Integration of biocontrol agents with fungicide, weedicide and plant growth regulator for management of stem and root rot of jute

Combination of chemical fungicides (viz., Carbendazim 50 WP and Tebuconazole 250 EC) and biocontrol agents (viz., Pseudomonas fluorescens Psfl1, P. striata Pst1, Azotobacter chrococcum Azbc3, Bradyrhizobium japonicum Brj4, Trichoderma aureoviridae S12, T. harzianum JTV2, T. virens JPG1, Aspergillus niger AN15 strains respectively either singly or in consortium) were used to counteract Macrophomina phaseolina, the causal organism of stem and root rot of jute. In addition, suitable plant growth regulator viz., Indole-3-acetic acid (100-1.0 µg/ppm) and herbicide Quizalofop ethyl 5 % EC were used to augment the activity of Trichoderma. T. aureoviridae strain S12 was found to be the best among the eight isolates screened for tolerance against the two fungicides and herbicide at a concentration of 10000 - 500 µg respectively as well as against M. phaseolina (Inhibition=72.33 %) in-vitro. This strain showed best compatibility with other strains and highest tolerance to fungicide i.e., Carbendazim 50 % (up to 500 ?g). Highest number (13.7×106) of active spores was recorded at a concentration of 25 ppm of IAA under in-vitro condition. S12 recorded a biocontrol efficiency of 61.8 % against stem rot of jute along with significant plant growth promotion and fibre production. Plant biomass also increased up to 7.5-12.1 % and fibre production 37.0-39.9 % with fungal and bacterial consortium + carbendazim seed dressing and soil drenching. These biocontrol fungi and PGPR consortium with high tolerance to fungicide, weedicide and plant growth regulator up to certain extent may be potentially exploited in IDM which may be a low cost technology in jute and allied fibre crops

Electronic Structure of Te and As Covered Si(211)

Electronic and atomic structures of the clean, and As and Te covered Si(211) surface are studied using pseudopotential density functional method. The clean surface is found to have (2 X 1) and rebonded (1 X 1) reconstructions as stable surface structures, but no \pi-bonded chain reconstruction. Binding energies of As and Te adatoms at a number of symmetry sites on the ideal and (2 X 1) reconstructed surfaces have been calculated because of their importance in the epitaxial growth of CdTe and other materials on the Si(211) surface. The special symmetry sites on these surfaces having the highest binding energies for isolated As and Te adatoms are identified. But more significantly, several sites are found to be nearly degenerate in binding energy values. This has important consequences for epitaxial growth processes. Optimal structures calculated for 0.5 ML of As and Te coverage reveal that the As adatoms dimerize on the surface while the Te adatoms do not. However, both As and Te covered surfaces are found to be metallic in nature.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Particle motion in the field of a five-dimensional charged black hole

In this paper, we have investigated the geodesics of neutral particles near a five-dimensional charged black hole using a comparative approach. The effective potential method is used to determine the location of the horizons and to study radial and circular trajectories. This also helps us to analyze the stability of radial and circular orbits. The radius of the innermost stable circular orbits have also been determined. Contrary to the case of massive particles for which, the circular orbits may have up to eight possible values of specific radius, we find that the photons will only have two distinct values for the specific radii of circular trajectories. Finally we have used the dynamical systems analysis to determine the critical points and the nature of the trajectories for the timelike and null geodesics.Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Review of experimental methods to determine spontaneous combustion susceptibility of coal – Indian context

This paper presents a critical review of the different techniques developed to investigate the susceptibility of coal to spontaneous combustion and fire. These methods may be sub-classified into the two following areas: (1) Basic coal characterisation studies (chemical constituents) and their influence on spontaneous combustion susceptibility. (2) Test methods to assess the susceptibility of a coal sample to spontaneous combustion. This is followed by a critical literature review that summarises previous research with special emphasis given to Indian coals

A Model for the Development of the Rhizobial and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbioses in Legumes and Its Use to Understand the Roles of Ethylene in the Establishment of these two Symbioses

We propose a model depicting the development of nodulation and arbuscular mycorrhizae. Both processes are dissected into many steps, using Pisum sativum L. nodulation mutants as a guideline. For nodulation, we distinguish two main developmental programs, one epidermal and one cortical. Whereas Nod factors alone affect the cortical program, bacteria are required to trigger the epidermal events. We propose that the two programs of the rhizobial symbiosis evolved separately and that, over time, they came to function together. The distinction between these two programs does not exist for arbuscular mycorrhizae development despite events occurring in both root tissues. Mutations that affect both symbioses are restricted to the epidermal program. We propose here sites of action and potential roles for ethylene during the formation of the two symbioses with a specific hypothesis for nodule organogenesis. Assuming the epidermis does not make ethylene, the microsymbionts probably first encounter a regulatory level of ethylene at the epidermis–outermost cortical cell layer interface. Depending on the hormone concentrations there, infection will either progress or be blocked. In the former case, ethylene affects the cortex cytoskeleton, allowing reorganization that facilitates infection; in the latter case, ethylene acts on several enzymes that interfere with infection thread growth, causing it to abort. Throughout this review, the difficulty of generalizing the roles of ethylene is emphasized and numerous examples are given to demonstrate the diversity that exists in plants

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

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 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

Acoustic Diagnostics of Electrical Origin Fault Modes with Readily Available Consumer-Grade Sensors

Acoustic diagnostics, traditionally associated with mechanical fault modes, can potentially solve a wider range of monitoring applications. Typically, fault modes are induced purposefully by the researcher through physical component damage whilst the system is shutdown. This paper presents low-cost real-time fault diagnostics of a previously unreported acute electrical origin fault that manifests sporadically during system operation with no triggering intervention. A suitability study into acoustic measurements from readily available consumer-grade sensors for low-cost real-time diagnostics of audible faults, and a brief overview of the theory and configuration of the wavelet packet transform (including optimal wavelet selection methods) and empirical mode decomposition processing algorithms is also included. The example electrical origin fault studied here is an unpredictable current instability arising with the PWM-controller of a BrushLess DC motor. Experimental trials positively detect 99.9 % of the 1160 resultant high-bandwidth torque transients using acoustic measurements from a USB microphone and a smartphone. While the use of acoustic techniques for detecting emerging electrical origin faults remains largely unexplored, the techniques demonstrated here can be readily adopted for the prevention of catastrophic failure of drive and power electronic components

Search for electroweak production of single top quarks in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions.

We present a search for electroweak production of single top quarks in the electron+jets and muon+jets decay channels. The measurements use ~90 pb^-1 of data from Run 1 of the Fermilab Tevatron collider, collected at 1.8 TeV with the DZero detector between 1992 and 1995. We use events that include a tagging muon, implying the presence of a b jet, to set an upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the cross section for the s-channel process ppbar->tb+X of 39 pb. The upper limit for the t-channel process ppbar->tqb+X is 58 pb. (arXiv