746 research outputs found
The Chemical Compositions of the Type II Cepheids -- The BL Her and W Vir Variables
Abundance analyses from high-resolution optical spectra are presented for 19
Type II Cepheids in the Galactic field. The sample includes both short-period
(BL Her) and long-period (W Vir) stars. This is the first extensive abundance
analysis of these variables. The C, N, and O abundances with similar spreads
for the BL Her and W Vir show evidence for an atmosphere contaminated with
-process and CN-cycling products. A notable anomaly of the BL Her
stars is an overabundance of Na by a factor of about five relative to their
presumed initial abundances. This overabundance is not seen in the W Vir stars.
The abundance anomalies running from mild to extreme in W Vir stars but not
seen in the BL Her stars are attributed to dust-gas separation that provides an
atmosphere deficient in elements of high condensation temperature, notably Al,
Ca, Sc, Ti, and -process elements. Such anomalies have previously been seen
among RV Tau stars which represent a long-period extension of the variability
enjoyed by the Type II Cepheids. Comments are offered on how the contrasting
abundance anomalies of BL Her and W Vir stars may be explained in terms of the
stars' evolution from the blue horizontal branch.Comment: 41 pages including 11 figures and 4 tables; Accepted for publication
in Ap
Emergence of Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance: Exploring the Importance of the Microenvironmental Niche via a Spatial Model
Practically, all chemotherapeutic agents lead to drug resistance. Clinically,
it is a challenge to determine whether resistance arises prior to, or as a
result of, cancer therapy. Further, a number of different intracellular and
microenvironmental factors have been correlated with the emergence of drug
resistance. With the goal of better understanding drug resistance and its
connection with the tumor microenvironment, we have developed a hybrid
discrete-continuous mathematical model. In this model, cancer cells described
through a particle-spring approach respond to dynamically changing oxygen and
DNA damaging drug concentrations described through partial differential
equations. We thoroughly explored the behavior of our self-calibrated model
under the following common conditions: a fixed layout of the vasculature, an
identical initial configuration of cancer cells, the same mechanism of drug
action, and one mechanism of cellular response to the drug. We considered one
set of simulations in which drug resistance existed prior to the start of
treatment, and another set in which drug resistance is acquired in response to
treatment. This allows us to compare how both kinds of resistance influence the
spatial and temporal dynamics of the developing tumor, and its clonal
diversity. We show that both pre-existing and acquired resistance can give rise
to three biologically distinct parameter regimes: successful tumor eradication,
reduced effectiveness of drug during the course of treatment (resistance), and
complete treatment failure
Sheep Updates 2007 - part 4
This session covers eight papers from different authors:
GRAZING
1. The impact of high dietary salt and its implications for the management of livestock grazing saline land, Dean Thomas, Dominique Blache, Dean Revell, Hayley Norman, Phil Vercoe, Zoey Durmic, Serina Digby, Di Mayberry, Megan Chadwick, Martin Sillence and David Masters, CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia, WA.
2. Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands - outcomes from the WA1 research project, H.C. Norman1,2, D.G. Masters1,2, R. Silberstein1,2, F. Byrne2,3, P.G.H. Nichols2,4, J. Young3, L. Atkins1,2, M.G. Wilmot1,2, A.J. Rintoul1,2, T. Lambert1,2, D.R. McClements2,4, P. Raper4, P. Ward1,2, C. Walton5 and T. York6 1CSIRO Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Wembley, WA 2CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity. 3School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia. 4Department of Agriculture and Food WA. 5Condering Hills, Yealering. 6Anameka Farms, Tammin.
MEAT QUALITY
3. Development of intramuscular fat in prime lambs, young sheep and beef cattle, David Pethick1, David Hopkins2 and Malcolm McPhee3,1School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, 2NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW,3NSW Dept. of Primary Industries, University of New England, Armidale, NSW,
4. Importance of drinking water temperature for managing heat stress in sheep, Savage DB, Nolan JV, Godwin IR, Aoetpah A, Nguyen T, Baillie N and Lawler C University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
EWE MANAGEMENT TOOLS
5. E - sheep Management of Pregnant Merino Ewes and their Finishing Lambs, Ken GeentyA, John SmithA, Darryl SmithB, Tim DyallA and Grant UphillA A Sheep CRC and CSIRO Livestock Industries, Chiswick, NSW B Turretfield Research Station, SARDI, Roseworthy, SA
6. Is it important to manage ewes to CS targets? John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, WA
MULESING
7. Mulesing accreditation - Vital for Wool\u27s Future, Dr Michael Paton, Department of Agriculture and Food WA,
8. Mulesing Alternatives, Jules Dorrian, Affiliation Project Manager Blowfly Control Australian Wool Inovatio
Transcriptome Profiling and Genome-Wide Association Studies Reveal GSTs and Other Defense Genes Involved in Multiple Signaling Pathways Induced by Herbicide Safener in Grain Sorghum
Herbicide safeners protect cereal crops from herbicide injury by inducing genes and proteins involved in detoxification reactions, such as glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) and cytochrome P450s (P450s). Only a few studies have characterized gene or protein expression profiles for investigating plant responses to safener treatment in cereal crops, and most transcriptome analyses in response to safener treatments have been conducted in dicot model species that are not protected by safener from herbicide injury. In this study, three different approaches were utilized in grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) to investigate mechanisms involved in safener-regulated signaling pathways. An initial transcriptome analysis was performed to examine global gene expression in etiolated shoot tissues of hybrid grain sorghum following treatment with the sorghum safener, fluxofenim. Most upregulated transcripts encoded detoxification enzymes, including P450s, GSTs, and UDP-dependent glucosyltransferases (UGTs). Interestingly, several of these upregulated transcripts are similar to genes involved with the biosynthesis and recycling/catabolism of dhurrin, an important chemical defense compound, in these seedling tissues. Secondly, 761 diverse sorghum inbred lines were evaluated in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to determine key molecular-genetic factors governing safener-mediated signaling mechanisms and/or herbicide detoxification. GWAS revealed a significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with safener-induced response on chromosome 9, located within a phi-class SbGST gene and about 15-kb from a different phi-class SbGST. Lastly, the expression of these two candidate SbGSTs was quantified in etiolated shoot tissues of sorghum inbred BTx623 in response to fluxofenim treatment. SbGSTF1 and SbGSTF2 transcripts increased within 12-hr after fluxofenim treatment but the level of safener-induced expression differed between the two genes. In addition to identifying specific GSTs potentially involved in the safener-mediated detoxification pathway, this research elucidates a new direction for studying both constitutive and inducible mechanisms for chemical defense in cereal crop seedlings
Observation of two new baryon resonances
Two structures are observed close to the kinematic threshold in the mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding
to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb recorded by the LHCb experiment.
In the quark model, two baryonic resonances with quark content are
expected in this mass region: the spin-parity and
states, denoted and .
Interpreting the structures as these resonances, we measure the mass
differences and the width of the heavier state to be
MeV,
MeV,
MeV, where the first and second
uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The width of the
lighter state is consistent with zero, and we place an upper limit of
MeV at 95% confidence level. Relative
production rates of these states are also reported.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
Precision measurement of violation in decays
The time-dependent asymmetry in decays is
measured using collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity
of fb, collected with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies
of and TeV. In a sample of 96 000 decays, the
-violating phase is measured, as well as the decay widths
and of the light and heavy mass eigenstates of the
system. The values obtained are rad, ps, andps, where the first uncertainty is
statistical and the second systematic. These are the most precise single
measurements of those quantities to date. A combined analysis with decays gives rad. All
measurements are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. For the
first time the phase is measured independently for each polarisation
state of the system and shows no evidence for polarisation
dependence.Comment: 6 figure
Study of and decays and determination of the CKM angle
We report a study of the suppressed and favored
decays, where the neutral meson is detected
through its decays to the and CP-even and
final states. The measurement is carried out using a proton-proton
collision data sample collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of 3.0~fb. We observe the first significant
signals in the CP-even final states of the meson for both the suppressed
and favored modes, as well as
in the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed final state of the decay. Evidence for the ADS suppressed decay , with , is also presented. From the observed
yields in the , and their
charge conjugate decay modes, we measure the value of the weak phase to be
. This is one of the most precise
single-measurement determinations of to date.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures; All figures and tables, along with any
supplementary material and additional information, are available at
https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-020.htm
Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of decays
The differential branching fraction of the rare decay is measured as a function of , the
square of the dimuon invariant mass. The analysis is performed using
proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0
\mbox{ fb}^{-1}, collected by the LHCb experiment. Evidence of signal is
observed in the region below the square of the mass. Integrating
over 15 < q^{2} < 20 \mbox{ GeV}^2/c^4 the branching fraction is measured as
d\mathcal{B}(\Lambda^{0}_{b} \rightarrow \Lambda \mu^+\mu^-)/dq^2 = (1.18 ^{+
0.09} _{-0.08} \pm 0.03 \pm 0.27) \times 10^{-7} ( \mbox{GeV}^{2}/c^{4})^{-1},
where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and due to the
normalisation mode, , respectively.
In the intervals where the signal is observed, angular distributions are
studied and the forward-backward asymmetries in the dimuon ()
and hadron () systems are measured for the first time. In the
range 15 < q^2 < 20 \mbox{ GeV}^2/c^4 they are found to be A^{l}_{\rm FB} =
-0.05 \pm 0.09 \mbox{ (stat)} \pm 0.03 \mbox{ (syst)} and A^{h}_{\rm FB} =
-0.29 \pm 0.07 \mbox{ (stat)} \pm 0.03 \mbox{ (syst)}.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, Erratum adde
Quantum numbers of the state and orbital angular momentum in its decay
Angular correlations in decays, with , and , are used to measure
orbital angular momentum contributions and to determine the value of
the meson. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 3.0
fb of proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector. This
determination, for the first time performed without assuming a value for the
orbital angular momentum, confirms the quantum numbers to be .
The is found to decay predominantly through S wave and an upper limit
of at C.L. is set on the fraction of D wave.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
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