Incorporating Biotic Information in Species Distribution Models: A Coregionalized Approach

In this work, we discuss the use of a methodological approach for modelling spatial relationships among species by means of a Bayesian spatial coregionalized model. Inference and prediction is performed using the integrated nested Laplace approximation methodology to reduce the computational burden. We illustrate the performance of the coregionalized model in species interaction scenarios using both simulated and real data. The simulation demonstrates the better predictive performance of the coregionalized model with respect to the univariate models. The case study focus on the spatial distribution of a prey species, the European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), and one of its predator species, the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), in the Mediterranean sea. The results indicate that European hake and anchovy are positively associated, resulting in improved model predictions using the coregionalized model.Postprin

Changes in the content of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the rind of Fino 49 lemons during maturation and their relationship with parameters from the CIELAB color space

In the present work, the coordinates L*, a* and b* from the CIELAB color space, as well as the chlorophyll, total carotenoids and the content of the carotenoids Lutein and β-cryptoxanthin were measured in the skin of fruits from the Fino 49 lemon during its development, with the aim of understanding the relationship that exists between the color changes of the fruit’s skin (color coordinates) and the pigment content. Also, the understanding of the relative importance of the contents of lutein and β-cryptoxanthin with respect to the total content of carotenoids was sought. The period of study lasted three years; from September 2015 to January 2016, from September 2016 to January 2017, and from September 2017 to January 2018, the periods that comprised the color changes of the lemon fruit until its harvest. The fruits were measured every two weeks in the experimental plot of the IMIDA (Murcian Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Development) located at La Alberca (Murcia, Spain) and in the experimental orchards from the CEBAS-CSIC, located in Santomera (Murcia). During he experiment, the color and chlorophyll, Lutein and β-cryptoxanthin concentrations were measured. The results showed that there was a good correlation between the color coordinates and the pigments responsible for the lemon’s skin color: all the color pigments were correlated with the a*, b* color coordinates and the Hue angle index. Throughout the fruit’s maturation, a degradation of the chlorophylls was observed, as well as an increase of β-cryptoxanthin, which is responsible for the green and yellow color of the fruits, respectively. Lutein, which was found in high concentrations, decreased with time, but did not contribute to the fruit’s color

Chemical variability, toxicity, and antibacterial activity against opportunistic pathogens of the essential oils from Origanum vulgare (hirtum x viridulum)

The genera Citrobacter, Bacillus, Shigella, and Pseudomonas include overt and opportunistic pathogens responsible for a wide range of infections that are the causes of sporadic septicemia, pneumonia, and digestive and urinary tract infections. The presence of high amounts of phenolic compounds in essential oils provides an insight into the likely effect of a specific chemotype against opportunistic pathogens. The main goal of the present work was to evaluate the bacterial growth inhibition by five Origanum vulgare L. (Lamiaceae) essential oil chemotypes. The most active chemotype was also tested for intestinal toxicity using an experimental animal model. The bacterial growth inhibition curves against Pseudomonas aeruginosa CECT 108, Shigella sonnei CECT 413, Bacillus cereus CECT 131, and Citrobacter freundii CECT 7464 were set up. The following parameters were assessed from the animal model experiments: villius height, Lieberkühn crypt depth, and intestinal mucosal thickness. A total of 15 individual plants (3 per chemotype) were used in this assay. The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation and the qualitative and quantitative compositions were analyzed using a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The growth inhibition curves were constructed for the 48-h treatment and the tested essential-oil concentrations ranged from 40 to 1250 ppm for S. sonnei, B. cereus, and C. freundii, and from 625 to 20000 ppm for P. aeruginosa. The GC-MS results revealed that the tested chemotypes were composed of: 86% of carvacrol; 77% of carvacrol and 6% of thymol; 65% of carvacrol and 18% of thymol; 48% of carvacrol, 12% of γ-terpinene, and 6% of caryophyllene; 34% of carvacrol, 15% of γ-terpinene, 8% of p-cymene, and 7% of caryophyllene.                From results it can be concluded: that among the chemotypes studied, the ones having over 48% of carvacrol in the oil inhibited the growth of S. sonnei and B. cereus (312 ppm), and C. freundii (625 ppm). In the case of P. aeruginosa, only chemotypes with a high amount of carvacrol (86-76%) at the highest tested concentration (20000 ppm) were active. In addition, the maximal doses tested did not result in intestinal toxicity

Heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in the LHC era: from proton-proton to heavy-ion collisions

This report reviews the study of open heavy-flavour and quarkonium production in high-energy hadronic collisions, as tools to investigate fundamental aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics, from the proton and nucleus structure at high energy to deconfinement and the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Emphasis is given to the lessons learnt from LHC Run 1 results, which are reviewed in a global picture with the results from SPS and RHIC at lower energies, as well as to the questions to be addressed in the future. The report covers heavy flavour and quarkonium production in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. This includes discussion of the effects of hot and cold strongly interacting matter, quarkonium photo-production in nucleus-nucleus collisions and perspectives on the study of heavy flavour and quarkonium with upgrades of existing experiments and new experiments. The report results from the activity of the SaporeGravis network of the I3 Hadron Physics programme of the European Union 7th Framework Programme

Inclusive photon production at forward rapidities in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV

See paper for full list of authors – 24 pages, 10 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 19, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/1024International audienceThe multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of inclusive photons have been measured at forward rapidities ($2.3 < \eta < 3.9$) in proton-proton collisions at three center-of-mass energies, $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV using the ALICE detector. It is observed that the increase in the average photon multiplicity as a function of beam energy is compatible with both a logarithmic and a power-law dependence. The relative increase in average photon multiplicity produced in inelastic pp collisions at 2.76 and 7 TeV center-of-mass energies with respect to 0.9 TeV are 37.2% $\pm$ 0.3% (stat) $\pm$ 8.8% (sys) and 61.2% $\pm$ 0.3% (stat) $\pm$ 7.6% (sys), respectively. The photon multiplicity distributions for all center-of-mass energies are well described by negative binomial distributions. The multiplicity distributions are also presented in terms of KNO variables. The results are compared to model predictions, which are found in general to underestimate the data at large photon multiplicities, in particular at the highest center-of-mass energy. Limiting fragmentation behavior of photons has been explored with the data, but is not observed in the measured pseudorapidity range

Performance of prototypes for the ALICE electromagnetic calorimeter

The performance of prototypes for the ALICE electromagnetic sampling calorimeter has been studied in test beam measurements at FNAL and CERN. A $4\times4$ array of final design modules showed an energy resolution of about 11% /$\sqrt{E(\mathrm{GeV})}$ $\oplus$ 1.7 % with a uniformity of the response to electrons of 1% and a good linearity in the energy range from 10 to 100 GeV. The electromagnetic shower position resolution was found to be described by 1.5 mm $\oplus$ 5.3 mm /$\sqrt{E \mathrm{(GeV)}}$. For an electron identification efficiency of 90% a hadron rejection factor of $>600$ was obtained.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 $< p_{\rm{T}, assoc} < p_{\rm{T}, trig} <$ 5.0 GeV/$c$ is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momen\-tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<0.9$. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton--parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions. Further, the number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161

Multi-particle azimuthal correlations in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Measurements of multi-particle azimuthal correlations (cumulants) for charged particles in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions are presented. They help address the question of whether there is evidence for global, flow-like, azimuthal correlations in the p-Pb system. Comparisons are made to measurements from the larger Pb-Pb system, where such evidence is established. In particular, the second harmonic two-particle cumulants are found to decrease with multiplicity, characteristic of a dominance of few-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions. However, when a $|\Delta \eta|$ gap is placed to suppress such correlations, the two-particle cumulants begin to rise at high-multiplicity, indicating the presence of global azimuthal correlations. The Pb-Pb values are higher than the p-Pb values at similar multiplicities. In both systems, the second harmonic four-particle cumulants exhibit a transition from positive to negative values when the multiplicity increases. The negative values allow for a measurement of $v_{2}\{4\}$ to be made, which is found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions at similar multiplicities. The second harmonic six-particle cumulants are also found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions. In Pb-Pb collisions, we generally find $v_{2}\{4\} \simeq v_{2}\{6\}\neq 0$ which is indicative of a Bessel-Gaussian function for the $v_{2}$ distribution. For very high-multiplicity Pb-Pb collisions, we observe that the four- and six-particle cumulants become consistent with 0. Finally, third harmonic two-particle cumulants in p-Pb and Pb-Pb are measured. These are found to be similar for overlapping multiplicities, when a $|\Delta\eta| > 1.4$ gap is placed.Comment: 25 pages, 11 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 20, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/87

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Direct photon production in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

Direct photons have been measured in sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV d+Au collisions at midrapidity. A wide p_T range is covered by measurements of nearly-real virtual photons (1<p_T<6 GeV/c) and real photons (5<p_T<16 GeV/c). The invariant yield of the direct photons in d+Au collisions over the scaled p+p cross section is consistent with unity. Theoretical calculations assuming standard cold nuclear matter effects describe the data well for the entire p_T range. This indicates that the large enhancement of direct photons observed in Au+Au collisions for 1.0<p_T<2.5 GeV/c is due to a source other than the initial-state nuclear effects.Comment: 547 authors, 7 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm