Microlensing of Kepler Stars as a Method of Detecting Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter

If the Dark Matter consists of primordial black holes (PBHs), we show that gravitational lensing of stars being monitored by NASA's Kepler search for extra-solar planets can cause significant numbers of detectable microlensing events. A search through the roughly 150,000 lightcurves would result in large numbers of detectable events for PBHs in the mass range 5 \ten{-10}\msun to \aten{-4}\msun. Non-detection of these events would close almost two orders of magnitude of the mass window for PBH dark matter. The microlensing rate is higher than previously noticed due to a combination of the exceptional photometric precision of the Kepler mission and the increase in cross section due to the large angular sizes of the relatively nearby Kepler field stars. We also present a new formalism for calculating optical depth and microlensing rates in the presence of large finite-source effects.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF USING A BORDER TREATMENT FOR REDUCING ORGANOPHOSPHATE USE IN SEED POTATO PRODUCTION

Recent research shows initial colonization of potato fields by winged green peach aphid is concentrated at field edges. This suggests that insecticides applied only to field margins during initial colonization would largely eliminate a colonizing aphid population, conserve natural enemies in the field center, and reduce insecticide use. To better understand the costs and benefits of reducing organophosphate use, the six participating growers were interviewed to ascertain their reason for participating and their satisfaction with the border only treatment method as well as their estimated net economic benefits. Five of the farms ranked cost reduction as the most important reason for participating. The sixth farm ranked reducing virus spread as the most important reason with cost reduction as their second most important reason. The average cost savings over all 28 participating fields of using the border treatment is estimated to be $23.85 per acre for the entire field-a 93% savings. Almost all the farmers found the border treatment method to be successful at aphid control. None of the farmers observed any impact on the physical yield of seed potato. All the fields were certified during the summer except for one of Farmer F's fields that was lost because of off type. In conclusion, the border treatment method seems likely to be adopted by many farmers since the potential cost saving is large and farmers dislike Monitor. However, some farmers may resist the method due to scouting requirements and costs. Also, farmers with fields that do not meet the uniformity requirements of the border treatment will not be successful in their use of the border method.Crop Production/Industries,

Implementing User Rights for Research in the Field of Artificial Intelligence: A Call for International Action

Last year, before the onset of a global pandemic highlighted the critical and urgent need for technology-enabled scientific research, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched an inquiry into issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and artificial intelligence (AI). We contributed comments to that inquiry, with a focus on the application of copyright to the use of text and data mining (TDM) technology. This article describes some of the most salient points of our submission and concludes by stressing the need for international leadership on this important topic. WIPO could help fill the current gap on international leadership, including by providing guidance on the diverse mechanisms that countries may use to authorize TDM research and serving as a forum for the adoption of rules permitting cross-border TDM projects

Optimized pulses for the control of uncertain qubits

Constructing high-fidelity control fields that are robust to control, system, and/or surrounding environment uncertainties is a crucial objective for quantum information processing. Using the two-state Landau-Zener model for illustrative simulations of a controlled qubit, we generate optimal controls for \pi/2- and \pi-pulses, and investigate their inherent robustness to uncertainty in the magnitude of the drift Hamiltonian. Next, we construct a quantum-control protocol to improve system-drift robustness by combining environment-decoupling pulse criteria and optimal control theory for unitary operations. By perturbatively expanding the unitary time-evolution operator for an open quantum system, previous analysis of environment-decoupling control pulses has calculated explicit control-field criteria to suppress environment-induced errors up to (but not including) third order from \pi/2- and \pi-pulses. We systematically integrate this criteria with optimal control theory, incorporating an estimate of the uncertain parameter, to produce improvements in gate fidelity and robustness, demonstrated via a numerical example based on double quantum dot qubits. For the qubit model used in this work, post facto analysis of the resulting controls suggests that realistic control-field fluctuations and noise may contribute just as significantly to gate errors as system and environment fluctuations.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figures, RevTeX 4.1, minor modifications to the previous versio

Hydrologically driven ecosystem processes determine the distribution and persistence of ecosystem-specialist predators under climate change

Climate change has the capacity to alter physical and biological ecosystem processes, jeopardizing the survival of associated species. This is a particular concern in cool, wet northern peatlands that could experience warmer, drier conditions. Here we show that climate, ecosystem processes and food chains combine to influence the population performance of species in British blanket bogs. Our peatland process model accurately predicts water-table depth, which predicts abundance of craneflies (keystone invertebrates), which in turn predicts observed abundances and population persistence of three ecosystem-specialist bird species that feed on craneflies during the breeding season. Climate change projections suggest that falling water tables could cause 56–81% declines in cranefly abundance and, hence, 15–51% reductions in the abundances of these birds by 2051–2080. We conclude that physical (precipitation, temperature and topography), biophysical (evapotranspiration and desiccation of invertebrates) and ecological (food chains) processes combine to determine the distributions and survival of ecosystem-specialist predators

New transitions and feeding of the J\u3csup\u3eπ\u3c/sup\u3e=(8\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e) isomer in \u3csup\u3e186\u3c/sup\u3eRe

The spallation neutron source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Weapons Neutron Research facility was used to populate excited states in 186Re via (n,2nγ) reactions on an enriched 187Re target. Gamma rays were detected with the GErmanium Array for Neutron Induced Excitations spectrometer, a Compton-suppressed array of 18 HPGe detectors. Incident neutron energies were determined by the time-of-flight technique and used to obtain γ-ray excitation functions for the purpose of identifying γ rays by reaction channel. Analysis of the singles γ-ray spectrum gated on the neutron energy range 10≤En≤25MeV resulted in five transitions and one level added to the 186Re level scheme. The additions include the placement of three γ rays at 266.7, 381.2, and 647.7 keV which have been identified as feeding the 2.0×105yr, Jπ=(8+) isomer and yield an improved value of 148.2(5)keV for the isomer energy. These transitions may have astrophysical implications related to the use of the Re-Os cosmochronometer. Abstract © APS

Resistance management and integrated pest management insights from deployment of a Cry3Bb1+ Gpp34Ab1/Tpp35Ab1 pyramid in a resistant western corn rootworm landscape

In Nebraska USA, many populations of western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, now exhibit some level of resistance to all corn rootworm-active Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) proteins expressed in commercial hybrids. Therefore, a study was conducted in northeast Nebraska from 2020–2022 to reevaluate current corn rootworm management options in continuous maize (consecutive planting for ≥2 years). Results from on-farm experiments to evaluate a standard soil-applied insecticide (Aztec® 4.67G) in combination with non-rootworm Bt or rootworm-active Bt pyramided maize (Cry3Bb1 + Gpp34Ab1/Tpp35Ab1) are reported within the context of WCR Bt resistance levels present. Corrected survival from Bt pyramid single-plant bioassays (\u3c0.3, 0.3–0.49, \u3e0.5) was used to place populations into 3 resistance categories. Variables evaluated included root injury, adult emergence, proportion lodged maize, and grain yield. Key results: A composite analysis of all populations across resistance levels indicated that addition of soil insecticide to Bt pyramid significantly reduced adult emergence and lodging but did not significantly increase root protection or yield. Within and among resistance category analyses of root injury revealed that the Bt pyramid remained highly efficacious at any non-rootworm Bt root injury level when resistance was absent or low. When corrected survival was \u3e0.3, mean Bt pyramid root injury tracked more closely in a positive linear fashion with mean non-rootworm Bt root injury (rootworm density x level of resistance interaction). Similar trends were obtained for adult emergence but not yield. Mean Bt pyramid root injury rating was \u3c0.75 in most populations with Bt resistance, which contributed to no significant yield differences among categories. Results are discussed within the context of IPM:IRM tradeoffs and the need to reduce WCR densities in this system to decrease the impact of the density x resistance interaction to bridge use of current pyramids with new technologies introduced over the next decade

Constitutive TRIM22 expression in the respiratory airway confers a pre-existing defence against influenza A virus infection

The induction of antiviral effector proteins as part of a homeostatically controlled innate immune response to infection plays a critical role in limiting the propagation and transmission of respiratory pathogens. However, the prolonged induction of this immune response can lead to lung hyperinflammation, tissue damage, and respiratory failure. We hypothesized that tissues exposed to the constant threat of infection may constitutively express higher levels of antiviral effector proteins to reduce the need to activate potentially harmful innate immune defences. By analysing transcriptomic data derived from a range of human tissues, we identify lung tissue to express constitutively higher levels of antiviral effector genes relative to that of other mucosal and non-mucosal tissues. By using primary cell lines and the airways of rhesus macaques, we show the interferon-stimulated antiviral effector protein TRIM22 (TRIpartite Motif 22) to be constitutively expressed in the lung independently of viral infection or innate immune stimulation. These findings contrast with previous reports that have shown TRIM22 expression in laboratory-adapted cell lines to require interferon stimulation. We demonstrate that constitutive levels of TRIM22 are sufficient to inhibit the onset of human and avian influenza A virus (IAV) infection by restricting the onset of viral transcription independently of interferon-mediated innate immune defences. Thus, we identify TRIM22 to confer a pre-existing (intrinsic) intracellular defence against IAV infection in cells derived from the respiratory tract. Our data highlight the importance of tissue-specific and cell-type dependent patterns of pre-existing immune gene expression in the intracellular restriction of IAV from the outset of infection

Performance of PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG urinary biomarkers in prediction of biopsy outcome in the Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS).

BackgroundFor men on active surveillance for prostate cancer, biomarkers may improve prediction of reclassification to higher grade or volume cancer. This study examined the association of urinary PCA3 and TMPRSS2:ERG (T2:ERG) with biopsy-based reclassification.MethodsUrine was collected at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months in the multi-institutional Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study (PASS), and PCA3 and T2:ERG levels were quantitated. Reclassification was an increase in Gleason score or ratio of biopsy cores with cancer to ≥34%. The association of biomarker scores, adjusted for common clinical variables, with short- and long-term reclassification was evaluated. Discriminatory capacity of models with clinical variables alone or with biomarkers was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and decision curve analysis (DCA).ResultsSeven hundred and eighty-two men contributed 2069 urine specimens. After adjusting for PSA, prostate size, and ratio of biopsy cores with cancer, PCA3 but not T2:ERG was associated with short-term reclassification at the first surveillance biopsy (OR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.0-1.7, p = 0.02). The addition of PCA3 to a model with clinical variables improved area under the curve from 0.743 to 0.753 and increased net benefit minimally. After adjusting for clinical variables, neither marker nor marker kinetics was associated with time to reclassification in subsequent biopsies.ConclusionsPCA3 but not T2:ERG was associated with cancer reclassification in the first surveillance biopsy but has negligible improvement over clinical variables alone in ROC or DCA analyses. Neither marker was associated with reclassification in subsequent biopsies