Pollen quality and pollen productivity of blue honeysuckle species and varieties

Studies to assess the pollen quality and pollen productivity of blue honeysuckle were conducted on the ecosystem dendrological territory of the Siberian Botanical garden of TSU (Tomsk). Objects of research: 8 varieties and 4 species of blue honeysuckle – ‘Velvet’, ‘Berel’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, ‘Zolushka’, ‘Lazurnaya’, ‘Ogneny Opal’, ‘Selena’, ‘Tomichka’, Lonicera altaica, L. edulis, L. kamtschatica, L. turczaninovii. It was found that the ‘Ogneny Opal’ and ‘Velvet’ varieties have low fertility, and the ‘Berel’ and L. edulis have an average fertility. Other varieties and species of honeysuckle have high pollen fertility. The viability of pollen with high values is more than 60 % – ‘Berel’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, ‘Lazurnaya’, L. turczaninovii, L. kamtschatica, with average values from 40% to 60 % – ‘Selena’, ‘Tomichka’ and L. altaica, with low values – less than 40 % – ‘Velvet’, ‘Zolushka’, ‘Ogneny Opal’ and L. edulis. High pollen productivity – more than 20,000 pollen grains per flower – ‘Tomichka’, L. kamtschatica, L. turczaninovii and L. edulis, average productivity - from 10,000 to 20,000 pollen grains – ‘Berel’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, ‘Zolushka’, ‘Lazurnaya’, ‘Selena’ and L. altaica, low productivity – less than 10,000 pollen grains per flower – ‘Velvet’, ‘Ogneny Opal’. It is recommended to use at least 10% of varieties with high pollen viability and pollen productivity as pollinators when creating industrial honeysuckle plantations: ‘Lazurnaya’, ‘Vasyuganskaya’, and ‘Berel’

Superconducting properties of sulfur-doped iron selenide

The recent discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in single-layer iron selenide has generated significant experimental interest for optimizing the superconducting properties of iron-based superconductors through the lattice modification. For simulating the similar effect by changing the chemical composition due to S doping, we investigate the superconducting properties of high-quality single crystals of FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_{x}$ ($x$=0, 0.04, 0.09, and 0.11) using magnetization, resistivity, the London penetration depth, and low temperature specific heat measurements. We show that the introduction of S to FeSe enhances the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$, anisotropy, upper critical field $H_{c2}$, and critical current density $J_{c}$. The upper critical field $H_{c2}(T)$ and its anisotropy are strongly temperature dependent, indicating a multiband superconductivity in this system. Through the measurements and analysis of the London penetration depth $\lambda _{ab}(T)$ and specific heat, we show clear evidence for strong coupling two-gap $s$-wave superconductivity. The temperature-dependence of $\lambda _{ab}(T)$ calculated from the lower critical field and electronic specific heat can be well described by using a two-band model with $s$-wave-like gaps. We find that a $d$-wave and single-gap BCS theory under the weak-coupling approach can not describe our experiments. The change of specific heat induced by the magnetic field can be understood only in terms of multiband superconductivity.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Magnetohydrodynamic jets from different magnetic field configurations

Using axisymmetric MHD simulations we investigate how the overall jet formation is affected by a variation in the disk magnetic flux profile and/or the existence of a central stellar magnetosphere. Our simulations evolve from an initial, hydrostatic equilibrium state in a force-free magnetic field configuration. We find a unique relation between the collimation degree and the disk wind magnetization power law exponent. The collimation degree decreases for steeper disk magnetic field profiles. Highly collimated outflows resulting from a flat profile tend to be unsteady. We further consider a magnetic field superposed of a stellar dipole and a disk field in parallel or anti-parallel alignment. Both stellar and disk wind may evolve in a pair of outflows, however, a reasonably strong disk wind component is essential for jet collimation. Strong flares may lead to a sudden change in mass flux by a factor two. We hypothesize that such flares may eventually trigger jet knots.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; proceedings from conference: Protostellar Jets in Context, held in Rhodes, July 7-12, 200

Optimized Packing Titanium Alloy Powder Particles

To obtain high-quality and durable parts by 3D printing, specific characteristics (porosity and proportion of various sizes of particles) in the mixture used for printing or sintering must be assured. To predict these characteristics, a mathematical model of optimized packing polyhedral objects (particles of titanium alloys) in a cuboidal container is presented, and a solution algorithm is developed. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the results obtained by the algorithm are very close to experimental findings. This justifies using numerical simulation instead of expensive experimentation

Dissipationless Disk Accretion

We consider disk accretion resulting purely from the loss of angular momentum due to the outflow of plasma from a magnetized disk. In this limiting case, the dissipation due to the viscosity and finite electrical conductivity of the plasma can be neglected. We have obtained self-consistent, self-similar solutions for dissipationless disk accretion. Such accretion may result in the formation of objects whose bolometric luminosities are lower than the flux of kinetic energy in the ejected material.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, published in Astronomy Reports, Vol.49, No.1, 2005, p.57 (submitted September 13, 2003). Unfortunately, we did not upload the paper to astro-ph before, but since the topic is now of interest we feel that the paper would benefit the communit

Trophic Relationships and Food Supply of Heterotrophic Animals in the Pelagic Ecosystem of the Black Sea

During recent decades, the Black Sea has been affected by many negative factors that strongly changed the condition of its ecosystem. Especially trophic relationships in the Black Sea pelagic system became very vulnerable influencing the food supply, productivity and abundance of many species and populations of this marine basin. Food is one of most important link between biota and its environment. In this monograph, the role and variability of trophodynamic processes that effect the well-being (health) of main heterotrophic components of ecosystem were analysed in detail for a few key species as indicators for estimation of ecosystem condition in whole. These are most significant mass species of the Black Sea pelagic ecosystem. Among copepods this is Calanus euxinus that dominates the mesozooplankton which makes up the fodder base of planktivorous fishes. Among gelatinous these are medusa Aurelia aurita and the alien ctenophores Mnemiopsis leidyi and Beroe ovata which affected strongly mesozooplankton composition. Lastly among fishes the anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus ponticus and sprat Sprattus sprattus phalericus that dominate small pelagic fishery. We considered in this monograph: • Diel feeding behaviour, in situ feeding rate of Calanus euxinus and impact of mesozooplankton on primary production and phytoplankton biomass. • The effect of vertical migrations on energy budget and its components in C. euxinus; metabolic substrates used in catabolic processes under both aerobic and hypoxic conditions, the role of reserve lipids and effect of abiotic factors on individual growth and population structure of this species. • The intensity and efficiency of ingestion and energy transformation in three gelatinous species ( jellyfish Aurelia aurita, ctenophores Mnemiopsis leidyi and Beroe ovata) and their predatory impact on zooplankton community. • Nutritional condition and food supply of anchovy and sprat in the close interaction with natural biotic and abiotic and anthropogenic factors. • Tendencies in this interaction during long time space: since 1960 s till present years. • Estimation of population condition of these species and its long-term change. This monograph is the collective work of Ukrainian and Turkish scientists studying complex hydrobiological problems of the Black Sea. Its aim is to reveal the significance of nutritional factors on the ecology of Black Sea biota, including changes which have already occurred, as well as offering some insight into changes that may happen in the future. Our joint investigations started in the first half of the 1990s, when conditions for the close cooperation of researchers from the two countries were suitable after the collapse of the Soviet era. This spirit continues to the present day. Professor Ümit Unluata, Director of Erdemli Institute of Marine Sciences (Middle East Technical University, Ankara) was of paramount importance in organising and fostering the work undertaken. We would like to devote this monograph to the memory of him, who died so prematurely. We are also grateful to Academician Professor V. N. Eremeev, Director of the Sevastopol Institute of Biology of the Southern Sea (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), and to the directors of Erdemli Institute of Marine Sciences (Professor Ilkay Salihoglu, Professor Sukru Besiktepe and Professor Ferit Bingel) who also made significant contributions to the Ukrainian–Turkish collaboration. We are grateful to Dr Bill Parr from the Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project for his valuable efforts in improving earlier drafts. All these investigations were carried out within the framework of the following five NATO linkage-grants: • Pelagic animal food supply in the unstable Black Sea environment, • Will the new alien ctenophore Beroe ovata control the plankton community in the Black Sea? • Grazing, growth and production of Calanus euxinus in the Black Sea, • Bioindicators for assessment of Black Sea ecosystem recovery, • Adaptability and vulnerability of marine species in changing environments. And four TUBITAK - NASU joint projects: • Quantification of the recent ctenophore invader Beroe ovata impact in the Black Sea • Monitoring of the Black Sea anchovy and sprat, • Salinity tolerance as a key factor of invasion success of the copepods of Calanus genus into the Sea of Marmara, • Salinity tolerance as a key factor of invasion success of the mesozooplankton species into the Sea of Marmara. We hope that this publication will make a substantial contribution to future studies of the Black Sea ecosystem and offers further understanding of those features regulating biological processes in this unique marine basin

The lower mass function of the young open cluster Blanco 1: from 30 Mjup to 3 Mo

We performed a deep wide field optical survey of the young (~100-150 Myr) open cluster Blanco1 to study its low mass population well down into the brown dwarf regime and estimate its mass function over the whole cluster mass range.The survey covers 2.3 square degrees in the I and z-bands down to I ~ z ~ 24 with the CFH12K camera. Considering two different cluster ages (100 and 150 Myr), we selected cluster member candidates on the basis of their location in the (I,I-z) CMD relative to the isochrones, and estimated the contamination by foreground late-type field dwarfs using statistical arguments, infrared photometry and low-resolution optical spectroscopy. We find that our survey should contain about 57% of the cluster members in the 0.03-0.6 Mo mass range, including 30-40 brown dwarfs. The candidate's radial distribution presents evidence that mass segregation has already occured in the cluster. We took it into account to estimate the cluster mass function across the stellar/substellar boundary. We find that, between 0.03Mo and 0.6Mo, the cluster mass distribution does not depend much on its exact age, and is well represented by a single power-law, with an index alpha=0.69 +/- 0.15. Over the whole mass domain, from 0.03Mo to 3Mo, the mass function is better fitted by a log-normal function with m0=0.36 +/- 0.07Mo and sigma=0.58 +/- 0.06. Comparison between the Blanco1 mass function, other young open clusters' MF, and the galactic disc MF suggests that the IMF, from the substellar domain to the higher mass part, does not depend much on initial conditions. We discuss the implications of this result on theories developed to date to explain the origin of the mass distribution.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures and 5 tables accepted in A&

Accretion Disks and Dynamos: Toward a Unified Mean Field Theory

Conversion of gravitational energy into radiation in accretion discs and the origin of large scale magnetic fields in astrophysical rotators have often been distinct topics of research. In semi-analytic work on both problems it has been useful to presume large scale symmetries, necessarily resulting in mean field theories. MHD turbulence makes the underlying systems locally asymmetric and nonlinear. Synergy between theory and simulations should aim for the development of practical mean field models that capture essential physics and can be used for observational modeling. Mean field dynamo (MFD) theory and alpha-viscosity accretion theory exemplify such ongoing pursuits. 21st century MFD theory has more nonlinear predictive power compared to 20th century MFD theory, whereas accretion theory is still in a 20th century state. In fact, insights from MFD theory are applicable to accretion theory and the two are artificially separated pieces of what should be a single theory. I discuss pieces of progress that provide clues toward a unified theory. A key concept is that large scale magnetic fields can be sustained via local or global magnetic helicity fluxes or via relaxation of small scale magnetic fluctuations, without the kinetic helicity driver of 20th century textbooks. These concepts may help explain the formation of large scale fields that supply non-local angular momentum transport via coronae and jets in a unified theory of accretion and dynamos. In diagnosing the role of helicities and helicity fluxes in disk simulations, each disk hemisphere should be studied separately to avoid being misled by cancelation that occurs as a result of reflection asymmetry. The fraction of helical field energy in disks is expected to be small compared to the total field in each hemisphere as a result of shear, but can still be essential for large scale dynamo action.Comment: For the Proceedings of the Third International Conference and Advanced School "Turbulent Mixing and Beyond," TMB-2011 held on 21 - 28 August 2011 at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, http://users.ictp.it/~tmb/index2011.html Italy, To Appear in Physica Scripta (corrected small items to match version in print

The theory of pulsar winds and nebulae

We review current theoretical ideas on pulsar winds and their surrounding nebulae. Relativistic MHD models of the wind of the aligned rotator, and of the striped wind, together with models of magnetic dissipation are discussed. It is shown that the observational signature of this dissipation is likely to be point-like, rather than extended, and that pulsed emission may be produced. The possible pulse shapes and polarisation properties are described. Particle acceleration at the termination shock of the wind is discussed, and it is argued that two distinct mechanisms must be operating, with the first-order Fermi mechanism producing the high-energy electrons (above 1 TeV) and either magnetic annihilation or resonant absorption of ion cyclotron waves responsible for the 100 MeV to 1 TeV electrons. Finally, MHD models of the morphology of the nebula are discussed and compared with observation.Comment: 33 pages, to appear in Springer Lecture Notes on "Neutron stars and pulsars, 40 years after the discovery", ed W.Becke

A Russian Radical Conservative Challenge to the Liberal Global Order: Aleksandr Dugin

The chapter examines Russian political theorist Aleksandr Dugin’s (b. 1962) challenge to the Western liberal order. Even though Dugin’s project is in many ways a theoretical epitome of Russia’s contemporary attempt to profile itself as a regional great power with a political and cultural identity distinct from the liberal West, Dugin can also be read in a wider context as one of the currently most prominent representatives of the culturally and intellectually oriented international New Right. The chapter introduces Dugin’s role on the Russian right-wing political scene and his international networks, Russian neo-Eurasianism as his ideological footing, and his more recent “fourth political theory” as an attempt to formulate a new ideological alternative to liberalism as well as the two other main twentieth-century ideologies, communism and fascism. Dugin’s fourth ideology, essentially meant as an alternative to a unipolar post–Cold War global hegemony of victorious liberalism, draws inspiration from the German conservative revolutionary movement of the Weimar era. In particular, Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of history, with its thesis of the end of modernity and another beginning of Western thought, and Carl Schmitt’s pluralistic model of geopolitics are highlighted as key elements of Dugin’s eclectic political thought, which is most appropriately characterized as a form of radical conservatism