Vampires in the village Žrnovo on the island of Korčula: following an archival document from the 18th century

Središnja tema rada usmjerena je na raščlambu spisa pohranjenog u Državnom arhivu u Mlecima (fond: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) koji se odnosi na događaj iz 1748. godine u korčulanskom selu Žrnovo, kada su mještani – vjerujući da su se pojavili vampiri – oskvrnuli nekoliko mjesnih grobova. U radu se podrobno iznose osnovni podaci iz spisa te rečeni događaj analizira u širem društvenom kontekstu i prate se lokalna vjerovanja.The main interest of this essay is the analysis of the document from the State Archive in Venice (file: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) which is connected with the episode from 1748 when the inhabitants of the village Žrnove on the island of Korčula in Croatia opened tombs on the local cemetery in the fear of the vampires treating. This essay try to show some social circumstances connected with this event as well as a local vernacular tradition concerning superstitions

Tracing the Tiger: Population Genetics Provides Valuable Insights into the Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus Invasion of the Australasian Region

Background:The range of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus is expanding globally, raising the threat of emerging and re-emerging arbovirus transmission risks including dengue and chikungunya. Its detection in Papua New Guinea's (PNG) southern Fly River coastal region in 1988 and 1992 placed it 150 km from mainland Australia. However, it was not until 12 years later that it appeared on the Torres Strait Islands. We hypothesized that the extant PNG population expanded into the Torres Straits as an indirect effect of drought-proofing the southern Fly River coastal villages in response to El Nino-driven climate variability in the region (via the rollout of rainwater tanks and water storage containers).Methodology/Principal Findings:Examination of the mosquito's mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences and 13 novel nuclear microsatellites revealed evidence of substantial intermixing between PNG's southern Fly region and Torres Strait Island populations essentially compromising any island eradication attempts due to potential of reintroduction. However, two genetically distinct populations were identified in this region comprising the historically extant PNG populations and the exotic introduced population. Both COI sequence data and microsatellites showed the introduced population to have genetic affinities to populations from Timor Leste and Jakarta in the Indonesian region.Conclusions/Significance:The Ae. albopictus invasion into the Australian region was not a range expansion out of PNG as suspected, but founded by other, genetically distinct population(s), with strong genetic affinities to populations sampled from the Indonesian region. We now suspect that the introduction of Ae. albopictus into the Australian region was driven by widespread illegal fishing activity originating from the Indonesian region during this period. Human sea traffic is apparently shuttling this mosquito between islands in the Torres Strait and the southern PNG mainland and this extensive movement may well compromise Ae. albopictus eradication attempts in this region

Measurement of the W+bW+b-jet and W+cW+c-jet differential production cross sections in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions at s=1.96\sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

We present a measurement of the cross sections for the associated production of a $W$ boson with at least one heavy quark jet, $b$ or $c$, in proton-antiproton collisions. Data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.7 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron \ppbar Collider at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV are used to measure the cross sections differentially as a function of the jet transverse momenta in the range 20 to 150 GeV. These results are compared to calculations of perturbative QCD theory as well as predictions from Monte Carlo generators.We present a measurement of the cross sections for the associated production of a $W$ boson with at least one heavy quark jet, $b$ or $c$, in proton-antiproton collisions. Data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.7 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron \ppbar Collider at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV are used to measure the cross sections differentially as a function of the jet transverse momenta in the range 20 to 150 GeV. These results are compared to calculations of perturbative QCD theory as well as predictions from Monte Carlo generators.We present a measurement of the cross sections for the associated production of a W boson with at least one heavy quark jet, b or c , in proton–antiproton collisions. Data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.7 fb−1 recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron pp¯ Collider at s=1.96 TeV are used to measure the cross sections differentially as a function of the jet transverse momenta in the range 20 to 150 GeV. These results are compared to calculations of perturbative QCD theory as well as predictions from Monte Carlo generators

Evidence for Zc±(3900)Z_c^{\pm}(3900) in semi-inclusive decays of bb-flavored hadrons

International audienceWe present evidence for the exotic charged charmoniumlike state Zc±(3900) decaying to J/ψπ± in semi-inclusive weak decays of b-flavored hadrons. The signal is correlated with a parent J/ψπ+π- system in the invariant-mass range 4.2–4.7 GeV that would include the exotic structure Y(4260). The study is based on 10.4  fb−1 of pp¯ collision data collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider

Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in Λb0\Lambda_b^0 and Λ‾b0\overline \Lambda_b^0 baryon production in pp‾p \overline p collisions at s=1.96\sqrt s =1.96 TeV

We measure the forward-backward asymmetry in the production of $\Lambda_b^0$ and $\overline \Lambda_b^0$ baryons as a function of rapidity in $p \overline p$ collisions at $\sqrt s =1.96$ TeV using $10.4$ fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The asymmetry is determined by the preference of $\Lambda_b^0$ or $\overline \Lambda_b^0$ particles to be produced in the direction of the beam protons or antiprotons, respectively. The measured asymmetry integrated over rapidity $y$ in the range $0.1<|y|<2$ is $A=0.04 \pm 0.07 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.02 {\rm (syst)}$

Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in the production of B±B^{\pm} mesons in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

We present a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in the production of $B^{\pm}$ mesons, $A_{\rm FB}(B^{\pm})$, using $B^{\pm} \rightarrow J/\psi K^{\pm}$ decays in 10.4 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ of $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV collected by the D0 experiment during Run II of the Tevatron collider. A non-zero asymmetry would indicate a preference for a particular flavor, i.e., $b$ quark or $\bar{b}$ anti-quark, to be produced in the direction of the proton beam. We extract $A_{\rm FB}(B^{\pm})$ from a maximum likelihood fit to the difference between forward- and backward-produced $B^{\pm}$ mesons. We measure an asymmetry consistent with zero: $A_{\rm FB}(B^{\pm})$ = [$-$0.24 $\pm$ 0.41 (stat) $\pm$ 0.19 (syst)]%