Immunoregulatory soluble CTLA-4 modifies effector T cell responses in systemic lupus erythematosus

Acknowledgments This work was supported by Arthritis Research UK (Grant no. 19282). We are grateful to Dr. Nick Fluck for his invaluable support in recruiting patients for the study, and Mrs. Vivien Vaughan for her invaluable expertise in recruiting study participants and maintaining ethical documentation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Longhorned Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) of Tennessee: Distribution of Species, Seasonal Adult Activity, and New State Records

Efforts to document species of longhorned beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) occurring in Tennessee have not been updated since 1973. To address this knowledge gap, institutional, research, and private collections in Tennessee were reviewed to provide faunal distribution assessments and seasonal activity data for the cerambycid beetle species active in Tennessee. Examinations of 9,918 specimens and records yielded a list of 230 cerambycid beetle species within 5 subfamilies. Twenty-seven species are reported as new state records from Tennessee. Adult seasonal activity data that were recorded on specimen labels are presented. Where available, notes on collection method, adult resources, and larval host plants are provided for species within a supplementary table. Supplemental figures report the distribution for species collected across the state and from 85 of the 95 Tennessee counties, as well as the ecoregions from which each species is reported. The bias-corrected Chao1 species richness estimator predicts another 11 species remain to be identified across the state. Future collection efforts in the Central Appalachian, Mississippi Alluvial and Valley Loess Plains, Southeastern Plains, and western portions of the Interior Plateau ecoregions could yield additional new state records. Developmental host and adult resource plants, collection methods, as well as regional collection notes from adjacent states are discussed for several additional candidate longhorned beetle species

Consistency, Amplitudes and Probabilities in Quantum Theory

Quantum theory is formulated as the only consistent way to manipulate probability amplitudes. The crucial ingredient is a consistency constraint: if there are two different ways to compute an amplitude the two answers must agree. This constraint is expressed in the form of functional equations the solution of which leads to the usual sum and product rules for amplitudes. A consequence is that the Schrodinger equation must be linear: non-linear variants of quantum mechanics are inconsistent. The physical interpretation of the theory is given in terms of a single natural rule. This rule, which does not itself involve probabilities, is used to obtain a proof of Born's statistical postulate. Thus, consistency leads to indeterminism. PACS: 03.65.Bz, 03.65.Ca.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures (old version did not include the figures

Analysis of TerraSAR-X data and their sensitivity to soil surface parameters over bare agricultural fields

International audienceCette recherche a pour objectif de mettre en évidence la contribution des capteurs haute résolution pour une meilleure caractérisation de la surface du sol et pour analyser les effets de la polarisation et de l'angle d'incidence radar. L'objectif de cet article est d'analyser la sensibilité des données haute résolution Terrassar-X sur des sols sans couverture végétale et d'étudier la variabilité spatiale. Les relations entre le coefficient de rétrodiffusion et les paramètres du sol seront étudiés grâce aux images (TerraSAR, Ikonos, SPOT) ainsi que grâce aux mesures de terrain recueillies pendant plusieurs campagnes de terrain en hiver et printemps 2008-2009. Ce travail a été mené sur le bassin de l'Orgeval (France). / Our research aims to show the contribution of high resolution spatial sensors for a better characterization of soil surface, and to analyze polarization effects and radar incidence angle. The objective of this paper is to analyze the sensitivity of very high resolution TerraSAR-X radar data taken over bare soils, and to study the spatial variability. The relationship between backscattering coefficient and soil's parameters (moisture, surface roughness, and texture) will be examined by means of satellite images (TerraSAR, Ikonos, SPOT), as well as ground truth measurements, recorded during several field campaigns in the winter and spring of 2008 and 2009. This study is carried out on Orgeval catchment (France)

Lorentz-violating vs ghost gravitons: the example of Weyl gravity

We show that the ghost degrees of freedom of Einstein gravity with a Weyl term can be eliminated by a simple mechanism that invokes local Lorentz symmetry breaking. We demonstrate how the mechanism works in a cosmological setting. The presence of the Weyl term forces a redefinition of the quantum vacuum state of the tensor perturbations. As a consequence the amplitude of their spectrum blows up when the Lorentz-violating scale becomes comparable to the Hubble radius. Such a behaviour is in sharp contrast to what happens in standard Weyl gravity where the gravitational ghosts smoothly damp out the spectrum of primordial gravitational waves.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX 4.

Effects of Color Attributes on Trap Capture Rates of Chrysobothris femorata (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) and Related Species

Chrysobothris spp. (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) and other closely related buprestids are common pests of fruit, shade, and nut trees in the United States. Many Chrysobothris spp., including Chrysobothris femorata, are polyphagous herbivores. Their wide host range leads to the destruction of numerous tree species in nurseries and orchards. Although problems caused by Chrysobothris are well known, there are no reliable monitoring methods to estimate local populations before substantial damage occurs. Other buprestid populations have been effectively estimated using colored sticky traps to capture beetles. However, the attraction of Chrysobothris to specific color attributes has not been directly assessed. A multi-color trapping system was utilized to determine color attraction of Chrysobothris spp. Specific color attributes (lightness [L*], red to green [a*], blue to yellow [b*], chroma [C*], hue [h*], and peak reflectance [PR]) were then evaluated to determine beetle responses. In initial experiments with mostly primary colors, Chrysobothris were most attracted to traps with red coloration. Thus, additional experiments were performed using a range of trap colors with red reflectance values. Among these red reflectance colors, it was determined that the violet range of the electromagnetic spectrum had greater attractance to Chrysobothris. Additionally, Chrysobothris attraction correlated with hue and b*, suggesting a preference for traps with hues between red to blue. However, males and females of some Chrysobothris species showed differentiated responses. These findings provide information on visual stimulants that can be used in Chrysobothris trapping and management. Furthermore, this information can be used in conjunction with ecological theory to understand host-location methods of Chrysobothris

A discrete nonetheless remarkable brick in de Sitter: the "massless minimally coupled field"

Over the last ten years interest in the physics of de Sitter spacetime has been growing very fast. Besides the supposed existence of a "de sitterian period" in inflation theories, the observational evidence of an acceleration of the universe expansion (interpreted as a positive cosmological constant or a "dark energy" or some form of "quintessence") has triggered a lot of attention in the physics community. A specific de sitterian field called "massless minimally coupled field" (mmc) plays a fundamental role in inflation models and in the construction of the de sitterian gravitational field. A covariant quantization of the mmc field, `a la Krein-Gupta-Bleuler was proposed in [1]. In this talk, we will review this construction and explain the relevance of such a field in the construction of a massless spin 2 field in de Sitter space-time.Comment: Proceedings of the XXVII Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics, Yerevan, August 200

FMR studies of exchange-coupled multiferroic polycrystalline Pt/BiFeO3_3/Ni81_{81}Fe19_{19}/Pt heterostructures

An experimental study of the in-plane azimuthal behaviour and frequency dependence of the ferromagnetic resonance field and the resonance linewidth as a function of BiFeO$_3$ thickness is carried out in a polycrystalline exchange-biased BiFeO$_3$/Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ system. The magnetization decrease of the Pt/BiFeO$_3$/Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$/Pt heterostructures with BiFeO$_3$ thickness deduced from static measurements has been confirmed by dynamic investigations. Ferromagnetic resonance measurements have shown lower gyromagnetic ratio in a perpendicular geometry compared with that of a parallel geometry. The monotonous decrease of gyromagnetic ratio in a perpendicular geometry as a function of the BiFeO$_3$ film thickness seems to be related to the spin-orbit interactions due to the neighbouring Pt film at its interface with Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ film. The in-plane azimuthal shape of the total linewidth of the uniform mode shows isotropic behaviour that increases with BiFeO$_3$ thickness. The study of the frequency dependence of the resonance linewidth in a broad band of 3 to 35 GHz has allowed the determination of intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to the relaxation as function of BiFeO$_3$ thickness in perpendicular geometries. In our system the magnetic relaxation is dominated by the spin-pumping mechanism due to the presence of Pt. The insertion of BiFeO$_3$ between Pt and Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ attenuates the spin-pumping damping at one interface.Comment: paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physic

A practical approach to achieving agility : a theory of constraints perspective

This article documents an action research (AR) project aimed at identifying the practical steps needed to become an agile manufacturer through a combination of the theory of constraints (TOC) and resource- based view (RBV) approaches in a small to medium enterprise (SME) in the Australian manufacturing sector. To date, lean production has been highlighted as a possible catalyst for creating an agile manufacturer, despite the evidence suggesting that lean manufacturing lacks the responsiveness and adaptability to effectively handle a rapidly changing market place and only works well in a stable environment. A more flexible system of production is required to fully encompass the agile characteristics needed to attain a competitive advantage. This research provides empirical evidence that the TOC perspective can be used as a practical approach for becoming an agile manufacturer. The study provides a workable approach for small firms to achieve ‘Agility’ in practice

Seasonal Flight Activity and Distribution of Metallic Woodboring Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Collected in North Carolina and Tennessee

Distribution records and seasonal flight activity information for metallic woodboring beetle (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) species have not been compiled for North Carolina and Tennessee. Institutional, research, and private collections in North Carolina and Tennessee were reviewed to provide seasonal activity data of 5 subfamilies of buprestid beetle species. Label information was checked for 15,217 specimens of 135 species collected between 1901 and 2013 (North Carolina) and between 1934 and 2013 (Tennessee). These collections provided data on adult seasonal activity and county records for 121 species (4,467 specimens) and 105 species (10,750 specimens) from North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. Two species, Agrilus carpini Knull and A. pensus Horn, are reported as New State Records for North Carolina. The data reveal key geographic areas in both states where few to no collections have been made, highlighting opportunities to validate species distributions and locations where future collecting efforts can be matched with the occurrence of larval and adult host plant resources. Seasonal activity records will inform future biosurveillance efforts for invasive and endemic pests and facilitate predictions of buprestid species that are likely to be active within the hunting flight season of Cerceris fumipennis (Say) (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) wasps. Activity periods of the buprestids also can focus the management of selected economic pest species to times of the year when treatment efforts, particularly through use of contact insecticides, are likely to be most effective