Programmed to be Human?

Pletikos et al. (2014) demonstrate in this issue of Neuron that the human neocortex has an “hourglass” temporal gene expression pattern with robust and dynamic transcriptome differences during the prenatal and adolescent/adult periods. Similar changes are not observed in the nonhuman primate—is this what makes us human

Remediation of anthracene in mycorrhizospheric soil using ryegrass

Rhizosphere bioremediation has become an effective technique that uses green plants to enhance biodegradation of persistent organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides and radionuclides. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, due to their hydrophobic nature were found to be retained in the soil. Plants could be grown at the PAH contaminated sites to stimulate the biodegradation in the rhizosphere. In the present study, biodegradation of anthracene was studied using ryegrass in mycorrhizosphere soil by laboratory scale pot culture experiments. Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) was grown in pots containing soil contaminated with various levels of anthracene. Soil and plants from treated pots were sampled after 15, 30, 45 and 60 days and compared with uncontaminated planted pots. In the mycorrhizosphere, the concentrations of anthracene in the soil were found to be 5.2, 7.88, 15.43, 33.23 and 41.5 mg/kg at the 15 days harvest which further decreased to 0.31, 0.45, 0.89, 1.89 and 2.43 mg/kg over a period of 60 days when exposed to the initial concentrations of 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/kg amended in soil, respectively. Plant shoot and root dry biomass were observed to be significantly reduced at higher anthracene concentrations (75 and 100 mg/kg) whereas low concentrations had no distinct effect on plant biomass (p<0.05). The increase in the microbial counts was also monitored and quantified along the degradation of the anthracene in the soil. The findings of this research show that there is rapid degradation of anthracene under the influence of ryegrass mycorrhizosphere.Key words: Rhizosphere bioremediation, Lolium multiflorum, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, PAHs

Multimodality in TEFL Classroom

Multimodality is rarely focused on in classrooms, especially in Croatia. By definition, multimodality describes communication practices in terms of the textual, aural, linguistic, spatial, and visual resources used to compose messages. Therefore, it is of great importance in everyday communication on all levels – from interpersonal to personal communication, to media and even intrinsic communication. Having this in mind, teachers should implement more multimodal tasks in their classrooms in order to elevate the level of awareness of their students. That kind of multimodal exposure would especially improve deeper understanding of the communication process in second language learners, such as Croatian students who are rarely exposed to native speakers. Basic groundwork for this kind of use of multimodality was laid down by the international project called The Distributed Little Red Hen Lab, established by Francis Steen and Mark Turner. The main goal of the project, besides the theoretical framework, is the development of new computational, statistical, and technical tools to assist research into multimodal communication. While learning about the project, we came up with some multimodal tasks and ways to present multimodality to high-school Croatian learners of English, which will be explored in this paper. Furthermore, one practical example of multimodal classroom task will be thoroughly explained

Procjena mogućnosti mjerenja lokalnih parametara viskoelastične arterijske stijenke

Analizirane su tri moguće metode za određivanje parametara Voigtova modela arterijske stijenke na temelju mjerenja vremenske promjene dvije veličine u poprečnom presjeku arterije. Prva metoda zahtijeva mjerenje tlaka i površine poprečnog presjeka, druga tlaka i prostorne derivacije protoka, a treća protoka i prostorne derivacije površine poprečnog presjeka. Metode su uspoređene na način da su se umjesto mjerenja koristili rezultati numeričke simulacije u koje je uvedena slučajna pogreška s ciljem oponašanja realnih mjerenja. Zaključeno je da je prva metoda najmanje osjetljiva na pogrešku mjerenja, a najlošija je treća

Analiza pulsirajućeg strujanja u cijevi

U radu je izvedeno analitičko rješenje za slučaj pulsirajućeg laminarnog, nestlačivog strujanja u okrugloj cijevi pod djelovanjem poznatog gradijenta tlaka (zadanog harmonijskom funkcijom). Bezdimenzijsko rješenje ovisi o bezdimenzijskom Womerslyjevom broju, koji označuje omjer inercijske i viskozne sile. Analiziran je utjecaj Womerslyjeva broja na protok i smično naprezanje na stijenci cijevi. Zaključuje se da su pri niskim vrijednostima Womerslyjeva broja (kad je utjecaj viskoznosti veći) sile tlaka uravnotežene uglavnom viskoznim silama, a pri visokim vrijednostima Womerslyjeva broja uravnotežene uglavnom inercijskim silama. Povećanjem Womerslyjeva broja dolazi do smanjenja amplituda smičnog naprezanja i protoka