Responses of Big Bluestem to Habitat Factors in Relict Prairie

This investigation was an attempt to determine the effects of a change of habitat factors on the responses of big bluestem which dominates favorable site in the mixed prairie association. Responses of big bluestem on five habitats were determined with reference to the following factors: (1) soil composition; (2) temperature; (3) relative humidity; (4) evaporation; (5) wind; (6) light; and (7) mulch cover. The five habitats for studying big bluestem were selected on the basis of range site and exposure. Four were located on an east-facing slope and the fifth was located on a west-facing slope. During the growing season of 1960, when this study was conducted, a mid-season drought occurred, greatly affecting vegetative growth. One hundred square-foot quadrats were established in order to make weekly measurements of big bluestem. Responses of big bluestem to habitat factors were grouped into four main categories as follows: (1) weekly and cumulative height of plants and number of leaves of each marked plant; (2) basal cover and composition; (3) plant population; and (4) total production. Climatic and edaphic factors of each habitat were measured weekly. Findings were as follows: (1) In spite of considerable difference in depth of soil among habitats, the texture of soils was the same for all habitats. (2) Average maximum air temperature was higher on the west-facing slope than on the east-facing slope for the season. (3) Air temperatures were consistently higher inside the vegetation than outside. (4) Surface-soil was consistently warmer during the day than sub-soil. (5) Soil temperatures were highest in the afternoon in surface soil and in the evening in sub-soil. (6) Average weekly relative humidity was consistently higher inside the vegetation than above. (7) Relative humidity inside the vegetation was lower on the west-facing slope than that on any habitat on the east-facing slope. (8) Rate of evaporation was higher from the habitat on the west-facing slope than that on any habitat on the east-facing slope. (9) Wind velocity was higher at the top of vegetation than inside. (10) The velocity was higher in the evening than that of noon or morning. (11) Light intensity was lower inside the vegetation than outside and was the lowest at the mulch level. (12) Average height and number of leaves per plant was greatest on habitat D favored by more mesic conditions. (13) Though big bluestem plants did not increase in height after July 15, new basal leaves were produced by many plants until September 13. (14) Only one per cent of the plants of big bluestem produced inflorescences. (15) Basal cover was lowest on the west-facing slope having more xeric conditions. (16) Exposure and depth of soil were primarily the determining factors for variations in species occurrence. (17) Percent survival of big bluestem plants was proportional to variations in intensity of habitat factors. (18) A linear increase in amount of mulch was found with increased height of plants. (19) The highest yield of big bluestem was harvested on habitat D favored by more mesic conditions while the lowest production was associated with more xeric condition of habitat E

Density functional theory of spin-polarized disordered quantum dots

Using density functional theory, we investigate fluctuations of the ground state energy of spin-polarized, disordered quantum dots in the metallic regime. To compare to experiment, we evaluate the distribution of addition energies and find a convolution of the Wigner-Dyson distribution, expected for noniteracting electrons, with a narrower Gaussian distribution due to interactions. The tird moment of the total distribution is independent of interactions, and so is predicted to decrease by a factor of 0.405 upon application of a magnetic field which transforms from the Gaussian orthogonal to the Gaussian unitary ensemble.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Characterisation of data resources for in silico modelling: benchmark datasets for ADME properties.

Introduction: The cost of in vivo and in vitro screening of ADME properties of compounds has motivated efforts to develop a range of in silico models. At the heart of the development of any computational model are the data; high quality data are essential for developing robust and accurate models. The characteristics of a dataset, such as its availability, size, format and type of chemical identifiers used, influence the modelability of the data. Areas covered: This review explores the usefulness of publicly available ADME datasets for researchers to use in the development of predictive models. More than 140 ADME datasets were collated from publicly available resources and the modelability of 31selected datasets were assessed using specific criteria derived in this study. Expert opinion: Publicly available datasets differ significantly in information content and presentation. From a modelling perspective, datasets should be of adequate size, available in a user-friendly format with all chemical structures associated with one or more chemical identifiers suitable for automated processing (e.g. CAS number, SMILES string or InChIKey). Recommendations for assessing dataset suitability for modelling and publishing data in an appropriate format are discussed

Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider

This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)

Forward jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering and low-x parton dynamics at HERA

Differential inclusive jet cross sections in neutral current deep inelastic ep scattering have been measured with the ZEUS detector. Three phase-space regions have been selected in order to study parton dynamics where the effects of BFKL evolution might be present. The measurements have been compared to the predictions of leading-logarithm parton shower Monte Carlo models and fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations. In the forward region, QCD calculations at order alpha_s^1 underestimate the data up to an order of magnitude at low x. An improved description of the data in this region is obtained by including QCD corrections at order alpha_s^2, which account for the lowest-order t-channel gluon-exchange diagrams, highlighting the importance of such terms in parton dynamics at low x.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure

Observation of the baryonic decay B \uaf 0 \u2192 \u39bc+ p \uaf K-K+

We report the observation of the baryonic decay B\uaf0\u2192\u39bc+p\uafK-K+ using a data sample of 471 7106 BB\uaf pairs produced in e+e- annihilations at s=10.58GeV. This data sample was recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring at SLAC. We find B(B\uaf0\u2192\u39bc+p\uafK-K+)=(2.5\ub10.4(stat)\ub10.2(syst)\ub10.6B(\u39bc+)) 710-5, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the uncertainty of the \u39bc+\u2192pK-\u3c0+ branching fraction, respectively. The result has a significance corresponding to 5.0 standard deviations, including all uncertainties. For the resonant decay B\uaf0\u2192\u39bc+p\uaf\u3c6, we determine the upper limit B(B\uaf0\u2192\u39bc+p\uaf\u3c6)<1.2 710-5 at 90% confidence level

Effects of Cynodon dactylon on Stress-Induced Infertility in Male Rats

Cynodon dactylon (Family: Poaceae) is known to be a tackler in Indian mythology and is offered to Lord Ganesha. It is found everywhere, even on waste land, road side, dry places, and spreads vigorously on cultivated ground. This study was carried out with an objective to test if the constituents of this plant are useful in coping stress-induced sexual In this study, we considered immobilization stress to induce male infertility and the effect of C. dactylon in restoration of the dysfunction was evaluated by considering sexual behavioral observations, sexual performance, fructose content of the seminal vesicles, epididymal sperm concentration and histopathological examinations as parameters. Treatment of rats under stress with methanolic extract of C. dactylon has shown a promising effect in overcoming stress-induced sexual dysfunction, sexual performance, fructose content, sperm concentration and its effect on accessory sexual organs and body weight. We conclude that active constituents of C. dactylon present in methanolic extract have a potent aphrodisiac and male fertility activity

Measurement of the CP-Violating Asymmetry Amplitude sin2β\beta

We present results on time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in neutral B decays to several CP eigenstates. The measurements use a data sample of about 88 million Y(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected between 1999 and 2002 with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC. We study events in which one neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in a final state containing a charmonium meson and the other B meson is determined to be either a B0 or B0bar from its decay products. The amplitude of the CP-violating asymmetry, which in the Standard Model is proportional to sin2beta, is derived from the decay-time distributions in such events. We measure sin2beta = 0.741 +/- 0.067 (stat) +/- 0.033 (syst) and |lambda| = 0.948 +/- 0.051 (stat) +/- 0.017 (syst). The magnitude of lambda is consistent with unity, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation of no direct CP violation in these modes

Relationships of Sleep Duration, Midpoint, and Variability with Physical Activity in the HCHS/SOL Sueño Ancillary Study

Objective/Background: Short and long sleep duration, later sleep midpoint, and greater intra-individual sleep variability are associated with lower physical activity, but previous research lacks objective and concurrent assessment of sleep and physical activity. This cross-sectional study examined whether sleep duration, midpoint, and variability in duration and midpoint were related to wrist actigraphy-measured physical activity. Participants: Participants were 2156 Hispanics/Latinos in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sueño Ancillary Study. Methods: Participants wore Actiwatch devices to measure sleep and physical activity via the wrist for ≥5 days. Physical activity was defined as minutes/day in the upper quartile of the sampling distribution’s non-sleep activity, capturing light to vigorous physical activity. Results: An inverse linear relationship between sleep duration and physical activity was found such that each additional sleep hour related to 29 fewer minutes of physical activity (B = −28.7, SE = 3.8), p <.01). Variability in sleep midpoint was also associated with physical activity; with each 1-hr increase in variability there were 24 more minutes of physical activity (B = 24.2, SE = 5.6, p <.01). In contrast, sleep midpoint and variability in duration were not associated with physical activity. Sensitivity analyses identified an association of short sleep duration and greater variability in sleep duration with greater accelerometry-derived moderate-to-vigorous physical activity measured at the HCHS/SOL baseline (M = 2.1 years before the sleep assessment). Conclusions: Findings help clarify inconsistent prior research associating short sleep duration and sleep variability with greater health risks but also contribute novel information with simultaneous objective assessments