10,986 research outputs found
Organic production systems in Northern highbush blueberries
The production of highbush blueberries is increasing worldwide. Organic production of blueberries in Sweden is presently very limited but is expected to have a great potential to expand as the berries are popular and have a good shelf life. The fact that blueberries require acid soils raises several questions concerning suitable substrates in combination with mycorrhizal inoculation and fertilization in organic production systems. Field and pot experiments have been established during 2011 and 2012 with the aim of developing a sustainable production system for high quality organic blueberries. After the second experimental year, total fruit yields were similar for plants grown in a plastic tunnel and in the open field. Yields were not affected by the addition of 10% forest soil to the peat-based substrate. Inoculation with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi had little effect on shoot length in a greenhouse pot experiment. Blueberries may be particularly suitable for organic production as the need for fertilizers is low combined with a relatively low disease pressure on the blueberry crop in the Nordic countries. The Swedish blueberry production might be expected to expand in the near future. The development of a successful and resource-efficient growing system for organic blueberries may encourage new blueberry growers to chose organic production
Evidence for uteroplacental malperfusion in fetuses with major congenital heart defects.
AIMS: Fetuses affected by congenital heart defects (CHD) are considered to be at increased risk of fetal growth restriction and intrauterine demise. Whether these risks are a direct consequence of fetal CHD or a result of associated uteroplacental dysfunction is not evident from the data of recent studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of uteroplacental dysfunction reflected by abnormal uterine artery Doppler indices and reduced fetal growth in CHD pregnancies. METHODS: This is a retrospective case-control study including singleton pregnancies referred for detailed fetal cardiac assessment subsequently diagnosed with or without CHD. Mid-trimester uterine artery Doppler assessment at 20-24 weeks as well as third trimester fetal biometry and arterial Doppler pulsatility indices (PI) were performed. All fetal biometry were converted into centiles and Doppler values to multiples of median (MoM) to adjust for physiological changes with gestation. RESULTS: The study included 811 pregnancies including 153 cases where the fetus was diagnosed with CHD. Mid-pregnancy uterine artery PI was significantly higher in women with fetal CHD compared to controls (0.90MoM vs 0.83MoM; p = 0.006). In the third trimester, median centiles for fetal head circumference (45.4 vs 57.07; p<0.001), abdominal circumference (51.17 vs 55.71; p = 0.014), estimated fetal weight (33.6 vs 56.7; p<0.001) and cerebroplacental ratio (CPR: 0.84MoM vs 0.95MoM; p<0.001) were significantly lower in fetuses with CHD compared to controls. The percentage of small for gestational age births <10th centile (24.0% vs 10.7%; <0.001) and low CPR <0.6MoM (11.7% vs 2.5%; p<0.001) were significantly higher in the fetal CHD cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Mid-pregnancy uterine artery resistance is increased and subsequent fetal biometry reduced in pregnancies with CHD fetuses. These findings suggest that fetal CHD are associated with uteroplacental dysfunction, secondary to impaired maternal uteroplacental perfusion resulting in relative fetal hypoxaemia and reduced fetal growth
Constraining supersymmetric models from B_d - B-bar_d mixing and the B_d --> J/psi K_S asymmetry
We analyze the chargino contributions to B_d - B-bar_d mixing and CP
asymmetry of the B_d --> J/psi K_S decay, in the framework of the mass
insertion approximation. We derive model independent bounds on the relevant
mass insertions. Moreover, we study these contributions in supersymmetric
models with minimal flavor violation, Hermitian flavor structure, and small CP
violating phases and universal strength Yukawa couplings. We show that in
supersymmetric models with large flavor mixing, the observed values of sin(2
beta) may be entirely due to the chargino-up-squark loops.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure, minor corrections, version to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Supersymmetric contributions to B -> D K and the determination of angle \gamma
We analyze supersymmetric contributions to B^- -> D^0 K^- and B^- ->\bar{D}^0
K^- processes. We investigate the possibility that supersymmetric CP violating
phases can affect our determination for the angle \gamma in the unitary
triangle of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskaw mixing matrix. We calculate the gluino and
chargino contributions to b--> u(\bar{c}s) and b-->c(\bar{u}s) transitions in a
model independent way by using the mass insertion approximation method. We also
revise the D^0 - \bar{D}^0 mixing constraints on the mass insertions between
the first and second generations of the up sector. We emphasize that in case of
negligible D^0 -\bar{D}^0 mixing, one should consider simultaneous
contributions from more than one mass insertion in order to be able to obtain
the CP asymmetries of these processes within their 1\sigma experimental range.
However, with a large D^0-\bar{D}^0 mixing, one finds a significant deviation
between the two asymmetries and it becomes natural to have them of order the
central values of their experimental measurements.Comment: 20 page
On supersymmetric contributions to the CP asymmetry of the B -> phi K_S
We analyse the CP asymmetry of the B -> phi K_S process in general
supersymmetric models. In the framework of the mass insertion approximation, we
derive model independent limits for the mixing CP asymmetry. We show that
chromomagnetic type of operator may play an important role in accounting for
the deviation of the mixing CP asymmetry between B -> phi K_S and B -> J/psi
K_S processes observed by Belle and BaBar experiments. A possible correlation
between the direct and mixing CP asymmetry is also discussed. Finally, we apply
our result in minimal supergravity model and supersymmetric models with
non-universal soft terms.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure
Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment and mu -> e gamma in B-L Model with Inverse Seesaw
We study the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, a_\mu, and lepton flavor
violating decay \mu -> e \gamma in TeV scale B-L extension of the Standard
Model (SM) with inverse seesaw mechanism. We show that the B-L contributions to
a_\mu are severely constrained, therefore the SM contribution remains intact.
We also emphasize that the current experimental limit of BR(\mu -> e \gamma)
can be satisfied for a wide range of parameter space and it can be within the
reach of MEG experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 4 Figure
Automated Detection of Coronal Loops using a Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima Method
We propose and test a wavelet transform modulus maxima method for the au-
tomated detection and extraction of coronal loops in extreme ultraviolet images
of the solar corona. This method decomposes an image into a number of size
scales and tracks enhanced power along each ridge corresponding to a coronal
loop at each scale. We compare the results across scales and suggest the
optimum set of parameters to maximise completeness while minimising detection
of noise. For a test coronal image, we compare the global statistics (e.g.,
number of loops at each length) to previous automated coronal-loop detection
algorithms
Low energy consequences from supersymmetric models with left-right symmetry
We consider several low energy consequences arising from a class of
supersymmetric models based on the gauge groups and in which the gauge
hierarchy and problems have been resolved. There are important
constraints on the MSSM parameters , and
, and we discuss how they are reconciled with radiative electroweak
breaking. We also consider the ensuing sparticle and Higgs spectroscopy, as
well as the decays and . The latter process
may be amenable to experimental tests through an order of magnitude increase in
sensitivity.Comment: 17 pages, latex2
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