Data from: Effects of mate availability on egg production in the marsh ramshorn snail, <i>Planorbella trivolvis</i>, and ghost ramshorn snail, <i>Biomphalaria havanensis</i>

Pulmonate snails are the first intermediate host in the life cycle of Bolbophorus damnificus, an important digenetic trematode in Mississippi catfish aquaculture. Two species, the marsh ramshorn snail Planorbella trivolvis and the ghost ramshorn snail Biomphalaria havanensis, commonly inhabit commercial catfish ponds in northwest Mississippi, USA. Low-level, repeated applications of copper sulfate have negative effects on snail reproduction and are effective in reducing snail populations in commercial catfish ponds, although they must be applied judiciously to minimize the phytotoxic and ichthyotoxic effects of copper. At present, little is known regarding population dynamics of these snails and underlying mechanisms driving their proliferation in catfish aquaculture ponds. This study investigated effects of mate availability on egg production in both snail species. Twelve individuals of each species were assigned to one of three treatments based on access to potential mates: continuously (“control”), weekly (“cyclic”), or at a single timepoint (“solitary”). Eggs were collected weekly, and the number of clutches, eggs, and non-viable eggs counted. The study ended at 21 weeks, one week after the final B. havanensis had died. More than 93,000 eggs were counted during the study, with over 60% from P. trivolvis.</p

Charged-particle multiplicity distributions over a wide pseudorapidity range in proton-proton collisions at √s = 0.9, 7 and 8 TeV

We present the charged-particle multiplicity distributions over a wide pseudorapidity range (−3.4<η<5.0) for pp collisions at s√= 0.9, 7, and 8 TeV at the LHC. Results are based on information from the Silicon Pixel Detector and the Forward Multiplicity Detector of ALICE, extending the pseudorapidity coverage of the earlier publications and the high-multiplicity reach. The measurements are compared to results from the CMS experiment and to PYTHIA, PHOJET and EPOS LHC event generators, as well as IP-Glasma calculations

Constraining the magnitude of the Chiral Magnetic Effect with Event Shape Engineering in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV

In ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, the event-by-event variation of the elliptic flow $v_2$ reflects fluctuations in the shape of the initial state of the system. This allows to select events with the same centrality but different initial geometry. This selection technique, Event Shape Engineering, has been used in the analysis of charge-dependent two- and three-particle correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} =2.76$ TeV. The two-particle correlator $\langle \cos(\varphi_\alpha - \varphi_\beta) \rangle$, calculated for different combinations of charges $\alpha$ and $\beta$, is almost independent of $v_2$ (for a given centrality), while the three-particle correlator $\langle \cos(\varphi_\alpha + \varphi_\beta - 2\Psi_2) \rangle$ scales almost linearly both with the event $v_2$ and charged-particle pseudorapidity density. The charge dependence of the three-particle correlator is often interpreted as evidence for the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME), a parity violating effect of the strong interaction. However, its measured dependence on $v_2$ points to a large non-CME contribution to the correlator. Comparing the results with Monte Carlo calculations including a magnetic field due to the spectators, the upper limit of the CME signal contribution to the three-particle correlator in the 10-50% centrality interval is found to be 26-33% at 95% confidence level