Vibrational Spectra of Orthodiamide Derivatives: The N-H Stretching Band of Some Benzimidazole Derivatives

The aromatic diamides derived from o-phenylenediamines, when treated with P2S5, gave 2-arylbenzimidazole derivatives as crystalline products. The IR spectra of these compounds are, like benzimidazole itself, characterized by the very broad, structured and intensive band due to the N-H stretching vibrations. Lowering of the temperature has a remarkable effect on both the N-H stretching and N-H out-of-plane bending vibrations. On deuteration, the substructure of the N-H stretch is completely changed. The low-temperature and deuteration studies strongly suggest that the whole sbus- tructure is a result of Evans-type Fermi resonance interactions

Opisthorchis felineus infection, risks, and morbidity in rural Western Siberia, Russian Federation

The liver fluke, Opisthorchis felineus, is widely distributed throughout Europe and large parts of the Russian Federation. In Western Siberia, information about opisthorchiasis is lacking although infection may lead to severe liver and bile duct diseases. We aimed to assess the current prevalence of O. felineus infection along with associated risk factors and morbidity in rural Western Siberia.; We conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study in the rural Shegarskiy district, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation. All household members (≥ 7 years) present on the survey day were enrolled (n = 600). Two stool samples per person were examined for helminth eggs, using PARASEP (DiaSys Ltd, UK). The number of eggs per gram (EPG) of feces was recorded. Each study participant was interviewed to determine risk factors, using a pre-tested questionnaire. An abdominal ultrasonography examination of liver and bile ducts was performed with a mobile, high resolution ultrasound device. In total, 488 persons completed assessments (two stool samples, completed questionnaires); of those, 436 individuals had an ultrasonography (US) examination.; We observed a prevalence of O. felineus infection of 60.2%. Significant risk factors for infection were the consumption of river fish (odds ratio from adjusted analysis [aOR] 2.4, 95% CI 1.52-3.95, p<0.001), particularly stock fish (OR from multivariable analysis [mOR] 3.2, 95% CI 2.63-3.80, p<0.001), smoked fish (mOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.24-1.72, p<0.001), frozen fish (mOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.29-2.02, p<0.001), and raw fish (mOR 1.4, 95% CI 1.05-1.84, p = 0.02); and fishing activities (mOR 1.2, 95% CI 1.03-1.43, p = 0.019). Women had a higher risk of infection than men. Infection was associated positively with age and negatively with socio-economic status. The respondents' general awareness of opisthorchiasis was quite high (93.2%), but their knowledge about infection transmission and prevention was insufficient. Children aged 7-18 years old had a lower level of awareness compared to adults. The abdominal ultrasonography results demonstrated a strong association between O. felineus infection and gallbladder stones (mOR 2.8, 95% CI 1.33-6.04, p = 0.007) and periductal fibrosis of intrahepatic bile ducts (mOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.08-3.46, p = 0.026).; O. felineus infection is highly prevalent in rural regions of Western Siberia, and associated with severe hepatobiliary pathology. Identified risk factors will be used to develop a comprehensive targeted O. felineus infection control program

Archaeal communities of frozen Quaternary sediments of marine origin on the coast of Western Spitsbergen,

The archaeal composition of permafrost samples taken during drilling of frozen marine sediments in the area of the Barentsburg coal mine on the east coast of Grønfjord Bay of Western Spitsbergen has been studied. The study was based on the analysis of the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene, carried out using next generation sequencing. This is the second part of the work dedicated to the prokaryotic composition of the Western Spitsbergen, the fi rst part was devoted to the domain of Bacteria. The general phyla of the the Archaea domain were Euryarchaeota, Bathyarchaeota, Thaumarchaeota and Asgardarchaeota. As a result of phylogenetic analysis of the dominant operational taxonomic units, representatives of methanogenic methane- and ammonium-oxidizing archaea, as well as heterotrophic archaea were found. Methanobacteria class of methanogenic archaea was found in the controversial genesis, while methane-oxidizing archaea of the Methanomicrobia class of Methanosarcinales order were found in the marine permafrost of Cape Finneset: ANME-2a, -2b group was found in layers 8.6 and 11.7 m, and a group ANME-2d (Candidatus Methanoperedens) – in a layer of 6.5 m. Ammonium-oxidizing archaea of the phylum Thaumarchaeota was present in all types of permafrost, while Nitrososphaerales was detected in controversial genesis permafrost, and the order-Nitrosopumilales in the marine permafrost or controversial genesis ones. Representatives of phylum Bathyarchaeota were found in the stratigraphicly most ancient samples under this study. Superphylum Asgardarchaeota was met exclusively in the layers of permafrost with marine genesis and was represented by phyla Lokiarchaeota, Thorarchaeota and another group belonging to this superphylum that was not identified by us. The presence in the marine permafrost terrace of Cape Finneset at 11.7 m depth of methane, ethylene and ethane, as well as the composition of the archaeal community gives this layer to assume in it the presence of microbiological processes of the anaerobic oxidation of methane, probably received from Tertiary deposits before freezing. The results obtained are represented the permafrost of Spitsbergen as a rich archive of genetic information of little studied prokaryotic groups

Anisotropy and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the distribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies $E>E_{th}=5.5\times 10^{19}$ eV. These show a correlation with the distribution of nearby extragalactic objects, including an apparent excess around the direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at $E>E_{th}$ are heavy nuclei with charge $Z$, the proton component of the sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies $E/Z$. We here report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above $E_{th}/Z$ (for illustrative values of $Z=6,\ 13,\ 26$). If the anisotropies above $E_{th}$ are due to nuclei with charge $Z$, and under reasonable assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies

Charge separation relative to the reaction plane in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}= 2.76 TeV

Measurements of charge dependent azimuthal correlations with the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV. Two- and three-particle charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta| < 0.8$ are presented as a function of the collision centrality, particle separation in pseudo-rapidity, and transverse momentum. A clear signal compatible with a charge-dependent separation relative to the reaction plane is observed, which shows little or no collision energy dependence when compared to measurements at RHIC energies. This provides a new insight for understanding the nature of the charge dependent azimuthal correlations observed at RHIC and LHC energies.Comment: 12 pages, 3 captioned figures, authors from page 2 to 6, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/286

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Transverse sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton-proton collisions at s=0.9\sqrt{s}=0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV

Measurements of the sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are presented. The observable is linearized to be collinear safe and is measured in the plane perpendicular to the beam direction using primary charged tracks with $p_{\rm T}\geq0.5$ GeV/c in $|\eta|\leq0.8$. The mean sphericity as a function of the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity ($N_{\rm ch}$) is reported for events with different $p_{\rm T}$ scales ("soft" and "hard") defined by the transverse momentum of the leading particle. In addition, the mean charged particle transverse momentum versus multiplicity is presented for the different event classes, and the sphericity distributions in bins of multiplicity are presented. The data are compared with calculations of standard Monte Carlo event generators. The transverse sphericity is found to grow with multiplicity at all collision energies, with a steeper rise at low $N_{\rm ch}$, whereas the event generators show the opposite tendency. The combined study of the sphericity and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ with multiplicity indicates that most of the tested event generators produce events with higher multiplicity by generating more back-to-back jets resulting in decreased sphericity (and isotropy). The PYTHIA6 generator with tune PERUGIA-2011 exhibits a noticeable improvement in describing the data, compared to the other tested generators.Comment: 21 pages, 9 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 16, published version, figures from http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/308

Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186