92 research outputs found
TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives
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Measurements of CP asymmetries in charmless four-body Λb0 and Ξb0 decays
Abstract: A search for CP violation in charmless four-body decays of Λb0 and Ξb0 baryons with a proton and three charged mesons in the final state is performed. To cancel out production and detection charge-asymmetry effects, the search is carried out by measuring the difference between the CP asymmetries in a charmless decay and in a decay with an intermediate charmed baryon with the same particles in the final state. The data sample used was recorded in 2011 and 2012 with the LHCb detector and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3fb-1. A total of 18 CP asymmetries are considered, either accounting for the full phase space of the decays or exploring specific regions of the decay kinematics. No significant CP-violation effect is observed in any of the measurements
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Updated measurement of time-dependent CP -violating observables in Bs0→J/ψ<sup>K+</sup><sup>K-</sup> decays
The decay-time-dependent asymmetry in
decays is measured using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of , collected with the LHCb
detector at a centre-of-mass energy of in 2015 and 2016.
Using a sample of approximately 117\,000 signal decays with an invariant mass in the vicinity of the resonance, the -violating
phase is measured, along with the difference in decay widths of the
light and heavy mass eigenstates of the - system,
. The difference of the average and meson
decay widths, , is determined using in addition a sample of
decays. The values obtained are , and , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the
second systematic. These are the most precise single measurements of these
quantities to date and are consistent with expectations based on the Standard
Model and with a previous LHCb analysis of this decay using data recorded at
centre-of-mass energies 7 and 8 TeV. Finally, the results are combined with
recent results from decays obtained using
the same dataset as this analysis, and with previous independent LHCb results
Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value
The aim of this research is to examine what impact female institutional directors on boards have on corporate performance. Previous research shows that institutional female directors cannot be considered as a homogeneous group since they represent investors who may or may not maintain business relations with the companies on whose corporate boards they sit. Thus, it is not only the effect of female institutional directors as a whole on firm value that has been analysed, but also the impact of pressure-resistant female directors, who represent institutional investors (investment, pension and mutual funds) that only invest in the company, and do not maintain a business relation with the firm. We hypothesize that there is a non-linear association, specifically quadratic, between institutional and pressure-resistant female directors on boards and corporate performance. Our results report that female institutional directors on boards enhance corporate performance, but when they reach a certain threshold on boards (11.72 %), firm value decreases. In line with female institutional directors, pressure-resistant female directors on boards also increase firm value, but only up to a certain figure (12.71 % on boards), above which they have a negative impact on firm performance. These findings are consistent with an inverted U-shaped relationship between female institutional directors and pressure-resistant female directors and firm performance
TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.
In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field
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Measurement of the η<inf>c</inf>(1 S) production cross-section in p p collisions at √s=13TeV
Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
, collected by the LHCb experiment, the production of the
state in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of
is studied in the rapidity range
and in the transverse momentum range . The
cross-section for prompt production of mesons relative to that of
the meson is measured using the decay mode and is found
to be . The quoted uncertainties are, in order, statistical, systematic and due
to uncertainties on the branching fractions of the and
decays. The prompt production
cross-section is determined to be , where the last uncertainty includes that on the
meson cross-section. The ratio of the branching fractions of -hadron decays
to the and states is measured to be
, where the last uncertainty is due to those on the branching
fractions of the and decays.
The difference between the and masses is also
determined to be , which is the most
precise single measurement of this quantity to date
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