Impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on Conyza canadensis drought responses and possible mechanisms

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important plant mutualists that can facilitate plant responses to various environmental stressors, such as drought. A plant that may benefit from AMF-induced drought tolerance is Conyza canadensis due to its ability to thrive in dry conditions and its high colonization rate. However, no studies have researched C. canadensis in this context and the exact mechanisms of AMF-induced drought tolerance are still unknown. To better understand if and how AMF facilitate drought response in C. canadensis, we conducted a greenhouse experiment comparing the response of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants to three watering levels. We measured dry biomass, water content, leaf water potential, photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance, and shoot N and P concentrations. AMF improved plant performance under drought, and the magnitude of that improvement was modulated by the severity of drought imposed. We showed that AMF upregulate stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, and increase P uptake. In conclusion, we find that AMF protect Conyza from the most severe drought stress, and that this response is likely mediated by increased stomatal control and nutrient uptake. Colonization led to biomass reductions, which suggests AMF benefit C. canadensis more in the way of drought tolerance and nutrient uptake, rather than improving growth

Examining the Linkage of Academic Performance and Attention by Uddin's Numeral Finding and Typo Revealing Tests: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study in Undergraduate Students of Bangladesh

Background: Attention is the state of applying the concentration to something and it's strongly linked to academic performance. The drive of this study was to analyze the academic performance and attention of undergraduate students. Methods: The study was implemented on 139 undergraduate students of Bangladesh selected from 9 universities from April to August 2018. In this study to investigate the attention of the students, the Uddin's Numeral Finding (NF) and Typo Revealing (TR) tests were used. Results: In the NF test male students with last semester cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.47 (highest) exerted the maximum 40% attention but female students exerted only 33.3% attention and their last semester CGPA was 3. Students with age > 22 years exerted maximum, 70.55%, and 35.2% attention in NF and TR tests respectively with last semester CGPA of 3.56 (maximum). In the NF and TR tests, highest, 89.73%, and 50.33% attention respectively were reported by 1st-year students with last semester CGPA of only 3.70. High-socioeconomic status students with last semester CGPA of 3.43 (lowest) exerted maximum 75.30% attention in NF test. There were no significant associations between variables. Conclusion: Attention is a very rudimentary function that often is a forerunner to cognitive functions. Individual differences in academic performance have been linked to differences in attention and intelligence

Energy and symmetry of dd excitations in undoped layered cuprates measured By Cu L3 resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

We measured the high-resolution Cu L3 edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) of undoped cuprates La2CuO4, Sr2CuO2Cl2, CaCuO2 and NdBa 2Cu3O6. The dominant spectral features were assigned to dd excitations and we extensively studied their polarization and scattering geometry dependence. In a pure ionic picture, we calculated the theoretical cross sections for those excitations and used these to fit the experimental data with excellent agreement. By doing so, we were able to determine the energy and symmetry of Cu-3d states for the four systems with unprecedented accuracy and confidence. The values of the effective parameters could be obtained for the singleion crystal field model but not for a simple two-dimensional cluster model. The firm experimental assessment of dd excitation energies carries important consequences for the physics of high-Tc superconductors. On the one hand, we found that the minimum energy of orbital excitation is always ≥ 1.4 eV, i.e. well above the mid-infrared spectral range, which leaves to magnetic excitations (up to 300 meV) a major role in Cooper pairing in cuprates. On the other hand, it has become possible to study quantitatively the effective influence of dd excitations on the superconducting gap in cuprates

Liquid krypton electromagnetic calorimeter

Abstract A calorimeter using 30 tons of liquid krypton for the KEDR detector is being constructed. The main effects which determine the energy and space resolution have been studied. An energy resolution of 1.7% at 1.2 GeV was obtained with the prototype. A space resolution of 0.4 mm for relativistic particles has been reached with the prototype

37^th plenary meeting report of the scientific, technical and economic committee for fisheries (PLEN-11-02)

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries hold its 37th plenary on 11-15 July 2011 in Copenhagen (Denmark). The terms of reference included both issues assessments of STECF Expert Working Group reports and additional requests submitted to the STECF by the Commission. Topics dealt with ranged from fisheries economics to management plan evaluation issues

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 displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio