The role of patriotism in explaining the TV audience of national team games - Evidence from four international tournaments

In the literature addressing the determinants of TV audiences in sports, both the absolute and relative playing strength of the opponents play a prominent role. Regarding national team competitions, however, this study conjectures that patriotism matters as well. Analyzing the Swiss TV audience at 2 World Cups and 2 European Football Championships, this study finds strong evidence that TV ratings are highly affected by the sizes of the groups of foreign residents affiliated with the teams playing on the field

Oxygen-isotope effect on the superconducting gap in the cuprate superconductor Y_{1-x}Pr_xBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}

The oxygen-isotope (^{16}O/^{18}O) effect (OIE) on the zero-temperature superconducting energy gap \Delta_0 was studied for a series of Y_{1-x}Pr_xBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta} samples (0.0\leq x\leq0.45). The OIE on \Delta_0 was found to scale with the one on the superconducting transition temperature. These experimental results are in quantitative agreement with predictions from a polaronic model for cuprate high-temperature superconductors and rule out approaches based on purely electronic mechanisms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Revisiting the positive DC corona discharge theory: Beyond Peek's and Townsend's law

The classical positive Corona Discharge (CD) theory in cylindrical axisymmetric configuration is revisited in order to find analytically the influence of gas properties and thermodynamic conditions on the corona current. The matched asymptotic expansion of Durbin \& Turyn of a simplified but self-consitent problem is performed and explicit analytical solutions are derived. The mathematical derivation permits to express a new positive DC corona current-voltage charachteristic, either chosing dimensionless or dimensional formulation. In dimensional variables the current voltage law and the corona inception voltage explicitly depends on electrodes size and on physical gas properties such as ionization and photoionization parameters. The analytical predictions are successfully confronted with experiments and with Peek's and Townsend's laws. An analytical expression of the corona inception voltage $\varphi_{on}$ is proposed, which depends on known values of the physical parameters without adjustable parameters. As a proof of consistency, the classical Townsend current-voltage law $I=C\varphi(\varphi-\varphi_{on})$ is retrieved by linearizing the non-dimensional analytical solution. A brief parametric study showcases the interest of this analytical current model especially for exploring small corona wires or considering various thermodynamic conditions

Molecular evolution of herbicide resistance to phytoene desaturase inhibitors in \u3ci\u3eHydrilla verticillata\u3c/i\u3e and its potential use to generate herbicide-resistant crops

Hydrilla [Hydrilla verticillata (Lf) Royle] is one of the most serious invasive aquatic weed problems in the USA. This plant possesses numerous mechanisms of vegetative reproduction that enable it to spread very rapidly. Management of this weed has been achieved by the systemic treatment of water bodies with the herbicide fluridone. At least three dioecious fluridone-resistant biotypes of hydrilla with two- to fivefold higher resistance to the herbicide than the wild-type have been identified. Resistance is the result of one of three independent somatic mutations at the arginine 304 codon of the gene encoding phytoene desaturase, the molecular target site of fluridone. The specific activities of the three purified phytoene desaturase variants are similar to the wild-type enzyme. The appearance of these herbicideresistant biotypes may jeopardize the ability to control the spread of this non-indigenous species to other water bodies in the southern USA. The objective of this paper is to provide general information about the biology and physiology of this aquatic weed in relation to its recent development of resistance to the herbicide fluridone, and to discuss how this discovery might lead to a new generation of herbicide-resistant crops

Molecular evolution of herbicide resistance to phytoene desaturase inhibitors in \u3ci\u3eHydrilla verticillata\u3c/i\u3e and its potential use to generate herbicide-resistant crops

Hydrilla [Hydrilla verticillata (Lf) Royle] is one of the most serious invasive aquatic weed problems in the USA. This plant possesses numerous mechanisms of vegetative reproduction that enable it to spread very rapidly. Management of this weed has been achieved by the systemic treatment of water bodies with the herbicide fluridone. At least three dioecious fluridone-resistant biotypes of hydrilla with two- to fivefold higher resistance to the herbicide than the wild-type have been identified. Resistance is the result of one of three independent somatic mutations at the arginine 304 codon of the gene encoding phytoene desaturase, the molecular target site of fluridone. The specific activities of the three purified phytoene desaturase variants are similar to the wild-type enzyme. The appearance of these herbicideresistant biotypes may jeopardize the ability to control the spread of this non-indigenous species to other water bodies in the southern USA. The objective of this paper is to provide general information about the biology and physiology of this aquatic weed in relation to its recent development of resistance to the herbicide fluridone, and to discuss how this discovery might lead to a new generation of herbicide-resistant crops

A quantitative analysis of measures of quality in science

Condensing the work of any academic scientist into a one-dimensional measure of scientific quality is a difficult problem. Here, we employ Bayesian statistics to analyze several different measures of quality. Specifically, we determine each measure's ability to discriminate between scientific authors. Using scaling arguments, we demonstrate that the best of these measures require approximately 50 papers to draw conclusions regarding long term scientific performance with usefully small statistical uncertainties. Further, the approach described here permits the value-free (i.e., statistical) comparison of scientists working in distinct areas of science.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 4 table

Giant enhancement of anisotropy by electron-phonon interaction

Anisotropic electron-phonon interaction is shown to lead to the anisotropic polaron effect. The resulting anisotropy of the polaron band is an exponential function of the electron-phonon coupling and might be as big as $10^3$. This also makes anisotropy very sensitive to small changes of coupling and implies wide variations of anisotropy among compounds of similar structure. The isotope effect on mass anisotropy is predicted. Polaron masses are obtained by an exact Quantum Monte Carlo method. Implications for high-temperature superconductors are briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure