Production of triploid Sandersonia aurantiaca plants

Triploid plants of Sandersonia aurantiaca were produced by crossing diploid and tetraploid forms of S. aurantiaca. Enlarged ovules were transferred to in vitro culture 14–30 days after pollination. The triploid nature of the embryo derived plants was determined by flow cytometry and chromosome counts both of which showed that the triploid plants had features that were midway between those of the two parents. The mean nuclear DNA contents of 2C nuclei from diploid, triploid and tetraploid forms of S. aurantiaca were 6.86pg, 10.04pg and 13.55pg, respectively. The nuclear DNA content of 1C nuclei of sperm cells from pollen grains was 2.94pg. Mitotic chromosome counts from the three plants gave 2n = 24, 36 and 48 chromosomes for the diploid, triploid and tetraploid forms, respectively. Meiotic chromosome counts for the diploid and tetraploid plants were n = 12 and n = 24, respectively. The triploid showed mainly bivalents, but lagging chromosomes led to micronuclei and infertility in gametes. The morphological features of the various plants corroborated other evidence indicating that the triploid plants were the result of a cross between diploid and tetraploid plants

Guiding center picture of magnetoresistance oscillations in rectangular superlattices

We calculate the magneto-resistivities of a two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a lateral superlattice (LSL) of rectangular symmetry within the guiding-center picture, which approximates the classical electron motion as a rapid cyclotron motion around a slowly drifting guiding center. We explicitly evaluate the velocity auto-correlation function along the trajectories of the guiding centers, which are equipotentials of a magnetic-field dependent effective LSL potential. The existence of closed equipotentials may lead to a suppression of the commensurability oscillations, if the mean free path and the LSL modulation potential are large enough. We present numerical and analytical results for this suppression, which allow, in contrast to previous quantum arguments, a classical explanation of similar suppression effects observed experimentally on square-symmetric LSL. Furthermore, for rectangular LSLs of lower symmetry they lead us to predict a strongly anisotropic resistance tensor, with high- and low-resistance directions which can be interchanged by tuning the externally applied magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Intercalibration of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at start-up

Calibration of the relative response of the individual channels of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS detector was accomplished, before installation, with cosmic ray muons and test beams. One fourth of the calorimeter was exposed to a beam of high energy electrons and the relative calibration of the channels, the intercalibration, was found to be reproducible to a precision of about 0.3%. Additionally, data were collected with cosmic rays for the entire ECAL barrel during the commissioning phase. By comparing the intercalibration constants obtained with the electron beam data with those from the cosmic ray data, it is demonstrated that the latter provide an intercalibration precision of 1.5% over most of the barrel ECAL. The best intercalibration precision is expected to come from the analysis of events collected in situ during the LHC operation. Using data collected with both electrons and pion beams, several aspects of the intercalibration procedures based on electrons or neutral pions were investigated

Overcritical states of a superconductor strip in a magnetic environment

A current-carrying superconducting strip partly penetrated by magnetic flux and surrounded by a bulk magnet of high permeability is considered. Two types of samples are studied: those with critical current controlled by an edge barrier dominating over the pinning, and those with high pinning-mediated critical current masking the edge barrier.It is shown for both cases that the current distribution in a central flux-free part of the strip is strongly affected by the actual shape of the magnetic surroundings. Explicit analytical solutions for the sheet current and self-field distributions are obtained which show that, depending on the geometry, the effect may suppress the total loss-free transport current of the strip or enhance it by orders of magnitude. The effect depends strongly on the shape of the magnet and its distance to the superconductor but only weakly on the magnetic permeability.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figure

Systematic review on the use of patient-reported outcome measures in brain tumor studies: part of the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology Patient-Reported Outcome (RANO-PRO) initiative

Background. The Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology Patient-Reported Outcome (RANO-PRO) working group aims to provide guidance on the use of PROs in brain tumor patients. PRO measures should be of high quality, both in terms of relevance and other measurement properties. This systematic review aimed to identify PRO measures that have been used in brain tumor studies to date.Methods. A systematic literature search for articles published up to June 25, 2020 was conducted in several electronic databases. Pre-specified inclusion criteria were used to identify studies using PRO measures assessing symptoms, (instrumental) activities of daily living [(I)ADL] or health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adult patients with glioma, meningioma, primary central nervous system lymphoma, or brain metastasis.Results. A total of 215 different PRO measures were identified in 571 published and 194 unpublished studies. The identified PRO measures include brain tumor-specific, cancer-specific, and generic instruments, as well as instruments designed for other indications or multi- or single-item study-specific questionnaires. The most frequently used instruments were the EORT QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20 (n = 286 and n = 247),and the FACT-Br (n = 167), however, the majority of the instruments were used only once or twice (150/215).Conclusion. Many different PRO measures assessing symptoms, (I)ADL or HROoL have been used in brain tumor studies to date. Future research should clarify whether these instruments or their wales/items exhibit good content validity and other measurement properties for use in brain tumor patients.Neurolog

Relevance of the diploma section "Civil protection"

На сьогоднішньому етапі реформування вищої освіти навчальна дисципліна «Цивільний захист» вже не є нормативною і виключена з навчальних планів у вищих навчальних закладах, у тому числі технічного профілю. Але соціально-економічна ситуація в країні, нажаль, ускладнюється. Тому зростає необхідність і важливість питань захисту населення в умовах надзвичайних ситуацій.The discipline "Civil Protection" is not normative any more and excluded from the curriculum in higher educational institutions, including the technical profile at the present stage of reforming higher education. However, unfortunately, the socio-economic situation in the country is becoming more complicated. In these conditions, the need and importance of protecting the population in emergency situations is increasing

An Empirical Comparison of Consumer Innovation Adoption Models: Implications for Subsistence Marketplaces

So called “pro-poor” innovations may improve consumer wellbeing in subsistence marketplaces. However, there is little research that integrates the area with the vast literature on innovation adoption. Using a questionnaire where respondents were asked to provide their evaluations about a mobile banking innovation, this research fills this gap by providing empirical evidence of the applicability of existing innovation adoption models in subsistence marketplaces. The study was conducted in Bangladesh among a geographically dispersed sample. The data collected allowed an empirical comparison of models in a subsistence context. The research reveals the most useful models in this context to be the Value Based Adoption Model and the Consumer Acceptance of Technology model. In light of these findings and further examination of the model comparison results the research also shows that consumers in subsistence marketplaces are not just motivated by functionality and economic needs. If organizations cannot enhance the hedonic attributes of a pro-poor innovation, and reduce the internal/external constraints related to adoption of that pro-poor innovation, then adoption intention by consumers will be lower

Niccolo Machiavelli, cultural intermediaries and the category of achieved celebrity

The escalating interest in celebrity studies has not translated into a serious enquiry into the origins of the subject in social and political theory. Instead, celebrity has been usually explained as either the reflection of industrialisation or the expression of timeless, unchanging fate. The result is a distorted, compressed time frame in which the phenomenon is located in unsatisfactory, metaphysical accounts of the position of celebrity in the social order. This paper aims to redress the balance by demonstrating the profound importance of cultural intermediaries in the social construction of celebrity. I argue that the birth of cultural intermediaries lies in Florentine civic humanism. Machiavelli’s The Prince has been celebrated as a major contribution to the acquisition and effective management of tyrannical power. There is ample reason to hold this view. At the same time, this interpretation is too limiting. When read from the standpoint of the rise of Florentine civic humanism, the text is also, transparently, a contribution to the successful engineering of renown. More particularly, in this respect, it offers a prototypical understanding of cultural intermediaries. As such, this paper contends that Machiavelli’s study is a seminal contribution to the study of celebrity. Machiavelli formulates impersonal principles on exposure management and the accumulation of attention capital that are presented as the preserve of civil experts. Far from being the high-water mark of tyrannical power, The Prince is evidence of the growth of civic humanism and the ascending importance of expertise in managing fame. The paper aims to revise the boundaries of celebrity studies by demonstrating the canonical significance of Machiavelli’s text. Further, it proposes that cultural intermediaries are seminal in the emergence and development of the fame economy