The Modified Pharaoh Approach: Stingless bees mummify beetle parasites alive

Social insect colonies usually live in nests, which are often invaded by parasitic species^1^. Workers from these colonies use different defence strategies to combat invaders^1^. Nevertheless, some parasitic species are able to bypass primary colony defences due to their morphology and behaviour^1-3^. In particular, some beetle nest invaders cannot be killed or removed by workers of social bees^2-5^, thus creating the need for alternative social defence strategies to ensure colony survival. Here we show, using Diagnostic Radioentomology^6^, that stingless bee workers _Trigona carbonaria_, immediately mummify invading destructive nest parasites _Aethina tumida_ alive, with a mixture of resin, wax and mud, thereby preventing severe damage to the colony. In sharp contrast to the responses of honeybee^7^ and bumblebee colonies^8^, the rapid live mummification strategy of _T. carbonaria_ effectively prevents beetle parasite advancements and removes their ability to reproduce. The convergent evolution of live mummification by stingless bees and social encapsulation by honeybees^3^ suggests that colonies of social bees generally rely on, secondary defence mechanisms when harmful nest intruders cannot be killed or ejected easily. This process is analogous to immune responses in animals

Momentum anisotropies in the quark coalescence model

Based on the quark coalescence model, we derive relations among the momentum anisotropies of mesons and baryons in relativistic heavy ion collisions from a given, but arbitrary azimuthal distribution for the partons. Besides the familiar even Fourier coefficients such as the elliptic flow, we also pay attention to odd Fourier coefficients such as the directed flow, which has been observed at finite rapidity even at RHIC energies.Comment: 5 page

Algebraic proof theory for LE-logics

In this paper we extend the research programme in algebraic proof theory from axiomatic extensions of the full Lambek calculus to logics algebraically captured by certain varieties of normal lattice expansions (normal LE-logics). Specifically, we generalise the residuated frames in [16] to arbitrary signatures of normal lattice expansions (LE). Such a generalization provides a valuable tool for proving important properties of LE-logics in full uniformity. We prove semantic cut elimination for the display calculi D.LE associated with the basic normal LE-logics and their axiomatic extensions with analytic inductive axioms. We also prove the finite model property (FMP) for each such calculus D.LE, as well as for its extensions with analytic structural rules satisfying certain additional properties

Countdown to 2015: changes in official development assistance to maternal, newborn, and child health in 2009-10, and assessment of progress since 2003.

BACKGROUND: Tracking of financial resources to maternal, newborn, and child health provides crucial information to assess accountability of donors. We analysed official development assistance (ODA) flows to maternal, newborn, and child health for 2009 and 2010, and assessed progress since our monitoring began in 2003. METHODS: We coded and analysed all 2009 and 2010 aid activities from the database of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to a functional classification of activities and whether all or a proportion of the value of the disbursement contributed towards maternal, newborn, and child health. We analysed trends since 2003, and reported two indicators for monitoring donor disbursements: ODA to child health per child and ODA to maternal and newborn health per livebirth. We analysed the degree to which donors allocated ODA to 74 countries with the highest maternal and child mortality rates (Countdown priority countries) with time and by type of donor. FINDINGS: Donor disbursements to maternal, newborn, and child health activities in all countries continued to increase, to $6511 million in 2009, but slightly decreased for the first time since our monitoring started, to$6480 million in 2010. ODA for such activities to the 74 Countdown priority countries continued to increase in real terms, but its rate of increase has been slowing since 2008. We identified strong evidence that targeting of ODA to countries with high rates of maternal mortality improved from 2005 to 2010. Targeting of ODA to child health also improved but to a lesser degree. The share of multilateral funding continued to decrease but, relative to bilaterals and global health initiatives, was better targeted. INTERPRETATION: The recent slowdown in the rate of funding increases is worrying and likely to partly result from the present financial crisis. Tracking of donor aid should continue, to encourage donor accountability and to monitor performance in targeting aid flows to those in most need. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; World Bank; Governments of Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and the UK

Pseudorapidity dependence of anisotropic flows in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The pseudorapidity dependence of anisotropic flows $v_{1}$, $v_{2}$, $v_{3}$ , and $v_{4}$ of charged hadrons in heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is studied in a multi-phase transport model. We find that while the string melting scenario, in which hadrons that are expected to be formed from initial strings are converted to their valence quarks and antiquarks, can explain the measured $p_{T}$-dependence of $v_{2}$ and $v_{4}$ of charged hadrons at midrapidity with a parton scattering cross section of about 10 \textrm{mb}, the scenario without string melting reproduces better the recent data on $v_{1}$ and $v_{2}$ of charged hadrons at large pseudorapidity in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ AGeV . Our results thus suggest that a partonic matter is formed during early stage of relativistic heavy ion collisions only around midrapidity and that strings remain dominant at large rapidities. The $p_{T}$-dependence of $v_{1}$, $v_{2}$, $v_{3}$ and $v_{4}$ for charged hadrons at forward pseudorapidity is also predicted, and we find that while $v_{1}$ and $v_{2}$ are appreciable at large pseudorapidity the higher-order anisotropic flows $v_{3}$ and $v_{4}$ are essentially zero.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, revised version, to appear in PL

Simulations of nanocrystals under pressure : combining electronic enthalpy and linear-scaling density-functional theory

We present an implementation in a linear-scaling density-functional theory code of an electronic enthalpy method, which has been found to benatural and efficient for the ab initio calculation of finite systems underhydrostatic pressure. Based on a definition of the system volume as that enclosed within anelectronic density isosurface [M. Cococcioni, F. Mauri,G. Ceder, and N. Marzari, Phys. Rev. Lett.94, 145501 (2005)], it supports bothgeometry optimizations and molecular dynamics simulations. We introduce an approach for calibratingthe parameters defining the volume in the context of geometry optimizations and discuss theirsignificance. Results in good agreement with simulations using explicit solvents are obtained, validating ourapproach. Size-dependent pressure-induced structural transformations andvariations in the energy gap of hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals areinvestigated, including one comparable in size to recent experiments. A detailed analysis of thepolyamorphic transformationsreveals three types of amorphous structures and theirpersistence on depressurization is assessed

Deep+Wide Lensing Surveys will Provide Exquisite Measurements of the Dark Matter Halos of Dwarf Galaxies

The advent of new deep+wide photometric lensing surveys will open up the possibility of direct measurements of the dark matter halos of dwarf galaxies. The HSC wide survey will be the first with the statistical capability of measuring the lensing signal with high signal-to-noise at log(M*)=8. At this same mass scale, LSST will have the most overall constraining power with a predicted signal-to-noise for the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal around dwarfs of SN=200. WFIRST and LSST will have the greatest potential to push below the log(M*) = 7 mass scale thanks to the depth of their imaging data. Studies of the dark matter halos of dwarf galaxies at z=0.1 with gravitational lensing are soon within reach. However, further work will be required to develop optimized strategies for extracting dwarfs samples from these surveys, determining redshifts, and accurately measuring lensing on small radial scales. Dwarf lensing will be a new and powerful tool to constrain the halo masses and inner density slopes of dwarf galaxies and to distinguish between baryonic feedback and modified dark matter scenarios

Jet energy loss in heavy ion collisions from RHIC to LHC energies

The suppression of hadron production originated from the induced jet energy loss is one of the most accepted and well understood phenomena in heavy ion collisions, which indicates the formation of color deconfined matter consists of quarks, antiquarks and gluons. This phenomena has been seen at RHIC energies and now the first LHC results display a very similar effect. In fact, the suppression is so close to each other at 200 AGeV and 2.76 ATeV, that it is interesting to investigate if such a suppression pattern can exist at all. We use the Gyulassy-Levai-Vitev description of induced jet energy loss combined with different nuclear shadowing functions and describe the experimental data. We claim that a consistent picture can be obtained for the produced hot matter with a weak nuclear shadowing. The interplay between nuclear shadowing and jet energy loss playes a crucial role in the understanding of the experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of ICPAQGP'2010 Conference, Goa, Indi

The alternative Pharaoh approach: stingless bees mummify beetle parasites alive

Workers from social insect colonies use different defence strategies to combat invaders. Nevertheless, some parasitic species are able to bypass colony defences. In particular, some beetle nest invaders cannot be killed or removed by workers of social bees, thus creating the need for alternative social defence strategies to ensure colony survival. Here we show, using diagnostic radioentomology, that stingless bee workers (Trigona carbonaria) immediately mummify invading adult small hive beetles (Aethina tumida) alive by coating them with a mixture of resin, wax and mud, thereby preventing severe damage to the colony. In sharp contrast to the responses of honeybee and bumblebee colonies, the rapid live mummification strategy of T. carbonaria effectively prevents beetle advancements and removes their ability to reproduce. The convergent evolution of mummification in stingless bees and encapsulation in honeybees is another striking example of co-evolution between insect societies and their parasite