Ferulic acid: A novel inducer of antioxidant enzymes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings

The present study reports the effects of pre-treatment with ferulic acid (FA) on antioxidant response of wheat seedlings. In comparison to hydropriming, 100 and 150 ppm of FA significantly enhanced seedling growth of wheat at 6th day after germination (DAG). However, 1000 ppm of FA led to reduction in seedling growth. Roots and shoots of wheat seedlings pre-treated with 100 ppm of FA showed significant upregulation of peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities. Although catalase (CAT) remained unaffected in the roots, but showed about 2-fold increase in the shoots. Despite of low glutathione reductase (GR) and high polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities in the shoots and roots, respectively, ascorbic acid and total phenolic contents also increased at 6th DAG which may be due to the activation of their biosynthetic pathways in seedlings pre-treated with 100 ppm of FA. Proline content of wheat seedlings pre-treated with 100 ppm of FA remained unaffected. Results signify the role of FA pre-treatment in augmenting the antioxidant response of wheat and thereby suggest that at lower concentrations, it can be used for improving performance of wheat under various environmental constraints

QCD Sum Rules for the production of the X(3872) as a mixed molecule-charmonium state in B meson decay

We use QCD sum rules to calculate the branching ratio for the production of the meson X(3872) in the decay $B\to X(3872)K$, assumed to be a mixture between charmonium and exotic molecular $[c\bar{q}][q\bar{c}]$ states with $J^{PC}=1^{++}$. We find that in a small range for the values of the mixing angle, $5^\circ\leq\theta\leq13^\circ$, we get the branching ratio ${\mathcal{B}}(B\to XK)=(1.00\pm0.68)\times10^{-5}$, which is in agreement with the experimental upper limit. This result is compatible with the analysis of the mass and decay width of the mode $J/\psi(n\pi)$ and the radiative decay mode $J/\psi\gamma$ performed in the same approach.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; revised versions to appear on Phys. Lett.

Young and Intermediate-age Distance Indicators

Distance measurements beyond geometrical and semi-geometrical methods, rely mainly on standard candles. As the name suggests, these objects have known luminosities by virtue of their intrinsic proprieties and play a major role in our understanding of modern cosmology. The main caveats associated with standard candles are their absolute calibration, contamination of the sample from other sources and systematic uncertainties. The absolute calibration mainly depends on their chemical composition and age. To understand the impact of these effects on the distance scale, it is essential to develop methods based on different sample of standard candles. Here we review the fundamental properties of young and intermediate-age distance indicators such as Cepheids, Mira variables and Red Clump stars and the recent developments in their application as distance indicators.Comment: Review article, 63 pages (28 figures), Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (Chapter 3 of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age

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

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

Track D Social Science, Human Rights and Political Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138414/1/jia218442.pd

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe