Establishing populations of Megasphaera elsdenii YE 34 and Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens YE 44 in the rumen of cattle fed high grain diets

Aim: To determine whether Megasphaera elsdenii YE34 (lactic acid degrader) and Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens YE44 (alternative starch utilizer to Streptococcus bovis) establish viable populations in the rumen of beef cattle rapidly changed from a forage-based to a grain-based diet. Methods and Results: Five steers were inoculated with the two bacterial strains (YE34 and YE44) and five served as uninoculated controls. With the exception of one animal in the control group, which developed acidosis, all steers rapidly adapted to the grain-based diet without signs of acidosis (pH decline and accumulation of lactic acid). Bacterial populations of S. bovis, B. fibrisolvens and M. elsdenii were enumerated using real-time Taq nuclease assays. Populations of S. bovis remained constant (except in the acidotic animal) at ca 107 cell equivalents (CE) ml-1 throughout the study. Megasphaera elsdenii YE34, was not detectable in animals without grain in the diet, but immediately established in inoculated animals, at 106 CE ml-1, and increased 100-fold in the first 4 days following inoculation. Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, initially present at 108 CE ml-1, declined rapidly with the introduction of grain into the diet and was not detectable 8 days after grain introduction. Conclusion: Megasphaera elsdenii rapidly establishes a lactic acid-utilizing bacterial population in the rumen of grain-fed cattle 7–10 days earlier than in uninoculated cattle. Significance and Impact of the Study: The study has demonstrated that rumen bacterial populations, and in particular the establishment of bacteria inoculated into the rumen for probiotic use, can be monitored by real-time PCR

B decay shape variables and the precision determination of |Vcb| and mb

We present expressions for shape variables of B decay distributions in several different mass schemes, to order $\alpha_s^2\beta_0$ and (Lambda_{QCD}/mb)^3. Such observables are sensitive to the b quark mass and matrix elements in the heavy quark effective theory, and recent measurements allow precision determinations of some of these parameters. We perform a combined fit to recent experimental results from CLEO, BABAR, and DELPHI, and discuss the theoretical uncertainties due to nonperturbative and perturbative effects. We discuss the possible discrepancy between the OPE prediction, recent BABAR results and the measured branching fraction to D and D* states. We find |Vcb| = (40.8 +- 0.9) x 10^{-3} and mb^{1S} = 4.74 +- 0.10 GeV, where the errors are dominated by experimental uncertainties.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, Version to appear in PR

Charmless Exclusive Baryonic B Decays

We present a systematical study of two-body and three-body charmless baryonic B decays. Branching ratios for two-body modes are in general very small, typically less than $10^{-6}$, except that \B(B^-\to p \bar\Delta^{--})\sim 1\times 10^{-6}. In general, $\bar B\to N\bar\Delta>\bar B\to N\bar N$ due to the large coupling constant for $\Sigma_b\to B\Delta$. For three-body modes we focus on octet baryon final states. The leading three-dominated modes are $\bar B^0\to p\bar n\pi^-(\rho^-), n\bar p\pi^+(\rho^+)$ with a branching ratio of order $3\times 10^{-6}$ for $\bar B^0\to p\bar n\pi^-$ and $8\times 10^{-6}$ for $\bar B^0\to p\bar n\rho^-$. The penguin-dominated decays with strangeness in the meson, e.g., $B^-\to p\bar p K^{-(*)}$ and $\bar B^0\to p\bar n K^{-(*)}, n\bar n \bar K^{0(*)}$, have appreciable rates and the $N\bar N$ mass spectrum peaks at low mass. The penguin-dominated modes containing a strange baryon, e.g., $\bar B^0\to \Sigma^0\bar p\pi^+, \Sigma^-\bar n\pi^+$, have branching ratios of order $(1\sim 4)\times 10^{-6}$. In contrast, the decay rate of $\bar B^0\to\Lambda\bar p\pi^+$ is smaller. We explain why some of charmless three-body final states in which baryon-antibaryon pair production is accompanied by a meson have a larger rate than their two-body counterparts: either the pole diagrams for the former have an anti-triplet bottom baryon intermediate state, which has a large coupling to the $B$ meson and the nucleon, or they are dominated by the factorizable external $W$-emission process.Comment: 46 pages and 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D. Major changes are: (i) Calculations of two-body baryonic B decays involving a Delta resonance are modified, and (ii) Penguin-dominated modes B-> Sigma+N(bar)+p are discusse

Evading the CKM Hierarchy: Intrinsic Charm in B Decays

We show that the presence of intrinsic charm in the hadrons' light-cone wave functions, even at a few percent level, provides new, competitive decay mechanisms for B decays which are nominally CKM-suppressed. For example, the weak decays of the B-meson to two-body exclusive states consisting of strange plus light hadrons, such as B\to\pi K, are expected to be dominated by penguin contributions since the tree-level b\to s u\bar u decay is CKM suppressed. However, higher Fock states in the B wave function containing charm quark pairs can mediate the decay via a CKM-favored b\to s c\bar c tree-level transition. Such intrinsic charm contributions can be phenomenologically significant. Since they mimic the amplitude structure of ``charming'' penguin contributions, charming penguins need not be penguins at all.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, published version. References added, minor change

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

No, Prime Minister:Explaining the House of Commons’ Vote on Intervention in Syria

On 29 August 2013, the UK House of Commons inflicted the first defeat on a Prime Minister over a matter of war and peace since 1782. Recalled to debate and vote on UK intervention in Syria, the Commons humbled the government and crucially impacted the development of UK foreign policy. This article places that vote, and the developments leading to it, in the context of the role of parliaments in security policy and explores the relationships between parliamentary influence, leadership, intra-party and intra-coalition politics, and public opinion. From an in-depth analysis of leaders’ statements and parliamentary debate, we find a combination of intra-party politics and party leadership were most significant. An additional factor–the role of historical precedent–was also important. Our analysis explores the fluidity and interconnectedness of the various factors for parliamentary influence in foreign policy and offers directions for future theoretical development and empirical research.</p

Search for Decays of B^{0} Mesons into Pairs of Leptons: B{0} -> e^{+}e^{-}, B^{0} -> \mu^{+}\mu^{-} and B^{0} -> e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}

We search for the decays of the $B^0$ meson into $e^+e^-$, $\mu^+\mu^-$ $e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$ pairs in a sample of $9.7\times 10^6$ $B{\bar B}$ pairs recorded by CLEO detector. No signal is found, and the following upper limits on the corresponding branching fractions are established: $<8.3\times 10^{-7}$, $<6.1\times 10^{-7}$, $< 15\times 10^{-7}$ at 90% confidence level. A new lower limit on the Pati-Salam leptoquark mass $M_{LQ}>27$ TeV is established at 90% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Volume I. Introduction to DUNE

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay—these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector technical design report (TDR) describes the DUNE physics program and the technical designs of the single- and dual-phase DUNE liquid argon TPC far detector modules. This TDR is intended to justify the technical choices for the far detector that flow down from the high-level physics goals through requirements at all levels of the Project. Volume I contains an executive summary that introduces the DUNE science program, the far detector and the strategy for its modular designs, and the organization and management of the Project. The remainder of Volume I provides more detail on the science program that drives the choice of detector technologies and on the technologies themselves. It also introduces the designs for the DUNE near detector and the DUNE computing model, for which DUNE is planning design reports. Volume II of this TDR describes DUNE\u27s physics program in detail. Volume III describes the technical coordination required for the far detector design, construction, installation, and integration, and its organizational structure. Volume IV describes the single-phase far detector technology. A planned Volume V will describe the dual-phase technology

Search for the Xb and other hidden-beauty states in the π+π−ϒ(1S) channel at ATLAS

This Letter presents a search for a hidden-beauty counterpart of the X(3872) in the mass ranges of 10.05–10.31 GeV and 10.40–11.00 GeV, in the channel Xb→π+π−ϒ(1S)(→μ+μ−), using 16.2 fb−1 of pp   collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No evidence for new narrow states is found, and upper limits are set on the product of the Xb cross section and branching fraction, relative to those of the ϒ(2S), at the 95% confidence level using the CLS approach. These limits range from 0.8% to 4.0%, depending on mass. For masses above 10.1 GeV, the expected upper limits from this analysis are the most restrictive to date. Searches for production of the ϒ(13DJ), , and states also reveal no significant signals