Progress in creating a joint research agenda that allows networked long-term socio-ecological research in southern South America : addressing crucial technological and human capacity gaps limiting its application in Chile and Argentina

Since 1980, more than 40 countries have implemented long-term ecological research (LTER) programs, which have shown their power to affect advances in basic science to understand the natural world at meaningful temporal and spatial scales and also help link research with socially relevant outcomes. Recently, a disciplinary paradigmatic shift has integrated the human dimensions of ecosystems, leading to a long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) framework to address the world's current environmental challenges. A global gap in LTER/LTSER only exists in the latitudinal range of 40–60°S, corresponding to Argentina and Chile's temperate/sub-Antarctic biome. A team of Chilean, Argentine and US researchers has participated in an ongoing dialogue to define not only conceptual, but also practical barriers limiting LTER/LTSER in southern South America. We have found a number of existing long-term research sites and platforms throughout the region, but at the same time it has been concluded an agenda is needed to create and implement further training courses for students, postdoctoral fellows and young scientists, particularly in the areas of data and information management systems. Since LTER/LTSER efforts in Chile and Argentina are incipient, instituting such courses now will enhance human and technical capacity of the natural science and resource community to improve the collection, storage, analysis and dissemination of information in emerging LTER/LTSER platforms. In turn, having this capacity, as well as the ongoing formalization of LTER/LTSER programs at national levels, will allow the enhancement of crucial collaborations and comparisons between long-term research programs within the region and between hemispheres and continents. For Spanish version of the entire article, see Online Supporting Information (Appendix S1).Desde 1980, más de cuarenta países han implementado programas de Investigación Ecológica a Largo Plazo (LTER por sus siglas en inglés), los cuales han mostrado su capacidad para influir sobre los avances en las ciencias básicas que permiten entender el mundo natural en escalas temporales y espaciales significativas, y también ayudar a enfocar la investigación hacia estudios socialmente relevantes. Recientemente, gracias a un cambio de paradigma en la disciplina, se integró también la dimensión humana de los ecosistemas, llevándola a un marco conceptual de Investigación Socio-Ecológica a Largo Plazo (LTSER por sus siglas en inglés) para enfrentar los desafíos medio-ambientales del mundo actual. Existe un vacío global en LTER/LTSER en el rango latitudinal de 40–60°S, correspondiente a los biomas templados/subantárticos de Argentina y Chile. Un equipo de investigadores chilenos, argentinos y estadounidenses ha trabajado por varios años para definir cuáles son la barreras que actualmente limitan la creación de una Red de LTER/LTSER en el sur de Sudamérica, no solamente en términos conceptuales, sino también a nivel práctico. Existe un buen número de sitios de investigación a largo plazo en la región, pero también concluimos que es necesario crear e implementar más cursos de capacitación para estudiantes, investigadores post-doctorales y jóvenes científicos, particularmente en las áreas de sistemas de manejo de datos e información. Considerando que los esfuerzos LTER/LTSER en Chile y Argentina son incipientes, este tipo de cursos podría mejorar la capacidad humana y técnica en la comunidad de las ciencias y los recursos naturales, así como mejorar los procesos de recolección, almacenamiento, análisis y difusión de la información. A su vez, la formalización de cursos de programas LTER/LTSER a nivel nacional para adquirir dicha capacidad de manejo de la información, permitirá un fortalecimiento crucial de las colaboraciones y comparaciones entre programas de investigación a largo plazo dentro de la región, y entre hemisferios y continentes. La versión en castellano del artículo se encuentra disponible en forma digital como Online Supporting Information S1.Fil: Anderson, Chistopher B. University of North Texas. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Celis-Diez, Juan Luis. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Escuela de Agronomía; ChileFil: Bond, Barbara J.H.G. Oregon State University. Andrews Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Site. Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society; Estados UnidosFil: Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientificas; ArgentinaFil: Little, Christian. Universidad Austral de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Evolución; Chile. Fundación Centro de los Bosques Nativos FORECOS; ChileFil: Armesto, Juan J. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Escuela de Agronomía; ChileFil: Ghersa, Claudio Marco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Austin, Amy Theresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Schlichter, Tomas Miguel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología Forestal; ArgentinaFil: Lara, Antonio. Fundación Centro de los Bosques Nativos FORECOS; Chile. Universidad Austral de Chile. Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Silvicultura; ChileFil: Carmona, Martin. Universidad de Chile. Instituto de Ecologıa y Biodiversidad; ChileFil: Chaneton, Enrique Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia. Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente; ArgentinaFil: Gutierrez, Julio R. Universidad de La Serena. Departamento de Biología. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad. Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Aridas; ChileFil: Rozzi, Ricardo. Universidad de La Serena. Departamento de Biología. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad; ChileFil: Vanderbilt, Kristin University of New Mexico. Department of Biology. Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Site; Estados UnidosFil: Oyarce, Guillermo University of North Texas. Library and Information Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandez, Roberto J. University of North Texas, Department of Biological Sciences; Estados Unido

Effect of promoter architecture on the cell-to-cell variability in gene expression

According to recent experimental evidence, the architecture of a promoter, defined as the number, strength and regulatory role of the operators that control the promoter, plays a major role in determining the level of cell-to-cell variability in gene expression. These quantitative experiments call for a corresponding modeling effort that addresses the question of how changes in promoter architecture affect noise in gene expression in a systematic rather than case-by-case fashion. In this article, we make such a systematic investigation, based on a simple microscopic model of gene regulation that incorporates stochastic effects. In particular, we show how operator strength and operator multiplicity affect this variability. We examine different modes of transcription factor binding to complex promoters (cooperative, independent, simultaneous) and how each of these affects the level of variability in transcription product from cell-to-cell. We propose that direct comparison between in vivo single-cell experiments and theoretical predictions for the moments of the probability distribution of mRNA number per cell can discriminate between different kinetic models of gene regulation.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figures, Submitte

Autophagy modulates endothelial junctions to restrain neutrophil diapedesis during inflammation

The migration of neutrophils from the blood circulation to sites of infection or injury is a key immune response and requires the breaching of endothelial cells (ECs) that line the inner aspect of blood vessels. Unregulated neutrophil transendothelial cell migration (TEM) is pathogenic, but the molecular basis of its physiological termination remains unknown. Here, we demonstrated that ECs of venules in inflamed tissues exhibited a robust autophagic response that was aligned temporally with the peak of neutrophil trafficking and was strictly localized to EC contacts. Genetic ablation of EC autophagy led to excessive neutrophil TEM and uncontrolled leukocyte migration in murine inflammatory models, while pharmacological induction of autophagy suppressed neutrophil infiltration into tissues. Mechanistically, autophagy regulated the remodeling of EC junctions and expression of key EC adhesion molecules, facilitating their intracellular trafficking and degradation. Collectively, we have identified autophagy as a modulator of EC leukocyte trafficking machinery aimed at terminating physiological inflammation

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Metagenomics reveals sediment microbial community response to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the spring of 2010 resulted in an input of ∼4.1 million barrels of oil to the Gulf of Mexico; >22% of this oil is unaccounted for, with unknown environmental consequences. Here we investigated the impact of oil deposition on microbial communities in surface sediments collected at 64 sites by targeted sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, shotgun metagenomic sequencing of 14 of these samples and mineralization experiments using (14)C-labeled model substrates. The 16S rRNA gene data indicated that the most heavily oil-impacted sediments were enriched in an uncultured Gammaproteobacterium and a Colwellia species, both of which were highly similar to sequences in the DWH deep-sea hydrocarbon plume. The primary drivers in structuring the microbial community were nitrogen and hydrocarbons. Annotation of unassembled metagenomic data revealed the most abundant hydrocarbon degradation pathway encoded genes involved in degrading aliphatic and simple aromatics via butane monooxygenase. The activity of key hydrocarbon degradation pathways by sediment microbes was confirmed by determining the mineralization of (14)C-labeled model substrates in the following order: propylene glycol, dodecane, toluene and phenanthrene. Further, analysis of metagenomic sequence data revealed an increase in abundance of genes involved in denitrification pathways in samples that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s benchmarks for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) compared with those that did not. Importantly, these data demonstrate that the indigenous sediment microbiota contributed an important ecosystem service for remediation of oil in the Gulf. However, PAHs were more recalcitrant to degradation, and their persistence could have deleterious impacts on the sediment ecosystem

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV