Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Phylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms

Angiosperms are the cornerstone of most terrestrial ecosystems and human livelihoods1,2. A robust understanding of angiosperm evolution is required to explain their rise to ecological dominance. So far, the angiosperm tree of life has been determined primarily by means of analyses of the plastid genome3,4. Many studies have drawn on this foundational work, such as classification and first insights into angiosperm diversification since their Mesozoic origins5,6,7. However, the limited and biased sampling of both taxa and genomes undermines confidence in the tree and its implications. Here, we build the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) angiosperm genera using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes8. This 15-fold increase in genus-level sampling relative to comparable nuclear studies9 provides a critical test of earlier results and brings notable change to key groups, especially in rosids, while substantiating many previously predicted relationships. Scaling this tree to time using 200 fossils, we discovered that early angiosperm evolution was characterized by high gene tree conflict and explosive diversification, giving rise to more than 80% of extant angiosperm orders. Steady diversification ensued through the remaining Mesozoic Era until rates resurged in the Cenozoic Era, concurrent with decreasing global temperatures and tightly linked with gene tree conflict. Taken together, our extensive sampling combined with advanced phylogenomic methods shows the deep history and full complexity in the evolution of a megadiverse clade

Auto-sexing potential and growth performance in Rhode Island, Nigerian local chickens and their reciprocal crosses

This study was conducted to determine auto-sexing potential in Rhode Island, Nigerian local chicken and their reciprocal crosses. A total of 241 eggs  were set in the incubator to deter ine the fertility, hatchability, % Hatch, % dead in shell, % dead in cell and % deformed chicks in the four  genotypes (Rhode Island Red (RIR) x Rhode Island White (RIW), Rhode Island Red (RIR) x Rhode Island White (RIW), Nigerian Local Red (NLR) x  Rhode Island White (RIW) and Nigerian Local Red (NLR) x Nigerian Local White (NLW). Only 94 eggs were hatched. RIRXRIW crossbred chicks had the highest percentage fertility of 88.89% followed by RIRxRIW (86.27%), NLRXRIW (77.36%) and NLRxNLW (72.31%), respectively. RIRxNLW had the highest percentage hatchability of 65.19%, followed by RIRxRIW (51.56%), NLRxNLW (51.06%) and NLRxRIW (24.39%). It was observed in thehatch-out analysis that the cross between NLRxRIW had the highest percentage of dead in shell (29.27%) followed by RIRxRIW (17.19%), NLRxNLW (17.02%) and RIRxNLW (11.36%), respectively. The highest percentage of dead in cell was recorded in NLRxRIW crossbred (43.33%), followed by NLRxNLW (31.92%), RIRxRIW (28.13%) and RIRxNLW (15.91%). The observed deformed chicks were highest in NLRxNLW (20.85%) followed by RIRxNLW (10.34%), RIRxRIW (6.06%) and NLRxNLW (0%), respectively. Also observed was the occurrence of bangers with NLRxRIW, having the  highest occurrence of bangers (9.08%) and with NLRxNLW having no occurrence of bangers. The records of weekly body weight were taken on the 94 chicks and chi square analysis was used to test colour inheritance of chicks. Significant (P<0.05) difference was observed among genotypes in body weight of chicks at hatch and from weeks 1 to 8 weeks of age. The observed changes on body weight from 0 to 8th week of age of chicks showed significant difference across the four different genetic crossed groups (P<0.05) and weight at the 8th week showed that the cross between RIRxRIW (216.93g) had better in growth as compared to the cross between NLRxRIW (202.75g) and NLRxNLW (193.17g) which were statistically  similar (P>0.05) and RIRxNLW (179.75g) crossbred chicks which had the lowest bodyweight at 8 weeks of age. The chi square (X2) analysis revealed that both RIRxRIW and NLRxRIW crossbred chicks were autosexed. The study concluded that selection for plumage colour showed great potential in determining the probability of chicks being autosexed. Also, pure bred of RIRXRIW and reciprocal cross of NLRXRIW showed great potential of  producing autosexed chicks, while results on the direct crosses of NLRXNLW and RIRXNLW suggest that the pattern of inheritance of plumage colour is not simple. The study recommends further investigation to further ascertain the mode of plumage colour inheritance in the Nigerian Local Chickens. Keywords: Auto-sexing, plumage, growth performanc