Comments on the Equivalence between Chern-Simons Theory and Topological Massive Yang-Mills Theory in 3D

The classical formal equivalence upon a redefinition of the gauge connection between Chern-Simons theory and topological massive Yang-Mills theory in three-dimensional Euclidean space-time is analyzed at the quantum level within the BRST formulation of the Equivalence Theorem. The parameter controlling the change in the gauge connection is the inverse $\lambda$ of the topological mass. The BRST differential associated with the gauge connection redefinition is derived and the corresponding Slavnov-Taylor (ST) identities are proven to be anomaly-free. The Green functions of local operators constructed only from the ($\lambda$-dependent) transformed gauge connection, as well as those of BRST invariant operators, are shown to be independent of the parameter $\lambda$, as a consequence of the validity of the ST identities. The relevance of the antighost-ghost fields, needed to take into account at the quantum level the Jacobian of the change in the gauge connection, is analyzed. Their role in the identification of the physical states of the model within conventional perturbative gauge theory is discussed.Comment: 19 pages, LATEX, to appear in Journal of High Energy Physic

Preference of farmers towards private and public extension services

The main purpose of this study was to know the preference of farmers for different services provided by private and public extension agencies. In recent times involvement of private extension agencies has been increased in agricultural sector and up to some extent it has sidelined the public extension agencies, but public extension agencies have potential to do better and to reach farmers at their best. In view of this, present study was undertaken to find out the farmers’ preference towards public and private extension services in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Hisar and Fatehabad districts of Haryana state. From each district two blocks were selected randomly and from each block two villages were selected. A manageable size of 10 farmers was selected from each village thus making total sample size of 200 farmers. Various aspects related to agricultural services provided by both public and private agencies were identified and response were obtained by putting a tick mark as per farmers’ preference for private and public agencies. On the basis of statistical tools like rank and mean score, results showed that farmers had great preference for ‘Input supply’ in private extension as compared to public extension followed by ‘Infrastructure facilities’. While for ‘Consultancy and diagnosis services’, ‘Information’ and ‘Technical services’, public extension was preferred as over the private extension

Lack of in vivo blockade of Fas- and TNFR1-mediated hepatocyte apoptosis by the hepatitis C virus.

In vitro data have shown that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein binds to protein members of the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily. Since this interaction could be relevant to HCV persistence and oncogenesis, this study assessed whether HCV may interfere with the apoptotic cascade in vivo. Apoptosis (by TUNEL) and Fas and TNFR1 expression (by immunohistochemistry) were scored in the liver of 60 chronic hepatitis C patients. Results were compared with the liver disease grading and staging scores and the HCV replication level in serum and liver. Apoptotic hepatocytes were stained in 29 cases. Fas was expressed in 35 cases and TNFR1 in 21, 15 patients (25%) being negative for both receptors. Overall, the numbers of TUNEL-, Fas- and TNFR-positive hepatocytes did not correlate with the extent of intrahepatic CD8+ T-lymphocyte infiltration, the grading and staging of liver disease, or the serum or liver HCV RNA levels. Furthermore, when patients expressing either Fas or TNFR1 were stratified according to serum HCV RNA levels, cases with detectable hepatocyte apoptosis had higher HCV viraemias. In conclusion, an HCV-mediated, in vivo blockade of hepatocyte apoptosis via the Fas- or TNFR1-dependent pathways seems unlikely

The Space Density and Colors of Massive Galaxies at 2<z<3: the Predominance of Distant Red Galaxies

Using the deep multi-wavelength MUSYC, GOODS, and FIRES surveys we construct a stellar mass-limited sample of galaxies at 2<z<3. The sample comprises 294 galaxies with M>10^11 Solar masses distributed over four independent fields with a total area of almost 400 sq arcmin. The mean number density of massive galaxies in this redshift range is (2.2+-0.6) x 10^-4 Mpc^-3. We present median values and 25th and 75th percentiles for the distributions of observed R mags, observed J-K colors, and rest-frame UV continuum slopes, M/L(V) ratios, and U-V colors. The galaxies show a large range in all these properties. The ``median galaxy'' is faint in the observer's optical (R=25.9), red in the observed near-IR (J-K=2.48), has a rest-frame UV spectrum which is relatively flat (beta=-0.4), and rest-frame optical colors resembling those of nearby spiral galaxies (U-V=0.62). We determine which galaxies would be selected as Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) or Distant Red Galaxies (DRGs, having J-K>2.3) in this mass-limited sample. By number DRGs make up 69% of the sample and LBGs 20%, with a small amount of overlap. By mass DRGs make up 77% and LBGs 17%. Neither technique provides a representative sample of massive galaxies at 2<z<3 as they only sample the extremes of the population. As we show here, multi-wavelength surveys with high quality photometry are essential for an unbiased census of massive galaxies in the early Universe. The main uncertainty in this analysis is our reliance on photometric redshifts; confirmation of the results presented here requires extensive near-infrared spectroscopy of optically-faint samples.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

MosChito rafts as effective and eco-friendly tool for the delivery of a Bacillus thuringiensis-based insecticide to Aedes albopictus larvae

Adult mosquito females, through their bites, are responsible for the transmission of different zoonotic pathogens. Although adult control represents a pillar for the prevention of disease spread, larval control is also crucial. Herein we characterized the effectiveness of a suitable tool, named "MosChito raft", for the aquatic delivery of a Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) formulate, a bioinsecticide active by ingestion against mosquito larvae. MosChito raft is a floating tool composed by chitosan cross-linked with genipin in which a Bti-based formulate and an attractant have been included. MosChito rafts (i) resulted attractive for the larvae of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, (ii) induced larval mortality within a few hours of exposure and, more importantly, (iii) protected the Bti-based formulate, whose insecticidal activity was maintained for more than one month in comparison to the few days residual activity of the commercial product. The delivery method was effective in both laboratory and semi-field conditions, demonstrating that MosChito rafts may represent an original, eco-based and user-friendly solution for larval control in domestic and peri-domestic aquatic habitats such as saucers and artificial containers in residential or urban environments

Percutaneous transfemoral-transseptal implantation of a second-generation CardiAQ™ mitral valve bioprosthesis: first procedure description and 30-day follow-up

Transcatheter mitral valve implantation for mitral valve regurgitation is in the very early phase of development because of challenging anatomy and device dimensions. We describe the procedure of a transfemoral-transseptal implantation of the second-generation CardiAQ™ mitral valve bioprosthesis and 30-day follow-up

The Milky Way Project: A statistical study of massive star formation associated with infrared bubbles

The Milky Way Project citizen science initiative recently increased the number of known infrared bubbles in the inner Galactic plane by an order of magnitude compared to previous studies. We present a detailed statistical analysis of this dataset with the Red MSX Source catalog of massive young stellar sources to investigate the association of these bubbles with massive star formation. We particularly address the question of massive triggered star formation near infrared bubbles. We find a strong positional correlation of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and H II regions with Milky Way Project bubbles at separations of < 2 bubble radii. As bubble sizes increase, a statistically significant overdensity of massive young sources emerges in the region of the bubble rims, possibly indicating the occurrence of triggered star formation. Based on numbers of bubble-associated RMS sources we find that 67+/-3% of MYSOs and (ultra)compact H II regions appear associated with a bubble. We estimate that approximately 22+/-2% of massive young stars may have formed as a result of feedback from expanding H II regions. Using MYSO-bubble correlations, we serendipitously recovered the location of the recently discovered massive cluster Mercer 81, suggesting the potential of such analyses for discovery of heavily extincted distant clusters.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ, comments welcome. Milky Way Project public data release available at http://www.milkywayproject.org/dat