Australia's coastal fisheries and farmed seafood: An ecological basis for determining sustainability

In response to consumer concerns about the sustainability of Australian-sourced seafood we derive a set of criteria within an explicit decision-process that can be used to determine whether locally farmed and wild-caught Australian seafood products meet standards of ecological sustainability and Ecologically Sustainable Development. These criteria substantially address the ecological deficiencies we identified in other systems commonly used for assessing seafood sustainability. The criteria address the issues that are relevant to local seafood production, and are populated with indicators (metrics) and benchmarks relevant to the Australian context. The indicators establish performance thresholds drawn from public domain data about the products, including observed empirical data and proxies, and include default decisions to be applied in the absence of adequate information. This decision structure is set within a peer-reviewed expert jury decision-making process. The criteria, decision process and decision outcomes from assessment of a number of pilot products were tested in a real seafood market (Melbourne), where we found a high level of producer, reseller and consumer acceptance of the judgements and ratings. The use of ecologically-derived standards results in several outcomes that differ from those of other seafood assessment systems, especially those assessments more focused on production standards, such as government, industry and NGO-supported programs, popularly used in Australia and worldwide. We conclude that despite high levels of uncertainty surrounding many of the population parameters, ecological patterns and processes, empirical cost-effective proxies can be used to reasonably estimate a form of sustainability that matches consumer interests/expectations for production of fresh local seafood. Despite the plethora of industry and government programs, there remains a significant but presently unmet consumer demand for ecologically-based, technically robust, independently derived, and readily available information about the local sustainability attributes of Australian wild-caught and farmed fresh seafood

Long-term clinical and experimental/surface analytical studies of carbon/carbon maxillofacial implants

BACKGROUND:Over the past 30-40years, various carbon implant materials have become more interesting, because they are well accepted by the biological environment. The traditional carbon-based polymers give rise to many complications. The polymer complication may be eliminated through carbon fibres bound by pyrocarbon (carbon/carbon). The aim of this study is to present the long-term clinical results of carbon/carbon implants, and the results of the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer investigation of an implant retrieved from the human body after 8years.METHODS:Mandibular reconstruction (8-10years ago) was performed with pure (99.99%) carbon implants in 16 patients (10 malignant tumours, 4 large cystic lesions and 2 augmentative processes). The long-term effect of the human body on the carbon/carbon implant was investigated by comparing the structure, the surface morphology and the composition of an implant retrieved after 8years to a sterilized, but not implanted one.RESULTS:Of the 16 patients, the implants had to be removed earlier in 5 patients because of the defect that arose on the oral mucosa above the carbon plates. During the long-term follow-up, plate fracture, loosening of the screws, infection or inflammations around the carbon/carbon implants were not observed. The thickness of the carbon fibres constituting the implants did not change during the 8-year period, the surface of the implant retrieved was covered with a thin surface layer not present on the unimplanted implant. The composition of this layer is identical to the composition of the underlying carbon fibres. Residual soft tissue penetrating the bulk material between the carbon fibre bunches was found on the retrieved implant indicating the importance of the surface morphology in tissue growth and adhering implants.CONCLUSIONS:The surface morphology and the structure were not changed after 8years. The two main components of the implant retrieved from the human body are still carbon and oxygen, but the amount of oxygen is 3-4 times higher than on the surface of the reference implant, which can be attributed to the oxidative effect of the human body, consequently in the integration and biocompatibility of the implant. The clinical conclusion is that if the soft part cover is appropriate, the carbon implants are cosmetically and functionally more suitable than titanium plates

TOI-3235 b: A Transiting Giant Planet around an M4 Dwarf Star

We present the discovery of TOI-3235 b, a short-period Jupiter orbiting an M dwarf with a stellar mass close to the critical mass at which stars transition from partially to fully convective. TOI-3235 b was first identified as a candidate from TESS photometry and confirmed with radial velocities from ESPRESSO and ground-based photometry from HATSouth, MEarth-South, TRAPPIST-South, LCOGT, and ExTrA. We find that the planet has a mass of 0.665 ± 0.025 M J and a radius of 1.017 ± 0.044 R J. It orbits close to its host star, with an orbital period of 2.5926 days but has an equilibrium temperature of ≈ 604 K, well below the expected threshold for radius inflation of hot Jupiters. The host star has a mass of 0.3939 ± 0.0030 M ☉, a radius of 0.3697 ± 0.0018 R ☉, an effective temperature of 3389 K, and a J-band magnitude of 11.706 ± 0.025. Current planet formation models do not predict the existence of gas giants such as TOI-3235 b around such low-mass stars. With a high transmission spectroscopy metric, TOI-3235 b is one of the best-suited giants orbiting M dwarfs for atmospheric characterization

Rational Design of Protein Stability: Effect of (2S,4R)-4-Fluoroproline on the Stability and Folding Pathway of Ubiquitin

BACKGROUND: Many strategies have been employed to increase the conformational stability of proteins. The use of 4-substituted proline analogs capable to induce pre-organization in target proteins is an attractive tool to deliver an additional conformational stability without perturbing the overall protein structure. Both, peptides and proteins containing 4-fluorinated proline derivatives can be stabilized by forcing the pyrrolidine ring in its favored puckering conformation. The fluorinated pyrrolidine rings of proline can preferably stabilize either a C(γ)-exo or a C(γ)-endo ring pucker in dependence of proline chirality (4R/4S) in a complex protein structure. To examine whether this rational strategy can be generally used for protein stabilization, we have chosen human ubiquitin as a model protein which contains three proline residues displaying C(γ)-exo puckering. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: While (2S,4R)-4-fluoroproline ((4R)-FPro) containing ubiquitinin can be expressed in related auxotrophic Escherichia coli strain, all attempts to incorporate (2S,4S)-4-fluoroproline ((4S)-FPro) failed. Our results indicate that (4R)-FPro is favoring the C(γ)-exo conformation present in the wild type structure and stabilizes the protein structure due to a pre-organization effect. This was confirmed by thermal and guanidinium chloride-induced denaturation profile analyses, where we observed an increase in stability of -4.71 kJ·mol(-1) in the case of (4R)-FPro containing ubiquitin ((4R)-FPro-ub) compared to wild type ubiquitin (wt-ub). Expectedly, activity assays revealed that (4R)-FPro-ub retained the full biological activity compared to wt-ub. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results fully confirm the general applicability of incorporating fluoroproline derivatives for improving protein stability. In general, a rational design strategy that enforces the natural occurring proline puckering conformation can be used to stabilize the desired target protein

Environmentally induced changes in antioxidant phenolic compounds levels in wild plants

[EN] Different adverse environmental conditions cause oxidative stress in plants by generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Accordingly, a general response to abiotic stress is the activation of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems. Many phenolic compounds, especially flavonoids, are known antioxidants and efficient ROS scavengers in vitro, but their exact role in plant stress responses in nature is still under debate. The aim of our work is to investigate this role by correlating the degree of environmental stress with phenolic and flavonoid levels in stress-tolerant plants. Total phenolic and antioxidant flavonoid contents were determined in 19 wild species. Meteorological data and plant and soil samples were collected in three successive seasons from four Mediterranean ecosystems: salt marsh, dune, semiarid and gypsum habitats. Changes in phenolic and flavonoid levels were correlated with the environmental conditions of the plants and were found to depend on both the taxonomy and ecology of the investigated species. Despite species-specific differences, principal component analyses of the results established a positive correlation between plant phenolics and several environmental parameters, such as altitude, and those related to water stress: temperature, evapotranspiration, and soil water deficit. The correlation with salt stress was, however, very weak. The joint analysis of all the species showed the lowest phenolic and flavonoid levels in the halophytes from the salt marsh. This finding supports previous data indicating that the halophytes analysed here do not undergo oxidative stress in their natural habitat and therefore do not need to activate antioxidant systems as a defence against salinity.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project CGL2008-00438/BOS), with contribution from the European Regional Development Fund. Thanks to Dr. Rafael Herrera for critical reading of the manuscript.Bautista, I.; Boscaiu, M.; Lidón, A.; Llinares Palacios, JV.; Lull, C.; Donat-Torres, MP.; Mayoral García-Berlanga, O.... (2016). Environmentally induced changes in antioxidant phenolic compounds levels in wild plants. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum. 38(1):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-015-2025-2S115381Agati G, Biricolti S, Guidi L, Ferrini F, Fini A, Tattini M (2011) The biosynthesis of flavonoids is enhanced similarly by UV radiation and root zone salinity in L. vulgare leaves. J Plant Physiol 168:204–212Agati G, Brunetti C, Di Ferdinando M, Ferrini F, Pollastri S, Tattini M (2013) Functional roles of flavonoids in photoprotection: new evidence, lessons from the past. Plant Physiol Biochem 72:35–45Albert A, Sareedenchai V, Heller W, Seidlitz HK, Zidorn C (2009) Temperature is the key to altitudinal variation of phenolics in Arnica montana L. cv. ARBO. Oecologia 160:1–8Appel K, Hirt H (2004) Reactive oxygen species: metabolism, oxidative stress, and signal transduction. Annu Rev Plant Biol 55:373–399Bachereau F, Marigo G, Asta J (1998) Effect of solar radiation (UV and visible) at high altitude on CAM-cycling and phenolic compounds biosynthesis in Sedum album. Physiol Plant 104:203–210Ballizany WL, Hofmann RV, Jahufer MZZ, Barrett BB (2012) Multivariate associations of flavonoid and biomass accumulation in white clover (Trifolium repens) under drought. Funct Plant Biol 39:167–177Bieza K, Lois R (2001) An Arabidopsis mutant tolerant to lethal ultraviolet-B levels shows constitutively elevated accumulation of flavonoids and other phenolics. Plant Physiol 126:1105–1115Bilger W, Rolland M, Nybakken L (2007) UV screening in higher plants induced by low temperature in the absence of UV-B radiation. Photochem Photobiol Sci 6:190–195Blumthaler M, Ambach M, Ellinger R (1997) Increase in solar UV radiation with altitude. J Photochem Photobiol B 39:130–134Boscaiu M, Lull C, Llinares J, Vicente O, Boira H (2013) Proline as a biochemical marker in relation to the ecology of two halophytic Juncus species. J Plant Ecol 6:177–186Bose J, Rodrigo-Moreno A, Shabala S (2013) ROS homeostasis in halophytes in the context of salinity stress tolerance. J Exp Bot 65:1241–1257Brown DE, Rashotte AM, Murphy AS, Normanly J, Tague BW, Peer WA, Taiz L, Muday GK (2001) Flavonoids act as a negative regulators of auxin transport in vivo in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 126:524–535Burchard P, Bilger W, Weissenböck G (2000) Contribution of hydroxycinnamates and flavonoids to epidermal shielding of UV-A and UV-B radiation in developing rye primary leaves as assessed by ultraviolet-induced chlorophyll fluorescence measurements. Plant Cell Environ 23:1373–1380Burriel F, Hernando V (1947) Nuevo método para determinar el fósforo asimilable en los suelos. Anales de Edafología Fisiología Vegetal 9:611–622Cheynier V, Comte G, Davies KM, Lattanzio V, Martens S (2013) Plant phenolics: recent advances on their biosynthesis, genetics, and ecophysiology. Plant Physiol Biochem 72:1–20Coman C, Rugina OD, Socaciu C (2012) Plants and natural compounds with antidiabetic action. Not Bot Horti Agrobo 40:314–325Di Ferdinando M, Brunetti C, Fini A, Tattini M (2012) Flavonoids as antioxidants in plants under abiotic stresses. In: Ahmad P, Prasad MNV (eds) Abiotic stress responses in plants: metabolism, productivity and sustainability. Springer, New York, pp 159–179Di Ferdinando M, Brunetti C, Agati G, Tattini M (2014) Multiple functions of polyphenols in plants inhabiting unfavourable Mediterranean areas. Environ Exper Bot 103:107–116FAO (1990) Management of gypsiferous soils. FAO Soils Bull, p 62Fini A, Brunetti C, Di Ferdinando M, Ferrini F, Tattini M (2011) Stress-induced flavonoid biosynthesis and the antioxidant machinery of plants. Plant Signal Behav 6:709–711Gil R, Lull C, Boscaiu M, Bautista I, Lidón A, Vicente O (2011) Soluble carbohydrates as osmolytes in several halophytes from a Mediterranean salt marsh. Not Bot Horti Agrobo 39:9–17Gil R, Bautista I, Boscaiu M, Lidón A, Wankhade S, Sánchez H, Llinares J, Vicente O (2014) Responses of five Mediterranean halophytes to seasonal changes in environmental conditions. AoB Plants 6: plu049Gould KS, Lister C (2006) Flavonoid function in plants. In: Andersen ØM, Marham KR (eds) Flavonoids, chemistry, biochemistry and application. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 397–442Hajimahmoodi M, Moghaddam G, Ranjbar AM, Khazani H, Sadeghi N, Oveisi MR, Jannat B (2013) Total phenolic, flavonoids, tannin content and antioxidant power of some Iranian pomegranate flower cultivars (Punica granatum L.). Am J Plant Sci 4:1815–1820Halliwell B (2006) Reactive species and antioxidants. Redox biology is a fundamental theme of aerobic life. Plant Physiol 141:312–322Harborne JB, Williams C (2000) Advances in flavonoid research since 1992. Phytochemistry 55:481–504Hernández I, Alegre L, Munné-Bosch S (2004) Drought-induced changes in flavonoids and other low molecular weight antioxidants in Cistus clusii grown under Mediterranean field conditions. Tree Physiol 24:1303–1311Hernández I, Alegre L, Van Breusegem F, Munné-Bosch S (2008) How relevant are flavonoids as antioxidants in plants? Trends Plant Sci 14:125–132Iwashina T (2000) The structure and distribution of the flavonoids in plants. J Plant Res 113:287–299Jaakola L, Määttä-Riihinen K, Kärenlampi S, Hohtola A (2004) Activation of flavonoid biosynthesis by solar radiation in bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) leaves. Planta 218:721–728Jenkins GI (2009) Signal transduction in responses to UB-B radiation. Annu Rev Plant Biol 60:407–431Jenkins GI, Long JC, Wade HK, Shenton MR, Bibikova TN (2001) UV and blue light signalling: pathways regulating chalcone synthase gene expression in Arabidopsis. New Phytol 151:121–131Kaulen H, Schell J, Kreuzaler F (1986) Light-induced expression of the chimeric chalcone synthase-NPTII gene in tobacco cells. EMBO J 5:1–8Kim DO, Jeong SW, Lee CY (2003) Antioxidant capacity of phenolic phytochemicals from various cultivars of plums. Food Chem 81:321–326Kirakosyan A, Seymour E, Kaufman PB, Warber S, Bolling S, Chang SC (2003) Antioxidant capacity of polyphenolic extracts from leaves of Crataegus laevigata and Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn) subjected to drought and cold stress. J Agr Food Chem 51:3973–3976Knudssen D, Peterson GA, Pratt PF (1982) Lithium, Sodium and Potassium. In: Page AL et al (eds) Methods of soil analysis, chemical and microbiological properties. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, pp 225–246Koes RE, Spelt CE, Mol JNM (1989) The chalcone synthase multigene family of Petunia hybrida (V30): differential, light-regulated expression during flower development and UV light induction. Plant Mol Biol 12:213–225Körner C (1999) Alpine plant life. Functional plant ecology of high mountain ecosytems, BerlinKumar S, Pandey AK (2013) Chemistry and biological activities of flavonoids: an overview. Sci World J 2013:1–16Kuo S (1996) Phosphorus. In: Spark D (ed) Methods of soil analysis: chemical methods, part 3. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, pp 869–919Lavola A (1998) Accumulation of flavonoids and related compounds in birch induced by UV-B irradiance. Tree Physiol 18:53–58Li J, Ou-Lee TM, Raba R, Amundson RG, Last RL (1993) Arabidopsis flavonoid mutants are hypersensitive to UV-B radiation. Plant Cell 5:171–179Llinares JV, Bautista I, Donat MP, Lidón A, Lull C, Mayoral O, Wankhade S, Boscaiu M, Vicente O (2015) Responses to environmental stress in plants adapted to Mediterranean gypsum habitats. Not Sci Biol 7:34–44Marinova D, Ribarova F, Atanassova M (2005) Total phenolics and total flavonoids in Bulgarian fruits and vegetables. J Univ Chem Technol Metall 40:255–260Martens H, Naes T (1989) Multivariate calibration. Wiley, New YorkMurai Y, Takemura S, Takeda K, Kitajima K, Iwashina T (2009) Altitudinal variation of UV-absorbing compounds in Plantago asiatica. Biochem Syst Ecol 37:78–384Nakabayashi R, Yonekura-Sakakibara K, Urano K, Suzuki M, Yamada Y, Nishizawa T, Matsuda F, Kojima M, Sakakibara H, Shinozaki K, Michael AJ, Tohge T, Yamazaki M, Saito K (2014) Enhancement of oxidative and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis by overaccumulation of antioxidant flavonoids. Plant J 77:367–379Napoli CA, Fahy D, Wang HY, Taylor LP (1999) white anther: a petunia mutant that abolishes pollen flavonoid accumulation, induces male sterility, and is complemented by a chalcone synthase transgene. Plant Physiol 120:615–622Nechita A, Cotea VV, Nechita CB, Pincu RR, Mihai CT, Colibaba CL (2012) Study of cytostatic and cytotoxic activity of several polyphenolic extracts obtained from Vitis vinifera. Not Bot Horti Agrobo 40:216–221Nelson DW, Sommers LE (1982) Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Page AL et al (eds) Methods of soil analysis, chemical and microbiological properties. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 539–577Nelson RE, Klameth LC, Nettleton WD (1978) Determining soil gypsum content and expressing properties of gypsiferous soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 42:659–661Nile SH, Khobragade CN (2010) Antioxidant activity and flavonoid derivatives of Plumbago zeylanica. J Nat Prod 3:130–133Park HL, Lee SW, Jung KH, Hahn TR, Cho MH (2013) Transcriptomic analysis of UV-treated rice leaves reveals UV-induced phytoalexin biosynthetic pathways and their regulatory networks in rice. Phytochemistry 96:57–71Pękal A, Pyrzynska K (2014) Evaluation of aluminium complexation reaction for flavonoid content assay. Food Anal Method 7:1776–1782Pollastri S, Tattini M (2011) Flavonols: old compounds for old roles. Ann Bot 108:1225–1233Ravishankar D, Rajora AK, Greco F, Osborn HM (2013) Flavonoids as prospective compounds for anti-cancer therapy. Int J Biochem Cell B 45:2821–2831Rice-Evans CA, Miller NJ, Paganga G (1996) Structure-antioxidant activity relationships of flavonoids and phenolic acids. Free Radical Bio Med 20:933–956Rieger G, Müller M, Guttenberger H, Bucar F (2008) Influence of altitudinal variation on the content of phenolic compounds in wild populations of Calluna vulgaris, Sambucus nigra, and Vaccinium myrtillus. J Agric Food Chem 58:9080–9086Rivas-Martínez S, Rivas-Saenz S (1996–2009) Worldwide bioclimatic classification system. Phytosociological Research Center, Spain. http://www.globalbioclimatics.org . Accessed 1 July 2013Rohman A, Riyanto S, Yuniarti N, Saputra WR, Utami R, Mulatsih W (2010) Antioxidant activity, total phenolic, and total flavonoid of extracts and fractions of red fruit (Pandanus conoideus Lam). Int Food Res J 17:97–106Romano B, Pagano E, Montanaro V, Fortunato AL, Milic N, Borrelli F (2013) Novel insights into the pharmacology of flavonoids. Phytother Res 27:1588–1596Rozema J, van de Staaij J, Björn LO, Caldwell MM (1997) UV-B as an environmental factor in plant life: stress and regulation. Trends Ecol Evol 12:22–28Rozema J, Bjorn LO, Bornman JF, Gaberščik A, Häder DP, Trošt T, Germ M, Klisch M, Gröniger A, Sinha RP, Lebert M, He YY, Buffoni-Hall R, de Bakker NVJ, van de Staaij J, Meijkamp BB (2002) The role of UV-B radiation in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems—an experimental and functional analysis of the evolution of UV-absorbing compounds. Photochem Photobiol B Biol 66:2–12Schulze-Lefert P, Dangl JL, Becker-André M, Hahlbrock K, Schulz W (1989) Inducible in vivo DNA footprints define sequences necessary for UV light activation of the parsley chalcone synthase gene. EMBO J 8:651–656Sena MM, Frighetto RTS, Valarini PJ, Tokeshi H, Poppi RJ (2002) Discrimination of management effects on soil parameters by using principal component analysis: a multivariate analysis case study. Soil Till Res 67:171–181Shulaev V, Oliver DJ (2006) Metabolic and proteomic markers for oxidative stress. New tools for reactive oxygen species research. Plant Physiol 141:367–372Singleton VL, Rossi JA Jr (1965) Colorimetry of total phenolics with phosphomolybdic phosphotungstic acid reagents. Am J EnolVitic 16:144–158Spitaler R, Winkler A, Lins I, Yanar S, Stuppner H, Zidorn C (2008) Altitudinal variation of phenolic contents in flowering heads of Arnica montana cv. ARBO: a 3-year comparison. J Chem Ecol 34:369–375Stapleton AE, Walbot V (1994) Flavonoids can protect maize DNA from the induction of UV radiation damage. Plant Physiol 105:881–889Takahashi M, Asada K (1988) Superoxide production in aprotic interior of chloroplast thylakoids. Arch Biochem Biophys 267:714–722Tattini M, Gravano E, Pinelli P, Mulinacci N, Romani A (2000) Flavonoids accumulate in leaves and glandular trichomes of Phillyrea latifolia exposed to excess solar radiation. New Phytol 148:69–77Tattini M, Galardi C, Pinelli P, Massai R, Remorini D, Agati G (2004) Differential accumulation of flavonoids and hydroxycinnamates in leaves of Ligustrum vulgare under excess light and drought stress. New Phytol 163:547–561Treutter D (2005) Significance of flavonoids in plant resistance and enhancement of their biosynthesis. Plant Biol 7:581–591Treutter D (2006) Significance of flavonoids in plant resistance: a review. Environ Chem Lett 4:147–157Van Breusegem F, Dat JF (2006) Reactive oxygen species in plant cell death. Plant Physiol 141:384–390Williams CA, Grayer RJ (2004) Anthocyanins and other flavonoids. Nat Prod Rep 21:539–573Winkel-Shirley B (2002) Biosynthesis of flavonoids and effect of stress. Curr Opin Plant Biol 5:218–223Ylstra B, Touraev A, Benito Moreno RM, Stöger E, van Tunen AA, Vicente O, Mol JNM, Heberle-Bors E (1992) Flavonols stimulate development, germination and tube growth of tobacco pollen. Plant Physiol 100:902–907Zhishen J, Mengcheng T, Jianming W (1999) The determination of flavonoid contents in mulberry and their scavenging effects on superoxide radicals. Food Chem 64:555–559Zidorn C, Schubert B, Stuppner H (2005) Altitudinal differences in the contents of phenolics in flowering heads of three members of the tribe Lactuceae (Asteraceae) occurring as introduced species in New Zealand. Biochem Syst Ecol 33:855–87

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO