The WISE AGN Catalog

We present two large catalogs of AGN candidates identified across ~75% of the sky from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer's AllWISE Data Release. Both catalogs, some of the largest such catalogs published to date, are selected purely on the basis of mid-IR photometry in the WISE W1 and W2 bands. The catalogs are designed to be appropriate for a broad range of scientific investigations, with one catalog emphasizing reliability while the other emphasizes completeness. Specifically, the R90 catalog consists of 4,543,530 AGN candidates with 90% reliability, while the C75 catalog consists of 20,907,127 AGN candidates with 75% completeness. We provide a detailed discussion of potential artifacts, and excise portions of the sky close to the Galactic Center, Galactic Plane, nearby galaxies, and other expected contaminating sources. Our final catalogs cover 30,093 deg^2 of extragalactic sky. These catalogs are expected to enable a broad range of science, and we present a few simple illustrative cases. From the R90 sample we identify 45 highly variable AGN lacking radio counterparts in the FIRST survey, implying they are unlikely to be blazars. One of these sources, WISEA J142846.71+172353.1, is a mid-IR-identified changing-look quasar at z=0.104. We characterize our catalogs by comparing them to large, wide-area AGN catalogs in the literature, specifically UV-to-near-IR quasar selections from SDSS and XDQSOz, mid-IR selection from Secrest et al. (2015) and X-ray selection from ROSAT. From the latter work, we identify four ROSAT X-ray sources that each are matched to three WISE-selected AGN in the R90 sample within 30". Palomar spectroscopy reveals one of these systems, 2RXS J150158.6+691029, to consist of a triplet of quasars at z=1.133 +/- 0.004, suggestive of a rich group or forming galaxy cluster.(Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplements. Updated with comments from the referee. 20 pages, 15 figures, 8 tables. The WISE AGN Catalogs can be made available upon request by writing to [email protected]

Isolation and characterization of a Coffea canephora ERF-like cDNA

ERFs (Ethylene-Responsive Element Binding Factors) are members of a transcription factors family unique to plants. They contain a well-conserved segment, which interacts specifically with sequences containing AGCCGCC motifs (GCC box) located in the promoter region of genes activated during biotic or environmental stress in plants. A cDNA corresponding to an ERF gene has been isolated from a Coffea canephora fruit cDNA library. The cDNA was 1,317 nucleotides long and has an open reading frame of 987 bp. The predicted polypeptide showed a great similitude with equivalent proteins from others plant species. The binding domain shows 98.3% identity in amino acids sequence with Lycopersicon esculentum ERF. This transcription factor may possibly be involved in differential cell growth or in fruit ripening process. Although it was not possible to isolate it from a leaf cDNA library, its presence in such library was confirmed.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (2), pp. 157-159, 200

A complementary approach to estimate the internal pressure of fission gas bubbles by SEM-SIMS-EPMA in irradiated nuclear fuels

International audienceThe behaviour of gases produced by fission is of great importance for nuclear fuel in operation. Within this context, a decade ago, a general method for the characterisation of the fission gas including gas bubbles in an irradiated UO$_2$ nuclear fuel was developed and applied to determine the bubbles internal pressure. The method consists in the determination of the pressure, over a large population of bubbles, using three techniques: SEM, EPMA and SIMS. In this paper, a complementary approach using the information given by the same techniques is performed on an isolated bubble under the surface and is aiming for a better accuracy compared to the more general measurement of gas content. SEM and EPMA enable the detection of a bubble filled with xenon under the surface. SIMS enables the detection of the gas filling the bubble. The quantification is achieved using the EPMA data as reference at positions where no or nearly no bubbles are detected

Supersymmetric structure of the induced W gravities

We derive the supersymmetric structure present in W-gravities which has been already observed in various contexts as Yang-Mills theory, topological field theories, bosonic string and chiral W_{3}-gravity. This derivation which is made in the geometrical framework of Zucchini, necessitates the introduction of an appropriate new basis of variables which replace the canonical fields and their derivatives. This construction is used, in the W_{2}-case, to deduce from the Chern-Simons action the Wess-Zumino-Polyakov action.Comment: 17 pages, Latex. To appear in Class. Quantum. Gravit

Metabolic and chromosomal changes in a <i>Bacillus subtilis whiA</i> mutant

The conserved protein WhiA is present in most Gram-positive bacteria and plays a role in cell division. WhiA contains a DNA-binding motif and is a transcription regulator of the key cell division gene ftsZ in actinomycetes. In Bacillus subtilis, the absence of WhiA influences both cell division and chromosome segregation; however, the protein does not regulate any gene involved in these processes. In this study, we addressed three alternative mechanisms by which WhiA might exert its activity in B. subtilis and examined whether WhiA influences either (i) central carbon metabolism, (ii) fatty acid composition of the cell membrane, or (iii) chromosome organization. Mutations in glycolytic enzymes have been shown to influence both cell division and DNA replication. To measure the effect of WhiA on carbon metabolism, we tested different carbon sources and measured exometabolome fluxes. This revealed that the absence of WhiA does not affect glycolysis but does influence the pool of branched-chain fatty acid precursors. Due to the effect of WhiA on chromosome segregation, we examine chromosome organization in a ∆whiA mutant using chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) analysis. This revealed a local reduction in short-range chromosome interactions. Together, these findings provide new avenues for future research into how this protein works in the non-actinomycete firmicutes

The conserved C-terminus of the PcrA/UvrD helicase interacts directly with RNA polymerase

Copyright: © 2013 Gwynn et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust project grant to MD (Reference: 077368), an ERC starting grant to MD (Acronym: SM-DNA-REPAIR) and a BBSRC project grant to PM, NS and MD (Reference: BB/I003142/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ozone comparison between Pandora #34, Dobson #061, OMI, and OMPS in Boulder, Colorado, for the period December 2013&ndash;December 2016

A one-time-calibrated (in December 2013) Pandora spectrometer instrument (Pan #034) has been compared to a periodically calibrated Dobson spectroradiometer (Dobson #061) co-located in Boulder, Colorado, and compared with two satellite instruments over a 3-year period (December 2013&ndash;December 2016). The results show good agreement between Pan #034 and Dobson #061 within their statistical uncertainties. Both records are corrected for ozone retrieval sensitivity to stratospheric temperature variability obtained from the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) and Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) model calculations. Pandora #034 and Dobson #061 differ by an average of 2.1 ± 3.2 % when both instruments use their standard ozone absorption cross sections in the retrieval algorithms. The results show a relative drift (0.2 ± 0.08 % yr&minus;1) between Pandora observations against NOAA Dobson in Boulder, CO, over a 3-year period of continuous operation. Pandora drifts relative to the satellite Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) are +0.18 ± 0.2 % yr&minus;1 and &minus;0.18 ± 0.2 % yr&minus;1, respectively, where the uncertainties are 2 standard deviations. The drift between Dobson #061 and OMPS for a 5.5-year period (January 2012&ndash;June 2017) is &minus;0.07 ± 0.06 % yr&minus;1

White-gutted soldiers: simplification of the digestive tube for a non-particulate diet in higher Old World termites (Isoptera: Termitidae)

Previous observations have noted that in some species of higher termites the soldier caste lacks pigmented particles in its gut and, instead, is fed worker saliva that imparts a whitish coloration to the abdomen. In order to investigate the occurrence of this trait more thoroughly, we surveyed a broad diversity of termite specimens and taxonomic descriptions from the Old World subfamilies Apicotermitinae, Cubitermitinae, Foraminitermitinae, Macrotermitinae, and Termitinae. We identified 38 genera that have this “white-gutted” soldier (WGS) trait. No termite soldiers from the New World were found to possess a WGS caste. Externally, the WGS is characterized by a uniformly pale abdomen, hyaline gut, and proportionally smaller body-to-head volume ratio compared with their “dark-gutted” soldier (DGS) counterparts found in most termitid genera. The WGS is a fully formed soldier that, unlike soldiers in other higher termite taxa, has a small, narrow, and decompartmentalized digestive tube that lacks particulate food contents. The presumed saliva-nourished WGS have various forms of simplified gut morphologies that have evolved at least six times within the higher termites