The NAIAD experiment (NaI Advanced Detector) for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches at Boulby mine (UK) is described. The detector consists of an array of encapsulated ...and unencapsulated NaI(Tl) crystals with high light yield. Six crystals are collecting data at present. Data accumulated by four of them (10.6 kg
×
year exposure) have been used to set upper limits on the WIMP–nucleon spin-independent and WIMP–proton spin-dependent cross-sections. Pulse shape analysis has been applied to discriminate between nuclear recoils, as may be caused by WIMP interactions, and electron recoils due to gamma background. Various calibrations of crystals are presented.
Refining and better understanding the roles parents, teachers, administrators, and researchers play in helping children learn to process written language is the focus of this book. Part 1 considers ...the role of the parents and includes the following articles: "Learning to Read: It Starts in the Home" (David B. Doake): "Let's Read Another One" (Diane L. Chapman); and "Literacy Environment in the Home and Community" (Yetta M. Goodman and Myna M. Haussler). Part 2 considers the role of the teacher in the following articles: "Teaching and Language Centered Programs" (MaryAnne Hall); "Guiding a Natural Process" (Don Holdaway); and "Nourishing and Sustaining Reading" (Margaret Meek Spencer). The articles in part 3 discuss the role of the child: "Apprenticeship in the Art of Literacy" (Anne D. Forester); "Children's Quest for Literacy" (John McInnes); and "Children Write to Read and Read to Write" (Diane E. DeFord). The articles in part 4 consider the role of the administrator: "Emergence of an Administrator" (Marilyn D. Reed); "Removing the 'We-They' Syndrome" (G. William Stratton); and "Cultivating Teacher Power" (Moira G. McKenzie). The role of the researcher is covered in part 5 in the final articles: "Theory, Practice, and Research in Literacy Learning" (Robert Emans); "Reading Research at the One Century Mark" (Edmund H. Henderson); and "The Researcher, Whole Language, and Reading" (William D. Page). (EL)
We present our new measurement of the cross-section for charm dimuon production in neutrino–iron interactions based upon the full statistics collected by the NOMAD experiment. After background ...subtraction we observe 15 344 charm dimuon events, providing the largest sample currently available. The analysis exploits the large inclusive charged current sample – about 9×106 events after all analysis cuts – and the high resolution NOMAD detector to constrain the total systematic uncertainty on the ratio of charm dimuon to inclusive Charged Current (CC) cross-sections to ∼2%. We also perform a fit to the NOMAD data to extract the charm production parameters and the strange quark sea content of the nucleon within the NLO QCD approximation. We obtain a value of mc(mc)=1.159±0.075 GeV/c2 for the running mass of the charm quark in the MS¯ scheme and a strange quark sea suppression factor of κs=0.591±0.019 at Q2=20 GeV2/c2.
Early life exposures may be important in the development of asthma and allergic disease.
To test house dust mite (HDM) avoidance and dietary fatty acid modification, implemented throughout the first ...5 years of life, as interventions to prevent asthma and allergic disease.
We recruited newborns with a family history of asthma antenatally and randomized them, separately, to HDM avoidance or control and to dietary modification or control. At age 5 years, they were assessed for asthma and eczema and had skin prick tests for atopy.
Of 616 children randomized, 516 (84%) were evaluated at age 5 years. The HDM avoidance intervention resulted in a 61% reduction in HDM allergen concentrations (μg/g dust) in the child's bed but no difference in the prevalence of asthma, wheeze, or atopy (
P > .1). The prevalence of eczema was higher in the active HDM avoidance group (26% vs 19%;
P = .06). The ratio of ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acids in plasma was lower in the active diet group (5.8 vs 7.4;
P < .0001). However, the prevalence of asthma, wheezing, eczema, or atopy did not differ between the diet groups (
P > .1).
Further research is required to establish whether other interventions can be recommended for the prevention of asthma and allergic disease.
House dust mite avoidance measures and dietary fatty acid modification, as implemented in this trial during infancy and early childhood, did not prevent the onset of asthma, eczema, or atopy in high-risk children.
Measurements of the shapes of scintillation pulses produced by nuclear recoils, alpha particles and photons in NaI(Tl) crystals at visible energies of 10–100 keV have been performed in order to ...investigate possible sources of background in NaI(Tl) dark matter experiments and, in particular, the possible origin of the anomalous fast time constant events observed in the UK Dark Matter Collaboration experiments at Boulby mine P.F. Smith et al., Phys. Rep. 307 (1998) 275. Pulses initiated by X-rays (via photoelectric effect close to the surface of the crystal) were found not to differ from those produced by high-energy photons (via Compton electrons inside the crystal) within experimental errors. However, pulses induced by alpha particles (degraded from an external MeV source) were found to be ∼10% faster than those of nuclear recoils, but insufficiently fast to account for the anomalous events.
Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatory actions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital ...with COVID-19.
In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy RECOVERY), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients were randomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once per day by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatment groups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment and were twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants and local study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to the outcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.
Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) were eligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was 65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 38% of 7763). 2582 patients were randomly allocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall, 561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days (rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median 10 days IQR 5 to >28 vs 11 days 5 to >28) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days (rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, no significant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilation or death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).
In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or other prespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restricted to patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication.
UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and National Institute of Health Research.
DRIFT-I, the first full-scale gaseous dark matter detector, has recently been installed at ∼1100
m depth at the Boulby Underground Laboratory, UK. The DRIFT concept offers high background ...discrimination and sensitivity to the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils, the latter being of particular importance in the search for evidence of WIMPs in our galaxy. In this paper we discuss the design of the DRIFT-I detector and its installation and operation at Boulby. We also present results of early engineering runs and outline plans for the future.
The Physics of the B Factories Bevan, Adrian; Golob, Bostjan; Mannel, Thomas ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
March 2015, Letnik:
74, Številka:
11
eBook, Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related ...issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C.
Mindfulness can improve overall well-being by training individuals to focus on the present moment without judging their thoughts. However, it is unknown how much mindfulness practice and training are ...necessary to improve well-being. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether a standard 8-session web-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program, compared with a brief 3-session mindfulness intervention, improved overall participant well-being. In addition, we sought to explore whether the treatment effects differed based on the baseline characteristics of the participants (ie, moderators). We randomized 4411 participants, 3873 (87.80%) of whom were White and 3547 (80.41%) of female sex assigned at birth. The mean baseline World Health Organization—Five Well-Being Index score was 50.3 (SD 20.7). The average self-reported well-being in each group increased over the intervention period (baseline to 8 weeks; model-based slope for the MBCT group: 0.78, 95% CI 0.63-0.93, and brief mindfulness group: 0.76, 95% CI 0.60-0.91) as well as the full study period (ie, intervention plus follow-up; baseline to 20 weeks; model-based slope for MBCT group: 0.41, 95% CI 0.34-0.48; and brief mindfulness group: 0.33, 95% CI 0.26-0.40). Changes in self-reported well-being were not significantly different between MBCT and brief mindfulness during the intervention period (model-based difference in slopes: −0.02, 95% CI −0.24 to 0.19; P=.80) or during the intervention period plus 12-week follow-up (−0.08, 95% CI −0.18 to 0.02; P=.10). During the intervention period, younger participants (P=.05) and participants who completed a higher percentage of intervention sessions (P=.005) experienced greater improvements in well-being across both interventions, with effects that were stronger for participants in the MBCT condition. Attrition was high (ie, 2142/4411, 48.56%), which is an important limitation of this study. Standard MBCT improved well-being but was not superior to a brief mindfulness intervention. This finding suggests that shorter mindfulness programs could yield important benefits across the general population of individuals with various medical conditions. Younger people and participants who completed more intervention sessions reported greater improvements in well-being, an effect that was more pronounced for participants in the MBCT condition. This finding suggests that standard MBCT may be a better choice for younger people as well as treatment-adherent individuals.
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