Measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of isolated photons in pp collisions at root s=7TeV

A measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb(-1) collected with the CMS detector. A data-driven isolation template method is used to extract the prompt diphoton yield. The measured cross section for two isolated photons, with transverse energy above 40 and 25 GeV respectively, in the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.5, vertical bar eta vertical bar (sic) [1.44, 1.57] and with an angular separation Delta R > 0.45, is 17.2 +/-0.2 (stat) +/-1.9 (syst) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of the diphoton invariant mass, the diphoton transverse momentum, the azimuthal angle difference between the two photons, and the cosine of the polar angle in the Collins-Soper reference frame of the diphoton system. The results are compared to theoretical predictions at leading, next-to-leading, and next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics.

Search for heavy neutrinos and W bosons with right-handed couplings in proton-proton collisions at root s=8TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for standard model production of four top quarks in the lepton plus jets channel in pp collisions at root S=8 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Identification techniques for highly boosted W bosons that decay into hadrons

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Searches for heavy Higgs bosons in two-Higgs-doublet models and for t→ch decay using multilepton and diphoton final states in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches are presented for heavy scalar (H) and pseudoscalar (A) Higgs bosons posited in the two doublet model (2HDM) extensions of the standard model (SM). These searches are based on a data sample of pp collisions collected with the CMS experiment at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb(-1). The decays H -> hh and A -> Zh, where h denotes an SM-like Higgs boson, lead to events with three or more isolated charged leptons or with a photon pair accompanied by one or more isolated leptons. The search results are presented in terms of the H and A production cross sections times branching fractions and are further interpreted in terms of 2HDM parameters. We place 95% C.L. cross section upper limits of approximately 7 pb on sigma B for H -> hh and 2 pb for A -> Zh. Also presented are the results of a search for the rare decay of the top quark that results in a charm quark and an SM Higgs boson, t -> ch, the existence of which would indicate a nonzero flavor-changing Yukawa coupling of the top quark to the Higgs boson. We place a 95% C.L. upper limit of 0.56% on B(t -> ch).

Measurement of the top-quark mass in all-jets t(t)over-bar events in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Measurement of pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV by the CMS and TOTEM experiments

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Measurement of Prompt psi(2S) to J/psi. Yield Ratios in Pb-Pb and p-p Collisions at root sNN=2.76 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for anomalous production of events with three or more leptons in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Quantitative trait loci and metabolic pathways

The interpretation of quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies is limited by the lack of information on metabolic pathways leading to most economic traits. Inferences about the roles of the underlying genes with a pathway or the nature of their interaction with other loci are generally not possible. An exception is resistance to the corn earworm Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) in maize (Zea mays L.) because of maysin, a C-glycosyl flavone synthesized in silks via a branch of the well characterized flavonoid pathway. Our results using flavone synthesis as a model QTL system indicate: (i) the importance of regulatory loci as QTLs, (ii) the importance of interconnecting biochemical pathways on product levels, (iii) evidence for “channeling” of intermediates, allowing independent synthesis of related compounds, (iv) the utility of QTL analysis in clarifying the role of specific genes in a biochemical pathway, and (v) identification of a previously unknown locus on chromosome 9S affecting flavone level. A greater understanding of the genetic basis of maysin synthesis and associated corn earworm resistance should lead to improved breeding strategies. More broadly, the insights gained in relating a defined genetic and biochemical pathway affecting a quantitative trait should enhance interpretation of the biological basis of variation for other quantitative traits.

Quantitative trait loci and metabolic pathways: genetic control of the concentration of maysin, a corn earworm resistance factor, in maize silks.

Interpretation of quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies of agronomic traits is limited by lack of knowledge of biochemical pathways leading to trait expression. To more fully elucidate the biological significance of detected QTL, we chose a trait that is the product of a well-characterized pathway, namely the concentration of maysin, a C-glycosyl flavone, in silks of maize, Zea mays L. Maysin is a host-plant resistance factor against the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie). We determined silk maysin concentrations and restriction fragment length polymorphism genotypes at flavonoid pathway loci or linked markers for 285 F2 plants derived from the cross of lines GT114 and GT119. Single-factor analysis of variance indicated that the p1 region on chromosome 1 accounted for 58.0% of the phenotypic variance and showed additive gene action. The p1 locus is a transcription activator for portions of the flavonoid pathway. A second QTL, represented by marker umc 105a near the brown pericarp1 locus on chromosome 9, accounted for 10.8% of the variance. Gene action of this region was dominant for low maysin, but was only expressed in the presence of a functional p1 allele. The model explaining the greatest proportion of phenotypic variance (75.9%) included p1, umc105a, umc166b (chromosome 1), r1 (chromosome 10), and two epistatic interaction terms, p1 x umc105a and p1 x r1. Our results provide evidence that regulatory loci have a central role and that there is a complex interplay among different branches of the flavonoid pathway in the expression of this trait.

The effects of a sound-modified environment on physiological variables in premature infants in neonatal intensive care

This study investigated the effects of sound reduction on physiological variables in premature infants in neonatal intensive care. Ten premature infants born between 27 and 36 weeks gestation wore a specially designed earmuff cap for a 45-minute rest period. Heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation level and behavioral state were measured and compared to a similar 45-minute control period without the earmuff cap. Subjects showed a significant decrease (p =.050) in mean respiration rate, and a significant increase (p $<$.02) in mean oxygen saturation level with the earmuff cap on. No significant differences were found in heart rate between the experimental condition and the control condition. Behavioral state was documented only as a potentially confounding variable, however a significant decrease (p $<$.05) in the time spent awake and a significant increase (p $<$.05) in the time spent in quiet sleep rather than active sleep occurred with the earmuff cap on. Findings suggest that noise reduction may be a viable means of increasing respiratory efficiency and the amount and quality of sleep in premature infants in neonatal intensive care.

A Tale of Two Fishes: Using Recreational Angler Records to Examine the Link Between Fish Catches and Floodplain Connections in a Subtropical Coastal River

In the tropical and subtropical wet and dry regions, maintaining natural hydrologic connections between coastal rivers and adjacent ephemeral wetlands is critical to conserving and sustaining high levels of fisheries production within these systems. Though there is a consensus that there is a need to maintain these natural connections, little is known about what attributes of floodplain inundation regimes are most important in sustaining fisheries production. Two attributes of the flood season and thus floodplain inundation that may be particularly influential to fisheries are the amplitude of the flood season (floodplain water depth and spatial extent of inundation) and the duration of the flood season (i.e., time floodplains are inundated). In mangrove-dominated Everglades coastal rivers, seasonal inundation of upstream marsh floodplains may play an important role in provisioning recreational fisheries; however, this relationship remains unknown. Using two Everglades coastal river fisheries as a model, we tested whether the amplitude of the flood season or the duration of the flood season is more important in explaining variation in angler catch records of common snook and largemouth bass collected from 1992 to 2012. We validated angler catches with fisheries-independent electrofishing conducted in the same region from 2004 to 2012. Our results showed (1) that bass angler catches tracked electrofishing catches, while snook catches were completely mismatched. And (2) that previous year's marsh dynamics, particularly the duration of the flood season, was more influential than the flood season amplitude in explaining variation in bass catches, such that bass angler catches were negatively correlated to the period time that floodplains remained disconnected from coastal rivers in the previous year, while snook catches were not very well explained by floodplain inundation terms.

No Free Lunch: Displaced Marsh Consumers Regulate a Prey Subsidy to an Estuarine Consumer

Pulse subsidies account for a substantial proportion of resource availability in many systems, having persistent and cascading effects on consumer population dynamics, and energy flow within and across ecosystem boundaries. Although the importance of pulsed resource subsidies is well-established, the mechanisms that regulate resource fluxes across ecosystem boundaries are not well understood. The aim of our study was to determine the extent that marsh consumers regulated a marsh prey subsidy to estuarine consumers in the oligohaline reaches of an Everglades estuary. We characterized a marsh pulsed subsidy of cyprinodontoid, invertebrate and sunfish prey that move into the upper estuary from adjacent drying marshes. In response to the prey pulse, we examined the numerical, fitness and dietary responses of three focal consumers in the upper estuary; two marsh species (largemouth bass and bowfin) that accompanied the subsidy as a result of marsh drying, and one estuarine consumer (snook). At the onset of marsh drying and the prey subsidy, estuarine consumers switched diets to consume the larger marsh prey (sunfishes), while bass and bowfin maintained similar diets (cyprinodontoids and invertebrates respectively) than pre and post subsidy. From the consumption of this subsidy, bass (marsh species) and snook (estuarine species) exhibited fitness gains while bowfin did not. Although both marsh and estuarine consumers benefitted from the subsidy, we found evidence that freshwater consumers shunted some of the subsidy away from snook. Of the prey sampled in consumer stomachs, 41% of marsh prey biomass was eaten by marsh consumers, while 59% was consumed by the estuarine consumer. We conclude that the amount of the marsh prey available to estuarine consumers may be greater in the absence of marsh consumers, thus the magnitude of the prey subsidy could depend on the dynamics of the marsh consumers from donor communities.