Quasi-Molecular mechanism of cosmological recombination: a scheme of calculation

For a quasi-molecular mechanism of cosmological recombination, a scheme of calculation based on a rigorous quantum-mechanical approach is elaborated. The probability of free-bound radiative transition into an excited state of a quasi-molecule temporarily formed by a colliding electron and two nearest neighboring protons is derived in a closed algebraic form.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Vitalnost spora mikrosporidija izoliranih iz gusjenica gubara (Lymantria dispar) nakon dugotrajne pohrane u tekućem dušiku

Data on the viability of microsporidian isolates from Lymantria dispar after long-term storage in liquid nitrogen are presented. Eight microsporidian isolates from L. dispar were tested for their infectivity against L. dispar larvae: ­Vairimorpha disparis, Nosema lymantriae, Nosema portugal, Nosema sp. (Poland), Nosema sp. (Ebergassing), Nosema sp. (Germany), Nosema sp. (Schweinfurt) and Nosema sp. (Veslec). The survival of spores in liquid nitrogen was ­studied in detail for N. portugal and Nosema sp. (Ebergassing) which had been stored in liquid nitrogen almost 19 years and used for individual per oral infections while the other six isolates were used only in surface contamination per oral experiments. Our study confirms that storage in liquid nitrogen is a suitable option for long-term storage of Nosema and Vairimorpha species from lepidopteran hosts. Spores survived for up to 19 years; however, the experiments show that there is a significant loss of viability. In some cases, spores had lost viability already after 7 years in liquid nitrogen. We recommend producing fresh material every 5 years to maintain collections in liquid nitrogen. No material that had been stored in liquid nitrogen for extended periods should be used for infection experiments.U radu se prikazuju rezultati preživljenja mikrosporidija izoliranih iz gubara (Lymantria dispar) nakon dugotrajne pohrane u tekućem dušiku. Infektivnost osam mikrosporidijskih L. dispar izolata testirano je na ličinkama gubara: Vairimorpha disparis, Nosema lymantriae, Nosema portugal, Nosema sp. (Poljska), Nosema sp. (Ebergassing), Nosema sp. (Njemačka), Nosema sp. (Schweinfurt) and Nosema sp. (Veslec). Preživljenje spora u tekućem dušiku detaljno je praćeno kod N. portugal i Nosema sp. (Ebergassing) koje su tako čuvane skoro 19 godina i aplicirane oralnom infekcijom i ponaosob na svaku pojedinu ličinku gubara. Ostalih 6 izolata aplicirano je površinskom kontaminacijom hranjivog supstrata, također oralnim infekcijskim putem. Od 8 mikrosporidijskih izolata apliciranih površinskom kontaminacijom samo kod 4 izolata, Vairimorpha disparis, Nosema lymantriae, Nosema sp. (Ebergassing) i Nosema sp. (Poljska), došlo je do uspješne infekcije ličinki gubara. Dok je kod svih testiranih ličinki (100%) uspješno realizirana infekcija sporama prve tri mikrosporidije, tek 21,1% tretiranih ličinki uspješno je inficirano sporama Nosema sp. (Poljska). Na kraju inkubacijskog razdoblja, kod svih ličinki inficiranih sa sva 4 izolata disekcijom je utvrđen visok stupanj zaraze; tkiva su bila ispunjena sporama. Mikroskopska pretraga ličinki L. dispar individualno tretiranih sporama Nosema portugal uz tri različite doze (100, 1000 i 10000 spora) pokazala je da su spore N. portugal izgubile infektivnost nakon 19 godina pohrane u tekućem dušiku; niti jedna od testiranih ličinka nije bila zaražena. Naprotiv, spore Nosema sp. (Ebergassing) zadržale su infektivnost nakon istog razdoblja pohrane u tekućem dušiku od 18,75 godina. Niti jedna od testiranih ličinki nije zaražena nakon oralnog unosa od 100 spora. Oralna aplikacija od 1000 spora po ličniki rezultirala je ukupnom uspješnom infekcijom 4,1% ličinki, a aplikacija od 10000 spora s 68,8% inficiranih ličinki. U svim uspješnim slučajevima uspješno zaraženih ličinki, na kraju inkubacijskog razdoblja infekcija je bila dobro razvijena, a masno tijelo prepuno spora. Istraživanje je potvrdilo da je pohrana mikrosporidija Nosema i Vairimorpha vrsta i domaćina iz reda leptira prikladna opcija za dugotrajno čuvanje izolata. Spore su preživjele i do 18 i pola godina, iako je tijekom eksperimenta zamijećen i značajan pad njihove infektivnosti. U pojedinim slučajevima spore su odumrle već nakon 7 godina pohrane u tekućem dušiku. Preporuka je da prilikom skladištenja i pohrane mikrosporidijskih izolata u tekućem dušiku svakih 5 godina repozitorij obnavlja svježim izolatima. Materijal koji se dulje vrijeme skladišti u tekućem dušiku nije prikladan i ne bi se smio koristiti u infektološkim testovima

Never Waste a Crisis” Post 2019 Pandemic Regional Architecture of the Black Sea Region

After the Covid-19 global pandemic, the geopolitical significance of the Black Sea Region (BSR), with changing resources and distribution of power,has changed opening renewed scope of engagement to both internal and external actors. Since 2019 as the epidemiological crisis has been strengtheningnation-states, showing the weakness of international organizations, and raising doubts about the extent to which international society is fulfillingits declared values and principles of human rights and ethics, it has spread new perspectives for countries around the Black Sea.This article explores the strategic importance of the BSR for the six coastal states of Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and theirpolicies since 2019. It further explores the strategies that they are using vis-à-vis each other to assert their influence in the region. The article arguesthat the BSR, due to its strategic and transit location, being the subject of interest of several actors has been affected by an unequal distribution of thebalance of power since 2019. Russia, Turkey, the United States of America (US), NATO and the European Union (EU) member states, being particularlyactive, continue playing significant roles in the region affecting its political milieu. The interplay of these policies is reflected in coexistence as wellas confrontation among the BSR countries. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia’s power, standing out from other actors, with its aspirationswithin the region is increasing after the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with Russia, Turkey has also relative strength and a military advantage comparedto other countries in the region. Pandemic has opened up additional opportunities for Russia’s domestic and foreign engagement in its near abroadof the BSR, making it one of the principal architects of the post-crisis world order. “Never waste a good crisis” – these words attributed to WinstonChurchill are relevant for the BSR today as never before reflecting Russia’s policy that neither Russia nor other state has missed during the systemiccrisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic in terms of rethinking their regional and global policies.Considering this constellation, the first part of this article discusse

In connection with identification of VLF emissions before L'Aquila earthquake

The present paper deals with an attempt to check up the theoretical model of self-generated seismo-electromagnetic oscillations of LAI system on the basis of retrospective data. Application of the offered simple model enables one to explain qualitatively the mechanism of VLF electromagnetic emission initiated in the process of an earthquake preparation. It is worth to pay attention to the fact that frequency changes from MHz to kHz in electromagnetic emission spectrum comes to a good agreement with avalanche-like unstable model of fault formation. L'Aquila earthquake taken as an example to isolate reliably the Earth VLF emission from the magnetospheric electromagnetic emission of the same frequency range, MHD criterion is offered together with geomagnetic activity indexes. On the basis of the considered three earthquakes, according to the opinion of authors the model of self-generated seismo-electromagnetic oscillations of the LAI system will enable us to approach the problem of resolution of earthquake prediction by certain accuracy.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0910.0797 by other author

PODLOŽNOST Lymantria monacha I L. dispar NA ENTOMOPATOGENU GLJIVU Isaria fumorosea WIZE

Isaria fumosorosea is a cosmopolitan fungal species with a large host range including insects which are economically important pests in agriculture and forestry. In the current study the susceptibility of two forest pests Lymantria monacha and L. dispar to an isolate of the fungus Isaria fumosorosea obtained from Hyphantria cunea and re-isolates from L. dispar, L. monacha and Dendrolimus pini was investigated under laboratory conditions. Newly molted third instar larvae of L. monacha and newly molted second, third and fourth instar larvae of L. dispar were inoculated with fungal conidia by various methods: Larvae of L. dispar were either dipped directly into the conidia suspension (1×108 conidia/ml), or indirect methods were applied – by surface contact of larvae with conidial suspensions (1×108, 1×109, 3×107, 3×108, or 4×108 conidia/ml) placed on filter paper discs in Petri dishes or by contact with oak leaves or larch needles dipped in conidia suspension. Larvae in control variants were treated with water. Mortality of larvae was checked daily for 20 days and the efficacy of the fungus was corrected with mortality in the control treatments. It was found that larvae of both Lymantria – species can be infected experimentally with Isaria fumosorosea. Similar corrected efficacy of Isaria fumosorosea for the third instars larvae of L. dispar (12.37 %) and for L. monacha (12.66 %) was found when 1x108 conidia/ml of the isolate from H. cunea was applied on filter paper. The highest corrected efficacy of Isaria fumosorosea for L. dispar larvae was 60.0 % when 1x109 conidia/ml of the isolate from H. cunea was applied on filter paper. A corrected efficacy of 27.85 % was recorded for L. monacha when 4x108 conidia/ml of re-isolate from L. dispar were applied on larch needles. Our results show that L. dispar and L. monacha larvae are within the psihological host range of the used Isaria fumosorosea isolate from H. cunea and re-isolates obtained from infected larvae of D. pini, L. monacha and L. dispar, however their susceptibility is low. Indirect treatment by surface contact of host larvae with fungal conidia caused higher efficacy of mycosis than dipping into the suspension.Isaria fumosorosea je kozmopolitska vrsta gljive s velikim brojem domaćina, a među njima se nalaze insekti koji imaju veliko ekonomsko značenje kao važni štetnici za poljoprivredu i šumarstvo. U ovome istraživanju podložnost prema izolatima gljive Isaria fumosorosea istraživana je pod laboratorijskim uvjetima na dvije vrste šumskih štetnika, Lymantria monacha i L. dispar, a izolati su dobiveni iz vrste Hyphantria cunea te iz reizolata od L. dispar, L. monacha i Dendrolimus pini. Zaraza je obavljena na tek presvučenom III. larvalnom stadiju vrste L. monacha i na tek presvučenim II., III., i IV. larvalnom stadiju vrste L. dispar. Inokulacija s konidijama gljive odrađena je različitim metodama: larve vrste L. dispar su izravno umočene u suspenziju konidija (1×108 konidija/ml) ili su korištene neizravne metode – površinski kontakt larvi sa suspenzijom konidija (1×108, 1×109, 3×107, 3×108 ili 4×108 konidija/ml) stavljenih na filter papir u Petrijeve posude, ili kontakt s lišćem hrasta ili iglica ariša umočenih u suspenziju konidija. Larve u kontrolnom tretmanu tretirane su s običnom vodom. Mortalitet larvi je svaki dan provjeravan u razdoblju od 20 dana, a uspješnost gljive korigirana je s mortalitetom u kontrolnom tretmanu. Pokusi zaraze vrstom Isaria fumosorosea na obje vrste iz roda Lymantria, utvrdili su da postoji mogućnost zaraze ovom gljivom. Slična korigirana uspješnost vrste Isaria fumosorosea pronađena je kada su III. larvalni stadiji vrsta L. dispar (12,37 %) i L. monacha (12,66 %) bili stavljeni na filter papir sa suspenzijom vrijednosti 1×108 konidija/ml iz vrste H. cunea. Najveća korigirana uspješnost (60 %) bila je kada je izolat iz H. cunea na filter papiru bio korišten za larve L. dispar u suspenziji od 1×109 konidija/ml. Za vrstu L. monacha korigirana uspješnost od 27,85 % zabilježena je kada je korištena iglica ariša umočena u suspenziju od 4×108 konidija/ml iz reizolata L. dispar. Rezultati ovoga istraživanja pokazuju da larve vrsti L. dispar i L. monacha pripadaju među moguće domaćine izolata gljive Isaria fumosorosea dobivenih iz H. cunea i reizolata dobivenih iz zaraženih larvi vrsta D. pini, L. monacha i L. dispar, iako je njihova podložnost vrlo niska. Neizravni tretmani površinskim kontaktom larvi s konidijama gljive, uzrokovoli su veću uspješnost razvoja mikoze, za razliku od umakanja u suspenziju