Behaviour of Market Arrivals and Prices of Selected Vegetable Crops: A Study of Four Metropolitan Markets

This study has been undertaken with the twin objectives of examining the variability pattern of market arrivals and prices of selected vegetable crops (cabbage, cauliflower, tomato and peas) in metropolitan markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata and analysing the relationship between market arrivals and prices. The study is based on market arrivals and wholesale prices of different vegetable crops collected from the Azadpur market of Delhi and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), New Delhi, for the period 1990-2001. The study has shown that the extent of variability in the arrivals of cabbage was lower in Bangalore and higher in Mumbai. The prices were relatively stable in Mumbai but were more volatile in Bangalore. There was broadly a similar pattern in the price variability across different months in Kolkata and Delhi markets. For cauliflower, the variability in the market arrivals was more pronounced in Kolkata than the remaining three markets. The price variability was, however, more marked in Delhi. The extent of variability in the market arrivals of tomato across different months was very high in all the four markets. Likewise, while the maximum variability in the prices of peas was noted for Delhi, these were relatively less marked in Bangalore. The results of the study have confirmed the negative relationship between market arrivals and prices in terms of correlation coefficients over the years and across months in all the four metropolitan markets, though there were several instances of positive relationship.Agricultural and Food Policy,

RHEED and STM studies of the pseudo-tenfold surface of the ξ′-Al77.5Pd19Mn3.5 approximant crystal

The pseudo-tenfold surface of the ξ′-Al77.5Pd19Mn3.5 crystal, an approximant of the icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn quasicrystal, is investigated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy. The observed RHEED patterns of the surface after sputtering are found to be consistent with those of a simple cubic lattice with (11̅ 0) surface plane. The [001] and [110] axes of the surface plane are oriented along the principal low-index axes of the bulk. The RHEED patterns of the sputter-annealed surface consist of diffraction streaks with periodic spacings expected for the bulk truncated surface. The surface prepared under different preparation methods is found to exhibit different step-height distribution and terrace morphology. A longer annealing yields a high density of shallow pentagonal pits on terraces, separated predominantly by 0.80-nm high steps and occasionally by double steps. In contrast, the surface prepared with shorter annealing time exhibits highly perfect terraces with 0.80-nm-high steps and additional unusual steps of heights close to 0.40 nm. All step heights observed for both preparation methods are consistent with interlayer spacings of the bulk model

Adjuvant hyaluronidase to epidural steroid improves the quality of analgesia in failed back surgery syndrome: A prospective randomized clinical trial

Background: Management of low back pain after spinal surgeries is one of the most challenging problems in pain medicine. Transforaminal lumbar epidural steroid injection has been used with inconsistent response. Most patients require multiple and frequent injections due to high recurrence of back pain. Objective: To find out whether the addition of hyaluronidase to the epidural injectate affects the quality and duration of analgesia in patients with low back pain secondary to failed back surgery syndrome. Study Design: Prospective randomized trial. Methods: The study was registered in the Government Clinical Trial registry and the protocol was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board. After obtaining an informed consent, 25 patients with low back pain due to failed back syndrome were randomly assigned to receive a transforaminal epidural injection of hyaluronidase 1500 IU (HYL) or normal saline (NSL) to a mixture of bupivacaine 0.5 (1 mL) and triamcinolone 40mg (1 mL) in a doubleblind fashion. An interventional pain specialist using fluoroscopic guidance performed all epidural injections. The patients received a comprehensive neurological examination by a non-interventional pain specialist who was blinded to the treatment during their follow-up visits, scheduled one, 2, and 4 weeks after the intervention. Numerical pain scores, analgesic requirement, and satisfaction scores were recorded during every visit. Results: There was no difference in demographic data between the 2 groups. Pain scores and total analgesic requirement were significantly lower in the HYL group at 2 and 4 weeks after blockade (P < 0.01). Patient satisfaction was higher in the HYL group. Limitations: The study was limited by a relatively small sample size. Conclusion: We conclude that adding hyaluronidase to the epidural injectate was effective in the management of chronic low back pain in patients with failed back surgery syndrome demonstrated over a period of 4 weeks

Asymmetric nuclear matter:the role of the isovector scalar channel

We try to single out some qualitative new effects of the coupling to the $\delta$-isovector-scalar meson introduced in a minimal way in a phenomenological hadronic field theory. Results for the equation of state ($EOS$) and the phase diagram of asymmetric nuclear matter ($ANM$) are discussed. We stress the consistency of the $\delta$-coupling introduction in a relativistic approach. New contributions to the slope and curvature of the symmetry energy and the neutron-proton effective mass splitting appear particularly interesting. A more repulsive $EOS$ for neutron matter at high baryon densities is expected. Effects on new critical properties of warm $ANM$, mixing of mechanical and chemical instabilities and isospin distillation, are also presented. The $\delta$ influence is mostly on the {\it isovectorlike} collective response. The results are largely analytical and this makes the physical meaning quite transparent. Implications for nuclear structure properties of drip-line nuclei and for reaction dynamics with Radioactive Beams are finally pointed out.Comment: 12 pages, 10 Postscript figure

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

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186

Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284

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