2,610 research outputs found
Sleep duration and risk of obesity among a sample of Victorian school children
Abstract Background Insufficient sleep is potentially an important modifiable risk factor for obesity and poor physical activity and sedentary behaviours among children. However, inconsistencies across studies highlight the need for more objective measures. This paper examines the relationship between sleep duration and objectively measured physical activity, sedentary time and weight status, among a sample of Victorian Primary School children. Methods A sub-sample of 298 grades four (n = 157) and six (n = 132) Victorian primary school children (aged 9.2-13.2 years) with complete accelerometry and anthropometry data, from 39 schools, were taken from a pilot study of a larger state based cluster randomized control trial in 2013. Data comprised: researcher measured height and weight; accelerometry derived physical activity and sedentary time; and self-reported sleep duration and hypothesised confounding factors (e.g. age, gender and environmental factors). Results Compared with sufficient sleepers (67 %), those with insufficient sleep (<10 hrs/day) were significantly more likely to be overweight (OR 1.97, 95 % CI:1.11-3.48) or obese (OR 2.43, 95 % CI:1.26-4.71). No association between sleep and objectively measured physical activity levels or sedentary time was found. Conclusion The strong positive relationship between weight status and sleep deprivation merits further research though PA and sedentary time do not seem to be involved in the relationship. Strategies to improve sleep duration may help obesity prevention initiatives in the future
Evidence for a change in the nuclear mass surface with the discovery of the most neutron-rich nuclei with 17<Z <25
The results of measurements of the production of neutron-rich nuclei by the
fragmentation of a 76-Ge beam are presented. The cross sections were measured
for a large range of nuclei including fifteen new isotopes that are the most
neutron-rich nuclides of the elements chlorine to manganese (50-Cl, 53-Ar,
55,56-K, 57,58-Ca, 59,60,61-Sc, 62,63-Ti, 65,66-V, 68-Cr, 70-Mn). The enhanced
cross sections of several new nuclei relative to a simple thermal evaporation
framework, previously shown to describe similar production cross sections,
indicates that nuclei in the region around 62-Ti might be more stable than
predicted by current mass models and could be an indication of a new island of
inversion similar to that centered on 31-Na.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Physical Review Letters, 200
Dynamics and Instabilities of Planar Tensile Cracks in Heterogeneous Media
The dynamics of tensile crack fronts restricted to advance in a plane are
studied. In an ideal linear elastic medium, a propagating mode along the crack
front with a velocity slightly less than the Rayleigh wave velocity, is found
to exist. But the dependence of the effective fracture toughness on
the crack velocity is shown to destabilize the crack front if
. Short wavelength radiation due to weak random
heterogeneities leads to this instability at low velocities. The implications
of these results for the crack dynamics are discussed.Comment: 12 page
Production cross sections from 82Se fragmentation as indications of shell effects in neutron-rich isotopes close to the drip-line
Production cross sections for neutron-rich nuclei from the fragmentation of a
82Se beam at 139 MeV/u were measured. The longitudinal momentum distributions
of 126 neutron-rich isotopes of elements 11 <= Z <= 32 were scanned using an
experimental approach of varying the target thickness. Production cross
sections with beryllium and tungsten targets were determined for a large number
of nuclei including several isotopes first observed in this work. These are the
most neutron-rich nuclides of the elements 22 <= Z <= 25 (64Ti, 67V, 69Cr,
72Mn). One event was registered consistent with 70Cr, and another one with
75Fe. The production cross sections are correlated with Qg systematics to
reveal trends in the data. The results presented here confirm our previous
result from a similar measurement using a 76Ge beam, and can be explained with
a shell model that predicts a subshell closure at N = 34 around Z = 20. This is
demonstrated by systematic trends and calculations with the Abrasion-Ablation
model that are sensitive to separation energies.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted to Phys.Rev.
Isotopic distribution of fission fragments in collisions between 238U beam and 9Be and 12C targets at 24 MeV/u
Inverse kinematics coupled to a high-resolution spectrometer is used to
investigate the isotopic yields of fission fragments produced in reactions
between a 238U beam at 24 MeV/u and 9Be and 12C targets. Mass, atomic number
and isotopic distributions are reported for the two reactions. These
informations give access to the neutron excess and the isotopic distribution
widths, which together with the atomic-number and mass distributions are used
to investigate the fusion-fission dynamics.Comment: Submitted to PR
Production cross sections of neutron rich isotopes from a 82Se beam
Production cross sections for neutron-rich nuclei from the fragmentation of a
82Se beam at 139 MeV/u were measured. The longitudinal momentum distributions
of 122 neutron-rich isotopes of elements were determined by
varying the target thickness. Production cross sections with beryllium and
tungsten targets were determined for a large number of nuclei including several
isotopes first observed in this work. These are the most neutron-rich nuclides
of the elements (64Ti, 67V, 69Cr, 72Mn). One event was
registered consistent with 70Cr, and another one with 75Fe. A one-body Qg
systematics is used to describe the production cross sections based on thermal
evaporation from excited prefragments. The current results confirm those of our
previous experiment with a 76Ge beam: enhanced production cross sections for
neutron-rich fragments near Z=20.Comment: Talk given at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus
Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear
in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS
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