Project X: Physics Opportunities

Part 2 of "Project X: Accelerator Reference Design, Physics Opportunities, Broader Impacts". In this Part, we outline the particle-physics program that can be achieved with Project X, a staged superconducting linac for intensity-frontier particle physics. Topics include neutrino physics, kaon physics, muon physics, electric dipole moments, neutron-antineutron oscillations, new light particles, hadron structure, hadron spectroscopy, and lattice-QCD calculations. Part 1 is available as arXiv:1306.5022 [physics.acc-ph] and Part 3 is available as arXiv:1306.5024 [physics.acc-ph]

Weed seed predation in arable crops relates to semi-natural habitats in European landscapes

Greening policies require increased knowledge about interactions between semi-natural habitat (SNH) and ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control that are supported by these habitats at the landscape scale. The EU-FP7 project QuESSA (Quantification of ecological services for sustainable agriculture), aims to quantify how SNH composition and configuration affect weed seed predation levels in arable fields in Germany, Estonia, Switzerland, England, Hungary, Italy, in French vineyards and in Dutch orchards. In each case study (country-crop species combination), 18 fields were selected on separate farms. Landscape context around each focal field was digitized, characterizing all landscape elements wider than 3 m in a 1 km circle. Fields were selected to represent a gradient in the proportion of SNH in the surrounding landscape sectors. Fields had either a woody, herbaceous or no field margin adjacent to the transects, with 6 fields of each type. In each field, eight seed cards covered with a 1-cm wire mesh, containing 20 Poa trivialis and 20 Chenopodium album seeds were exposed for 7 days on two transects, 10 m apart, at four distances from the field margin. We used GLMs to model the expected seed predation in the fields as a function of variables characterizing the landscape, the margin habitat and distance from the margin. To link habitat and seed predation, a modelling approach was used that assumes that the amount of seed predation at a given target site is the sum of contributions from different sources in the surrounding landscape, according to their area and distance from the target. Semi-natural habitats in the landscape had significant effects on seed predation, but the size and direction of effect varied between studies, species of seed, and habitat type. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration

Microbiome in cystic fibrosis: shaping polymicrobial interactions for advances in antibiotic therapy

Recent molecular methodologies have demonstrated a complex microbial ecosystem in cystic fibrosis (CF) airways, with a wide array of uncommon microorganisms co-existing with the traditional pathogens. Although there are lines of evidence supporting the contribution of some of those emergent species for lung disease chronicity, clinical significance remains uncertain for most cases. A possible contribution for disease is likely to be related with the dynamic interactions established between microorganisms within the microbial community and with the host. If this is the case, management of CF will only be successful upon suitable and exhaustive modulation of such mixed ecological processes, which will also be useful to predict the effects of new therapeutic interventions.The authors report no declarations of interest. The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grant: SFRH/BD/47613/2008 - Susana Lopes, ANTIPEP project PTDC/SAU-SAP/113196/2009 and DNA mimics project PIC/IC/82815/2007). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the COST-Action TD1004: Theragnostics for imaging and therapy