Research Notes: Performance of lines from four generations of a backcrossing program involving Glycine max and G. soja

We are interested in the possibility of using Glycine soja as a source of genes for improving cultivars of Glycine max. However, some characteristics in G. soja , such as low yield, vining, l odging, shattering, non-defoliation at maturity, poor seed quality, and non-yellow seed coat color are not acceptable in a cultivar. The purpose of our study is to explore the performance of these characters in lines derived from a backcrossing program in which G. soja is the donor parent

Performance Pay and Multidimensional Sorting - Productivity, Preferences and Gender

This paper studies the impact of incentives on worker self-selection in a controlled laboratory experiment. Subjects face the choice between a fixed and a variable payment scheme. Depending on the treatment, the variable payment is a piece rate, a tournament or a revenue-sharing scheme. We find that output is higher in the variable pay schemes (piece rate, tournament, and revenue sharing) compared to the fixed payment scheme. This difference is largely driven by productivity sorting. In addition personal attitudes such as willingness to take risks and relative self-assessment as well as gender affect the sorting decision in a systematic way. Moreover, self-reported effort is significantly higher in all variable pay conditions than in the fixed wage condition. Our lab findings are supported by an additional analysis using data from a large and representative sample. In sum, our findings underline the importance of multi-dimensional sorting, i.e., the tendency for different incentive schemes to systematically attract people with different individual characteristics

The resurrection of group selection as a theory of human cooperation

Two books edited by members of the MacArthur Norms and Preferences Network (an interdisciplinary group, mainly anthropologists and economists) are reviewed here. These books in large part reflect a renewed interest in group selection that has occurred among these researchers: they promote the theory that human cooperative behavior evolved via selective processes which favored biological and/or cultural group-level adaptations as opposed to individual-level adaptations. In support of this theory, an impressive collection of cross-cultural data are presented which suggest that participants in experimental economic games often do not behave as self-interested income maximizers; this lack of self-interest is regarded as evidence of group selection. In this review, problems with these data and with the theory are discussed. On the data side, it is argued that even if a behavior seems individually-maladaptive in a game context, there is no reason to believe that it would have been that way in ancestral contexts, since the environments of experimental games do not at all resemble those in which ancestral humans would have interacted cooperatively. And on the theory side, it is argued that it is premature to invoke group selection in order to explain human cooperation, because more parsimonious individual-level theories have not yet been exhausted. In summary, these books represent ambitious interdisciplinary contributions on an important topic, and they include unique and useful data; however, they do not make a convincing case that the evolution of human cooperation required group selection

Маркшейдерська школа Національного гірничого університету

Викладена історія створення та розвитку маркшейдерської школи в НГУ протягом 110 років.Изложена история создания и развития маркшейдерской школы в НГУ в течение 110 лет.History of creation and development ofsurveyor school is expounded in NMU during 110 years

Rich polymorphism of a rod-like liquid crystal (8CB) confined in two types of unidirectional nanopores

We present a neutron and X-rays scattering study of the phase transitions of 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) confined in unidirectional nanopores of porous alumina and porous silicon (PSi) membranes with an average diameter of 30 nm. Spatial confinement reveals a rich polymorphism, with at least four different low temperature phases in addition to the smectic A phase. The structural study as a function of thermal treatments and conditions of spatial confinement allows us to get insights into the formation of these phases and their relative stability. It gives the first description of the complete phase behavior of 8CB confined in PSi and provides a direct comparison with results obtained in bulk conditions and in similar geometric conditions of confinement but with reduced quenched disorder effects using alumina anopore membranesComment: Accepted in EPJ E - Soft Matte

Secretion dynamics of soyasaponins in soybean roots and effects to modify the bacterial composition

Soyasaponins are triterpenoid saponins widely found in legume plants. These compounds have drawn considerable attention because they have various activities beneficial for human health, and their biosynthesis has been actively studied. In our previous study, we found that legume plants including soybean secrete soyasaponins from the roots in hydroponic culture throughout the growth period, but the physiological roles of soyasaponins in the rhizosphere and their fate in soil after exudation have remained unknown. This study demonstrates that soyasaponins are secreted from the roots of field-grown soybean, and soyasaponin Bb is the major soyasaponin detected in the rhizosphere. In vitro analysis of the distribution coefficient suggested that soyasaponin Bb can diffuse over longer distances in the soil in comparison with daidzein, which is a typical isoflavone secreted from soybean roots. The degradation rate of soyasaponin Bb in soil was slightly faster than that of daidzein, whereas no soyasaponin Bb degradation was observed in autoclaved soil, suggesting that microbes utilize soyasaponins in the rhizosphere. Bacterial community composition was clearly influenced by soyasaponin Bb, and potential plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria such as Novosphingobium were significantly enriched in both soyasaponin Bb-treated soil and the soybean rhizosphere. These results strongly suggest that soyasaponin Bb plays an important role in the enrichment of certain microbes in the soybean rhizosphere

Minimally-invasive debulking of ovarian cancer in the rat pelvis by means of photodynamic therapy using the pegylated photosensitizer PEG-m-THPC

Interstitial photodynamic therapy (PDT) using the pegylated photosensitizer PEG-m-THPC was evaluated as a minimally-invasive procedure to selectively debulk unrespectable pelvic ovarian cancer (NuTu-19) in immunocompetent rats. To assess tumour selectivity, PEG-m-THPC at dosages of 0.3, 3.0 and 30 mg kg−1 body weight was administered intravenously to 30 rats 4 weeks following tumour induction. Eight days later laser light at 652 nm and optical doses ranging from 100 to 900 J cm−1 diffuser-length was delivered by an interstitial cylindrical diffusing fibre inserted blindly into the pelvis. Three days following light application, the volume of necrosis was measured and the damage to pelvic organs was assessed histologically on cross sections. For analysis of survival, 20 tumour-bearing rats received PDT using drug doses of 3 or 9 mg kg−1 body weight and an optical dose of 900 J cm−1 diffuser-length, whereas ten untreated tumour-bearing rats served as controls. The histological assessment of PDT induced necrosis showed a non-linear dose–response for both the photosensitizer dose and the optical dose. The lowest drug dose activated with the highest optical dose did not induce more necrosis than seen in tumour-bearing control animals. The same optical dose induced necrosis of 17 mm in diameter using 30 mg kg−1 and 11 mm using 3 mg kg−1 photosensitizer. The optical threshold for induction of significant necrosis was between 100 and 300 J cm−1 diffuser-length for 30 mg kg−1 and between 300 and 500 J cm−1 for 3 mg kg−1 PEG-m-THPC. Significant damage to normal pelvic organs was only seen if 30 mg kg−1 photosensitizer was activated with optical doses of 700 J cm−1 or more. In the survival study, all treated animals survived PDT for at least 2 weeks and the intestinal and urinary tract remained functional. No clinical signs of blood vessel or nerve injury were observed. Mean overall survival of untreated tumour-bearing rats was 25.0 ± 4.5 days compared to 38.4 ± 3.8 days and 40.0 ± 3.6 days for rats treated with 3 mg kg−1 or 9 mg kg−1 PEG-m-THPC mediated PDT respectively (P < 0.05). We conclude that PEG-m-THPC mediated PDT has a favourable therapeutic window and that this minimally-invasive procedure can reduce pelvic cancer bulks effectively and selectively. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Magnetized Iron Atmospheres for Neutron Stars

Using a Hartree-Fock formalism, we estimate energy levels and photon cross sections for atomic iron in magnetic fields B ~ 10^13 G. Computing ionization equilibrium and normal mode opacities with these data, we construct LTE neutron star model atmospheres at 5.5 < Log(T_eff) < 6.5 and compute emergent spectra. We examine the dependence of the emergent spectra on T_eff and B. We also show the spectral variation with the angle between the magnetic field and the atmosphere normal and describe the significant limb darkening in the X-ray band. These results are compared with recent detailed computations of neutron star H model atmospheres in high fields and with low field Fe and H model atmospheres constructed from detailed opacities. The large spectral differences for different surface compositions may be discernible with present X-ray data; we also note improvements needed to allow comparison of Fe models with high quality spectra.Comment: 18 pages with 5 eps figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Replaced due to clerical error only: one more author, no new conten

Cooperation and Contagion in Web-Based, Networked Public Goods Experiments

A longstanding idea in the literature on human cooperation is that cooperation should be reinforced when conditional cooperators are more likely to interact. In the context of social networks, this idea implies that cooperation should fare better in highly clustered networks such as cliques than in networks with low clustering such as random networks. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a series of web-based experiments, in which 24 individuals played a local public goods game arranged on one of five network topologies that varied between disconnected cliques and a random regular graph. In contrast with previous theoretical work, we found that network topology had no significant effect on average contributions. This result implies either that individuals are not conditional cooperators, or else that cooperation does not benefit from positive reinforcement between connected neighbors. We then tested both of these possibilities in two subsequent series of experiments in which artificial seed players were introduced, making either full or zero contributions. First, we found that although players did generally behave like conditional cooperators, they were as likely to decrease their contributions in response to low contributing neighbors as they were to increase their contributions in response to high contributing neighbors. Second, we found that positive effects of cooperation were contagious only to direct neighbors in the network. In total we report on 113 human subjects experiments, highlighting the speed, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of web-based experiments over those conducted in physical labs