Microscopic description of cluster radioactivity in actinide nuclei

Cluster radioactivity is the emission of a fragment heavier than an α particle and lighter than mass 50. The range of clusters observed in experiments goes from 14C to 32Si while the heavy mass residue is always a nucleus in the neighborhood of the doubly-magic 208Pb nucleus. Cluster radioactivity is described in this paper as very asymmetric nuclear fission. A new fission valley leading to a decay with large fragment mass asymmetry matching the cluster radioactivity products is found. The mass octupole moment is found to be more convenient than the standard quadrupole moment as the parameter driving the system to fission. The mean-field Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory with the phenomenological Gogny interaction has been used to compute the cluster emission properties of a wide range of even-even actinide nuclei from 222Ra to 242Cm, where emission of the clusters has been experimentally observed. Computed half-lives for cluster emission are compared with experimental results. The noticeable agreement obtained between the predicted properties of cluster emission (namely, cluster masses and emission half-lives) and the measured data confirms the validity of the proposed methodology in the analysis of the phenomenon of cluster radioactivity. A continuous fission path through the scission point has been described using the neck parameter constraintThe work of LMR was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain) Grants No. FPA2009-08958 and No. FIS2009-07277, as well as by Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programs CPAN CSD2007-00042 and MULTIDARK CSD2009- 00064. The work of MW was supported by Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyzszego (Poland) under Grant No. N N202 23113

Floristic analysis of a high-speed railway embankment in a Mediterranean landscape

We analyzed the floristic composition of a 4.5 km-long segment of a high-speed railway in Lazio, central Italy, which travels on an artificial embankment through an intensively-farmed landscape. In total, 287 vascular plant species were recorded. The life-form distribution was found to be similar to that of the regional species pool, with high percentages of therophytes (38%) and phanerophytes (13%). In the chorological spectrum the Mediterranean floristic element prevailed (44%), while alien species were 8% of the flora. The phytosociological spectrum showed a high diversity of characteristic species from the class Stellarietea mediae or its subordinate syntaxa (26%), and in particular from the order Thero-Brometalia (Mediterranean, sub-nitrophilous annual communities). Species from forest syntaxa had a relatively high diversity (9%). These results suggest that the ecological filtering provided by the Mediterranean regional climate controlled species assemblage even in a completely artificial habitat, preventing floristic homogenization: the flora of the studied railway section is only partially »ruderalized«, while it keeps strong links with the regional (semi-) natural plant communities. However, in contrast to what is observed in central and north Europe, the railway sides studied in the present paper do not seem to represent a refugial habitat for rare species from grassland communities, mainly because in Italy semi-natural dry grasslands are still widely represented

MOTIVATION TO RECEIVE HIGHER EDUCATION: THE RESULTS OF STUDENT POLL (COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS)

The motivation to get higher education has a significant impact on the development of students' professional competencies. The purpose of the article was to identify the main students' motives for receiving higher education and to analyze dynamics of the motivation from the first-year study to the final year. The method of direct ranking was used. The leading motives for getting higher education for freshmen and for graduates are the following: to ensure a good financial position in the future and to become a good professional. The least magnitude for both categories of respondents have such motives as a free student life and a diploma as a document. The importance of the motives "to enhance the cultural level" and "the possibility to develop worldview" has significantly increased during the training period, while the significance of the motives «to become a respected person, to raise social status» and «to become a leader and to have power » has decreased

FACTORS INFLUENCING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS OF STUDENTS SPECIALIZING IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

The article describes the results of an international study of entrepreneurial intentions of students specializing in tourism and hospitality. As a result of the agreed questionnaire and further processing of the data the factors influencing entrepreneurial intentions were revealed. For students from Russia, Portugal, Poland, Lithuania and Oman the tendency to create new business isn't statistically significantly different. Men are more likely to become entrepreneurs than women. For students inclination towards entrepreneurship is motivated primarily by the attractiveness of this activity. Negative factors are not significant, students do not evaluate them as a barrier to starting a business. On the tendency to create new business positively affect entrepreneurial values of significant groups, the belief in the ability to provide their personal (psychological) and social security, as well as entrepreneurship education

Clinical observation of a combination of diffuse alveolar-septal pulmonary lesion and amyloid cardiomyopathy in systemic AL-amyloidosis in the elderly

A rare observation of systemic AL-amyloidosis with a debut in old age, accompanied by diffuse alveolar-septal lesion of the lungs and me-diastinal lymphadenopathy in combination with amyloid cardiomyopathy in the absence of pathology of kidney and liver function. © 2018 Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved