457 research outputs found
Nocturnal activity by the primarily diurnal Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) in relation to environmental conditions, resource abundance and predation risk
An animal's fitness is in part based on its ability to manage the inherent risks (foraging costs, predation, exposure to disease) with the benefits (resource gain, access to mates, social interactions) of activity (Abrams 1991, Altizer et al. 2003, Lima & Bednekoff 1999, Rubenstein & Hohmann 1989, Wikelski et al. 2001). Thus, understanding an animal's pattern of activity is key to understanding behavioural and ecological processes. However, while numerous laboratory methodologies are available to continuously quantify activity over long periods of time, logistical difficulties have greatly hindered activity studies of animals in the field (DeCoursey 1990)
The need for biokineticists in the South African public health care system
Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are increasingly prevalent within South Africa. Physical inactivity is a significant, independent and modifiable risk factor increasing the prevalence of NCDs.Discussion: The integration of physical activity programmes into the primary health care system through multidisciplinary platforms is thus advocated for and envisioned to be more cost-effective than current practices. However, currently within the primary health care setting of South Africa, there is an absence of health care professionals adequately equipped to develop and implement physical activity programmes. Biokineticists, whose scope of practice is to improve physical functioning and health through exercise as a modality, are ideally suited to developing and implementing physical activity programmes in the public sector. Yet despite their evident demand, the role of the biokineticist is not incorporated into the national public health care system.Conclusion: This short report calls firstly, for the inclusion of biokinetics into the public health care sector, and secondly, for the funding of multidisciplinary community health programmes supporting education, healthy eating and physical activity levels.Keywords: noncommunicable disease, physical activity, community health programme, primary health car
First Observation of the Decays (B)over-bar(0) -> D+K-pi(+)pi(-) and B- -> (DK-)-K-0 pi(+)pi(-)
First observations of the Cabibbo-suppressed decays BÂŻ0 â D+K-Ï+Ï- and B- â D0K-Ï+Ï- are reported using 35 pB-1 of data collected with the LHCb detector. Their branching fractions are measured with respect to the corresponding Cabibbo-favored decays, from which we obtain B(BÂŻ0â D+K-Ï+Ï-)/B(BÂŻ0âD+Ï-Ï+Ï-)=(5.9±1.1±0.5)Ă10-2 and B(B-âD0K-Ï+Ï-)/B(B-â D0Ï-Ï+Ï-)=(9.4±1.3±0.9)Ă10-2, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The B- â D0K-Ï+Ï- decay is particularly interesting, as it can be used in a similar way to B- â D0K- to measure the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase Îł. © 2012 CERN
Strong Constraints on the Rare Decays B-s(0) -> mu(+)mu(-) and B-0 -> mu(+)mu(-)
A search for Bs0â
Palaeoproterozoic magnesite: lithological and isotopic evidence for playa/sabkha environments
Magnesite forms a series of 1- to 15-m-thick beds within the approximate to2.0 Ga (Palaeoproterozoic) Tulomozerskaya Formation, NW Fennoscandian Shield, Russia. Drillcore material together with natural exposures reveal that the 680-m-thick formation is composed of a stromatolite-dolomite-'red bed' sequence formed in a complex combination of shallow-marine and non-marine, evaporitic environments. Dolomite-collapse breccia, stromatolitic and micritic dolostones and sparry allochemical dolostones are the principal rocks hosting the magnesite beds. All dolomite lithologies are marked by delta C-13 values from +7.1 parts per thousand to +11.6 parts per thousand (V-PDB) and delta O-18 ranging from 17.4 parts per thousand to 26.3 parts per thousand (V-SMOW). Magnesite occurs in different forms: finely laminated micritic; stromatolitic magnesite; and structureless micritic, crystalline and coarsely crystalline magnesite. All varieties exhibit anomalously high delta C-13 values ranging from +9.0 parts per thousand to +11.6 parts per thousand and delta O-18 values of 20.0-25.7 parts per thousand. Laminated and structureless micritic magnesite forms as a secondary phase replacing dolomite during early diagenesis, and replaced dolomite before the major phase of burial. Crystalline and coarsely crystalline magnesite replacing micritic magnesite formed late in the diagenetic/metamorphic history. Magnesite apparently precipitated from sea water-derived brine, diluted by meteoric fluids. Magnesitization was accomplished under evaporitic conditions (sabkha to playa lake environment) proposed to be similar to the Coorong or Lake Walyungup coastal playa magnesite. Magnesite and host dolostones formed in evaporative and partly restricted environments; consequently, extremely high delta C-13 values reflect a combined contribution from both global and local carbon reservoirs. A C- 13-rich global carbon reservoir (delta C-13 at around +5 parts per thousand) is related to the perturbation of the carbon cycle at 2.0 Ga, whereas the local enhancement in C-13 (up to +12 parts per thousand) is associated with evaporative and restricted environments with high bioproductivity
An unexpected nitrate distribution in the tropical North Atlantic at 18°N, 30°Wâimplications for new production
During a R.V. Meteor JGOFS-NABE cruise to a tropical site in the northeast Atlantic in spring 1989, three different vertical regimes with respect to nitrate distribution and availability within the euphotic zone were observed. Besides dramatic variations in the depth of the nitracline, a previously undescribed nose-like nitrate maximum within the euphotic zone was the most prominent feature during this study. Both the vertical structure of phytoplankton biomass and the degree of absolute and relative new production were related to the depth of the nitracline, which in turn was dependent on the occurrence/non-occurrence of the subsurface subtropical salinity maximum (S(max)). The mesoscale variability of the nitracline depth, as indicated from a pre-survey grid, and published data on the frequent occurrence of the S(max) in tropical waters suggest higher variability of new production and F-ratio than usually expected for oligotrophic oceans. The importance of salt fingering and double diffusion for nitrate transport into the euphotic zone is discussed
Measurement of the branching fraction
The branching fraction is measured in a data sample
corresponding to 0.41 of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb
detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions
affecting the sin2 measurement from The
time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be . This is the most precise measurement to
date
Measurement of the CP-violating phase \phi s in Bs->J/\psi\pi+\pi- decays
Measurement of the mixing-induced CP-violating phase phi_s in Bs decays is of
prime importance in probing new physics. Here 7421 +/- 105 signal events from
the dominantly CP-odd final state J/\psi pi+ pi- are selected in 1/fb of pp
collision data collected at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. A
time-dependent fit to the data yields a value of
phi_s=-0.019^{+0.173+0.004}_{-0.174-0.003} rad, consistent with the Standard
Model expectation. No evidence of direct CP violation is found.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; minor revisions on May 23, 201
Model-independent search for CP violation in D0âKâK+ÏâÏ+ and D0âÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ decays
A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states KâK+ÏâÏ+ and ÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the KâK+ÏâÏ+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the ÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity
Search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0âe±Όâ and B0âe±Όâ
A search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0âe±Όâ and B0âe±Όâ is performed with a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0ââfb-1 of pp collisions at âs=7ââTeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The observed number of Bs0âe±Όâ and B0âe±Όâ candidates is consistent with background expectations. Upper limits on the branching fractions of both decays are determined to be B(Bs0âe±Όâ)101ââTeV/c2 and MLQ(B0âe±Όâ)>126ââTeV/c2 at 95% C.L., and are a factor of 2 higher than the previous bounds
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