Reintroduction of native cotton (Gossypium Barbadian) on the North coast of Peru: analysis of economic feasibility for small producers

In Peru the agro-export boom has determined a major shift of large farmers from traditional agro-industrial crops (coffee and cotton) to new agribusinesses (asparagus, oranges, avocados, apples). These dynamics have left room for the small farmers to enter the traditional agro-industrial sector, or into new niche markets as in the case of native cotton. On the North coast of Peru the cultivation of the native and naturally coloured cotton (Gossypium Barbadense spp. locally called algod\uf3n El Pa\ueds) is part of the Moche indigenous culture (a local pre-Inca population). Since 1949 the Peruvian legal prohibition to produce native cotton, linked to the risk of genetic contamination of the industrial white cotton cultivations, made the keeping of these traditional varieties very difficult. Nevertheless the situation has totally changed since 2008 due to Regulation n\ub0 29224 declaring native cotton as a genetic, ethnic and cultural heritage of the country. This study analyses the economic feasibility of re-inserting the native cotton as part of the agricultural production of 50 farmers on the North coast of Peru, proposing a farm economic data analysis, scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis based on OFAT (One Factor at A Time) methodology: the results attest that in all the productive scenarios proposed (10%, 25% and 50% of the farm agricultural surface growing native cotton) the average farm incomes are going to increase. Moreover the sensitivity analysis attests that also in the worst conditions of a 10% decrease in the native cotton price, the average farm incomes with native cotton are higher compared to the business as usual scenario in all three productive scenarios proposed

b -> s Transitions: A New Frontier for Indirect SUSY Searches

The present unitarity triangle fit, whose essential input is represented by the s to d and b to d transition processes, fully agrees with the SM. However, most of the phenomena involving b to s transitions are still largely unexplored and hence b to s phenomenology still constitutes a place for new physics manifestations, in spite of the tremendous experimental and theoretical progress on B to X_s gamma. We perform a systematic study of the CP conserving and violating SUSY contributions to b to s processes in a generic MSSM. We consider gluino exchange contributions including NLO QCD corrections and lattice hadronic matrix elements for Delta B = 2 and Delta B = 1 processes. We take into account all available experimental information on processes involving b to s transitions (B to X_s gamma, B to X_s l^+ l^- and the lower bound on the B_s - bar B_s mass difference Delta M_s). We study the correlations among the relevant observables under scrutiny at present or in a not too far future: Delta M_s and the amount of CP violation in B to phi K_s, B_s to J/psi phi, B to X_s gamma. In particular we discuss the recent data by BaBar and BELLE on the time-dependent CP asymmetry in the decay B to phi K_s which suggest a deviation from the SM expectation. Our results show that the processes involving b to s transitions represent a splendid opportunity to constrain different MSSM realizations, and, even more important, that they offer concrete prospects to exhibit SUSY signals at B factories and hadron colliders in spite of all the past frustration in FCNC searches of new physics hints.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. Bug in the code corrected, figures for RL and RL=RR cases and some conclusions change

Accountability by the accountable self: The case of Leone Wollemborg

The accounting history literature has mostly concentrated on depicting how accountability practices evolve with respect to the organisational and social contexts, leaving at the margins explorations of the role of the ‘accountable self’ in this process. To extend this literature, the present study examines how the economist and landowner Leone Wollemborg (1859–1932) acted as an ‘accountable self’, explaining his own actions to the ‘other’, to promote a new organisational model aimed at solving the credit issue affecting the rural population. Based on archival material, the article explores Wollemborg’s biography and develops a content analysis of his discourses. The findings show that, by making a pervasive use of face-to-face narrative accountability, Wollemborg obtained trust and engagement of external potential stakeholders, thus expanding the rural credit cooperatives (Raiffeisen-style). This research facilitates understanding of the relevance for the initiator of a new organisational model to act as an ‘accountable self’

Worries and Hopes for SUSY in CKM Physics: The b to s Example

We discuss the twofold role of flavor and CP violation as a constraint in model building and as a signal of SUSY. Considering as an example b to s transitions, we analyze present bounds on SUSY parameters, discuss possible deviations from SM predictions in Bd and Bs physics and present strategies to reveal SUSY signals in present and future experiments in the CKM domain.Comment: Invited talks given by A. Masiero and L. Silvestrini at the Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, IPPP Durham, April 2003 (eConf C0304052). 9 pages, 5 figure

Lepton Flavor Violation, Neutralino Dark Matter and the Reach of the LHC

We revisit the phenomenology of the Constrained MSSM with right-handed neutrinos (CMSSMRN). A supersymmetric seesaw mechanism, generating neutrino masses and sizable lepton flavour violating (LFV) entries is assumed to be operative. In this scheme, we study the complementarity between the `observable ranges' of various paths leading to the possible discovery of low energy SUSY: the reach of the Cern Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the quest for neutralino dark matter signals and indirect searches through LFV processes. Within the regions of the CMSSMRN parameter space compatible with all cosmo-phenomenological requirements, those which are expected to be probed at the LHC will be typically also accessible to upcoming LFV experiments. Moreover, parameter space portions featuring a heavy SUSY particle spectrum could be well beyond LHC reach while leaving LFV searches as the only key to get a glimpse on SUSY.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures, LateX; v2: one reference and one comment added; matches with published versio

Two-body nonleptonic B decays in the Standard Model and beyond

We briefly discuss the phenomenology of B to pi pi, B to K pi and B to phi K decays in the Standard Model and in Supersymmetry.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, uses moriond.sty. Talk given by L. Silvestrini at the XXXIXth Rencontres de Moriond on ElectroWeak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy, March 21st-28th 200

Characterization of Active Main Belt Object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs): A Possible Impacted Asteroid

In this work we characterize the recently discovered active main belt object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs), which was discovered with a dust trail > 7' in length in the outer main belt, 7 months prior to aphelion. We use optical imaging obtained on UT 2012 March 27 to analyze the central condensation and the long trail. We find nuclear B-band and R-band apparent magnitudes of 20.96 and 19.93 mag, respectively, which give an upper limit on the radius of the nucleus of 2.1 km. The geometric cross-section of material in the trail was ~ 4 x 10^8 m^2, corresponding to a dust mass of ~ 5 x 10^7 kg. Analysis of infrared images taken by the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer in September 2010 reveals that the object was below the detection limit, suggesting that it was less active than it was during 2012, or possibly inactive, just 6 months after it passed through perihelion. We set a 1-sigma upper limit on its radius during this time of 2.9 km. P/2012 F5 (Gibbs) is dynamically stable in the outer main belt on timescales of ~ 1 Gyr, pointing towards an asteroidal origin. We find that the morphology of the ejected dust is consistent with it being produced by a single event that occurred on UT 2011 July 7 $\pm$ 20 days, possibly as the result of a collision with a small impactor.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

General Flavor Blind MSSM and CP Violation

We study the implications on flavor changing neutral current and CP violating processes in the context of supersymmetric theories without a new flavor structure (flavor blind supersymmetry). The low energy parameters are determined by the running of the soft breaking terms from the grand unified scale with SUSY phases consistent with the EDM constraints. We find that the CP asymmetry in b --> s gamma can reach large values potentially measurable at B factories, especially in the low BR(b --> s gamma) region. We perform a fit of the unitarity triangle including all the relevant observables. In this case, no sizeable deviations from the SM expectations are found. Finally we analyze the SUSY contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon pointing out its impact on the b --> s gamma CP asymmetry and on the SUSY spectrum including chargino and stop masses.Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected, references adde

General Flavour Blind MSSM and CP Violation

We study FCNC and CP violating processes in the MSSM without a new flavour structure (flavour blind MSSM). The low energy parameters are determined by the running of the soft breaking terms from the GUT scale with SUSY phases consistent with the EDM constraints. We find that the CP asymmetry in b -> s gamma can reach large values potentially measurable at B factories, especially in the low BR(b -> s gamma) region. We analyze the SUSY contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon pointing out its impact on the b -> s gamma CP asymmetry and on the SUSY spectrum.Comment: LaTex, 5 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics (HEP 2001), Budapest, Hungary, 12-18 Jul 200