Benthic communities of the lower mesophotic zone on One Tree shelf edge, southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Context: Increasing interest in mesophotic coral ecosystems has shown that reefs in deep water show considerable geomorphic and ecological variability among geographic regions. Aims: We provide the first investigation of mesophotic reefs at the southern extremity of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to understand the biotic gradients and habitat niches in the lower mesophotic zone. Methods: Multibeam data were used to target five benthic imagery transects collected in the lower mesophotic (80–130 m) zone from the shelf edge near One Tree Island (23°S, 152°E) by using a single HD-SDI subsea camera. Key results: Transects supported similar benthic communities in depths of 80–110 m, with the abundance of sessile benthos declining below ~110 m where the shelf break grades into the upper continental slope. Conclusions: The effect of the Capricorn Eddy may be promoting homogeneity of benthic assemblages, because it provides similar environmental conditions and potential for connectivity. Variation in benthic communities between hard and soft substrate and differing topographic relief within the study site are likely to be influenced by variation in sedimentation, including sensitivity to suspended particles. Implications: This study highlighted that the lower mesophotic region on the One Tree shelf edge supports mesophotic coral ecosystems that vary depending on depth and substrate

The Completely Hackable Amateur Radio Telescope (CHART) Project

We present the Completely Hackable Amateur Radio Telescope (CHART), a project that provides hands-on radio instrumentation and design experience to undergraduates while bringing accessible radio astronomy experiments to high school students and teachers. Here we describe a system which can detect 21-cm emission from the Milky Way which is optimized for cost and simplicity of construction. Software, documentation, and tutorials are all completely open source to improve the user experience and facilitate community involvement. We demonstrate the design with several observations which we compare with state-of-the-art surveys. The system is shown to detect galactic 21-cm emission in both rural and urban settings

A puzzle form of a non-verbal intelligence test gives significantly higher performance measures in children with severe intellectual disability

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Assessment of 'potential intellectual ability' of children with severe intellectual disability (ID) is limited, as current tests designed for normal children do not maintain their interest. Thus a <it>manual puzzle </it>version of the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) was devised to appeal to the attentional and sensory preferences and language limitations of children with ID. It was hypothesized that performance on the book and manual puzzle forms would not differ for typically developing children but that children with ID would perform better on the puzzle form.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The first study assessed the validity of this puzzle form of the RCPM for 76 typically developing children in a test-retest crossover design, with a 3 week interval between tests. A second study tested performance and completion rate for the puzzle form compared to the book form in a sample of 164 children with ID.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the first study, no significant difference was found between performance on the puzzle and book forms in typically developing children, irrespective of the order of completion. The second study demonstrated a significantly higher performance and completion rate for the puzzle form compared to the book form in the ID population.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Similar performance on book and puzzle forms of the RCPM by typically developing children suggests that both forms measure the same construct. These findings suggest that the puzzle form does not require greater cognitive ability but demands sensory-motor attention and limits distraction in children with severe ID. Thus, we suggest the puzzle form of the RCPM is a more reliable measure of the non-verbal mentation of children with severe ID than the book form.</p

Measurement of B(B-->X_s {\gamma}), the B-->X_s {\gamma} photon energy spectrum, and the direct CP asymmetry in B-->X_{s+d} {\gamma} decays

The photon spectrum in B --> X_s {\gamma} decay, where X_s is any strange hadronic state, is studied using a data sample of (382.8\pm 4.2) \times 10^6 e^+ e^- --> \Upsilon(4S) --> BBbar events collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II collider. The spectrum is used to measure the branching fraction B(B --> X_s \gamma) = (3.21 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.29 \pm 0.08)\times 10^{-4} and the first, second, and third moments = 2.267 \pm 0.019 \pm 0.032 \pm 0.003 GeV,, )^2> = 0.0484 \pm 0.0053 \pm 0.0077 \pm 0.0005 GeV^2, and )^3> = -0.0048 \pm 0.0011 \pm 0.0011 \pm 0.0004 GeV^3, for the range E_\gamma > 1.8 GeV, where E_{\gamma} is the photon energy in the B-meson rest frame. Results are also presented for narrower E_{\gamma} ranges. In addition, the direct CP asymmetry A_{CP}(B --> X_{s+d} \gamma) is measured to be 0.057 \pm 0.063. The spectrum itself is also unfolded to the B-meson rest frame; that is the frame in which theoretical predictions for its shape are made.Comment: 37 pages, 19 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. No analysis or results have changed from previous version. Some changes to improve clarity based on interactions with Phys. Rev. D referees, including one new Figure (Fig. 13), and some minor wording/punctuation/spelling mistakes fixe

Scans for signatures of selection in Russian cattle breed genomes reveal new candidate genes for environmental adaptation and acclimation

Domestication and selective breeding has resulted in over 1000 extant cattle breeds. Many of these breeds do not excel in important traits but are adapted to local environments. These adaptations are a valuable source of genetic material for efforts to improve commercial breeds. As a step toward this goal we identified candidate regions to be under selection in genomes of nine Russian native cattle breeds adapted to survive in harsh climates. After comparing our data to other breeds of European and Asian origins we found known and novel candidate genes that could potentially be related to domestication, economically important traits and environmental adaptations in cattle. The Russian cattle breed genomes contained regions under putative selection with genes that may be related to adaptations to harsh environments (e.g., AQP5, RAD50, and RETREG1). We found genomic signatures of selective sweeps near key genes related to economically important traits, such as the milk production (e.g., DGAT1, ABCG2), growth (e.g., XKR4), and reproduction (e.g., CSF2). Our data point to candidate genes which should be included in future studies attempting to identify genes to improve the extant breeds and facilitate generation of commercial breeds that fit better into the environments of Russia and other countries with similar climates

Cross Sections for the Reactions e+e- --> K+ K- pi+pi-, K+ K- pi0pi0, and K+ K- K+ K- Measured Using Initial-State Radiation Events

We study the processes e+e- --> K+ K- pi+pi-gamma, K+ K- pi0pi0gamma, and K+ K- K+ K-gamma, where the photon is radiated from the initial state. About 84000, 8000, and 4200 fully reconstructed events, respectively, are selected from 454 fb-1 of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the \epem center-of-mass energy, so that the K+ K- pi+pi- data can be compared with direct measurements of the e+e- --> K+ K- pi+pi- reaction. No direct measurements exist for the e+e- --> K+ K-pi0pi0 or e+e- --> K+ K-K+ K- reactions, and we present an update of our previous result with doubled statistics. Studying the structure of these events, we find contributions from a number of intermediate states, and extract their cross sections. In particular, we perform a more detailed study of the e+e- --> phi(1020)pipigamma reaction, and confirm the presence of the Y(2175) resonance in the phi(1020) f0(980) and K+K-f0(980) modes. In the charmonium region, we observe the J/psi in all three final states and in several intermediate states, as well as the psi(2S) in some modes, and measure the corresponding product of branching fraction and electron width.Comment: 35 pages, 42 figure

Precise Measurement of the e+ e- --> pi+ pi- (gamma) Cross Section with the Initial-State Radiation Method at BABAR

A precise measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ from threshold to an energy of 3GeV is obtained with the initial-state radiation (ISR) method using 232fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BaBar detector at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 10.6GeV. The ISR luminosity is determined from a study of the leptonic process $e^+e^-\to\mu^+\mu^-(\gamma)\gamma_{\rm ISR}$, which is found to agree with the next-to-leading-order QED prediction to within 1.1%. The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ is obtained with a systematic uncertainty of 0.5% in the dominant $\rho$ resonance region. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon magnetic anomaly calculated using the measured $\pi\pi$ cross section from threshold to 1.8GeV is $(514.1 \pm 2.2({\rm stat}) \pm 3.1({\rm syst}))\times 10^{-10}$.Comment: 58 pages, 56 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Measurement of Branching Fractions and Rate Asymmetries in the Rare Decays B -> K(*) l+ l-

In a sample of 471 million BB events collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider we study the rare decays B -> K(*) l+ l-, where l+ l- is either e+e- or mu+mu-. We report results on partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries in seven bins of di-lepton mass-squared. We further present CP and lepton-flavor asymmetries for di-lepton masses below and above the J/psi resonance. We find no evidence for CP or lepton-flavor violation. The partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and with results from other experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Search for lepton-number violating processes in B+ -> h- l+ l+ decays

We have searched for the lepton-number violating processes B+ -> h- l+ l+ with h- = K-/pi- and l+ = e+/mu+, using a sample of 471+/-3 million BBbar events collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We find no evidence for these decays and place 90% confidence level upper limits on their branching fractions Br(B+ -> pi- e+ e+) K- e+ e+) pi- mu+ mu+) K- mu+ mu+) < 6.7 x 10^{-8}.Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. R

Branching fraction and form-factor shape measurements of exclusive charmless semileptonic B decays, and determination of |V_{ub}|

We report the results of a study of the exclusive charmless semileptonic decays, B^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu, B^+ --> pi^0 l^+ nu, B^+ --> omega l^+ nu, B^+ --> eta l^+ nu and B^+ --> eta^' l^+ nu, (l = e or mu) undertaken with approximately 462x10^6 B\bar{B} pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. The analysis uses events in which the signal B decays are reconstructed with a loose neutrino reconstruction technique. We obtain partial branching fractions in several bins of q^2, the square of the momentum transferred to the lepton-neutrino pair, for B^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu, B^+ --> pi^0 l^+ nu, B^+ --> omega l^+ nu and B^+ --> eta l^+ nu. From these distributions, we extract the form-factor shapes f_+(q^2) and the total branching fractions BF(B^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu) = (1.45 +/- 0.04_{stat} +/- 0.06_{syst})x10^-4 (combined pi^- and pi^0 decay channels assuming isospin symmetry), BF(B^+ --> omega l^+ nu) = (1.19 +/- 0.16_{stat} +/- 0.09_{syst})x10^-4 and BF(B^+ --> eta l^+ nu) = (0.38 +/- 0.05_{stat} +/- 0.05_{syst})x10^-4. We also measure BF(B^+ --> eta^' l^+ nu) = (0.24 +/- 0.08_{stat} +/- 0.03_{syst})x10^-4. We obtain values for the magnitude of the CKM matrix element V_{ub} by direct comparison with three different QCD calculations in restricted q^2 ranges of B --> pi l^+ nu decays. From a simultaneous fit to the experimental data over the full q^2 range and the FNAL/MILC lattice QCD predictions, we obtain |V_{ub}| = (3.25 +/- 0.31)x10^-3, where the error is the combined experimental and theoretical uncertainty.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR