Understanding soil processes is fundamental to the success of forest restoration programs. We compared different types of soils in Mediterranean mountain forests with respect to their edaphic ...environments and influence of vegetation cover and lithology. We then used this information to determine the suitability of current forest restoration programs in these ecosystems.
Twenty-four surface horizons in forest soils in two zones of contrasting lithology (calcareous and metamorphic) and different types of vegetation cover or management (shrubland, autochthonous forest and reforested forest) were sampled. A set of their essential soil properties were analysed and a series of parameters considered as indicators of surface soil processes was selected: aggregate size, structural stability, water repellency, mineralisation rate and fungal activity.
Results confirm that the lithological origins of soils determines the properties defined by the geochemical environment of soilscapes (texture, pH, exchange complex and free oxides), and does not much influence organic properties. On the other hand, the type of plant cover and management do not influence the geochemical properties of the soil decisively, but do maintain a relative control of organic properties, especially those that define their quality (C/N ratio).
The variability of surface properties is not well explained by environmental factors, and it is assumed that a large part may be related to the historical use of the soils.
The specificity of soilscapes implies differences in vulnerability to forest management: the surface horizons in siliceous environments are more vulnerable than calcareous environments. It is necessary to better characterize soil properties in these forests and accordingly re-evaluate forest restoration efforts with respect to them.
The LHCb experiment at CERN has decided to optimise its physics reach by removing the first level hardware trigger for 2020 and beyond. In addition to requiring fully redesigned front-end electronics ...this design creates interesting challenges for the data-acquisition and the rest of the online computing system. Such a system can only be realized within realistic cost using as much off-the-shelf hardware as possible. Relevant technologies evolve very quickly and thus the system design is architecture-centred and tries to avoid to depend too much on specific technologies. In this paper we describe the design, the motivations for various choices and the current favoured options for the implementation, and the status of the R&D. We will cover the back-end readout, which contains the only custom-made component, the event-building, the event-filter infrastructure, and storage.
The architecture of the data acquisition system foreseen for the LHCb upgrade, to be installed by 2018, is devised to readout events trigger-less, synchronously with the LHC bunch crossing rate at 40 ...MHz. Within this approach the readout boards act as a bridge between the front-end electronics and the High Level Trigger (HLT) computing farm. The baseline design for the LHCb readout is an ATCA board requiring dedicated crates. A local area standard network protocol is implemented in the on-board FPGAs to read out the data. The alternative solution proposed here consists in building the readout boards as PCIe peripherals of the event-builder servers. The main architectural advantage is that protocol and link-technology of the event-builder can be left open until very late, to profit from the most cost-effective industry technology available at the time of the LHC LS2.
Thomasini RL, Bonon SH, Durante P, Costa SCB. Correlation of cytomegalovirus and human herpesvirus7 with CD3|>+|>and CD3|> +|>CD4+|>cells in chronic periodontitis patients. J Periodont Res 2012; 47: ...114-120. copy 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S Background and Objective: Human chronic periodontitis is an inflammatory process characterized by dense accumulation of immune cells in the periodontal tissue. The periodontitis can lead to loss of teeth in the patient and the pathogenesis of this disease is not completely known. This study tested the hypothesis that chronic periodontitis-affected sites can harbor betaherpesviruses and that viruses are linked to a profile of the inflammatory infiltrate. Material and Methods: Biopsies of periodontal tissue were taken from periodontitis-affected patients and from healthy subjects. Immunohistochemistry was performed to count CD19+ Bcells, CD3+ total Tcells, T-CD4+ and T-CD8+ cell subsets, and PCR was performed to detect cytomegalovirus and human herpesvirus6 and 7 in the samples. One slide of each sample was stained with Giemsa for histopathological examination and to evaluate the quality of the cellular infiltrate. Results: As expected, tissues collected from healthy subjects presented no significant level of inflammatory infiltration and were therefore excluded from immunostaining procedures. Results showed that CD19+ Bcells were in higher number than CD3+ Tcells in the periodontitis-affected tissue, but this was not statistically significant. The T-CD4+ lymphocyte subset was significantly higher than the T-CD8+ lymphocyte subset (p=0.004) in the samples. Cytomegalovirus and human herpesvirus7 were found at periodontitis-affected sites, but not in tissue collected from healthy subjects (p=0.04 and p=0.04, respectively). Human herpesvirus6 was rarely detected. We found a correlation between cytomegalovirus and lower CD19+/CD3+ ratios (ratio <0.9, p=0.003) and between human herpesvirus7 and lower CD19 super(+)/CD3 super(+) ratios (ratio <0.9, p=0.003) and higher CD4 super(+)/CD8 super(+) ratios (ratio >1.1, p=0.002). Conclusion: This study shows that cytomegalovirus and human herpesvirus7 can be present at periodontitis-affected sites but are uncommon at healthy periodontal sites. Moreover, our data suggest that cytomegalovirus can be related to an inflammatory infiltrate with predominance of CD3+ Tcells, whereas human herpesvirus7 can be associated with an infiltrate with predominance of T-CD4+ cells. However, further studies are necessary to support this hypothesis. Herpesviruses could play a role in human chronic periodontitis by modulation of the Tcell response.
This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a QWIP photodetector capable of detecting simultaneously infrared radiation within near infrared (NIR), mid wavelength infrared ...(MWIR) and long wavelength infrared (LWIR). The NIR detection was achieved using interband transition while MWIR and LWIR were based on intersubband transition in the conduction band. The quantum well structure was designed using a computational tool developed to solve self-consistently the Schrödinger–Poisson equation with the help of the shooting method. Intersubband absorption in the sample was measured for the MWIR and LWIR using Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) and the measured peak positions were found at 5.3μm and 8.7μm which agree well with the theoretical values obtained 5.0μm and 9.0μm for the two infrared bands which indicates the accuracy of the self-consistent model. The photodetectors were fabricated using a standard photolithography process with exposed middle contacts to allow separate bias and readout of signals from the three wavelength bands. The measured photoresponse gave three peaks at 0.84μm, 5.0μm and 8.5μm wavelengths with approximately 0.5A/W, 0.03A/W and 0.13A/W peak responsivities for NIR, MWIR and LWIR bands, respectively. This work demonstrates the possibility of detection of widely separated wavelength bands using interband and intersubband transitions in quantum wells.
A test of lepton universality, performed by measuring the ratio of the branching fractions of the $B^0 → K^{*0}μ^+μ^-$ and $B^0$ → $K^{*0}e^+e^-$ decays, $R_{K^{*0}}$, is presented. The $K^{*0}$ ...meson is reconstructed in the final state $K^+π^-$, which is required to have an invariant mass within 100 MeV/c2 of the known $K^*$ (892)0 mass. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 3 fb-1, collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The ratio is measured in two regions of the dilepton invariant mass squared, q2, to be R K ∗ 0 = { 0.66 − + 0.07 0.11 ( s t a t ) ± 0.03 ( s y s t ) f o r 0.045 < q 2 < 1.1 G e V 2 / c 4 , 0.69 − + 0.07 0.11 ( s t a t ) ± 0.05 ( s y s t ) f o r 1.1 < q 2 < 6.0 G e V 2 / c 4 . The corresponding 95.4% confidence level intervals are 0.52, 0.89 and 0.53, 0.94. The results, which represent the most precise measurements of $R_{K^{*0}}$ to date, are compatible with the Standard Model expectations at the level of 2.1–2.3 and 2.4–2.5 standard deviations in the two q2 regions, respectively.
Question: What is the influence of management on the functioning of vegetation over time in Mediterranean ecosystems under different climate conditions? Location: Mediterranean shrublands and forests ...in SE Iberia (Andalusia). Methods: We evaluated the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for the 1997-2002 time series to determine phenological vegetation patterns under different historical management regimes. Three altitudinal ranges were considered within each area to explore climate×management interactions. Each phenological pattern was analysed using time series statistics, together with precipitation (monthly and cumulative) and temperature. Results: NDVI time series were significantly different under different management regimes, particularly in highly transformed areas, which showed the lowest NDVI, weakest annual seasonality and a more immediate phenological response to precipitation. The NDVI relationship with precipitation was strongest in the summer-autumn period, when precipitation is the main plant growth-limiting factor. Conclusions: NDVI time series analyses elucidated complex influences of land use and climate on ecosystem functioning in these Mediterranean ecosystems. We demonstrated that NDVI time series analyses are a useful tool for monitoring programmes because of their sensitivity to changes, ease of use and applicability to large-scale studies.
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First evidence of a structure in the J/ψΛ invariant mass distribution is obtained from an amplitude analysis of Ξb-→J/ψΛK- decays. The observed structure is consistent with being due ...to a charmonium pentaquark with strangeness with a significance of 3.1σ including systematic uncertainties and look-elsewhere effect. Its mass and width are determined to be 4458.8±2.9-1.1+4.7MeV and 17.3±6.5-5.7+8.0MeV, respectively, where the quoted uncertainties are statistical and systematic. The structure is also consistent with being due to two resonances. In addition, the narrow excited Ξ- states, Ξ1690- and Ξ1820-, are seen for the first time in a Ξb- decay, and their masses and widths are measured with improved precision. The analysis is performed using pp collision data corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb-1, collected with the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV.
Ca(2+) channel subtypes expressed by dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) were studied using whole cell patch-clamp recordings and blockers selective for different ...channel types (L, N, and P/Q). Nimodipine (Nim, 2 microM), omega-conotoxin GVIA (Ctx, 1 microM), or omega-agatoxin IVA (Atx, 50 nM) blocked 27, 36, and 37% of peak whole cell Ca(2+) channel current, respectively, indicating the presence of L-, N-, and P-type channels. Nim blocked approximately twice as much Ca(2+) channel current near activation threshold compared with Ctx or Atx, suggesting that small depolarizations preferentially opened L-type versus N- or P-type Ca(2+) channels. N- and L-channels in DA neurons opened over a significantly more negative voltage range than those in rat dorsal root ganglion cells, recorded from using identical conditions. These data provide an explanation as to why Ca(2+)-dependent spontaneous oscillatory potentials and rhythmic firing in DA neurons are blocked by L-channel but not N-channel antagonists and suggest that pharmacologically similar Ca(2+) channels may exhibit different thresholds for activation in different types of neurons.
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