Global distribution of two fungal pathogens threatening endangered sea turtles

This work was supported by grants of Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (CGL2009-10032, CGL2012-32934). J.M.S.R was supported by PhD fellowship of the CSIC (JAEPre 0901804). The Natural Environment Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council supported P.V.W. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Thanks Machalilla National Park in Ecuador, Pacuare Nature Reserve in Costa Rica, Foundations Natura 2000 in Cape Verde and Equilibrio Azul in Ecuador, Dr. Jesus Muñoz, Dr. Ian Bell, Dr. Juan Patiño for help and technical support during samplingPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Dry-air-stable lithium silicide-lithium oxide core-shell nanoparticles as high-capacity prelithiation reagents

Rapid progress has been made in realizing battery electrode materials with high capacity and long-term cyclability in the past decade. However, low first-cycle Coulombic efficiency as a result of the formation of a solid electrolyte interphase and Li trapping at the anodes, remains unresolved. Here we report LixSi-Li2O core-shell nanoparticles as an excellent prelithiation reagent with high specific capacity to compensate the first-cycle capacity loss. These nanoparticles are produced via a one-step thermal alloying process. LixSi-Li2O core-shell nanoparticles are processible in a slurry and exhibit high capacity under dry-air conditions with the protection of a Li2O passivation shell, indicating that these nanoparticles are potentially compatible with industrial battery fabrication processes. Both Si and graphite anodes are successfully prelithiated with these nanoparticles to achieve high first-cycle Coulombic efficiencies of 94% to 4100%. The LixSi-Li2O core-shell nanoparticles enable the practical implementation of high-performance electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries.open6

Long-term (trophic) purinergic signalling: purinoceptors control cell proliferation, differentiation and death

The purinergic signalling system, which uses purines and pyrimidines as chemical transmitters, and purinoceptors as effectors, is deeply rooted in evolution and development and is a pivotal factor in cell communication. The ATP and its derivatives function as a 'danger signal' in the most primitive forms of life. Purinoceptors are extraordinarily widely distributed in all cell types and tissues and they are involved in the regulation of an even more extraordinary number of biological processes. In addition to fast purinergic signalling in neurotransmission, neuromodulation and secretion, there is long-term (trophic) purinergic signalling involving cell proliferation, differentiation, motility and death in the development and regeneration of most systems of the body. In this article, we focus on the latter in the immune/defence system, in stratified epithelia in visceral organs and skin, embryological development, bone formation and resorption, as well as in cancer. Cell Death and Disease (2010) 1, e9; doi:10.1038/cddis.2009.11; published online 14 January 201

A systematic review of protocol studies on conceptual design cognition

This paper reports the first systematic review and synthesis of protocol studies on conceptual design cognition. 47 protocol studies from the domains of architectural design, engineering design, and product de-sign engineering were reviewed towards answering the following re-search question: What is our current understanding of the cognitive processes involved in conceptual design tasks carried out by individual designers? Studies were found to reflect three viewpoints on the cognitive nature of designing, namely: design as search; design as ex-ploration; and design activities. Synthesising the findings of individual studies yielded a classification of cognitive processes involved in con-ceptual design tasks, described in different terms across different viewpoints. Towards a common terminology, these processes are posi-tioned within the cognitive psychology literature, revealing seven basic types of process that appear to be fundamental to designing across all viewpoints: memory (working and long term); visual perception; men-tal imagery; attention; semantic association; cognitive control; and higher-order processes, e.g. analysis and reasoning. The development of common cognitive models of conceptual design, grounded in a sci-entifically rigorous understanding of design cognition, is identified as an avenue for future research

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

High-throughput 18K SNP array to assess genetic variability of the main grapevine cultivars from Sicily

The viticulture of Sicily, for its vocation, is one of the most important and ancient forms in Italy. Autochthonous grapevine cultivars, many of which known throughout the world, have always been cultivated in the island from many centuries. With the aim to preserve this large grapevine diversity, previous studies have already started to assess the genetic variability among the Sicilian cultivars by using morphological and microsatellite markers. In this study, simple sequence repeat (SSR) were utilized to verify the true-to-typeness of a large clone collection (101) belonging to 21 biotypes of the most 10 cultivated Sicilian cultivars. Afterwards, 42 Organization Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) descriptors and a high-throughput single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping array (Vitis18kSNP) were applied to assess genetic variability among cultivars and biotypes of the same cultivar. Ampelographic traits and high-throughput SNP genotyping platforms provided an accuracy estimation of genetic diversity in the Sicilian germplasm, showing the relationships among cultivars by cluster and multivariate analyses. The large SNP panel defined sub-clusters unable to discern among biotypes, previously classified by ampelographic analysis, belonging to each cultivar. These results suggested that a very large number of SNP did not cover the genome regions harboring few morphological traits. Genetic structure of the collection revealed a clear optimum number of groups for K = 3, clustering in the same group a significant portion of family-related genotypes. Parentage analysis highlighted significant relationships among Sicilian grape cultivars and Sangiovese, as already reported, but also the first evidences of the relationships between Nero d’Avola and both Inzolia and Catarratto. Finally, a small panel of highly informative markers (12 SNPs) allowed us to isolate a private profile for each Sicilian cultivar, providing a new tool for cultivar identification

Towards a Critical Sociology of Dominant Ideologies: An Unexpected Reunion between Pierre Bourdieu and Luc Boltanski

This article aims to demonstrate the enduring relevance of Pierre Bourdieu and Luc Boltanski’s ‘La production de l’idéologie dominante’ [‘The production of the dominant ideology’], which was originally published in Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales in 1976. More than three decades later, in 2008, a re-edited version of this study was printed in book format as La production de l’idéologie dominante, which was accompanied by a detailed commentary, written by Luc Boltanski and entitled Rendre la réalité inacceptable. À propos de « La production de l’idéologie dominante » [Making Reality Unacceptable. Comments on ‘The production of the dominant ideology’]. In addition to containing revealing personal anecdotes and providing important sociological insights, this commentary offers an insider account of the genesis of one of the most seminal pieces Boltanski co-wrote with his intellectual father, Bourdieu. In the Anglophone literature on contemporary French sociology, however, the theoretical contributions made both in the original study and in Boltanski’s commentary have received little – if any – serious attention. This article aims to fill this gap in the literature, arguing that these two texts can be regarded not only as forceful reminders of the fact that the ‘dominant ideology thesis’ is far from obsolete but also as essential for understanding both the personal and the intellectual underpinnings of the tension-laden relationship between Bourdieu and Boltanski. Furthermore, this article offers a critical overview of the extent to which the unexpected, and partly posthumous, reunion between ‘the master’ (Bourdieu) and his ‘dissident disciple’ (Boltanski) equips us with powerful conceptual tools, which, whilst illustrating the continuing centrality of ‘ideology critique’, permit us to shed new light on key concerns in contemporary sociology and social theory. Finally, the article seeks to push the debate forward by reflecting upon several issues that are not given sufficient attention by Bourdieu and Boltanski in their otherwise original and insightful enquiry into the complexities characterizing the daily production of ideology

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta