Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) hemoglobin genes: multiplicity and polymorphism

Background: Hemoglobin (Hb) polymorphism, assessed by protein gel electrophoresis, has been used almost exclusively to characterize the genetic structure of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) populations and to establish correlations with phenotypic traits such as Hb oxygen binding capacity, temperature tolerance and growth characteristics. The genetic system used to explain the results of gel electrophoresis entails the presence of one polymorphic locus with two major alleles (HbI-1; HbI-2). However, vertebrates have more than one gene encoding Hbs and recent studies have reported that more than one Hb gene is present in Atlantic cod. These observations prompted us to re-evaluate the number of Hb genes expressed in Atlantic cod, and to perform an in depth search for polymorphisms that might produce relevant phenotypes for breeding programs. Results: Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) led to the identification of nine distinct Hb transcripts; four corresponding to the α Hb gene family and five to the β Hb gene family. To gain insights about the Hb genes encoding these transcripts, genomic sequence data was generated from heterozygous (HbI-1/2) parents and fifteen progeny; five of each HbI type, i.e., HbI-1/1, HbI-1/2 and HbI-2/2. β Hb genes displayed more polymorphism than α Hb genes. Two major allele types (β1A and β1B) that differ by two linked non-synonymous substitutions (Met55Val and Lys62Ala) were found in the β1 Hb gene, and the distribution of these β1A and β1B alleles among individuals was congruent with that of the HbI-1 and HbI-2 alleles determined by protein gel electrophoresis. RT-PCR and Q-PCR analysis of the nine Hb genes indicates that all genes are expressed in adult fish, but their level of expression varies greatly; higher expression of almost all Hb genes was found in individuals displaying the HbI-2/2 electrophoretic type. Conclusion: This study indicates that more Hb genes are present and expressed in adult Atlantic cod than previously documented. Our finding that nine Hb genes are expressed simultaneously in adult fish suggests that Atlantic cod, similarly to fish such as rainbow trout, carp, and goldfish, might be able to respond to environmental challenges such as chronic hypoxia or long-term changes in temperature by altering the level of expression of these genes. In this context, the role of the non-conservative substitution Lys62Ala found in the β1 Hb gene, which appears to explain the occurrence of the HbI-1 and HbI-2 alleles described by gel electrophoresis, and which was found to be present in other fish such as eel, emerald rockcod, rainbow trout and moray, requires further investigation

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV

Mesoscale engineering of photonic glass for tunable luminescence

The control of optical behavior of active materials through manipulation of microstructure has led to the development of high-performance photonic devices with enhanced integration density, improved quantum efficiencies and controllable colour output. However, the achievement of robust light-harvesting materials with tunable, broadband and flatten emission remains a long-standing goal, owing to the limited inhomogeneous broadening in ordinary hosts. Here, we describe an effective strategy for management of photon emission by manipulation of mesoscale heterogeneities in optically active materials. Importantly, this unique approach enables control of dopant-dopant and dopant-host interactions at the extended mesoscale. This allows generating intriguing optical phenomena such as high activation ratio of dopant (close to 100 %), dramatically inhomogeneous broadening (up to 480 nm), notable emission enhancement, and moreover, simultaneously extending emission bandwidth and flattening spectral shape in glass and fiber. Our results highlight that the findings connect the understanding and manipulation at the mesoscale realm to functional behavior at the macroscale, and the approach to managing the dopants based on mesoscale engineering may provide new opportunity for construction of robust fiber light source.National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant IDs: 11474102, 51202180), the Chinese Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant ID: NCET-13-0221), Guangdong Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (Grant ID: S2013050014549), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University, Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry, World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, JapanThis is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Nature Publishing Group

Search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with tau leptons in √s=13 TeV collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with at least two hadronically decaying tau leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV.Nosignificant deviation from the expected Standard Model background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 pair production and of ˜χ±1 ˜χ02 and ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 production in simplified models where the neutralinos and charginos decay solely via intermediate left-handed staus and tau sneutrinos, and the mass of the ˜ τL state is set to be halfway between the masses of the ˜χ±1 and the ˜χ01. Chargino masses up to 630 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level in the scenario of direct production of ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 for a massless ˜χ01. Common ˜χ±1 and ˜χ02 masses up to 760 GeV are excluded in the case of production of ˜χ±1 ˜χ02 and ˜χ+1 ˜χ−1 assuming a massless ˜χ01. Exclusion limits for additional benchmark scenarios with large and small mass-splitting between the ˜χ±1 and the ˜χ01 are also studied by varying the ˜ τL mass between the masses of the ˜χ±1 and the ˜χ01

Measurement of W+W− production in association with one jet in proton–proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8TeV with the ATLAS detector

The production of W boson pairs in association with one jet in pp collisions at View the MathML sources=8 TeV is studied using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1 collected by the ATLAS detector during 2012 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The cross section is measured in a fiducial phase-space region defined by the presence of exactly one electron and one muon, missing transverse momentum and exactly one jet with a transverse momentum above 25 GeV and a pseudorapidity of |η|<4.5|η|<4.5. The leptons are required to have opposite electric charge and to pass transverse momentum and pseudorapidity requirements. The fiducial cross section is found to be View the MathML sourceσWWfid,1-jet=136±6(stat)±14(syst)±3(lumi) fb. In combination with a previous measurement restricted to leptonic final states with no associated jets, the fiducial cross section of WW production with zero or one jet is measured to be View the MathML sourceσWWfid,≤1-jet=511±9(stat)±26(syst)±10(lumi) fb. The ratio of fiducial cross sections in final states with one and zero jets is determined to be 0.36±0.050.36±0.05. Finally, a total cross section extrapolated from the fiducial measurement of WW production with zero or one associated jet is reported. The measurements are compared to theoretical predictions and found in good agreement

Measurements of normalized differential cross sections for tt̄ production in pp collisions at √(s)=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector

Measurements of normalized differential cross sections for top-quark pair production are presented as a function of the top-quark transverse momentum, and of the mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity of the t¯t system, in proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=7  TeV. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.6  fb−1, recorded in 2011 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in the lepton+jets channel, requiring exactly one lepton and at least four jets with at least one of the jets tagged as originating from a b-quark. The measured spectra are corrected for detector efficiency and resolution effects and are compared to several Monte Carlo simulations and theory calculations. The results are in fair agreement with the predictions in a wide kinematic range. Nevertheless, data distributions are softer than predicted for higher values of the mass of the t¯t system and of the top-quark transverse momentum. The measurements can also discriminate among different sets of parton distribution functions

Measurement of the cross section for inclusive isolated-photon production in pp collisions at √s=13TeV using the ATLAS detector

Inclusive isolated-photon production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeVis studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a data set with an integrated luminosity of 3.2fb−1. The cross section is measured as a function of the photon transverse energy above 125GeVin different regions of photon pseudorapidity. Next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD and Monte Carlo event-generator predictions are compared to the cross-section measurements and provide an adequate description of the data