337 research outputs found
Recruitment and baseline characteristics of the Community of Voices choir study to promote the health and well-being of diverse older adults.
Objective:To describe the recruitment and baseline results of the Community of Voices study that aims to examine the effect of a community choir intervention on the health and well-being of older adults from diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Method:Using community-based participatory research methods, we recruited adults age 60 and over from 12 Administration on Aging-supported senior centers in San Francisco into a 2-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial of the community choir intervention. Multiple outreach methods were used. We tracked outreach, screening, and recruitment metrics and collected demographics and baseline outcomes via community-based, interviewer-administered surveys and performance measures of cognition, physical function, and psychosocial variables. Results:The study contacted 819 individuals, screened 636, and enrolled 390 diverse older adults over a 42-month, phased recruitment period. The mean age was 71.2 (SD = 7.3), and the majority were women. Two-thirds of the sample are non-white, and 20% of participants reported having financial hardship. Discussion:Outreach and recruitment methods used in the Community of Voices trial facilitated enrollment of a large proportion of minority and lower-SES older adults in the final sample. Similar recruitment approaches could serve as a model for recruiting diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic older adults into research
Interpretation of soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in agricultural and afforested soils
Includes bibliographical references (pages 1627-1628).Interpretation of soil organic C (SOC) dynamics depends heavily on analytical methods and management systems studied. Comparison of data from long-term corn (Zea mays)-plot soils in Eastern North America showed mean residence times (MRTs) of SOC determined by 14C dating were 176 times those measured with 13C abundance following a 30-yr replacement of C3 by C4 plants on the same soils. However, MRTs of the two methods were related (r 2 = 0.71). Field 13C MRTs of SOC were also related (R 2 = 0.55 to 0.85) to those measured by 13CO2 evolution and curve fitting during laboratory incubation. The strong relations, but different MRTs, were interpreted to mean that the three methods sampled different parts of a SOC continuum. The SOC of all parts of this continuum must be affected by the same controls on SOC dynamics for this to occur. Methods for site selection, plant biomass, soil sampling and analysis were tested on agricultural, afforested-agriculture, and native forest sites to determine the controls on SOC dynamics. Soil-C changes after afforestation were â0.07 to 0.55 Mg C haâ1 yrâ1 on deciduous sites and â0.85 to 0.58 Mg C haâ1 yrâ1 under conifers. Soil N changes under afforestation ranged from â0.1 to 0.025 Mg N haâ1 yrâ1 Ecosystem N accumulation was â0.09 to 0.08 Mg N haâ1 yrâ1 Soil C and N sequestration but not plant biomass were related to soil Ca, Mg, and K contents. Comparative, independent assays of long-term plots provides information for concept testing and the confidence necessary for decision-makers determining C-cycle policies
Cross Section Limits for the Pb(Kr,n)118 Reaction
In April-May, 2001, the previously reported experiment to synthesize element
118 using the Pb(Kr,n)118 reaction was repeated. No
events corresponding to the synthesis of element 118 were observed with a total
beam dose of 2.6 x 10 ions. The simple upper limit cross sections (1
event) were 0.9 and 0.6 pb for evaporation residue magnetic rigidities of 2.00
and 2.12 , respectively. A more detailed cross section calculation,
accounting for an assumed narrow excitation function, the energy loss of the
beam in traversing the target and the uncertainty in the magnetic rigidity of
the Z=118 recoils is also presented. Re-analysis of the primary data files from
the 1999 experiment showed the reported element 118 events are not in the
original data. The current results put constraints on the production cross
section for synthesis of very heavy nuclei in cold fusion reactions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to EPJ
Gas chemical investigation of hafnium and zirconium complexes with hexafluoroacetylacetone using preseparated short-lived radioisotopes
Volatile metal complexes of the group 4 elements Zr and Hf with hexafluoroacetylacetonate (hfa) have been studied using short-lived radioisotopes of the metals. The new technique of physical preseparation has been employed where reaction products from heavy-ion induced fusion reactions are isolated in a physical recoil separator - the Berkeley Gas-filled Separator in our work - and made available for chemistry experiments. Formation and decomposition of M(hfa)4 (M=Zr, Hf) has been observed and the interaction strength with a fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) Teflon surface has been studied. From the results of isothermal chromatography experiments, an adsorption enthalpy of -ÎHa=(57Âą3)kJ/mol was deduced. In optimization experiments, the time for formation of the complex and its transport to a counting setup installed outside of the irradiation cave was minimized and values of roughly one minute have been reached. The half-life of 165Hf, for which conflicting values appear in the literature, was measured to be (73.9Âą0.8)s. Provided that samples suitable for Îą-spectroscopy can be prepared, the investigation of rutherfordium (Rf), the transactinide member of group 4, appears possible. In the future, based on the studies presented here, it appears possible to investigate short-lived single atoms produced with low rates ( e.g. , transactinide isotopes) in completely new chemical systems, e.g. , as metal complexes with organic ligands as used here or as organometallic compound
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Decay spectroscopy of element 115 daughters: ²â¸â°Rg â ²âˇâśMt and ²âˇâśMt â ²âˇÂ˛Bh
Forty-six decay chains, assigned to the decay of ²â¸â¸115, were produced using the ²â´ÂłAm(â´â¸Ca,3n) ²â¸â¸115 reaction at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 88-in. cyclotron. The resulting series of Îą decays were studied using Îą-photon and Îą-x-ray spectroscopies. Multiple Îą-photon coincidences were observed in the element 115 decay chain members, particularly in the third- and fourth-generation decays (presumed to be ²â¸â°Rg and ²âˇâśMt, respectively). Upon combining these data with those from 22 ²â¸â¸115 decay chains observed in a similar experiment, updated level schemes in ²âˇâśMt and ²âˇÂ˛Bh (populated by the Îą decay of ²â¸â°Rg and ²âˇâśMt, respectively) are proposed. Photons were observed in the energy range expected for K x rays coincident with the Îą decay of both ²â¸â°Rg and ²âˇâśMt. However, Compton scattering of higher-energy Îł rays and discrete transitions are present in the K x-ray region preventing a definitive Z identification to be made based on observation of characteristic K x-ray energies
Search for the Production of Element 112 in the 48Ca + 238U Reaction
We have searched for the production of element 112 in the reaction of 231 MeV
48Ca with 238U. We have not observed any events with a "one event" upper limit
cross section of 1.6 pb for EVR-fission events and 1.8 pb for EVR-alpha events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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New Isotope 263Hs
A new isotope of Hs was produced in the reaction 208Pb(56Fe, n)263Hs at the 88-Inch Cyclotron of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Six genetically correlated nuclear decay chains have been observed and assigned to the new isotope 263Hs. The measured cross section was 21+13-8.4 pb at 276.4 MeV lab-frame center-of-target beam energy. 263Hs decays with a half-life of 0.74 ms by alpha-decay and the measured alpha-particle energies are 10.57 +- 0.06, 10.72 +- 0.06, and 10.89 +- 0.06 MeV. The experimental cross section is compared to a theoretical prediction based on the Fusion by Diffusion model [W. J. Swiatecki et al., Phys. Rev. C 71, 014602 (2005)]
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