Long-term effects of a weight loss intervention with or without exercise component in postmenopausal women: a randomized trial

The aim of this study was to determine the long-term effects of a weight loss intervention with or without an exercise component on body weight and physical activity. Women were randomized to diet (n = 97) or exercise (N = 98) for 16 weeks. During the intervention, both groups had achieved the set goal of 5-6 kg weight loss. All women were re-contacted twelve months after study cessation for follow-up where body weight and physical activity were measured (PASE questionnaire and ActiGraph accelerometer). At follow-up, body weight and physical activity (measured by the PASE questionnaire and accelerometer) were measured again. At follow-up, both mainly exercise (- 4.3 kg, p < 0.001) and diet (- 3.4 kg, p < 0.001) showed significantly reduced body weight compared to baseline. Both the mainly exercise and diet group were significantly more physically active at one year follow-up compared to baseline (PASE: + 33%, p < 0.001 and + 12%, p = 0.040, respectively; ActiGraph: + 16%, p = 0.012. and + 2.2%, p = 0.695 moderate-to-vigorous activity, respectively). Moreover, the increase in physical activity was statistically significantly when comparing exercise to diet (+ 0.6%, p = 0.035). ActiGraph data also showed significantly less sedentary time in mainly exercise group compared to baseline (- 2.1%, p = 0.018) and when comparing exercise to diet (- 1.8%, p = 0.023). No significant within group differences were found for the diet group. This study shows largely sustained weight loss one year after completing a weight loss program with and without exercise in overweight postmenopausal women. Although the mainly exercise group maintained more physically active compared to the diet group, maintenance of weight loss did not differ between groups

SAFECoast: Comparison between different flood risk methodologies. Action 3B report - SAFECOAST Interreg IIIb North Sea Project

The Interreg IIIB project SAFECoast considers the question “How to manage our North Sea coasts in 2050?’ and focuses on the consequences of climate change and spatial developments with respect to safety from coastal flooding. Therefore, a team of coastal managers from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the UK are continuing their cooperation in SAFECoast which aims to build on each other’s experiences in, and understanding of coastal risk management. Flanders Hydraulics Research (FHR, located in Borgerhout, Belgium) has proposed a flood risk methodology in the past which makes it possible to compare different areas and different situations with a view to damage and risk calculations. In the past years, the methodology has been extended and improved, and meanwhile it is used in several studies in Flanders. This report is the contribution of Flanders Hydraulics Research to the SAFECoast project (action 3b). The goal is to compare basic parameters of the existing coastal risk methodologies and make an inventory of the strong and weak points of the different approaches. It is neither possible nor desirable to make a ranking of them. Because of data availability and case specific parameters and constraints, each methodology generally fits the best for the area they are made for. However we want to learn from them and incorporate good ideas to improve the existing methodologies. To improve coastal risk methodology means to make its results less uncertain, or more complete. In this study all the different sources of uncertainty are analysed and compared so it becomes possible to identify the weak links in the calculation chain

Single and vertically coupled type II quantum dots in a perpendicular magnetic field: exciton groundstate properties

The properties of an exciton in a type II quantum dot are studied under the influence of a perpendicular applied magnetic field. The dot is modelled by a quantum disk with radius $R$, thickness $d$ and the electron is confined in the disk, whereas the hole is located in the barrier. The exciton energy and wavefunctions are calculated using a Hartree-Fock mesh method. We distinguish two different regimes, namely $d<<2R$ (the hole is located at the radial boundary of the disk) and $d>>2R$ (the hole is located above and below the disk), for which angular momentum $(l)$ transitions are predicted with increasing magnetic field. We also considered a system of two vertically coupled dots where now an extra parameter is introduced, namely the interdot distance $d_{z}$. For each $l_{h}$ and for a sufficient large magnetic field, the ground state becomes spontaneous symmetry broken in which the electron and the hole move towards one of the dots. This transition is induced by the Coulomb interaction and leads to a magnetic field induced dipole moment. No such symmetry broken ground states are found for a single dot (and for three vertically coupled symmetric quantum disks). For a system of two vertically coupled truncated cones, which is asymmetric from the start, we still find angular momentum transitions. For a symmetric system of three vertically coupled quantum disks, the system resembles for small $d_{z}$ the pillar-like regime of a single dot, where the hole tends to stay at the radial boundary, which induces angular momentum transitions with increasing magnetic field. For larger $d_{z}$ the hole can sit between the disks and the $l_{h}=0$ state remains the groundstate for the whole $B$-region.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure

Assessing the storm vulnerability of the Belgian coastline

Climate change is likely to induce increased sea level and storm frequency. As such, assessing the strength of the Belgian coastal defence infrastructure against natural hazards is of primordial importance to reduce inundation consequences to properties and nature. This study presents an integrated methodology to estimate damage risks from a hypothetical storm with a surge level of +8m TAW and a duration of 45 hours along the entire coastline. After translation of deep water hydrometeorological conditions to the nearshore, several failure modes of the defence infrastructure are modelled: beach and dune erasion, collapse of dikes due to wave impact and overtopping, and subsequent breach forming and flooding of the low-lying coastal plain. Attention was paid to the various model uncertainties. Damage of infrastructure, properties and human casualties are calculated using a raster-based GIS model. Multiplication of the results with a rate factor based on prognoses of the evolution of socio-economic parameters allows projection of the results to 2050. All this, in combination with a social cost benefit analysis, will provide a tool for supporting coastal zone management in Belgium in a quantitative way

Revisiting soliton contributions to perturbative amplitudes

Open Access funded by SCOAP3. CP is a Royal Society Research Fellow and partly supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under grants DOE-SC0010008, DOE-ARRA-SC0003883 and DOE-DE-SC0007897. ABR is supported by the Mitchell Family Foundation. We would like to thank the Mitchell Institute at Texas A&M and the NHETC at Rutgers University respectively for hospitality during the course of this work. We would also like to acknowledge the Aspen Center for Physics and NSF grant 1066293 for a stimulating research environment

Nanoscopic Tunneling Contacts on Mesoscopic Multiprobe Conductors

We derive Bardeen-like expressions for the transmission probabilities between two multi-probe mesoscopic conductors coupled by a weak tunneling contact. We emphasize especially the dual role of a weak coupling contact as a current source and sink and analyze the magnetic field symmetry. In the limit of a point-like tunneling contact the transmission probability becomes a product of local, partial density of states of the two mesoscopic conductors. We present expressions for the partial density of states in terms of functional derivatives of the scattering matrix with respect to the local potential and in terms of wave functions. We discuss voltage measurements and resistance measurements in the transport state of conductors. We illustrate the theory for the simple case of a scatterer in an otherwise perfect wire. In particular, we investigate the development of the Hall-resistance as measured with weak coupling probes.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, revte

Virulence of newcastle disease virus: what is known so far?

In the last decade many studies have been performed on the virulence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). This is mainly due to the development of reverse genetics systems which made it possible to genetically modify NDV and to investigate the contribution of individual genes and genome regions to its virulence. However, the available information is scattered and a comprehensive overview of the factors and conditions determining NDV virulence is lacking. This review summarises, compares and discusses the available literature and shows that virulence of NDV is a complex trait determined by multiple genetic factors

Tobacco smoking-associated genome-wide DNA methylation changes in the EPIC study.

Epigenetic changes may occur in response to environmental stressors, and an altered epigenome pattern may represent a stable signature of environmental exposure

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal