945 research outputs found
Multi-center initiative for evaluation research and capacity building for micronutrient deficiency control programs
This project was part of a larger effort entitled âInitiative on Successful Micronutrient Programs.â The research, carried out by national institutions with support from project funding and expertise, established the state of the art in large scale interventions to address deficiencies of iodine, iron, and vitamin A. Findings indicate that systematic application of conventional procedures for project initiation worked, and can be further applied. Materials from the project and related documents have been distributed to training institutions. The capacity building strategy envisages triangular links, with developed-country institutions working to support the development of less experienced institutions
Stability of Monomer-Dimer Piles
We measure how strong, localized contact adhesion between grains affects the
maximum static critical angle, theta_c, of a dry sand pile. By mixing dimer
grains, each consisting of two spheres that have been rigidly bonded together,
with simple spherical monomer grains, we create sandpiles that contain strong
localized adhesion between a given particle and at most one of its neighbors.
We find that tan(theta_c) increases from 0.45 to 1.1 and the grain packing
fraction, Phi, decreases from 0.58 to 0.52 as we increase the relative number
fraction of dimer particles in the pile, nu_d, from 0 to 1. We attribute the
increase in tan(theta_c(nu_d)) to the enhanced stability of dimers on the
surface, which reduces the density of monomers that need to be accomodated in
the most stable surface traps. A full characterization and geometrical
stability analysis of surface traps provides a good quantitative agreement
between experiment and theory over a wide range of nu_d, without any fitting
parameters.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures consisting of 21 eps files, submitted to PR
Water and Fertilizer Influence on Sorghum Grain Quality for Traditional Beer (Dolo) Production in Burkina Faso
In the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso, grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is the major cereal crop used to produce the traditional beer called dolo. Grain sorghum grain samples collected in 2004 and 2005 from experiments combining five water management techniques and four fertilizer treatments in a randomized complete block design with a split plot arrangement of treatments were analyzed for the physicochemical properties of raw grain, and quality of malted grain. Water management techniques were allocated to main plots and fertilizer treatments to subplots. The objective was to determine the best combination of water management technique and fertilizer treatment to optimize grain quality of the red grain sorghum varieties IRAT9 and ICSV1001 (Framida) for dolo production. Results showed that the grain physicochemical properties and malt quality of the two varieties were influenced by both water management technique and fertilizer treatment. Pearson correlations indicated that grain yield was rarely correlated with the physicochemical properties of raw grain and malt quality parameters. Diastatic power was positively correlated with protein concentration and malting losses, but negatively with tannin concentration. Based upon results, recommendation for the production of sorghum grain and malt with the needed characteristics for high dolo quality would be the use of water management techniques that sufficiently improve soil water conditions in combination with a microdose + 20 kg P ha-1 + 30 kg N ha-1 fertilizer application that provides sufficient nutrients and particularly nitrogen to the crop
Time Resolved Control of Electron Tunnelling Times and Single-shot Spin Readout in a Quantum Dot
We are pursuing a capability to perform time resolved manipulations of single
spins in quantum dot circuits involving more than two quantum dots. In this
paper, we demonstrate full counting statistics as well as averaging techniques
we use to calibrate the tunnel barriers. We make use of this to implement the
Delft protocol for single shot single spin readout in a device designed to form
a triple quantum dot potential. We are able to tune the tunnelling times over
around three orders of magnitude. We obtain a spin relaxation time of 300
microseconds at 10T.Comment: Submitted to EP2DS 2009 Conference Proceeding
Superconductor-Insulator Transition in a Capacitively Coupled Dissipative Environment
We present results on disordered amorphous films which are expected to
undergo a field-tuned Superconductor-Insulator Transition.The addition of a
parallel ground plane in proximity to the film changes the character of the
transition.Although the screening effects expected from "dirty-boson" theories
are not evident,there is evidence that the ground plane couples a certain type
of dissipation into the system,causing a dissipation-induced phase
transition.The dissipation due to the phase transition couples similarly into
quantum phase transition systems such as superconductor-insulator transitions
and Josephson junction arrays.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Point interactions in one dimension and holonomic quantum fields
We introduce and study a family of quantum fields, associated to
delta-interactions in one dimension. These fields are analogous to holonomic
quantum fields of M. Sato, T. Miwa and M. Jimbo. Corresponding field operators
belong to an infinite-dimensional representation of the group SL(2,\Rb) in
the Fock space of ordinary harmonic oscillator. We compute form factors of such
fields and their correlation functions, which are related to the determinants
of Schroedinger operators with a finite number of point interactions. It is
also shown that these determinants coincide with tau functions, obtained
through the trivialization of the -bundle over a Grassmannian
associated to a family of Schroedinger operators.Comment: 17 page
Large-scale assessment of 7-11-year-oldsâ cognitive and sensorimotor function within the Born in Bradford longitudinal birth cohort study
Background:Â Cognitive ability and sensorimotor function are crucial aspects of childrenâs development, and are associated with physical and mental health outcomes and educational attainment. This paper describes cross-sectional sensorimotor and cognitive function data collected on over 15,000 children aged 7-10 years, collected as part of the Born in Bradford (BiB) longitudinal birth-cohort study. Methodological details of the large-scale data collection process are described, along with initial analyses of the data involving the relationship between cognition/sensorimotor ability and age and task difficulty, and associations between tasks. Method: Data collection was completed in 86 schools between May 2016 and July 2019. Children were tested at school, individually, using a tablet computer with a digital stylus or finger touch for input. Assessments comprised a battery of three sensorimotor tasks (Tracking, Aiming, & Steering) and five cognitive tasks (three Working Memory tasks, Inhibition, and Processing Speed), which took approximately 40 minutes. Results: Performance improved with increasing age and decreasing task difficulty, for each task. Performance on all three sensorimotor tasks was correlated, as was performance on the three working memory tasks. In addition, performance on a composite working memory score correlated with performance on both inhibition and processing speed. Interestingly, within age-group variation was much larger than between age-group variation. Conclusions: The current project collected computerised measures of a range of cognitive and sensorimotor functions at 7-10 years of age in over 15,000 children. Performance varied as expected by age and task difficulty, and showed the predicted correlations between related tasks. Large within-age group variation highlights the need to consider the profile of individual children in studying cognitive and sensorimotor development. These data can be linked to the wider BiB dataset including measures of physical and mental health, biomarkers and genome-wide data, socio-demographic information, and routine data from local health and education services.</p
Improving tree mortality models by accounting for environmental influences
Tree-ring chronologies have been widely used in studies of tree mortality where variables of recent growth act as an indicator of tree physiological vigour. Comparing recent radial growth of live and dead trees thus allows estimating probabilities of tree mortality. Sampling of mature dead trees usually provides death-year distributions that may span over years or decades. Recent growth of dead trees (prior to death) is then computed during a number of periods, whereas recent growth (prior to sampling) for live trees is computed for identical periods. Because recent growth of live and dead trees is then computed for different periods, external factors such as disturbance or climate may influence growth rates and, thus, mortality probability estimations. To counteract this problem, we propose the truncating of live-growth series to obtain similar frequency distributions of the "last year of growth" for the populations of live and dead trees. In this paper, we use different growth scenarios from several tree species, from several geographic sources, and from trees with different growth patterns to evaluate the impact of truncating on predictor variables and their selection in logistic regression analysis. Also, we assess the ability of the resulting models to accurately predict the status of trees through internal and external validation. Our results suggest that the truncating of live-growth series helps decrease the influence of external factors on growth comparisons. By doing so, it reinforces the growth-vigour link of the mortality model and enhances the model's accuracy as well as its general applicability. Hence, if model parameters are to be integrated in simulation models of greater geographical extent, truncating may be used to increase model robustness
True Superconductivity in a 2D "Superconducting-Insulating" System
We present results on disordered amorphous films which are expected to
undergo a field-tuned Superconductor-Insulator Transition. Based on low-field
data and I-V characteristics, we find evidence of a low temperature
Metal-to-Superconductor transition. This transition is characterized by
hysteretic magnetoresistance and discontinuities in the I-V curves. The
metallic phase just above the transition is different from the "Fermi Metal"
before superconductivity sets in.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Antimatter from the cosmological baryogenesis and the anisotropies and polarization of the CMB radiation
We discuss the hypotheses that cosmological baryon asymmetry and entropy were
produced in the early Universe by phase transition of the scalar fields in the
framework of spontaneous baryogenesis scenario. We show that annihilation of
the matter-antimatter clouds during the cosmological hydrogen recombination
could distort of the CMB anisotropies and polarization by delay of the
recombination. After recombination the annihilation of the antibaryonic clouds
(ABC) and baryonic matter can produce peak-like reionization at the high
redshifts before formation of quasars and early galaxy formation. We discuss
the constraints on the parameters of spontaneous baryogenesis scenario by the
recent WMAP CMB anisotropy and polarization data and on possible manifestation
of the antimatter clouds in the upcoming PLANCK data.Comment: PRD in press with minor change
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