66 research outputs found

    Advances in screening methods and breeding for resistance to downy mildew and stem borers in maize

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    Maize is the most important cereal in sub-Saharan Africa. It is relatively inexpensive and provides many families with much-needed nutrients. For the farmers, it matures early and Is a source of ready income. Maize production Is being threatened by some diseases and pests, among which are downy mildew and stem borers. Serious yield losses often occur. This paper summarizes two studies that report the efforts of liT A scientists to screen and breed maize varieties for resistance to downy mildew and stem borers

    Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons in PbPb collisions at √S^{S}NN = 5.02 TeV

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    The second-order Fourier coefficients (υ2_{2}) characterizing the azimuthal distributions of ΄(1S) and ΄(2S) mesons produced in PbPb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV are studied. The ΄mesons are reconstructed in their dimuon decay channel, as measured by the CMS detector. The collected data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb−1^{-1}. The scalar product method is used to extract the υ2_{2} coefficients of the azimuthal distributions. Results are reported for the rapidity range |y| < 2.4, in the transverse momentum interval 0 < pT_{T} < 50 GeV/c, and in three centrality ranges of 10–30%, 30–50% and 50–90%. In contrast to the J/ψ mesons, the measured υ2_{2} values for the ΄ mesons are found to be consistent with zero

    Measurement of prompt D0^{0} and D‟\overline{D}0^{0} meson azimuthal anisotropy and search for strong electric fields in PbPb collisions at root SNN\sqrt{S_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

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    The strong Coulomb field created in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions is expected to produce a rapiditydependent difference (Av2) in the second Fourier coefficient of the azimuthal distribution (elliptic flow, v2) between D0 (uc) and D0 (uc) mesons. Motivated by the search for evidence of this field, the CMS detector at the LHC is used to perform the first measurement of Av2. The rapidity-averaged value is found to be (Av2) = 0.001 ? 0.001 (stat)? 0.003 (syst) in PbPb collisions at ?sNN = 5.02 TeV. In addition, the influence of the collision geometry is explored by measuring the D0 and D0mesons v2 and triangular flow coefficient (v3) as functions of rapidity, transverse momentum (pT), and event centrality (a measure of the overlap of the two Pb nuclei). A clear centrality dependence of prompt D0 meson v2 values is observed, while the v3 is largely independent of centrality. These trends are consistent with expectations of flow driven by the initial-state geometry. ? 2021 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY licens

    Studies of charm and beauty hadron long-range correlations in pp and pPb collisions at LHC energies

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    Measurement of the Y(1S) pair production cross section and search for resonances decaying to Y(1S)ÎŒâșΌ⁻ in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

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    The fiducial cross section for Y(1S)pair production in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeVin the region where both Y(1S)mesons have an absolute rapidity below 2.0 is measured to be 79 ± 11 (stat) ±6 (syst) ±3 (B)pbassuming the mesons are produced unpolarized. The last uncertainty corresponds to the uncertainty in the Y(1S)meson dimuon branching fraction. The measurement is performed in the final state with four muons using proton-proton collision data collected in 2016 by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1^{-1}. This process serves as a standard model reference in a search for narrow resonances decaying to Y(1S)ÎŒ+^{+}Ό−^{-} in the same final state. Such a resonance could indicate the existence of a tetraquark that is a bound state of two bquarks and two b̅ antiquarks. The tetraquark search is performed for masses in the vicinity of four times the bottom quark mass, between 17.5 and 19.5GeV, while a generic search for other resonances is performed for masses between 16.5 and 27GeV. No significant excess of events compatible with a narrow resonance is observed in the data. Limits on the production cross section times branching fraction to four muons via an intermediate Y(1S)resonance are set as a function of the resonance mass

    Measurement of the CP-violating phase ϕs_{s} in the B0^{0}s_{s}→J/ψ φ(1020) →ΌâșΌ⁻KâșK⁻ channel in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

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    Observation of electroweak production of Wγ with two jets in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

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    A first observation is presented for the electroweak production of a W boson, a photon, and two jets in proton-proton collisions. The W boson decays are selected by requiring one identified electron or muon and an imbalance in transverse momentum. The two jets are required to have a high dijet mass and a large separation in pseudorapidity. The measurement is based on data collected with the CMS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1^{-1}. The observed (expected) significance for this process is 4.9 (4.6) standard deviations. After combining with previously reported CMS results at 8 TeV, the observed (expected) significance is 5.3 (4.8) standard deviations. The cross section for the electroweak Wγjj_{γjj} production in a restricted fiducial region is measured as 20.4 +/- 4.5 fb and the total cross section for Wγ_{γ} production in association with 2 jets in the same fiducial region is 108 +/- 16 fb. All results are in good agreement with recent theoretical predictions. Constraints are placed on anomalous quartic gauge couplings in terms of dimension-8 effective field theory operators

    Measurements of production cross sections of polarized same-sign W boson pairs in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV

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    The first measurements of production cross sections of polarized same-sign W±W±boson pairs in proton-proton collisions are reported. The measurements are based on a data sample collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137fb−1. Events are selected by requiring exactly two same-sign leptons, electrons or muons, moderate missing transverse momentum, and two jets with a large rapidity separation and a large dijet mass to enhance the contribution of same-sign W±W±scattering events. An observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit of 1.17 (0.88)fbis set on the production cross section for longitudinally polarized same-sign W±W±boson pairs. The electroweak production of same-sign W±W±boson pairs with at least one of the Wbosons longitudinally polarized is measured with an observed (expected) significance of 2.3 (3.1) standard deviations.SCOAP

    Mycotoxin contamination of foods in Africa: antinutritional factors

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    Published online: 01 Dec 2000Mycotoxins are regulated in foods and feeds because of carcinogenic (aflatoxin), immunotoxic (deoxynivalenol), or environmental estrogenic (zearalenone) properties. In addition to having tumorigenic properties, many mycotoxins are antinutritional factors that cause unthrifty growth and immune suppression in young animals. In the developed world, human exposure, and particularly exposure of children, to dietary mycotoxins is virtually nonexistent because of regulatory standards. In developing countries, monitoring and enforcement of standards is rare, and mycotoxin-susceptible foods are often the primary staples in rather undiversified diets. In sub-Saharan Africa, people are exposed to unsafe levels of various mycotoxins, often in mixtures, and the consequences in terms of public health burden have been ignored. This paper presents information on the health effects that have been attributed to mycotoxin exposure from the medical research literature and data on existing mycotoxin levels in maize in West and Central Africa. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in its Maize Integrated Pest Management Project, has recognized mycotoxins as one of the most important constraints to the goal of improving human health and well-being through agriculture. An overview of various research and development activities at the Institute is given
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