779 research outputs found
Cultivation arrangements and the cost efficiency of rice farming in Taiwan
In this paper, a switching regression model is developed to analyze farmers' choice behavior and cost efficiency in field plowing arrangement in Taiwan. We find that the decision on the choice of plowing arrangement is determined by a cost comparison between self-plowing and hired-service, and other non-cost considerations, such as the availability of family labor and machinery., education level, non-farm income, age, and regional effects, Across a spectrum of fanner characteristics, empirical results indicate a potentially substantial cost-savings by hiring service for field plowing than by self-plowing. Self-plowing farmers also subject to a significant level of cost inefficiency
Thermoelectric effects in superconducting proximity structures
Attaching a superconductor in good contact with a normal metal makes rise to
a proximity effect where the superconducting correlations leak into the normal
metal. An additional contact close to the first one makes it possible to carry
a supercurrent through the metal. Forcing this supercurrent flow along with an
additional quasiparticle current from one or many normal-metal reservoirs makes
rise to many interesting effects. The supercurrent can be used to tune the
local energy distribution function of the electrons. This mechanism also leads
to finite thermoelectric effects even in the presence of electron-hole
symmetry. Here we review these effects and discuss to which extent the existing
observations of thermoelectric effects in metallic samples can be explained
through the use of the dirty-limit quasiclassical theory.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. 374th WE-Heraus seminar: Spin physics of
superconducting heterostructures, Bad Honnef, 200
Effects of Supplemental Glutamine on Growth Performance, Plasma Parameters and LPS-induced Immune Response of Weaned Barrows after Castration
Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of supplemental glutamine on growth performance, plasma parameters and LPS-induced immune response of weaned barrows after castration. In experiment 1, forty-eight weaned male piglets were used and fed maize and soybean meal diets supplemented with 0 (Control) or 2% L-Gln (Gln+) for 25 days. The results indicated that the Gln+ group tended to increase average daily gain compared to control in stages of days 7 to 14 and 0 to 25. The Gln+ had significantly better feed efficiency than the control group did during days 14 to 25 and 0 to 25. The plasma blood urea nitrogen and alkaline phosphatase contents of Gln+ group were higher than those of the control group on day 14 post-weaning. In experiment 2, sixteen weaned male piglets were injected with E. coli K88+ lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on day 14 post-weaning. The results showed that the Gln+ group had lower concentrations of plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone and cortisol than the control group on day 14 pre-LPS challenge. In addition, Gln+ group had higher plasma IgG concentration than the control group for pre- or post-LPS challenged on day 14 post-weaning. In summary, dietary supplementation of Gin was able to alleviate the stressful condition and inflammation associated with castration in weaned barrows, and to improve their immunity and growth performance in the early starter stage
Recruitment and retention strategies for community-based longitudinal studies in diverse urban neighborhoods
Longitudinal, natural experiments provide an ideal evaluation approach to better understand the impact of built environment interventions on community health outcomes, particularly health disparities. As there are many participant engagement challenges inherent in the design of large-scale community-based studies, adaptive and iterative participant engagement strategies are critical. This paper shares practical lessons learned from the Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces (PARCS) study, which is an evaluation of the impact of a citywide park renovation initiative on physical activity, psychosocial health, and community well-being. The PARCS study, although ongoing, has developed several approaches to improve participant engagement: building trust with communities, adapting the study protocol to meet participants’ needs and to reflect their capacity for participation, operational flexibility, and developing tracking systems. These strategies may help researchers anticipate and respond to participant engagement challenges in community-based studies, particularly in low-income communities of color
Bose condensates in a harmonic trap near the critical temperature
The mean-field properties of finite-temperature Bose-Einstein gases confined
in spherically symmetric harmonic traps are surveyed numerically. The solutions
of the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) equations for
the condensate and low-lying quasiparticle excitations are calculated
self-consistently using the discrete variable representation, while the most
high-lying states are obtained with a local density approximation. Consistency
of the theory for temperatures through the Bose condensation point requires
that the thermodynamic chemical potential differ from the eigenvalue of the GP
equation; the appropriate modifications lead to results that are continuous as
a function of the particle interactions. The HFB equations are made gapless
either by invoking the Popov approximation or by renormalizing the particle
interactions. The latter approach effectively reduces the strength of the
effective scattering length, increases the number of condensate atoms at each
temperature, and raises the value of the transition temperature relative to the
Popov approximation. The renormalization effect increases approximately with
the log of the atom number, and is most pronounced at temperatures near the
transition. Comparisons with the results of quantum Monte Carlo calculations
and various local density approximations are presented, and experimental
consequences are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 11 embedded figures, revte
Correlates of accelerometry non-adherence in an economically disadvantaged minority urban adult population
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine socio-demographic and psychosocial correlates of non-adherence to an accelerometry protocol in an economically disadvantaged urban population. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We analyzed 985 New York City adult participants aged 18–81 years from the Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces (PARCS) study. Participants were asked to wear a hip-worn ActiGraph GT3X-BT accelerometer for one week. Adherent accelerometer wear was defined as ≥3 days of ≥8 h/day of wear over a 7-day period and non-adherent accelerometry wear was defined as any wear less than adherent wear from returned accelerometers. Examined correlates of adherence included sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics (e.g., general physical/mental health-related quality of life, self-efficacy for exercise, stress, sense of community/neighborhood well-being, and social cohesion). Results: From the total sample, 636 (64.6%) participants provided adherent wear and 349 (35.4%) provided non-adherent wear. In multivariable analysis, younger age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.53–0.75), poorer health-related quality of life (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.65–0.98 for physical health and OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.62–0.94 for mental health), lower sense of community (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.62–1.00) and current smoking status (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.35–2.86) were associated with non-adherent wear. Conclusions: Non-adherent wear was associated with younger age, smoking, and lower self-reported physical/mental functioning and sense of community. This information can inform targeted adherence strategies to improve physical activity and sedentary behavior estimates from accelerometry data in future studies involving an urban minority population
Nonequilibrium Josephson effect in short-arm diffusive SNS interferometers
We study non-equilibrium Josephson effect and phase-dependent conductance in
three-terminal diffusive interferometers with short arms. We consider strong
proximity effect and investigate an interplay of dissipative and Josephson
currents co-existing within the same proximity region. In junctions with
transparent interfaces, the suppression of the Josephson current appears at
rather large voltage, , and the current vanishes at
. Josephson current inversion becomes possible in junctions with
resistive interfaces, where the inversion occurs within a finite interval of
the applied voltage. Due to the presence of considerably large and
phase-dependent injection current, the critical current measured in a current
biased junction does not coincide with the maximum Josephson current, and
remains finite when the true Josephson current is suppressed. The voltage
dependence of the conductance shows two pronounced peaks, at the bulk gap
energy, and at the proximity gap energy; the phase oscillation of the
conductance exhibits qualitatively different form at small voltage ,
and at large voltage .Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, revised version, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Hamiltonian Study of Improved Lattice Gauge Theory in Three Dimensions
A comprehensive analysis of the Symanzik improved anisotropic
three-dimensional U(1) lattice gauge theory in the Hamiltonian limit is made.
Monte Carlo techniques are used to obtain numerical results for the static
potential, ratio of the renormalized and bare anisotropies, the string tension,
lowest glueball masses and the mass ratio. Evidence that rotational symmetry is
established more accurately for the Symanzik improved anisotropic action is
presented. The discretization errors in the static potential and the
renormalization of the bare anisotropy are found to be only a few percent
compared to errors of about 20-25% for the unimproved gauge action. Evidence of
scaling in the string tension, antisymmetric mass gap and the mass ratio is
observed in the weak coupling region and the behaviour is tested against
analytic and numerical results obtained in various other Hamiltonian studies of
the theory. We find that more accurate determination of the scaling
coefficients of the string tension and the antisymmetric mass gap has been
achieved, and the agreement with various other Hamiltonian studies of the
theory is excellent. The improved action is found to give faster convergence to
the continuum limit. Very clear evidence is obtained that in the continuum
limit the glueball ratio approaches exactly 2, as expected in a
theory of free, massive bosons.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Glyphosate, Other Herbicides, And Transformation Products In Midwestern Streams, 2002
The use of glyphosate has increased rapidly, and there is limited understanding of its environmental fate. The objective of this study was to document the occurrence of glyphosate and the transformation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in Midwestern streams and to compare their occurrence with that of more commonly measured herbicides such as acetochlor, atrazine, and metolachlor. Water samples were collected at sites on 51 streams in nine Midwestern states in 2002 during three runoff events: after the application of pre-emergence herbicides, after the application of post-emergence herbicides, and during harvest season. All samples were analyzed for glyphosate and 20 other herbicides using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The frequency of glyphosate and AMPA detection, range of concentrations in runoff samples, and ratios of AMPA to glyphosate concentrations did not vary throughout the growing season as substantially as for other herbicides like atrazine, probably because of different seasonal use patterns. Glyphosate was detected at or above 0.1 μg/l in 35 percent of pre-emergence, 40 percent of post-emergence, and 31 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 8.7 μg/l. AMPA was detected at or above 0.1 μg/l in 53 percent of pre-emergence, 83 percent of post-emergence, and 73 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 3.6 μg/l. Glyphosate was not detected at a concentration at or above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contamination level (MCL) of 700 μg/l in any sample. Atrazine was detected at or above 0.1 μg/l in 94 percent of pre-emergence, 96 percent of postemergence, and 57 percent of harvest season samples, with a maximum concentration of 55 μg/l. Atrazine was detected at or above its MCL (3 μg/l) in 57 percent of pre-emergence and 33 percent of postemergence samples
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