Yield and Forage Quality in Alfalfa-Weeping Lovegrass Mixtures

Little is known about the relative performance of weeping lovegrass in mixtures with alfalfa. Our objective was to compare the productivity and forage quality of monocultures and binary mixtures of the species. Mixtures always gave higher yields than any of the monocultures and the highest was obtained in the mixture with the largest proportion of alfalfa. In the second year weeping lovegrass N concentration in the mixtures were higher than in monoculture. Weeping lovegrass did not affect the alfalfa N concentration. There was not differences in the NDF, for between these species

Effects of Accelerate Ageing and Low Temperatures on Germination of Range Grasses

Accelerated ageing and cold tests were used to determine the seed vigour of different valuable forage grasses from the temperate semiarid region of Argentina (Piptochaetium napostaense, Poa ligularis, Stipa longiglumis, Stipa tenuis, Digitaria californica, Pappophorum subbulbosum, Setaria leiantha, Sorghastrum pellitum, Trichloris crinita). In general, warm season species showed greater vigour than cool season species

Environment-Driven Coherent Population Transfer Governs the Ultrafast Photophysics of Tryptophan

By combining UV transient absorption spectroscopy with sub-30-fs temporal resolution and CASPT2/MM calculations, we present a complete description of the primary photo-induced processes in solvated tryptophan. Our results shed new light on the role of the solvent in the relaxation dynamics of tryptophan. We unveil two consecutive coherent population transfer events involving the lowest two singlet excited states: a sub-50-fs non-adiabatic La-->Lb transfer through a conical intersection and a subsequent 220 fs reverse Lb-->La transfer due to solvent assisted adiabatic stabilization of the La state. Vibrational fingerprints in the transient absorption spectra provide compelling evidence of a vibronic coherence established between the two excited states from the earliest times after photoexcitation and lasting until the back-transfer to La is complete. The demonstration of response to the environment as a driver of coherent population dynamics among the excited states of tryptophan closes the long debate on its solvent-assisted relaxation mechanisms and extends its application as a local probe of protein dynamics to the ultrafast timescales

A Unified Experimental/Theoretical Description of the Ultrafast Photophysics of Single and Double Thionated Uracils

Photoinduced processes in thiouracil derivatives have lately attracted considerable attention due to their suitability for innovative biological and pharmacological applications. Here, sub-20 fs broadband transient absorption spectroscopy in the near-UV are combined with CASPT2/MM decay path calculations to unravel the excited-state decay channels of water solvated 2-thio and 2,4-dithiouracil. These molecules feature linear absorption spectra with overlapping ππ* bands, leading to parallel decay routes which we systematically track for the first time. The results reveal that different processes lead to the triplet states population, both directly from the ππ* absorbing state and via the intermediate nπ* dark state. Moreover, the 2,4-dithiouracil decay pathways is shown to be strongly correlated either to those of 2- or 4-thiouracil, depending on the sulfur atom on which the electronic transition localizes

Coherent vibrational modes promote the ultrafast internal conversion and intersystem crossing in thiobases

Thionated nucleobases are obtained by replacing oxygen with sulphur atoms in the canonical nucleobases. They absorb light efficiently in the near-ultraviolet, populating singlet states which undergo intersystem crossing to the triplet manifold on an ultrashort time scale with a high quantum yield. Nonetheless there are still important open questions about the primary mechanisms responsible for this ultrafast transition. Here we track both the electronic and the vibrational ultrafast excited-state dynamics towards the triplet state for solvated 4-thiothymidine (4TT) and 4-thiouracil (4TU) with sub-30 fs broadband transient absorption spectroscopy in the ultraviolet. A global and target analysis allows us to simultaneously resolve the contributions of the different electronically and vibrationally excited states to the whole data set. Our experimental results, combined with state-of-the-art quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations and Damped Oscillation Associated Spectra (DOAS) and target analysis, support that the relaxation to the triplet state is mediated by conical intersections promoted by vibrational coherences through the population of an intermediate singlet state. In addition, the analysis of the coherent vibrational dynamics reveals that, despite sharing the same relaxation mechanism and similar chemical structures, 4TT and 4TU exhibit rather different geometrical deformations, characterized by the conservation of planarity in 4TU and its partial rupture in 4TT

Electron and ion spectroscopy of azobenzene in the valence and core shells

Azobenzene is a prototype and a building block of a class of molecules of extreme technological interest as molecular photo-switches. We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of its response to irradiation with light across the UV to x-ray spectrum. The study of valence and inner shell photo-ionization and excitation processes combined with measurement of valence photoelectron-photoion coincidence and mass spectra across the core thresholds provides a detailed insight into the site- and state-selected photo-induced processes. Photo-ionization and excitation measurements are interpreted via the multi-configurational restricted active space self-consistent field method corrected by second order perturbation theory. Using static modeling, we demonstrate that the carbon and nitrogen K edges of azobenzene are suitable candidates for exploring its photoinduced dynamics thanks to the transient signals appearing in background-free regions of the NEXAFS and XPS

HELP: the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project

We present the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP). This project collates, curates, homogenizes, and creates derived data products for most of the premium multiwavelength extragalactic data sets. The sky boundaries for the first data release cover 1270 deg2 defined by the Herschel SPIRE extragalactic survey fields; notably the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) and the Herschel Atlas survey (H-ATLAS). Here, we describe the motivation and principal elements in the design of the project. Guiding principles are transparent or ‘open’ methodologies with care for reproducibility and identification of provenance. A key element of the design focuses around the homogenization of calibration, meta data, and the provision of information required to define the selection of the data for statistical analysis. We apply probabilistic methods that extract information directly from the images at long wavelengths, exploiting the prior information available at shorter wavelengths and providing full posterior distributions rather than maximum-likelihood estimates and associated uncertainties as in traditional catalogues. With this project definition paper, we provide full access to the first data release of HELP; Data Release 1 (DR1), including a monolithic map of the largest SPIRE extragalactic field at 385 deg2 and 18 million measurements of PACS and SPIRE fluxes. We also provide tools to access and analyse the full HELP data base. This new data set includes far-infrared photometry, photometric redshifts, and derived physical properties estimated from modelling the spectral energy distributions over the full HELP sky. All the software and data presented is publicly available

Long-term follow-up of certolizumab pegol in uveitis due to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: multicentre study of 80 patients

ObjectivesTo evaluate effectiveness and safety of certolizumab pegol (CZP) in uveitis due to immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID).MethodsMulticentre study of CZP-treated patients with IMID uveitis refractory to conventional immunosuppressant. Effectiveness was assessed through the following ocular parameters: best-corrected visual acuity, anterior chamber cells, vitritis, macular thickness and retinal vasculitis. These variables were compared between the baseline, and first week, first, third, sixth months, first and second year.ResultsWe studied 80 (33 men/47 women) patients (111 affected eyes) with a mean age of 41.6 +/- 11.7 years. The IMID included were: spondyloarthritis (n=43), Behcet's disease (n=10), psoriatic arthritis (n=8), Crohn's disease (n=4), sarcoidosis (n=2), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (n=1), reactive arthritis (n=1), rheumatoid arthritis (n=1), relapsing polychondritis (n=1),ConclusionsCZP seems to be effective and safe in uveitis related to different IMID, even in patients refractory to previous biological drugs

A hyperluminous obscured quasar at a redshift of z ≍ 4.3

Large scale structure and cosmolog