2,354 research outputs found
Contrasting multi-taxa diversity patterns between abandoned and non-intensively managed forests in the southern Dolomites
The abandonment of silvicultural activities can lead to changes in species richness and composition of biological communities, when compared to those found in managed forests. The aim of this study was to compare the multi-taxonomical diversity of two mature silver fir-beech-spruce forests in the southern Dolomites (Italy), corresponding to the European Union habitat type 9130. The two sites share similar ecological and structural characteristics, but differ in their recent management histories. In the last 50 years, one site underwent non-intensive management, while the other was left unmanaged and was included in a forest reserve. The species richness and composition of eight taxa were surveyed in the two sites between 2009 and 2011. The difference in mean species richness between the two forest management types was tested through permutation tests, while differences in species composition were tested by principal coordinates analysis and the permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Mean species richness of soil macrofungi, deadwood lichens, bark beetles, and longhorn beetles were significantly higher in the abandoned than in the non-intensively managed forests. Deadwood fungi and epiphytic lichens did not differ in mean species richness between the two study sites, while mean species richness of ground beetles and birds were higher in the non-intensively managed than in the abandoned forest. Significant differences in species composition between the two sites were found for all the taxa, except for longhorn beetles. These results indicate that improving forest landscape heterogeneity through the creation of a mosaic of abandoned and extensively managed forests should better fulfill the requirements of ecologically different taxa
Brillouin optomechanics in nanophotonic structures
FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL E NÍVEL SUPERIORThe interaction between light and mesoscopic mechanical degrees of freedom has been investigated under various perspectives, from spectroscopy in condensed matter, optical tweezer particle trapping, and long-haul optical fiber communication system penalties to gravitational-wave detector noise. In the context of integrated photonics, two topics with dissimilar origins-cavity optomechanics and guided wave Brillouin scattering-are rooted in the manipulation and control of the energy exchange between trapped light and mechanical modes. In this tutorial, we explore the impact of optical and mechanical subwavelength confinement on the interaction among these waves, coined as Brillouin optomechanics. At this spatial scale, optical and mechanical fields are fully vectorial and the common intuition that more intense fields lead to stronger interaction may fail. Here, we provide a thorough discussion on how the two major physical effects responsible for the Brillouin interaction-photoelastic and moving-boundary effects-interplay to foster exciting possibilities in this field. In order to stimulate beginners into this growing research field, this tutorial is accompanied by all the discussed simulation material based on a widespread commercial finite-element solver.47129FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL E NÍVEL SUPERIORFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOCAPES - COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL E NÍVEL SUPERIOR08/57857-212/17765-712/17610-313/20180-318/15577-518/15580-6574017/2008-900
Recent Results on Strangeness Production at RHIC
Due to its large acceptance, the STAR experiment has acquired a wealth of
data on strangeness production for a variety of collisions systems and
energies, from p+p to Au+Au. By using the yields and spectra, we address the
evolution of the bulk system, including strangeness enhancement and the flavour
dependence of radial and elliptic flow. Utilising the fact that we can identify
strange baryons and mesons, we investigate different hadronization mechanisms
in the intermediate and high p regions. The ratios of the particle
yields, measured to high p, are used to further investigate the range and
applicability of the previously reported anomalous baryon production. We also
study two-particle azimuthal correlations of identified particles in order to
investigate any flavour dependence of jet fragmentation in the available
p range. Data was presented for a number of different collision systems
and energies.Comment: Proceedings of SQM'06 Conference, LA, 2006 (submitted to J. Phys. G
Effect of heavy-quark energy loss on the muon differential production cross section in Pb-Pb collisions at \sqrtsNN=5.5 TeV
We study the nuclear modification factors RAA and RCP of the high transverse
momentum 5<pt<60 GeV/c distribution of muons in Pb--Pb collisions at LHC
energies. We consider two pseudo-rapidity ranges covered by the LHC
experiments: and . Muons from semi-leptonic decays of
heavy quarks (c and b) and from leptonic decays of weak gauge bosons (W and Z)
are the main contributions to the muon pt distribution above a few GeV/c. We
compute the heavy quark contributions using available pQCD-based programs. We
include the nuclear shadowing modification of the parton distribution functions
and the in-medium radiative energy loss for heavy quarks, using the
mass-dependent BDMPS quenching weights. Muons from W and Z leptonic decays,
that dominate the yield at high pt, can be used as a medium-blind reference to
observe the medium-induced suppression of beauty quarks
The circumstances of migrant families raising children with disabilities in five European countries: Updating knowledge and pursuing new research
In 2017, specialists in several fields (health, education, and social work) from five European countries (France, Georgia, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland) established a network to jointly pursue studies on migration and disability. An initial workshop provided an opportunity to discuss their previous individual work and to develop a comparative research project. This article presents the key aspects of the discussion and the resulting plans for collaborative study. First, migrant children with disabilities remain statistically invisible in some countries. Separate policies and systems address their needs as migrants and their needs as persons with disabilities. Second, in all countries covered by the research network, there is an important gap between legal norms and the circumstances of migrant families raising children with disabilities. The same holds true for collaboration between public agencies, or between those agencies and NGOs (serving persons with disabilities, migrants, and/or national minorities). Further comparative and cross-disciplinary study must focus on increasing the social participation of children with disabilities and their families through social, educational, and health interventions within an intercultural context
Development of a repressible mycobacterial promoter system based on two transcriptional repressors
Tightly regulated gene expression systems represent invaluable tools for studying gene function and for the validation of drug targets in bacteria. While several regulated bacterial promoters have been characterized, few of them have been successfully used in mycobacteria. In this article we describe the development of a novel repressible promoter system effective in both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria based on two chromosomally encoded repressors, dependent on tetracycline (TetR) and pristinamycin (Pip), respectively. This uniqueness results in high versatility and stringency. Using this method we were able to obtain an ftsZ conditional mutant in Mycobacterium smegmatis and a fadD32 conditional mutant in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, confirming their essentiality for bacterial growth in vitro. This repressible promoter system could also be exploited to regulate gene expression during M. tuberculosis intracellular growt
Photon tagged correlations in heavy ion collisions
A detailed study of various two-particle correlation functions involving
photons and neutral pions is presented in proton-proton and lead-lead
collisions at the LHC energy. The aim is to use these correlation functions to
quantify the effect of the medium (in lead-lead collisions) on the jet decay
properties. The calculations are carried out at the leading order in QCD but
the next-to-leading order corrections are also discussed. The competition
between different production mechanisms makes the connection between the jet
energy loss spectrum and the gamma-pi correlations somewhat indirect while the
gamma-gamma correlations have a clearer relation to the jet fragmentation
properties.Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures. Minor changes, published versio
Development of a repressible mycobacterial promoter system based on two transcriptional repressors
Tightly regulated gene expression systems represent invaluable tools for studying gene function and for the validation of drug targets in bacteria. While several regulated bacterial promoters have been characterized, few of them have been successfully used in mycobacteria. In this article we describe the development of a novel repressible promoter system effective in both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria based on two chromosomally encoded repressors, dependent on tetracycline (TetR) and pristinamycin (Pip), respectively. This uniqueness results in high versatility and stringency. Using this method we were able to obtain an ftsZ conditional mutant in Mycobacterium smegmatis and a fadD32 conditional mutant in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, confirming their essentiality for bacterial growth in vitro. This repressible promoter system could also be exploited to regulate gene expression during M. tuberculosis intracellular growth
High pT and jet physics from RHIC to LHC
The observation of the strong suppression of high pT hadrons in heavy ion
collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL has motivated a
large experimental program using hard probes to characterize the deconfined
medium created. However what can be denoted as ``leading particle physics''
accessible at RHIC presents some limitations which motivate at higher energy
the study of much more penetrating objects: jets. The gain in center of mass
energy expected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will definitively
improve our understanding on how the energy is lost in the system opening a new
major window of study: the physics of jets on an event-by-event basis. We will
concentrate on the expected performance for jet reconstruction in ALICE using
the EMCal calorimeter.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, Proceedings of the Workshop on Relativistic
Nuclear Physics (WRNP) 2007, Kiev, Ukraine. Conference Info:
http://wrnp2007.bitp.kiev.ua/. Final version published in "Physics of Atomic
Nuclei
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