Search for a periodic signal from Cygnus X-3 usingmuons observed underground in the Frejus detector (4800 mwe)

Periodic signals from Cygnus X-3 in the ultra high energy range were recently reported by air shower arrays and attributed to gamma rays. Although gamma rays are expected to produce muon-poor showers, the preceding observations have stimulated similar studies based on underground muons. Two groups have claimed a significant underground signal coming from Cygnus X-3. The results are, however, extremely difficult to explain in the present framework of particle physics, and clearly need confirmation. The preliminary results obtained from the Frejus underground detector during its first 16 months of operation (March 1984 to June 1985) are presented

Purification and some serological relationships of tomato spotted wilt virus isolates occurring on peanut (Arachis hypogaea) in the USA

A procedure for the purification of TSWV-Tx, a tomato spotted wilt virus isolate infecting groundnuts in Texas, is described. A rabbit antiserum was produced. Several TSWV isolates occurring on groundnuts in the USA reacted to varying extents in ELISA with antisera to TSWV-Tx and to Greek TSWV isolates, but failed to react with antiserum to an isolate of TSWV from India. In reciprocal tests, antigens of the Indian TSWV failed to react with antisera to Tx and to the Greek isolates. Purified TSWV-Tx contained 4 polypeptide species of 78 000, 54 000 and 27 000 Da. In electro-blot immunoassays, all 4 polypeptides reacted with the homologous antiserum and with antisera prepared against a Greek, a Dutch and an Australian isolate. None of the polypeptides reacted with the antiserum to the Indian isolate

Field Diagnosis of Groundnut Diseases

Diseases ar e major constraints to groundnut production throughout the world. This handbook is designed to assist agricultural research and extension workers, wh o may have little formal training in plant pathology, to make tentative diagnosis of diseases of groundnut caused by 31 fungi, 2 bacteria. 9 viruses, a mycoplasma-like organism, 4 nematodes, and a parasitic flowering plant. The most characteristic field symptoms of each disease are Illustrated and descr ibed. It is emphasized that for confirmation of field diagnosi s the assistance of skilled plant pathologists will be requi red in most cases

The complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of the M RNA segment of peanut bud necrosis tospovirus and comparison with other tospoviruses

The M RNA of peanut bud necrosis tospovirus is 4801 nucleotides in length. It comprised 2 ORFs in an ambisense organization and terminal inverted repeats. The 3 prime large ORF (3363 nucleotides in the virus-complementary strand) encoded a protein with a predicted size of 127.2 kDa which was identified as the glycoprotein precursor (GP) of the G1 and G2 glycoproteins. A comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of GP revealed 37% identity and 58-59% similarity with that of tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV,serogroup I) and impatiens necrotic spot tospovirus (INSV, serogroup III) and 21-23% identity and 44-47% similarity with members of the genus Bunyavirus. The 5 prime small ORF (924 nucleotides in the virus-sense strand) encoded a 34.2 kDa protein which was identified as the non-structural (NSm) protein based on 41-43% identity and 60-63% similarity with TSWV and INSV. Defective RNA molecules derived from the genomic M RNA were detected during continuous passage of the virus by sap inoculations

Peanut bud necrosis tospovirus S RNA: complete nucleotide sequence, genome organization and homology to other tospoviruses.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the S RNA of peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) has been determined. The RNA is 3 057 nucleotides in length, contains inverted repeats and two open reading frames (ORFs) with an ambisense coding strategy that are separated by an A+U-rich intergenic region. One ORF (1 320 nucleotides in the viral sense strand) encodes a Mr 49.5 kDa protein, identified as the nonstructural (NSs) protein based on similarity to published tospovirus sequences. The second ORF (831 nucleotides in virus complementary strand) encodes a Mr 30.6 kDa protein. This protein was identified as the nucleocapsid (N) protein based on sequence similarities. Amino acid sequence comparison of N and NSs proteins revealed identities of 22-34% with the reported tospovirus isolates of serogroups I, II, and III, whereas it had 82-86% identity with viruses in serogroup IV, watermelon silver mottle virus (WSMV) and tomato isolate of peanut bud necrosis (PBNV-To). Two subgenomic RNA species detected in PBNV infected tissue corresponded to the predicted sizes (1.65 and 1.4 kb) of the NSs and N mRNAs. The data presented show conclusively that PBNV should be included in serogroup IV, along with WSMV and PBNV-To

Field Diagnosis of Groundnut Disease. Information Bulletin No 36(revised)

Diseases are major constraints to groundnut production throughout the world. This handbook is designed to assist agricultural research and extension workers, who may have little formal training in plant pathology, to make tentative diagnosis of diseases of groundnut caused by 29 fungi, 2 bacteria, 11 viruses, a mycoplasma-like organism, 4 nematodes, and a parasitic flowering plant. The most characteristic field symptoms of each disease are illustrated and described. It is emphasized that for confirmation of field diagnosis the assistance of skilled plant pathologists will be required in most cases

The value of discretion in Africa: Evidence from acquired intangible assets under IFRS 3

The paper examines the value of managerial discretion in financial reporting by exploring the value relevance of intangible assets acquired in business combinations (AIA) before and after the 2008 International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 3 amendment. The 2008 IFRS 3 amendment gave managers the discretion to recognize previously unrecognized intangibles in the target firm, hence, we posit that if managerial discretion improves the quality of financial reporting, we should observe an increase in the value relevance of AIA after the amendment. Our empirical analysis is based on a dataset of 603 mergers announced between 2004 to 2016, across 7 African countries. Consistent with our main hypothesis, we find that the value relevance of AIA, predominantly acquired goodwill (AGW), increased after the amendment, suggesting that managerial discretion improves the quality of financial information. Importantly, we highlight a caveat to this argument by showing that the value of discretion is moderated by the underlying institutional quality, with the value relevance of AIA being greater in high-quality institutional contexts. Our findings are robust to alternative measures of AIA, alternative models for testing value relevance and various controls for endogeneity. Overall, our findings have important implications for accounting standard-setters, governments, investors and practitioners

Renegotiation and Relative Performance Evaluation: Why an Informative Signal may be Useless

Although Holmström's informativeness criterion provides a theoretical foundation for the controllability principle and inter firm relative performance evaluation, empirical and field studies provide only weak evidence on such practices. This paper refines the traditional informativeness criterion by abandoning the conventional full-commitment assumption. With the possibility of renegotiation, a signal's usefulness in incentive contracting depends on its information quality, not simply on whether the signal is informative. This paper derives conditions for determining when a signal is useless and when it is useful. In particular, these conditions will be met when the signal's information quality is either sufficiently poor or sufficiently rich

Bud Necrosis: A Disease of Groundnut Caused by Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

This is the first ICRISAT Information Bulletin that deals with a virus disease of groundnut. Attention is focused on bud necrosis disease, caused by tomato spotted wilt virus, because of its economic significance on three continents. Epidemics build up rapidly with little warning and cause serious losses to growers. Protocols for purification and identification of the virus are given in detail. The symptoms of the disease in groundnut are illustrated. Procedures for a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of the virus are given. The identification of the vector insects—species of Thysanoptera (thrips)—is difficult, and is still to be fully resolved. But a key is provided as an aid in identifying seven thrips species that have been implicated as vectors of tomato spotted wilt virus on groundnut. The current situation concerning management of bud necrosis disease is outlined. Suitable insecticides, cultural practices, biological control, and host-plant resistance are discussed to assist crop protection and extension workers in formulating integrated management systems appropriate to their particular situations

Diagnosis and Resistance Breeding of Peanut Bud Necrosis Virus

he occurrence of peanut bud necrosis (PBN) disease in India was first reported in 1968. The high incidence of PBN disease during the 1960s coincided with large-scale imports of the peanut cultivars Asiria Mwitundae and Spanish Improved, both of which are highly susceptible to PBN. Since then, a number of reports have been published in India describing bud necrosis under at least seven different names (Reddy 1988). Crop losses due to PBN have been estimated at USD89 million per year in India during 1976–1986. The disease is also currently recognized as economically important in Nepal (Sharma 1996), in Sri Lanka, and in Thailand (Wongkaew 1995). The causal agent of PBN was originally reported as tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) (Ghanekar et al. 1979). Since then, methods to purify the causal virus of PBN have been developed, which facilitated the production of good quality antisera. On the basis of serological relationships, some physicochemical properties, and thrips transmission, it was shown that the causal virus of PBN in India was a distinct tospovirus that was named peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV, Reddy et al. 1992). These results were subsequently confirmed by Adam et al. (1993). Later, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have been produced against the nucleocapsid (N) protein of PBNV (Poul et al. 1992). Antibodies from nine clones failed to react with a TSWV-lettuce (TSWV-L) isolate and with an impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV) by triple-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (TAS-ELISA) (coating of PBNV polyclonal antiserum, addition of antigen followed by addition of MAbs and antimouse IgGs conjugated to alkaline phosphatase). Of 16 MAbs produced against TSWV-L (Hsu et al. 1990), 12 H5 Al (f), 12 H5 H5 (