The Effect of Caffeine Supplementation on Endurance Performance in Multi Sprint Sports

Introduction • Over the last 25 years, caffeine has been one of the most widely studied ergogenic aids by sports scientists. During this time there has been indisputable support for the beneficial effects of oral caffeine ingestion on prolonged submaximal endurance exercise (Graham and Spriet, 1991; Bell and McLellan, 2002) • Recently there is growing evidence that caffeine can improve performance in short term high intensity exercise, lasting from several seconds up to ~ 7 minutes (Spriet, 1995; Graham, 2001) • To date, there are no published findings into the effects of caffeine on performance of an intermittent nature with altering intensities as experienced during multi sprint sports. • Historically fitness testing in multiple sprint sports has involved the completion of a multistage fitness tests to estimate maximum oxygen uptake VO2max as a measure of aerobic fitness (Gore 2000). Individuals with high VO2max values can be said to possess endurance fitness or cardiorespiratory fitness, however in multiple sprint sports VO2max is not the sole component of fitness. • Recently the JAM test has been developed (Martin and Jones, 2001) to identify the physiological variables important in executing intermittent exercise. It combines them in a manner, which simulates the activity pattern of multiple sprint sports players. • The JAM test was used to investigate the effects of caffeine supplementation on multiple sprint performance

Demonstration of surface electron rejection with interleaved germanium detectors for dark matter searches

The SuperCDMS experiment in the Soudan Underground Laboratory searches for dark matter with a 9-kg array of cryogenic germanium detectors. Symmetric sensors on opposite sides measure both charge and phonons from each particle interaction, providing excellent discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils, and between surface and interior events. Surface event rejection capabilities were tested with two 210 Pb sources producing ∼130 beta decays/hr. In ∼800 live hours, no events leaked into the 8–115 keV signal region, giving upper limit leakage fraction 1.7 × 10−5 at 90% C.L., corresponding to < 0.6 surface event background in the future 200-kg SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment

Measurement of event-shape observables in Z→ℓ+ℓ− events in pp collisions at √ s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive $Z$-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the $Z$ bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of $1.1 {\rm fb}^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. Charged-particle distributions, excluding the lepton--antilepton pair from the $Z$-boson decay, are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the $Z$ boson. Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and $\mathcal{F}$-parameter, which are in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values of the $Z$-boson transverse momentum. The Sherpa event generator shows larger deviations from the measured observables than Pythia8 and Herwig7. Typically, all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better agreement with the data at high $Z$-boson transverse momenta than at low $Z$-boson transverse momenta and for the observables that are less sensitive to the number of charged particles in the event.Comment: 36 pages plus author list + cover page (54 pages total), 14 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC, All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2014-0

How perspectives on food safety of vendors and consumers translate into food choice behaviors in six African and Asian countries

Background Consumption of unsafe foods increases morbidity and mortality and is currently an issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Policy actions to ensure food safety are dominated by mitigation of biological and chemical hazards through supply-side risk management, lessening the degree to which consumer perspectives of food safety are considered. Objective This study aimed to provide an in-depth understanding, from vendor and consumer perspectives, of how food safety concerns of consumers translate into their subsequent food choice behaviors in six diverse low- and middle-income countries. Methods Six Drivers of Food Choice projects (2016-2022) provided transcripts from 17 focus group discussions and 343 interviews in Ghana, Guinea, India, Kenya, Tanzania, and Vietnam. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify emerging themes important to food safety. Results The analysis suggests that consumers constructed meaning about food safety through personal lived experience and social influences. Community and family members contributed knowledge about food safety. Concerns about food safety were influenced by reputations of, and relationships with, food vendors. Consumers’ mistrust of food vendors was amplified by purposeful adulteration or unsafe selling practices and new methods used to produce food. Consumers were reassured of food safety by positive relationships with vendors; meals cooked at home; implementation of policies and following of regulations; vendor adherence to environmental sanitation and food hygiene practices; cleanliness of vendors’ appearance; and vendors’ or producers’ agency to use risk mitigation strategies in production, processing, and distribution of food. Conclusions Consumers integrated their meanings, knowledge, and concerns about food safety to achieve assurance about the safety of their foods when making food choice decisions. The success of food-safety policies hinges on consideration of consumers’ food safety concerns in their design and implementation, alongside actions to reduce risk in food supply