A 10 MHz beam counter and a multiplicity detector for the E864 spectrometer

The E864 experiment at BNL requires a beam counter and multiplicity detector system that can perform at an incident beam rate of 10^7 Au ions per second. We have developed and tested a 150 micrometer thick quartz Cherenkov beam counter and a scintillator based multiplicity-trigger counter during the first run of this experiment in 1994. We obtained a time resolution of 78 ps for the beam counter at an incident beam rate 5 x 10^5 Hz and 100 ps at a rate of 1 x 10^7 Hz. Pulse height discrimination is used to obtain a minimum bias and a 10% centrality trigger from the multiplicity detectors. The multiplicity counter has a time resolution of 250 ps

Mass dependence of light nucleus production in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

Light nuclei can be produced in the central reaction zone via coalescence in relativistic heavy ion collisions. E864 at BNL has measured the production of ten light nuclei with nuclear number of A=1 to A=7 at rapidity $y\simeq1.9$ and $p_{T}/A\leq300MeV/c$. Data were taken with a Au beam of momentum of 11.5 A $GeV/c$ on a Pb or Pt target with different experimental settings. The invariant yields show a striking exponential dependence on nuclear number with a penalty factor of about 50 per additional nucleon. Detailed analysis reveals that the production may depend on the spin factor of the nucleus and the nuclear binding energy as well.Comment: (6 pages, 3 figures), some changes on text, references and figures' lettering. To be published in PRL (13Dec1999

Antiproton Production in 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

We present the first results from the E864 collaboration on the production of antiprotons in 10% central 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb nucleus collisions at the Brookhaven AGS. We report invariant multiplicities for antiproton production in the kinematic region 1.4<y<2.2 and 50<p_T<300 MeV/c, and compare our data with a first collision scaling model and previously published results from the E878 collaboration. The differences between the E864 and E878 antiproton measurements and the implications for antihyperon production are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Tunable variation of optical properties of polymer capped gold nanoparticles

Optical properties of polymer capped gold nanoparticles of various sizes (diameter 3-6 nm) have been studied. We present a new scheme to extract size dependent variation of total dielectric function of gold nanoparticles from measured UV-Vis absorption data. The new scheme can also be used, in principle, for other related systems as well. We show how quantum effect, surface atomic co - ordination and polymer - nanoparticle interface morphology leads to a systematic variation in inter band part of the dielectric function of gold nanoparticles, obtained from the analysis using our new scheme. Careful analysis enables identification of the possible changes to the electronic band structure in such nanoparticles.Comment: 13 pages,7 figures, 1 tabl

Medicolegal Study of Alleged Rape Victim Cases in Mumbai Region

Background: The sexual assault on women and female children is one of the most heinous crimes against mankind. Sexual violence is ubiquitous; it occurs in every culture, in all levels of society and in every country of the world. Sexual violence has a significant negative impact on the health of the population. The root causes of sexual and gender-based violence lie in a society’s attitudes towards and practices of gender discrimination, which place women in a subordinate position in relation to men.Methods: The prospective study was conducted in Mumbai region from 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2012 in which 152 cases of alleged rape victims which was booked under the section 376 of Indian Penal Code which was brought for medical examination. Strict confidentiality about their names was maintained.Results: The most common age group comprised ages between 16-20 years in which total 63 (41.44%) cases were observed. Most of the victims i.e. 99 (65.13%) were unmarried. Most of the incidences took place at accused house, i.e. 69 (45.39%). In 142 (93.42%) cases the assailant was known to the victim. In 113 (74.34%) cases the time interval between the alleged incidence and examination was more than seven days. In 139 (91.44%) cases the hymen showed old tears at multiple positions. None of the report out of 66 reports from forensic science laboratory was found to be positive for spermatozoa.Conclusion: Rape cases show a constantly rising pattern with a low conviction rate. There is no age safe from rape, maximum cases being in the age group 16-20 years as there are multiple physical, social and mental factors playing a role. Unmarried young women are at increased risk. Significant number of cases report late to the police/doctor. The delay results into loss of valuable biological trace material evidences

101 Dothideomycetes genomes: A test case for predicting lifestyles and emergence of pathogens.

Dothideomycetes is the largest class of kingdom Fungi and comprises an incredible diversity of lifestyles, many of which have evolved multiple times. Plant pathogens represent a major ecological niche of the class Dothideomycetes and they are known to infect most major food crops and feedstocks for biomass and biofuel production. Studying the ecology and evolution of Dothideomycetes has significant implications for our fundamental understanding of fungal evolution, their adaptation to stress and host specificity, and practical implications with regard to the effects of climate change and on the food, feed, and livestock elements of the agro-economy. In this study, we present the first large-scale, whole-genome comparison of 101 Dothideomycetes introducing 55 newly sequenced species. The availability of whole-genome data produced a high-confidence phylogeny leading to reclassification of 25 organisms, provided a clearer picture of the relationships among the various families, and indicated that pathogenicity evolved multiple times within this class. We also identified gene family expansions and contractions across the Dothideomycetes phylogeny linked to ecological niches providing insights into genome evolution and adaptation across this group. Using machine-learning methods we classified fungi into lifestyle classes with &gt;95&nbsp;% accuracy and identified a small number of gene families that positively correlated with these distinctions. This can become a valuable tool for genome-based prediction of species lifestyle, especially for rarely seen and poorly studied species

Measurements of Light Nuclei Production in 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb Heavy-Ion Collisions

We report on measurements by the E864 experiment at the BNL-AGS of the yields of light nuclei in collisions of Au(197) with beam momentum of 11.5 A GeV/c on targets of Pb(208) and Pt(197). The yields are reported for nuclei with baryon number A=1 up to A=7, and typically cover a rapidity range from y(cm) to y(cm)+1 and a transverse momentum range of approximately 0.1 < p(T)/A < 0.5 GeV/c. We calculate coalescence scale factors B(A) from which we extract model dependent source dimensions and collective flow velocities. We also examine the dependences of the yields on baryon number, spin, and isospin of the produced nuclei.Comment: 21 figures-to be published in Phys. Rev.

Upper Limit on the Prompt Muon Flux Derived from the LVD Underground Experiment

We present the analysis of the muon events with all muon multiplicities collected during 21804 hours of operation of the first LVD tower. The measured depth-angular distribution of muon intensities has been used to obtain the normalization factor, A, the power index, gamma, of the primary all-nucleon spectrum and the ratio, R_c, of prompt muon flux to that of pi-mesons - the main parameters which determine the spectrum of cosmic ray muons at the sea level. The value of gamma = 2.77 +/- 0.05 (68% C.L.) and R_c < 2.0 x 10^-3 (95% C.L.) have been obtained. The upper limit to the prompt muon flux favours the models of charm production based on QGSM and the dual parton model.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, RevTex. To appear in Phys. Rev.

AN OVERVIEW OF BIOSIMILARS

Biosimilars are surmounting pharmaceutical market from last three decades and sale increasing progressively. Advances in the biotechnologylead to development and discovery of new biological products to treat various life-threatening diseases. Biosimilars are biological drugs that areproduced after expiry of the patent of approved innovator. This review attempt to highlight the differences between biosimilars and chemical generics,development stages, issues of concern with the use of biosimilars and need of appropriate regulations for their approval. Generic approach is notscientifically useful to manufacture biosimilars. Biosimilars have more structural complexity, multi-layered manufacturing or scale-up process andrisk of immunogenicity; therefore required unique regulatory pathways to introduce them in the market. Safety and efficacy of biosimilar are essentialparameter to increase access in the population. Biosimilars can ensure the cost-effective treatment to invade incurable diseases due to enhancedcompetition in pharma/biotech industries to manufacture it.Keywords: Biosimilars, Biologics, Follow-on biologics, Generic drugs, Subsequent-entry biologics

Invasion speeds for structured populations in fluctuating environments

We live in a time where climate models predict future increases in environmental variability and biological invasions are becoming increasingly frequent. A key to developing effective responses to biological invasions in increasingly variable environments will be estimates of their rates of spatial spread and the associated uncertainty of these estimates. Using stochastic, stage-structured, integro-difference equation models, we show analytically that invasion speeds are asymptotically normally distributed with a variance that decreases in time. We apply our methods to a simple juvenile-adult model with stochastic variation in reproduction and an illustrative example with published data for the perennial herb, \emph{Calathea ovandensis}. These examples buttressed by additional analysis reveal that increased variability in vital rates simultaneously slow down invasions yet generate greater uncertainty about rates of spatial spread. Moreover, while temporal autocorrelations in vital rates inflate variability in invasion speeds, the effect of these autocorrelations on the average invasion speed can be positive or negative depending on life history traits and how well vital rates ``remember'' the past