Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Essential Oil of Aerial Parts of Glycosmis parviflora (Sims) Little (Rutaceae)

Purpose: To investigate the chemical composition and toxicity of the essential oil of Glycosmis parviflora (Sims) Little aerial parts against root-knot nematode and two grain storage insects (maize weevil and red flour beetle).Methods: Steam distillation of G. parviflora was carried out using Clavenger apparatus in order to extract its volatile oil. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis (HP-5MS column) of the essential oil was performed and the toxicity of the oil determined by contact test.Results: A total of 37 components comprising 98.7 % of the essential oil were identified, of which (Z)- caryophyllene (20.6 %), methyl isoeugenol (11.1 %), (Z)-β-ocimene (8.9 %), α-cubebene (6.4 %), nerolidol (5.4 %), aromandendrene (4.9 %) and γ-pyronene (4.7 %) were found to be the major components. The essential oil possessed strong nematicidal activity against M. incognita with an LC50 value of 92.84 μg/ml. The essential oil of G. parviflora exhibited strong contact toxicity against S. zeamais and T. castaneum adults with LD50 values of 41.7 and 22.6 μg/adult,  respectively.Conclusion: The study indicates that the essential oil of G. parviflora aerial parts has a potential for development into a natural insecticide/nematicide for control of nematodes and grain storage insects.Keywords: Glycosmis parviflora, Essential oil, Meloidogyne incognita, Sitophilus zeamais, Triboliumcastaneum, Contact toxicit

Intelligent Financial Fraud Detection Practices: An Investigation

Financial fraud is an issue with far reaching consequences in the finance industry, government, corporate sectors, and for ordinary consumers. Increasing dependence on new technologies such as cloud and mobile computing in recent years has compounded the problem. Traditional methods of detection involve extensive use of auditing, where a trained individual manually observes reports or transactions in an attempt to discover fraudulent behaviour. This method is not only time consuming, expensive and inaccurate, but in the age of big data it is also impractical. Not surprisingly, financial institutions have turned to automated processes using statistical and computational methods. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on financial fraud detection practices using such data mining methods, with a particular focus on computational intelligence-based techniques. Classification of the practices based on key aspects such as detection algorithm used, fraud type investigated, and success rate have been covered. Issues and challenges associated with the current practices and potential future direction of research have also been identified.Comment: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Security and Privacy in Communication Networks (SecureComm 2014

Revealing the electroweak properties of a new scalar resonance

One or more new heavy resonances may be discovered in experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In order to determine if such a resonance is the long-awaited Higgs boson, it is essential to pin down its spin, CP, and electroweak quantum numbers. Here we describe how to determine what role a newly-discovered neutral CP-even scalar plays in electroweak symmetry breaking, by measuring its relative decay rates into pairs of electroweak vector bosons: WW, ZZ, \gamma\gamma, and Z\gamma. With the data-driven assumption that electroweak symmetry breaking respects a remnant custodial symmetry, we perform a general analysis with operators up to dimension five. Remarkably, only three pure cases and one nontrivial mixed case need to be disambiguated, which can always be done if all four decay modes to electroweak vector bosons can be observed or constrained. We exhibit interesting special cases of Higgs look-alikes with nonstandard decay patterns, including a very suppressed branching to WW or very enhanced branchings to \gamma\gamma and Z\gamma. Even if two vector boson branching fractions conform to Standard Model expectations for a Higgs doublet, measurements of the other two decay modes could unmask a Higgs imposter.Comment: 23 pages, two figures; v2: minor revision and version to appear in JHE

Singlet Portal to the Hidden Sector

Ultraviolet physics typically induces a kinetic mixing between gauge singlets which is marginal and hence non-decoupling in the infrared. In singlet extensions of the minimal supersymmetric standard model, e.g. the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model, this furnishes a well motivated and distinctive portal connecting the visible sector to any hidden sector which contains a singlet chiral superfield. In the presence of singlet kinetic mixing, the hidden sector automatically acquires a light mass scale in the range 0.1 - 100 GeV induced by electroweak symmetry breaking. In theories with R-parity conservation, superparticles produced at the LHC invariably cascade decay into hidden sector particles. Since the hidden sector singlet couples to the visible sector via the Higgs sector, these cascades necessarily produce a Higgs boson in an order 0.01 - 1 fraction of events. Furthermore, supersymmetric cascades typically produce highly boosted, low-mass hidden sector singlets decaying visibly, albeit with displacement, into the heaviest standard model particles which are kinematically accessible. We study experimental constraints on this broad class of theories, as well as the role of singlet kinetic mixing in direct detection of hidden sector dark matter. We also present related theories in which a hidden sector singlet interacts with the visible sector through kinetic mixing with right-handed neutrinos.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Production of π0 and η mesons in Cu+Au collisions at sNN =200 GeV

Production of π0 and η mesons has been measured at midrapidity in Cu+Au collisions at sNN=200GeV. Measurements were performed in π0(η)→γγ decay channel in the 1(2)-20GeV/c transverse momentum range. A strong suppression is observed for π0 and η meson production at high transverse momentum in central Cu+Au collisions relative to the p+p results scaled by the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. In central collisions the suppression is similar to Au+Au with comparable nuclear overlap. The η/π0 ratio measured as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with mT-scaling parametrization down to pT=2GeV/c, its asymptotic value is constant and consistent with Au+Au and p+p and does not show any significant dependence on collision centrality. Similar results were obtained in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions as well as in e+e- collisions in a range of collision energies sNN=3-1800 GeV. This suggests that the quark-gluon-plasma medium produced in Cu+Cu collisions either does not affect the jet fragmentation into light mesons or it affects the π0 and η the same way

The Rat IgGFcγBP and Muc2 C-Terminal Domains and TFF3 in Two Intestinal Mucus Layers Bind Together by Covalent Interaction

The secreted proteins from goblet cells compose the intestinal mucus. The aims of this study were to determine how they exist in two intestinal mucus layers.The intestinal mucosa was fixed with Carnoy solution and immunostained. Mucus from the loose layer, the firm layer was gently suctioned or scraped, respectively, lysed in SDS sample buffer with or without DTT, then subjected to the western blotting of rTFF3, rIgGFcγBP or rMuc2. The non-reduced or reduced soluble mucus samples in RIPA buffer were co-immunoprecipitated to investigate their possible interactions. Polyclonal antibodies for rTFF3, the rIgGFcγBP C-terminal domain and the rMuc2 C-terminal domain confirmed their localization in the mucus layer and in the mucus collected from the rat intestinal loose layer or firm layer in both western blot and immunoprecipitation experiments. A complex of rTFF3, which was approximately 250 kDa, and a monomer of 6 kDa were present in both layers of the intestinal mucus; rIgGFcγBP was present in the complex (250-280 kDa) under non-reducing conditions, but shifted to 164 kDa under reducing conditions in both of the layers. rMuc2 was found mainly in a complex of 214-270 kDa under non-reducing conditions, but it shifted to 140 kDa under reducing conditions. The co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that binding occurs among rTFF3, rIgGFcγBP and rMuc2 in the RIPA buffer soluble intestinal mucus. Blocking the covalent interaction by 100 mM DTT in the RIPA buffer soluble intestinal mucus disassociated their binding.Rat goblet cell-secreted TFF3, IgGFcγBP and Muc2, existing in the two intestinal mucus layers, are bound together by covalent interactions in the soluble fraction of intestinal mucus and form heteropolymers to be one of the biochemical mechanisms of composing the net-like structure of mucus

Distinct Mechanisms for Induction and Tolerance Regulate the Immediate Early Genes Encoding Interleukin 1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor α

Interleukin-1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor α play related, but distinct, roles in immunity and disease. Our study revealed major mechanistic distinctions in the Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling-dependent induction for the rapidly expressed genes (IL1B and TNF) coding for these two cytokines. Prior to induction, TNF exhibited pre-bound TATA Binding Protein (TBP) and paused RNA Polymerase II (Pol II), hallmarks of poised immediate-early (IE) genes. In contrast, unstimulated IL1B displayed very low levels of both TBP and paused Pol II, requiring the lineage-specific Spi-1/PU.1 (Spi1) transcription factor as an anchor for induction-dependent interaction with two TLR-activated transcription factors, C/EBPβ and NF-κB. Activation and DNA binding of these two pre-expressed factors resulted in de novo recruitment of TBP and Pol II to IL1B in concert with a permissive state for elongation mediated by the recruitment of elongation factor P-TEFb. This Spi1-dependent mechanism for IL1B transcription, which is unique for a rapidly-induced/poised IE gene, was more dependent upon P-TEFb than was the case for the TNF gene. Furthermore, the dependence on phosphoinositide 3-kinase for P-TEFb recruitment to IL1B paralleled a greater sensitivity to the metabolic state of the cell and a lower sensitivity to the phenomenon of endotoxin tolerance than was evident for TNF. Such differences in induction mechanisms argue against the prevailing paradigm that all IE genes possess paused Pol II and may further delineate the specific roles played by each of these rapidly expressed immune modulators. © 2013 Adamik et al