Recurrence quantification analysis of simulations of near-marginal dissipative-trapped-electron-mode turbulence

Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) is a powerful tool to study dynamical systems and to help us understand and characterize the underlying physics when a transition occurs. The idea is based on the fact that, given sufficiently long time lapses, every dynamical system returns to states arbitrarily close to those it had in the past. This fundamental property of dynamical systems is called recurrence. In this work, we analyze, using the RQA technique, the recurrence properties of time series obtained from a series of numerical simulations of a dissipative-trapped-electron-mode (DTEM) turbulence model in near-marginal conditions where a transition in the nature of turbulent transport was observed as a subdominant diffusive channel strength is increased from zero [J. A. Mier et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 112301 (2008)]. The results of the RQA analysis clearly show that the degree of determinism and complexity of the dynamics closely follows the degree of non-diffusiveness in the observed transportThis research was sponsored by DGICYT (Dirección General de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas) of Spain under Project No. ENE2009-12213-C03-03=FTN. Research supported in part by DOE Office of Science Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER5741 at University of Alaska

Young and Intermediate-age Distance Indicators

Distance measurements beyond geometrical and semi-geometrical methods, rely mainly on standard candles. As the name suggests, these objects have known luminosities by virtue of their intrinsic proprieties and play a major role in our understanding of modern cosmology. The main caveats associated with standard candles are their absolute calibration, contamination of the sample from other sources and systematic uncertainties. The absolute calibration mainly depends on their chemical composition and age. To understand the impact of these effects on the distance scale, it is essential to develop methods based on different sample of standard candles. Here we review the fundamental properties of young and intermediate-age distance indicators such as Cepheids, Mira variables and Red Clump stars and the recent developments in their application as distance indicators.Comment: Review article, 63 pages (28 figures), Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (Chapter 3 of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age

Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Heavy silicon isotopic composition of silicic acid and biogenic silicain arctic waters over the Beaufort shelf and the Canada Basin

Propargylamines are versatile building blocks for the synthesisof various nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds,1 andimportant intermediates for the preparation of complex naturalproducts and biologically active molecules.2 Further, somepropargylamines have been clinically used or are currentlytested for the treatment of Parkinson's disease3 and Alzheimer'sdisease.4 Classically, propargylamines are synthesized by thenucleophilic addition of a metal alkynylide to C]N electrophiles,which oen requires stoichiometric amount of highlyactive organometallic reagents such as organolithium,5Grignard reagents,6 and organozinc reagents,7 and hence is lessattractive due to low tolerance of functional groups, harshreaction conditions, and operational complexity. In the pastdecade, transition-metal catalyzed three-component couplingof an aldehyde, an alkyne, and an amine (generally referred asA3-coupling) has received more and more attention due to its atom economy, step efficiency, and high chemical selectivity..

Effect of an acid mine drainage effluent on phytoplankton biomass and primary production at Britannia Beach, Howe Sound, British Columbia

We investigated the effect of acid mine drainage (AMD) from an abandoned copper mine at Britannia Beach (Howe Sound, BC, Canada) on primary productivity and chlorophyll a levels in the receiving waters of Howe Sound before, during, and after freshet from the Squamish River. Elevated concentrations of copper (integrated average through the water column >0.050 mg l^-1) in nearshore waters indicated that under some conditions a small gyre near the mouth of Britannia Creek may have retained the AMD from Britannia Creek and from a 30-m deep water outfall close to shore. Regression and correlation analyses indicated that copper negatively affected primary productivity during April (pre-freshet) and November (post-freshet). Negative effects of copper on primary productivity were not supported statistically for July (freshet), possibly because of additional effects such as turbidity from the Squamish River. Depth-integrated average and surface chlorophyll a were correlated to copper concentrations in April. During this short study we demonstrated that copper concentrations from the AMD discharge can negatively affect both primary productivity and the standing stock of primary producers in Howe Sound. Crown Copyright © 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Iron and silicic acid effects on phytoplankton productivity, diversity and chemical composition in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean

A microcosm nutrient-amendment experiment using central equatorial Pacific Ocean (0u, 140uW) mixed-layer waters was conducted to determine biogeochemical controls on phytoplankton with an emphasis on post-iron enrichment nutrient uptake dynamics and species composition. The addition of either Fe (termed Fe-only) or Fe and Si(OH)4 (termed FeSi) to on-deck incubations resulted in growth primarily of pennate diatoms, with statistically equivalent increases relative to the control in maximum photochemical efficiency, chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations, and dissolved inorganic carbon uptake rates. In contrast, at peak Chl a concentrations, there was a 3.4-fold higher abundance of large diatoms and a 3.9- fold lower abundance of small pennate diatoms in FeSi relative to Fe-only, which translated into a 3.5-fold higher Si(OH)4 uptake rate and a 2.1-fold higher biogenic silica concentration. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that relative to cells from Fe-only, cells from FeSi possessed the lowest protein : carbohydrate ratios, and ratios of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates relative to silica, consistent with differences in diatom C allocation or increased silicification or both. Our results suggest that after Fe addition, diatom organic matter accumulation rates (i.e., C and N uptake rates) are enhanced but the low, ambient [Si(OH)4] retards cell division rates, resulting in fewer large diatoms with relatively high C and N contents. After the simultaneous addition of Fe and Si(OH)4, enhanced rates of diatom organic matter accumulation and cell division results in more large, heavily silicified diatoms with relatively low C and N contents

Heavy silicon isotopic composition of silicic acid and biogenic silicain arctic waters over the Beaufort shelf and the Canada Basin

The silicon isotopic composition of silicic acid (δ30Si(OH)4) and biogenic silica (δ30Si‐bSiO2) were measured for the first time in marine Arctic waters from the Mackenzie River delta to the deep Canada Basin in the late summer of 2009. In the upper 100 m of the water column, δ30Si(OH)4 signals (+1.82‰ to +3.08‰) were negatively correlated with the relative contribution of Mackenzie River water. The biogenic Si isotope fractionation factor estimated using an open system model, 30ε = −0.97 ± 0.17‰, agrees well with laboratory and global‐ocean estimates. Nevertheless, the δ30Si dynamics of this region may be better represented by closed system isotope models that yield lower values of 30ε, between −0.33‰ and −0.41‰, depending on how the contribution of sea‐ice diatoms is incorporated. In the upper 400 m, δ30Si‐bSiO2 values were among the heaviest ever measured in marine suspended bSiO2 (+2.03‰ to +3.51‰)..

Micronucleated erythrocytes in newborn rats exposed to raltegravir placental transfer

The use of raltegravir in treating HIV/AIDS has been proposed due to its effectiveness in suppressing high loads of HIV RNA in pregnant women, thus preventing infection of the fetus. However, administration of raltegravir during pregnancy produces a compound which is transferred to high concentrations to the offspring. The objective of this study is to evaluate the transplacental genotoxic effect of raltegravir in newborn rats. We evaluated the number of micronucleated erythrocytes (MNE), micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPCE), and polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) in the peripheral blood samples of the offspring of Wistar rats treated 6 days before birth with oral administration of raltegravir. The animals were randomly assigned to five groups as follows: raltegravir at doses of 15, 30, or 60 mg/day, cyclophosphamide 10 mg/kg (positive control), or 0.5 ml of sterile water (negative control). In addition, the effect of these drugs on the weight and height of newborns was assessed. There were no differences in the number of MNE, MNPCE, and PCE, and a slight decrease in the weight and height was observed in the offspring of the rat mothers treated with raltegravir. Genotoxicity studies are required in pregnant women to determine the risk of using raltegravir to the fetuses. � 2014 Blanca Miriam Torres-Mendoza et al

Supplementary Material for: Thrombomodulin gene mutation and associated predisposing factors in familial collapsing glomerulopathy

Introduction: Collapsing glomerulopathy (CG) is a rare glomerular disease and its familial form is even rarer. CG and non-collapsing forms of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) may both be caused by pathogenic variants in the same genes, but there is less information on genetics of the former disease. We hypothesized that different hits (viral infection and genetic variants) may be involved in the development of a familial CG here described. Methods: Renal and etiological routine evaluation, PVB19 serology, genetic tests including whole exome analysis and dosage of serum thrombomodulin (THBD) were performed in two siblings with CG, one healthy sister and their mother. Results: The THBD gene variant p.A43T in homozygosity was identified in the proband and her affected brother, both with CG. The same mutation was identified in their mother in heterozygosity. Thrombomodulin levels were elevated in the serum of both affected siblings. They also had PVB19 positive serology and the G1 high-risk apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) alelles in homozygosity. Their healthy sister had no PVB19 positive serology and no THBD nor APOL1 gene variants. Conclusion: In this case of familial CG, THBD and APOL1 gene variants, and a previous PVB19 infection may be associated with the development of CG in a multi-hit process. In addition, the p.A43T THBD variant, identified in the affected siblings, has never been previously described in homozygosis, pointing to a likely autosomal recessive CG trait caused by this gene mutation