Tirisporella gen. nov., an ascomycete from the mangrove palm Nypa fruticans

Tirisporella beccariana comb.nov. is redescribed from decomposing leaf petiole (or rachis) bases of Nypa fruticans recently collected in Malaysia and the Philippiines. The superficial ascomata bear bitunicate asci with (3-)5(-7)-septate ascospores that are brown and verrucose, except for the prominent hyaline basal cell, and furnished with a distinctive apical appendage that arises from the spore wall. Te ultrastructure of the fungus is contrasted with that of species of Corollospora and Corallicola, with particular reference to the mode of ascospore appendage formation. The species was originally described from a Sarawak collection as Sphaeria becariana and later transferred to Melanomma and given the new name Melanomma cesatianum. Gibberidea nipae is a synonym. The recent collections were compared with type specimens. The fungus is not properly placed in Melanomma or Gibberidea or other known genera and a new genus Tiriporella is described.published_or_final_versio

XMMSL2 J144605.0+685735: a slow tidal disruption event

Aims. We investigate the evolution of X-ray selected tidal disruption events. Methods. New events are found in near real-time data from XMM-Newton slews, and are monitored by multi-wavelength facilities. Results. In August 2016, X-ray emission was detected from the galaxy XMMSL2 J144605.0+685735 (also known as 2MASX 14460522+6857311), that was 20 times higher than an upper limit from 25 years earlier. The X-ray flux was flat for ∼100 days and then fell by a factor of 100 over the following 500 days. The UV flux was stable for the first 400 days before fading by a magnitude, while the optical (U,B,V) bands were roughly constant for 850 days. Optically, the galaxy appears to be quiescent, at a distance of 127 ± 4 Mpc (z = 0.029 ± 0.001) with a spectrum consisting of a young stellar population of 1–5 Gyr in age, an older population, and a total stellar mass of ∼6 × 109 M⊙. The bolometric luminosity peaked at Lbol ∼ 1043 ergs s−1 with an X-ray spectrum that may be modelled by a power law of Γ ∼ 2.6 or Comptonisation of a low-temperature thermal component by thermal electrons. We consider a tidal disruption event to be the most likely cause of the flare. Radio emission was absent in this event down to < 10 μJy, which limits the total energy of a hypothetical off-axis jet to E <  5 × 1050 ergs. The independent behaviour of the optical, UV, and X-ray light curves challenges models where the UV emission is produced by reprocessing of thermal nuclear emission or by stream-stream collisions. We suggest that the observed UV emission may have been produced from a truncated accretion disc and the X-rays from Compton upscattering of these disc photons

Log D_7.4 and plasma protein binding of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists and a comparison of experimental and predicted lipophilicity

The emergence of new synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) onto the illicit drugs market continues to cause harm, and the overall availability of physicochemical and pharmacokinetic data for new psychoactive substances is lacking. The lipophilicity of 23 SCRAs and the plasma protein binding (PPB) of 11 SCRAs was determined. Lipophilicity was determined using a validated chromatographic hydrophobicity index (CHI) log D method; tested SCRAs showed moderate to high lipophilicity, with experimental log D7.4 ranging from 2.48 (AB-FUBINACA) to 4.95 (4F-ABUTINACA). These results were also compared to in silico predictions generated using seven commercially available software packages and online tools (Canvas; ChemDraw; Gastroplus; MoKa; PreADMET; SwissADME; and XlogP). Licenced, dedicated software packages provided more accurate lipophilicity predictions than those which were free or had prediction as a secondary function; however, the latter still provided competitive estimates in most cases. PPB of tested SCRAs, as determined by equilibrium dialysis, was in the upper range of the lipophilicity scale, ranging from 90.8% (ADB-BUTINACA) to 99.9% (BZO-HEXOXIZID). The high PPB of these drugs may contribute to reduced rate of clearance and extended durations of pharmacological effects compared to lesser-bound SCRAs. The presented data improve understanding of the behaviour of these drugs in the body. Ultimately, similar data and predictions may be used in the prediction of the structure and properties of drugs yet to emerge on the illicit market

Probing the Space of Toric Quiver Theories

We demonstrate a practical and efficient method for generating toric Calabi-Yau quiver theories, applicable to both D3 and M2 brane world-volume physics. A new analytic method is presented at low order parametres and an algorithm for the general case is developed which has polynomial complexity in the number of edges in the quiver. Using this algorithm, carefully implemented, we classify the quiver diagram and assign possible superpotentials for various small values of the number of edges and nodes. We examine some preliminary statistics on this space of toric quiver theories

Antecedents and consequences of effectuation and causation in the international new venture creation process

The selection of the entry mode in an international market is of key importance for the venture. A process-based perspective on entry mode selection can add to the International Business and International Entrepreneurship literature. Framing the international market entry as an entrepreneurial process, this paper analyzes the antecedents and consequences of causation and effectuation in the entry mode selection. For the analysis, regression-based techniques were used on a sample of 65 gazelles. The results indicate that experienced entrepreneurs tend to apply effectuation rather than causation, while uncertainty does not have a systematic influence. Entrepreneurs using causation-based international new venture creation processes tend to engage in export-type entry modes, while effectuation-based international new venture creation processes do not predetermine the entry mod

Strings on Semisymmetric Superspaces

Several string backgrounds which arise in the AdS/CFT correspondence are described by integrable sigma-models. Their target space is always a Z(4) supercoset (a semi-symmetric superspace). Here we list all semi-symmetric cosets which have zero beta function and central charge c<=26 at one loop in perturbation theory.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur

Regulation of Petrobactin and Bacillibactin Biosynthesis in Bacillus anthracis under Iron and Oxygen Variation

siderophore biosynthetic operons that are responsible for synthesis of petrobactin and bacillibactin, during variable growth conditions., a member of the bacillibactin biosynthetic operon, was only transcribed under conditions of iron-depletion, regardless of growth aeration.

Spectrotemporal Processing in Spectral Tuning Modules of Cat Primary Auditory Cortex

Spectral integration properties show topographical order in cat primary auditory cortex (AI). Along the iso-frequency domain, regions with predominantly narrowly tuned (NT) neurons are segregated from regions with more broadly tuned (BT) neurons, forming distinct processing modules. Despite their prominent spatial segregation, spectrotemporal processing has not been compared for these regions. We identified these NT and BT regions with broad-band ripple stimuli and characterized processing differences between them using both spectrotemporal receptive fields (STRFs) and nonlinear stimulus/firing rate transformations. The durations of STRF excitatory and inhibitory subfields were shorter and the best temporal modulation frequencies were higher for BT neurons than for NT neurons. For NT neurons, the bandwidth of excitatory and inhibitory subfields was matched, whereas for BT neurons it was not. Phase locking and feature selectivity were higher for NT neurons. Properties of the nonlinearities showed only slight differences across the bandwidth modules. These results indicate fundamental differences in spectrotemporal preferences - and thus distinct physiological functions - for neurons in BT and NT spectral integration modules. However, some global processing aspects, such as spectrotemporal interactions and nonlinear input/output behavior, appear to be similar for both neuronal subgroups. The findings suggest that spectral integration modules in AI differ in what specific stimulus aspects are processed, but they are similar in the manner in which stimulus information is processed