Weak axial nuclear heavy meson exchange currents and interactions of solar neutrinos with deuterons

Starting from the axial heavy meson exchange currents, constructed earlier in conjunction with the Bethe--Salpeter equation, we first present the axial $\rho$--, $\omega$-- and $a_1$ meson exchange Feynman amplitudes that satisfy the partial conservation of the axial current. Employing these amplitudes, we derive the corresponding weak axial heavy meson exchange currents in the leading order in the 1/M expansion ($M$ is the nucleon mass), suitable for the nuclear physics calculations beyond the threshold energies and with wave functions obtained by solving the Schr\"odinger equation with one--boson exchange potentials. The constructed currents obey the nuclear form of the partial conservation of the axial current. We apply the space component of these currents in calculations of the cross sections for the disintegration of deuterons by low energy (anti)neutrinos. The deuteron and the final state nucleon--nucleon wave functions are derived (i) from a variant of the OBEPQB potential, and (ii) from the Nijmegen 93 and Nijmegen I nucleon-nucleon interaction. The extracted values of the constant $L_{1, A}$, entering the axial exchange currents of the pionless effective field theory, are in a reasonable agreement with its value predicted by the dimensional analysis.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figures, 11 table

The Shaqadud Archaeological Project (Sudan): exploring prehistoric cultural adaptations in the Sahelian hinterlands

The authors present preliminary results from a new research project based in Jebel Shaqadud, Sudan. Their findings highlight the potential for this region's archaeological record to expand our understanding of the adaptation strategies used by human groups in arid north-east African environments away from rivers and lakes during the Holocene. Furthermore, they present exceptionally early radiocarbon dates that push postglacial human occupation in the eastern Sahel back to the twelfth millennium BP

Using metadynamics to explore complex free-energy landscapes

Metadynamics is an atomistic simulation technique that allows, within the same framework, acceleration of rare events and estimation of the free energy of complex molecular systems. It is based on iteratively \u2018filling\u2019 the potential energy of the system by a sum of Gaussians centred along the trajectory followed by a suitably chosen set of collective variables (CVs), thereby forcing the system to migrate from one minimum to the next. The power of metadynamics is demonstrated by the large number of extensions and variants that have been developed. The first scope of this Technical Review is to present a critical comparison of these variants, discussing their advantages and disadvantages. The effectiveness of metadynamics, and that of the numerous alternative methods, is strongly influenced by the choice of the CVs. If an important variable is neglected, the resulting estimate of the free energy is unreliable, and predicted transition mechanisms may be qualitatively wrong. The second scope of this Technical Review is to discuss how the CVs should be selected, how to verify whether the chosen CVs are sufficient or redundant, and how to iteratively improve the CVs using machine learning approaches

Occurrence or Morphologically Changed Oocytes in Ovarian Follicles of Cows During the Reproductive Cycle

Cosa va in scena in Ucraina? Una conversazione con Giulietto Chiesa (8 marzo 2014) di Daniele Dall’Agli

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) SlIPT3 and SlIPT4 isopentenyltransferases mediate salt stress response in tomato

Background: Cytokinins (CKs) are involved in response to various environmental cues, including salinity. It has been previously reported that enhancing CK contents improved salt stress tolerance in tomato. However, the underlying mechanisms of CK metabolism and signaling under salt stress conditions remain to be deciphered. Results: Two tomato isopentenyltransferases, SlIPT3 and SlIPT4, were characterized in tomato and Arabidopsis. Both proteins displayed isopentenyltransferase (IPT) activity in vitro, while their encoding genes exhibited different spatio-temporal expression patterns during tomato plant development. SlIPT3 and SlIPT4 were affected by the endogenous CK status, tightly connected with CKs feedback regulation, as revealed by hormonal treatements. In response to salt stress, SlIPT3 and SlIPT4 were strongly repressed in tomato roots, and differently affected in young and old leaves. SlIPT3 overexpression in tomato resulted in high accumulation of different CK metabolites, following modifications of CK biosynthesis-, signaling- and degradation-gene expression. In addition, 35S::SlIPT3 tomato plants displayed improved tolerance to salinity consecutive to photosynthetic pigments and K+/Na+ ratio retention. Involvement of SlIPT3 and SlIPT4 in salt stress response was also observed in Arabidopsis ipt3 knock-out complemented plants, through maintenance of CK homeostasis. Conclusions: SlIPT3 and SlIPT4 are functional IPTs encoded by differently expressed genes, distinctively taking part in the salinity response. The substantial participation of SlIPT3 in CK metabolism during salt stress has been determined in 35S::SlIPT3 tomato transformants, where enhancement of CKs accumulation significantly improved plant tolerance to salinity, underlining the importance of this phytohormone in stress response. © Žižková et al.; licensee BioMed Central