1,513 research outputs found

    Electronic support tools for identification and management of rice weeds in Africa for better-informed agricultural change agents

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    International audienceWe developed an interactive electronic weed identification tool, AFROweeds, and an online network, Weedsbook, for agricultural change agents to aid communication and offer assistance to rice farmers with specific weed problems. We collected quantitative and qualitative data to assess effectiveness and usefulness of these products with potential users. With the online version of AFROweeds, used on an electronic tablet, average weed identification time in the field was 7 min 6 s with 44% successful identifications. Poor mobile network coverage and slow internet were the main reasons for the relative long identification time and low success rate. A second trial was done with the offline version, pre-installed on a tablet. The average identification time was 6 min 34 s, with a success rate of 75%. The online network Weedsbook, established alongside AFROweeds, was assessed by the test users as a useful additional aid, enabling agricultural change agents and agronomists to exchange information or request assistance on all aspects of weeds and weed management. The potential improvements of both products are discussed

    Quantifying soil hydrology to explain the development of vegetation at an ex-arable wetland restoration site

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    Wetland restoration frequently sets well-defined vegetation targets, but where restoration occurs on highly degraded land such targets are not practical and setting looser targets may be more appropriate. Where this more ‘open-ended’ approach to restoration is adopted, surveillance methods that can track developing wetland habitats need to be established. Water regime and soil structure are known to influence the distribution and composition of developing wetland vegetation, and may be quantified using Sum Exceedence Values (SEV), calculated using the position of the water table and knowledge of soil stress thresholds. Use of SEV to explain patterns in naturally colonizing vegetation on restored, ex-arable land was tested at Wicken Fen (UK). Analysis of values from ten locations showed that soil structure was highly heterogeneous. Five locations had shallow aeration stress thresholds and so had the potential to support diverse wetland assemblages. Deep aeration stress thresholds at other locations precluded the establishment of a diverse wetland flora, but identified areas where species-poor wetland assemblages may develop. SEV was found to be a useful tool for the surveillance of sites where restoration targets are not specified in detail at the outset and may help predict likely habitat outcomes at sites using an open-ended restoration approach

    Observation of Two New Excited Ξb0 States Decaying to Λb0 K-π+

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    Two narrow resonant states are observed in the Λb0K-π+ mass spectrum using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb-1. The minimal quark content of the Λb0K-π+ system indicates that these are excited Ξb0 baryons. The masses of the Ξb(6327)0 and Ξb(6333)0 states are m[Ξb(6327)0]=6327.28-0.21+0.23±0.12±0.24 and m[Ξb(6333)0]=6332.69-0.18+0.17±0.03±0.22 MeV, respectively, with a mass splitting of Δm=5.41-0.27+0.26±0.12 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the Λb0 mass measurement. The measured natural widths of these states are consistent with zero, with upper limits of Γ[Ξb(6327)0]<2.20(2.56) and Γ[Ξb(6333)0]<1.60(1.92) MeV at a 90% (95%) credibility level. The significance of the two-peak hypothesis is larger than nine (five) Gaussian standard deviations compared to the no-peak (one-peak) hypothesis. The masses, widths, and resonant structure of the new states are in good agreement with the expectations for a doublet of 1D Ξb0 resonances

    Measurement of the Λb0→Λ(1520)ÎŒ+Ό−\Lambda_{b}^{0}\to \Lambda(1520) \mu^{+}\mu^{-} differential branching fraction

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    The branching fraction of the rare decay Λb0→Λ(1520)ÎŒ+Ό−\Lambda_{b}^{0}\to \Lambda(1520) \mu^{+}\mu^{-} is measured for the first time, in the squared dimuon mass intervals, q2q^2, excluding the J/ψJ/\psi and ψ(2S)\psi(2S) regions. The data sample analyzed was collected by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $9\ \mathrm{fb}^{-1}.Theresultinthehighest. The result in the highest q^{2}interval, interval, q^{2} >15.0\ \mathrm{GeV}^2/c^4$, where theoretical predictions have the smallest model dependence, agrees with the predictions.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-050.html (LHCb public pages

    Observation of the doubly charmed baryon decay Ξcc++→Ξcâ€Č+π+

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    The Ξcc++→Ξcâ€Č+π+ decay is observed using proton-proton collisions collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb−1. The Ξcc++→Ξcâ€Č+π+ decay is reconstructed partially, where the photon from the Ξcâ€Č+→Ξc+Îł decay is not reconstructed and the pK−π+ final state of the Ξc+ baryon is employed. The Ξcc++→Ξcâ€Č+π+branching fraction relative to that of the Ξcc++→Ξc+π+ decay is measured to be 1.41 ± 0.17 ± 0.10, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

    Study of charmonium and charmonium-like contributions in B+ → J/ψηK+ decays

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    A study of B+→ J/ψηK+ decays, followed by J/ψ → ÎŒ+Ό− and η → γγ, is performed using a dataset collected with the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb−1. The J/ψη mass spectrum is investigated for contributions from charmonia and charmonium-like states. Evidence is found for the B+→ (ψ2(3823) → J/ψη)K+ and B+→ (ψ(4040) → J/ψη)K+ decays with significance of 3.4 and 4.7 standard deviations, respectively. This constitutes the first evidence for the ψ2(3823) → J/ψη decay

    Observation and branching fraction measurement of the decay Ξb- → Λ0 bπ -

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    Observation of Cabibbo-suppressed two-body hadronic decays and precision mass measurement of the Ωc0\Omega_{c}^{0} baryon

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    The first observation of the singly Cabibbo-suppressed Ωc0→Ω−K+\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}K^{+} and Ωc0→Ξ−π+\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Xi^{-}\pi^{+} decays is reported, using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV13\,{\rm TeV}, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb−15.4\,{\rm fb}^{-1}, collected with the LHCb detector between 2016 and 2018. The branching fraction ratios are measured to be B(Ωc0→Ω−K+)B(Ωc0→Ω−π+)=0.0608±0.0051(stat)±0.0040(syst)\frac{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}K^{+})}{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}\pi^{+})}=0.0608\pm0.0051({\rm stat})\pm 0.0040({\rm syst}), B(Ωc0→Ξ−π+)B(Ωc0→Ω−π+)=0.1581±0.0087(stat)±0.0043(syst)±0.0016(ext)\frac{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Xi^{-}\pi^{+})}{\mathcal{B}(\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}\pi^{+})}=0.1581\pm0.0087({\rm stat})\pm0.0043({\rm syst})\pm0.0016({\rm ext}). In addition, using the Ωc0→Ω−π+\Omega_{c}^{0}\to\Omega^{-}\pi^{+} decay channel, the Ωc0\Omega_{c}^{0} baryon mass is measured to be M(Ωc0)=2695.28±0.07(stat)±0.27(syst)±0.30(ext) MeV/c2M(\Omega_{c}^{0})=2695.28\pm0.07({\rm stat})\pm0.27({\rm syst})\pm0.30({\rm ext})\,{\rm MeV}/c^{2}, improving the precision of the previous world average by a factor of four.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2023-011.html (LHCb public pages
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