1,036 research outputs found
Optimisation of assessment of maximal rate of heart rate increase for tracking training-induced changes in endurance exercise performance
The maximal rate of heart rate (HR) increase (rHRI), a marker of HR acceleration during transition from rest to submaximal exercise, correlates with exercise performance. In this cohort study, whether rHRI tracked performance better when evaluated over shorter time-periods which include a greater proportion of HR acceleration and less steady-state HR was evaluated. rHRI and five-km treadmill running time-trial performance (5TTT) were assessed in 15 runners following one week of light training (LT), two weeks of heavy training (HT) and 10-day taper (T). rHRI was the first derivative maximum of a sigmoidal curve fit to one, two, three and four minutes of R-R data during transition from rest to running at 8 km/h (rHRI8 km/h), 10.5 km/h, 13 km/h and transition from 8 to 13 km/h (rHRI8-13km/h). 5TTT time increased from LT to HT (effect size [ES] 1.0, p < 0.001) then decreased from HT to T (ES -1.7, p < 0.001). 5TTT time was inversely related to rHRI8 km/h assessed over two (B = -5.54, p = 0.04) three (B = -5.34, p = 0.04) and four (B = -5.37, p = 0.04) minutes, and rHRI8-13km/h over one (B = -11.62, p = 0.006) and three (B = -11.44, p = 0.03) minutes. 5TTT correlated most consistently with rHRI8 km/h. rHRI8 km/h assessed over two to four minutes may be suitable for evaluating athlete responses to training.Maximillian J. Nelson, Clint R. Bellenger, Rebecca L. Thomson, Eileen Y. Robertson, Kade Davison, Daniela Schäfer Olstad, Jonathan D. Buckle
Deformation of Small Compressed Droplets
We investigate the elastic properties of small droplets under compression.
The compression of a bubble by two parallel plates is solved exactly and it is
shown that a lowest-order expansion of the solution reduces to a form similar
to that obtained by Morse and Witten. Other systems are studied numerically and
results for configurations involving between 2 and 20 compressing planes are
presented. It is found that the response to compression depends on the number
of planes. The shear modulus is also calculated for common lattices and the
stability crossover between f.c.c.\ and b.c.c.\ is discussed.Comment: RevTeX with psfig-included figures and a galley macr
Long-range attraction between particles in dusty plasma and partial surface tension of dusty phase boundary
Effective potential of a charged dusty particle moving in homogeneous plasma
has a negative part that provides attraction between similarly charged dusty
particles. A depth of this potential well is great enough to ensure both
stability of crystal structure of dusty plasma and sizable value of surface
tension of a boundary surface of dusty region. The latter depends on the
orientation of the surface relative to the counter-ion flow, namely, it is
maximal and positive for the surface normal to the flow and minimal and
negative for the surface along the flow. For the most cases of dusty plasma in
a gas discharge, a value of the first of them is more than sufficient to ensure
stability of lenticular dusty phase void oriented across the counter-ion flow.Comment: LATEX, REVTEX4, 7 pages, 6 figure
GaAs microstrip test beam results
A gallium arsenide detector was tested with a beam of 70GeV pions at the {\sf SPS} at CERN. The detector utilises a novel biasing scheme which has been shown to behave as expected. The detector has a pitch of 50\mum and therefore an expected resolution of 14.5\mum. The measured resolution was approximately 14\mum. By using a non-linear charge division algorithm this can be increased to \approx 12\mum. Noise was the limiting factor to the resolution. This was 2000e^- as opposed to the expected 360e^-. This noise is also thought to have reduced the detection efficiency of the detector. The source of the excess noise is currently being investigated.A gallium arsenide detector was tested with a beam of 70GeV pions at the {\sf SPS} at CERN. The detector utilises a novel biasing scheme which has been shown to behave as expected. The detector has a pitch of 50m and therefore an expected resolution of 14.5m. The measured resolution was approximately 14m. By using a non-linear charge division algorithm this can be increased to 12m. Noise was the limiting factor to the resolution. This was 2000e as opposed to the expected 360e. This noise is also thought to have reduced the detection efficiency of the detector. The source of the excess noise is currently being investigated.A gallium arsenide detector was tested with a beam of 70GeV pions at the {\sf SPS} at CERN. The detector utilises a novel biasing scheme which has been shown to behave as expected. The detector has a pitch of 50m and therefore an expected resolution of 14.5m. The measured resolution was approximately 14m. By using a non-linear charge division algorithm this can be increased to 12m. Noise was the limiting factor to the resolution. This was 2000e as opposed to the expected 360e. This noise is also thought to have reduced the detection efficiency of the detector. The source of the excess noise is currently being investigated
Taxonomy based on science is necessary for global conservation
Conservation Biolog
Preparation and characterization of starch-poly-epsilon-caprolactone microparticles incorporating bioactive agents for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications
One limitation associated with the delivery of bioactive agents concerns the short half-life of these molecules when administered intravenously,
which results in their loss from the desired site. Incorporation of bioactive agents into depot vehicles provides a means to
increase their persistence at the disease site. Major issues are involved in the development of a proper carrier system able to deliver
the correct drug, at the desired dose, place and time. In this work, starch-poly-e-caprolactone (SPCL) microparticles were developed
for use in drug delivery and tissue engineering (TE) applications. SPCL microparticles were prepared by using an emulsion solvent
extraction/evaporation technique, which was demonstrated to be a successful procedure to obtain particles with a spherical shape (particle
size between 5 and 900 lm) and exhibiting different surface morphologies. Their chemical structure was confirmed by Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy. To evaluate the potential of the developed microparticles as a drug delivery system, dexamethasone (DEX)
was used as model drug. DEX, a well-known component of osteogenic differentiation media, was entrapped into SPCL microparticles at
different percentages up to 93%. The encapsulation efficiency was found to be dependent on the polymer concentration and drug-to-polymer
ratio. The initial DEX release seems to be governed mainly by diffusion, and it is expected that the remaining DEX will be released
when the polymeric matrix starts to degrade. In this work it was demonstrated that SPCL microparticles containing DEX can be successfully
prepared and that these microparticular systems seem to be quite promising for controlled release applications, namely as carriers
of important differentiation agents in TE.E.R.B. thanks the Marie Curie Host Fellowships for Early Stage Research Training (EST) "Alea Jacta EST" (MEST-CT-2004-008104) for providing her with a PhD Fellowship. This work was partially supported by the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283)
A measurement of the tau mass and the first CPT test with tau leptons
We measure the mass of the tau lepton to be 1775.1+-1.6(stat)+-1.0(syst.) MeV
using tau pairs from Z0 decays. To test CPT invariance we compare the masses of
the positively and negatively charged tau leptons. The relative mass difference
is found to be smaller than 3.0 10^-3 at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Phys. Letts.
Measurement of the B0 Lifetime and Oscillation Frequency using B0->D*+l-v decays
The lifetime and oscillation frequency of the B0 meson has been measured
using B0->D*+l-v decays recorded on the Z0 peak with the OPAL detector at LEP.
The D*+ -> D0pi+ decays were reconstructed using an inclusive technique and the
production flavour of the B0 mesons was determined using a combination of tags
from the rest of the event. The results t_B0 = 1.541 +- 0.028 +- 0.023 ps, Dm_d
= 0.497 +- 0.024 +- 0.025 ps-1 were obtained, where in each case the first
error is statistical and the second systematic.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.
First Measurement of Z/gamma* Production in Compton Scattering of Quasi-real Photons
We report the first observation of Z/gamma* production in Compton scattering
of quasi-real photons. This is a subprocess of the reaction e+e- to
e+e-Z/gamma*, where one of the final state electrons is undetected.
Approximately 55 pb-1 of data collected in the year 1997 at an e+e-
centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV with the OPAL detector at LEP have been
analysed. The Z/gamma* from Compton scattering has been detected in the
hadronic decay channel. Within well defined kinematic bounds, we measure the
product of cross-section and Z/gamma* branching ratio to hadrons to be
(0.9+-0.3+-0.1) pb for events with a hadronic mass larger than 60 GeV,
dominated by (e)eZ production. In the hadronic mass region between 5 GeV and 60
GeV, dominated by (e)egamma* production, this product is found to be
(4.1+-1.6+-0.6) pb. Our results agree with the predictions of two Monte Carlo
event generators, grc4f and PYTHIA.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures included, submitted to Physics Letters
- …