Breast-feeding and weaning practices in Venda, 1990

A stratified randOlll cluster survey, using a structured interview schedule, was performed to determine the prevalence, frequency and duration of breast-feeding alllong Venda mothers as well as the foods that Venda children commonly ate in their first 2 years of life. Nearly all children under 2 years old were being breast-fed and virtually all of these were fed on demand. Approximately 60% of infants under 3 months of age and virtually all others under 2 years old received supplementary foods daily. A further 30% ofinfants under the age of 3 months were given supplementary water daily. Forty per cent of infants under 3 months old and virtually all in the other age groups were given carbohydrates daily. Protein foods, vitamin mineral and high-energy sources were given less frequently. Only 12% in the 6 - 11-month age group and 21% in the 12 - 23-111onth age group received a balanced diet daily. A significant proportion of children in all age groups received only carbohydrates over and above breast-milk. Traditional xnixes were infrequently given. More research is needed to assess actual breast-milk production by mothers whose children are being fed supplelllentary foods. The effect of socio-economic status on weaning practices and that of weaning practices on nutritional status need to be investigated. Food supplelllentation and nutrition education progralllllles need to be intensified

Coupling of actin hydrolysis and polymerization: Reduced description with two nucleotide states

The polymerization of actin filaments is coupled to the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which involves both the cleavage of ATP and the release of inorganic phosphate. We describe hydrolysis by a reduced two-state model with a cooperative cleavage mechanism, where the cleavage rate depends on the state of the neighboring actin protomer in a filament. We obtain theoretical predictions of experimentally accessible steady state quantities such as the size of the ATP-actin cap, the size distribution of ATP-actin islands, and the cleavage flux for cooperative cleavage mechanisms.Comment: 6 page

Non-local interactions in hydrodynamic turbulence at high Reynolds numbers: the slow emergence of scaling laws

We analyze the data stemming from a forced incompressible hydrodynamic simulation on a grid of 2048^3 regularly spaced points, with a Taylor Reynolds number of Re~1300. The forcing is given by the Taylor-Green flow, which shares similarities with the flow in several laboratory experiments, and the computation is run for ten turnover times in the turbulent steady state. At this Reynolds number the anisotropic large scale flow pattern, the inertial range, the bottleneck, and the dissipative range are clearly visible, thus providing a good test case for the study of turbulence as it appears in nature. Triadic interactions, the locality of energy fluxes, and structure functions of the velocity increments are computed. A comparison with runs at lower Reynolds numbers is performed, and shows the emergence of scaling laws for the relative amplitude of local and non-local interactions in spectral space. The scalings of the Kolmogorov constant, and of skewness and flatness of velocity increments, performed as well and are consistent with previous experimental results. Furthermore, the accumulation of energy in the small-scales associated with the bottleneck seems to occur on a span of wavenumbers that is independent of the Reynolds number, possibly ruling out an inertial range explanation for it. Finally, intermittency exponents seem to depart from standard models at high Re, leaving the interpretation of intermittency an open problem.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Large scale flow effects, energy transfer, and self-similarity on turbulence

The effect of large scales on the statistics and dynamics of turbulent fluctuations is studied using data from high resolution direct numerical simulations. Three different kinds of forcing, and spatial resolutions ranging from 256^3 to 1024^3, are being used. The study is carried out by investigating the nonlinear triadic interactions in Fourier space, transfer functions, structure functions, and probability density functions. Our results show that the large scale flow plays an important role in the development and the statistical properties of the small scale turbulence. The role of helicity is also investigated. We discuss the link between these findings and intermittency, deviations from universality, and possible origins of the bottleneck effect. Finally, we briefly describe the consequences of our results for the subgrid modeling of turbulent flows

Spin-polarized oxygen hole states in cation deficient La(1-x)CaxMnO(3+delta)

When holes are doped into a Mott-Hubbard type insulator, like lightly doped manganites of the La(1-x)CaxMnO3 family, the cooperative Jahn-Teller distortions and the appearance of orbital ordering require an arrangement of Mn(3+)/Mn(4+) for the establishment of the insulating canted antiferromagnetic (for x<=0.1), or of the insulating ferromagnetic (for 0.1<x<= 0.2) ground state. In the present work we provide NMR evidence about a novel and at the same time puzzling effect in La(1-x)CaxMnO(3+delta) systems with cation deficience. We show that in the low Ca-doping regime, these systems exhibit a very strong hyperfine field at certain La nuclear sites, which is not present in the stoichiometric compounds. Comparison of our NMR results with recent x-ray absorption data at the Mn K edge, suggests the formation of a spin-polarized hole arrangement on the 2p oxygen orbitals as the origin of this effect.Comment: 10 pages, 4 Figures, submitted to PR

High voltage measurements on a prototype PFN for the LHC injection kickers

Two LHC injection kicker magnet systems must produce a kick of 1.3 T.m each with a flattop duration of 4.25 mu s or 6.5 mu s, a rise time of 900 ns, and a fall time of 3 mu s. The ripple in the field must be less than +or-0.5The electrical circuit of the complete system has been simulated with PSpice. The model includes a 66 kV resonant charging power supply (RCPS), a 5 Omega pulse forming network (PFN), a terminated 5 Omega kicker magnet, and all known parasitic quantities. Component selection for the PEN was made on the basis of models in which a theoretical field ripple of less than +or-0.1as attained. A prototype 66 kV RCPS was built at TRIUMF and shipped to CERN. A prototype 5 Omega system including a PFN, thyratron switches, and terminating resistors, was built at CERN. The system (without a kicker magnet) was assembled as designed without trimming of any PFN component values. The PFN was charged to 60 kV via the RCPS operating at 0.1 Hz. The thyratron timing was adjusted to provide a 30 kV, 5.5 mu s duration pulse on a 5 Omega terminating resistor. Measurement data is presented for the prototype PFN, connected to resistive terminators. A procedure has been developed for compensating the probe and oscilloscope amplifier calibration errors. The top of the 30 kV pulse is flat to +or-0.3after an initial oscillation of 600 ns total duration. The post-pulse period is flat to within +or-0.1after approximately 600 ns from the bottom of the falling edge of the pulse. A calculation was performed in which a measured 27.5 kV pulse with a 5.5 mu s flattop was fed into a PSpice model of a kicker magnet with a 690 ns delay length. The resultant predicted kick rise time, from 0.2to 99.8, is 834 ns and the fall time 2.94 mu s, for a field pulse with a flattop of 4.69 mu s and a ripple of less than +or-0.2(12 refs)

Leptogenesis and Low-energy Observables

We relate leptogenesis in a class of theories to low-energy experimental observables: quark and lepton masses and mixings. With reasonable assumptions motivated by grand unification, one can show that the CP-asymmetry parameter takes a universal form. Furthermore the dilution mass is related to the light neutrino masses. Overall, these models offer a natural explanation for a lepton asymmetry in the early universe.Comment: 10 pages, revised discussion on light neutrino masse