Decay Constants of Heavy-Light Mesons

The decay constants of the heavy-light pseudoscalar mesons are studied in a high statistics run using the Wilson action at $\beta=6.0$ and $\beta=6.2$, and the clover action at $\beta=6.0$. The systematics of $O(a)$ discretisation errors are discussed. Our best estimates of the decay constants are: $f_D$ = 218(9) MeV, $f_D/f_{Ds}$ = 1.11(1) and we obtain preliminary values for $f_B$.Comment: at the Dallas Lattice Conference, October 1993. 3 pages in a single postscript file, uuencoded form. Rome Preprint 93/98

The forgotten stage of forest succession: early-successional ecosystems on forest sites

Early-successional forest ecosystems that develop after stand-replacing or partial disturbances are diverse in species, processes, and structure. Post-disturbance ecosystems are also often rich in biological legacies, including surviving organisms and organically derived structures, such as woody debris. These legacies and postdisturbance plant communities provide resources that attract and sustain high species diversity, including numerous early-successional obligates, such as certain woodpeckers and arthropods. Early succession is the only period when tree canopies do not dominate the forest site, and so this stage can be characterized by high productivity of plant species (including herbs and shrubs), complex food webs, large nutrient fluxes, and high structural and spatial complexity. Different disturbances contrast markedly in terms of biological legacies, and this will influence the resultant physical and biological conditions, thus affecting successional pathways. Management activities, such as post-disturbance logging and dense tree planting, can reduce the richness within and the duration of early-successional ecosystems. Where maintenance of biodiversity is an objective, the importance and value of these natural early-successional ecosystems are underappreciated

Ischemia–Reperfusion Intervention: From Enhancements in Exercise Performance to Accelerated Performance Recovery—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

It has been demonstrated that brief cycles of ischemia followed by reperfusion (IR) applied before exercise can improve performance and, IR intervention, applied immediately after exercise (post-exercise ischemic conditioning—PEIC) exerts a potential ergogenic effect to accelerate recovery. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review with meta-analysis was to identify the effects of PEIC on exercise performance, recovery and the responses of associated physiological parameters, such as creatine kinase, perceived recovery and muscle soreness, over 24 h after its application. From 3281 studies, six involving 106 subjects fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Compared to sham (cuff administration with low pressure) and control interventions (no cuff administration), PEIC led to faster performance recovery (p = 0.004; ES = −0.49) and lower increase in creatine kinase (p < 0.001; effect size (ES) = −0.74) and muscle soreness (p < 0.001; ES = −0.88) over 24 h. The effectiveness of this intervention is more pronounced in subjects with low/moderate fitness level and at least a total time of 10 min of ischemia (e.g., two cycles of 5 min) is necessary to promote positive effects

Determination of the HQET Parameters from the B→XsγB \to X_s\gamma Decay

We combine the resummations for radiative corrections and for the heavy quark expansion to study the inclusive radiative decay $B \to X_s\gamma$. The infrared renormalon ambiguity is also taken into account. Including both theoretical and experimental uncertainties, we determine the allowed domain for the HQET parameters ${\bar \Lambda}$ and $\lambda_1$ centered at ${\bar \Lambda}=0.65$ GeV and $\lambda_1=-0.71$ GeV$^2$.Comment: IR renormalon ambiguity is include

The Forgotten Stage of Forest Succession: Early-Successional Ecosystems on Forest Sites

Early-successional forest ecosystems that develop after stand-replacing or partial disturbances are diverse in species, processes, and structure. Post-disturbance ecosystems are also often rich in biological legacies, including surviving organisms and organically derived structures, such as woody debris. These legacies and post-disturbance plant communities provide resources that attract and sustain high species diversity, including numerous early-successional obligates, such as certain woodpeckers and arthropods. Early succession is the only period when tree canopies do not dominate the forest site, and so this stage can be characterized by high productivity of plant species (including herbs and shrubs), complex food webs, large nutrient fluxes, and high structural and spatial complexity. Different disturbances contrast markedly in terms of biological legacies, and this will influence the resultant physical and biological conditions, thus affecting successional pathways. Management activities, such as post-disturbance logging and dense tree planting, can reduce the richness within and the duration of early-successional ecosystems. Where maintenance of biodiversity is an objective, the importance and value of these natural early-successional ecosystems are underappreciated

Effect of beetroot juice supplementation on aerobic response during swimming

The beneficial effects of beetroot juice supplementation (BJS) have been tested during cycling, walking, and running. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether BJS can also improve performance in swimmers. Fourteen moderately trained male master swimmers were recruited and underwent two incremental swimming tests randomly assigned in a pool during which workload, oxygen uptake (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), pulmonary ventilation (VE), and aerobic energy cost (AEC) of swimming were measured. One was a control swimming test (CSW) and the other a swimming test after six days of BJS (0.5l/day organic beetroot juice containing about 5.5 mmol of NO3 -). Results show that workload at anaerobic threshold was significantly increased by BJS as compared to the CSW test (6.3 ± 1 and 6.7 ± 1.1 kg during the CSW and the BJS test respectively). Moreover, AEC was significantly reduced during the BJS test (1.9 ± 0.5 during the SW test vs. 1.7 ± 0.3 kcal·kg-1·h-1 during the BJS test). The other variables lacked a statistically significant effect with BJS. The present investigation provides evidence that BJS positively affects performance of swimmers as it reduces the AEC and increases the workload at anaerobic threshold

Contribution to the floristic knowledge of Lipari and Panarea Islands (Sicilia, Italy)

The inventory of the taxa collected in 2022 during the annual field trip of the Working Group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society is reported. The field trip was held from 19th to 22th April in the islands of Lipari and Panarea (Aeolian Islands, Sicilia). Overall, 1,664 herbarium specimens were deposited in public and private herbaria. The flora documented for the studied area amounts to 386 specific and subspecific taxa, belonging to 241 genera and 74 families. Centaurea aeolica, Helichrysum litoreum (Asteraceae), and Dianthus rupicola subsp. aeolicus (Caryophyllaceae) were the only three Italian endemics found in the study area, whereas 48 alien taxa were recorded. Dimorphotheca ecklonis (Asteraceae), Nassella tenuissima (Poaceae), Solanum torvum (Solanaceae), and Viola wittrockiana (Violaceae) are casual alien species new to Sicilia, whereas Oenothera odorata (Onagraceae) is a new naturalized alien species for the Italian vascular flora

Non-perturbatively Improved Heavy-Light Mesons: Masses and Decay Constants

We present a study of the heavy-light spectrum and of the D- and B-meson decay constants. The results wer e obtained in the quenched approximation, by using the non-perturbatively improved Clover lattice action at beta=6.2, with a sample of 100 configurations, on a 24^3 x 64 lattice. After a careful analysis of th e systematic errors present in the extraction of the physical results, by assuming quite conservative discretization errors, we find f_Ds=231 +/- 12^{+6}_{-1} MeV, f_D = 211 +/- 14^{+0}_{-12} MeV, f_Ds/f_D=1.10(2), f_Bs = 204 +/- 16^{+28}_{-0} MeV, f_B = 179 +/- 18^{+26}_{-9} MeV, f_Bs/f_B=1.14(3)^{+0}_{-1}. Our results, which have smaller discretization errors than many previous estimates at fixed value of the lattice spacing $a$, support a large value of f_B in the quenched approximation.Comment: 26 pages, 9 Postscript figure

A calculation of the Lepage-Mackenzie scale for the lattice axial and vector currents

We calculate the perturbative scales (q*) for the axial and vector currents for the Wilson action, with and without tadpole improvement, using Lepage and Mackenzie's formalism. The scale for the pseudoscalar density (times the mass) is computed as well. Contrary to naive expectation, tadpole improvement reduces q* by only a small amount for the operators we consider. We also discuss the use of a nonperturbative coupling to calculate the perturbative scale.Comment: 13 pages. One postscript figur