Higher spin fermions in the BTZ black hole

Recently it has been shown that the wave equations of bosonic higher spin fields in the BTZ background can be solved exactly. In this work we extend this analysis to fermionic higher spin fields. We solve the wave equations for arbitrary half-integer spin fields in the BTZ black hole background and obtain exact expressions for their quasinormal modes. These quasinormal modes are shown to agree precisely with the poles of the corresponding two point function in the dual conformal field theory as predicted by the AdS/CFT correspondence. We also obtain an expression for the 1-loop determinant in terms of the quasinormal modes and show it agrees with that obtained by integrating the heat kernel found by group theoretic methods.Comment: 29 page

Impact of climate variability on pineapple production in Ghana

Background: Climate variations have a considerable impact on crop production. For pineapple, variable temperatures and rainfall patterns are implicated, yet there is limited knowledge of the conditions and consequences of such variations. Pineapple production plays a major role in Ghana, primarily via socioeconomic impacts and the export economy. The aims of this study were to assess the impact of current climatic trends and variations in four pineapple growing districts in Ghana to provide stakeholders, particularly farmers, with improved knowledge for guidance in adapting to changing climate. Results: Trend analysis, standardized anomaly, correlation analysis as well as focus group discussions were employed to describe climate and yields as well as assess the relationship between climate and pineapple production from 1995 to 2014. The results revealed that, relative to Ga district, temperature (minimum and maximum) in the study areas was increasing over this period at a rate of up to 0.05 °C. Rainfall trends increased in all but Nsawam Adoagyiri district. Rainfall and temperature had different impacts on production, and pineapple was particularly sensitive to minimum temperature as accounting for up to 82% of yield variability. Despite consistent report of rainfall impact on growth stages later affecting quantity and quality of fruits, minimal statistical significance was found between rainfall and yield. Conclusions: With continuously increasing stresses imposed by a changing climate, the sustainability of pineapple production in Ghana is challenged. This subsequently has detrimental impacts on national employment and exports capacity resulting in increased poverty. Further research to explore short- and long-term adaption options in response to challenging conditions in the pineapple industry in Ghana is suggested

Higher spin quasinormal modes and one-loop determinants in the BTZ black hole

We solve the wave equations of arbitrary integer spin fields in the BTZ black hole background and obtain exact expressions for their quasinormal modes. We show that these quasinormal modes precisely agree with the location of the poles of the corresponding two point function in the dual conformal field theory as predicted by the AdS/CFT correspondence. We then use these quasinormal modes to construct the one-loop determinant of the higher spin field in the thermal BTZ background. This is shown to agree with that obtained from the corresponding heat kernel constructed recently by group theoretic methods.Comment: 47 page

Salt-inducible kinases (SIKs) regulate TGFβ-mediated transcriptional and apoptotic responses

The signalling pathways initiated by members of the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) family of cytokines control many metazoan cellular processes, including proliferation and differentiation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and apoptosis. TGFβ signalling is therefore strictly regulated to ensure appropriate context-dependent physiological responses. In an attempt to identify novel regulatory components of the TGFβ signalling pathway, we performed a pharmacological screen by using a cell line engineered to report the endogenous transcription of the TGFβ-responsive target gene PAI-1. The screen revealed that small molecule inhibitors of salt-inducible kinases (SIKs) attenuate TGFβ-mediated transcription of PAI-1 without affecting receptor-mediated SMAD phosphorylation, SMAD complex formation or nuclear translocation. We provide evidence that genetic inactivation of SIK isoforms also attenuates TGFβ-dependent transcriptional responses. Pharmacological inhibition of SIKs by using multiple small-molecule inhibitors potentiated apoptotic cell death induced by TGFβ stimulation. Our data therefore provide evidence for a novel function of SIKs in modulating TGFβ-mediated transcriptional and cellular responses.</p

Working Group Report: Heavy-Ion Physics and Quark-Gluon Plasma

This is the report of Heavy Ion Physics and Quark-Gluon Plasma at WHEPP-09 which was part of Working Group-4. Discussion and work on some aspects of Quark-Gluon Plasma believed to have created in heavy-ion collisions and in early universe are reported.Comment: 20 pages, 6 eps figures, Heavy-ion physics and QGP activity report in "IX Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-09)" held in Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, India, during January 3-14, 2006. To be published in PRAMANA - Journal of Physics (Indian Academy of Science

Genetic relationship among Hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus) genotypes cultivars from different races based on quantitative traits and random amplified polymorphic DNA marker

Genetic improvement of the thirty Hyacinth bean cultivars from different races were evaluated using RAPD markers which is essential to enhance the crop for economically and agriculturally important traits. RAPD markers were efficient in separating cultivars according to different races. Twenty sixdecamer primers could generate a total number of 148 bands out which 70.27% (104) were polymorphic. The number of amplification products produced by each primer varied from 4 to 9 with an average of5.69 bands per primer. The size of amplified fragments ranged from 250 to 3000 bp. RAPD based dendrogram showed similarity ranged from 0.38 to 0.96. Genetic distances were concluded using Sorenson Dices similarity coefficient. The genetic relationship obtained with these markers wasdissimilar to that provided by morpho-agronomical trait. Genetically distinct cultivars were identified that could be potentially important source of germplasm for further crop improvement programme in the country

Measurement of CP-violation asymmetries in D0 to Ks pi+ pi-

We report a measurement of time-integrated CP-violation asymmetries in the resonant substructure of the three-body decay D0 to Ks pi+ pi- using CDF II data corresponding to 6.0 invfb of integrated luminosity from Tevatron ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The charm mesons used in this analysis come from D*+(2010) to D0 pi+ and D*-(2010) to D0bar pi-, where the production flavor of the charm meson is determined by the charge of the accompanying pion. We apply a Dalitz-amplitude analysis for the description of the dynamic decay structure and use two complementary approaches, namely a full Dalitz-plot fit employing the isobar model for the contributing resonances and a model-independent bin-by-bin comparison of the D0 and D0bar Dalitz plots. We find no CP-violation effects and measure an asymmetry of ACP = (-0.05 +- 0.57 (stat) +- 0.54 (syst))% for the overall integrated CP-violation asymmetry, consistent with the standard model prediction.Comment: 15 page

Observation of the Baryonic Flavor-Changing Neutral Current Decay Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu-

We report the first observation of the baryonic flavor-changing neutral current decay Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu- with 24 signal events and a statistical significance of 5.8 Gaussian standard deviations. This measurement uses ppbar collisions data sample corresponding to 6.8fb-1 at sqrt{s}=1.96TeV collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider. The total and differential branching ratios for Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu- are measured. We find B(Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu-) = [1.73+-0.42(stat)+-0.55(syst)] x 10^{-6}. We also report the first measurement of the differential branching ratio of B_s -> phi mu+ mu- using 49 signal events. In addition, we report branching ratios for B+ -> K+ mu+ mu-, B0 -> K0 mu+ mu-, and B -> K*(892) mu+ mu- decays.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Measurement of the W+W−W^+W^- Production Cross Section and Search for Anomalous WWγWW\gamma and WWZWWZ Couplings in ppˉp \bar p Collisions at s=1.96\sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

This Letter describes the current most precise measurement of the $W$ boson pair production cross section and most sensitive test of anomalous $WW\gamma$ and $WWZ$ couplings in $p \bar p$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The $WW$ candidates are reconstructed from decays containing two charged leptons and two neutrinos, where the charged leptons are either electrons or muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector from 3.6 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, a total of 654 candidate events are observed with an expected background contribution of $320 \pm 47$ events. The measured total cross section is $\sigma (p \bar p \to W^+ W^- + X) = 12.1 \pm 0.9 \textrm{(stat)} ^{+1.6}_{-1.4} \textrm{(syst)}$ pb, which is in good agreement with the standard model prediction. The same data sample is used to place constraints on anomalous $WW\gamma$ and $WWZ$ couplings.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Search for rare quark-annihilation decays, B --> Ds(*) Phi

We report on searches for B- --> Ds- Phi and B- --> Ds*- Phi. In the context of the Standard Model, these decays are expected to be highly suppressed since they proceed through annihilation of the b and u-bar quarks in the B- meson. Our results are based on 234 million Upsilon(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected with the BABAR detector at SLAC. We find no evidence for these decays, and we set Bayesian 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions BF(B- --> Ds- Phi) Ds*- Phi)<1.2x10^(-5). These results are consistent with Standard Model expectations.Comment: 8 pages, 3 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid Communications