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Effect of sieving on ex-situ soil respiration of soils from three land use types
This study aims to investigate the effect of sieving on ex situ soil respiration (CO2 flux) measurements from different land use types. We collected soils (0–10 cm) from arable, grassland and woodland sites, allocated them to either sieved (4-mm mesh, freshly sieved) or intact core treatments and incubated them in gas-tight jars for 40 days at 10 °C. Headspace gas was collected on days 1, 3, 17, 24, 31 and 38 and CO2 analysed. Our results showed that sieving (4 mm) did not significantly influence soil respiration measurements, probably because micro aggregates (< 0.25 mm) remain intact after sieving. However, soils collected from grassland soil released more CO2 compared with those collected from woodland and arable soils, irrespective of sieving treatments. The higher CO2 from grassland soil compared with woodland and arable soils was attributed to the differences in the water holding capacity and the quantity and stoichiometry of the organic matter between the three soils. We conclude that soils sieved prior to ex situ respiration experiments provide realistic respiration measurements. This finding lends support to soil scientists planning a sampling strategy that better represents the inhomogeneity of field conditions by pooling, homogenising and sieving samples, without fear of obtaining unrepresentative CO2 flux measurements caused by the disruption of soil architecture
Radiative contribution to neutrino masses and mixing in SSM
In an extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (popularly known
as the SSM), three right handed neutrino superfields are introduced to
solve the -problem and to accommodate the non-vanishing neutrino masses
and mixing. Neutrino masses at the tree level are generated through parity
violation and seesaw mechanism. We have analyzed the full effect of one-loop
contributions to the neutrino mass matrix. We show that the current three
flavour global neutrino data can be accommodated in the SSM, for both
the tree level and one-loop corrected analyses. We find that it is relatively
easier to accommodate the normal hierarchical mass pattern compared to the
inverted hierarchical or quasi-degenerate case, when one-loop corrections are
included.Comment: 51 pages, 14 figures (58 .eps files), expanded introduction, other
minor changes, references adde
The State of the Art of Medical Imaging Technology: from Creation to Archive and Back
Medical imaging has learnt itself well into modern medicine and revolutionized medical industry in the last 30 years. Stemming from the discovery of X-ray by Nobel laureate Wilhelm Roentgen, radiology was born, leading to the creation of large quantities of digital images as opposed to film-based medium. While this rich supply of images provides immeasurable information that would otherwise not be possible to obtain, medical images pose great challenges in archiving them safe from corrupted, lost and misuse, retrievable from databases of huge sizes with varying forms of metadata, and reusable when new tools for data mining and new media for data storing become available. This paper provides a summative account on the creation of medical imaging tomography, the development of image archiving systems and the innovation from the existing acquired image data pools. The focus of this paper is on content-based image retrieval (CBIR), in particular, for 3D images, which is exemplified by our developed online e-learning system, MIRAGE, home to a repository of medical images with variety of domains and different dimensions. In terms of novelties, the facilities of CBIR for 3D images coupled with image annotation in a fully automatic fashion have been developed and implemented in the system, resonating with future versatile, flexible and sustainable medical image databases that can reap new innovations
Genetic and metabolic predictors of chemosensitivity in oligodendroglial neoplasms
The −1p/−19q genotype predicts chemosensitivity in oligodendroglial neoplasms, but some with intact 1p/19q also respond and not all with 1p/19q loss derive durable benefit from chemotherapy. We have evaluated the predictive and prognostic significance of pretherapy 201Tl and 18F-FDG SPECT and genotype in 38 primary and 10 recurrent oligodendroglial neoplasms following PCV chemotherapy. 1p/19q loss was seen in 8/15 OII, 6/15 OAII, 7/7 OIII, 3/11 OAIII and was associated with response (Fisher-Exact: P=0.000) and prolonged progression-free (log-rank: P=0.002) and overall survival (OS) (log-rank: P=0.0048). Response was unrelated to metabolism, with tumours with high or low metabolism showing response. Increased 18F-FDG or 201Tl uptake predicted shorter progression-free survival (PFS) in the series (log-rank: 201Tl P=0.0097, 18F-FDG P=0.0170) and in cases with or without the −1p/−19q genotype. Elevated metabolism was associated with shorter OS in cases with intact 1p/19q (log-rank: 18F-FDG P=0.0077; 201Tl P=0.0004) and shorter PFS in responders (log-rank: 18F-FDG P=0.005; 201Tl P=0.0132). 201Tl uptake and 1p/19q loss were independent predictors of survival in multivariate analysis. In this initial study, 201Tl and 18F-FDG uptake did not predict response to PCV, but may be associated with poor survival following therapy irrespective of genotype. This may be clinically useful warranting further study
The sudden change phenomenon of quantum discord
Even if the parameters determining a system's state are varied smoothly, the
behavior of quantum correlations alike to quantum discord, and of its classical
counterparts, can be very peculiar, with the appearance of non-analyticities in
its rate of change. Here we review this sudden change phenomenon (SCP)
discussing some important points related to it: Its uncovering,
interpretations, and experimental verifications, its use in the context of the
emergence of the pointer basis in a quantum measurement process, its appearance
and universality under Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics, its theoretical
and experimental investigation in some other physical scenarios, and the
related phenomenon of double sudden change of trace distance discord. Several
open questions are identified, and we envisage that in answering them we will
gain significant further insight about the relation between the SCP and the
symmetry-geometric aspects of the quantum state space.Comment: Lectures on General Quantum Correlations and their Applications, F.
F. Fanchini, D. O. Soares Pinto, and G. Adesso (Eds.), Springer (2017), pp
309-33
Screening in strongly coupled N=2* supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma
Using gauge-gravity duality, we extend thermodynamic studies and present
results for thermal screening masses in strongly coupled N=2* supersymmetric
Yang-Mills theory. This non-conformal theory is a mass deformation of maximally
supersymmetric N=4 gauge theory. Results are obtained for the entropy density,
pressure, specific heat, equation of state, and screening masses, down to
previously unexplored low temperatures. The temperature dependence of screening
masses in various symmetry channels, which characterize the longest length
scales over which thermal fluctuations in the non-Abelian plasma are
correlated, is examined and found to be asymptotically linear in the low
temperature regime.Comment: 43 pages, 13 figures, typo fixed, published versio
Analysis of the Maize dicer-like1 Mutant, fuzzy tassel, Implicates MicroRNAs in Anther Maturation and Dehiscence
Sexual reproduction in plants requires development of haploid gametophytes from somatic tissues. Pollen is the male gametophyte and develops within the stamen; defects in the somatic tissues of the stamen and in the male gametophyte itself can result in male sterility. The maize fuzzy tassel (fzt) mutant has a mutation in dicer-like1 (dcl1), which encodes a key enzyme required for microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis. Many miRNAs are reduced in fzt, and fzt mutants exhibit a broad range of developmental defects, including male sterility. To gain further insight into the roles of miRNAs in maize stamen development, we conducted a detailed analysis of the male sterility defects in fzt mutants. Early development was normal in fzt mutant anthers, however fzt anthers arrested in late stages of anther maturation and did not dehisce. A minority of locules in fzt anthers also exhibited anther wall defects. At maturity, very little pollen in fzt anthers was viable or able to germinate. Normal pollen is tricellular at maturity; pollen from fzt anthers included a mixture of unicellular, bicellular, and tricellular pollen. Pollen from normal anthers is loaded with starch before dehiscence, however pollen from fzt anthers failed to accumulate starch. Our results indicate an absolute requirement for miRNAs in the final stages of anther and pollen maturation in maize. Anther wall defects also suggest that miRNAs have key roles earlier in anther development. We discuss candidate miRNAs and pathways that might underlie fzt anther defects, and also note that male sterility in fzt resembles water deficit-induced male sterility, highlighting a possible link between development and stress responses in plants.ECU Open Access Publishing Support Fun
Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay
We reconstruct the rare decays , , and in a data sample
corresponding to collected in collisions at
by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Using and decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report
the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon
forward-backward asymmetry in the and decay modes, and the
longitudinal polarization in the decay mode with respect to the squared
dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the
standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of
comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the {\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to
\phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}27 \pm 6B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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