We calculate the nucleon matrix element of Weinberg's dimension-6 CP-odd gluon operator fabc(F˜μν)a(Fμρ)b(Fρν)c in the instanton vacuum. In leading order of the instanton packing fraction, the ...dimension-6 operator is effectively proportional to the topological charge density (F˜μν)a(Fμν)a, whose nucleon matrix element is given by the flavor-singlet axial charge and constrained by the U(1)A anomaly. The nucleon matrix element of the dimension-6 operator is obtained substantially larger than in other estimates, because of the strong localization of the nonperturbative gluon fields in the instanton vacuum. We comment on the neutron electric dipole moment induced by CP violation proportional to the dimension-6 operator.
Enhancing water provision services is a common target in forest restoration projects worldwide due to growing concerns over freshwater scarcity. However, whether or not forest cover expansion or ...restoration can improve water provision services is still unclear and highly disputed.
The goal of this review is to provide a balanced and impartial assessment of the impacts of forest restoration and forest cover expansion on water yields as informed by the scientific literature. Potential sources of bias on the results of papers published are also examined.
English, Spanish and Portuguese peer-review articles in Agricola, CAB Abstracts, ISI Web of Science, JSTOR, Google Scholar, and SciELO. Databases were searched through 2015.
Intervention terms included forest restoration, regeneration/regrowth, forest second-growth, forestation/afforestation, and forestry. Target terms included water yield/quantity, streamflow, discharge, channel runoff, and annual flow.
Articles were pre-selected based on key words in the title, abstract or text. Eligible articles addressed relevant interventions and targets and included quantitative information.
Most studies reported decreases in water yields following the intervention, while other hydrological benefits have been observed. However, relatively few studies focused specifically on forest restoration, especially with native species, and/or on projects done at large spatial or temporal scales. Information is especially limited for the humid tropics and subtropics.
While most studies reported a decrease in water yields, meta-analyses from a sub-set of studies suggest the potential influence of temporal and/or spatial scales on the outcomes of forest cover expansion or restoration projects. Given the many other benefits of forest restoration, improving our understanding of when and why forest restoration can lead to recovery of water yields is crucial to help improve positive outcomes and prevent unintended consequences. Our study identifies the critical types of studies and associated measurements needed.
All known life forms trace back to a last universal common ancestor (LUCA) that witnessed the onset of Darwinian evolution. One can ask questions about LUCA in various ways, the most common way being ...to look for traits that are common to all cells, like ribosomes or the genetic code. With the availability of genomes, we can, however, also ask what genes are ancient by virtue of their phylogeny rather than by virtue of being universal. That approach, undertaken recently, leads to a different view of LUCA than we have had in the past, one that fits well with the harsh geochemical setting of early Earth and resembles the biology of prokaryotes that today inhabit the Earth's crust.
Ecological communities are organized in trophic levels that share manifold interactions forming complex food webs. Infochemicals can further modify these interactions, e.g., by inducing defenses in ...prey. The micro-crustacean
is able to respond to predator-specific chemical cues indicating an increased predation risk.
shows plastic responses by adapting its morphology, behavior, and physiology, increasing organism, and population fitness. This stabilizes community structures. This review will describe the progress that has been made in understanding the high degree of plasticity observed in the model crustacean
. I summarize current knowledge on the processes of predator detection, ranging from the nature of biologically active chemical cues to the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. With this, I aim to provide a comprehensive overview on the molecular mechanisms of
environmental phenotypic adaptation. In times of climate change and pollution understanding information transfer in aquatic systems is valuable as it will allow us to predict whether and how community structures are being affected.
Water is a unique solvent that is ubiquitous in biology and present in a variety of solutions, mixtures, and materials settings. It therefore forms the basis for all molecular dynamics simulations of ...biological phenomena, as well as for many chemical, industrial, and materials investigations. Over the years, many water models have been developed, and it remains a challenge to find a single water model that accurately reproduces all experimental properties of water simultaneously. Here, we report a comprehensive comparison of structural and dynamic properties of 30 commonly used 3-point, 4-point, 5-point, and polarizable water models simulated using consistent settings and analysis methods. For the properties of density, coordination number, surface tension, dielectric constant, self-diffusion coefficient, and solvation free energy of methane, models published within the past two decades consistently show better agreement with experimental values compared to models published earlier, albeit with some notable exceptions. However, no single model reproduced all experimental values exactly, highlighting the need to carefully choose a water model for a particular study, depending on the phenomena of interest. Finally, machine learning algorithms quantified the relationship between the water model force field parameters and the resulting bulk properties, providing insight into the parameter–property relationship and illustrating the challenges of developing a water model that can accurately reproduce all properties of water simultaneously.
IMPORTANCE: Sepsis is a heterogeneous syndrome. Identification of distinct clinical phenotypes may allow more precise therapy and improve care. OBJECTIVE: To derive sepsis phenotypes from clinical ...data, determine their reproducibility and correlation with host-response biomarkers and clinical outcomes, and assess the potential causal relationship with results from randomized clinical trials (RCTs). DESIGN, SETTINGS, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective analysis of data sets using statistical, machine learning, and simulation tools. Phenotypes were derived among 20 189 total patients (16 552 unique patients) who met Sepsis-3 criteria within 6 hours of hospital presentation at 12 Pennsylvania hospitals (2010-2012) using consensus k means clustering applied to 29 variables. Reproducibility and correlation with biological parameters and clinical outcomes were assessed in a second database (2013-2014; n = 43 086 total patients and n = 31 160 unique patients), in a prospective cohort study of sepsis due to pneumonia (n = 583), and in 3 sepsis RCTs (n = 4737). EXPOSURES: All clinical and laboratory variables in the electronic health record. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Derived phenotype (α, β, γ, and δ) frequency, host-response biomarkers, 28-day and 365-day mortality, and RCT simulation outputs. RESULTS: The derivation cohort included 20 189 patients with sepsis (mean age, 64 SD, 17 years; 10 022 50% male; mean maximum 24-hour Sequential Organ Failure Assessment SOFA score, 3.9 SD, 2.4). The validation cohort included 43 086 patients (mean age, 67 SD, 17 years; 21 993 51% male; mean maximum 24-hour SOFA score, 3.6 SD, 2.0). Of the 4 derived phenotypes, the α phenotype was the most common (n = 6625; 33%) and included patients with the lowest administration of a vasopressor; in the β phenotype (n = 5512; 27%), patients were older and had more chronic illness and renal dysfunction; in the γ phenotype (n = 5385; 27%), patients had more inflammation and pulmonary dysfunction; and in the δ phenotype (n = 2667; 13%), patients had more liver dysfunction and septic shock. Phenotype distributions were similar in the validation cohort. There were consistent differences in biomarker patterns by phenotype. In the derivation cohort, cumulative 28-day mortality was 287 deaths of 5691 unique patients (5%) for the α phenotype; 561 of 4420 (13%) for the β phenotype; 1031 of 4318 (24%) for the γ phenotype; and 897 of 2223 (40%) for the δ phenotype. Across all cohorts and trials, 28-day and 365-day mortality were highest among the δ phenotype vs the other 3 phenotypes (P < .001). In simulation models, the proportion of RCTs reporting benefit, harm, or no effect changed considerably (eg, varying the phenotype frequencies within an RCT of early goal-directed therapy changed the results from >33% chance of benefit to >60% chance of harm). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this retrospective analysis of data sets from patients with sepsis, 4 clinical phenotypes were identified that correlated with host-response patterns and clinical outcomes, and simulations suggested these phenotypes may help in understanding heterogeneity of treatment effects. Further research is needed to determine the utility of these phenotypes in clinical care and for informing trial design and interpretation.
We study the nucleon's partonic angular momentum (AM) content at peripheral transverse distances b=O(Mπ−1), where the structure is governed by chiral dynamics. We compute the nucleon form factors of ...the energy-momentum tensor in chiral effective field theory (ChEFT) and construct the transverse densities of AM at fixed light-front time. In the periphery the spin density is suppressed, and the AM is predominantly orbital. In the first-quantized representation of ChEFT in light-front form, the field-theoretical AM density coincides with the quantum-mechanical orbital AM density of the soft pions in the nucleon's periphery.
One strategy for increasing physical activity is to create and enhance access to park space. We assessed the literature on the relationship of parks and objectively measured physical activity in ...population-based studies in the United States (US) and identified limitations in current built environment and physical activity measurement and reporting. Five English-language scholarly databases were queried using standardized search terms. Abstracts were screened for the following inclusion criteria: 1) published between January 1990 and June 2013; 2) US-based with a sample size greater than 100 individuals; 3) included built environment measures related to parks or trails; and 4) included objectively measured physical activity as an outcome. Following initial screening for inclusion by two independent raters, articles were abstracted into a database. Of 10,949 abstracts screened, 20 articles met the inclusion criteria. Five articles reported a significant positive association between parks and physical activity. Nine studies found no association, and six studies had mixed findings. Our review found that even among studies with objectively measured physical activity, the association between access to parks and physical activity varied between studies, possibly due to heterogeneity of exposure measurement. Self-reported (vs. independently-measured) neighborhood park environment characteristics and smaller (vs. larger) buffer sizes were more predictive of physical activity. We recommend strategies for further research, employing standardized reporting and innovative study designs to better understand the relationship of parks and physical activity.
•We reviewed research on parks and objectively measured physical activity.•Measurement and reporting of park density and proximity is not standardized.•The association of parks and physical activity was inconsistent across studies.•Standardized measurement and reporting are needed for future meta-analyses.
Electron-Ion Collider: The next QCD frontier Accardi, A; Albacete, J L; Anselmino, M ...
European physical journal. A, Hadrons and nuclei,
09/2016, Letnik:
52, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This White Paper presents the science case of an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), focused on the structure and interactions of gluon-dominated matter, with the intent to articulate it to the broader ...nuclear science community. It was commissioned by the managements of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) with the objective of presenting a summary of scientific opportunities and goals of the EIC as a follow-up to the 2007 NSAC Long Range plan. This document is a culmination of a community-wide effort in nuclear science following a series of workshops on EIC physics over the past decades and, in particular, the focused ten-week program on “Gluons and quark sea at high energies” at the Institute for Nuclear Theory in Fall 2010. It contains a brief description of a few golden physics measurements along with accelerator and detector concepts required to achieve them. It has been benefited profoundly from inputs by the users’ communities of BNL and JLab. This White Paper offers the promise to propel the QCD science program in the US, established with the CEBAF accelerator at JLab and the RHIC collider at BNL, to the next QCD frontier.
Polarized electron-deuteron deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) with detection of the spectator proton (“tagged DIS”) enables measurements of neutron spin structure with maximal control of nuclear ...effects. We calculate the longitudinal spin asymmetries in polarized tagged DIS using methods of light-front nuclear structure and study their dependence on the measured proton momentum. Asymmetries can be formed with all three deuteron spin states (±1,0) or the two maximum-spin states only (±1, involving tensor polarization). The proton momentum dependence can be used to select pure S-wave configurations in the deuteron and eliminate D-wave depolarization (transverse momenta ppT≲ 100 MeV). Free neutron spin structure can be extracted model-independently through pole extrapolation of the tagged asymmetries. Such measurements could be performed at a future electron-ion collider (EIC) with polarized deuteron beams and forward proton detectors.