859 research outputs found
Statistical mechanics of the international trade network
Analyzing real data on international trade covering the time interval
1950-2000, we show that in each year over the analyzed period the network is a
typical representative of the ensemble of maximally random weighted networks,
whose directed connections (bilateral trade volumes) are only characterized by
the product of the trading countries' GDPs. It means that time evolution of
this network may be considered as a continuous sequence of equilibrium states,
i.e. quasi-static process. This, in turn, allows one to apply the linear
response theory to make (and also verify) simple predictions about the network.
In particular, we show that bilateral trade fulfills fluctuation-response
theorem, which states that the average relative change in import (export)
between two countries is a sum of relative changes in their GDPs. Yearly
changes in trade volumes prove that the theorem is valid.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Warm gas towards young stellar objects in Corona Australis - Herschel/PACS observations from the DIGIT key programme
The effects of external irradiation on the chemistry and physics in the
protostellar envelope around low-mass young stellar objects are poorly
understood. The Corona Australis star-forming region contains the R CrA dark
cloud, comprising several low-mass protostellar cores irradiated by an
intermediate-mass young star. We study the effects on the warm gas and dust in
a group of low-mass young stellar objects from the irradiation by the young
luminous Herbig Be star R CrA. Herschel/PACS far-infrared datacubes of two
low-mass star-forming regions in the R CrA dark cloud are presented. The
distribution of CO, OH, H2O, [C II], [O I], and continuum emission is
investigated. We have developed a deconvolution algorithm which we use to
deconvolve the maps, separating the point-source emission from the extended
emission. We also construct rotational diagrams of the molecular species. By
deconvolution of the Herschel data, we find large-scale (several thousand AU)
dust continuum and spectral line emission not associated with the point
sources. Similar rotational temperatures are found for the warm CO (
K), hot CO ( K), OH ( K), and H2O ( K) emission,
respectively, in the point sources and the extended emission. The rotational
temperatures are also similar to what is found in other more isolated cores.
The extended dust continuum emission is found in two ridges similar in extent
and temperature to molecular mm emission, indicative of external heating from
the Herbig Be star R CrA. Our results show that a nearby luminous star does not
increase the molecular excitation temperatures in the warm gas around a young
stellar object (YSO). However, the emission from photodissociation products of
H2O, such as OH and O, is enhanced in the warm gas associated with these
protostars and their surroundings compared to similar objects not suffering
from external irradiation.Comment: 37 pages, accepted for publication in A&
Identification and rejection of scattered neutrons in AGATA
Gamma rays and neutrons, emitted following spontaneous fission of 252Cf, were
measured in an AGATA experiment performed at INFN Laboratori Nazionali di
Legnaro in Italy. The setup consisted of four AGATA triple cluster detectors
(12 36-fold segmented high-purity germanium crystals), placed at a distance of
50 cm from the source, and 16 HELENA BaF2 detectors. The aim of the experiment
was to study the interaction of neutrons in the segmented high-purity germanium
detectors of AGATA and to investigate the possibility to discriminate neutrons
and gamma rays with the gamma-ray tracking technique. The BaF2 detectors were
used for a time-of-flight measurement, which gave an independent discrimination
of neutrons and gamma rays and which was used to optimise the gamma-ray
tracking-based neutron rejection methods. It was found that standard gamma-ray
tracking, without any additional neutron rejection features, eliminates
effectively most of the interaction points due to recoiling Ge nuclei after
elastic scattering of neutrons. Standard tracking rejects also a significant
amount of the events due to inelastic scattering of neutrons in the germanium
crystals. Further enhancements of the neutron rejection was obtained by setting
conditions on the following quantities, which were evaluated for each event by
the tracking algorithm: energy of the first and second interaction point,
difference in the calculated incoming direction of the gamma ray,
figure-of-merit value. The experimental results of tracking with neutron
rejection agree rather well with Geant4 simulations
APEX-CHAMP+ high-J CO observations of low-mass young stellar objects: IV. Mechanical and radiative feedback
During the embedded stage of star formation, bipolar molecular outflows and
UV radiation from the protostar are important feedback processes. Our aim is to
quantify the feedback, mechanical and radiative, for a large sample of low-mass
sources. The outflow activity is compared to radiative feedback in the form of
UV heating by the accreting protostar to search for correlations and
evolutionary trends. Large-scale maps of 26 young stellar objects, which are
part of the Herschel WISH key program are obtained using the CHAMP+ instrument
on the APEX (12CO and 13CO 6-5), and the HARP-B instrument on the JCMT (12CO
and 13CO 3-2). Maps are used to determine outflow parameters and envelope
models are used to quantify the amount of UV-heated gas and its temperature
from 13CO 6-5 observations. All sources in our sample show outflow activity and
the outflow force, F_CO, is larger for Class 0 sources than for Class I
sources, even if their luminosities are comparable. The outflowing gas
typically extends to much greater distances than the power-law envelope and
therefore influences the surrounding cloud material directly. Comparison of the
CO 6-5 results with Herschel-HIFI H2O and PACS high-J CO lines, both tracing
currently shocked gas, shows that the two components are linked, even though
the transitions do not probe the same gas. The link does not extend down to CO
3-2. The conclusion is that CO 6-5 depends on the shock characteristics
(density and velocity), whereas CO 3-2 is more sensitive to conditions in the
surrounding environment (density). The radiative feedback is responsible for
increasing the gas temperature by a factor of two, up to 30-50 K, on scales of
a few thousand AU, particularly along the direction of the outflow. The mass of
the UV heated gas exceeds the mass contained in the entrained outflow in the
inner ~3000 AU and is therefore at least as important on small scales.Comment: 30 pages with Appendix, Accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic
CO in Protostars (COPS): -SPIRE Spectroscopy of Embedded Protostars
We present full spectral scans from 200-670m of 26 Class 0+I
protostellar sources, obtained with -SPIRE, as part of the
"COPS-SPIRE" Open Time program, complementary to the DIGIT and WISH Key
programs. Based on our nearly continuous, line-free spectra from 200-670
m, the calculated bolometric luminosities () increase by 50%
on average, and the bolometric temperatures () decrease by 10% on
average, in comparison with the measurements without Herschel. Fifteen
protostars have the same Class using and /. We identify rotational transitions of CO lines from J=4-3 to J=13-12,
along with emission lines of CO, HCO, HO, and [CI]. The ratios
of CO to CO indicate that CO emission remains optically
thick for < 13. We fit up to four components of temperature from
the rotational diagram with flexible break points to separate the components.
The distribution of rotational temperatures shows a primary population around
100 K with a secondary population at 350 K. We quantify the correlations
of each line pair found in our dataset, and find the strength of correlation of
CO lines decreases as the difference between -level between two CO lines
increases. The multiple origins of CO emission previously revealed by
velocity-resolved profiles are consistent with this smooth distribution if each
physical component contributes to a wide range of CO lines with significant
overlap in the CO ladder. We investigate the spatial extent of CO emission and
find that the morphology is more centrally peaked and less bipolar at high-
lines. We find the CO emission observed with SPIRE related to outflows, which
consists two components, the entrained gas and shocked gas, as revealed by our
rotational diagram analysis as well as the studies with velocity-resolved CO
emission.Comment: 50 pages, 18 figures, accepted to ApJS. Revised for Table 6 and
Figure
Water in star-forming regions with Herschel: highly excited molecular emission from the NGC 1333 IRAS 4B outflow
During the embedded phase of pre-main sequence stellar evolution, a disk
forms from the dense envelope while an accretion-driven outflow carves out a
cavity within the envelope. Highly excited H2O emission in spatially unresolved
Spitzer/IRS spectra of a low-mass Class 0 object, NGC 1333 IRAS 4B, has
previously been attributed to the envelope-disk accretion shock but could
instead be produced in an outflow. As part of the survey of low-mass sources in
the Water in Star Forming Regions with Herschel (WISH-LM) program, we used
Herschel/PACS to obtain a far-IR spectrum and several Nyquist-sampled spectral
images with to determine the origin of excited H2O emission from NGC 1333 IRAS
4B. The spectrum has high signal-to-noise in a rich forest of H2O, CO, and OH
lines, providing a near-complete census of far-IR molecular emission from a
Class 0 protostar. The excitation diagrams for the three molecules all require
fits with two excitation temperatures, indicating the presence of two physical
components. The highly excited component of H2O emission is characterized by
subthermal excitation of 1500 K gas with a density of 10^5 - 10^7 cm-3,
conditions that also reproduce the mid-IR H2O emission detected by Spitzer. On
the other hand, a high density, low temperature gas can reproduce the H2O
spectrum observed by Spitzer but underpredicts the H2O lines seen by Herschel.
Nyquist-sampled spectral maps of several lines show two spatial components of
H2O emission, one centered at 1200 AU south of the central source at the
position of the blueshifted outflow lobe and a second centered on-source. Both
spatial components of the far-IR H2O emission are consistent with emission from
the outflow. The gas cooling from the IRAS 4B envelope cavity walls is
dominated by far-IR H2O emission, in contrast to stronger [O I] and CO cooling
from more evolved protostars. [one sentence truncated]Comment: 24 total pages; accepted by A&
Hyperthermia Reduces Irradiation-Induced Tumor Repopulation in an In Vivo Pancreatic Carcinoma Model
Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis due to its aggressive nature and ability to metastasize at an early stage. Currently, its management is still a challenge because this neoplasm is resistant to conventional treatment approaches, among which is chemo-radiotherapy (CRT), due to the abundant stromal compartment involved in the mechanism of hypoxia. Hyperthermia, among other effects, counteracts hypoxia by promoting blood perfusion and thereby can enhance the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy (RT). Therefore, the establishment of integrated treatments would be a promising strategy for the management of pancreatic carcinoma. Here, the effects of joint radiotherapy/hyperthermia (RT/HT) on optimized chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) pancreatic tumor models are investigated. This model enables a thorough assessment of the tumor-arresting effect of the combined approach as well as the quantitative evaluation of hypoxia and cell cycle-associated mechanisms by both gene expression analysis and histology. The analysis of the lower CAM allows to investigate the variation of the metastatic behaviors of the cancer cells associated with the treatments. Overall, this study provides a potentially effective combined strategy for the non-invasive management of pancreatic carcinoma
T-cell subpopulations αβ and γδ in cord blood of very preterm infants : The influence of intrauterine infection
Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are creditedPreterm infants are very susceptible to infections. Immune response mechanisms in this group of patients and factors that influence cord blood mononuclear cell populations remain poorly understood and are considered insufficient. However, competent immune functions of the cord blood mononuclear cells are also described. The aim of this work was to evaluate the T-cell population (CD3+) with its subpopulations bearing T-cell receptor (TCR) αβ or TCR γδ in the cord blood of preterm infants born before 32 weeks of gestation by mothers with or without an intrauterine infection. Being a pilot study, it also aimed at feasibility check and assessment of an expected effect size. The cord blood samples of 46 infants age were subjected to direct immunofluorescent staining with monoclonal antibodies and then analyzed by flow cytometry. The percentage of CD3+ cells in neonates born by mothers with diagnosis of intrauterine infection was significantly lower than in neonates born by mothers without infection (p = 0.005; Mann-Whitney U test). The number of cells did not differ between groups. Infection present in the mother did not have an influence on the TCR αβ or TCR γδ subpopulations. Our study contributes to a better understanding of preterm infants' immune mechanisms, and sets the stage for further investigations.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Selected reactive oxygen species and antioxidant enzymes in common bean after Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola and Botrytis cinerea infection
Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Korona plants were
inoculated with the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv.
phaseolicola (Psp), necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea
(Bc) or with both pathogens sequentially. The aim of the
experiment was to determine how plants cope with multiple
infection with pathogens having different attack strategy.
Possible suppression of the non-specific infection with
the necrotrophic fungus Bc by earlier Psp inoculation was
examined. Concentration of reactive oxygen species
(ROS), such as superoxide anion (O2
-) and H2O2 and
activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase
(SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) were
determined 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after inoculation. The
measurements were done for ROS cytosolic fraction and
enzymatic cytosolic or apoplastic fraction. Infection with
Psp caused significant increase in ROS levels since the
beginning of experiment. Activity of the apoplastic
enzymes also increased remarkably at the beginning of
experiment in contrast to the cytosolic ones. Cytosolic
SOD and guaiacol peroxidase (GPOD) activities achieved
the maximum values 48 h after treatment. Additional forms
of the examined enzymes after specific Psp infection were
identified; however, they were not present after single Bc
inoculation. Subsequent Bc infection resulted only in
changes of H2O2 and SOD that occurred to be especially
important during plant–pathogen interaction. Cultivar Korona
of common bean is considered to be resistant to Psp and mobilises its system upon infection with these bacteria.
We put forward a hypothesis that the extent of defence
reaction was so great that subsequent infection did not
trigger significant additional response
Postglacial expansion of the arctic keystone copepod calanus glacialis
Calanus glacialis, a major contributor to zooplankton biomass in the Arctic shelf seas, is a key link between primary production and higher trophic levels that may be sensitive to climate warming. The aim of this study was to explore genetic variation in contemporary populations of this species to infer possible changes during the Quaternary period, and to assess its population structure in both space and time. Calanus glacialis was sampled in the fjords of Spitsbergen (Hornsund and Kongsfjorden) in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2012. The sequence of a mitochondrial marker, belonging to the ND5 gene, selected for the study was 1249 base pairs long and distinguished 75 unique haplotypes among 140 individuals that formed three main clades. There was no detectable pattern in the distribution of haplotypes by geographic distance or over time. Interestingly, a Bayesian skyline plot suggested that a 1000-fold increase in population size occurred approximately 10,000 years before present, suggesting a species expansion after the Last Glacial Maximum.GAME from the National Science Centre, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Iuventus Plus [IP2014 050573]; FCT-PT [CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013]; [2011/03/B/NZ8/02876
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