Anisotropy of the sky distribution of gamma-ray bursts

The isotropy of gamma-ray bursts collected in current BATSE catalog is studied. It is shown that the quadrupole term being proportional to \sim sin 2b sin l is non-zero with a probability of 99.9%. The occurrence of this anisotropy term is then confirmed by the binomial test even with the probability of 99.97 %. Hence, the sky distribution of all known gamma-ray bursts is anisotropic. It is also argued that this anisotropy cannot be caused exclusively by instrumental effects due to the nonuniform sky exposure of BATSE instrument. Separating the GRBs into short and long subclasses, it is shown that the short ones are distributed anisotropically, but the long ones seem to be distributed still isotropically. The character of anisotropy suggests that the cosmological origin of short GRBs further holds, and there is no evidence for their Galactical origin

Administrative systems and reforms across the European Union - towards sustainability?

This paper presents an overview of the particularities of the administrative systems across the European Union. With more and more countries becoming members of the Union, legal and administrative harmonisation becomes more important than ever. Both internal and external aspects may trigger changes, whose scale will be dependent of many factors. It must be realised that administration in this case does not just mean dealing with bureaucratic red tape and obtaining documents, but rather it largely refers to the communal services provided by administrative units to their citizens. These will naturally have an effect on the socio-economic status of the served area, but lest one forget that there is also an environmental aspect to it. This paper will present an overview of the key aspects of administrative divisions across the European Union, and highlight the most important recent changes in the structure, and considering their sustainability aspects too

Sol-derived AuNi/MgAl2O4catalysts: Formation, structure and activityin dry reforming of methane

Ni nanoparticles doped with different amount of gold were supported on MgAl2O4by deposition fromaqueous metal sol producing a series of catalysts with different Au content. The sol procedure was allowedto obtain dispersed metal particles with different composition. The particle size and the particle compo-sition of the sol were maintained even after being deposited on the support. The catalysts, characterizedby several techniques such as TPR, XPS, XRD, TEM, HRTEM and EELS at the different stages of their lifeexhibited significant structural modification. In particular, thermal treatments in reducing and oxidizingenvironment produced NiAu alloy phases and NiO surface segregation, respectively. When testing formethane dry reforming with CO2in temperature ramped reaction, the monometallic nickel catalyst wasmore active at lower temperature whereas the bimetallic catalysts were more active at higher temper-ature. The presence of gold slightly affected the CO/H2ratio due to the occurrence of parallel reactionssuch as the reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGS). Both types of catalysts, monometallic and bimetallicones, deactivated a little with time but the degree of activity loss was not in straightforward relation withAu content due to the different effect of gold on the stability and on the amount of carbon formation.© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Közvetlen és közvetett polarotaxis vizsgálata tegzeseknél és kétszárnyúaknál = Direct and indirect polarotaxis in caddis flies

A kutatás eredményei: 1. BÖGÖLYÖK ÉS ÁRVASZÚNYOGOK POZITÍV POLAROTAXISA Kutatásaink során a bögölyök és az árvaszúnyogok számos faja esetében sikerült bebizonyítanunk mindkét nem esetében a pozitív polarotaxis meglétét, miáltal ezek a rovarok az összetett szemük ventrális részével képesek érzékelni a vízszintesen poláros fényt. A bögölyök vizsgálata kapcsán elsőként tártuk fel a közvetett polarotaxis alapját, amelynek a célja nem a vízbe való petézés, vagy a vízbe való érkezés. A bögölyök pozitív polarotaxisának felismerése lehetőséget adott számunkra olyan új optikai alapon működő bögölycsapda prototípusok kifejlesztésére, amelyek hatékonyabban csapdázzák a rovarokat, mint a jelenleg forgalomban lévők. 2. POLÁROS FÉNYSZENNYEZÉS ÉS ÖKOLÓGIAI CSAPDÁK Kutatásaink összegzéseként bevezettük a nemzetközi szakirodalomba a poláros fényszennyezés fogalmát, amely a hagyományos fényszennyezés egy új fajtája, amit a fényt erősen polarizáló mesterséges tükröző felületek keltenek. Polarotaktikus vízirovarokkal folytatott terepkísérletekben és képalkotó polarimetriai mérésekkel meghatároztuk a poláros fényszennyezés legfőbb forrásait, amelyek minden polarotaktikus vízirovarra poláros ökológiai csapdaként hatnak. A poláros fényszennyzés hozzájárulhat egyes rovarpopulációk kipusztulásához, és megbolygathatja a rájuk épülő táplálkozási hálózatokat is. Kutatásaink során több lehetőséget is találtunk a poláros fényszennyezés csökkentésére vagy megszüntetésére. | The results of the research: 1. POSITIVE POLAROTAXIS OF TABANIDS AND CHIRONOMIDS We presented evidence for positive polarotaxis, i.e., attraction to horizontally polarized light stimulating the ventral eye region, in both males and females of tabanid and chironomid species. The novelty of our findings is that positive polarotaxis has been described earlier only in connection with the water detection of some aquatic insects ovipositing directly into water. A further particularity of our discovery is that in the order Diptera and among blood-sucking insects the studied tabanids are the first known species possessing ventral polarization vision and definite polarization- sensitive behavior with known functions. The polarotaxis in tabanids makes it possible to develop new optically luring traps being more efficient than the existing ones. 2. POLARIZED LIGHT POLLUTION AND POLARIZATION ECOLOGICAL TRAPS We introduced a new term, the polarized light pollution (PLP), meaning all adverse effects on polarotactic aquatic insects attracted by horizontally polarized light reflected from artificial surfaces. In numerous choice experiments with polarotactic insects and using imaging polarimetry we gave experimental evidence of PLP. We suggested several remedies of PLP, which is a byproduct of the human architectural, building, industrial and agricultural technology, and it may allow to function feeding webs composed of polarotactic insects and their predators

Lipid rafts in the plant plasma membrane?

In order to study the molecular characteristics of an integral membrane protein, first the protein should be solubilized. Ascorbate-reducible b-type cytochromes are highly hydrophobic integral membrane proteins with six trans-membrane a-helices. A fully ascorbate-reducible b-type cytochrome was easily solubilized by Triton X-100 from phase partition-purified plasma membranes of 5-day-old etiolated bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) hooks (Trost et al. 2000). However, under the very same conditions, a similar protein in the phase partition-purified plasma membrane of 9-week-old green Arabidopsis thaliana leaves seemed to be very resistant to solubilization with Triton X-100 (Bérczi et al. 2001). It was assumed that the composition of lipids in the plasma membrane of the two different tissues might influence the solubilization. Results obtained with thin layer chromatography revealed that both quan-titative and qualitative differences exist between the lipid composition of the two plant plasma membranes. The observations are discussed in the light of possible existence of “lipid rafts” in the plant plasma membranes