Estimation of turbulent proton and electron heating rates via Landau damping constrained by Parker Solar Probe observations

The heating of ions and electrons due to turbulent dissipation plays a crucial role in the thermodynamics of the solar wind and other plasma environments. Using magnetic field and thermal plasma observations from the first two perihelia of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP), we model the relative heating rates as a function of radial distance, magnetic spectra, and plasma conditions, enabling us to better characterize the thermodynamics of the inner heliosphere. We employ the Howes et al. 2008 steady-state cascade model, which considers the behavior of turbulent, low-frequency, wavevector-anisotropic, critically balanced Alfv\'enic fluctuations that dissipate via Landau damping to determine proton-to-electron heating rates $Q_p/Q_e$. We distinguish ion-cyclotron frequency circularly polarized waves from low-frequency turbulence and constrain the cascade model using spectra constructed from the latter. We find that the model accurately describes the observed energy spectrum from over 39.4 percent of the intervals from Encounters 1 and 2, indicating the possibility for Landau damping to heat the young solar wind. The ability of the model to describe the observed turbulent spectra increases with the ratio of thermal-to-magnetic pressure, $\beta_p$, indicating that the model contains the necessary physics at higher $\beta_p$. We estimate high magnitudes for the Kolmogorov constant which is inversely proportional to the non-linear energy cascade rate. We verify the expected strong dependency of $Q_p/Q_e$ on $\beta_p$ and the consistency of the critical balance assumption

IMPORTANCE, STRUCTURE AND OUTCOMES OF THE MUSIC PROGRAM IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL: THE EXPERIENCE OF CROATIA, MONTENEGRO, AND SERBIA

In an effort to look into the importance and structure of the program through a simultaneous analysis of the achievement outcomes for the Music course in three countries – Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia, the authors have performed a detailed analysis of a number of documents covering the topic in these countries. A comparative analysis of the contents of these documents has provided us with the opportunity to assess the speed at which the educational systems in the three countries are being reformed, the differences in the approach to individual areas, but also the need to provide joint theoretical efforts whose goal would be to foster what is the common denominator for us all – a promoted process of teaching music which would provide a simultaneous development of students’ artistic identity.&nbsp

The presence of genotoxic substances in the river Danube five months after bombardment of the industrial zone of Pančevo as revealed by the Allium anaphase-telophase genotoxicity assay

The consequence of aerial bombardment of the petrochemical complex, oil refinery and chemical industry including the HIP 'Azotara' fertilizer factory in the vicinity of Pančevo in April 1999 was that a large amount of dangerous chemicals leaked into the canal collecting industrial wastewater and flowed pouring out into the Danube. As the level of water in the Danube was high at that time, leaking of chemicals from the canal into the river lasted for a long time. Therefore the aim of this work was to check if toxic and genotoxic effects were present 5 months after the bombardment. Three samples of Danube water (upstream from the canal, just after the opening of the canal and downstream from the canal) were used for this purpose. All three samples plus a sample from the canal were also chemically analyzed. The Allium anaphase-telophase test was used to examine the toxicity and genotoxicity of water samples because it can be used without any concentration or purification of samples before testing. Clear inhibition of growth, compared to the control sample, was produced by the second sample. This sample, taken just after entry of the canal was the only one which produced a statistically significant increase in the number of chromosome aberrations in comparison with the control sample (X2(i) = 10.7, p<0.001). The results of our test and the chemical analyses of the water samples, show that both toxic and genotoxic effects of the Danube water may occur due to water coming in from the canal even 5 months after the chemicals had leaked into the canal.Kao posledica bombardovanja Petrohemijskog kompleksa, Rafinerije nafte i hemijske industrije Pančevo - HIP Azotara u blizini Pančeva u aprilu 1999. godine izlile su se velike količine opasnih hemikalija u kanal za industrijsku otpadnu vodu, a njime u Dunav. Pošto je u to vreme nivo vode Dunava bio visok izlivanje hemikalija u reku trajalo je dugo vremena, tako da je cilj našeg rada bio da se proveri da li su toksični i genotoksični efekti prisutni 5 meseci nakon bombardovanja. Za tu svrhu analizirana su tri uzorka Dunavske vode (uzvodno od kanala, na ušću kanala i nizvodno od kanala). Svatri uzorka kao i uzorak vode iz kanala hemijski su analizirani. Za ispitivanje toksičnosti i genotoksičnosti uzoraka vode korišćen je Allium anaphase-telophase test zbog činjenice da se uzorci mogu ispitivati bez koncentrisanja ili prečišćavanja. Drugi uzorak pokazao je jasnu inhibiciju rasta korenčića luka u odnosu na kontrolni uzorak (toksični efekat). Isti uzorak je bio jedini koji je produkovao statistički značajan porast broja hromozomskih aberacija u poređenju sa kontrolom (X2(i) = 10.7, p<0.001). Rezultati testiranja kao i rezultati hemijske analize pokazuju da su tokskični i genotoksični efekati u vodi Dunava poreklom iz vode koja dolazi iz kanala.nul

Hydrogeothermal resources in spa areas of Serbia: Main properties and possible improvement of use

Geological complexity of the territory of Serbia is a world curiosity: six main geo-tectonic regions and tens sub-regions are delineated in a small area of 88,000 km2. Geologic origin and regional structure of some areas has long been the subject of discussion. Notable magmatism and associated tectonic events in the Earth's crust provided for a fairly large hydrogeothermal resource potential, which is manifested in more than 250 warm (mainly mineral) springs and more than 100 hydrothermal wells. Thermal springs and wells together discharge some 5 m3/s. This potential is used in part for balneal therapy (waters differ in temperature and chemical composition) in the spa areas of Serbia. The amounts of thermal water unused therapeutically or the amounts of heat energy from unused geo-thermal water may be used in almost all spas for space heating/cooling and thus increase the efficiency of the thermal water energy utilization. This also will be cost-effective, reduce emission of noxious gases, and improve the environmental-health image of the resorts. The hydrogeothermal resources are described for 29 spas with 700 l/s total discharge capacity of water temperature between 25°C and 96ºC, or an overall heat energy of 78.40 MWt. Feasibility of additional energy utilization of thermal water in spas is generally considered

The influence of NK cell activating and inhibitory receptor expression on the function of these cells in metastatic melanoma patients

Uvod: Melanom, maligni tumor melanocita, iako ima brojna imunogenična svojstva, predstavlja tumor kože sa najvišom incidencom smrtnosti. Za anititumorsku imunost u melanomu posebno su značajne urođenoubilačke (engl. natural killer, NK) ćelije, komponenta sistema urođene imunosti koje mogu neposredno da prepoznaju maligno transformisane ćelije i da ih liziraju citolitičkim enzimima (perforin, granzimi), kao i da produkcijom citokina, pre svega IFN-γ, i hemokina regulišu funkcije ostalih ćelija imunskog odgovora u borbi protiv tumora. NK ćelije se definišu kao CD3-CD56+ i obuhvataju dve funkcionalno i fenotipski različite subpopulacije, zrelu, citotoksičnu CD3-CD56potmulo+ i manje zrelu, imunoregulatornu CD3-CD56sjajno+. Funkcija NK ćelija je regulisna balansom signala koji potiču od njihovih aktivacionih i inhibitornih receptora. Aktivacioni receptori, među kojima lektinu sličan receptor NKG2D (engl. natural killer group 2, member D) ima veoma značajnu ulogu, prepoznaju stresom indukovane ligande na ćelijama tumora, dok inhibitorni imunoglobulinima slični ubilački receptori (engl. immunoglobulin-like killer receptors, KIR) vezivanjem za MHC molekule I klase inhibiraju funkciju NK ćelija i obezbeđuju njihovu toleranciju na sopstvene ćelije. Citokini urođene imunosti, IL-12 i IL-18, koje produkuju, pre svega, dendritične ćelije i makrofagi, kao i IL-2 kao glavni citokin Th1 imunskog odgovora različitim mehanizmima dovode do povećanja proliferacije i aktivacije NK ćelija u borbi protiv tumora. Ciljevi rada: S obzirom da NK ćelije periferne krvi imaju značajnu ulogu u borbi protiv melanoma, a usled imunosupresije u odmaklom stadijumu tumora njihova aktivnost je u velikoj meri izmenjena, od velikog značaja bilo je istraživanje funkcionalnih i imunofenotipskih karakteristika NK ćelija periferne krvi i njihovih subpopulacija u bolesnika obolelih od metastatskog melanoma (MM) u odnosu na zdrave kontrolne (ZK) osobe...Introduction: Melanoma, malignant neoplasm of melanocytes, despite of its immunogenicity is the skin cancer with the highest mortality rate. In antitumor immunity in melanoma, natural killer (NK) cells as the component of the innate immune system have the ability to directly recognize malignantly transformed cells, lyse them by cytolitic enzymes (perforin and granzymes) and by production of cytokines, such as IFN-γ and chemokines regulate the function of the other components of anti-tumor immune response. NK cells are defined as CD3-CD56+ and they are divided in two functionally and phenotipically different subsets, mature, cytotoxic, CD3-CD56dim+ and less mature, immunoregulatory, CD3-CD56bright+. NK cell function is regulated by the balance of signals mediated by their activating and inhibitory receptors. Activating receptors, such as lectin-like receptor, natural killer group 2, member D (NKG2D) recognize stress induced ligands on tumor cells, while the inhibitory immunoglobulin-like killer receptors (KIR) by binding to MHC class I molecules inhibit NK cell function and enable self tolerance of NK cells. IL-12 and IL-18, the innate immunity cytokines produced primarily by dendritic cells and macrophages and IL-2, as the main cytokine of Th1 immune response have the ability to induce NK cell proliferation and activation against melanoma. Objectives: Although the peripheral blood NK cells have an important antimelanoma effect considering the immunosupression in advanced melanoma the effector functions of NK cells are impaired. According to this it was of great importance to analyze the functional and immunophenotypical characteristics of peripheral blood CD3-CD56+ NK cells and their subsets in metastatic melanoma (MM) patients compared to healthy controls (HC). Since melanoma is an immunogenic tumor insensitive to irradiation and chemotherapy and numerous cytokines have stimulatory effect on NK cells, such as IL-2 that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma patients and IL-12 and IL-18 that are intensively investigated in numerous preclinical and clinical studies, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of these cytokines on various functional and phenotypical characteristics of peripheral blood NK cells in MM patients and HC with intention to analyze the mechanisms of activity of these cytokines and their ability to induce anti-tumor NK cell immune response..

Collective psychological ownership and reconciliation in territorial conflicts

Collective psychological ownership refers to people’s perception that an object, place, or idea belongs to their own group. We considered this concept in the context of territorial conflicts and proposed that (1) collective psychological ownership is distinct from place attachment, (2) higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to claim collective ownership and feel attached to the territory, yet (3) only ownership claims are related to lower support for reconciliation. These hypotheses were tested in two studies using structural equation modelling. Study 1 addressed the Kosovo conflict, based on Serbian participants living in Serbia (N = 264). We found that collective psychological ownership and place attachment were distinct. Moreover, higher Serbian identifiers had a stronger sense of collective ownership of Kosovo and were more attached to it. Those with stronger feelings of collective ownership supported reconciliation with Albanians less, while place attachment did not hinder reconciliation. Study 2 replicated these findings among a new sample of Serbs in Serbia (N = 173), among Serbs in Kosovo (N = 129), and in two other conflict settings: among Greek Cypriots in Cyprus (N = 135) and Jews in Israel (N = 109). Altogether, we provide evidence that collective psychological ownership can represent an obstacle to reconciliation in conflict regions

Anti-androgens act jointly in suppressing spiggin concentrations in androgen-primed female three-spined sticklebacks - Prediction of combined effects by concentration addition

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Aquatic Toxicology. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V.Increasing attention is being directed at the role played by anti-androgenic chemicals in endocrine disruption of wildlife within the aquatic environment. The co-occurrence of multiple contaminants with anti-androgenic activity highlights a need for the predictive assessment of combined effects, but information about anti-androgen mixture effects on wildlife is lacking. This study evaluated the suitability of the androgenised female stickleback screen (AFSS), in which inhibition of androgen-induced spiggin production provides a quantitative assessment of anti-androgenic activity, for predicting the effect of a four component mixture of anti-androgens. The anti-androgenic activity of four known anti-androgens (vinclozolin, fenitrothion, flutamide, linuron) was evaluated from individual concentration-response data and used to design a mixture containing each chemical at equipotent concentrations. Across a 100-fold concentration range, a concentration addition approach was used to predict the response of fish to the mixture. Two studies were conducted independently at each of two laboratories. By using a novel method to adjust for differences between nominal and measured concentrations, good agreement was obtained between the actual outcome of the mixture exposure and the predicted outcome. This demonstrated for the first time that androgen receptor antagonists act in concert in an additive fashion in fish and that existing mixture methodology is effective in predicting the outcome, based on concentration-response data for individual chemicals. The sensitivity range of the AFSS assay lies within the range of anti-androgenicity reported in rivers across many locations internationally. The approach taken in our study lays the foundations for understanding how androgen receptor antagonists work together in fish and is essential in informing risk assessment methods for complex anti-androgenic mixtures in the aquatic environment.European Commission and Natural Environment Research Council

Water quality of the Sava river in Belgrade region in 2003: Saprobiological analysis

The paper presents the results of the water quality studies of the Sava River in Belgrade Region. The investigations were performed in June and September 2003. The sampling area covered five locations along the 61.5 km of the river course. Studies included the qualitative, quantitative, as well as the saprobiological investigations of plankton and macrozoobenthic communities. The bioindicators analysis points to the presence of mild organic pollution indicating thus II and III-II class of water quality.U radu su prikazani rezultati ispitivanja kvaliteta vode reke Save u regionu Beograda. Istraživanje je obavljeno tokom juna i septembra 2003. godine. Uzorci su prikupljeni sa pet lokaliteta duž 61,5 km rečnog toka. Analizirane su zajednice planktona i makrozoobentosa sa kvalitativnog, kvantitativnog i saprobiološkog stanovišta. Saprobiološka analiza ukazuje na prisustvo umerenog organskog zagađenja, što vodu Save svrstava juna i septembra u granice II i III-II klase, pri čemu septembra, u najvećem broju slučajeva, na sam prelaz iz II u III klasu.nul

Water quality of the Danube river in Belgrade region in 2003: Saprobiological analysis

Water quality studies of the Danube river in Belgrade region were performed at five locations, in June and September, 2003. Results of the qualitative quantitative and saprobiological analyses of plankton and macrozoobenthic communities were used for the water quality assessment and the categorization of the watercourse examined. The bioindicator analysis points to the presence of mild organic pollution, water quality varying between the II and III class.Proućavanja kvaliteta vode reke Dunav u beogradskom regionu obavljena su na pet lokaliteta, juna i septembra 2003. godine. Kvalitativna, kvantitativna i saprobiološka analiza zajednica planktona i makrozoobentosa poslužile su za procenu kvaliteta vode i kategorizaciju vodotoka. Na osnovu izračunatih vrednosti indeksa saprobnosti S, procenjeno je da se kvalitet vode, juna kretao u rasponu od II-III i III-II klase, dok je septembra bio uglavnom u intervalu od II do III klase, u najvećem broju slučajeva na prelazu iz II u III klasu.nul