Integrated Management of Industrial and Municipal Wastewater in China. - Demonstration Project in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province

Årsliste 2000The city of Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province is a medium-size, rapidly expanding Chinese city located in a flat landscape with numerous canals. These are used for navigation, fishing, aquaculture and as drinking and industrial water source, but also as recipients for domestic and industrial wastewater and runoff from agriculture, paved roads and solid waste landfills in the area. The canals are severely polluted. NIVA has been assisting Jiaxing Environmental Protection Bureau (JEPB) in finding solutions to the local wastewater problems. The industry in the area discharges substantial quantities of potentially toxic wastewater to the sewer systems. There are, however, good possibilities for cleaner production routines in various factories. Several measures facilitate the transport of sewage to the nearby Hangzhou Bay, and sewage treatment processes before final disposal have been identified. The project has identified current and future wastewater production and recipient status. Based on pilot-plant operation and computer models a complete system for sewage collection and treatment has been suggested. This is based on transport of untreated sewage to Hanfzhou Bay where the construction of a sewage treatment plant is planned. The treatment methodology is based on a flexible chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), followed by a biological step at a later stage. The project findings put emphasis on knowledge transfer and strengthening of JEPB resources to find solutions to the water-related problems in the city. In addition a detailed abatement plan should be developed, taking existing water quality, user interests and future water quality objectives into account.Direktoratet for Utviklingshjelp (NORAD

Emergence of magnetism in graphene materials and nanostructures

Magnetic materials and nanostructures based on carbon offer unique opportunities for future technological applications such as spintronics. This article reviews graphene-derived systems in which magnetic correlations emerge as a result of reduced dimensions, disorder and other possible scenarios. In particular, zero-dimensional graphene nanofragments, one-dimensional graphene nanoribbons, and defect-induced magnetism in graphene and graphite are covered. Possible physical mechanisms of the emergence of magnetism in these systems are illustrated with the help of computational examples based on simple model Hamiltonians. In addition, this review covers spin transport properties, proposed designs of graphene-based spintronic devices, magnetic ordering at finite temperatures as well as the most recent experimental achievements.Comment: tutorial-style review article -- 18 pages, 19 figure

Genomic Prevalence of Heterochromatic H3K9me2 and Transcription Do Not Discriminate Pluripotent from Terminally Differentiated Cells

Cellular differentiation entails reprogramming of the transcriptome from a pluripotent to a unipotent fate. This process was suggested to coincide with a global increase of repressive heterochromatin, which results in a reduction of transcriptional plasticity and potential. Here we report the dynamics of the transcriptome and an abundant heterochromatic histone modification, dimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9me2), during neuronal differentiation of embryonic stem cells. In contrast to the prevailing model, we find H3K9me2 to occupy over 50% of chromosomal regions already in stem cells. Marked are most genomic regions that are devoid of transcription and a subgroup of histone modifications. Importantly, no global increase occurs during differentiation, but discrete local changes of H3K9me2 particularly at genic regions can be detected. Mirroring the cell fate change, many genes show altered expression upon differentiation. Quantitative sequencing of transcripts demonstrates however that the total number of active genes is equal between stem cells and several tested differentiated cell types. Together, these findings reveal high prevalence of a heterochromatic mark in stem cells and challenge the model of low abundance of epigenetic repression and resulting global basal level transcription in stem cells. This suggests that cellular differentiation entails local rather than global changes in epigenetic repression and transcriptional activity

Performance of a 229 Thorium solid-state nuclear clock

The 7.8 eV nuclear isomer transition in 229 Thorium has been suggested as an etalon transition in a new type of optical frequency standard. Here we discuss the construction of a "solid-state nuclear clock" from Thorium nuclei implanted into single crystals transparent in the vacuum ultraviolet range. We investigate crystal-induced line shifts and broadening effects for the specific system of Calcium fluoride. At liquid Nitrogen temperatures, the clock performance will be limited by decoherence due to magnetic coupling of the Thorium nucleus to neighboring nuclear moments, ruling out the commonly used Rabi or Ramsey interrogation schemes. We propose a clock stabilization based on counting of flourescence photons and present optimized operation parameters. Taking advantage of the high number of quantum oscillators under continuous interrogation, a fractional instability level of 10^{-19} might be reached within the solid-state approach.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

New anti-perovskite-type Superconductor ZnNyNi3

We have synthesized a new superconductor ZnNyNi3 with Tc ~3 K. The crystal structure has the same anti-perovskite-type such as MgCNi3 and CdCNi3. As far as we know, this is the third superconducting material in Ni-based anti-perovskite series. For this material, superconducting parameters, lower-critical field Hc1(0), upper-critical field Hc2(0), coherence length x(0), penetration depth l(0), and Gintzburg -Landau parameter k(0) have been experimentally determined.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

The Echinococcus canadensis (G7) genome: A key knowledge of parasitic platyhelminth human diseases

Background: The parasite Echinococcus canadensis (G7) (phylum Platyhelminthes, class Cestoda) is one of the causative agents of echinococcosis. Echinococcosis is a worldwide chronic zoonosis affecting humans as well as domestic and wild mammals, which has been reported as a prioritized neglected disease by the World Health Organisation. No genomic data, comparative genomic analyses or efficient therapeutic and diagnostic tools are available for this severe disease. The information presented in this study will help to understand the peculiar biological characters and to design species-specific control tools. Results: We sequenced, assembled and annotated the 115-Mb genome of E. canadensis (G7). Comparative genomic analyses using whole genome data of three Echinococcus species not only confirmed the status of E. canadensis (G7) as a separate species but also demonstrated a high nucleotide sequences divergence in relation to E. granulosus (G1). The E. canadensis (G7) genome contains 11,449 genes with a core set of 881 orthologs shared among five cestode species. Comparative genomics revealed that there are more single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between E. canadensis (G7) and E. granulosus (G1) than between E. canadensis (G7) and E. multilocularis. This result was unexpected since E. canadensis (G7) and E. granulosus (G1) were considered to belong to the species complex E. granulosus sensu lato. We described SNPs in known drug targets and metabolism genes in the E. canadensis (G7) genome. Regarding gene regulation, we analysed three particular features: CpG island distribution along the three Echinococcus genomes, DNA methylation system and small RNA pathway. The results suggest the occurrence of yet unknown gene regulation mechanisms in Echinococcus. Conclusions: This is the first work that addresses Echinococcus comparative genomics. The resources presented here will promote the study of mechanisms of parasite development as well as new tools for drug discovery. The availability of a high-quality genome assembly is critical for fully exploring the biology of a pathogenic organism. The E. canadensis (G7) genome presented in this study provides a unique opportunity to address the genetic diversity among the genus Echinococcus and its particular developmental features. At present, there is no unequivocal taxonomic classification of Echinococcus species; however, the genome-wide SNPs analysis performed here revealed the phylogenetic distance among these three Echinococcus species. Additional cestode genomes need to be sequenced to be able to resolve their phylogeny.Fil: Maldonado, Lucas Luciano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Assis, Juliana. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Gomes Araújo, Flávio M.. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Salim, Anna C. M.. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Macchiaroli, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Cucher, Marcela Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Camicia, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Fox, Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Rosenzvit, Mara Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Oliveira, Guilherme. Instituto Tecnológico Vale; Brasil. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Kamenetzky, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; Argentin

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde