The canonical effect in statistical models for relativistic heavy ion collisions

Enforcing exact conservation laws instead of average ones in statistical thermal models for relativistic heavy ion reactions gives raise to so called canonical effect, which can be used to explain some enhancement effects when going from elementary (e.g. pp) or small (pA) systems towards large AA systems. We review the recently developed method for computation of canonical statistical thermodynamics, and give an insight when this is needed in analysis of experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Talk given in Strangeness in Quark Matter, Frankfurt am Main 2001. Submitted to J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phy

Physical Activity Reduces the Risk of Fragility Fracture

The authors discuss a new study, with a 35 year follow up, showing that exercise reduces the risk of fragility fractures in men

Single and double slit scattering of wave packets

The scattering of wave packets from a single slit and a double slit with the Schr\"odinger equation, is studied numerically and theoretically. The phenomenon of diffraction of wave packets in space and time in the backward region, previously found for barriers and wells, is encountered here also. A new phenomenon of forward diffraction that occurs only for packets thiner than the slit, or slits, is calculated numerically as well as, in a theoretical approximation to the problem. This diffraction occurs at the opposite end of the usual diffraction phenomena with monochromatic waves.Comment: Latex format, 35 pages, 15 eps (some colored) figure

The Neandertal genome and ancient DNA authenticity

Recent advances in high-thoughput DNA sequencing have made genome-scale analyses of genomes of extinct organisms possible. With these new opportunities come new difficulties in assessing the authenticity of the DNA sequences retrieved. We discuss how these difficulties can be addressed, particularly with regard to analyses of the Neandertal genome. We argue that only direct assays of DNA sequence positions in which Neandertals differ from all contemporary humans can serve as a reliable means to estimate human contamination. Indirect measures, such as the extent of DNA fragmentation, nucleotide misincorporations, or comparison of derived allele frequencies in different fragment size classes, are unreliable. Fortunately, interim approaches based on mtDNA differences between Neandertals and current humans, detection of male contamination through Y chromosomal sequences, and repeated sequencing from the same fossil to detect autosomal contamination allow initial large-scale sequencing of Neandertal genomes. This will result in the discovery of fixed differences in the nuclear genome between Neandertals and current humans that can serve as future direct assays for contamination. For analyses of other fossil hominins, which may become possible in the future, we suggest a similar ‘boot-strap' approach in which interim approaches are applied until sufficient data for more definitive direct assays are acquired

Consent: a need for guidelines to reflect local considerations

As you point out in your Editorial (Nature 460, 933; 2009) on the distribution of human cell lines, withholding scientific material from the broader research community contravenes the basic norms of science. We do not believe, however, that standard international consent guidelines for donors are the solution to this problem and suggest that these should instead be devised on a local scale in collaboration with ethics committees to facilitate tissue distribution. Far from research being “hindered by restrictions from donors” as you suggest, people are generally willing to donate tissue for research, and even to give open-ended consent to unspecified future applications. This willingness is underpinned by donors’ faith in medical research and in their right to protection and confidentiality; the assumption is that their tissue will be used only for ‘ethical’ research. But problems can arise, for example over whether consent covers the proposed usage (at present there are many different models of consent, ranging from specific to general) and when and how tissue should be discarded (K. Aalto-Setälä et al. PLoS Biol. 7, e1000042; 2009). The answers may not always be obvious, and ethics committees (in collaboration with donors or their representatives) need to take into account the kind of tissue involved as well as the demographics and potential vulnerability of the donor or donor community, to judge the acceptability of the research proposal

Natural Variants of AtHKT1 Enhance Na(+) Accumulation in Two Wild Populations of Arabidopsis

Plants are sessile and therefore have developed mechanisms to adapt to their environment, including the soil mineral nutrient composition. Ionomics is a developing functional genomic strategy designed to rapidly identify the genes and gene networks involved in regulating how plants acquire and accumulate these mineral nutrients from the soil. Here, we report on the coupling of high-throughput elemental profiling of shoot tissue from various Arabidopsis accessions with DNA microarray-based bulk segregant analysis and reverse genetics, for the rapid identification of genes from wild populations of Arabidopsis that are involved in regulating how plants acquire and accumulate Na(+) from the soil. Elemental profiling of shoot tissue from 12 different Arabidopsis accessions revealed that two coastal populations of Arabidopsis collected from Tossa del Mar, Spain, and Tsu, Japan (Ts-1 and Tsu-1, respectively), accumulate higher shoot levels of Na(+) than do Col-0 and other accessions. We identify AtHKT1, known to encode a Na(+) transporter, as being the causal locus driving elevated shoot Na(+) in both Ts-1 and Tsu-1. Furthermore, we establish that a deletion in a tandem repeat sequence approximately 5 kb upstream of AtHKT1 is responsible for the reduced root expression of AtHKT1 observed in these accessions. Reciprocal grafting experiments establish that this loss of AtHKT1 expression in roots is responsible for elevated shoot Na(+). Interestingly, and in contrast to the hkt1–1 null mutant, under NaCl stress conditions, this novel AtHKT1 allele not only does not confer NaCl sensitivity but also cosegregates with elevated NaCl tolerance. We also present all our elemental profiling data in a new open access ionomics database, the Purdue Ionomics Information Management System (PiiMS; http://www.purdue.edu/dp/ionomics). Using DNA microarray-based genotyping has allowed us to rapidly identify AtHKT1 as the casual locus driving the natural variation in shoot Na(+) accumulation we observed in Ts-1 and Tsu-1. Such an approach overcomes the limitations imposed by a lack of established genetic markers in most Arabidopsis accessions and opens up a vast and tractable source of natural variation for the identification of gene function not only in ionomics but also in many other biological processes

On the Emergence and Awareness of Auditory Objects

How do humans successfully navigate the sounds of music and the voice of a friend in the midst of a noisy cocktail party? Two recent articles inPLoS Biology provide psychoacoustic and neuronal clues about where to search for the answers

Classification of Light-Induced Desorption of Alkali Atoms in Glass Cells Used in Atomic Physics Experiments

We attempt to provide physical interpretations of light-induced desorption phenomena that have recently been observed for alkali atoms on glass surfaces of alkali vapor cells used in atomic physics experiments. We find that the observed desorption phenomena are closely related to recent studies in surface science, and can probably be understood in the context of these results. If classified in terms of the photon-energy dependence, the coverage and the bonding state of the alkali adsorbates, the phenomena fall into two categories: It appears very likely that the neutralization of isolated ionic adsorbates by photo-excited electron transfer from the substrate is the origin of the desorption induced by ultraviolet light in ultrahigh vacuum cells. The desorption observed in low temperature cells, on the other hand, which is resonantly dependent on photon energy in the visible light range, is quite similar to light-induced desorption stimulated by localized electronic excitation on metallic aggregates. More detailed studies of light-induced desorption events from surfaces well characterized with respect to alkali coverage-dependent ionicity and aggregate morphology appear highly desirable for the development of more efficient alkali atom sources suitable to improve a variety of atomic physics experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; minor corrections made, published in e-Journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology at http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ejssnt/4/0/4_63/_articl

Production of phi mesons in subthreshold heavy-ion collisions

Within a BUU type transport model we study $\phi$ meson production in subthreshold Ni+Ni and Ru+Ru reactions. For the first time we included in our model the elementary reaction channels $\rho+N,\Delta \to \phi+N$, $\pi+N(1520) \to \phi+N$ and $\pi \rho$ $\to$ $\phi$. In spite of a substantial increase of the $\phi$ multiplicities by these channels our results stay significantly below the preliminary experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, version to be published in the proceedings of the SQM2001 Conference (Frankfurt, Germany, 25-29 Sep 2001