Interlaced Influence of Various Water Quantities and Mite Densities on Broccoli (Brassica Oleracea.) Production

This study was carried out at Faculty of Agricultural- Suez Canal University which located in north eastern Egypt, within the Governorate of Ismailia. The experiment was conducted to assess the influence of different amounts of water and mite densities (phytophagous & predaceous ) on Broccoli production. Thus; the factor of water amounts comprise into three treatments (Q1, Q2 and control ) with average (977.63, 1955.28 and 2371.5 m3/fed.) respectively during period December  2014 to April 2015. The results revealed that The water quantities have a significant influence on Phytophagous and Predacieous mites  where the highest mean value for mites density was observed with ( Q2 ) by (10.5N/in2) and (8.16 N/in2) for Phytophagous and Predacieous mites respectively. On the other hand; the density of Phytophagous mite by ( 1 n/in2) need approximately 167.12, 134.18 and 154.82 heat units under treatment Q1, Q2 and C respectively.  However; Predacieous mite density (1n/in2) needs for 269.38 heat units under Q1 and 172.23 heat units under both Q2 and C treatments. Furthermore; the value of yield under treatment Q2 was the highest value (9.017 ton / fed) comparing with others treatment’s values (7.91 & 5.04 ton/fed) for (Q1 and Control respectively). However; with treatment Q1 recorded a highest Irrigation water use efficiency ( IWUE ) by (7.96 Kg/m3) after obtaining Heat use efficiency (HUE) 5.5 heat unit. Thus; from previous data analysis that best treatment is Q1 (low amount of water) which gain a good value both (IWUE) and (HUE). Keywords:  water quantities; mite densities; Irrigation water use efficiency and broccoli production

A physiological study of shading and density effects on the growth and the efficiency of solar energy conversion in some field crops

The growth and the efficiency (E s ) of conversion of solar energy were greatly affected in barley by both shading and density, although not always similarly in 1957 and 1958. Observations were made on: height; internode length; shoot diameter; shoot and leaf number; number and percentage of dead leaves; leaf length, breadth, ratio, thickness and area; spike development; awn emergence; spike length; number of heads per plant; number of grains per head and per plant; fresh and dry weights of roots, stem, leaves, heads, seeds, tops and entire plant; 1000-grain dry weight; and the root/top relation. The relation nonphotosynthetic tissues to photosynthetic tissues increased with increasing light intensity and with time. With increasing density this ratio decreased in the early stages but increased in the later ones. E s increased in the early and late stages with decreasing light intensity, in the middle stages the reverse occurred. In natural field conditions E s was maximum in the middle of the growing period. E s first (until 56-70 days) increased with density, later on medium density was more efficient. In both seasons proportion of grain and heads increased with density. Shading prolonged vegetative growth and diminished seed production.In mangold, E s increased for each period as well as on average with density. The highest E s values also persisted over a longer period in this crop.<p/

Diversity and distribution of medicinal plants in North Sinai, Egypt

The present study aims to assess plant diversity and distribution of medicinal plants in relation to environmental factors at three geomorphological districts (Mediterranean coast, anticlines, and inland) and five main habitats (salt marshes, sand dunes, sand plains, wadis, and gorges) in North Sinai. The results revealed that North Sinai harbors 281 species with high taxonomic diversity (species/genera = 1.49) and high percentage of rare and very rare species (67%). Mediterranean coastal district and anticlines district are more diverse than inland district. Medicinal plants constitute 43% of North Sinai flora. Species richness, Shannon-Weiner H, and Margalef indices measurements indicated that gorges are the most diverse habitat in North Sinai followed by wadis. Plains have intermediate diversity followed by sand dunes. The lowest diversity indices were recorded at salt marshes habitat. Beta diversity measurements, using Wilson and Schmida index (βT), indicated significant changes in floristic compositions between different habitats. The lowest changes were among sand plain, wadi, and gorge habitats. North Sinai habitats support about 100 to 120 medicinal plant associations. The main dominant species include Artemisia monosperma, Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, Lycium shawii, Retama raetam, Stipagrostis scoparia, Tamarix nilotica, Zygophyllum album, and Zygophyllum dumosum. Soil physical properties in addition to soil salinity and topographic variations are the main driving factors controlling the distribution of medicinal plants in North Sinai. About 60% of medicinal plants are threatened due to intensive collection and other human activities. The threatened medicinal plants including Acacia pachyceras, Acacia tortilis, Anastatica hierochuntica, Asclepias sinaica, Capparis spinosa, Chiliadenus montanus, Citrulus colocynthis, Ephedra alata, and Juniperus phoenicea along with their habitats should have the first priority in management and conservation plan of medicinal plants in North Sinai. Public and private involvement in management and utilization of medicinal plants in sustainable way is essential to combat human pressures on these valuable natural resources.Key words: Conservation, diversity, habitats, human impacts, medicinal plants, vegetation

NEW ALGORITHMS FOR SOLVING THE FUZZY CLUSTERING PROBLEM

Two new algorithms for fuzzy clustering are presented. Convergence of the proposed algorithms is proved. An empirical study of their convergence behavior is discussed. The performance of the new algorithms is compared with the fuzzy c-means algorithm by testing them on four published data sets. Experimental results show that the new algorithms are faster and lead to computational savings

NEW ALGORITHMS FOR SOLVING THE FUZZY CLUSTERING PROBLEM

Two new algorithms for fuzzy clustering are presented. Convergence of the proposed algorithms is proved. An empirical study of their convergence behavior is discussed. The performance of the new algorithms is compared with the fuzzy c-means algorithm by testing them on four published data sets. Experimental results show that the new algorithms are faster and lead to computational savings

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO