Terms Of Sex Composition Research Articles

The uniqueness of biological characteristics of technical hemp and prospects for its practical use

Purpose and objectives. The study purpose was development of new hemp varieties of for different uses, identification of biological characteristics of the monoeciousness traits and diversity of cannabinoid compounds, and evaluation of prospects of developing varieties for seeds, fiber, oil, and medicinal drugs.Material and methods. Hemp varieties grown in breeding variety trials and breeding nurseries were taken as the test material. The oil content was determined by C.V. Rushkovsky’s method; the fatty acid composition of oil - by gas chromatography on a chromatograph Selmichrom-1; the contents of cannabinoids and terpenes – by an internal standard method on a gas-liquid chromatograph HP 6890 Series Hewlett Packard. Relationships between the traits were assessed with correlation coefficients.Results and discussion. The breeding was hampered because of a number of biological features of hemp: specific odor, cross-pollinating, heterozygosity, sex polymorphism, dominance of the cannabinoid presence, a direct correlation between the contents of cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, formation of glandular hairs (trichomes) and essential oils on leaves and perianths.It was demonstrated that in varieties with an increased THC content there was a direct correlation between the number of glandular hairs and the contents of cannabinoids, and if THC is absent, or if its content is very low, this relationship is broken. Almost all industrial hemp varieties with a minimum THC content or without THC at all were revealed to contain essential oils (0.06–0.24%).Hemp breeding is also complicated by sex polymorphism, the ontogenetic and phylogenic characteristics of which are determined by the habit factors and the male/female flowers ratio. Universal check variety Hliana is the best variety in terms of sex composition and monoeciousness stability with minimal segregation of male plants in reproductions.There are universal varieties (check variety Hliana) with a certain yield (fiber and oil contents – 30%, stem yield – 7.5–8.0 t/ha, and seed yield – 1.0–1.2 t/ha) and specialized varieties – for fiber (variety Hlukhivskyi 51, the fiber content is 38–40%), seeds (variety Hlesiia, the seed yield is 1.5–1.8 t/ha) and oil (variety Mykolaichyk, the oil content is 38–40%).The prospects of breeding to create medicinal varieties have been proven. The direct dependence of synthesis of one cannabinoid on another (r = 0.7–0.9) restricts breeding for an increased cannabinoid content in the range of 1.5–3.0%. In this case, the content of tetrahydrocannabinol does not exceed 0.08%.The breeding methods developed to increase the cannabidiol content made it possible to create new starting material stabilized in terms of the cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol contents at the level of 1.5–3.0 and 0.04–0.07%, respectively.For the first time, we established that there was no relationship between CBG and THC. Targeted selection for increase in the CBG content led to the creation of hemp variety Vik 2020 with a cannabigerol content of up to 1.0% and without THC.Conclusions. The results obtained prove the uniqueness of technical hemp as a biological object of research, possibilities of developing new scientific theories, breeding methods, genetic mechanisms of cannabinoid synthesis and practical use of such hemp products as oil, hulled seeds, fiber and medicinal agents in different production areas, where, as more advanced processing techniques are developed, the effectiveness of hemp rises.The technical hemp varieties, universal, seed and fiber ones, are noticeable for the absence of THC and CBD and can be used for fiber (the fiber content is 30, 28 and 38% in universal, seed and fiber varieties, respectively), seeds (the seed yield is 1.0–1.2, 1.5–1.8 and 0.8–0.9 t/ha in universal, seed and fiber varieties, respectively) and oil (the oil content in seeds is 30, 34–38 and 28% in universal, seed and fiber varieties, respectively).For the first time in the history of hemp breeding, studies have has been conducted to develop medicinal hemp varieties.A medicinal hemp variety has been created (variety Mriia). It, in addition to leaf biomass with an increased CBD content, gives a seed yield of 0.8–1.0 t/ha with oil content of up to 28% and a stem yield of 7.0 t/ha with a fiber content of 28-30%. Variety Vik 2020 with an increased content of KBG (1.0%) and without THC has been created.

Dynamics of communal vocalizations in a social songbird, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

Colonies or communities of animals such as fishes, frogs, seabirds, or marine mammals can be noisy. Although vocal communication between clearly identified sender(s) and receiver(s) has been well studied, the properties of the noisy sound that results from the acoustic network of a colony of gregarious animals have received less attention. The resulting sound could nonetheless convey some information about the emitting group. Using custom-written software for automatic detection of vocalizations occurring over many hours of recordings, this study reports acoustic features of communal vocal activities in a gregarious species, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). By biasing the sex ratio and using two different housing conditions (individual versus communal housing), six groups of zebra finches were generated, with six different social structures that varied both in terms of sex-composition and proportion of paired individuals. The results showed that the rate of emission and the acoustic dynamic both depended on the social structure. In particular, the vocal activity of a group of zebra finches depended mainly on the number of unpaired birds, i.e., individuals not part of a stably bonded pair.

Bullies and victims at school: Are they the same pupils?

The reported prevalence of bully-victims and aggressive/provocative victims varies quite considerably in previous research, and only a few studies have reported prevalence rates across grades. There is also a lack of detailed analyses of the extent to which victims are also bullies, and bullies are also victims. To study the prevalence of male and female bully-victims across grade/age and to establish the degree of overlap or relative size of the bully-victim group by relating them to all victims, all bullies and all involved students. Participants in Study 1 were 5,171 pupils in grades 5-9 from 37 schools. Study 2 comprised 12,983 pupils in grades 4-10 from 66 schools. The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was administered to the pupils in their ordinary classrooms. The prevalence of bully-victims was low and mainly declined across grades. There were far more boys than girls in the bully-victim group. Bully-victims resembled victims only (pure victims) in terms of age-trends and bullies only (pure bullies) in terms of sex composition. The overlap of bully-victims with the total victim group was fairly small (10-20%) in all grades. In primary grades, bully-victims constituted about 30-50% of the total bully group, whereas in higher grades these proportions were considerably lower. Our analyses and overview of previous research suggest that the bully-victim group is small, and that the large variations across studies are mainly due to differences in choice of cutoff point. Bully-victims should generally be seen and treated statistically as a distinct subgroup. The relatively larger proportion of bully-victims in lower grades should be explored further.

The Interplay between Habitus, Social Variables and Occupational Preferences

European researchers have recently introduced Bourdieu’s habitus theory and research methods into the research field of career development. The advantage of Bourdieu’s theory is to overcome the theoretical problems that in this field have resulted from overemphasis on individual aspects of career development at the expense of social aspects. The habitus concept allows for the dichotomy between the individual and the social dimensions to be overcome. The research reported here looks at the interplay between habitus, social variables and career preferences but in a younger age group than has previously been studied. It also wonders whether habitus groups exist in the relatively homogenous population of Iceland at a relatively young age, i.e., before divergence in the educational system. Analyses resulted in five habitus groups being formed on the basis of endorsement of cultural and leisure activities. Furthermore, the five groups differed both in terms of sex composition and — importantly — of preferred future occupations. It was concluded that habitus groups form readily and have important implications for research and practice within the field of career counselling.

Preliminary Results of the 1982 Census in China

The State Statistical Bureau of China announced in October 1982 the preliminary results of the 1982 census. It was revealed that the population of China including Taiwan was 1026503884 persons. The 1982 census differed from the 1953 and 1964 Chinese censuses in 2 ways: coverage of demographic variables was much broader and modern census taking techniques including computers were used. During the past 3 years the State Statistical Bureau released countrywide population totals and vital rates for various years that had not previously been available to the public. Some observations are offered about the preliminary census results from 1982 and when possible comparisons are made between the newly released data and earlier statistics from Chinese authorities. Pretests were conducted in 1980 and 1981 in 24 mainland provinces. Approximately 3.6 million persons were enumerated in these pretests. The results indicated that the quality of the pretest was excellent and consequently no major changes were made in the design of the questionnaire for the full census. The October 1982 communique indicated that the quality of the census enumeration also was excellent. The 1982 census covers a wider range of demographic data than found in the 1953 and 1964 censuses. The 1982 census gathered information in 19 demographic categories 13 of which were related to individuals and 6 of which focused on households. The communique marked the completion of the 1st stage. The total figure of 1026503884 included the 18270749 residents of Taiwan. Compared to the 1953 total of 590.2 million including 7.6 million on Taiwan China gained 436.4 million people or an increase of 73.9% in 29 years. The rate of increase since 1964 was not constant. In terms of sex composition in the 1982 census males accounted for 51.5% of the mainland population females 48.5%. The sex ratio was 106.3 to 100. The government formally recognizes 56 nationalities of which the dominant Han or Chinese accounted for 93.3% of the 1982 population. The other 55 nationalities made up 6.7% of the population. This sum had grown 22% since 1978. The minority growth rate of 68.4% was much higher than the Han rate of 43.8%. In 1981 there were 20689704 births and 6290103 deaths. The birth and death rates were respectively 20.91 and 6.36/1000; the rate of natural increase was 14.55/1000 population. The 1982 communique reported that 20.6% of the mainland population or 206.6 million persons lived in cities. Official population data for the provinces autonomous regions and municipalities of China are now available for the years 1953 1978 1980 and 1982. 3 family planning campaigns have been undertaken since the 1953 census. A new policy urging each couple to have only 1 child was introduced in 1979 but this policy has not been as effective in rural areas.

Effects on family size and sex ratio of preferences regarding the sex of children

Abstract If the desired size of a family is specified in terms of sex composition, the sex preferences may affect eventual family size. Assuming that a couple wish to have a specified minimum number of boys and of girls, and continue to have children until these minimum numbers are reached (with perhaps an upper limit), formulae and numerical calculations are presented for the average size of family. In most cases, there is more than an even chance that the family size will be larger than the sum of the minimum desired number of boys and girls. With a constant and equal probability that a child will be a male, the preferences and postulated behaviour have no effect on the sex ratio.