Distribution of marine viruses in the Central and South Adriatic Sea

The seasonal distribution of marine viruses and their relationship with heterotrophic bacteria in the coastal and offshore area of the central and southern Adriatic were studied. Additionally, the percentage of high (HNA) and low (LNA) nucleic acid bacteria between the total number of bacteria and the distribution of heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) as a major predator of bacteria were studied as well. The viral abundance ranged from 3.55 to 27.32 × 106 virus-like particles mL-1, and was on average 25-fold higher than bacterial abundances at all investigated stations. The highest viral abundances were found at coastal stations, especially in the area influenced by the rivers Krka and Jadro, whereas the lowest values were found in the open sea and in the coastal area of the southern Adriatic. No significant difference in relationship of viruses with HNA and LNA bacterial groups were established. The ratio between viruses and bacteria (VBR) was higher during the colder part of the year, which coincided with lower HNF abundance and vice versa during the warmer part of the year. This suggests that HNF grazing could be more important in controlling bacterial abundance during the warmer part of the year, and viral lysis during the colder part of the year

Dynamics of picoplankton community from coastal waters to the open sea in the Central Adriatic

Flow cytometry was used to describe seasonal cycles of Prochlorococcus (Prochl), Synechococcus (Syn), picoeukaryotes and heterotrophic bacteria in the central Adriatic Sea along the trophic gradient from January to December 2010. All picoplankton parameters decreased from eutrophic to oligotrophic areas, while the biomass ratio of bacterial to autotrophic picoplankton showed an increase along the trophic gradient. Bacterial biomass ranged from 5.28 to 21.20 μg C l-1. Increased values were present during warmer seasons with the domination of low nucleic acid (LNA) group of bacteria. The high nucleic acid (HNA) bacterial group dominated during the winter and the spring. Bacterial production ranged from 0.09 -0.45 × 104 cells ml-1 h-1 .At coastal stations increased production was present during the winter and the spring and was more or less uniform at open sea stations. Biomasses of Syn and Prochl ranged from 0.16 to 11.47 µg C-1 l-1 and from 0.01 to 3.08 µg C l-1, respectively. They were elevated during the summer and the autumn at coastal stations and during the late winter at the open sea. Syn biomass always dominated over Prochl participating with 61.6-97.2% in biomass of cyanobacteria. Biomass of picoeukaryotes ranged from 1.21 to 21.85 µg C l-1 and was the highest during the winter. Their biomass notably prevailed in autotrophic picoplankton (APP) biomass over that of picocyanobacteria during the whole year. Autotrophic components (Prochl, Syn and picoeukaryotes) made greater contribution to the picoplankton biomass in mesotrophic and eutrophic areas, while heterotrophic bacteria became more important under oligotrophic conditions

MESUROL – A FACTOR TOWARDS MORE REGULAR APPLE BEARING

Obavljeno je kemijsko prorjeđivanje plodova jabuka (2000.) kod promjera 7,3 mm (sorta Gloster) i 9,3 mm (sorta Jonagold)Mesurolom® WP 50 u koncentraciji od 1800 ppm. U 2001. godini intenzitet diferencijacije na tretiranim stablima sorte Gloster bio je dobar kod štrljaka i stapki, a mali kod dugih šiba. Netretirana stabla sorte Gloster imala su nedovoljnu diferencijaciju. Na tretiranim stablima sorte Jonagold bila je dobra diferencijaciju kod štrljaka, a slaba kod stapki i dugih šiba. Kod netretiranih stabala sorte Jonagold, diferencijacija na štrljcima bila je umjerena, a na stapkama i dugim šibama nedovoljna.Chemical thinning of apple fruits 7.3 mm (cv. Gloster) and 9.3 mm (cv. Jonagold) in diameter was performed with Mesurol® WP 50 (concentration 1800 ppm). In 2001, intensity of differentiation on the treated Gloster cultivar trees was good in spurs and long bearing wood, and inadequate in one-year shots. Differentiation in untreated trees was inadequate. In Jonagold, differentiation was good in spurs, and poor in long bearing wood and one-year shots on the treated trees. In untreated trees, the differentiation in spurs was moderate whereas in long bearing wood and one-year shots inadequate

MESUROL – A FACTOR TOWARDS MORE REGULAR APPLE BEARING

Obavljeno je kemijsko prorjeđivanje plodova jabuka (2000.) kod promjera 7,3 mm (sorta Gloster) i 9,3 mm (sorta Jonagold)Mesurolom® WP 50 u koncentraciji od 1800 ppm. U 2001. godini intenzitet diferencijacije na tretiranim stablima sorte Gloster bio je dobar kod štrljaka i stapki, a mali kod dugih šiba. Netretirana stabla sorte Gloster imala su nedovoljnu diferencijaciju. Na tretiranim stablima sorte Jonagold bila je dobra diferencijaciju kod štrljaka, a slaba kod stapki i dugih šiba. Kod netretiranih stabala sorte Jonagold, diferencijacija na štrljcima bila je umjerena, a na stapkama i dugim šibama nedovoljna.Chemical thinning of apple fruits 7.3 mm (cv. Gloster) and 9.3 mm (cv. Jonagold) in diameter was performed with Mesurol® WP 50 (concentration 1800 ppm). In 2001, intensity of differentiation on the treated Gloster cultivar trees was good in spurs and long bearing wood, and inadequate in one-year shots. Differentiation in untreated trees was inadequate. In Jonagold, differentiation was good in spurs, and poor in long bearing wood and one-year shots on the treated trees. In untreated trees, the differentiation in spurs was moderate whereas in long bearing wood and one-year shots inadequate

Calorimetric study of geopolymer binders based on natural pozzolan

This paper investigates the kinetics of geopolymerisation in an inorganic polymeric binder based on a natural pozzolan. The heat released by the exothermic geopolymerisation reaction process is monitored under isothermal temperature conditions, maintained in a differential scanning calorimeter using a water circulation cell. Calorimetric data are obtained isothermally at 65, 75, and 85 °C with various Na2O/Al2O3 and SiO2/Na2O molar ratios and in the presence and absence of small amounts of calcium aluminate cement (used as an efflorescence control admixture in these binder systems). The first stage of reaction, which is rapid and strongly exothermic, is shortened as the temperature increases. The total heat of reaction increases in the mixes containing calcium aluminate cement, but the apparent activation energy calculated using a pseudo-first-order reaction model is lower than without added calcium aluminate cement. At a constant overall SiO2/Na2O molar ratio, the apparent activation energy is decreased as the Na2O/Al2O3 molar ratio increases. Calcium aluminate cement, therefore, reduces the minimum energy required to initiate geopolymerisation reactions of this natural pozzolan and facilitates the progress of the reactions which lead to formation of a cementitious product

Bacteria and their distribution under red-tide conditions

Survey of the density of red-tide organisms and bacterioplankton as well as simultaneous determinations of temperature, salinity, pH, secchi disc and dissolved oxygen were carried out at four stations in the Kaštela Bay (middle Adriatic Sea) on a weekly basis between June 15 and September 20, 1989. A close connection between bacterioplankton and Gonyaulax polyedra was observed during the bloom manifested by high coefficients of correlation between them in the surface layers. No correlation was established in the bottom layers since vertical gradients of bacterioplankton density were considerably weaker than in phytoplankton. These differences were also shown in strong vertical gradient of pH and 02-saturation

Study of Mn laser ablation in methane atmosphere

Laser ablation of Mn target in vacuum and in the presence of CH4 was studied under 308 nm laser irradiation. Time-resolved emission using gated detection and scanning monochromator and absorption using the cavity ring-down spectroscopy were used to study vaporized plume. In the CH4 atmosphere we observed transitions identified as C2 and MnH bands, while these spectral features were not detected in emission spectra. This is a clear evidence of importance in combining both spectroscopic techniques in laser vaporized plume study

Statistical parametric speech synthesis based on speaker and language factorization

An increasingly common scenario in building speech synthesis and recognition systems is training on inhomogeneous data. This paper proposes a new framework for estimating hidden Markov models on data containing both multiple speakers and multiple languages. The proposed framework, speaker and language factorization, attempts to factorize speaker-/language-specific characteristics in the data and then model them using separate transforms. Language-specific factors in the data are represented by transforms based on cluster mean interpolation with cluster-dependent decision trees. Acoustic variations caused by speaker characteristics are handled by transforms based on constrained maximum-likelihood linear regression. Experimental results on statistical parametric speech synthesis show that the proposed framework enables data from multiple speakers in different languages to be used to: train a synthesis system; synthesize speech in a language using speaker characteristics estimated in a different language; and adapt to a new language. © 2012 IEEE