Abundances of Elements Lighter than Scandium in the Atmosphere of the Standard Giant Star α Sex (HD 87887, A0 III)

The abundances of elements lighter than scandium in the atmosphere of the A0 III giant, α Sex, are derived using archival ultraviolet and optical spectra. Most of the strongest lines present in the far-ultraviolet spectrum of α Sex can be attributed to chemical elements lighter than calcium. The synthesis of selected lines in the optical and ultraviolet yields new abundances, in particular for elements which have few lines in the optical range. Helium, oxygen, silicon and sulfur are found to have solar abundances, most other elements are underabundant. Aluminium may be marginally overabundant. The lines of chlorine are probably present in the FUV but they are too blended to derive the abundance of chlorine.

Response of durum wheat lines to the cause agent of leaf rust Puccinia triticina

Аbstract. The response of 1262 durum wheat lines to the cause agent of leaf rust Puccinia triticina was studied. The investigation was carried under infection field conditions during 2013-2015 at Dobrudzha Agricultural Institute (DAI) – General Toshevo, Bulgaria. Over the years of investigation, a maximum high infection background was developed by the cause agent of the disease, including all pathogen pathotypes identified during this period. The race variability in the population of the pathogen during the period was determined at the Plant Pathology Laboratory of DAI according to a validated methodology for working with rusts. Seventy-one phenotypically different virulent pathotypes were established. Fifteen new races of P. triticina were also identified, which have not been present during the previous 15 years in Bulgaria. Seventeen lines and one cultivar with a certain degree of resistance to the pathogen were selected. The selected lines can be involved in the breeding programs for developing initial material with resistance to leaf rust P. triticina.

The Metaphysical Implications of the Nigerian National Anthem and Pledge

This discourse, using the analytical method of philosophical investigation, sets to examine the economic and socio-political implications of the Nigerian national anthem and pledge. In doing this, selected lines from the Nigerian national anthem and pledge were analyzed within the socio-political and developmental process that confronts Nigeria society. The paper, therefore, presents a metaphysical understanding of the life-style of the political elites and civil servants as it is being affected by the wordings of the anthem and pledge. The treatise adopts the meaning of anthem as a song that has special importance for a country, an organization or a particular group of people and is sung on special occasions while the pledge is conceived as a formal promise to be loyal often make by people standing in front of the flag with their right hand on their heart. The paper concludes with a meta-logical argument that the wordings of the anthem and pledge though look ordinary possesses far-reaching implications that could be positive or negative, despite the contemporary realities that suggested that the powers and significance of the words that constitute the anthem and pledge seem to have been lost.

Reverse Plasticity Underlies Rapid Evolution by Clonal Selection within Populations of Fibroblasts Propagated on a Novel Soft Substrate

Mechanical properties such as substrate stiffness are a ubiquitous feature of a cell’s environment. Many types of animal cells exhibit canonical phenotypic plasticity when grown on substrates of differing stiffness, in vitro and in vivo. Whether such plasticity is a multivariate optimum due to hundreds of millions of years of animal evolution, or instead is a compromise between conflicting selective demands, is unknown. We addressed these questions by means of experimental evolution of populations of mouse fibroblasts propagated for approximately 90 cell generations on soft or stiff substrates. The ancestral cells grow twice as fast on stiff substrate as on soft substrate and exhibit the canonical phenotypic plasticity. Soft-selected lines derived from a genetically diverse ancestral population increased growth rate on soft substrate to the ancestral level on stiff substrate and evolved the same multivariate phenotype. The pattern of plasticity in the soft-selected lines was opposite of the ancestral pattern, suggesting that reverse plasticity underlies the observed rapid evolution. Conversely, growth rate and phenotypes did not change in selected lines derived from clonal cells. Overall, our results suggest that the changes were the result of genetic evolution and not phenotypic plasticity per se. Whole-transcriptome analysis revealed consistent differentiation between ancestral and soft-selected populations, and that both emergent phenotypes and gene expression tended to revert in the soft-selected lines. However, the selected populations appear to have achieved the same phenotypic outcome by means of at least two distinct transcriptional architectures related to mechanotransduction and proliferation.

Rapid mosaic brain evolution under artificial selection for relative telencephalon size in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

The vertebrate brain displays enormous morphological variation and the quest to understand the evolutionary causes and consequences of this variation has spurred much research. The mosaic brain evolution hypothesis, stating that brain regions can evolve relatively independently, is an important idea in this research field. Here we provide experimental support for this hypothesis through an artificial selection experiment in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). After four generations of selection on relative telencephalon volume (relative to brain size) in replicated up-selected, down-selected and control-lines, we found substantial changes in telencephalon size, but no changes in other regions. Comparisons revealed that up-selected lines had larger telencephalon while down-selected lines had smaller telencephalon than wild Trinidadian populations. No cost of increasing telencephalon size was detected in offspring production. Our results support that independent evolutionary changes in specific brain regions through mosaic brain evolution can be important facilitators of cognitive evolution.

Concepts of Life and Death in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’

No Dane of flesh and bone has been written so devoutly about as Hamlet, which is why he has lived the fate of only a few literary heroes who exist independently of texts and theatre. The tragic hero has become a metaphor in himself, which is why I will attempt to read and interpret Hamlet through the prism of conceptual metaphor theory. My prime interest will be invested in metaphorical representations of life and death perceived as target domains in the process of mapping. It is preoccupation with these abstract notions that gives somber color to the play, defines its mood of nihilism and disillusionment. Hamlet is the play with a high number of references to life, death, the afterlife, and human purpose so that metaphorical linguistic expressions that deal with these themes become corpus for the analysis in this paper. Conceptual metaphor analysis will reveal profound meanings of the selected lines, which are to be found beneath the level of language and syntax, in the sphere where conceptualization of the abstract occurs. Conceptual metaphor analysis may also help us get closer to Shakespeare the man since his unlimited consciousness is, at least to some extent, translated into Hamlet.

Growth and yield performance of four generations of high amylose transgenic Adira 4 cassava

Attempt to improve cassava starch quality have been conducted by producing the first high amylose transgenic Adira 4 Indonesian cassava. This atudy aimed to evaluate agronomic performances of transgenic plants, assessment of four generations in specific containment screenhouse and limited field trial were conducted with improved method. The survival and growth rate of cuttings was enhanced by applying growth regulator such as Atonik and improving planting procedures. The growth and yield performances were measured by comparing related variables across four generations of selected lines. Dipping in 1 mL.L-1 Atonik solution with shading in the early planting were only required when the plant growth was poor and not favourable soil and weather. The result showed that survival of third and fourth generations of Lines A55-5 and A55-15 could reach 100 % when it was treated with Atonik. According to 14 lines assessed, Line A55-5 was one of the promising ones due to its growth, multiplication performance and almost double amylose content compared to wild type. Meanwhile, Line A55-12 showed the highest yield. The finding will benefit functional food industries when appropriate gene construct and approaches were applied for better growth and yield results.