6,184 research outputs found
Assessing Tolerance to Heavy-Metal Stress in Arabidopsis thaliana Seedlings
The deposited book chapter is a post-print version and has been submitted to peer review.The deposited book chapter version contains attached the supplementary materials within the pdf.This publication hasn't any creative commons license associated.The deposited book chapter is part of the book series: "Environmental Responses in Plants: Methods and Protocols" (pp.197-208) published by Springer.Heavy-metal soil contamination is one of the major abiotic stress factors that, by negatively affecting plant growth and development, severely limit agricultural productivity worldwide. Plants have evolved various tolerance and detoxification strategies in order to cope with heavy-metal toxicity while ensuring adequate supply of essential micronutrients at the whole-plant as well as cellular levels. Genetic studies in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana have been instrumental in elucidating such mechanisms. The root assay constitutes a very powerful and simple method to assess heavy-metal stress tolerance in Arabidopsis seedlings. It allows the simultaneous determination of all the standard growth parameters affected by heavy-metal stress (primary root elongation, lateral root development, shoot biomass, and chlorophyll content) in a single experiment. Additionally, this protocol emphasizes the tips and tricks that become particularly useful when quantifying subtle alterations in tolerance to a given heavy-metal stress, when simultaneously pursuing a large number of plant lines, or when testing sensitivity to a wide range of heavy metals for a single line.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia grants: (EXPL/AGR-PRO/1013/2013, SFRH/BPD/44640/2008); GREEN-it "Bioresources for Sustainability": (UID/Multi/04551/2013).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The Master Well Owner Network: Volunteers Educating Pennsylvania Well Owners
The Master Well Owner Network (MWON) was created to expand the capacity of Penn State Extension by training volunteers who would provide education to rural residents about private water system management. Eight workshops were conducted throughout Pennsylvania, and 243 volunteers representing 55 of 67 counties in Pennsylvania successfully completed the training. MWON volunteer reports have been very positive, with education provided directly to over 7,000 Pennsylvania residents and another 29,000 educated through the mass media. MWON\u27s successes in Pennsylvania may serve as a model for other states that wish to increase outreach to the private water system education audience
VLT Spectroscopy of Globular Clusters in Low Surface Brightness Dwarf Galaxies
We present VLT/FORS2 spectroscopic observations of globular clusters (GCs) in
five low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies: KK211 and KK221, which are
both dwarf spheroidal satellites (dSph) of NGC 5128, dSph KK84 located close to
the isolated S0 galaxy NGC 3115, and two isolated dwarf irregular (dIrr)
galaxies UGC 3755 and ESO 490-17. Our sample is selected from the Sharina et
al. (2005) database of Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 photometry of GC candidates
in dwarf galaxies. For objects with accurate radial velocity measurements we
confirm 26 as genuine GCs out of the 27 selected candidates from our WFPC2
survey. Lick absorption line indices in the spectra of confirmed GCs and the
subsequent comparison with SSP model predictions show that all confirmed GCs in
dSphs are old, except GC KK211-3-149 (6 +/- 2 Gyr), which we consider to be the
nucleus of KK211. GCs in UGC 3755 and ESO 490-17 show a large spread in ages
ranging from old objects (t > 10 Gyr) to clusters with ages around 1 Gyr. Most
of our sample GCs have low metallicities [Z/H] <= -1. Two relatively metal-rich
clusters with [Z/H] ~ -0.3 are likely to be associated with NGC 3115. Our
sample GCs show in general a complex distribution of alpha-element enhancement
with a mean [alpha/Fe]=0.19 +/-0.04 derived with the chi2 minimization
technique and 0.18+/-0.12 dex computed with the iterative approach. These
values are slightly lower than the mean [alpha/Fe]=0.29+/-0.01 for typical
Milky Way GCs. We compare other abundance ratios with those of Local Group GCs
and find indications for systematic differences in N and Ca abundance. The
specific frequencies, S_N, of our sample galaxies are in line with the
predictions of a simple mass-loss model for dwarf galaxies and compare well
with S_N values found for dwarf galaxies in nearby galaxy clusters.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap
A Pulsational Model for the Orthogonal Polarization Modes in Radio Pulsars
In an earlier paper, we introduced a model for pulsars in which non-radial
oscillations of high spherical degree (\el) aligned to the magnetic axis of a
spinning neutron star were able to reproduce subpulses like those observed in
single-pulse measurements of pulsar intensity. The model did not address
polarization, which is an integral part of pulsar emission. Observations show
that many pulsars emit radio waves that appear to be the superposition of two
linearly polarized emission modes with orthogonal polarization angles. In this
paper, we extend our model to incorporate linear polarization. As before, we
propose that pulsational displacements of stellar material modulate the pulsar
emission, but now we apply this modulation to a linearly-polarized mode of
emission, as might be produced by curvature radiation. We further introduce a
second polarization mode, orthogonal to the first, that is modulated by
pulsational velocities. We combine these modes in superposition to model the
observed Stokes parameters in radio pulsars.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures accepted Ap
Chen-Ruan cohomology of ADE singularities
We study Ruan's \textit{cohomological crepant resolution conjecture} for
orbifolds with transversal ADE singularities. In the -case we compute both
the Chen-Ruan cohomology ring and the quantum corrected
cohomology ring . The former is achieved in general, the
later up to some additional, technical assumptions. We construct an explicit
isomorphism between and in the -case,
verifying Ruan's conjecture. In the -case, the family
is not defined for . This implies that
the conjecture should be slightly modified. We propose a new conjecture in the
-case which we prove in the -case by constructing an explicit
isomorphism.Comment: This is a short version of my Ph.D. Thesis math.AG/0510528. Version
2: chapters 2,3,4 and 5 has been rewritten using the language of groupoids; a
link with the classical McKay correpondence is given. International Journal
of Mathematics (to appear
Evidence from K2 for rapid rotation in the descendant of an intermediate-mass star
Using patterns in the oscillation frequencies of a white dwarf observed by
K2, we have measured the fastest rotation rate, 1.13(02) hr, of any isolated
pulsating white dwarf known to date. Balmer-line fits to follow-up spectroscopy
from the SOAR telescope show that the star (SDSSJ0837+1856, EPIC 211914185) is
a 13,590(340) K, 0.87(03) solar-mass white dwarf. This is the highest mass
measured for any pulsating white dwarf with known rotation, suggesting a
possible link between high mass and fast rotation. If it is the product of
single-star evolution, its progenitor was a roughly 4.0 solar-mass
main-sequence B star; we know very little about the angular momentum evolution
of such intermediate-mass stars. We explore the possibility that this rapidly
rotating white dwarf is the byproduct of a binary merger, which we conclude is
unlikely given the pulsation periods observed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure, 1 table; accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Mode identification of Pulsating White Dwarfs using the HST
We have obtained time-resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy for the pulsating DAV
stars G226-29 and G185-32, and for the pulsating DBV star PG1351+489 with the
Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph, to compare the ultraviolet to
the optical pulsation amplitude and determine the pulsation indices. We find
that for essentially all observed pulsation modes, the amplitude rises to the
ultraviolet as the theoretical models predict for l=1 non-radial g-modes. We do
not find any pulsation mode visible only in the ultraviolet, nor any modes
whose phase flips by 180 degrees; in the ultraviolet, as would be expected if
high l pulsations were excited. We find one periodicity in the light curve of
G185-32, at 141 s, which does not fit theoretical models for the change of
amplitude with wavelength of g-mode pulsations.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, Aug 200
On the HI-Hole and AGB Stellar Population of the Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy
Using two HST/ACS data-sets that are separated by ~2 years has allowed us to
derive the relative proper-motion for the Sagittarius dwarf irregular (SagDIG)
and reduce the heavy foreground Galactic contamination. The proper-motion
decontaminated SagDIG catalog provides a much clearer view of the young
red-supergiant and intermediate-age asymptotic giant branch populations. We
report the identification of 3 Milky Way carbon-rich dwarf stars, probably
belonging to the thin disk, and pointing to the high incidence of this class at
low Galactic latitudes. A sub-group of 4 oxygen-rich candidate stars depicts a
faint, red extension of the well-defined SagDIG carbon-rich sequence. The
origin of these oxygen-rich candidate stars remains unclear, reflecting the
uncertainty in the ratio of carbon/oxygen rich stars. SagDIG is also a gas-rich
galaxy characterized by a single large cavity in the gas disk (HI-hole), which
is offset by ~360 pc from the optical centre of the galaxy. We nonetheless
investigate the stellar feedback hypothesis by comparing the proper-motion
cleaned stellar populations within the HI-hole with appropriately selected
comparison regions, having higher HI densities external to the hole. The
comparison shows no significant differences. In particular, the centre of the
HI-hole (and the comparison regions) lack stellar populations younger than ~400
Myr, which are otherwise abundant in the inner body of the galaxy. We conclude
that there is no convincing evidence that the SagDIG HI-hole is the result of
stellar feedback, and that gravitational and thermal instabilities in the gas
are the most likely mechanism for its formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 11 pages, 6 jpeg figure
Mode Identification from Combination Frequency Amplitudes in ZZ Ceti Stars
The lightcurves of variable DA stars are usually multi-periodic and
non-sinusoidal, so that their Fourier transforms show peaks at eigenfrequencies
of the pulsation modes and at sums and differences of these frequencies. These
combination frequencies provide extra information about the pulsations, both
physical and geometrical, that is lost unless they are analyzed. Several
theories provide a context for this analysis by predicting combination
frequency amplitudes. In these theories, the combination frequencies arise from
nonlinear mixing of oscillation modes in the outer layers of the white dwarf,
so their analysis cannot yield direct information on the global structure of
the star as eigenmodes provide. However, their sensitivity to mode geometry
does make them a useful tool for identifying the spherical degree of the modes
that mix to produce them. In this paper, we analyze data from eight hot,
low-amplitude DAV white dwarfs and measure the amplitudes of combination
frequencies present. By comparing these amplitudes to the predictions of the
theory of Goldreich & Wu, we have verified that the theory is crudely
consistent with the measurements. We have also investigated to what extent the
combination frequencies can be used to measure the spherical degree (ell) of
the modes that produce them. We find that modes with ell > 2 are easily
identifiable as high ell based on their combination frequencies alone.
Distinguishing between ell=1 and 2 is also possible using harmonics. These
results will be useful for conducting seismological analysis of large ensembles
of ZZ Ceti stars, such as those being discovered using the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey. Because this method relies only on photometry at optical wavelengths,
it can be applied to faint stars using 4 m class telescopes.Comment: 73 pages, 22 figures, accepted in the Ap
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