How to look for supersymmetry under the lamppost at the LHC

We apply a model-independent, agnostic approach to the collider phenomenology of supersymmetry (SUSY), in which all mass parameters are taken as free inputs at the weak scale. We consider the gauginos, higgsinos, and the first two generations of sleptons and squarks, and analyze all possible mass hierarchies among them ($4\times 8!=161,280$ in total) in which the lightest superpartner is neutral, leading to missing energy. In each case, we identify the full set of the dominant (i.e. least suppressed by phase space, small mixing angles or Yukawa couplings) decay chains originating from the lightest colored superpartner. Our exhaustive search reveals several quite dramatic yet unexplored multilepton signatures with up to 8 isolated leptons (plus possibly up to 2 massive gauge or Higgs bosons) in the final state. Such events are spectacular, background-free for all practical purposes, and may lead to a discovery of SUSY in the very early stage ($\sim 10\ {\rm pb}^{-1}$) of LHC operations at 7 TeV.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

RNA-Seq analysis for indigo biosynthesis pathway genes in Indigofera tinctoria and Polygonum tinctorium

AbstractNatural indigo is the most important blue dye for textile dyeing and valuable secondary metabolite biosynthesized in Indigofera tinctoria and Polygonum tinctorium plants. Present investigation is made to generation of gene resource for pathway enrichment and to understand possible gene expression involved in indigo biosynthesis. The data about raw reads and the transcriptome assembly project has been deposited at GenBank under the accessions SRA180766 and SRX692542 for I. tinctoria and P. tinctorium, respectively

Characterizations of an ecotype of brake-fern, Pteris vittata, for arsenic tolerance and accumulation in plant biomass

An ecotype of brake fern (Pteris vittata) was assessed for arsenic tolerance and accumulation in its biomass under in vivo and in vitro condition; using soil, and agargelled Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of arsenic. The plants were raised in soil amended with 100–1000 mg arsenic kg^–1 soil, and MS medium was supplemented with 10–300 mg arsenic L–1 medium using Na2HAsO4×7H2O. The spores and haploid gametophytic-prothalli were raised in vitro on MS medium supplemented with arsenic. The field plants showed normal growth and biomass formation in arsenic amended soil, and accumulated 1908– 4700 mg arsenic kg^–1 dry aerial biomass after 10 weeks of growth. Arsenic toxicity was observed above >200 mg arsenic kg^–1 soil. The concentrations of arsenic accumulated in the plant biomass were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Normal plants were developed from spores and gametophyte prothalli on the MS media supplemented with 50–200 mg arsenic L^–1 medium. The in vitro raised plants were tolerant to 300 mg arsenic kg^–1 of soil and accumulated up to 3232 mg arsenic kg^–1 dry aerial biomass that showed better growth performance, biomass generation and arsenic accumulation in comparison to the field plants.Екотип птериса стрічкового (Pteris vittаta) був досліджений на стійкість до миш’яку та його накопичення в біомасі в умовах in vivo і in vitro з використанням грунту та агаризованого середовища МурасігеСкуга (MS), що містять миш’як в різних концентраціях. Рослини вирощували на грунті, що містить 100–1000 мг миш’яку на 1 кг грунту, чи в грунті Мурасіге-Скуга, в котрий додавали 10–300 мг/л Na2HAsO4 ×7H2O. Спори та гаплоїдні гематофітні паростки росли in vitro на середовищі MS з миш’яком. Рослини, які ростуть на грунті, що містить миш’як, характеризувались нормальним ростом і накопиченням біомаси та через 10 тижнів вирощування накопичували 1908–4700 миш’яку на 1 кг сухої надземної біомаси. Токсичність миш’яку проявлялась при його концентрації в грунті більше 200 мг/кг. Концентрації миш’яку, котрі накопичувалися в рослинній біомасі, були статистично значимими (р < 0.5). Зі спор та гаметофітних паростків, котрі вирощували на грунті MS з 50–200 мг/л миш’яку, розвивались нормальні рослини. Отримані in vitro рослини були стійкими до миш’яку в концентрації 300 мг/кг грунту та накопичували миш’як до 3232 мг/кг сухої надземної біомаси, що означає покращання ростових характеристик, формування біомаси та накопичення миш’яку в порівнянні з рослинами, вирощеними на полі.Экотип птериса ленточного (Pteris vittаta) был исследован на устойчивость к мышьяку и его накопление в биомассе в условиях in vivo и in vitro с использованием почвы и агаризованной среды Мурасиге-Скуга (MS), содержащих мышьяк в разных концентрациях. Растения выращивали в почве, содержащей 100–1000 мг мышьяка на 1 кг почвы, или в среде Мурасиге-Скуга, в которую добавляли 10–300 мг/л Na2HAsO4 × 7H2O. Споры и гаплоидные гаметофитные проростки росли in vitro на среде MS с мышьяком. Растения, которые росли в почве, содержащей мышьяк, характеризовались нормальным ростом и накоплением биомассы и через 10 недель выращивания накапливали 1908–4700 мг мышьяка на 1 кг сухой надземной биомассы. Токсичность мышьяка проявлялась при его концентрации в почве свыше 200 мг/кг. Концентрации мышьяка, которые накапливались в растительной биомассе, были статистически значимыми (р < 0,5). Из спор и гаметофитных проростков, которые выращивали на среде MS с 50–200 мг/л мышьяка, развивались нормальные растения. Полученные in vitro растения были устойчивы к мышьяку в концентрации 300 мг/кг почвы и накапливали мышьяк до 3232 мг/кг сухой надземной биомассы, что означает улучшенные ростовые характеристики, формирование биомассы и накопление мышьяка по сравнению с растениями, выращенными в поле

A Wave-function for Stringy Universes

We define a wave-function for string theory cosmological backgrounds. We give a prescription for computing its norm following an earlier analysis within general relativity. Under Euclidean continuation, the cosmologies we discuss in this paper are described in terms of compact parafermionic worldsheet systems. To define the wave-function we provide a T-fold description of the parafermionic conformal field theory, and of the corresponding string cosmology. In specific examples, we compute the norm of the wave-function and comment on its behavior as a function of moduli.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures, v3: references adde

A radiation-like era before inflation

We show that the semiclassical approximation to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the minisuperspace of a minimally coupled scalar field in the spatially flat de Sitter Universe prompts the existence of an initial power-law evolution driven by non-adiabatic terms from the gravitational wavefunction which act like radiation. This simple model hence describes the onset of inflation from a previous radiation-like expansion during which the cosmological constant is already present but subleading.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, no figures; final version to be published in JCA

Can the clustered dark matter and the smooth dark energy arise from the same scalar field ?

Cosmological observations suggest the existence of two different kinds of energy densities dominating at small ($\lesssim 500$ Mpc) and large ($\gtrsim 1000$ Mpc) scales. The dark matter component, which dominates at small scales, contributes $\Omega_m \approx 0.35$ and has an equation of state $p=0$ while the dark energy component, which dominates at large scales, contributes $\Omega_V \approx 0.65$ and has an equation of state $p\simeq -\rho$. It is usual to postulate wimps for the first component and some form of scalar field or cosmological constant for the second component. We explore the possibility of a scalar field with a Lagrangian L =- V(\phi) \sqrt{1 - \del^i \phi \del_i \phi} acting as {\it both} clustered dark matter and smoother dark energy and having a scale dependent equation of state. This model predicts a relation between the ratio $r = \rho_V/\rho_{\rm DM}$ of the energy densities of the two dark components and expansion rate $n$ of the universe (with $a(t) \propto t^n$) in the form $n = (2/3) (1+r)$. For $r \approx 2$, we get $n \approx 2$ which is consistent with observations.Comment: Revised to match the published version. Minor changes and a reference adde

String production after angled brane inflation

We describe string production after angled brane inflation. First, we point out that there was a discrepancy in previous discussions. The expected tension of the cosmic string calculated from the four-dimensional effective Lagrangian did not match the one obtained in the brane analysis. In the previous analysis, the cosmic string is assumed to correspond to the lower-dimensional daughter brane, which wraps the same compactified space as the original mother brane. In this case, however, the tension of the daughter brane cannot depend on the angle (\theta). On the other hand, from the analysis of the effective Lagrangian for tachyon condensation, it is easy to see that the tension of the cosmic string must be proportional to \theta, when \theta << 1. This is an obvious discrepancy that must be explained by consideration of the explicit brane dynamics. In this paper, we will solve this problem by introducing a simple idea. We calculate the tension of the string in the two cases, which matches precisely. The cosmological constraint for angled inflation is relaxed, because the expected tension of the cosmic string becomes smaller than the one obtained in previous arguments, by a factor of \theta.Comment: 13pages, 3 figures, typos correcte

Gene transfer in Indian major carps by electroporation

The rainbow trout growth hormone gene has been successfully tranferred into three species of Indian major carps rohu (Labeo rohita), mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) and catla (Catla catla) through electroporated sperm cell. At 0.5kV/cm (25&#956;F capacitance, a resistance, and 2 pulses) the gene transfer efficiency was 25% for rohu, 23% for mrigal and 13% for catla. This is the first report on gene transfer in Indian major carps

Cosmological stretching of perturbations on a cosmic string

We investigate the effects of cosmological expansion on the spectrum of small-scale structure on a cosmic string. We simulate the evolution of a string with two modes that differ in wavelength by one order of magnitude. Once the short mode is inside the horizon, we find that its physical amplitude remains unchanged, in spite of the fact that its comoving wavelength decreases as the longer mode enters the horizon. Thus the ratio of amplitude to wavelength for the short mode becomes larger than it would be in the absence of the long mode.Comment: 11 pages, 5 postscript figure

A study on the proportion of hearing impairment among percussionists in Thrissur district of Kerala

Background: Hearing loss is a cause of global concern. Percussionists are exposed to greater levels of continuous or intermittent noise than others. Little is known about the relationship between percussion activity and hearing impairment. The early detection of the same and subsequent management makes a significant reduction in the burden of health care services. The objective was to study the proportion of hearing impairment in percussionists in the district of Thrissur using an IOS based mobile application.Methods: A cross sectional study was done on percussionists from Thrissur district who has experience of more than five years and has no congenital or traumatic hearing loss. A predesigned semi structured questionnaire was given and hearing tests were done using a mobile application U hear in a sound proof setting to understand the current state of hearing ability amoung the percussionists.Results: A total of 39 subjects were involved in our study of which all were males. Mean age of our study population was 30.44+12.04. most of them were diagnosed with at least mild degree of hearing loss of one of the ear or both the ears. 15.4% of them had mild degree of hearing loss, 64.1% had moderate degree of hearing loss and 20.5% had severe hearing loss.Conclusions: The study shows percussionists are more exposed to sounds of various frequencies for longer duration, they are more prone to hearing loss. The study brought out that age is directly proportional to hearing loss, music induced hearing loss progress at a rate proportion to the work experience.