Metastability – Markovian approach

A complete system of events of nonlinear processes in complex dynamical systems describes the evolution of the distribution. Different stages of evolution of the distribution declared stable, metastable and unstable systems. Variance of probabilistic distribution plays a crucial role in determining the state of the system. It was found that the system is metastable, when it carried Markovian processes in continuous time. Metastability is the original metallurgical phenomenon and actively exists in the structure of the materials. In a metastable state, the structural distances in material are exponentially distributed

Hiperreaktivnost bronhija u elektrokeramičkoj industriji

Seventy-four female shift workers employed in the oxide ceramics industry were examined: a group of 38 workers from the press workshop and a group of 36 controls from the mounting workshop from the same factory. The two groups did not differ by age, years of employment, smoking habit or height. Persons with atopic constitution and serious respiratory disease were excluded from the study. Interstitial lung disease was eliminated by X-ray examinations. All subjects underwent a clinical examination and completed a questionnaire. Measurements of ventilatory lung functions demonstrated no difference between the groups; lung function values were normal, (ton-specific airway reactivity was expressed as PC50 Rt i.e. 50% increase in resistance in relation to the value measured after inhalation of the physiological solution. A significant difference was found for PC50 Rt between the exposed and control workers during (P<0.001) and outside working hours (P<0.01). Significantly different PC50 Rt values were also established within the group of exposed workers as well as within thai of control workers dunng and outside working hours (P<0.014 and P<0.0018 respectively). The majority of hyperreactive persons were workers from the press workshop (n-17) when measurements were performed during working hours. For earty detection of respiratory diseases in workers employed in the oxide ceramics industry preemployment examinations and regular check-ups aiming to determine non-specific airway reactivity are suggested as necessary.Ispitano je 74 radnica zaposlenih u tvornici oksidne keramike (34 radnice zaposlene u prešaonici i 36 kontrolnih radnica iz montažne hale). Skupine se nisu razlikovale po dobi, trajanju radnog staža, visini i indeksu pušenja. Niti jedna od radnica nije imala znakove atopičke konstitucije, a na rendgenskoj snimci pluća nisu uočene promjene plućnog intersticija. Obje skupine ispitanica podvrgnute su kliničkom pregledu i ispitane su na osnovi standardiziranog upitnika. Izmjerene su i ventilacijske funkcije pluća na uređaju Pneumoscreen I, Jaeger, Njemačka. U obje skupine vrijednosti FVC, FEV1, MEF25, MEF50, i MEF75 bile su u granicama normalnih. Ispitivanje nespecifične reaktivnosti dišnih putova provedeno je histamin difosfatom na uređaju Astograph, Chest Corporation, SAD. Za izraz nespecifične reaktivnosti korišten je PC50 Rt tj. porast rezistencije za 50% u odnosu na izmjerenu vrijednost nakon udisanja fiziološke otopine. Nađena je statistički značajna razlika za PC50 Rt s obzirom na kumulativnu dozu provokativnog agensa među radnicama prešaonice i montaže izmjeren tijekom ali i izvan radnog vremena (P<0,001;P<0.01). Nađena je statistički značajna razlika za PC50 Rt radnica u prešaonici za vrijeme i izvan radnog vremena (P<0,014) ali i radnica u montaži (P<0,0018). U skupini radnica prešaonice tijekom radnog vremena utvrđeno je 17 osoba s PC50 Rt dobivenim s manje od 8 mg/ml histamin disfosfata. U radu se naglašava potreba za sustavnim praćenjem nespecifične reaktivnosti dišnih putova u keramičkoj industriji

Treatment of Tobacco Dust Leachate by Activated Sludge – Evaluation of Biokinetic Parameters

Treatment of tobacco dust leachate represents an important problem because of high concentrations of organic compounds. Experiments were carried out in a batch conditions at initial concentrations of activated sludge of 3.1 g dm–3 (Exp.1) and 6.0 g dm–3 (Exp.2) and different initial concentrations of organic matter in leachate, expressed as COD concentrations, which were in range from 500 to 5000 mg dm–3. Efficiency of biodegradation process was approximately 89.4 % of COD removal. The kinetic parameters, maximum specific growth rate (μmax), substrate saturation constant (Ks) and overall yield coefficient (Y), during experiments were found to be 0.088 h–1, 4241 mg dm–3, and 0.400 mg mg–1 for Exp. 1; and 0.052 h–1, 3168 mg dm–3, and 0.257 mg mg–1 for Exp. 2, respectively. Monod model gives very good fits to experimental data, accompanied by a high regression coefficient (R2)

ML/DL/HPC Ecosystem of the HybriLIT Heterogeneous Platform (MLIT JINR): New Opportunities for Applied Research

The work presents the possibilities for using the ML/DL/HPC ecosystem deployed on the HybriLIT Heterogeneous Platform (Meshcheryakov Laboratory of Information Technologies JINR) on top of JupyterHub, which provides opportunities for solving tasks not only in the field of machine learning and deep learning, but also for the convenient organization of calculations and scientific visualization. The ecosystem allows one to develop and implement program modules in Python, as well as to carry out methodical computations. The relevance of deploying such an environment is primarily associated with the great demand for software modules that are provided to a group of researchers or the scientific community, when all stages of the study can be reproduced; the code has been modified and used by the scientific community. Using the example of solving a specific problem to study the dynamics of magnetization in a Phi-0 Josephson Junction (Superconductor-Ferromagnet-Superconductor structure), a methodology for developing software modules is presented; it enables not only to carry out calculations, but also to visualize the results of the study and accompany them with the necessary formulas and explanations. The possibility of parallel implementation of the algorithm for performing computations for various values of parameters of the model based on the Joblib Python library is shown, and the results of computational experiments demonstrating the efficiency of parallel data processing are presented

Cluster analysis of higher-education competitiveness in selected European countries

The subject of research in this paper is higher-education competitiveness on account of its impact on the enhancement of social and economic competitiveness, as well as on the growth of human capital and creation of social knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to group the selected European countries according to higher-education competitiveness, by means of the hierarchical cluster analysis method, with a special focus on the position of Serbia. Higher-education competitiveness in the chosen countries is analysed by means of three indicators of competitiveness: the ratio of the number of students per number of inhabitants, the number of students per number of employed, as well as the amount of budgetary funds allocated per student. The research results indicate different higher-education competitiveness in the analysed countries and also the fact that, according to this analysis, Serbia is in the group of countries with low competitiveness of higher education

Physiological and cell ultrastructure disturbances in wheat seedlings generated by Chenopodium murale hairy root exudate.

Chenopodium murale L. is an invasive weed species significantly interfering with wheat crop. However, the complete nature of its allelopathic influence on crops is not yet fully understood. In the present study, the focus is made on establishing the relation between plant morphophysiological changes and oxidative stress, induced by allelopathic extract. Phytotoxic medium of C. murale hairy root clone R5 reduced the germination rate (24% less than control value) of wheat cv. Nataša seeds, as well as seedling growth, diminishing shoot and root length significantly, decreased total chlorophyll content, and induced abnormal root gravitropism. The R5 treatment caused cellular structural abnormalities, reflecting on the root and leaf cell shape and organization. These abnormalities mostly included the increased number of mitochondria and reorganization of the vacuolar compartment, changes in nucleus shape, and chloroplast organization and distribution. The most significant structural changes were observed in cell wall in the form of amoeboid protrusions and folds leading to its irregular shape. These structural alterations were accompanied by an oxidative stress in tissues of treated wheat seedlings, reflected as increased level of H2O2 and other ROS molecules, an increase of radical scavenging capacity and total phenolic content. Accordingly, the retardation of wheat seedling growth by C. murale allelochemicals may represent a consequence of complex activity involving both cell structure alteration and physiological processes.This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Protoplasma. The final authenticated version is available online at: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00709-018-1250-0

Još o toksičnosti kadmija - s posebnim osvrtom na nastanak oksidacijskoga stresa i na interakcije s cinkom i magnezijem

Discovered in late 1817, cadmium is currently one of the most important occupational and environmental pollutants. It is associated with renal, neurological, skeletal and other toxic effects, including reproductive toxicity, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. There is still much to find out about its mechanisms of action, biomarkers of critical effects, and ways to reduce health risks. At present, there is no clinically efficient agent to treat cadmium poisoning due to predominantly intracellular location of cadmium ions. This article gives a brief review of cadmium-induced oxidative stress and its interactions with essential elements zinc and magnesium as relevant mechanisms of cadmium toxicity. It draws on available literature data and our own results, which indicate that dietary supplementation of either essential element has beneficial effect under condition of cadmium exposure. We have also tackled the reasons why magnesium addition prevails over zinc and discussed the protective role of magnesium during cadmium exposure. These findings could help to solve the problem of prophylaxis and therapy of increased cadmium body burden.Iako je otkriven tek 1817. godine, kadmij je trenutačno jedan od najvažnijih onečišćivača životne i radne sredine. Štetno djeluje na bubrege, živčani sustav, kosti, reproduktivni sistem, a ima i genotoksične i karcinogene efekte. Nužna su dalja istraživanja vezana za mehanizme njegove toksičnosti, biomarkere efekata, kao i načine smanjenja rizika za zdravlje. Osim toga, do danas nije otkriven agens efikasan u terapiji trovanja kadmijem s obzirom na to da je kadmij intracelularni kation. U ovom radu dan je sažet pregled važnih mehanizama toksičnosti kadmija, kao što su nastanak oksidativnog stresa i interakcije s esencijalnim elementima, cinkom i magnezijem, na osnovi dostupnih literaturnih podataka, kao i naših ispitivanja koja upućuju na to da povećani unos navedenih esencijalnih elemenata pokazuje pozitivne efekte pri ekspoziciji kadmiju. Obrazložena je prednost suplementacije magnezijem pred suplementacijom cinkom i razmatrana preventivna uloga magnezija pri intoksikaciji kadmijem. Ovi su rezultati doprinos rješavanju problema profi lakse i terapije trovanja kadmijem