Polaris B, an optical companion of Polaris (alpha UMi) system: atmospheric parameters, chemical composition, distance and mass

We present an analysis of high-resolution spectroscopic observations of Polaris B, the optical companion of the Polaris Ab system. The star has a radial velocity V_r of -16.6km/s to -18.9km/s, and a projected rotational velocity vsini=110 km/s. The derived atmospheric parameters are: Teff=6900K; logg=4.3; V_t=2.5km/s. Polaris B has elemental abundances generally similar to those of the Cepheid Polaris A (Usenko et al. 2005a), although carbon, sodium and magnesium are close to the solar values. At a spectral type of F3V Polaris B has a luminosity of 3.868L_sun, an absolute magnitude of +3.30mag, and a distance of 109.5pc. The mass of the star is estimated to be 1.39M_sun, close to a mass of 1.38+/-0.61M_sun for the recently-resolved orbital periods companion Polaris Ab observed by Evans et al. (2007).Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Integrating advanced visual information with ball projection technology constrains dynamic interceptive actions

The role of advanced visual information in ball catching was investigated by integrating video images of action and ball projection technology in four different conditions: Integrated video and ball projection (VBP), Video-Only (VO), Ball Projection-Only (BPO) and Misleading Ball projection (MBP). Hand kinematics and gaze behaviour data were collected from participants who attempted to catch balls one handed in all conditions. During VBP, catching performance was more successful, tracking of the ball occurred earlier and lasted longer, with maximum grip aperture emerging earlier with a slower maximum velocity than in BPO. During VO, movement emerged later than VBP, with larger maximum and minimum grip aperture compared to VBP and BPO. Results provided evidence that advance information, prior to ball release, and vision of a ball’s trajectory are essential for successful performance and integrated projection technology may provide a representative design for studying interceptive actions

Features of the processes of formation of indicators of emotional burnout of students in the dynamics of learning in modern institutions of higher medical education.

The purpose of the work is to establish features of the processes of formation of indicators of emotional burnout of students in the dynamics of learning in modern institutions of higher medical education. Research was conducted on the basis of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, 307 students of the 1st, 3d, and 6th courses were surveyed. To assess the level of development of the characteristics of emotional burnout Boyko’s personal questionnaire was used. It was established that a high level of severity of the leading manifestations of emotional burnout among students which determines their pronounced emotional instability and a tendency to develop various disorders in terms of the characteristics of psychophysiological adaptation and of the mental sphere was observed among young women, and, first of all, among third-year and first-year young women. Considering the structural distribution of the studied indicators, it should be noted that in all comparison groups the leading components of emotional burnout were either at the formation stage (young men, of the 1st and 3d courses, and young women of the 1st and 6th courses), or were already formed (young men of the 6th course, and young women of the 3rd course). During the analysis of the features of formation of the main phases of emotional burnout, it should be noted that the highest degree of their development during period of learning was inherent of the resistance phase, followed by indicators of individual manifestations of the exhaustion phase and, lastly, tension phase. In the structure of the characteristics of the phase of tension mostly pronounced both in young men and young women, it is necessary to consider indicators of anxiety, depression and experiences of traumatic circumstances, in the structure of the leading characteristics of the phase of resistance – indicators of inadequate selective emotional response and reduction of professionally-oriented educational duties, in the structure of the leading characteristics of the phase of exhaustion – indicators of the severity of psychosomatic and psychovegetative shifts, personal detachment and emotional deficit

TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL OCCLUSION OF ADVANCED VISUAL INFORMATION CONSTRAIN EMERGENT COORDINATION OF ONE-HANDED CATCHING BEHAVIOURS

Introduction Dynamic interceptive actions, like catching, are performed under severe spatial and temporal constraints. Here, behavioral processes underpinning one-handed catching was examined using a novel spatial and temporal occlusion design which enabled precise control of pre-release visual information of an actor and a fully coupled action response. Methods An integrated video and ball projection machine was used to create four temporal occlusion and five spatial occlusion conditions of an actor throwing a ball towards participants. Twelve participants’ hand kinematics and gaze behaviors were recorded while attempting to catch a projected ball synchronized with the video footage. Results Temporal occlusion findings revealed that when footage was occluded at earlier time points, catching performance decreased. Movement onset of the catching hand and initiation of visual ball tracking emerged earlier when footage of the thrower was occluded at a later time point in the throwing action. Spatial occlusion did not affect catching success, although movement onset emerged later when increased visual information of the actor was occluded. Later movement onset was countered by greater maximum velocity of the catching hand. The final stages of action (e.g., grasping action of the hand) remained unchanged across both spatial and temporal conditions suggesting the later phases of the action were organised using ball flight information. Discussion Findings revealed how catching behaviors were continuously (re)organized and adapted as information became available in task performance, first by using kinematic information of a thrower's actions, and then by ball flight information. This highlighted the importance of maintaining information-movement coupling during performance of interceptive actions, with these behavioral adaptations having important implications for research that assesses interceptive skills based solely on pre-ball flight information, as in many current video-based simulation paradigms. Contact [email protected]

Evolutional dynamics of 45S and 5S ribosomal DNA in ancient allohexaploid Atropa belladonna

Background: Polyploid hybrids represent a rich natural resource to study molecular evolution of plant genes and genomes. Here, we applied a combination of karyological and molecular methods to investigate chromosomal structure, molecular organization and evolution of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) in nightshade, Atropa belladonna (fam. Solanaceae), one of the oldest known allohexaploids among flowering plants. Because of their abundance and specific molecular organization (evolutionarily conserved coding regions linked to variable intergenic spacers, IGS), 45S and 5S rDNA are widely used in plant taxonomic and evolutionary studies. Results: Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequencing of A. belladonna 45S rDNA repeats revealed a general structure characteristic of other Solanaceae species, and a very high sequence similarity of two length variants, with the only difference in number of short IGS subrepeats. These results combined with the detection of three pairs of 45S rDNA loci on separate chromosomes, presumably inherited from both tetraploid and diploid ancestor species, example intensive sequence homogenization that led to substitution/elimination of rDNA repeats of one parent. Chromosome silver-staining revealed that only four out of six 45S rDNA sites are frequently transcriptionally active, demonstrating nucleolar dominance. For 5S rDNA, three size variants of repeats were detected, with the major class represented by repeats containing all functional IGS elements required for transcription, the intermediate size repeats containing partially deleted IGS sequences, and the short 5S repeats containing severe defects both in the IGS and coding sequences. While shorter variants demonstrate increased rate of based substitution, probably in their transition into pseudogenes, the functional 5S rDNA variants are nearly identical at the sequence level, pointing to their origin from a single parental species. Localization of the 5S rDNA genes on two chromosome pairs further supports uniparental inheritance from the tetraploid progenitor. Conclusions: The obtained molecular, cytogenetic and phylogenetic data demonstrate complex evolutionary dynamics of rDNA loci in allohexaploid species of Atropa belladonna. The high level of sequence unification revealed in 45S and 5S rDNA loci of this ancient hybrid species have been seemingly achieved by different molecular mechanisms

АКТУАЛЬНІ ПРОБЛЕМИ КОМПЛЕКСНИХ СУДОВО- ЕКСПЕРТНИХ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ ПІД ЧАС ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ ПОРЯДКУ ДІЙ ПОЖЕЖНИХ ПІДРОЗДІЛІВ ДСНС УКРАЇНИ

The research on the problem was carried out when solving the issues of multidisciplinary fire investigation and research on occupational and health safety, when establishing conformity of actions of authorities personnel and fire-fighting units during fire-rescue operations with the basic requirements of regulatory documents on labor protection and fire tactical methods of hostilities, use of special equipment, fire engines and fire extinguishing means. The main areas and defining characteristics of a multidisciplinary forensic fire investigation and research on occupational and health safety were identified, which include: -investigation of circumstances of occurrence and dynamics of the development of fire (analysis of the cause of fire), the principles of organization and conduct of hostilities at specific sites in specific conditions, skillful and competent use of special equipment techniques and fire extinguishing agents (investigation of actions tactics of fire departments and the equipment used by them), compliance with the requirements of the Safety Rules when carrying out fire fighting, both by citizens and employees of fire-rescue units. The meaning of the concepts: “fire dynamics”, “fire extinguishing”, “prompt actions of the State Emergency Service Units”, is disclosed. A sufficient and necessary minimum of input information was determined to solve an investigator’s tasks which in the future will contribute to improving the quality and comprehensiveness of forensic examination, regardless of the object under study. The analysis of information provided by the investigator, including at the request of a forensic expert in this category of cases, which will further contribute to a full and high-quality forensic examination regardless of fire occurrence locations, has been carried out.Зазначена необхідність дослідити проблеми комплексних пожежно-технічних досліджень і досліджень з охорони праці й безпеки життєдіяльності, визначити відповідність дій особового складу органів управління та пожежно-рятувальних підрозділів під час проведення пожежно-рятувальних робіт вимогам нормативних документів з охорони праці й пожежно-тактичним прийомам бойових дій, застосування спеціальної техніки та засобів пожежогасіння. Проаналізовано інформаційні матеріали для дослідження дій пожежних підрозділів ДСНС України на пожежі й визначення причиново-наслідкового зв’язку між досліджуваної подією, негативними наслідками та відповідальною особою у разі виникнення нещасного випадку