936 research outputs found
North-South cooperation through BIOTA: An interdisciplinary monitoring programme in arid and semi-arid southern Africa
Connecting disciplines in a north– South collaboration has many advantages: mutualisms evolve, synergies are created and spin-offs emerge. The BIOTA South (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in southern Africa) programme, with its long-term vision to generate knowledge of biodiversity along a north–south transect in southern Africa, is providing opportunities for research, technology transfer and capacity building while focusing on potential solutions for critical challenges that face this environmentally vulnerable part of the subcontinen
Comparison of Multi-Sample Variant Calling Methods for Whole Genome Sequencing
Rapid advancement of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has facilitated the search for genetic susceptibility factors that influence disease risk in the field of human genetics. In particular whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been used to obtain the most comprehensive genetic variation of an individual and perform detailed evaluation of all genetic variation. To this end, sophisticated methods to accurately call high-quality variants and genotypes simultaneously on a cohort of individuals from raw sequence data are required. On chromosome 22 of 818 WGS data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), which is the largest WGS related to a single disease, we compared two multi-sample variant calling methods for the detection of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and short insertions and deletions (indels) in WGS: (1) reduce the analysis-ready reads (BAM) file to a manageable size by keeping only essential information for variant calling ("REDUCE") and (2) call variants individually on each sample and then perform a joint genotyping analysis of the variant files produced for all samples in a cohort ("JOINT"). JOINT identified 515,210 SNVs and 60,042 indels, while REDUCE identified 358,303 SNVs and 52,855 indels. JOINT identified many more SNVs and indels compared to REDUCE. Both methods had concordance rate of 99.60% for SNVs and 99.06% for indels. For SNVs, evaluation with HumanOmni 2.5M genotyping arrays revealed a concordance rate of 99.68% for JOINT and 99.50% for REDUCE. REDUCE needed more computational time and memory compared to JOINT. Our findings indicate that the multi-sample variant calling method using the JOINT process is a promising strategy for the variant detection, which should facilitate our understanding of the underlying pathogenesis of human diseases
Electronically highly cubic conditions for Ru in alpha-RuCl3
We studied the local Ru 4d electronic structure of alpha-RuCl3 by means of
polarization dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Ru-L2,3 edges. We
observed a vanishingly small linear dichroism indicating that electronically
the Ru 4d local symmetry is highly cubic. Using full multiplet cluster
calculations we were able to reproduce the spectra excellently and to extract
that the trigonal splitting of the t2g orbitals is -12 meV, i.e.
negligible as compared to the Ru 4d spin-orbit coupling constant. Consistent
with our magnetic circular dichroism measurements, we found that the ratio of
the orbital and spin moments is 2.0, the value expected for a Jeff = 1/2 ground
state. We have thus shown that as far as the Ru 4d local properties are
concerned, alpha-RuCl3 is an ideal candidate for the realization of Kitaev
physics
Исследование сварного соединения, выполненного из сталей 12Х1МФ и 12Х18Н9Т для паропровода энергетического котла
Проводится рентгенофазовый и рентгенофлюоресцентный анализ зоны сварного шва при термоциклировании с целью предотвращения трещинообразования вследствие воздействия термического циклаThe X-ray phase and X-ray fluorescent analysis of a zone of a welded connection during thermocycling for the purpose of prevention of a fracturing owing to thermal cycle influenc
Magnonic Weyl states in Cu2OSeO3
The multiferroic ferrimagnet CuOSeO with a chiral crystal structure
attracted a lot of recent attention due to the emergence of magnetic skyrmion
order in this material. Here, the topological properties of its magnon
excitations are systematically investigated by linear spin-wave theory and
inelastic neutron scattering. When considering Heisenberg exchange interactions
only, two degenerate Weyl magnon nodes with topological charges 2 are
observed at high-symmetry points. Each Weyl point splits into two as the
symmetry of the system is further reduced by including into consideration the
nearest-neighbor Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction, crucial for obtaining an
accurate fit to the experimental spin-wave spectrum. The predicted topological
properties are verified by surface state and Chern number analysis.
Additionally, we predict that a measurable thermal Hall conductivity can be
associated with the emergence of the Weyl points, the position of which can be
tuned by changing the crystal symmetry of the material
Searches at HERA for Squarks in R-Parity Violating Supersymmetry
A search for squarks in R-parity violating supersymmetry is performed in e^+p
collisions at HERA at a centre of mass energy of 300 GeV, using H1 data
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^(-1). The direct production
of single squarks of any generation in positron-quark fusion via a Yukawa
coupling lambda' is considered, taking into account R-parity violating and
conserving decays of the squarks. No significant deviation from the Standard
Model expectation is found. The results are interpreted in terms of constraints
within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), the constrained MSSM
and the minimal Supergravity model, and their sensitivity to the model
parameters is studied in detail. For a Yukawa coupling of electromagnetic
strength, squark masses below 260 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level in a
large part of the parameter space. For a 100 times smaller coupling strength
masses up to 182 GeV are excluded.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 3 table
Differential (2+1) Jet Event Rates and Determination of alpha_s in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA
Events with a (2+1) jet topology in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA are
studied in the kinematic range 200 < Q^2< 10,000 GeV^2. The rate of (2+1) jet
events has been determined with the modified JADE jet algorithm as a function
of the jet resolution parameter and is compared with the predictions of Monte
Carlo models. In addition, the event rate is corrected for both hadronization
and detector effects and is compared with next-to-leading order QCD
calculations. A value of the strong coupling constant of alpha_s(M_Z^2)=
0.118+- 0.002 (stat.)^(+0.007)_(-0.008) (syst.)^(+0.007)_(-0.006) (theory) is
extracted. The systematic error includes uncertainties in the calorimeter
energy calibration, in the description of the data by current Monte Carlo
models, and in the knowledge of the parton densities. The theoretical error is
dominated by the renormalization scale ambiguity.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Eur. Phys.
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