4,201 research outputs found
Body mass index, abdominal fatness, fat mass and the risk of atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and doseâresponse meta-analysis of prospective studies
Different adiposity measures have been associ- ated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation, however, results have previously only been summarized for BMI. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta- analysis of prospective studies to clarify the association between different adiposity measures and risk of atrial fibrillation. PubMed and Embase databases were searched up to October 24th 2016. Summary relative risks (RRs) were calculated using random effects models. Twenty-nine unique prospective studies (32 publications) were included. Twenty-five studies (83,006 cases, 2,405,381 participants) were included in the analysis of BMI and atrial fibrillation. The summary RR was 1.28 (95% confidence interval: 1.20â1.38, I 2 = 97%) per 5 unit increment in BMI, 1.18 (95% CI: 1.12â1.25, I 2 = 73%, n = 5) and 1.32 (95% CI: 1.16â1.51, I 2 = 91%, n = 3) per 10 cm increase in waist and hip circumference, respectively, 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02â1.16, I 2 = 44%, n = 4) per 0.1 unit increase in waist- to-hip ratio, 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02â1.16, I 2 = 94%, n = 4) per 5 kg increase in fat mass, 1.10 (95% CI: 0.92â1.33, I 2 = 90%, n = 3) per 10% increase in fat percentage, 1.10 (95% CI: 1.08â1.13, I 2 = 74%, n = 10) per 5 kg increase in weight, and 1.08 (95% CI: 0.97â1.19, I 2 = 86%, n = 2) per 5% increase in weight gain. The association between BMI and atrial fibrillation was non- linear, p nonlinearity \ 0.0001, with a stronger association at higher BMI levels, however, increased risk was observed even at a BMI of 22â24 compared to 20. In conclusion, general and abdominal adiposity and higher body fat mass increase the risk of atrial fibrillation
Professionalisation of sport federations - a multi-level framework for analysing forms, causes and consequences
Research question: International and national sport federations as well as their member organisations are key actors within the sport system and have a wide range of relationships outside the sport system (e.g. with the state, sponsors, and the media). They are currently facing major challenges such as growing competition in top-level sports, democratisation of sports with 'sports for all' and
sports as the answer to social problems. In this context, professionalising sport organisations seems to be an appropriate strategy to face these challenges and current problems. We define the professionalisation of sport organisations as an organisational process of transformation leading towards organisational rationalisation, efficiency and business-like management. This has led to a profound organisational change, particularly within sport federations, characterised by the strengthening of institutional management (managerialism) and the implementation of efficiency-based management instruments and paid staff. Research methods: The goal of this article is to review the current international literature and establish a global understanding of and theoretical framework for
analysing why and how sport organisations professionalise and what consequences this may have.
Results and findings: Our multi-level approach based on the social theory of action integrates the current concepts for analysing professionalisation in sport federations. We specify the framework for the following research perspectives: (1)
forms, (2) causes and (3) consequences, and discuss the reciprocal relations between sport federations and their member organisations in this context. Implications: Finally, we work out a research agenda and derive general methodological consequences for the investigation of professionalisation processes in sport organisations
Long-term CO2 enrichment of a forest ecosystem : implications for forest regeneration and succession
Author Posting. © Ecological Society of America, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of Ecological Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecological Applications 17 (2007): 1198â1212, doi:10.1890/05-1690.The composition and successional status of a forest affect carbon storage and net ecosystem productivity, yet it remains unclear whether elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) will impact rates and trajectories of forest succession. We examined how CO2 enrichment (+200 ÎŒL CO2/L air differential) affects forest succession through growth and survivorship of tree seedlings, as part of the Duke Forest free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiment in North Carolina, USA. We planted 2352 seedlings of 14 species in the low light forest understory and determined effects of elevated CO2 on individual plant growth, survival, and total sample biomass accumulation, an integrator of plant growth and survivorship over time, for six years. We used a hierarchical Bayes framework to accommodate the uncertainty associated with the availability of light and the variability in growth among individual plants.
We found that most species did not exhibit strong responses to CO2. Ulmus alata (+21%), Quercus alba (+9.5%), and nitrogen-fixing Robinia pseudoacacia (+230%) exhibited greater mean annual relative growth rates under elevated CO2 than under ambient conditions. The effects of CO2 were small relative to variability within populations; however, some species grew better under low light conditions when exposed to elevated CO2 than they did under ambient conditions. These species include shade-intolerant Liriodendron tulipifera and Liquidambar styraciflua, intermediate-tolerant Quercus velutina, and shade-tolerant Acer barbatum, A. rubrum, Prunus serotina,Ulmus alata, and Cercis canadensis. Contrary to our expectation, shade-intolerant trees did not survive better with CO2 enrichment, and population-scale responses to CO2 were influenced by survival probabilities in low light. CO2 enrichment did not increase rates of sample biomass accumulation for most species, but it did stimulate biomass growth of shade-tolerant taxa, particularly Acer barbatum and Ulmus alata. Our data suggest a small CO2 fertilization effect on tree productivity, and the possibility of reduced carbon accumulation rates relative to today's forests due to changes in species composition.This research was supported by the
Office of Science (BER), U.S. Department of Energy, Grant
No. DE-FG02-95ER62083, and by Terrestrial Ecosystems and
Global Change (TECO) Grant No. DE-F602-97ER62463
Characterization of high-temperature PbTe p-n junctions prepared by thermal diffusion and by ion-implantation
We describe here the characteristics of two types of high-quality PbTe
p-n-junctions, prepared in this work: (1) by thermal diffusion of In4Te3 gas
(TDJ), and (2) by ion implantation (implanted junction, IJ) of In (In-IJ) and
Zn (Zn-IJ). The results, as presented here, demonstrate the high quality of
these PbTe diodes. Capacitance-voltage and current-voltage characteristics have
been measured. The measurements were carried out over a temperature range from
~ 10 K to ~ 180 K. The latter was the highest temperature, where the diode
still demonstrated rectifying properties. This maximum operating temperature is
higher than any of the earlier reported results.
The saturation current density, J0, in both diode types, was ~ 10^-5 A/cm2 at
80 K, while at 180 K J0 ~ 10^-1 A/cm2 in TDJ and ~ 1 A/cm2 in both
ion-implanted junctions. At 80 K the reverse current started to increase
markedly at a bias of ~ 400 mV for TDJ, and at ~550 mV for IJ. The ideality
factor n was about 1.5-2 for both diode types at 80 K. The analysis of the C-V
plots shows that the junctions in both diode types are linearly graded. The
analysis of the C-V plots allows also determining the height of the junction
barrier, the concentrations and the concentration gradient of the impurities,
and the temperature dependence of the static dielectric constant. The
zero-bias-resistance x area products (R0Ae) at 80 K are: 850 OHMcm2 for TDJ,
250 OHMcm2 for In-IJ, and ~ 80 OHMcm2 for Zn-IJ, while at 180 K R0Ae ~ 0.38
OHMcm2 for TDJ, and ~ 0.1 OHMcm2 for IJ. The estimated detectivity is: D* ~
10^10 cmHz^(1/2)/W up to T=140 K, determined mainly by background radiation,
while at T=180 K, D* decreases to 108-107 cmHz^(1/2)/W, and is determined by
the Johnson noise
Isomonodromic deformations of connections with singularities of parahoric formal type
In previous work, the authors have developed a geometric theory of
fundamental strata to study connections on the projective line with irregular
singularities of parahoric formal type. In this paper, the moduli space of
connections that contain regular fundamental strata with fixed combinatorics at
each singular point is constructed as a smooth Poisson reduction. The authors
then explicitly compute the isomonodromy equations as an integrable system.
This result generalizes work of Jimbo, Miwa, and Ueno to connections whose
singularities have parahoric formal type.Comment: 32 pages. One of the main theorems (Theorem 5.1) has been
significantly strengthened. It now states that the isomonodromy equations
give rise to an integrable system on the moduli space of framed connections
with fixed combinatorics instead of only on a principal GL_n bundle over this
space. Sections 5 and 6 have been substantially rewritte
Elastic properties of FeSi
Measurements of the sound velocities in a single crystal of FeSi were
performed in the temperature range 4-300 K. Elastic constants and
deviate from a quasiharmonic behavior at high temperature; whereas,
increases anomalously in the entire range of temperature, indicating a
change in the electron structure of this materia
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis MmpL11 cell wall lipid transporter is important for biofilm formation, intracellular growth, and nonreplicating persistence
Deep SDSS optical spectroscopy of distant halo stars II. Iron, calcium, and magnesium abundances
We analyze a sample of 3,944 low-resolution (R ~ 2000) optical spectra from
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), focusing on stars with effective
temperatures 5800 < Teff < 6300 K, and distances from the Milky Way plane in
excess of 5 kpc, and determine their abundances of Fe, Ca, and Mg. We followed
the same methodology as in the previous paper in this series, deriving
atmospheric parameters by chi2 minimization, but this time we obtained the
abundances of individual elements by fitting their associated spectral lines.
Distances were calculated from absolute magnitudes obtained by a statistical
comparison of our stellar parameters with stellar-evolution models. The
observations reveal a decrease in the abundances of iron, calcium, and
magnesium at large distances from the Galactic center. The median abundances
for the halo stars analyzed are fairly constant up to a Galactocentric distance
r ~ 20 kpc, rapidly decrease between r ~ 20 and r ~ 40 kpc, and flatten out to
significantly lower values at larger distances, consistent with previous
studies. In addition, we examine the [Ca/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] as a function of Fe/H
and Galactocentric distance. Our results show that the most distant parts of
the halo show a steeper variation of the [Ca/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] with iron. We
found that at the range -1.6 < [Fe/H] < -0.4 [Ca/Fe] decreases with distance,
in agreement with earlier results based on local stars. However, the opposite
trend is apparent for [Mg/Fe]. Our conclusion that the outer regions of the
halo are more metal-poor than the inner regions, based on in situ observations
of distant stars, agrees with recent results based on inferences from the
kinematics of more local stars, and with predictions of recent galaxy formation
simulations for galaxies similar to the Milky Way
Structure and magnetic order in Fe2+xV1-xAl
We present a detailed structural investigation via neutron diffraction of
differently heat treated samples Fe2VAl and Fe2+xV1-xAl. Moreover, the magnetic
behaviour of these materials is studied by means of mSR and
Mossbauer-experiments. Our structural investigation indicates that quenched
Fe2VAl, exhibiting the previously reported "Kondo insulating like" behaviour,
is off-stoichiometric (6%) in its Al content. Slowly cooled Fe2VAl is
structurally better ordered and stoichiometric, and the microscopic magnetic
probes establish long range ferromagnetic order below TC = 13K, consistent with
results from bulk experiments. The magnetic state can be modelled as being
generated by diluted magnetic ions in a non-magnetic matrix. Quantitatively,
the required number of magnetic ions is too large as to be explained by a model
of Fe/V site exchange. We discuss the implications of our findings for the
ground state properties of Fe2VAl, in particular with respect to the role of
crystallographic disorder.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte
Recommended from our members
Beyond the Refugee Crisis how the UK news media represent asylum seekers across national boundaries
Migration is one of the most pressing, divisive issues in global politics today, and media play a crucial role in how communities understand and respond. This study examines how UK newspapers (n = 974) and popular news websites (n = 1044) reported on asylum seekers throughout 2017. It contributes to previous literature in two important ways. First, by examining the ânew normalâ of daily news coverage in the wake of the 2015 ârefugee crisisâ in Europe. Second, by looking at how asylum seekers from different regions are represented. The content analysis finds significant variations in how asylum seekers are reported, including terminology use and topics they are associated with. The paper also identifies important commonalities in how all asylum seekers are represented - most notably, the dominance of political elites as sources across all media content. It argues that Entmanâs âcascade network modelâ can help to explain this, with elites in one country able to influence transnational reports
- âŠ