377 research outputs found
Understanding intra-community disparity in food and nutrition security in a generally food insecure part of eastern Africa
Food and nutrition insecurity continues to be one of the major development challenges in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions of the world. Karamoja sub-region, located in northern Uganda, is one of the poorest and most food insecure part of Eastern Africa. Previous studies have generalized the sub-region as food insecure. However, limited attention has been paid to locational differences in the food and nutrition security situation within this culturally and ecologically diverse part of the country. A crosssectional study design was used to examine at a community level, disparity in food and nutrition security situation among communities in Kotido and Moroto districts of the Karamoja sub-region. The study investigated the status of agricultural production, dietary habits and food security situation using individual household survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS) and food insecurity coping strategy index (CSI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and correlation and regression methods, at 5 % level of significance. The results showed that irrespective of ethnic differences, majority of households (78.8%) consumed less than 3 meals 24 hours preceding the interview. Generally, agricultural production was inadequate to support household food security and less than 30% of the households had adequate calorie intake. However, calorie intake adequacy was at least three (3) times higher in Kotido than in Moroto district. Plant foods were more frequently consumed than animal-source foods. At least 57% and 73% of households in Kotido and Moroto districts, respectively, never consumed fish. Food security was generally predicted by household size, ownership of food stores, occupation of household caregivers, number of livestock (especially goats) owned by households, time taken to fetch water (related to distance to water source) and sorghum production. Whereas it is generally known that Karamoja sub-region is highly food insecure, this study has demonstrated that communities in Moroto district are worse-off than those in Kotido district. Therefore, community-level characteristics ought to be an essential baseline consideration in designing food and nutrition interventions in Karamoja, and indeed in food insecure localities in general.Keywords: Karamoja, Eastern Africa, dietary practices, coping strategies, animal source food
Manageable creativity
This article notes a perception in mainstream management theory and practice that creativity has shifted from being disruptive or destructive to 'manageable'. This concept of manageable creativity in business is reflected in a similar rhetoric in cultural policy, especially towards the creative industries. The article argues that the idea of 'manageable creativity' can be traced back to a 'heroic' and a 'structural' model of creativity. It is argued that the 'heroic' model of creativity is being subsumed within a 'structural' model which emphasises the systems and infrastructure around individual creativity rather than focusing on raw talent and pure content. Yet this structured approach carries problems of its own, in particular a tendency to overlook the unpredictability of creative processes, people and products. Ironically, it may be that some confusion in our policies towards creativity is inevitable, reflecting the paradoxes and transitions which characterise the creative process
Orbital order in the low-dimensional quantum spin system TiOCl probed by ESR
We present electron spin resonance data of Ti (3) ions in single
crystals of the novel layered quantum spin magnet TiOCl. The analysis of the g
tensor yields direct evidence that the d_{xy} orbital from the t_{2g} set is
predominantly occupied and owing to the occurrence of orbital order a linear
spin chain forms along the crystallographic b axis. This result corroborates
recent theoretical LDA+U calculations of the band structure. The temperature
dependence of the parameters of the resonance signal suggests a strong coupling
between spin and lattice degrees of freedom and gives evidence for a transition
to a nonmagnetic ground state at 67 K.Comment: revised version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B, Rapid Com
Bayesian evaluation of budgets for endemic disease control: an example using management changes to reduce milksomatic cell count early in the first lactation of Irish dairy cows
The aim of this research was to determine budgets for specific management interventions to control heifer mastitis in Irish dairy herds as an example of evidence synthesis and 1-step Bayesian micro-simulation in a veterinary context. Budgets were determined for different decision makers based on their willingness to pay. Reducing the prevalence of heifers with a high milk somatic cell count (SCC) early in the first lactation could be achieved through herd level management interventions for pre- and peri-partum heifers, however the cost effectiveness of these interventions is unknown. A synthesis of multiple sources of evidence, accounting for variability and uncertainty in the available data is invaluable to inform decision makers around likely economic outcomes of investing in disease control measures. One analytical approach to this is Bayesian micro-simulation, where the trajectory of different individuals undergoing specific interventions is simulated. The classic micro-simulation framework was extended to encompass synthesis of evidence from 2 separate statistical models and previous research, with the outcome for an individual cow or herd assessed in terms of changes in lifetime milk yield, disposal risk, and likely financial returns conditional on the interventions being simultaneously applied. The 3 interventions tested were storage of bedding inside, decreasing transition yard stocking density, and spreading of bedding evenly in the calving area. Budgets for the interventions were determined based on the minimum expected return on investment, and the probability of the desired outcome. Budgets for interventions to control heifer mastitis were highly dependent on the decision maker's willingness to pay, and hence minimum expected return on investment. Understanding the requirements of decision makers and their rational spending limits would be useful for the development of specific interventions for particular farms to control heifer mastitis, and other endemic diseases.
Keywords
Bayesian; Micro-simulation; Dairy heifer; Mastitis control; Cost-effectiveness; Decision makin
Measurement of the ratio B(D0->pi+pi-pi0)/B(D0->K-pi+pi0) and the time-integrated CP asymmetry in D0->pi+pi-pi0
We report a high-statistics measurement of the relative branching fraction
B(D0->pi+pi-pi0)/B(D0->K-pi+pi0) using a 532 fb^{-1} data sample collected with
the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. The measured
value of the relative branching fraction is B(D0->pi+pi-pi0)/B(D0->K-pi+pi0) =
(10.12 +/- 0.04(stat) +/- 0.18(syst))x10^{-2} which has an accuracy comparable
to the world average. We also present a measurement of the time-integrated CP
asymmetry in D0->pi+pi-pi0 decay. The result, A_{CP} = (0.43 +/- 1.30)%, shows
no significant CP violation.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Physics Letters
Measurement of CP asymmetry in Cabibbo suppressed D0 decays
We measure the CP-violating asymmetries in decays to the D0 -> K+K- and D0 ->
pi+pi- CP eigenstates using 540 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle
detector at or near the Upsilon(4S) resonance. Cabibbo-favored D0 -> K-pi+
decays are used to correct for systematic detector effects. The results,
A_{CP}^{KK} = (-0.43 +- 0.30 +- 0.11)% and A_{CP}^{pipi} = (+0.43 +- 0.52 +-
0.12)%, are consistent with no CP violation.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett.
Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities
A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by
the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an
explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were
chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in
2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that
time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the
broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles
could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII
program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the -factories and CLEO-c
flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the
Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the
deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality,
precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for
continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states
unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such
as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the
spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b},
and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical
approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The
intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have
emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and
cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review
systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing
directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K.
Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D.
Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A.
Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair
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
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
Measurements of long-range near-side angular correlations in TeV proton-lead collisions in the forward region
Two-particle angular correlations are studied in proton-lead collisions at a
nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of TeV, collected
with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on data recorded in
two beam configurations, in which either the direction of the proton or that of
the lead ion is analysed. The correlations are measured in the laboratory
system as a function of relative pseudorapidity, , and relative
azimuthal angle, , for events in different classes of event
activity and for different bins of particle transverse momentum. In
high-activity events a long-range correlation on the near side, , is observed in the pseudorapidity range . This
measurement of long-range correlations on the near side in proton-lead
collisions extends previous observations into the forward region up to
. The correlation increases with growing event activity and is found
to be more pronounced in the direction of the lead beam. However, the
correlation in the direction of the lead and proton beams are found to be
compatible when comparing events with similar absolute activity in the
direction analysed.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and
additional information, are available at
https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-040.htm
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