301 research outputs found
Differential physiological responses of portuguese bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes under aluminium stress
Open Access JournalThe major limitation of cereal production in acidic soils is aluminium (Al) phytotoxicity which inhibits root growth. Recent evidence indicates that different genotypes within the same species have evolved different mechanisms to cope with this stress. With these facts in mind, root responses of two highly Al tolerant Portuguese bread wheat genotypes—Barbela 7/72/92 and Viloso mole—were investigated along with check genotype Anahuac (Al sensitive), using different physiological and histochemical assays. All the assays confirmed that Barbela 7/72/92 is much more tolerant to Al phytotoxicity than Viloso Mole. Our results demonstrate that the greater tolerance to Al phytotoxicity in Barbela 7/72/92 than in Viloso Mole relies on numerous factors, including higher levels of organic acid (OAs) efflux, particularly citrate efflux. This might be associated with the lower accumulation of Al in the root tips, restricting the Al-induced lipid peroxidation and the consequent plasma membrane integrity loss, thus allowing better root regrowth under Al stress conditions. Furthermore, the presence of root hairs in Barbela 7/72/92 might also help to circumvent Al toxicity by facilitating a more efficient uptake of water and nutrients, particularly under Al stress on acid soils. In conclusion, our findings confirmed that Portuguese bread wheat genotype Barbela 7/72/92 represents an alternative source of Al tolerance in bread wheat and could potentially be used to improve the wheat productivity in acidic soils
Towards a fully self-consistent spectral function of the nucleon in nuclear matter
We present a calculation of nuclear matter which goes beyond the usual
quasi-particle approximation in that it includes part of the off-shell
dependence of the self-energy in the self-consistent solution of the
single-particle spectrum. The spectral function is separated in contributions
for energies above and below the chemical potential. For holes we approximate
the spectral function for energies below the chemical potential by a
-function at the quasi-particle peak and retain the standard form for
energies above the chemical potential. For particles a similar procedure is
followed. The approximated spectral function is consistently used at all levels
of the calculation. Results for a model calculation are presented, the main
conclusion is that although several observables are affected by the inclusion
of the continuum contributions the physical consistency of the model does not
improve with the improved self-consistency of the solution method. This in
contrast to expectations based on the crucial role of self-consistency in the
proofs of conservation laws.Comment: 26 pages Revtex with 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Scalar and vector decomposition of the nucleon self-energy in the relativistic Brueckner approach
We investigate the momentum dependence of the nucleon self-energy in nuclear
matter. We apply the relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach and adopt the
Bonn A potential. A strong momentum dependence of the scalar and vector
self-energy components can be observed when a commonly used pseudo-vector
choice for the covariant representation of the T-matrix is applied. This
momentum dependence is dominated by the pion exchange. We discuss the problems
of this choice and its relations to on-shell ambiguities of the T-matrix
representation. Starting from a complete pseudo-vector representation of the
T-matrix, which reproduces correctly the pseudo-vector pion-exchange
contributions at the Hartree-Fock level, we observe a much weaker momentum
dependence of the self-energy. This fixes the range of the inherent uncertainty
in the determination of the scalar and vector self-energy components. Comparing
to other work, we find that extracting the self-energy components by a fit to
the single particle potential leads to even more ambiguous results.Comment: 35 pages RevTex, 7 PS figures, replaced by a revised and extended
versio
In-medium relativistic kinetic theory and nucleon-meson systems
Within the model of coupled nucleon-meson systems, a
generalized relativistic Lenard--Balescu--equation is presented resulting from
a relativistic random phase approximation (RRPA). This provides a systematic
derivation of relativistic transport equations in the frame of nonequilibrium
Green's function technique including medium effects as well as flucuation
effects. It contains all possible processes due to one meson exchange and
special attention is kept to the off--shell character of the particles. As a
new feature of many particle effects, processes are possible which can be
interpreted as particle creation and annihilation due to in-medium one meson
exchange. In-medium cross sections are obtained from the generalized derivation
of collision integrals, which possess complete crossing symmetries.Comment: See nucl-th/9310032 for revised version which the authors
incompetently resubmitted rather than correctly replacing thi
Rare K and B Decays in the Littlest Higgs Model without T-Parity
We analyze rare K and B decays in the Littlest Higgs (LH) model without
T-parity. We find that the final result for the Z^0-penguin contribution
contains a divergence that is generated by the one-loop radiative corrections
to the currents corresponding to the dynamically broken generators. Including
an estimate of these logarithmically enhanced terms, we calculate the branching
ratios for the decays K^+ -> pi^+ nu bar nu, K_L -> pi^0 nu bar nu, B_{s,d} ->
mu^+ mu^- and B -> X_{s,d} nu bar nu. We find that for the high energy scale
f=O(2-3) TeV, as required by the electroweak precision studies, the enhancement
of all branching ratios amounts to at most 15% over the SM values. On the
technical side we identify a number of errors in the existing Feynman rules in
the LH model without T-parity that could have some impact on other analyses
present in the literature. Calculating penguin and box diagrams in the unitary
gauge, we find divergences in both contributions that are cancelled in the sum
except for the divergence mentioned above.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected, comment on (2.17) and (2.18)
added, references added, results unchange
Relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations with explicit intermediate negative energy states
In a relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculation we include explicit
negative-energy states in the two-body propagator. This is achieved by using
the Gross spectator-equation, modified by medium effects. Qualitatively our
results compare well with other RBHF calculations. In some details significant
differences occur, e.g, our equation of state is stiffer and the momentum
dependence of the self-energy components is stronger than found in a reference
calculation without intermediate negative energy states.Comment: 13 pages Revtex, 5 figures included seperatel
Particle-Antiparticle Mixing, epsilon_K, Delta Gamma_q, A_SL^q, A_CP(B_d -> psi K_S), A_CP(B_s -> psi phi) and B -> X_{s,d} gamma in the Littlest Higgs Model with T-Parity
We calculate a number of observables related to particle-antiparticle mixing
in the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity (LHT). The resulting effective
Hamiltonian for Delta F=2 transitions agrees with the one of Hubisz et al., but
our phenomenological analysis goes far beyond the one of these authors. In
particular, we point out that the presence of mirror fermions with new flavour
and CP-violating interactions allows to remove the possible Standard Model (SM)
discrepancy between the CP asymmetry S_{psi K_S} and large values of |V_ub| and
to obtain for the mass difference Delta M_s < (Delta M_s)_SM as suggested by
the recent result by the CDF collaboration. We also identify a scenario in
which simultaneously significant enhancements of the CP asymmetries S_{phi psi}
and A_SL^q relative to the SM are possible, while satisfying all existing
constraints, in particular from the B -> X_s gamma decay and A_CP(B -> X_s
gamma) that are presented in the LHT model here for the first time. In another
scenario the second, non-SM, value for the angle gamma=-(109+-6) from tree
level decays, although unlikely, can be made consistent with all existing data
with the help of mirror fermions. We present a number of correlations between
the observables in question and study the implications of our results for the
mass spectrum and the weak mixing matrix of mirror fermions. In the most
interesting scenarios, the latter one turns out to have a hierarchical
structure that differs significantly from the CKM one.Comment: 51 pages, 20 figures, 1 table. Extended discussion of the phases in
the new mixing matrix V_Hd, some references added or updated, conclusions
unchanged. Final version published in JHE
Cell-type specific H+-ATPase activity enables root K+ retention and mediates acclimation to salinity
While the importance of cell-type specificity in plant adaptive responses is widely accepted, only a limited number of studies have addressed this issue at the functional level. We have combined electrophysiological, imaging, and biochemical techniques to reveal physiological mechanisms conferring higher sensitivity of apical root cells to salinity in barley. We show that salinity application to the root apex arrests root growth in a highly tissue- and treatment-specific manner. Although salinity-induced transient net Na+ uptake was about 4-fold higher in the root apex compared with the mature zone, mature root cells accumulated more cytosolic and vacuolar Na+ suggesting that higher sensitivity of apical cells to salt is not related to either enhanced Na+ exclusion or sequestration inside the root. Rather, the above differential sensitivity between the two zones originates from a 10-fold difference in K+ efflux between the mature zone and the apical region (much poorer in the root apex) of the root. Major factors contributing to this poor K+ retention ability are: (1) an intrinsically lower H+-ATPase activity in the root apex; (2) greater salt-induced membrane depolarization and (3) a higher ROS production under NaCl and a larger density of ROS-activated cation currents in the apex. Salinity treatment increased (2 to 5 fold) the content of 10 (out of 25 detected) amino acids in the root apex but not in the mature zone and changed the organic acid and sugar contents. The causal link between observed changes in the root metabolic profile and regulation of transporters activity is discussed
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