Enhanced phenylpyruvic acid production with Proteus Vulgaris by optimizing of the fermentation medium

Alpha keto acids are important food additives, which commonly produced by microbial deamination of amino acids. In this study, production of phenylpyruvic acid (PPA), which is the alpha keto acid of phenylalanine was enhanced in 2-l bench scale bioreactors by optimizing of fermentation medium composition using the Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Optimum glucose, yeast extract, and phenylalanine concentrations were determined to be 119.4 g 1−1, 3.7 g 1−1, and 14.8 g 1−1, respectively, for PPA production, and 163.8 g 1−1, 10.8 g 1−1, and 9.8 g 1−1, respectively, for biomass production. Under these optimum conditions, PPA concentration was enhanced to 1349 mg 1−1, which was 28% and 276% higher than the unoptimized bioreactor and shake-flask fermentations, respectively. Moreover, P. vulgaris biomass concentration was optimized at 4.36 g 1−1, which was 34% higher than under the unoptimized bioreactor condition. Overall, this study demonstrated that optimization of the fermentation media improved PPA concentration and biomass production in bench scale bioreactors compared to previous studies in the literature and sets the stage for scale up to industrial production

Transient Magnetic and Doppler Features Related to the White-light Flares in NOAA 10486

Rapidly moving transient features have been detected in magnetic and Doppler images of super-active region NOAA 10486 during the X17/4B flare of 28 October 2003 and the X10/2B flare of 29 October 2003. Both these flares were extremely energetic white-light events. The transient features appeared during impulsive phases of the flares and moved with speeds ranging from 30 to 50 km s$^{-1}$. These features were located near the previously reported compact acoustic \cite{Donea05} and seismic sources \cite{Zharkova07}. We examine the origin of these features and their relationship with various aspects of the flares, {\it viz.}, hard X-ray emission sources and flare kernels observed at different layers - (i) photosphere (white-light continuum), (ii) chromosphere (H$\alpha$ 6563\AA), (iii) temperature minimum region (UV 1600\AA), and (iv) transition region (UV 284\AA).Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Solar Physic

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

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Cichlid biogeography: comment and review

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72313/1/j.1467-2979.2004.00148.x.pd

A possible relationship between aspects of dentition and feeding in the centrarchid and anabantoid fishes

Certain components of dentition — teeth on the third basibranchial in the Centrarchidae and on the parasphenoid in the anabantoids (sensu lato) — are very rare elsewhere in higher teleostean fishes. Though these basibranchial and parasphenoid teeth in the two fish groups are on opposite sides of the oral cavity, it is hypothesized that they both developed as adaptations for gripping a particular category of food items, namely strong-clawed, hard-shelled, active animals that, once within the oral cavity, would try to crawl out again. A corollary to this hypothesis is that higher teleosts with extensive dentition in the central part of the oral cavity have a grasping jaw bite, which, unlike a piercing, shearing, or crushing jaw bite, does not necessarily kill the prey that is taken into the oral cavity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42630/1/10641_2004_Article_BF00005147.pd