Sabbakāyapaṭisaṃvedī: A Breathing Meditation Puzzle

Mindfulness of breathing or ānāpānasati has a prominent place among the meditation methods taught by the Buddha. This doesn't come as a surprise, if we know this is exactly the method the Teacher used to attain his own enlightenment, but also to “generally dwell during rains residence”. Therefore, he qualified this type of mental training as a noble abode (ariya-vihāra), divine abode (brahma-vihāra) and Tathāgatha abode. Instructions for this meditation are given in a number of suttas, most elaborately in the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), but also in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10), Mahārāhulovada Sutta (MN 62) and the others. The drawback of all these instructions is that they come as an unchanged, fixed formula, which pose a problem in making sure their intended meaning is completely understood. This problem is reflected in a number of different old and modern interpretations of the Pāli text. One among several points of contention is Pāli compound “sabbakāyapaṭisaṃvedī”, which appears in the Canon 17 times

Udāna or Buddha's Inspired Utterances

Udāna is the third book of the Khuddaka Nikāya, the last of the five nikāyas in the Sutta Pitaka. It consists of eight vaggas, with ten suttas in each, 80 suttas in total. Similarly to some other books of the Pāli Canon, in this collection each sutta is a combination of prose and verses called udānas, inspired utterances or uplifting utterances. Prose introductory described the situation that motivated Buddha to communicate his inspiration. Udāna starts with the events right after the Buddha's enlightenment and ends with the story of hist last meal. This is indication that this collection was structured with the plan. We also showed that first four chapters have clear internal connections, through concatenation or thematic unity of the individual chapters. In the second part of the collection, organizational principle of the material is not so easy to identify, which may signal later additions. We also saw that several topics connect this collection with other parts of the Pāli Canon, particularly with the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta and Vinaya Piṭaka. It is obvious that texts collected in the Khuddaka Nikāya belong to defferent strata in the development of the Pāli Canon. And for the Udāna, especially verses, we can say that together with some parts of Sutta Nipāta, Dhammapada or Thera‐ and Therigatha belong to the oldest layers of the Canon. Thus, this small collection of discourses give us the closest possible view into the Buddha's timeless teachings

Variability and relationship among cuttings' rooting characters for eastern cottonwood

The influence of genotype, year and genotype x year interaction on variation of 14 characters of hardwood cutting rooting ability in field conditions, as well as relationship among them was examined in four dates of observation during the first half of vegetation period for fifteen genotypes of Populus deltoides Bartr. are presented. The influence of year rose throughout the examined period, while influence of genotype x year interaction was usually weak. Most of characters had high heritability in second date of observation (second half of May). Beside total number of first-order roots, results signify number of roots on middle and basal part of cutting, as well as shoot characters (number of leaves and shoot height), while characters describing wound roots (roots on basal cut) appeared insignificant. Examined characters were grouped according to PCA(Principal Component Analysis) in two groups, defined by number of roots in the middle part of cutting and number of roots on basal part of cutting.

Efekat niske početne pH vrednosti hranljive podloge na rast bele topole in vitro

The effect of low initial medium pH on shoot and root development of five white poplar (Populus alba L.) genotypes was tested. The shoot height, fresh mass of shoots per jar, dry mass of shoots per jar, number of roots, as well as the length of the longest root were measured and final pH of the media determined, after 35 days of culture in vitro. Three initial pH values of the medium were tested: 3.0, 4.0 and 5.5 as control. Agar solidification at pH 3.0 was not achieved after sterilization in autoclave, but it was successful after sterilizing in a microwave oven. The obtained results indicate that the tested genotypes are able to significantly influence the changes of media pH during culture. The effect of differences among the examined media was significant for biomass accumulation and final media pH. Generally, significantly higher values of fresh and dry shoot mass, shoot height and the longest root length were recorded on a medium with initial pH 3.0 then on a standard medium with pH 5.5.The implications of the obtained results for the improvement of in vitro propagation of white poplars are discussed.U istraživanju je testiran efekat niske početne pH vrednosti hranljive podloge na razvoj izbojaka i korena pet genotipova bele domaće topole (Populus alba L.). Nakon 35 dana kultivacije u kulturi in vitro mereni su visina izbojaka, sveža masa izbojaka po teglici, suva masa izbojaka po teglici, broj korenova, dužina najdužeg korena i određena je konačna pH vrednost hranljive podloge. Tri početne vrednosti pH medijuma - 3,0, 4,0 i 5,5- ispitane su kao standardna pH vrednost medijuma (kontrola). Problemi sa očvršćavanjem podloge kod podloga sa niskom početnom pH nakon sterilizacije, prevaziđene su sterilizacijom podloge u mikrotalasnoj pećnici. Dobijeni rezultati ukazuju na to da ispitivani genotipovi imaju mogućnost da utiču na promenu pH podloge tokom uzgoja u kulturi in vitro. Većina ispitivanih genotipova bele topole ostvarila je značajno bolji rast i razvoj izbojka i korenovog sistema, kao i akumulaciju biomase na podlozi sa početnom vrednošću pH. U radu se diskutuje o implikacijama dobijenih rezultata za poboljšanje in vitro razmnožavanja bele topole

In vitro Evaluation of Copper Tolerance and Accumulation in Populus nigra

Phytoextraction is an efficient and cheap way to extract copper from soils in riparian zones. In this work five genotypes of the endangered tree species Populus nigra L. were tested for their copper tolerance and accumulation in vitro when cultivated on media with three Cu concentrations: 10(-3), 10(-4) and 10(-7) M ( buffered with citric acid/Na-citrate buffer, pH 3 before sterilization). After five-weeks cultivation of rooted shoots, the highest increases in morphological and biomass parameters were observed at 10(-7) M Cu2+. As the medium with 10(-3) M Cu2+ exhibited a toxic effect, the effect of 10(-4) M Cu2+ and pH 3 was used for further genotype evaluation. According to the measured morphological and parameters of photosynthetic pigment contents, the best performance was achieved by the genotype Populus nigra cl. DN3. The highest copper accumulation on the same medium was achieved by genotype Populus nigra cl. BN5. The obtained data point to the considerable potential of the applied method in the evaluation of Populus nigra genotypes for use in projects of copper phytoextraction

Variability in fruit morphology of european sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) in natural populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina

U radu je istraživana morfološka varijabilnost plodova šest prirodnih populacija pitomog kestena (Castanea sativa Mill.) na području Bosne i Hercegovine (Bužim, Kostajnica, Prijedor, Banja Luka, Bratunac i Konjic). Na osnovi šest morfoloških svojstava ploda i šest izvedenih vrijednosti te boje ploda, ispitana je unutarpopulacijska i međupopulacijska varijabilnost. Utvrđeno je da su istraživana morfološka svojstva vrlo varijabilna i da se vrijednosti koeficijenta varijabilnosti, na razini svih populacija, kreću od 10,80% (kod širine ploda) do 34,54 % (kod mase ploda). Za izvedena svojstva koeficijent varijabilnosti kretao se od 9,62 % (za odnos visine ploda i širine ploda) do 20,46 % (kod odnosa širine i dužine ožiljka). U populacijama pitomog kestena Bosne i Hercegovine zastupljene su sve boje ploda (perikarpa), s time da preovladava tipična smeđa kestenjasta boja ploda. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na visoku varijabilnost istraživanih populacija, te se populacije međusobno statistički značajno razlikuju za sva istraživana svojstva. Prema klasterskoj analizi populacije su grupirane u tri klastera. Međutim, kanonička diskriminacijska analiza nije ukazala na jasno razdvajanje ispitivanih populacija u više grupa. Daljnja istraživanja trebala bi uključiti i druga svojstva, a posebno molekularne biljege.The European sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) is the only native species of the genus Castanea in Europe. The sweet chestnut has a remarkable multipurpose character, and may be managed for timber production as well as for fruit production, including a broad range of secondary products and ecosystem services. Chestnut in Bosnia and Herzegovina is mainly located in the northwest Una-Sana Canton, east (Bratunac and Srebrenica) and south (Konjic and Jablanica) where grows within the forest. In B&H European sweet chestnut is a species which is not paid enough attention and it is one of the rarest and critically endangered tree species. The variability of sweet chestnut fruits in six natural populations in B&H using a morphometric analysis was investigated.The samples of sweet chestnut for this study were collected from the six separate gographic localites in B&H (Figure 1) in year 2012. The populations were represented with 10 trees each and each tree with 20 fruits. A total of 1200 fruits and 13 morphological characteristic were analyzed. Fruits morphological characteristics were described by descriptive statistical indicators: arithmetic mean (), standard deviation (Sd), coefficient of variation (Cv) (Table 1 and 2). In order to determine the intrapopulation and interpopulation variability the univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed (Table 3).Results obtained by statistical analysis of studied morphological characteristics of chestnut fruits showed that the most variable characteristic is the weight of the fruit (Cv = 34,5 %). Medium values of fruit weight of analyzed samples was within a range from 4,38 to 5,77 g (average 4,93). Lower variability coefficients are propere to the width (Cv = 10,8 %) and height of the fruit (Cv=13,15%). In B&H populations prevails typical brown chestnut color of the fruit. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed presence of statistically significant differences by all studied characteristics on both inter- and intra-population level. According to cluster analysis studied populations are agglomerated in three clusters (Figure 3.). However, this was not confirmed by canonical discrimination analyzis (Figure 4), by three populations formed core within well defined data claud. We assume that differences between results of two methods are probably based on the fact that cannonical discrminate analysis include information about variability within population in the process which cluster analysis does not. High variability in populations is very important for the conservation of genetic pool of the species. For a complete knowledge on the variability of European sweet chestnut in a part of the natural area the research should be expanded by the use of molecular markers

In Vitro Lead Tolerance Testing in White Poplar Genotypes on Acidic Medium

This study evaluates in vitro tolerance of white poplar genotypes to the presence of lead in an acidic rooting medium. Lead was supplemented in form of Pb(NO3)2, in the following concentrations: 0 M (Control), 10-6 M, 10-5 M, 10-4 M and 10-3 M. After four weeks of cultivation, the following characters were measured: number of roots, the length of the longest root, the shoot height, dry root mass and dry shoot mass, and parameters related to photosynthetic pigments: content of chlorophyll a, b, a+b, and of carotenoids in fresh mass, as well as chlorophyll a/b ratio. For further statistical analysis, tolerance indices by Turner and Marshal (TI) were calculated for each measured character. The strongest inhibitory effect was achieved on the medium with 10-4 M Pb(NO3)2, but the best differentiation between genotypes was achieved on the medium with 10-5 M Pb(NO3)2. The highest tolerance indices for the length of the longest root and shoot height had genotypes L-12 and LBM, and for root and shoot dry mass genotypes LCM and L-12. There were no significant differences between genotypes in tolerance indices by any of the examined photosynthetic parameters. The obtained results suggest that both low pH and the presence of citric acid as chelating agent improved evaluation of lead tolerance in comparison with the results obtained on media with standard pH and without citric acid in similar studies. In vitro tests on acidic medium with citric acid can efficiently differentiate examined genotypes for lead tolerance, which could be important for their use in phytoextraction projects, especially on acidic soils

Varijabilnost i diskriminacijska moć anatomskih parametara kod linija polusrodnika juglans regia podrijetlom iz prirodnih sastojina u Đerdapskoj klisuri, Srbija u rasadničkim uvjetima

This paper presents analysis of anatomical parameters of leaves in Juglans regia half-sib lines from natural stands in Đerdap Gorge in Serbia. Thirty-five half-sib lines were examined, designated according to the number of their mother trees from R1-R35. Twenty measured and derived anatomical parameters were examined, describing stomatal and leaf blade cross-section traits. According to Hierarchical analysis of variance, variation of the majority of characters describing stomatal properties were significantly affected by effect of half-sib lines. The effect of variation between plants within half-sib lines was significant for all examined stomatal traits. However, in cross-section characters, the effect of differences between half-sib lines was significant only for thickness of spongy mesophyll (SL). The discrimination model with seven selected traits achieved 60.5% of correct allocation, while the correct allocation of the model with all 20 examined traits was 81.6%. According to the results of stepwise discriminant analysis, the most powerful trait in discrimination of these half-sib lines were stomatal aperture width/stomatal aperture length ratio (Wb/La) and stomatal aperture length/ stomata guard cell length ratio (La/LA). Presented results strongly support implementation of stomatal and cross-section leaf traits in further studies that would deal with description of variability of Juglans regia.Domaći orah (Juglans regia L.) jednodoma je dugovječna vrsta značajna ponajprije zbog svojih jestivih plodova i tvrdog visokokvalitetnog drveta, ali i zbog široke primjene u ozelenjavanju urbanih područja, kao i u agrošumarsrtvu i uslugama ekosustava. Proučavanje varijabilnosti je vrlo značajno za očuvanje vrste i temelj za daljnju selekciju, očuvanje i poboljšanje germplazme. U radu su prikazani rezultati analize anatomskih parametara listova u linijama polusrodnika Juglans regia koji potječu iz prirodnih sastojina u Đerdapskoj klisuri u Srbiji. Domaći orah smatra se autohtonom vrstom na ovome području, i zastupljen je u mnogim fitocenozama poli i oligodominantnog tipa. Na pet lokaliteta odabrano je 35 majčinskih stabala, a iz njihovog sjemena su tijekom tri vegetacijske sezone u rasadničkim uvjetima uzgajane linije polusrodnika, označene prema brojevima majčinskih stabala od R1-R35. Ispitano je dvadeset izmjerenih i izvedenih parametara koji opisuju svojstva puči i poprečnog presjeka letka. Prema analizi varijacije poduzorka, varijacija većine osobina koje opisuju svojstva puči značajno je ovisila o učinku linija polusrodinika. Učinak varijacije biljaka unutar linija polusrodnika bio je značajan za sva ispitivana svojstva puči. Međutim, uz svojstva poprečnog presjeka plojke, učinak varijacije biljaka unutar linija polusrodnika bio je značajan samo za debljinu spužvastog tkiva (SL). Diskriminantni model sa sedam selektiranih svojstava ostvario je 60,5 % ispravne alokacije, dok je model sa svih 20 ispitanih svojstava postigao 81,6 % ispravne alokacije biljaka u odgovarajuće linije polusrodnika. Prema rezultatima kanoničke i stupnjevite diskriminantne analize, svojstva s najjačom snagom diskriminacije bili su omjer širine aperture puči/duljinu aperture puči (Wb/La) i omjera duljine aperture puči/duljine stanice zatvaračice (La/LA). Klasterska analiza je pokazala da se linije polusrodnika grupiraju u 5 klastera, među kojima dominiraju prvi (koji potječu uglavnom od majčinskih stabala na lokalitetima Štrbac i Zlatica) i drugi (koji potječu uglavnom od majčinskih stabala na lokalitetima Porečke šume i Bojana). Prikazani rezultati snažno podupiru primjenu parametara puči i poprečnog presjeka plojke u budućim studijama varijabilnosti Juglans regia

Removal of mineral oil and wastewater pollutants using hard coal

This study investigates the use of hard coal as an adsorbent for removal of mineral oil from wastewater. In order to determine the efficiency of hard coal as an adsorbent of mineral oil, process parameters such as sorption capacity (in static and dynamic conditions), temperature, pH, contact time, flow rate, and chemical pretreatment were evaluated in a series of batch and continuous flow experiments. There were significant differences in the mineral oil removal for various pH values examined. The adsorption of mineral oil increased as pH values diverged from 7 (neutral). At lower temperatures, the adsorption was notably higher. The wastewater flow rate was adjusted to achieve optimal water purification. Equilibrium was reached after 10 h in static conditions. At that time, more than 99% of mineral oil had been removed. At the beginning of the filtering process, the adsorption rate increased rapidly, only to show a minor decrease afterwards. Equilibrium data were fitted to Freundlich models to determine the water-hard coal partitioning coefficient. Physical adsorption caused by properties of the compounds was the predominant mechanism in the removal process

Banat donkey, a neglected donkey breed from the central Balkans (Serbia)

The dominant donkey breed in the Balkans is the mid-sized Balkan donkey with a grey to chocolate coat color. Local breeders from Serbia, however, still maintain a few larger individuals of a lighter coat color, named Banat donkey, and speculate that they are descendants of a Spanish donkey heard that had been transferred to the Banat region by the Hapsburg Queen Maria Theresa in the XVIII century for a specific purpose, to work in local vineyards. We have previously found a unique nuclear gene-pool and a prevalence of mitochondrial Clade 2 haplotypes in several such animals. In this study, we: (i) perform a comparative analysis of 18 morphological traits of the Banat donkey (seven individuals), Balkan donkey (53 individuals from two sub-populations of this breed) and the potential hybrids (eight individuals), and demonstrate the morphological distinctiveness of the Banat donkey, highlighting the diagnostic traits for distinguishing the breed: hip height, croup width, body length and chest depth; (ii) reanalyse published nuclear microsatellite data for these groups, and reveal that, although severely depopulated, the genetically distinct Banat donkey is not severely affected by the loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding; (iii) demonstrate that previously published Banat donkey mitochondrial haplotypes, analyzed genealogically together with those reported in ancient and modern individuals from Spain, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus and Africa, are shared with three Spanish breeds and individuals belonging to Amiata and some other Italian breeds. A unique morphological feature present in Banat and Somali wild donkeys, but also in Amiata donkeys, black stripes on legs, suggests that the origin of Clade 2 donkeys may be much more complex than previously thought. Actions to preserve the Banat donkey, a valuable but critically endangered genetic resource (<100 individuals), are urgent