Initial-State Radiation Measurement of the e+e−−>π+π−π+π− Cross Section

We study the process e+e-→π+π-π+π-γ, with a photon emitted from the initial-state electron or positron, using 454.3  fb-1 of data collected with the BABAR detector at SLAC, corresponding to approximately 260 000 signal events. We use these data to extract the nonradiative σ(e+e-→π+π-π+π-) cross section in the energy range from 0.6 to 4.5 GeV. The total uncertainty of the cross section measurement in the peak region is less than 3%, higher in precision than the corresponding results obtained from energy scan data

Search for the Z1(4050)+ and Z2(4250)+ states in Bˉ0→χc1K−π+ and B+→χc1K0Sπ+

We search for the Z1(4050)+ and Z2(4250)+ states, reported by the Belle Collaboration, decaying to χc1π+ in the decays B̅ 0→χc1K-π+ and B+→χc1KS0π+ where χc1→J/ψγ. The data were collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider operating at center-of-mass energy 10.58 GeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 429  fb-1. In this analysis, we model the background-subtracted, efficiency-corrected χc1π+ mass distribution using the Kπ mass distribution and the corresponding normalized Kπ Legendre-polynomial moments, and then test the need for the inclusion of resonant structures in the description of the χc1π+ mass distribution. No evidence is found for the Z1(4050)+ and Z2(4250)+ resonances, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are reported for the corresponding B-meson decay modes

Search for b→u transitions in B±→[K∓π±π0]DK± decays

We present a study of the decays B±→DK± with D mesons reconstructed in the K+π-π0 or K-π+π0 final states, where D indicates a D0 or a D̅ 0 meson. Using a sample of 474×106 BB̅ pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC, we measure the ratios R±≡Γ(B±→[K∓π±π0]DK±)/Γ(B±→[K±π∓π0]DK±). We obtain R+=(5-10+12(stat)-4+2(syst))×10-3 and R-=(12-10+12(stat)-5+3(syst))×10-3, from which we extract the upper limits at 90% probability: R+<23×10-3 and R-<29×10-3. Using these measurements, we obtain an upper limit for the ratio rB of the magnitudes of the b→u and b→c amplitudes rB<0.13 at 90% probability

Symbiosis between the TRECVid benchmark and video libraries at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision

Audiovisual archives are investing in large-scale digitisation efforts of their analogue holdings and, in parallel, ingesting an ever-increasing amount of born- digital files in their digital storage facilities. Digitisation opens up new access paradigms and boosted re-use of audiovisual content. Query-log analyses show the shortcomings of manual annotation, therefore archives are complementing these annotations by developing novel search engines that automatically extract information from both audio and the visual tracks. Over the past few years, the TRECVid benchmark has developed a novel relationship with the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision (NISV) which goes beyond the NISV just providing data and use cases to TRECVid. Prototype and demonstrator systems developed as part of TRECVid are set to become a key driver in improving the quality of search engines at the NISV and will ultimately help other audiovisual archives to offer more efficient and more fine-grained access to their collections. This paper reports the experiences of NISV in leveraging the activities of the TRECVid benchmark

A measurement of the semileptonic branching fraction of the B_s Meson

We report a measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of the Bs meson using data collected with the BABAR detector in the center-of-mass energy region above the Υ(4S) resonance. We use the inclusive yield of ϕ mesons and the ϕ yield in association with a high-momentum lepton to perform a simultaneous measurement of the semileptonic branching fraction and the production rate of Bs mesons relative to all B mesons as a function of center-of-mass energy. The inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of the Bs meson is determined to be B(Bs→ℓνX)=9.5-2.0+2.5(stat)-1.9+1.1(syst)%, where ℓ indicates the average of e and μ

Belowground Consequences of Intracontinental Range-Expanding Plants and Related Natives in Novel Environments

Introduced exotic plant species that originate from other continents are known to alter soil microbial community composition and nutrient cycling. Plant species that expand range to higher latitudes and altitudes as a consequence of current climate warming might as well affect the composition and functioning of native soil communities in their new range. However, the functional consequences of plant origin have been poorly studied in the case of plant range shifts. Here, we determined rhizosphere bacterial communities of four intracontinental range-expanding plant species in comparison with their four congeneric natives grown in soils collected from underneath those plant species in the field and in soils that are novel to them. We show that, when controlling for both species relatedness and soil characteristics, range-expanding plant species in higher latitude ecosystems will influence soil bacterial community composition and nutrient cycling in a manner similar to congeneric related native species. Our results highlight the importance to include phylogenetically controlled comparisons to disentangle the effect of origin from the effect of contrasting plant traits in the context of exotic plant species

Exhaustive and Efficient Constraint Propagation: A Semi-Supervised Learning Perspective and Its Applications

This paper presents a novel pairwise constraint propagation approach by decomposing the challenging constraint propagation problem into a set of independent semi-supervised learning subproblems which can be solved in quadratic time using label propagation based on k-nearest neighbor graphs. Considering that this time cost is proportional to the number of all possible pairwise constraints, our approach actually provides an efficient solution for exhaustively propagating pairwise constraints throughout the entire dataset. The resulting exhaustive set of propagated pairwise constraints are further used to adjust the similarity matrix for constrained spectral clustering. Other than the traditional constraint propagation on single-source data, our approach is also extended to more challenging constraint propagation on multi-source data where each pairwise constraint is defined over a pair of data points from different sources. This multi-source constraint propagation has an important application to cross-modal multimedia retrieval. Extensive results have shown the superior performance of our approach.Comment: The short version of this paper appears as oral paper in ECCV 201

A multi-parent recombinant inbred line population of C. elegans allows identification of novel QTLs for complex life history traits

Background The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been extensively used to explore the relationships between complex traits, genotypes, and environments. Complex traits can vary across different genotypes of a species, and the genetic regulators of trait variation can be mapped on the genome using quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from genetically and phenotypically divergent parents. Most RILs have been derived from crossing two parents from globally distant locations. However, the genetic diversity between local C. elegans populations can be as diverse as between global populations and could thus provide means of identifying genetic variation associated with complex traits relevant on a broader scale. Results To investigate the effect of local genetic variation on heritable traits, we developed a new RIL population derived from 4 parental wild isolates collected from 2 closely located sites in France: Orsay and Santeuil. We crossed these 4 genetically diverse parental isolates to generate a population of 200 multi-parental RILs and used RNA-seq to obtain sequence polymorphisms identifying almost 9000 SNPs variable between the 4 genotypes with an average spacing of 11 kb, doubling the mapping resolution relative to currently available RIL panels for many loci. The SNPs were used to construct a genetic map to facilitate QTL analysis. We measured life history traits such as lifespan, stress resistance, developmental speed, and population growth in different environments, and found substantial variation for most traits. We detected multiple QTLs for most traits, including novel QTLs not found in previous QTL analysis, including those for lifespan and pathogen responses. This shows that recombining genetic variation across C. elegans populations that are in geographical close proximity provides ample variation for QTL mapping. Conclusion Taken together, we show that using more parents than the classical two parental genotypes to construct a RIL population facilitates the detection of QTLs and that the use of wild isolates facilitates the detection of QTLs. The use of multi-parent RIL populations can further enhance our understanding of local adaptation and life history trade-offs