14,651 research outputs found
A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring the Physical Activity Levels of Afghans and Other South Asian Youth in the UK
Introduction: Participating in regular physical activity (PA) has numerous benefits, such as reducing obesity, chronic degenerative conditions, and depression. Despite many health-related benefits, physical inactivity is increasing in young people worldwide, especially in ethnic minority groups, such as British South Asians (BSAs). The aim of this study was to explore the PA levels of BSAs, specifically focusing on youth from Afghan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian groups. Methods: A total of 191 (Afghans N = 44; Bangladeshi N = 39; Indian N = 56, Pakistani N = 52) youth from the West Midlands (UK) participated in this study (mean age 15.4 ± 0.5). The International Physical Activity Questionnaire—Short Form was used to measure PA levels. Data were modelled using a Bayesian approach to determine differences in PA levels. Results: The results indicated that 88.5% Afghans, 80% Bangladeshi, 78.6% Indians and 63% Pakistani reported engaging in <30 min of PA per day. Additionally, boys were more active than girls across all ethnic groups. Discussion: This study highlighted an alarmingly low proportion of young people from each BSA ethnic group meeting the PA guidelines. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore and compare PA levels of the young British Afghan population, thus contributing novel findings to the area of BSA PA. Conclusion: Overall, the vast majority of BSA young people failed to meet the recommended PA guidelines of 60 min per day. Future research could utilise objective methods, such as Global Positioning System, pedometers and accelerometery to track and monitor PA levels, and could adopt an ecological approach to explore determinants of PA within each ethnic and gender group
Generation and Measurement of Non Equilibrium Spin Currents in Two Terminal Systems
Generation and measurement of non-equilibrium spin current in two probe
configuration is discussed. It is argued and shown that spin current can be
generated in two terminal non-magnetic system. Further it is shown that these
spin currents can be measured via conductance in two probe configuration when
the detector probe is ferromagnetic.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
The replacement histone H2A.Z in a hyperacetylated form is a feature of active genes in the chicken
The replacement histone H2A.Z is variously reported
as being linked to gene expression and preventing the
spread of heterochromatin in yeast, or concentrated
at heterochromatin in mammals. To resolve this
apparent dichotomy, affinity-purified antibodies
against the N-terminal region of H2A.Z, in both a triacetylatedandnon-
acetylatedstate, areusedin native
chromatin immmuno-precipitation experiments with
mononucleosomes from three chicken cell types. The
hyperacetylated species concentrates at the 50 end of
active genes, both tissue specific and housekeeping
but is absent from inactive genes, while the
unacetylated form is absent from both active and
inactive genes. A concentration of H2A.Z is also
found at insulators under circumstances implying a
link to barrier activity but not to enhancer blocking.
Although acetylated H2A.Z is widespread throughout
the interphase genome, at mitosis its acetylation is
erased, the unmodified form remaining. Thus,
although H2A.Z may operate as an epigenetic marker
for active genes, its N-terminal acetylation does not
Large-Scale Integration of Nanoelectromechanical Systems for Gas Sensing Applications
We have developed arrays of nanomechanical systems (NEMS) by large-scale integration, comprising thousands of individual nanoresonators with densities of up to 6 million NEMS per square centimeter. The individual NEMS devices are electrically coupled using a combined series-parallel configuration that is extremely robust with respect to lithographical defects and mechanical or electrostatic-discharge damage. Given the large number of connected nanoresonators, the arrays are able to handle extremely high input powers (>1 W per array, corresponding to <1 mW per nanoresonator) without excessive heating or deterioration of resonance response. We demonstrate the utility of integrated NEMS arrays as high-performance chemical vapor sensors, detecting a part-per-billion concentration of a chemical warfare simulant within only a 2 s exposure period
The replacement histone H2A.Z in a hyperacetylated form is a feature of active genes in the chicken
The replacement histone H2A.Z is variously reported
as being linked to gene expression and preventing the
spread of heterochromatin in yeast, or concentrated
at heterochromatin in mammals. To resolve this
apparent dichotomy, affinity-purified antibodies
against the N-terminal region of H2A.Z, in both a triacetylatedandnon-
acetylatedstate, areusedin native
chromatin immmuno-precipitation experiments with
mononucleosomes from three chicken cell types. The
hyperacetylated species concentrates at the 50 end of
active genes, both tissue specific and housekeeping
but is absent from inactive genes, while the
unacetylated form is absent from both active and
inactive genes. A concentration of H2A.Z is also
found at insulators under circumstances implying a
link to barrier activity but not to enhancer blocking.
Although acetylated H2A.Z is widespread throughout
the interphase genome, at mitosis its acetylation is
erased, the unmodified form remaining. Thus,
although H2A.Z may operate as an epigenetic marker
for active genes, its N-terminal acetylation does not
Magnetic Confinement, MHD Waves, and Smooth Line Profiles in AGN
In this paper, we show that if the broad line region clouds are in
approximate energy equipartition between the magnetic field and gravity, as
hypothesized by Rees, there will be a significant effect on the shape and
smoothness of broad emission line profiles in active galactic nuclei. Line
widths of contributing clouds or flow elements are much wider than their
thermal widths, due to the presence of non-dissipative MHD waves, and their
collective contribution produce emission line profiles broader and smoother
than would be expected if a magnetic field were not present. As an
illustration, a simple model of isotropically emitting clouds, normally
distributed in velocity, is used to show that smoothness can be achieved for
less than 80,000 clouds and may even be as low as a few hundred. We conclude
that magnetic confinement has far reaching consequences for observing and
modeling active galactic nuclei.Comment: to appear in MNRA
The Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Variability Selection and Quasar Luminosity Function
The SDSS-IV/eBOSS has an extensive quasar program that combines several
selection methods. Among these, the photometric variability technique provides
highly uniform samples, unaffected by the redshift bias of traditional
optical-color selections, when quasars cross the stellar locus
or when host galaxy light affects quasar colors at . Here, we present
the variability selection of quasars in eBOSS, focusing on a specific program
that led to a sample of 13,876 quasars to over a 94.5
deg region in Stripe 82, an areal density 1.5 times higher than over the
rest of the eBOSS footprint. We use these variability-selected data to provide
a new measurement of the quasar luminosity function (QLF) in the redshift range
. Our sample is denser, reaches deeper than those used in previous
studies of the QLF, and is among the largest ones. At the faint end, our QLF
extends to at low redshift and to
at . We fit the QLF using two independent double-power-law models with
ten free parameters each. The first model is a pure luminosity-function
evolution (PLE) with bright-end and faint-end slopes allowed to be different on
either side of . The other is a simple PLE at , combined with a
model that comprises both luminosity and density evolution (LEDE) at .
Both models are constrained to be continuous at . They present a
flattening of the bright-end slope at large redshift. The LEDE model indicates
a reduction of the break density with increasing redshift, but the evolution of
the break magnitude depends on the parameterization. The models are in
excellent accord, predicting quasar counts that agree within 0.3\% (resp.,
1.1\%) to (resp., ). The models are also in good agreement over
the entire redshift range with models from previous studies.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&
A Determination of H_0 with the CLASS Gravitational Lens B1608+656: I. Time Delay Measurements with the VLA
We present the results of a program to monitor the four-image gravitational
lens B1608+656 with the VLA. The system was observed over a seven month period
from 1996 October to 1997 May. The 64 epochs of observation have an average
spacing of 3.6~d. The light curves of the four images of the background source
show that the flux density of the background source has varied at the ~5%
level. We measure time delays in the system based on common features that are
seen in all four light curves. The three independent time delays in the system
are found to be Delta t_{BA} = 31 +/- 7~d, Delta t_{BC} = 36 +/- 7~d, and Delta
t_{BD} = 76^{+9}_{-10}~d at 95% confidence. This is the first gravitational
lens system for which three independent time delays have been measured. A
companion paper presents a mass model for the lensing galaxy which correctly
reproduces the observed image positions, flux density ratios, and time delay
ratios. The last condition is crucial for determining H_0 with a four-image
lens. We combine the time delays with the model to obtain a value for the
Hubble constant of H_0 = 59^{+8}_{-7} km/s/Mpc at 95% confidence (statistical)
for (Omega_M, Omega_{Lambda}) = (1,0). In addition, there is an estimated
systematic uncertainty of +/- 15 km/s/Mpc from uncertainties in modeling the
radial mass profiles of the lensing galaxies. The value of H_0 presented in
this paper is comparable to recent measurements of H_0 from the gravitational
lenses 0957+561, PG1115+080, B0218+357, and PKS1830-211.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 20 pages, 13 figure
Black Holes at the LHC
If the scale of quantum gravity is near a TeV, the LHC will be producing one
black hole (BH) about every second. The BH decays into prompt, hard photons and
charged leptons is a clean signature with low background. The absence of
significant missing energy allows the reconstruction of the mass of the
decaying BH. The correlation between the BH mass and its temperature, deduced
from the energy spectrum of the decay products, can test experimentally the
higher dimensional Hawking evaporation law. It can also determine the number of
large new dimensions and the scale of quantum gravity.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRL. Results presented at the Les
Houches Workshop "Physics at the TeV Colliders" (May 30, 2001) and the
"Avatars of M-Theory" conference, ITP at Santa Barbara (June 7, 2001),
http://online.itp.ucsb.edu/online/mtheory_c01/dimopoulo
New twist field couplings from the partition function for multiply wrapped D-branes
We consider toroidal compactifications of bosonic string theory with
particular regard to the phases (cocycles) necessary for a consistent
definition of the vertex operators, the boundary states and the T-duality
rules. We use these ingredients to compute the planar multi-loop partition
function describing the interaction among magnetized or intersecting D-branes,
also in presence of open string moduli. It turns out that unitarity in the open
string channel crucially depends on the presence of the cocycles. We then focus
on the 2-loop case and study the degeneration limit where this partition
function is directly related to the tree-level 3-point correlators between
twist fields. These correlators represent the main ingredient in the
computation of Yukawa couplings and other terms in the effective action for
D-brane phenomenological models. By factorizing the 2-loop partition function
we are able to compute the 3-point couplings for abelian twist fields on
generic non-factorized tori, thus generalizing previous expressions valid for
the 2-torus.Comment: 36 pages, 1 figure; v2: typos corrected, proof in the Appendix
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