Quantitative importance of staminodes for female reproductive success in Parnassia palustris under contrasting environmental conditions.

The five sterile stamens, or staminodes, in Parnassia palustris act both as false and as true nectaries. They attract pollinators with their conspicuous, but non-rewarding tips, and also produce nectar at the base. We removed staminodes experimentally and compared pollinator visitation rate and duration and seed set in flowers with and without staminodes in two different populations. We also examined the relative importance of the staminode size to other plant traits. Finally, we bagged, emasculated, and supplementary cross-pollinated flowers to determine the pollination strategy and whether reproduction was limited by pollen availability. Flowers in both populations were highly dependent on pollinator visitation for maximum seed set. In one population pollinators primarily cross-pollinated flowers, whereas in the other the pollinators facilitated self-pollination. The staminodes caused increased pollinator visitation rate and duration to flowers in both populations. The staminodes increased female reproductive success, but only when pollen availability constrained female reproduction. Simple linear regression indicated a strong selection on staminode size, multiple regression suggested that selection on staminode size was mainly caused by correlation with other traits that affected female fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR

Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 2: The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF

The Physics Program for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Fermilab Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is described

Requirements for Receptor Engagement during Infection by Adenovirus Complexed with Blood Coagulation Factor X

Human adenoviruses from multiple species bind to coagulation factor X (FX), yet the importance of this interaction in adenovirus dissemination is unknown. Upon contact with blood, vectors based on adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) binds to FX via the hexon protein with nanomolar affinity, leading to selective uptake of the complex into the liver and spleen. The Ad5:FX complex putatively targets heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). The aim of this study was to elucidate the specific requirements for Ad5:FX-mediated cellular uptake in this high-affinity pathway, specifically the HSPG receptor requirements as well as the role of penton base-mediated integrin engagement in subsequent internalisation. Removal of HS sidechains by enzymatic digestion or competition with highly-sulfated heparins/heparan sulfates significantly decreased FX-mediated Ad5 cell binding in vitro and ex vivo. Removal of N-linked and, in particular, O-linked sulfate groups significantly attenuated the inhibitory capabilities of heparin, while the chemical inhibition of endogenous HSPG sulfation dose-dependently reduced FX-mediated Ad5 cellular uptake. Unlike native heparin, modified heparins lacking O- or N-linked sulfate groups were unable to inhibit Ad5 accumulation in the liver 1h after intravascular administration of adenovirus. Similar results were observed in vitro using Ad5 vectors possessing mutations ablating CAR- and/or αv integrin binding, demonstrating that attachment of the Ad5:FX complex to the cell surface involves HSPG sulfation. Interestingly, Ad5 vectors ablated for αv integrin binding showed markedly delayed cell entry, highlighting the need for an efficient post-attachment internalisation signal for optimal Ad5 uptake and transport following surface binding mediated through FX. This study therefore integrates the established model of αv integrin-dependent adenoviral infection with the high-affinity FX-mediated pathway. This has important implications for mechanisms that define organ targeting following contact of human adenoviruses with blood

Virus Movements on the Plasma Membrane Support Infection and Transmission between Cells

How viruses are transmitted across the mucosal epithelia of the respiratory, digestive, or excretory tracts, and how they spread from cell to cell and cause systemic infections, is incompletely understood. Recent advances from single virus tracking experiments have revealed conserved patterns of virus movements on the plasma membrane, including diffusive motions, drifting motions depending on retrograde flow of actin filaments or actin tail formation by polymerization, and confinement to submicrometer areas. Here, we discuss how viruses take advantage of cellular mechanisms that normally drive the movements of proteins and lipids on the cell surface. A concept emerges where short periods of fast diffusive motions allow viruses to rapidly move over several micrometers. Coupling to actin flow supports directional transport of virus particles during entry and cell-cell transmission, and local confinement coincides with either nonproductive stalling or infectious endocytic uptake. These conserved features of virus–host interactions upstream of infectious entry offer new perspectives for anti-viral interference

Enhanced production of multi-strange hadrons in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions

At sufficiently high temperature and energy density, nuclear matter undergoes a transition to a phase in which quarks and gluons are not confined: the quark-gluon plasma (QGP)(1). Such an exotic state of strongly interacting quantum chromodynamics matter is produced in the laboratory in heavy nuclei high-energy collisions, where an enhanced production of strange hadrons is observed(2-6). Strangeness enhancement, originally proposed as a signature of QGP formation in nuclear collisions(7), is more pronounced for multi-strange baryons. Several effects typical of heavy-ion phenomenology have been observed in high-multiplicity proton-proton (pp) collisions(8,9), but the enhanced production of multi-strange particles has not been reported so far. Here we present the first observation of strangeness enhancement in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisions. We find that the integrated yields of strange and multi-strange particles, relative to pions, increases significantly with the event charged-particle multiplicity. The measurements are in remarkable agreement with the p-Pb collision results(10,11), indicating that the phenomenon is related to the final system created in the collision. In high-multiplicity events strangeness production reaches values similar to those observed in Pb-Pb collisions, where a QGP is formed.Peer reviewe

Constraints on jet quenching in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV measured by the event-activity dependence of semi-inclusive hadron-jet distributions

CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFINEP - FINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOSFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOThe ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high-transverse momentum trigger hadron in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02TeV. Jets are reconstructed from charged-particle tracks using the anti-k(T) algorithm with resolution parameter R = 0.2 and 0.4. A data-driven statistical approach is used to correct the uncorrelated background jet yield. Recoil jet distributions are reported for jet transverse momentum 15 < p(T,jet)(ch) < 50 GeV/c and are compared in various intervals of p-Pb event activity, based on charged-particle multiplicity and zero-degree neutral energy in the forward (Pb-going) direction. The semi-inclusive observable is self-normalized and such comparisons do not require the interpretation of p-Pb event activity in terms of collision geometry, in contrast to inclusive jet observables. These measurements provide new constraints on the magnitude of jet quenching in small systems at the LHC. In p-Pb collisions with high event activity, the average medium-induced out-of-cone energy transport for jets with R = 0.4 and 15 < p(T,jet)(ch) < 50 GeV/c is measured to be less than 0.4 GeV/c at 90% confidence, which is over an order of magnitude smaller than a similar measurement for central Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. Comparison is made to theoretical calculations of jet quenching in small systems, and to inclusive jet measurements in p-Pb collisions selected by event activity at the LHC and in d-Au collisions at RHIC.78395113CNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFINEP - FINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOSFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOCNPQ - CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICOFINEP - FINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOSFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOSem informaçãoSem informaçãoSem informaçãoAgências de fomento estrangeiras apoiaram essa pesquisa, mais informações acesse artig

Insight into particle production mechanisms via angular correlations of identified particles in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

Sem informaçãoTwo-particle angular correlations were measured in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV for pions, kaons, protons, and lambdas, for all particle/anti-particle combinations in the pair. Data for mesons exhibit an expected peak dominated by effects associated with mini-jets and are well reproduced by general purpose Monte Carlo generators. However, for baryon-baryon and anti-baryon-anti-baryon pairs, where both particles have the same baryon number, a near-side anti-correlation structure is observed instead of a peak. This effect is interpreted in the context of baryon production mechanisms in the fragmentation process. It currently presents a challenge to Monte Carlo models and its origin remains an open question.778117Sem informaçãoSem informaçãoSem informaçãoFunded by SCOAP3

Energy dependence and fluctuations of anisotropic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 and 2.76 TeV

Measurements of anisotropic flow coefficients with two- and multi-particle cumulants for inclusive charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 5.02 and 2.76TeV are reported in the pseudorapidity range |eta|< 0.8 and transverse momentum 0.2 < pT < 50 GeV/c. The full data sample collected by the ALICE detector in 2015 (2010), corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.7 (2.0) ub^-1 in the centrality range 0-80%, is analysed. Flow coefficients up to the sixth flow harmonic (v6) are reported and a detailed comparison among results at the two energies is carried out. The pT dependence of anisotropic flow coefficients and its evolution with respect to centrality and harmonic number n are investigated. An approximate power-law scaling of the form vn(pT) ~ pT^(n/3) is observed for all flow harmonics at low pT (0.2 < pT < 3 GeV/c). At the same time, the ratios vn/vm^(n/m) are observed to be essentially independent of pT for most centralities up to about pT = 10 GeV/c. Analysing the differences among higher-order cumulants of elliptic flow (v2), which have different sensitivities to flow fluctuations, a measurement of the standardised skewness of the event-by-event v2 distribution P(v2) is reported and constraints on its higher moments are provided. The Elliptic Power distribution is used to parametrise P(v2), extracting its parameters from fits to cumulants. The measurements are compared to different model predictions in order to discriminate among initial-state models and to constrain the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity to entropy-density ratio

Measurement of the production of high-p(T) electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV

CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPElectrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays (charm and beauty) were measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass of energy root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV. The transverse momentum (pT) differential production yields at mid-rapidity were used to calculate the nuclear modification factor R-AA in the interval 3 < p(T) < 18 GeV/c. The R-AA shows a strong suppression compared to binary scaling of pp collisions at the same energy (up to a factor of 4) in the 10% most central Pb-Pb collisions. There is a centrality trend of suppression, and a weaker suppression (down to a factor of 2) in semi-peripheral (50-80%) collisions is observed. The suppression of electrons in this broad p(T) interval indicates that both charm and beauty quarks lose energy when they traverse the hot medium formed in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC.771467481CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPCONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEPFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPSem informaçãoSem informaçãoSem informaçãoThe ALICE Collaboration would like to thank all its engineers and technicians for their invaluable contributions to the construction of the experiment and the CERN accelerator teams for the outstanding performance of the LHC complex. The ALICE Collaboration gratefully acknowledges the resources and support provided by all Grid centres and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) collaboration. The ALICE Collaboration acknowledges the following funding agencies for their support in building and running the ALICE detector: A.I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory (Yerevan Physics Institute) Foundation (ANSL), State Committee of Science and World Federation of Scientists (WFS), Armenia; Austrian Academy of Sciences and Nationalstiftung für Forschung, Technologie und Entwicklung, Austria; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Brazil; Ministry of Education of China (MOE of China), Ministry of Science & Technology of China (MOST of China) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), China; Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and Croatian Science Foundation, Croatia; Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Cuba; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic; Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF), The Carlsberg Foundation and The Danish Council for Independent Research–Natural Sciences, Denmark; Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP), Finland; Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France; Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF) and GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Germany; Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs, Greece; National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary; Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India (DAE), India; Indonesian Institute of Science, Indonesia; Centro Fermi – Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy; Institute for Innovative Science and Technology, Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science (IIST), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI and Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), through Fondo de Cooperación Internacional en Ciencia y Tecnología (FONCICYT) and Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Academico (DGAPA), Mexico; Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica (Nikhef), Netherlands; The Research Council of Norway, Norway; Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), Pakistan; Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Peru; Ministry of Science and Higher Education and National Science Centre, Poland; Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, Institute of Atomic Physics and Romanian National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, Romania; Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, Russia; Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, Slovakia; National Research Foundation of South Africa, South Africa; Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), South Korea; Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain; Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) and Swedish Research Council (VR), Sweden; European Organization for Nuclear Research, Switzerland; National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSDTA), Office of the Higher Education Commission under NRU project of Thailand and Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), Thailand; Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK), Turkey; National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), United Kingdom; National Science Foundation of the United States of America (NSF) and United States Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics (DOE NP), United States

Inclusive J/ψ production at forward and backward rapidity in p-Pb collisions at √sNN=8.16 TeV

Inclusive J/psi production is studied in p-Pb interactions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision sqrt(s_NN) = 8.16TeV, using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The J/psi meson is reconstructed, via its decay to a muon pair, in the centre-of-mass rapidity intervals 2.03 < ycms < 3.53 and -4.46 < ycms < -2.96, where positive and negative ycms refer to the p-going and Pb-going direction, respectively. The transverse momentum coverage is pT < 20 GeV/c. In this paper, ycms- and pT-differential cross sections for inclusive J/psi production are presented, and the corresponding nuclear modification factors RpPb are shown. Forward results show a suppression of the J/psi yield with respect to pp collisions, concentrated in the region pT < 5 GeV/c. At backward rapidity no significant suppression is observed. The results are compared to previous measurements by ALICE in p-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 5.02TeV and to theoretical calculations. Finally, the ratios RFB between forward- and backward-ycms RpPb values are shown and discussed