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At least 1,567 records · Page 87

Comparative genomics and stable isotope analysis reveal the saprotrophic-pathogenic lifestyle of a neotropical fungus

In terrestrial forested ecosystems, fungi may interact with trees in at least three distinct ways: (i) associated with roots as symbionts; (ii) as pathogens in roots, trunks, leaves, flowers, and fruits; or (iii) decomposing dead tree tissues on soil or even on dead tissues in living trees. Distinguishing the latter two nutrition modes is rather difficult in Hymenochaetaceae (Basidiomycota) species. Herein, we have used an integrative approach of comparative genomics, stable isotopes, host tree association, and bioclimatic data to investigate the lifestyle ecology of the scarcely known neotropical genus Phellinotus, focusing on the unique species Phellinotus piptadeniae. This species is strongly associated with living Piptadenia gonoacantha (Fabaceae) trees in the Atlantic Forest domain on a relatively high precipitation gradient. Phylogenomics resolved P. piptadeniae in a clade that also includes both plant pathogens and typical wood saprotrophs. Furthermore, both genome-predicted Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes (CAZy) and stable isotopes (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) revealed a rather flexible lifestyle for the species. Altogether, our findings suggest that P. piptadeniae has been undergoing a pathotrophic specialization in a particular tree species while maintaining all the metabolic repertoire of a wood saprothroph.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Comparative Assessment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants in the Ferret Model

The continued spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in humans necessitates evaluation of variants for enhanced virulence and transmission. We used the ferret model to perform a comparative analysis of four SARS-CoV-2 strains, including an early pandemic isolate from the United States (WA1), and representatives of the Alpha, Beta, and Delta lineages. While Beta virus was not capable of pronounced replication in ferrets, WA1, Alpha, and Delta viruses productively replicated in the ferret upper respiratory tract, despite causing only mild disease with no overt histopathological changes. Strain-specific transmissibility was observed; WA1 and Delta viruses transmitted in a direct contact setting, whereas Delta virus was also capable of limited airborne transmission. Viral RNA was shed in exhaled air particles from all inoculated animals but was highest for Delta virus. Prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 offered varied protection against reinfection with either homologous or heterologous variants. Notable genomic variants in the spike protein were most frequently detected following WA1 and Delta virus infection.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Comparative Molecular and Immunoregulatory Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles from Candida albicans and Candida auris

Candida auris is a recently described multidrug-resistant pathogenic fungus that is increasingly responsible for health care-associated outbreaks across the world. Bloodstream infections of this fungus cause death in up to 70% of cases. Aggravating this scenario, the disease-promoting mechanisms of C. auris are poorly understood. Fungi release extracellular vesicles (EVs) that carry a broad range of molecules, including proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, pigments, and RNA, many of which are virulence factors. Here, we carried out a comparative molecular characterization of C. auris and Candida albicans EVs and evaluated their capacity to modulate effector mechanisms of host immune defense. Using proteomics, lipidomics, and transcriptomics, we found that C. auris released EVs with payloads that were significantly different from those of EVs released by C. albicans. EVs released by C. auris potentiated the adhesion of this yeast to an epithelial cell monolayer, while EVs from C. albicans had no effect. C. albicans EVs primed macrophages for enhanced intracellular yeast killing, whereas C. auris EVs promoted survival of the fungal cells. Moreover, EVs from both C. auris and C. albicans induced the activation of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. Together, our findings show distinct profiles and properties of EVs released by C. auris and by C. albicans and highlight the potential contribution of C. auris EVs to the pathogenesis of this emerging pathogen.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Influenza A Virus Multicycle Replication Yields Comparable Viral Population Emergence in Human Respiratory and Ocular Cell Types

While primarily considered a respiratory pathogen, influenza A virus (IAV) is nonetheless capable of spreading to, and replicating in, numerous extrapulmonary tissues in humans. However, within-host assessments of genetic diversity during multicycle replication have been largely limited to respiratory tract tissues and specimens. As selective pressures can vary greatly between anatomical sites, there is a need to examine how measures of viral diversity may vary between influenza viruses exhibiting different tropisms in humans, as well as following influenza virus infection of cells derived from different organ systems. Here, we employed human primary tissue constructs emulative of the human airway or corneal surface, and we infected both with a panel of human- and avian-origin IAV, inclusive of H1 and H3 subtype human viruses and highly pathogenic H5 and H7 subtype viruses, which are associated with both respiratory disease and conjunctivitis following human infection. While both cell types supported productive replication of all viruses, airway-derived tissue constructs elicited greater induction of genes associated with antiviral responses than did corneal-derived constructs. We used next-generation sequencing to examine viral mutations and population diversity, utilizing several metrics. With few exceptions, generally comparable measures of viral diversity and mutational frequency were detected following homologous virus infection of both respiratory-origin and ocular-origin tissue constructs. Expansion of within-host assessments of genetic diversity to include IAV with atypical clinical presentations in humans or in extrapulmonary cell types can provide greater insight into understanding those features most prone to modulation in the context of viral tropism.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Synthesis, crystal structure refinement, and nonlinear-optical properties of CaB{sub 3}O{sub 5}(OH): Comparative crystal chemistry of calcium triborates

Calcium triborate CaB{sub 3}O5(OH) obtained by hydrothermal synthesis in the Ca(OH){sub 2}–H{sub 3}BO{sub 3}–Na{sub 2}CO{sub 3}–KCl system is studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The parameters of the orthorhombic unit cell are as follows: a = 13.490(1), b = 6.9576(3), and c = 4.3930(2) Å; V = 412.32(3) Å{sup 3} and space group Pna2{sub 1}. The structure is refined in the anisotropic approximation of the atomic displacement parameters to R = 4.28% using 972 vertical bar F vertical bar > 4σ(F). It is confirmed that the crystal structure of Ca triborate CaB{sub 3}O{sub 5}(OH) is identical to that described earlier. The hydrogen atom is localized. An SHG signal stronger than that of the quartz standard is registered. The phase transition of calcium triborate into calciborite is found on heating. The comparative crystal-chemical analysis of a series of borates with the general chemical formula 2CaO · 3B{sub 2}O{sub 3} · nH{sub 2}O (n = 0–13) with the constant CaO: B{sub 2}O{sub 3}= 2: 3 ratio and variable content of water is performed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative analysis of properties of channels of deuteron and tritium production in {sup 16}Op collisions at a projectile momentum of 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon

The results of a comparative analysis of channels involving the inclusive production of deuterons and tritons in {sup 16}Op collisions at a projectile momentum of 3.25 GeV/c per nucleon are presented. The mechanisms governing proton, deuteron, and triton production in the fragmentation of oxygen nuclei are found to be independent. It is shown that the observed proton-multiplicity correlations are associated predominantly with the character of the primary event of a proton-nucleon collision in {sup 16}Op interactions. It is found that, in reactions involving triton production, the contributions of processes leading to an increase in the mean proton multiplicity (n → p + π{sup −} and np → pn) and processes leading to its decrease (p → n + π{sup +}) compensate each other.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Isoelectronic Oxygen Centers and Conductivity of CdS Crystals Compared with PbS Crystals

The influence of oxygen on the electrical properties of PbS are well known. The goal of this study is to compare and reveal this phenomenon in CdS(O) single crystals, which we have studied in detail previously. The experiments are performed for CdS single crystals with a known oxygen concentration, deviation from stoichiometry, and definite set of intrinsic point defects. They allow us to confirm the results described for PbS and clarify their nature. It is shown that the phenomenon is based on the capture of free charge carriers— electrons—by acceptor-like isoelectronic O{sub S} centers with the subsequent formation of associates having a complex structure. Previous conclusions on the dissolution mechanism of oxygen in CdS with deviations from stoichiometry are confirmed. Variations in the electrical properties in oxygen-activated PbS(O), similarly to CdS(O), showed that isoelectronic oxygen centers O{sub S} are present in lead sulfide.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Comparative Studies of AlGaAs/InGaAs Enhancement/Depletion-Mode High Electron Mobility Transistors with Virtual Channel Layers by Hybrid Gate Recesses Approaches

Unlike the conventional GaAs- and InP-based enhancement/depletion-mode (E/D-mode) transistors, the improved gate characteristics of the AlGaAs/InGaAs E-mode high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) by way of hybrid gate recesses to remove the n-AlAs/i-GaAs/n-AlGaAs virtual channel layers upon 2DEG channels are demonstrated. As compared to the D-mode device (sample A), the gate reverse currents are effectively reduced by 45 and 102 times for the E-mode devices with additional gate recess time of 24 s (sample B) and 30 s (sample C) to remove part of the virtual channel layers, respectively. Under gate forward bias, the hybrid gate recesses also enable the gate turn-on voltages to increase. Furthermore, the threshold voltages of –1.25, 0.09, and 0.22 V are observed in the samples A, B, and C, respectively. The maximum transconductances of 187.3, 209.2, and 243.4 mS/mm and saturation current density of 482.8, 410.6, and 347.4 mA/mm are obtained in the samples A, B, and C, respectively.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative Analysis of the Luminescence of Ge:Sb Layers Grown on Ge(001) and Si(001) Substrates

Comparative studies of the luminescence properties of Sb-doped Ge layers grown on Ge(001) and Si(001) substrates are carried out. It is shown that, in contrast to the case of Ge:Sb layers grown on Si, a considerable contribution to the photoluminescence signal from Ge:Sb/Ge(001) layers is made by indirect optical transitions. This fact is attributed to the longer charge-carrier lifetime in Ge:Sb/Ge homoepitaxial structures because of the lack of crystal-lattice defects related to the relaxation of elastic strains in such structures. It is shown that the experimentally observed significant increase in the contribution of direct optical transitions to the total photoluminescence signal with increasing doping level of Ge:Sb/Ge(001) layers results from an increase in the population of electron states in the Γ valley. At Sb concentrations much higher than the equilibrium solubility of Sb in Ge, partial electrical activation of the impurity is observed, and in this case, a profound effect on the emission properties of Ge:Sb layers grown on different substrates is produced by nonradiative-recombination centers, whose role can be played by clusters of impurity atoms.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative Study of the Magnetoelectric Effect in HoAl{sub 3}(BO{sub 3}){sub 4} and HoGa{sub 3}(BO{sub 3}){sub 4} Single Crystals

The comparative study of the magnetoelectric properties and magnetostriction of HoGa{sub 3}(BO{sub 3}){sub 4} and HoAl{sub 3}(BO{sub 3}){sub 4} single crystals has been carried out. The investigated compounds exhibit qualitatively similar magnetodielectric and inverse magnetoelectric ME{sub E} effects with the close absolute values, which is indicative of the weak effect of a nonmagnetic metal ion. On the contrary, the magnetostriction of the galloborate has been found to be threefold higher than that of the alumoborate. In addition, the difference between the qualitative behaviors of magnetostriction has been established: the magnetic-field dependence of magnetostriction for the alumoborate has the maximum near 70 kOe at T = 4.2 K, while the galloborate magnetostriction has no maximum and does not saturate in a field of 140 kOe.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative Study of the Lateral Photovoltaic Effect in Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2}/n-Si and Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2}/p-Si Structures

The results of a comparative study of the lateral photovoltaic effect in Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2}/n-Si and Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2}/p-Si structures are presented. The lateral photovoltage reaches its maximum near the measurement contacts in both structures, but the signs of this voltage differ. As the light spot moves away from the contacts, the photovoltage varies linearly in Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2}/n-Si and decreases exponentially in Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}/SiO{sub 2}/p-Si. It is found that interface states at the SiO{sub 2}/Si interface induce the photovoltage polarity inversion associated with a change in the conductivity type of silicon. An extreme thickness dependence of the photovoltage with an optimum Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} film thickness of ~50 nm is observed in both structures.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative Study of the Nernst–Ettingshausen Coefficient in the Normal Phase in the Y{sub 1 –} {sub x}Pr{sub x}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} and Y{sub 0.85 –} {sub x}Pr{sub x}Ca{sub 0.15}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} Systems

The results of the comparative study of the modification of the temperature dependences of the Nernst–Ettingshausen coefficient Q in the normal phase of two series of the samples of the Y{sub 1 –} {sub x}Pr{sub x}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} and Y{sub 0.85 –} {sub x}Pr{sub x}Ca{sub 0.15}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} compositions due to praseodymium doping are presented. The specific features of dependences Q(T) and Q{sub 300 K}(T) appeared as additional calcium ions exist in the YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} lattice have been revealed and analyzed. It is shown that dependences Q(T) and the temperature dependences of the thermopower coefficient obtained for the same samples previously are completely described in terms of the narrow-band model for both systems under study. The charge carrier mobilities and the degrees of asymmetry of the dispersion law are determined using a quantitative analysis of the experimental data. It is shown that the existence of additional calcium ions in the lattice does not influence a change in the asymmetry of the dispersion law with an increase in the praseodymium content, but strongly influences the character of changing the mobility. The found dependence of the mobility on the level of doping in the two systems and the observed difference in the characters of the changes in the absolute values of the thermopower coefficient and the Nernst–Ettingshausen coefficient in the Y{sub 0.85 –} {sub x}Pr{sub x}Ca{sub 0.15}Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} system are explained on the basis of the analysis of the mechanisms of influence of the energy spectrum parameters on the charge carrier mobility in the YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub y} system.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative Photoluminescent Analysis of Point Defects in SiO{sub 2} Induced by Implantation of Ar{sup +} Ions and Neutron Irradiation

The introduction of Si{sup +} ions and ions of other elements into amorphous silicon dioxide during their interaction causes damage to the structural bonds, which is observed in the vibrational spectral bands. Pure SiO{sub 2} has no optical transitions but the bands of induced point defects appear in the photoluminescence spectrum when ions/neutrons are introduced. The generation of photoluminescence-active defects by fluxes of Ar{sup +} ion and thermal neutrons is compared. It is shown that the nature of damage to the structure is associated with both the specifics of the synthesis/processing of the material and the features of the interaction between the substance and ions (atomic collisions) and neutrons (collisions with atomic nuclei).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Geometry Helps to Compare Persistence Diagrams

Exploiting geometric structure to improve the asymptotic complexity of discrete assignment problems is a well-studied subject. In contrast, the practical advantages of using geometry for such problems have not been explored. We implement geometric variants of the Hopcroft--Karp algorithm for bottleneck matching (based on previous work by Efrat el al.), and of the auction algorithm by Bertsekas for Wasserstein distance computation. Both implementations use k-d trees to replace a linear scan with a geometric proximity query. Our interest in this problem stems from the desire to compute distances between persistence diagrams, a problem that comes up frequently in topological data analysis. We show that our geometric matching algorithms lead to a substantial performance gain, both in running time and in memory consumption, over their purely combinatorial counterparts. Moreover, our implementation significantly outperforms the only other implementation available for comparing persistence diagrams.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Comparative Study of Finite Element Methods Using the Time-Accuracy-Size(TAS) Spectrum Analysis

We present a performance analysis appropriate for comparing algorithms using different numerical discretizations. By taking into account the total time-to-solution, numerical accuracy with respect to an error norm, and the computation rate, a cost-benefit analysis can be performed to determine which algorithm and discretization are particularly suited for an application. This work extends the performance spectrum model in for interpretation of hardware and algorithmic tradeoffs in numerical PDE simulation. As a proof-of-concept, popular finite element software packages are used to illustrate this analysis for Poisson’s equation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Study of high-p T charged particle suppression in PbPb compared to pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76~\mathrm{TeV}$

The transverse momentum spectra of charged particles have been measured in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. In the transverse momentum range pt = 5-10 GeV/c, the charged particle yield in the most central PbPb collisions is suppressed by up to a factor of 5 compared to the pp yield scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions. At higher pt, this suppression is significantly reduced, approaching roughly a factor of 2 for particles with pt in the range pt=40-100 GeV/c.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Comparing weak- and unsupervised methods for resonant anomaly detection

Abstract Anomaly detection techniques are growing in importance at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), motivated by the increasing need to search for new physics in a model-agnostic way. In this work, we provide a detailed comparative study between a well-studied unsupervised method called the autoencoder (AE) and a weakly-supervised approach based on the Classification Without Labels (CWoLa) technique. We examine the ability of the two methods to identify a new physics signal at different cross sections in a fully hadronic resonance search. By construction, the AE classification performance is independent of the amount of injected signal. In contrast, the CWoLa performance improves with increasing signal abundance. When integrating these approaches with a complete background estimate, we find that the two methods have complementary sensitivity. In particular, CWoLa is effective at finding diverse and moderately rare signals while the AE can provide sensitivity to very rare signals, but only with certain topologies. We therefore demonstrate that both techniques are complementary and can be used together for anomaly detection at the LHC.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Comparing matching prescriptions between pre-equilibrium and hydrodynamic models in high-energy nuclear collisions

Abstract State-of-the-art simulations of high-energy nuclear collisions rely on hybrid setups, involving in particular a pre-equilibrium stage to let the system evolve from a far-from-equilibrium initial condition towards a near-equilibrated state after which fluid dynamics can be applied meaningfully. A known issue is the mismatch between the equation of state in the fluid-dynamical evolution and the effective one in the previous stage, which leads to discontinuities at the interface between the two models. Here we introduce a new matching prescription at this interface, based on the entropy, and we compare it with the standard one relying on local energy conservation. We study the behavior of various quantities at the switching time between the models and investigate a number of final-state hadronic observables. For the latter, we show that they are not modified significantly by the choice of matching prescription, provided an appropriate normalization is chosen for the initial state. In turn, our approach reduces sizeably the ratio of bulk over thermodynamic pressure at the beginning of the fluid-dynamical stage.

Borghini, Nicolas (ORCID:0000000239063258)↗