Laboratory simulation of cometary x rays using a high-resolution microcalorimeter

X-ray emission following charge exchange has been studied on the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory electron beam ion traps EBIT-I and EBIT-II using a high-resolution microcalorimeter. The measured spectra include the K-shell emission from hydrogenlike and heliumlike C, N, O, and Ne needed for simulations of cometary x-ray emission. A comparison of the spectra produced in the interaction of O8+ with N2 and CH4 is presented that illustrates the dependence of the observed spectrum on the interaction gas.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Periodic Travelling Waves in Dimer Granular Chains

We study bifurcations of periodic travelling waves in granular dimer chains from the anti-continuum limit, when the mass ratio between the light and heavy beads is zero. We show that every limiting periodic wave is uniquely continued with respect to the mass ratio parameter and the periodic waves with the wavelength larger than a certain critical value are spectrally stable. Numerical computations are developed to study how this solution family is continued to the limit of equal mass ratio between the beads, where periodic travelling waves of granular monomer chains exist

Procurement push and marketing pull in supply chain management: the conceptual contribution of relationship marketing as a driver in project financial performance

? The agenda for supply management practices on construction projects originated from clients. It is largely procurement driven, the dominant strategy of contractors being to emulate the client approach, and hence push the procurement model along the chain.? This procurement push along the supply chain translates the intrinsic client interest in value into a contractor interest in repeat business from the same client or through referral markets, the consequence being: (i) loss of interest in adding further value along the chain, (ii) continuous improvement prematurely reaches the law of diminishing returns through a primary cost reduction focus, (iii) supply chains may be rationalised in terms of the number of suppliers for each link in the chain, yet the procurement push increases chain length in order to squeeze the lowest costs possible, hence those doing the work at the bottom of the chain will not have the resources to add value nor necessarily be aware of the strategic principles at the top of the chain. ? Marketing is the other side of the same ?procurement coin?; relationship marketing (RM) soliciting a pull in the supply chain, potentially adding value for continuous improvement. ? Finally, the RM approach will be related to the theoretical and actual decoupling point for construction, with the potential to move the point towards the start of the chain, hence increasing the potential for agile manufacturing

Is early life motor performance related to physical activity in adulthood?

Lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases worldwide, estimated to have contributed to 5.3 million or 9% of all deaths in 2008. The World Health Organization recommends for youth 5 to 17 years at least one hour daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and for adults at least 150 minutes per week of moderate, or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent combination of the two. Identifying modifiable risk factors associated with lack of physical activity, including those factors occurring early in life, can contribute to our understanding of how to enhance population-level physical activity and reduce morbidity and mortality burden from lack of physical activity worldwide

Participation in specific leisure-time activities and mortality risk among U.S. adults

Purpose: This prospective cohort study examined the association between specific leisure-time activity and mortality risk. Methods: Data are from 1999 to 2006 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and included adults followed through December 31, 2015 (n = 17,938, representing 191,463,892 U.S. adults). Participants reported specific leisure-time activities performed at moderate-to-vigorous intensity. Walking, bicycling, running, dance, golf, stretching, and weightlifting were examined. Cox proportional hazards models (adjusted hazard ratios [aHRs]; 95% confidence intervals [CIs]) assessed the association of individual activities with the risk of all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and cancer mortality. Results: Over a median follow-up of 11.9 years, 3799 deaths occurred. Any leisure-time walking ([aHR], 0.73; 95% CI, 0.66–0.82), bicycling (aHR, 0.73, 95% CI, 0.59–0.91), and running (aHR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.59–0.84) were associated with lower all-cause mortality compared with no participation in the specific activity. Dance, golf, stretching, and weightlifting were not associated with mortality. Comparable results were observed when activities were categorized as none, less than 60 min/wk, or 60 minutes or more/wk. Walking and running were similarly associated with the risk of CVD mortality. Conclusions: Participating in moderate-to-vigorous walking, bicycling, or running may be particularly beneficial for health and longevity

Globalization intentions in tension: The case of Singapore

10.1177/0020872810371202International Social Work535671-68

Perceived barriers to commuter and exercise bicycling in U.S. adults: The 2017 National Household Travel Survey

Introduction: Bicycling is a type of physical activity associated with positive health outcomes, but many barriers exist to regular bicycling for recreation and transportation. The objective of this study was to describe self-reported barriers to bicycling overall, and by bicycling domain, among a national sample of persons aged 16 and above that reported bicycling outside in the past week. Methods: This analysis, conducted in 2019, utilized data from the United States (US) Department of Transportation's 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). Weighted point estimates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for reported barriers to bicycling by category of bicyclist: exercise-exclusive, multi-use, and commuter. Results: The final analytic sample was 18,189, representing approximately 7% of the US population (N = 20,911,680). Barriers that prevented bicycling more was reported by 37.9% of the US population of adult bicyclists (95% CI 37.2, 38.6). Barriers related to safety were more commonly reported (31.9% of total bicyclists), compared to barriers related to infrastructure (22.1% of total bicyclists). Safety-related barriers were more commonly reported among multi-use bicyclist (33.7% vs. 30.9% of exercise-exclusive). Commuter bicyclists reported infrastructure barriers the least (13.9% vs. 22.7% of exercise-exclusive). The most commonly reported single barrier to bicycling more, regardless of bicycling category, was heavy traffic (10.3% of total bicyclists), followed by no nearby paths or trails (7.6% of total bicyclists). Overall, distribution of individual barriers was similar across categories of bicyclists: exercise-exclusive, multi-use, and commuter. Conclusions: Heavy traffic and lack of separated paths or trails were the most frequently identified barriers to bicycling more. Communities wishing to promote bicycling for transportation, recreation, or both should consider how traffic reduction strategies and changes in the built environment could make bicycling safer and more accessible

The Association between Neighborhood Environments and Physical Activity from Pregnancy to Postpartum: a Prospective Cohort Study

The objectives of this study were to determine if neighborhood measures were associated with physical activity cross-sectionally during late pregnancy (27–30 weeks’ gestation), 3 months postpartum, and 12 months postpartum, and longitudinally with an increase in physical activity from late pregnancy to 12 months postpartum. Data are from the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition (PIN3) and Postpartum Prospective Cohort Study. Dichotomized self-reported recreation and total physical activity hours/week were explored cross-sectionally at three time points, and as an increase over time. Four factors from a neighborhood environmental audit were examined: arterial or thoroughfare, walkable neighborhood, physical incivilities, and decoration. Secondary spatial data included population density, hilliness, intersection density, distance to nearest major road, distance to nearest park, distance to nearest physical activity facility, and distance to nearest bus stop. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to assess the association between environmental variables and physical activity measures. A number of environmental variables were associated with total and recreation physical activity at the three time points in cross-sectional models. For increase in recreation physical activity over time, a moderate distance to nearest major road was significantly associated with increased recreation physical activity from 3 to 12 months postpartum (tertile 2 OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.08, 4.22). Living the furthest distance from the nearest park was inversely associated with an increase in recreation physical activity from pregnancy to 3 months postpartum (tertile 3 OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.29, 0.85). The findings of this study indicate that several aspects of the neighborhood environment, such as walkability, access to transit, distance to recreation facilities, and road networks, are associated with physical activity during different stages of pregnancy and postpartum. Since physical activity may result in long-term health benefits for both the woman and child, environments that support this activity should be encouraged

Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider

This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)

State of the climate in 2013

In 2013, the vast majority of the monitored climate variables reported here maintained trends established in recent decades. ENSO was in a neutral state during the entire year, remaining mostly on the cool side of neutral with modest impacts on regional weather patterns around the world. This follows several years dominated by the effects of either La Niña or El Niño events. According to several independent analyses, 2013 was again among the 10 warmest years on record at the global scale, both at the Earths surface and through the troposphere. Some regions in the Southern Hemisphere had record or near-record high temperatures for the year. Australia observed its hottest year on record, while Argentina and New Zealand reported their second and third hottest years, respectively. In Antarctica, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station reported its highest annual temperature since records began in 1957. At the opposite pole, the Arctic observed its seventh warmest year since records began in the early 20th century. At 20-m depth, record high temperatures were measured at some permafrost stations on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Brooks Range. In the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, anomalous meridional atmospheric circulation occurred throughout much of the year, leading to marked regional extremes of both temperature and precipitation. Cold temperature anomalies during winter across Eurasia were followed by warm spring temperature anomalies, which were linked to a new record low Eurasian snow cover extent in May. Minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic was the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979. Including 2013, all seven lowest extents on record have occurred in the past seven years. Antarctica, on the other hand, had above-average sea ice extent throughout 2013, with 116 days of new daily high extent records, including a new daily maximum sea ice area of 19.57 million km2 reached on 1 October. ENSO-neutral conditions in the eastern central Pacific Ocean and a negative Pacific decadal oscillation pattern in the North Pacific had the largest impacts on the global sea surface temperature in 2013. The North Pacific reached a historic high temperature in 2013 and on balance the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was among the 10 highest on record. Overall, the salt content in nearsurface ocean waters increased while in intermediate waters it decreased. Global mean sea level continued to rise during 2013, on pace with a trend of 3.2 mm yr-1 over the past two decades. A portion of this trend (0.5 mm yr-1) has been attributed to natural variability associated with the Pacific decadal oscillation as well as to ongoing contributions from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets and ocean warming. Global tropical cyclone frequency during 2013 was slightly above average with a total of 94 storms, although the North Atlantic Basin had its quietest hurricane season since 1994. In the Western North Pacific Basin, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest tropical cyclone of 2013, had 1-minute sustained winds estimated to be 170 kt (87.5 m s-1) on 7 November, the highest wind speed ever assigned to a tropical cyclone. High storm surge was also associated with Haiyan as it made landfall over the central Philippines, an area where sea level is currently at historic highs, increasing by 200 mm since 1970. In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide all continued to increase in 2013. As in previous years, each of these major greenhouse gases once again reached historic high concentrations. In the Arctic, carbon dioxide and methane increased at the same rate as the global increase. These increases are likely due to export from lower latitudes rather than a consequence of increases in Arctic sources, such as thawing permafrost. At Mauna Loa, Hawaii, for the first time since measurements began in 1958, the daily average mixing ratio of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 ppm on 9 May. The state of these variables, along with dozens of others, and the 2013 climate conditions of regions around the world are discussed in further detail in this 24th edition of the State of the Climate series. © 2014, American Meteorological Society. All rights reserved