Metal content in the surface soils of industrial areas in Novi Sad

The scope of this study was to investigate the heavy metal content in the industrial soils of Novi Sad, Serbia. A total of twenty topsoil samples (0–10 cm depth) were collected. The chemical properties of soil as well as the particle size distribution of soil (<2 mm fraction) were determined. Pseudo-total concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc were measured using the ICP-OES device. Total mercury content in the samples was analysed using a Direct Mercury Analyzer (DMA) 80 Milestone. The results showed that the conc- entrations of Cu and Zn were found to be elevated at two locations. The concentration of Cd was very high at the same locations. Results revealed that no elevated values were detected for Pb at any location; all values were at the level of those in natural, unpolluted soils

Differences in gut microbiota activity (antimicrobials, potential mutagens, and sterols) according to diet

The human endogenous intestinal microbiota is an essential “organ” in providing nourishment, regulating epithelial development, and instructing innate immunity. Even though lots of scientists have evaluated the content of gut microbiota from various points of view, we examined the content of intestinal microbes in the group of healthy middle aged volunteers (40–60) form Slovakia. We have compared faecal cultivable microbiota of vegetarians and omnivores. We have found that the composition of the human microbiota is fairly stable, and it seems that the major microbial groups on species level that dominate the human intestine are conserved in all individuals regardless of dietary habits. Beside the microbial content we have examined the faecal samples also for the presence of antimicrobial active compounds, potential mutagens, and faecal sterols

Philosophy of law in the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies

The fate of Marxism in the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies as the former’s extension owing to post-WWII occupation was from the beginning sealed by Bolshevism, that is, the politico-ideological domination and use of the scholarly domain as well, made to self-close in a merely justificatory role. There may have been attempts at opening, even if only conceivable within—i.e. preserving at the same time—this framework function. In the present conspectus, the limiting positions are occupied by the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic, completed by after-1968 Czechoslovakia, as well as Yugoslavia and pre-1968 Czechoslovakia, representing the substitute-to-religion dogmatic side, exclusively politically motivated in the former and subordinated to a humanising tendency in the latter case, on the one hand, and Poland, dedicated to a purely analytical approach, in which Marxism has simply no relevance, on the other. Hungary, treated in an earlier paper by the author, was in-between, taking Marxism seriously but mostly as a methodology, and thereby able to foster live debates. All that notwithstanding, there has been quite a few progressive moves also in Romania and Bulgaria in this specific academic field. Turning topoi of the discussions were, chronologically but recurrent transubstantiatedly, the exclusivity of Vyshinsky’s socialist normativism, the consequences ensuing from the law’s superstructural nature, the discontinuity vs. continuity of law in historical development, and, in the background, the dilemma of the ontological/epistemological understanding of Marxism, the latter standing for a rigid Leninist reducibility of law to its material substratum as the product of sheer reflection, and the former enabling to develop the law’s relative autonomy as in Lukács’ posthumous ontology. On the final analysis, all these forced paths made a whole region’s efforts to be belated as compared to international developments, the fact notwithstanding those outstanding achievements were born especially on the fields of legal ontology and sociology, as well as the legal methodology and particularly that of the comparison of laws

Analysis of field of temperature of power electronic systems in COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS environment

The paper deals with analysis of temperature field in power electronic devices using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS software. It includes relevant problem of designing, specifically a power semiconductor converter. Till now, there has been one-dimensional interpretation of analysis considering heat transfer by conduction. Presented method results directly from differential equations of system heat balance, whereby heat transfer by conduction, flow and radiation is considered. The results can be animated in 3D view which enables analyzing the space-division switching network in power electronic device