67 research outputs found

    Microbial oxidation of arsenite in a subarctic environment: diversity of arsenite oxidase genes and identification of a psychrotolerant arsenite oxidiser

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    Background: Arsenic is toxic to most living cells. The two soluble inorganic forms of arsenic are arsenite (+3) and arsenate (+5), with arsenite the more toxic. Prokaryotic metabolism of arsenic has been reported in both thermal and moderate environments and has been shown to be involved in the redox cycling of arsenic. No arsenic metabolism (either dissimilatory arsenate reduction or arsenite oxidation) has ever been reported in cold environments (i.e. < 10°C). Results: Our study site is located 512 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, Canada in an inactive gold mine which contains mine waste water in excess of 50 mM arsenic. Several thousand tonnes of arsenic trioxide dust are stored in underground chambers and microbial biofilms grow on the chamber walls below seepage points rich in arsenite-containing solutions. We compared the arsenite oxidisers in two subsamples (which differed in arsenite concentration) collected from one biofilm. 'Species' (sequence) richness did not differ between subsamples, but the relative importance of the three identifiable clades did. An arsenite-oxidising bacterium (designated GM1) was isolated, and was shown to oxidise arsenite in the early exponential growth phase and to grow at a broad range of temperatures (4-25°C). Its arsenite oxidase was constitutively expressed and functioned over a broad temperature range. Conclusions: The diversity of arsenite oxidisers does not significantly differ from two subsamples of a microbial biofilm that vary in arsenite concentrations. GM1 is the first psychrotolerant arsenite oxidiser to be isolated with the ability to grow below 10°C. This ability to grow at low temperatures could be harnessed for arsenic bioremediation in moderate to cold climates

    Intra- and inter-annual uranium concentration variability in a Belizean stalagmite controlled by prior aragonite precipitation: A new tool for reconstructing hydro-climate using aragonitic speleothems

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    Aragonitic speleothems are increasingly utilised as palaeoclimate archives due to their amenability to high precision U–Th dating. Proxy records from fast-growing aragonitic stalagmites, precisely dated to annual timescales, can allow investigation of climatic events occurring on annual or even sub-annual timescales with minimal chronological uncertainty. However, the behaviour of many trace elements, such as uranium, in aragonitic speleothems has not thus far been as well constrained as in calcitic speleothems. Here, we use uranium concentration shifts measured across primary calcite-to-aragonite mineralogical transitions in speleothems to calculate the distribution coefficient of uranium in aragonitic speleothems (derived DU = 3.74 ± 1.13). Because our calculated DU is considerably above 1 increased prior aragonite precipitation due to increased karst water residence time should strongly control stalagmite aragonite U/Ca values. Consequently, uranium concentrations in aragonitic speleothems should act as excellent proxies for effective rainfall. We test this using a high-resolution ICP-MS derived trace element dataset from a Belizean stalagmite. YOK-G is an aragonitic stalagmite from Yok Balum cave in Belize with an extremely robust monthly-resolved chronology built using annual δ13C cycles. We interpret seasonal U/Ca variations in YOK-G as reflecting changes in the amount and seasonality of prior aragonite precipitation driven by variable rainfall amounts. The U/Ca record strongly suggests that modern drying has occurred in Belize, and that this drying was primarily caused by a reduction in wet season rainfall. This is consistent with published stable isotope data from YOK-G also very strongly suggesting modern rainfall reductions, previously interpreted as the result of southward ITCZ displacement. Our results strongly suggest that U/Ca values in aragonitic speleothems are excellent proxies for rainfall variability. This new tool, combined with the exceptional chronological control characteristic of aragonitic stalagmites and the high spatial resolution afforded by modern microanalytical techniques, should facilitate the construction of new exquisitely resolved rainfall records, providing rare insights into seasonality changes as well as long-term changes in local recharge conditions

    Observation of Scaling Violations in Scaled Momentum Distributions at HERA

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    Charged particle production has been measured in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) events over a large range of xx and Q2Q^2 using the ZEUS detector. The evolution of the scaled momentum, xpx_p, with Q2,Q^2, in the range 10 to 1280 GeV2GeV^2, has been investigated in the current fragmentation region of the Breit frame. The results show clear evidence, in a single experiment, for scaling violations in scaled momenta as a function of Q2Q^2.Comment: 21 pages including 4 figures, to be published in Physics Letters B. Two references adde

    Modeling the release of Escherichia coli from soil into overland flow under raindrop impact

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    Pathogen transport through the environment is complicated, involving a variety of physical, chemical, and biological processes. This study considered the transfer of microorganisms from soil into overland flow under rain-splash conditions. Although microorganisms are colloidal particles, they are commonly quantified as colony-forming units (CFUs) per volume rather than as a mass or number of particles per volume, which poses a modeling challenge. However, for very small particles that essentially remain suspended after being ejected into ponded water and for which diffusion can be neglected, the Gao model, originally derived for solute transfer from soil, describes particle transfer into suspension and is identical to the Hairsine–Rose particle erosion model for this special application. Small-scale rainfall experiments were conducted in which an Escherichia coli (E. coli) suspension was mixed with a simple soil (9:1 sand-to-clay mass ratio). The model fit the experimental E. coli data. Although re-conceptualizing the Gao solute model as a particle suspension model was convenient for accommodating the unfortunate units of CFU ml−1, the Hairsine–Rose model is insensitive to assumptions about E. coli per CFU as long as the assumed initial mass concentration of E. coli is very small compared to that of the soil particle classes. Although they undoubtedly actively interact with their environment, this study shows that transport of microorganisms from soil into overland storm flows can be reasonably modeled using the same principles that have been applied to small mineral particles in previous studies

    The current state of the use of large wood in river restoration and management

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    Trees fall naturally into rivers generating flow heterogeneity, inducing geomorphological features, and creating habitats for biota. Wood is increasingly used in restoration projects and the potential of wood acting as leaky barriers to deliver natural flood management by “slowing the flow” is recognised. However, wood in rivers can pose a risk to infrastructure and locally increase flood hazards. The aim of this paper is to provide an up-to-date summary of the benefits and risks associated with using wood to promote geomorphological processes to restore and manage rivers. This summary was developed through a workshop that brought together academics, river managers, restoration practitioners and consultants in the UK to share science and best-practice on wood in rivers. A consensus was developed on four key issues: (i) hydro-geomorphological effects, (ii) current use in restoration and management, (iii) uncertainties and risks, and (iv) tools and guidance required to inform process-based restoration and management

    Study of Z → llγ decays at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper presents a study of Z → llγ decays with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis uses a proton–proton data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb−1 collected at a centre-ofmass energy √s = 8 TeV. Integrated fiducial cross-sections together with normalised differential fiducial cross-sections, sensitive to the kinematics of final-state QED radiation, are obtained. The results are found to be in agreement with stateof-the-art predictions for final-state QED radiation. First measurements of Z → llγ γ decays are also reported

    Search for leptoquark pair production decaying into te−te¯ + or tμ−t¯μ+ in multi-lepton final states in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    A search for leptoquark pair production decaying into te−te¯ + or tμ−t¯μ+ in final states with multiple leptons is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Four signal regions, with the requirement of at least three light leptons (electron or muon) and at least two jets out of which at least one jet is identified as coming from a b-hadron, are considered based on the number of leptons of a given flavour. The main background processes are estimated using dedicated control regions in a simultaneous fit with the signal regions to data. No excess above the Standard Model background prediction is observed and 95% confidence level limits on the production cross section times branching ratio are derived as a function of the leptoquark mass. Under the assumption of exclusive decays into te− (tμ−), the corresponding lower limit on the scalar mixed-generation leptoquark mass mLQd mix is at 1.58 (1.59) TeV and on the vector leptoquark mass mU˜1 at 1.67 (1.67) TeV in the minimal coupling scenario and at 1.95 (1.95) TeV in the Yang–Mills scenario

    Measurements of the production cross-section for a Z boson in association with b- or c-jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a Z boson in association with bor c-jets, in proton–proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured for events containing a Z boson decaying into electrons or muons and produced in association with at least one b-jet, at least one c-jet, or at least two b-jets with transverse momentum pT > 20 GeV and rapidity |y| < 2.5. Predictions from several Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with a parton-shower simulation, with different choices of flavour schemes for initial-state partons, are compared with the measured cross-sections. The results are also compared with novel predictions, based on infrared and collinear safe jet flavour dressing algorithms. Selected Z+ ≥ 1 c-jet observables, optimized for sensitivity to intrinsic-charm, are compared with benchmark models with different intrinsic-charm fractions

    Software performance of the ATLAS track reconstruction for LHC run 3

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    Charged particle reconstruction in the presence of many simultaneous proton–proton (pp) collisions in the LHC is a challenging task for the ATLAS experiment’s reconstruction software due to the combinatorial complexity. This paper describes the major changes made to adapt the software to reconstruct high-activity collisions with an average of 50 or more simultaneous pp interactions per bunch crossing (pileup) promptly using the available computing resources. The performance of the key components of the track reconstruction chain and its dependence on pile-up are evaluated, and the improvement achieved compared to the previous software version is quantified. For events with an average of 60 pp collisions per bunch crossing, the updated track reconstruction is twice as fast as the previous version, without significant reduction in reconstruction efficiency and while reducing the rate of combinatorial fake tracks by more than a factor two
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