qqqbar to qqqbar and qqbarqbar to qqbarqbar Elastic Scatterings and Thermalization of Quark Matter and Antiquark Matter

Thermalization of quark matter and antiquark matter is studied with quark-quark-antiquark as well as quark-antiquark-antiquark elastic scatterings. Squared amplitudes of qqqbar to qqqbar and qqbarqbar to qqbarqbar at order alpha_s^4 are derived in perturbative QCD. Solved by a new technique, solutions of transport equations with the squared amplitudes indicate that the scatterings qqqbar to qqqbar and qqbarqbar to qqbarqbar shorten the thermalization time of quark matter and antiquark matter. It is emphasized that three-parton and other multi-parton scatterings become important at the high parton number density achieved in RHIC Au-Au collisions.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, Late

Grain Boundaries in Graphene on SiC(0001ˉ\bar{1}) Substrate

Grain boundaries in epitaxial graphene on the SiC(000$\bar{1}$) substrate are studied using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. All investigated small-angle grain boundaries show pronounced out-of-plane buckling induced by the strain fields of constituent dislocations. The ensemble of observations allows to determine the critical misorientation angle of buckling transition $\theta_c = 19 \pm~2^\circ$. Periodic structures are found among the flat large-angle grain boundaries. In particular, the observed $\theta = 33\pm2^\circ$ highly ordered grain boundary is assigned to the previously proposed lowest formation energy structural motif composed of a continuous chain of edge-sharing alternating pentagons and heptagons. This periodic grain boundary defect is predicted to exhibit strong valley filtering of charge carriers thus promising the practical realization of all-electric valleytronic devices

Continuity of midwifery care and gestational weight gain in obese women: a randomised controlled trial

Background: The increased prevalence of obesity in pregnant women in Australia and other developed countries is a significant public health concern. Obese women are at increased risk of serious perinatal complications and guidelines recommend weight gain restriction and additional care. There is limited evidence to support the effectiveness of dietary and physical activity lifestyle interventions in preventing adverse perinatal outcomes and new strategies need to be evaluated. The primary aim of this project is to evaluate the effect of continuity of midwifery care on restricting gestational weight gain in obese women to the recommended range. The secondary aims of the study are to assess the impact of continuity of midwifery care on: women&rsquo;s experience of pregnancy care; women&rsquo;s satisfaction with care and a range of psychological factors.Methods/Design: A two arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted with primigravid women recruited from maternity services in Victoria, Australia. Participants will be primigravid women, with a BMI&ge;30 who are less than 17 weeks gestation. Women allocated to the intervention arm will be cared for in a midwifery continuity of care model and receive an informational leaflet on managing weight gain in pregnancy. Women allocated to the control group will receive routine care in addition to the same informational leaflet. Weight gain during pregnancy, standards of care, medical and obstetric information will be extracted from medical records. Data collected at recruitment (self administered survey) and at 36 weeks by postal survey will include sociodemographic information and the use of validated scales to measure secondary outcomes.Discussion: Continuity of midwifery care models are well aligned with current Victorian, Australian and many international government policies on maternity care. Increasingly, midwifery continuity models of care are being introduced in low risk maternity care, and information on their application in high risk populations is required. There is an identified need to trial alternative antenatal interventions to reduce perinatal risk factors for women who are obese and the findings from this project may have application in other maternity services. In addition this study will inform a larger trial that will focus on birth and postnatal outcomes.<br /

Extramedullary Myelopoiesis in Malaria Depends on Mobilization of Myeloid-Restricted Progenitors by IFN-γ Induced Chemokines

Resolution of a variety of acute bacterial and parasitic infections critically relies on the stimulation of myelopoiesis leading in cases to extramedullary hematopoiesis. Here, we report the isolation of the earliest myeloid-restricted progenitors in acute infection with the rodent malaria parasite, Plasmodium chabaudi. The rapid disappearance of these infection-induced myeloid progenitors from the bone marrow (BM) equated with contraction of the functional myeloid potential in that organ. The loss of BM myelopoiesis was not affected by the complete genetic inactivation of toll-like receptor signaling. De-activation of IFN-γ signaling completely abrogated the contraction of BM myeloid progenitors. Radiation chimeras of Ifngr1-null and control BM revealed that IFN-γ signaling in an irradiation-resistant stromal compartment was crucial for the loss of early myeloid progenitors. Systemic IFN-γ triggered the secretion of C-C motif ligand chemokines CCL2 and CCL7 leading to the egress of early, myeloid-committed progenitors from the bone marrow mediated by their common receptor CCR2. The mobilization of myeloid progenitors initiated extramedullary myelopoiesis in the spleen in a CCR2-dependent manner resulting in augmented myelopoiesis during acute malaria. Consistent with the lack of splenic myelopoiesis in the absence of CCR2 we observed a significant persistence of parasitemia in malaria infected CCR2-deficient hosts. Our findings reveal how the activated immune system mobilizes early myeloid progenitors out of the BM thereby transiently establishing myelopoiesis in the spleen in order to contain and resolve the infection locally

Are food-deceptive orchid species really functionally specialized for pollinators?

Food-deceptive orchid species have traditionally been considered pollination specialized to bees or butterflies. However, it is unclear to which concept of specialization this assumption is related; if to that of phenotypic specialization or of functional specialization. The main aim of this work was to verify if pollinators of five widespread food-deceptive orchid species (Anacamptis morio (L.) R.M. Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W. Chase, Anacamptis pyramidalis (L.) Rich., Himantoglossum adriaticum H. Baumann, Orchis purpurea Huds. and Orchis simia Lam.) predicted from the phenotypic point of view matched with the observed ones. We addressed the question by defining target orchids phenotypic specialization on the basis of their floral traits, and we compared the expected guilds of pollinators with the observed ones. Target orchid pollinators were collected by conducting a meta-analysis of the available literature and adding unpublished field observations, carried out in temperate dry grasslands in NE Italy. Pollinator species were subsequently grouped into guilds and differences in the guild spectra among orchid species grouped according to their phenotype were tested. In contradiction to expectations derived from the phenotypic point of view, food-deceptive orchid species were found to be highly functionally generalized for pollinators, and no differences in the pollinator guild spectra could be revealed among orchid groups. Our results may lead to reconsider food-deceptive orchid pollination ecology by revaluating the traditional equation orchid-pollination specialization

Analysis of stochastic matching markets

Suppose that the agents of a matching market contact each other randomly and form new pairs if is in their interest. Does such a process always converge to a stable matching if one exists? If so, how quickly? Are some stable matchings more likely to be obtained by this process than others? In this paper we are going to provide answers to these and similar questions, posed by economists and computer scientists. In the first part of the paper we give an alternative proof for the theorems by Diamantoudi et al. and Inarra et al., which imply that the corresponding stochastic processes are absorbing Markov chains. The second part of the paper proposes new techniques to analyse the behaviour of matching markets. We introduce the Stable Marriage and Stable Roommates Automaton and show how the probabilistic model checking tool PRISM may be used to predict the outcomes of stochastic interactions between myopic agents. In particular, we demonstrate how one can calculate the probabilities of reaching different matchings in a decentralised market and determine the expected convergence time of the stochastic process concerned. We illustrate the usage of this technique by studying some well-known marriage and roommates instances and randomly generated instances

Nodule-specific cysteine-rich peptide 343 is required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Medicago truncatula

Symbiotic interactions between legumes and rhizobia lead to the development of root nodules and nitrogen fixation by differentiated bacteroids within nodules. Differentiation of the endosymbionts is reversible or terminal, determined by plant effectors. In inverted repeat lacking clade legumes, nodule-specific cysteine-rich (NCR) peptides control the terminal differentiation of bacteroids. Medicago truncatula contains ∼700 NCR-coding genes. However, the role of few NCR peptides has been demonstrated. Here, we report characterization of fast neutron 2106 (FN2106), a symbiotic nitrogen fixation defective (fix−) mutant of M. truncatula. Using a transcript-based approach, together with linkage and complementation tests, we showed that loss-of-function of NCR343 results in impaired bacteroid differentiation and/or maintenance and premature nodule senescence of the FN2106 mutant. NCR343 was specifically expressed in nodules. Subcellular localization studies showed that the functional NCR343-YFP fusion protein colocalizes with bacteroids in symbiosomes in infected nodule cells. Transcriptomic analyses identified senescence-, but not defense-related genes, as being significantly upregulated in ncr343 (FN2106) nodules. Taken together, results from our phenotypic and transcriptomic analyses of a loss-of-function ncr343 mutant demonstrate an essential role of NCR343 in bacteroid differentiation and/or maintenance required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation

3D network magnetophotonic crystals fabricated on Morpho butterfly wing templates

A simple synthesis method combining a sol-gel route followed by a reduction step is developed for the fabrication of magnetophotonic crystal (MPC) materials from Morpho butterfly wings. The sol-gel route leads to hematite with a photonic crystal structure (PC-α-Fe2O3) being faithfully replicated from a biotemplate, and the desired magnetophotonic crystal Fe3O4 (MPC-Fe3O4) is obtained by the reduction of the PC-α-Fe2O3 under a H2/Ar atmosphere. The structural replication fidelity of the process is demonstrated on both the macro- and microscale, and even down to the nanoscale, as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, reflectance measurements, and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the chemical transformation of PC-α-Fe2O3 to MPC-Fe3O4 changes only the dielectric constant and does not induce structural defects that could affect the photonic-crystal properties of the composite. The photonic band gap of MPC-Fe3O4 can be red-shifted with an increase of the external magnetic field strength, which is further supported by theoretical calculations. The reported biomimetic technique provides an effective approach to produce magnetophotonic crystals from nature with 3D networks, which may open up an avenue for the creation of new magneto-optical devices and theoretical research in this field