Crop wild relatives (CWR) priority in Italy: Distribution, ecology, in situ and ex situ conservation and expected actions

The study presents an updated overview of the 14 non‐endemic threatened crop wild relatives (CWR) in Italy: Aegilops biuncialis, Ae. uniaristata, Ae. ventricosa, Asparagus pastorianus, Beta macrocarpa, Brassica insularis, B. montana, Crambe hispanica subsp. hispanica, C. tataria subsp. tataria, Ipomoea sagittata, Lathyrus amphicarpos, L. palustris, Vicia cusnae and V. serinica. Geographical distri-bution, ecology (with plant communities and habitat 92/43/EEC aspects), genetics (focused on gene pools), property, and in situ and ex situ conservation were analyzed. In addition, with the aim of their protection and valorization, specific actions are recommended

IUCN red list evaluation of the orchidaceae endemic to apulia (Italy) and considerations on the application of the IUCN protocol to rare species

The conservation status of the ten taxonomically currently recognised orchid species and subspecies (eight in the genus Ophrys, and one each in the genera Epipactis and Serapias) endemic to Apulia (southeast Italy) is presented. Each taxon has been assessed against the internationally accepted IUCN criteria and categories. Of the ten taxa, eight ones are classified as threatened (Endangered or Vulnerable), one as Near Threatened and one as Least Concern. Given that nine of the ten analysed taxa were recently assessed, a comparison with the previous assessments is presented: 67% of the assessed taxa changed their IUCN category. Four taxa (Ophrys murgiana, O. oxyrrhynchos subsp. ingrassiae, O. peucetiae, O. tardans) are now assigned to a higher threat category, while two taxa (Ophrys gravinensis and O. oestrifera subsp. montis-gargani) are now assigned to a lower threat category. These category changes in such a very short time are due to the better knowledge on the number of mature individuals and on the threats affecting the species, and to the discovery of new occurring sites. The most important category change affects Ophrys tardans. The new assessment leads to the category Endangered, whereas in the previous assessment this species was indicated as Least Concern, i.e. as not threatened. Another species with a noteworthy category increase is Ophrys peucetiae, previously indicated as Least Concern and now assigned to the category Vulnerable. The authors discuss these results, highlighting that especially when assessing rare species with a small distribution range against the IUCN protocol, it should be taken into account that the assessment could be influenced (also noteworthy) by the effective knowledge on the distribution, on the population size and on the threats affecting the populations. As a consequence, field work is warmly suggested before assessing the threat category of rare taxa, given that an increased effort in field research often leads to the discovery of new sites and to a better estimation of the number of individuals and of the threats

ATLAS RPC Quality Assurance results at INFN Lecce

The main results of the quality assurance tests performed on the Resistive Plate Chamber used by the ATLAS experiment at LHC as muon trigger chambers are reported and discussed. Since July 2004, about 270 RPC units has been certified at INFN Lecce site and delivered to CERN, for being integrated in the final muon station of the ATLAS barrel region. We show the key RPC characteristics which qualify the performance of this detector technology as muon trigger chamber in the harsh LHC enviroments. These are dark current, chamber efficiency, noise rate, gas volume tomography, and gas leakage.Comment: Comments: 6 pages, 1 table, 9 figures Proceedings of XXV Physics in Collision-Prague, Czech Republic, 6-9 July 200

ATLAS RPC Cosmic Ray Teststand at INFN Lecce

We describe the design and functionality of the cosmic ray teststand built at INFN Lecce for ATLAS RPC quality control assurance.Comment: XXIV Physics in Collisions Conference (PIC04), Boston, USA, June 2004, 3 pages, LaTex, 2 eps figures. MONP0

Resource-aware whole-cell model of division of labour in a two-strain consortium for complex substrate degradation

Background Low-cost sustainable feedstocks are essential for commercially viable biotechnologies. These feedstocks, often derived from plant or food waste, contain a multitude of different complex biomolecules which require multiple enzymes to hydrolyse and metabolise. Current standard biotechnology uses monocultures in which a single host expresses all the proteins required for the consolidated bioprocess. However, these hosts have limited capacity for expressing proteins before growth is impacted. This limitation may be overcome by utilising division of labour (DOL) in a consortium, where each member expresses a single protein of a longer degradation pathway. Results Here, we model a two-strain consortium, with one strain expressing an endohydrolase and a second strain expressing an exohydrolase, for cooperative degradation of a complex substrate. Our results suggest that there is a balance between increasing expression to enhance degradation versus the burden that higher expression causes. Once a threshold of burden is reached, the consortium will consistently perform better than an equivalent single-cell monoculture. Conclusions We demonstrate that resource-aware whole-cell models can be used to predict the benefits and limitations of using consortia systems to overcome burden. Our model predicts the region of expression where DOL would be beneficial for growth on starch, which will assist in making informed design choices for this, and other, complex-substrate degradation pathways

Tracking system based on GEM chambers

GEM chambers are becoming one of the best technology for charge particle tracking fulfilling the challenging requirements of modern experiment at intermediate and high energy, including Parity Violation Electron Scattering experiments. GEM tracker combines high spatial resolution, large active area and pretty good tolerance to high particle flux, at reasonable cost. GEM technology is shortly presented and a specific application for the high luminosity experiments in Hall A at JLab is discussed. Some alternatives to the GEM are also addressed

Morphologic Spectrum of Renal Cell Carcinoma, Unclassified: An Analysis of 136 Cases

Aims Renal cell carcinoma, unclassified (RCCU) is a category that includes a morphologically and biologically heterogeneous group of tumors that are unable to be diagnosed as other well-defined entities. We aim to describe the morphologic findings of tumors within this category and to determine the most frequent morphologic features leading to classification difficulty. Methods and results One hundred and thirty-six cases of RCCU were examined. Patients ranged in age from 23 to 87 years. Seventy-seven patients were men and 59 were women. International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade was most commonly 3 (n=66), followed by 2 (n=42) and 4 (n=28). Tumor size ranged from 0.6 cm to 24.9 cm. The AJCC pathologic T categories included pT1a (n=50), pT1b (n=14), pT2a (n=7), pT2b (n=4), pT3a (n=50), and pT4 (n=9). Forty-four cases included lymph node(s), of which 41% (n=18) had metastases. Tumors were assessed for a variety of histologic features and assigned to the following morphologic groups: predominantly oncocytoma/chromophobe RCC-like; clear cell RCC-like; papillary RCC-like; collecting duct-like; and pure sarcomatoid differentiation. The majority of the oncocytoma/chromophobe and clear cell RCC-like phenotypes were low stage (pT1 or pT2). The papillary RCC-like, collecting duct-like, and pure sarcomatoid phenotypes were mostly high stage (pT3 or pT4). Conclusions RCCU is a term that encompasses tumors with a variety of morphologic features and a wide biologic spectrum. The most common source of diagnostic difficulty was tumors composed of predominantly eosinophilic cells

Radiation Damage of Polycrystalline CVD Diamond with Graphite Electrical Contacts

In this work we show preliminary results of radiation damage for a polycrystalline diamond with graphite contacts in terms of time response after 62 MeV protons irradiation for a total fluence of (2.0±0.08)×1015 protons/cm2. In addition, we describe the realization of a new type of device made with graphite micro-strips by laser micro-writing on diamond surface. In this way we made 20 graphite micro-strips of width about 87 m and spacing between each other of about 60 $\mu$m

Diamond detectors with electrodes graphitized by means of laser

In the last years there has been an increase of interest in diamond devices because of the promising applications in different field, such as high-energy physics, radiotherapy and biochemical applications. In particular, a new frontier is represented by the realization of full-carbon detectors characterized by graphite electrodes, which give to the devices considerable advantages like high radiation hardness, perfect mechanical adhesion and good charge collection properties. In this paper the manufacturing of full-carbon devices and their detection performances are illustrated and compared to a reference diamond detector characterized by traditional electrodes

Test of the CLAS12 RICH large scale prototype in the direct proximity focusing configuration

A large area ring-imaging Cherenkov detector has been designed to provide clean hadron identification capability in the momentum range from 3 GeV/c up to 8 GeV/c for the CLAS12 experiments at the upgraded 12 GeV continuous electron beam accelerator facility of Jefferson Laboratory. The adopted solution foresees a novel hybrid optics design based on aerogel radiator, composite mirrors and high-packed and high-segmented photon detectors. Cherenkov light will either be imaged directly (forward tracks) or after two mirror reflections (large angle tracks). We report here the results of the tests of a large scale prototype of the RICH detector performed with the hadron beam of the CERN T9 experimental hall for the direct detection configuration. The tests demonstrated that the proposed design provides the required pion-to-kaon rejection factor of 1:500 in the whole momentum range.Comment: 15 pages, 23 figures, to appear on EPJ