of the cross section of high transverse momentum Z→bb̄ production in proton–proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter reports the observation of a high transverse momentum Z→bb̄ signal in proton–proton collisions at √s=8 TeV and the measurement of its production cross section. The data analysed were collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb−¹. The Z→bb̄ decay is reconstructed from a pair of b -tagged jets, clustered with the anti-ktkt jet algorithm with R=0.4R=0.4, that have low angular separation and form a dijet with pT>200 GeVpT>200 GeV. The signal yield is extracted from a fit to the dijet invariant mass distribution, with the dominant, multi-jet background mass shape estimated by employing a fully data-driven technique that reduces the dependence of the analysis on simulation. The fiducial cross section is determined to be σZ→bb¯fid=2.02±0.20 (stat.) ±0.25 (syst.)±0.06 (lumi.) pb=2.02±0.33 pb, in good agreement with next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions

Measurement of the branching ratio Γ(Λb⁰ → ψ(2S)Λ0)/Γ(Λb⁰ → J/ψΛ0) with the ATLAS detector

An observation of the $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \psi(2S) \Lambda^0$ decay and a comparison of its branching fraction with that of the $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi \Lambda^0$ decay has been made with the ATLAS detector in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8\,$TeV at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of $20.6\,$fb$^{-1}$. The $J/\psi$ and $\psi(2S)$ mesons are reconstructed in their decays to a muon pair, while the $\Lambda^0\rightarrow p\pi^-$ decay is exploited for the $\Lambda^0$ baryon reconstruction. The $\Lambda_b^0$ baryons are reconstructed with transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}>10\,$GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<2.1$. The measured branching ratio of the $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \psi(2S) \Lambda^0$ and $\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi \Lambda^0$ decays is $\Gamma(\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow \psi(2S)\Lambda^0)/\Gamma(\Lambda_b^0 \rightarrow J/\psi\Lambda^0) = 0.501\pm 0.033 ({\rm stat})\pm 0.019({\rm syst})$, lower than the expectation from the covariant quark model.Comment: 12 pages plus author list (28 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, published on Physics Letters B 751 (2015) 63-80. All figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/BPHY-2013-08