Heterotrophic carbon gain and mineral nutrition of the root hemi-parasiteSantalum albumL. in pot culture with different hosts

This paper examines heterotrophic gain of carbon and mineral composition of Santalum album partnered singly in pot culture with three beneficial woody N2-fixing hosts and a nonbeneficial eucalypt host. Based on dry matter gains of the parasite at 33 weeks, Sesbaniaformosa proved the best host followed by Acacia ampliceps and A. trachycarpa while no improvement in growth was seen with Eucalyptus camaldulensis as a host in comparison with Santalum grown without a host. Numbers of haustoria formed by Santalum on roots of different hosts were poorly correlated with host quality. A small proportion of haustoria on legume hosts were attached to root nodules. Santalum partnered with any host or grown alone exhibited self-parasitism where haustoria attached to its own root system. Based on net C and N gains of Santalum and the C : N ratios of xylem solutes of Santalum, the heterotrophic gains of C from xylem of the three beneficial legume hosts over a nine week period were equivalent to 57.9% of total carbon (35.9 g C plant-1) on A. ampliceps, 45.5% (12.7 g C plant-1) on A. trachycarpa and 34.6% (29.9 g C plant-1) on S. formosa. Assays of leaf, stem, bark and root tissue of Santalum and its hosts and net increases in mineral contents of Santalum over the first nine weeks of the study showed that parasitism on beneficial hosts increased the mineral contents of the parasite, with evidence of net gains in certain elements (e.g. Ca, K, P, Na) being greatest when associated with hosts richest in the corresponding element. Foliage of Santalum was extraordinarily rich in Na and in some cases also in P and N in comparison with associated hosts. Net losses or only small gains of P, K, Ca and Na over the study interval in Santalum grown alone or associated with the eucalypt indicated poor ability for nutrient uptake through its own root system. Regression analysis showed incremental gains of N, C and Na, leaf area, content of K, N and Na in foliage of the parasite and root : shoot ratio to be excellent predictors of growth benefit from different hosts. Examples of stepwise regression analysis are provided indicating how such data might be employed for monitoring growth and host benefit under future plantation cultures of the parasite

An Absolute Measurement of the p+p Analyzing Power at 183 MeV

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Measurement of the pp Analyzing Power A_y in the Coulomb-Nuclear Interference Region

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Feasibility Study of a Storage Cell Target

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Transverse Beam Spin Asymmetries in Forward-Angle Elastic Electron-Proton Scattering

We have measured the beam-normal single-spin asymmetry in elastic scattering of transversely-polarized 3 GeV electrons from unpolarized protons at Q^2 = 0.15, 0.25 (GeV/c)^2. The results are inconsistent with calculations solely using the elastic nucleon intermediate state, and generally agree with calculations with significant inelastic hadronic intermediate state contributions. A_n provides a direct probe of the imaginary component of the 2-gamma exchange amplitude, the complete description of which is important in the interpretation of data from precision electron-scattering experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters; shortened to meet PRL length limit, clarified some text after referee's comment

Status of an Investigation of the 3-He Wave Function by Quasi-Free Scattering

This research was sponsored by the National Science Fooundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Design of the New Life(style) study: a randomised controlled trial to optimise maternal weight development during pregnancy. [ISRCTN85313483]

BACKGROUND: Preventing excessive weight gain during pregnancy is potentially important in the prevention of overweight and obesity among women of childbearing age. However, few intervention studies aiming at weight management during pregnancy have been performed and most of these interventions were not as successful as expected. In this paper the design of the New Life(style) study is described as well as the content of the individually tailored intervention program, which focuses on controlling weight development during pregnancy. METHODS: The effectiveness of the New Life(style) intervention program versus usual care by midwives is evaluated in a randomised controlled trial. Women who expect their first child and visit one of the participating midwifery practices are included. The intervention is standardised in a protocol and executed by trained counsellors with the women who are randomised in the intervention group. During 5 sessions – at 18, 22, 30 and 36 weeks of pregnancy and at 8 weeks postpartum – individual weight gain is discussed in relation to weight gain guidelines for pregnant women of the American Institute of Medicine. Counsellors coach the women to maintain or optimise a healthy lifestyle, in a period of drastic physical and mental changes. Data is collected at 15, 25, 35 weeks of pregnancy and at 6, 26, and 52 weeks after delivery. Primary outcome measures are body weight, BMI, and skinfold thickness. Secondary outcome measures include physical activity, nutrition and blood levels of factors that are associated with energy homeostasis. DISCUSSION: Results of the current RCT will improve the knowledge of determinants of weight gain during pregnancy, weight retention after childbirth and of the effectiveness of the intervention program that is described. Caregivers and researchers in the field of health promotion are offered more insight in specific elements of the New Life(style) intervention program

Proximity effect at superconducting Sn-Bi2Se3 interface

We have investigated the conductance spectra of Sn-Bi2Se3 interface junctions down to 250 mK and in different magnetic fields. A number of conductance anomalies were observed below the superconducting transition temperature of Sn, including a small gap different from that of Sn, and a zero-bias conductance peak growing up at lower temperatures. We discussed the possible origins of the smaller gap and the zero-bias conductance peak. These phenomena support that a proximity-effect-induced chiral superconducting phase is formed at the interface between the superconducting Sn and the strong spin-orbit coupling material Bi2Se3.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Heavy Quarks and Heavy Quarkonia as Tests of Thermalization

We present here a brief summary of new results on heavy quarks and heavy quarkonia from the PHENIX experiment as presented at the "Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization" Workshop in Vienna, Austria in August 2005, directly following the International Quark Matter Conference in Hungary.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization Workshop (Vienna August 2005) Proceeding

Centrality Dependence of the High p_T Charged Hadron Suppression in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV

PHENIX has measured the centrality dependence of charged hadron p_T spectra from central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV. The truncated mean p_T decreases with centrality for p_T > 2 GeV/c, indicating an apparent reduction of the contribution from hard scattering to high p_T hadron production. For central collisions the yield at high p_T is shown to be suppressed compared to binary nucleon-nucleon collision scaling of p+p data. This suppression is monotonically increasing with centrality, but most of the change occurs below 30% centrality, i.e. for collisions with less than about 140 participating nucleons. The observed p_T and centrality dependence is consistent with the particle production predicted by models including hard scattering and subsequent energy loss of the scattered partons in the dense matter created in the collisions.Comment: 7 pages text, LaTeX, 6 figures, 2 tables, 307 authors, resubmitted to Phys. Lett. B. Revised to address referee concerns. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/run/phenix/papers.htm