A novel measurement of Bs0B^0_s and Ds−D^-_s lifetimes using semileptonic decays at LHCb

I report new, world-leading LHCb results on heavy meson lifetimes. We use a novel approach that suppresses the shortcomings typically associated with reconstruction of semileptonic decays, allowing for precise measurements of lifetimes and other properties in collider experiments. We achieve a 15% and a $2\times$ improvement over current best determinations of the flavor-specific $B^0_s$ lifetime and $D^-_s$ lifetime, respectively.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. Talk presented at the APS Division of Particles and Fields Meeting (DPF 2017), July 31-August 4, 2017, Fermilab. C17073

Mitochondrial Genome of the Freshwater Jellyfish <em>Craspedacusta sowerbyi</em> and Phylogenetics of Medusozoa

<div><p>The 17,922 base pairs (bp) nucleotide sequence of the linear mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecule of the freshwater jellyfish <em>Craspedacusta sowerbyi</em> (Hydrozoa,Trachylina, Limnomedusae) has been determined. This sequence exhibits surprisingly low A+T content (57.1%), containing genes for 13 energy pathway proteins, a small and a large subunit rRNAs, and methionine and tryptophan tRNAs. Mitochondrial ancestral medusozoan gene order (AMGO) was found in the <em>C. sowerbyi</em>, as those found in <em>Cubaia aphrodite</em> (Hydrozoa, Trachylina, Limnomedusae), discomedusan Scyphozoa and Staurozoa. The genes of <em>C. sowerbyi</em> mtDNA are arranged in two clusters with opposite transcriptional polarities, whereby transcription proceeds toward the ends of the DNA molecule. Identical inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) flank the ends of the mitochondrial DNA molecule, a characteristic typical of medusozoans. In addition, two open reading frames (ORFs) of 354 and 1611 bp in length were found downstream of the large subunit rRNA gene, similar to the two ORFs of <em>ORF314</em> and <em>polB</em> discovered in the linear mtDNA of <em>C. aphrodite,</em> discomedusan Scyphozoa and Staurozoa. Phylogenetic analyses of <em>C. sowerbyi</em> and other cnidarians were carried out based on both nucleotide and inferred amino acid sequences of the 13 mitochondrial energy pathway genes. Our working hypothesis supports the monophyletic Medusozoa being a sister group to Octocorallia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Within Medusozoa, the phylogenetic analysis suggests that Staurozoa may be the earliest diverging class and the sister group of all other medusozoans. Cubozoa and coronate Scyphozoa form a clade that is the sister group of Hydrozoa plus discomedusan Scyphozoa. Hydrozoa is the sister group of discomedusan Scyphozoa. Semaeostomeae is a paraphyletic clade with Rhizostomeae, while Limnomedusae (Trachylina) is the sister group of hydroidolinans and may be the earliest diverging lineage among Hydrozoa.</p> </div

Secondary structure models predicted for tRNA and intergenic putative control region of <i>C. sowerbyi</i> and <i>C. aphrodite</i>.

<p>Secondary structure models predicted for tRNA and intergenic putative control region of <i>C. sowerbyi</i> and <i>C. aphrodite</i>.</p

Comparison of the mitochondrial protein coding genes and RNA genes of the freshwater jellyfish <i>C. sowerbyi</i> (<i>C.s</i>), the jellyfish <i>A. aurita</i> (<i>A.a</i>), the hydrozoan <i>H. oligactis</i> (<i>H.o</i>), cubozoan <i>A. moseri</i> (<i>A.m</i>), and the trachyline <i>C. aphrodite</i> (<i>C.a</i>).

<p>“nd” means not determined.</p>a<p>Data for <i>A. aurita</i> are from Shao et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051465#pone.0051465-Smith1" target="_blank">[10]</a>, for <i>H. oligactis</i> are from Kayal and Lavrov <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051465#pone.0051465-Kayal2" target="_blank">[8]</a>, for <i>A. moseri</i> are from Kayal et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051465#pone.0051465-Kayal1" target="_blank">[7]</a>, for <i>C. aphrodite</i> are from Kayal et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051465#pone.0051465-Kayal1" target="_blank">[7]</a>.</p

Codon usage among the 13 energy pathway protein genes and Two ORFs.

*<p>Codon usage among the 13 energy pathway protein genes of <i>C. sowerbyi</i>;</p>#<p>Codon usage of the genes <i>ORF1611</i> and <i>ORF354</i> of <i>C. sowerbyi.</i></p

Nucleotide composition data for different groups of genes, ORFs, and non-coding regions in <i>C. sowerbyi</i> mtDNA.

<p>Nucleotide composition data for different groups of genes, ORFs, and non-coding regions in <i>C. sowerbyi</i> mtDNA.</p

Maps of the mitochondrial genomes of <i>C. sowerbyi</i> and <i>C. aphrodite</i>.

<p>Protein and ribosomal genes (large open boxes) are abbreviated as presented in the text; tRNA genes (small hatched boxes) are identified by the one-letter code for their corresponding amino acid. Intergenic regions greater than 100 bp are shown by shaded boxes; ITR shown by two large arrows. Arrows within or under each box show the direction of transcription. Positive numbers at gene boundaries indicate the number of intergenic nucleotides; negative numbers indicate the number of overlapping nucleotides. The dash lines mean that the sequence of this part is not determined.</p

Continuous Biodiesel Production Catalyzed by Trace-Amount Alkali under Methanol Subcritical Conditions

Biodiesel is a promising alternative biofuel, but the treatment of wastewater containing alkali catalyst and glycerol discharged from the washing unit operation increases the cost significantly. Here a novel continuous biodiesel production process with trace-amount alkali as the catalyst under the methanol subcritical condition was proposed and investigated. The optimal operation conditions of preliminary batch reaction experiment are temperature of 200 °C, catalyst concentration of 513 mg/kg, reaction time of 38 min, molar ratio of methanol to oil of 11.9:1, and system pressure of 1.5 MPa. The one-step conversion of raw oil in a batch reactor can reach up to 85.5%. The alkali residue in the biodiesel product can be further reduced by removing the methanol and washing by glycerol instead of by acid or water. The optimal weight ratio of glycerol to biodiesel is 1.5:1, and the residual alkali in the final ester product is about 4.6 mg/kg. The simulation and bench scale continuous experiment based on the optimal batch operation parameters confirmed that the biodiesel produced by the process is qualified well up to the Chinese standard of biodiesel, and the K⁺ concentration in biodiesel was less than 3.0 mg/kg. The economic evaluation showed that this new process is more economically feasible than the traditional processes

Rank abundance analysis of the different bacterial community groups.

<p>Rank abundance distribution curves showing the OTUs within each category of the Venn diagram in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0030440#pone-0030440-g003" target="_blank">Fig. 3A</a> ranked according to their abundance in the corresponding combined OTU sequence data set.</p

Sample Sorting analysis.

<p>Scatterplot of PCA-score depicting variance of fingerprints derived from different bacterial community. Principal components (PCs) 1 and 2 explained 34.53% and 25.84% of the variance, respectively.</p