Exclusion Statistics of Quasiparticles in Condensed States of Composite Fermion Excitations

The exclusion statistics of quasiparticles is found at any level of the hierarchy of condensed states of composite fermion excitations (for which experimental indications have recently been found). The hierarchy of condensed states of excitations in boson Jain states is introduced and the statistics of quasiparticles is found. The quantum Hall states of charged $\alpha$-anyons ($\alpha$ -- the exclusion statistics parameter) can be described as incompressible states of $(\alpha+2p)$-anyons ($2p$ -- an even number).Comment: 4 page

Malawi’s Maize Marketing System

National food security in Malawi depends on improving the performance of maize markets. Ensuring that grain is consistently available at tolerable prices is crucial for consumers’ food security. At the same time, surplus producing farmers need to receive farm-gate prices consistently above production costs to intensify the use of fertilizer and other productivity enhancing technologies in a sustainable manner. These concerns give rise to the classic food price dilemma for policy makers in Malawi: how to keep prices low enough to ensure low income consumers’ access to food while keeping prices high enough to promote farm production incentives. These tensions cannot be avoided but they can be relieved through reducing food marketing margins, which shrink the wedge between producer and consumer prices. Moreover, Malawi faces major political and economic problems associated with food price instability especially given its dependence on rain fed agriculture in a region prone to drought. These issues show that improving the performance of maize markets is at the core of achieving sustainable food security and poverty reduction in Malawi.food security, Malawi, maize, marketing, food policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Marketing, q12, q18,

Time to exhaustion at estimated functional threshold power in road cyclists of different performance levels

This study assessed the functional threshold power and the time to exhaustion estimated from the Allen & Coggan test and verify whether performance level has an influence on this parameter

The Composite Fermion Hierarchy: Condensed States of Composite Fermion Excitations?

A composite Fermion hierarchy theory is constructed in a way related to the original Haldane picture by applying the composite Fermion (CF) transformation to quasiparticles of Jain states. It is shown that the Jain theory coincides with the Haldane hierarchy theory for principal CF fillings. Within the Fermi liquid approach for few electron systems on the sphere a simple interpretation of many-quasiparticle spectra is given and provides an explanation of failure of CF hierarchy picture when applied to the hierarchical $4/11$ state.Comment: 6 pages, Revtex, 4 figures in PostScript, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Effects of a low-carbohydrate diet on body composition and performance in road cycling: A randomized, controlled trial

Low-carbohydrate diets are frequently used to improve performance in endurance sports, often with contradictory results. This study aimed to assess whether a low-carbohydrate diet can outperform an isocaloric conventional diet for improving body composition and performance in a sample of twenty-six trained male road cyclists (previous experience in cyclosportive events, 7.6 ± 4.4 years; age, 26.9 ± 4.9 years; weekly training volume, 7.8 ± 2.9 hours; height, 176 ± 7 centimeters; body fat percentage, 9.7 ± 0.8 %; weight, 65.3 ± 2.3 kg). Detraining and pre-treatment periods in which nutrition and training were standardized were followed by an eight-week long intervention in which cyclists consumed either a low-carbohydrate diet (15 % of calories from carbohydrates) or a conventional endurance sports diet while maintaining the same training volumes and intensities. Body composition was assessed through electrical impedance, and performance was evaluated through a twenty-minute time trial performed on a smart bike trainer. The results revealed an overall improvement over time in absolute and relative power, body mass, and body fat for both groups, whilst the improvement in absolute power was comparable. The improvements seen in relative power (p = 0.042), body mass (p = 0.006), and body fat (p = 0.01) were significantly higher in the low-carbohydrate group. We concluded that eight weeks of a low-carbohydrate diet significantly reduced body weight and body fat percentage, and improved 20-minute relative power values in a sample of road cyclists when compared to an isocaloric conventional diet. Las dietas bajas en carbohidratos se usan con frecuencia para mejorar el rendimiento en los deportes de resistencia, a menudo con resultados contradictorios. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar si una dieta baja en carbohidratos puede superar a una dieta convencional isocalórica para mejorar la composición corporal y el rendimiento en una muestra de veintiséis ciclistas de carretera masculinos entrenados (experiencia previa en eventos cicloportivos, 7, 6 ± 4, 4 años; edad, 26, 9 ± 4, 9 años; volumen de entrenamiento semanal, 7, 8 ± 2, 9 horas; altura, 176 ± 7 centímetros; porcentaje de grasa corporal, 9, 7 ± 0, 8 %; peso, 65, 3 ± 2, 3 kg). Los períodos de desentrenamiento y pretratamiento, en los que se estandarizaron la nutrición y el entrenamiento, fueron seguidos por una intervención de ocho semanas de duración en la que los ciclistas consumieron una dieta de bajo contenido en carbohidratos (15 % de calorías de los carbohidratos) o una dieta convencional para deportes de resistencia, manteniendo los mismos volúmenes de entrenamiento e intensidades. La composición corporal se evaluó a través de la impedancia eléctrica y el rendimiento se evaluó a través de una prueba contrarreloj de veinte minutos realizada en un rodillo de bicicleta inteligente. Los resultados revelaron una mejora general en el tiempo en cuanto a potencia absoluta y relativa, masa corporal y grasa corporal para ambos grupos, mientras que la mejora en potencia absoluta fue comparable. Las mejoras de la potencia relativa (p = 0, 042), la masa corporal (p = 0, 006) y la grasa corporal (p = 0, 01) fueron significativamente mayores en el grupo bajo en carbohidratos. Se concluye que ocho semanas de una dieta baja en carbohidratos redujeron significativamente el peso corporal y el porcentaje de grasa corporal, y mejoraron los valores de potencia relativa de 20 minutos en una muestra de ciclistas de carretera en comparación con una dieta convencional isocalórica

Dust in Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

We report optical imaging, optical and near-infrared polarimetry, and Spitzer mid-infrared spectroscopy of comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin). Polarimetric observations were obtained in R (0.676 micron) at phase angles from 0.44 degrees to 21 degrees with simultaneous observations in H (1.65 micron) at 4.0 degrees, exploring the negative branch in polarization. Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) shows typical negative polarization in the optical as well as a similar negative branch near-infrared wavelengths. The 10 micron silicate feature is only weakly in emission and according to our thermal models, is consistent with emission from a mixture of silicate and carbon material. We argue that large, low-porosity (akin to Ballistic Particle Cluster Aggregates) rather absorbing aggregate dust particles best explain both the polarimetric and the mid-infrared spectral energy distribution.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, 3 table

Neptune at Summer Solstice: Zonal Mean Temperatures from Ground-Based Observations 2003-2007

Imaging and spectroscopy of Neptune's thermal infrared emission is used to assess seasonal changes in Neptune's zonal mean temperatures between Voyager-2 observations (1989, heliocentric longitude Ls=236) and southern summer solstice (2005, Ls=270). Our aim was to analyse imaging and spectroscopy from multiple different sources using a single self-consistent radiative-transfer model to assess the magnitude of seasonal variability. Globally-averaged stratospheric temperatures measured from methane emission tend towards a quasi-isothermal structure (158-164 K) above the 0.1-mbar level, and are found to be consistent with spacecraft observations of AKARI. This remarkable consistency, despite very different observing conditions, suggests that stratospheric temporal variability, if present, is $\pm$5 K at 1 mbar and $\pm$3 K at 0.1 mbar during this solstice period. Conversely, ethane emission is highly variable, with abundance determinations varying by more than a factor of two. The retrieved C2H6 abundances are extremely sensitive to the details of the T(p) derivation. Stratospheric temperatures and ethane are found to be latitudinally uniform away from the south pole (assuming a latitudinally-uniform distribution of stratospheric methane). At low and midlatitudes, comparisons of synthetic Voyager-era images with solstice-era observations suggest that tropospheric zonal temperatures are unchanged since the Voyager 2 encounter, with cool mid-latitudes and a warm equator and pole. A re-analysis of Voyager/IRIS 25-50 {\mu}m mapping of tropospheric temperatures and para-hydrogen disequilibrium suggests a symmetric meridional circulation with cold air rising at mid-latitudes (sub-equilibrium para-H2 conditions) and warm air sinking at the equator and poles (super-equilibrium para-H2 conditions). The most significant atmospheric changes are associated with the polar vortex (absent in 1989).Comment: 35 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in Icaru

FUSE Spectroscopy of the Two Prototype White Dwarfs With Signatures of a Super-hot Wind

The O VIII phenomenon describes the occurrence of ultra-high ionization absorption lines of the CNO elements (e.g. O VIII, N VII, C VI, and even Ne X) in the optical spectra hot of DO WDs

Characteristics of pedaling muscle stiffness among cyclists of different performance levels

Background and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare the impact of an incremental exercise test on muscle stiffness in the rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), biceps femoris (BF), and gastrocnemius (GL) among road cyclists of three performance levels. Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 35 cyclists grouped according to their performance level; elite (n = 10; professional license), sub-elite (n = 12; amateur license), and recreational (n = 13; cyclosportive license). Passive muscle stiffness was assessed using myometry before and after an incremental exercise test. Results: There was a significant correlation between time and category in the vastus lateralis with stiffness increases in the sub-elite (p = 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.88) and elite groups (p = 0.003, Cohen’s d = 0.72), but not in the recreational group (p = 0.085). Stiffness increased over time in the knee extensors (RF, p < 0.001; VL, p < 0.001), but no changes were observed in the knee flexors (GL, p = 0.63, BF, p = 0.052). There were no baseline differences among the categories in any muscle. Conclusions: Although the performance level affected VL stiffness after an incremental exercise test, no differences in passive stiffness were observed among the main muscles implicated in pedaling in a resting state. Future research should assess whether this marker could be used to differentiate cyclists of varying fitness levels and its potential applicability for the monitoring of training load. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Thermal Performance of the LHC Connection Cryostat

The 16 connection cryostats for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being built at CERN are designed to fill the gap existing between the dispersion suppressor zones and the standard arcs of the accelerator. The first connection cryostat was cold tested down to superfluid helium temperature in August 2005, and the measured thermal performance was as expected. This paper presents the test results and a new thermal modeling of the connection cryostat based on the measurement of the thermal resistances of the braids used for thermalisation, allowing the precise determination of cool down times and equilibrium temperatures of the shielding under various conditions such as lead heating