Conspicuous Smooth and White Egg-Shaped Sulfur Structures on a Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Formed by Sulfide-Oxidizing Bacteria

Conspicuous egg-shaped, white, and smooth structures were observed at a hydrothermal vent site in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California. The gelatinous structures decomposed within hours after sampling. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy showed that the structure consisted of filaments of less than 0.1 mm thickness, similar to those observed for "Candidatus Arcobacter sulfidicus." SEM-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed that the filaments were sulfur rich. According to 16S rRNA gene amplicon and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses, Arcobacter, a sulfide oxidizer that is known to produce filamentous elemental sulfur, was among the dominant species in the structure and was likely responsible for its formation. Arcobacter normally produces woolly snowflake like structures in opposed gradients of sulfide and oxygen. In the laboratory, we observed sulfide consumption in the anoxic zone of the structure, suggesting an anaerobic conversion. The sulfide oxidation and decomposition of the structure in the laboratory may be explained by dissolution of the sulfur filaments by reaction with sulfide under formation of polysulfides. IMPORTANCE At the deep-sea Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent system, sulfide-rich hydrothermal fluids mix with oxygenated seawater, thereby providing a habitat for microbial sulfur oxidation. Microbial sulfur oxidation in the deep sea involves a variety of organisms and processes and can result in the excretion of elemental sulfur. Here, we report on conspicuous white and smooth gelatinous structures found on hot vents. These strange egg-shaped structures were often observed on previous occasions in the Guaymas Basin, but their composition and formation process were unknown. Our data suggest that the notable and highly ephemeral structure was likely formed by the well-known sulfide-oxidizing Arcobacter. While normally Arcobacter produces loose flocs or woolly layers, here smooth gel-like structures were found

Efficient long-pulse fully-loaded CTF3 linac operation

An efficient RF to beam energy transfer in the accelerating structures of the drive beam is one of the key points of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) RF power source. For this, the structures are fully beam-loaded, i.e. the accelerating gradient is nearly zero at the downstream end of each structure. In this way, about 96 % of the RF energy can be transferred to the beam. To demonstrate this mode of operation, 1.5 ..s long beam pulses are accelerated in six fully loaded structures in the CLIC Test Facility (CTF3) Linac. The final beam energy is compared to the input RF power of the structures, proving the efficient energy transfer

Updated CLIC parameters 2005

This note presents the CLIC parameter set as of mid 2005 and describes the different sub-systems, stressing how the design of the different components is driven. This design emerged from a better understanding of limitations for normal conducting accelerating structures, which led to a new optimised design for the CLIC 30 GHz accelerating structure. The structure parameters and improvements in other sub-systems have resulted in a major revision of the parameters. The overall layout and efciencies for CLIC with this updated parameter-set are presented

A high-gradient test of a 30 GHz copper accelerating structure

The CLIC study is investigating a number of different materials at different frequencies in order to find ways to increase achievable accelerating gradient and to understand what are the important parameters for high-gradient operation. So far a series of rf tests have been made with a set of identical-geometry 30 GHz and X-band structures in copper, tungsten and molybdenum. A new test of a 30 GHz copper accelerating structure has been completed in CTF3 with pulse lengths up to 70 ns. The new results are presented and compared to the previous structures to determine dependencies of quantities such accelerating gradient, material, frequency, pulse length, conditioning rate, breakdown rate and surface damage

Testing superabsorbent polymer (SAP) sorption properties prior to implementation in concrete: results of a RILEM Round-Robin Test

This article presents the results of a round-robin test performed by 13 international research groups in the framework of the activities of the RILEM Technical Committee 260 RSC "Recommendations for use of superabsorbent polymers in concrete construction''. Two commercially available superabsorbent polymers (SAP) with different chemical compositions and gradings were tested in terms of their kinetics of absorption in different media; demineralized water, cement filtrate solution with a particular cement distributed to every participant and a local cement chosen by the participant. Two absorption test methods were considered; the tea-bag method and the filtration method. The absorption capacity was evaluated as a function of time. The results showed correspondence in behaviour of the SAPs among all participants, but also between the two test methods, even though high scatter was observed at early minutes of testing after immersion. The tea-bag method proved to be more practical in terms of time dependent study, whereby the filtration method showed less variation in the absorption capacity after 24 h. However, absorption followed by intrinsic, ionmediated desorption of a specific SAP sample in the course of time was not detected by the filtration method. This SAP-specific characteristic was only displayed by the tea-bag method. This demonstrates the practical applicability of both test methods, each one having their own strengths and weaknesses at distinct testing times

Impact of clinical phenotypes on management and outcomes in European atrial fibrillation patients: a report from the ESC-EHRA EURObservational Research Programme in AF (EORP-AF) General Long-Term Registry

Background: Epidemiological studies in atrial fibrillation (AF) illustrate that clinical complexity increase the risk of major adverse outcomes. We aimed to describe European AF patients\u2019 clinical phenotypes and analyse the differential clinical course. Methods: We performed a hierarchical cluster analysis based on Ward\u2019s Method and Squared Euclidean Distance using 22 clinical binary variables, identifying the optimal number of clusters. We investigated differences in clinical management, use of healthcare resources and outcomes in a cohort of European AF patients from a Europe-wide observational registry. Results: A total of 9363 were available for this analysis. We identified three clusters: Cluster 1 (n = 3634; 38.8%) characterized by older patients and prevalent non-cardiac comorbidities; Cluster 2 (n = 2774; 29.6%) characterized by younger patients with low prevalence of comorbidities; Cluster 3 (n = 2955;31.6%) characterized by patients\u2019 prevalent cardiovascular risk factors/comorbidities. Over a mean follow-up of 22.5 months, Cluster 3 had the highest rate of cardiovascular events, all-cause death, and the composite outcome (combining the previous two) compared to Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 (all P <.001). An adjusted Cox regression showed that compared to Cluster 2, Cluster 3 (hazard ratio (HR) 2.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.27\u20133.62; HR 3.42, 95%CI 2.72\u20134.31; HR 2.79, 95%CI 2.32\u20133.35), and Cluster 1 (HR 1.88, 95%CI 1.48\u20132.38; HR 2.50, 95%CI 1.98\u20133.15; HR 2.09, 95%CI 1.74\u20132.51) reported a higher risk for the three outcomes respectively. Conclusions: In European AF patients, three main clusters were identified, differentiated by differential presence of comorbidities. Both non-cardiac and cardiac comorbidities clusters were found to be associated with an increased risk of major adverse outcomes