Somewhere in Europe (1947): locating Hungary within a shifting geopolitical landscape

Somewhere in Europe/Valahol Európában (Radványi, 1947) was one of the first films made in Hungary after 1945. Financed by the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP), it loudly proclaimed a broad European pertinence in an effort to privilege the universal narrative of childhoods disrupted by the war over narrowly national political concerns. The film’s story of a gang of half-starved children battling for survival in a bombed-out Central European landscape places it squarely within a transnational post-war film-making tradition. Similarities with both Italian neorealism and Soviet socialist realist cinema indicate a shared European experience of the war, but is also attributable to the international training and experience of the film’s personnel. The director Radványi had worked in the Italian industry, while the scriptwriter was the well-known film theorist Béla Balázs, who had worked in Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia. This article argues that in spite of its ostensible commitment to a communist and humanist ideology, the film gives an insight into the Hungarian national obsession with territorial integrity. Hungary’s participation in World War II on the side of the Axis, and its position as a defeated nation under Allied occupation, are seen to complicate the film text. This article contends that in spite its transnational flavour, the film’s focus on lost children wandering a borderless Europe suggests a preoccupation with the country’s uncertain position within a shifting geopolitical landscape. In turn, the film’s official reading by Nemeskürty shows an eagerness to accept the film’s representation of Hungary as a blameless victim of the war, and gives evidence of a need to insert a (false) break between the country’s wartime past as a member of the Axis, and the country’s 1968 present as a member of the Communist world order

Graphenes as Metal-Free Catalysts with Engineered Active Sites

[EN] This Perspective article highlights how recent discoveries on the activity of defective graphene to promote different organic reactions as metal-free catalysts has led to propose certain substructures present on these defective graphenes as active sites. The sustainability of using as catalysts graphenes obtained from biomass and the possibility to generate active sites by introducing defects on the sheet are the two main characteristics triggering research in this area. Emphasis is made in the need to gain understanding on the nature of the active sites and how this understanding requires the combination of conventional kinetic experiments as well as advanced characterization tools. The relationship between catalysis by graphene and that by organocatalysis has also been remarked.Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Severo Ochoa, Grapas, and CTQ2015-69153-CO2-1) and Generalitat Valenciana (Prometo 2013-014) is gratefully acknowledged. A.P. also thanks the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for a Ramon y Cajal research associate contract.Primo Arnau, AM.; Parvulescu, V.; García Gómez, H. (2017). Graphenes as Metal-Free Catalysts with Engineered Active Sites. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 8(1):264-278. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01996S2642788

Application of the Nanofiltration Process for Concentration of Polyphenolic Compounds from Geranium robertianum and Salvia officinalis Extracts

The aim of this study was to prove the efficiency of the nanofiltration process for the concentration of polyphenolic compounds from Geranium robertianum and Salvia officinalis extracts and to evaluate the extract’s antioxidant activity. A lab-scale cross-flow set-up using flat-sheet configuration membrane was employed for all experiments. Two nanofiltration membranes have been used: SelRO MPF-36 (Koch membrane) and an organic-inorganic membrane (polysulfone with SBA-15-NH2). When the organic-inorganic membranes were used in the nanofiltration process, the obtained concentrated extracts proved to have higher polyphenol and flavonoid rejections, in both cases (Geranium robertianum and Salvia officinalis). The obtained values were over 88 % DPPH inhibition, for concentrated extracts, using the DPPH method. The concentrated extracts obtained after nanofiltration NF2 (organic-inorganic membrane) had the strongest scavenging activity for all extracts and almost completely inhibited DPPH absorption (92.9 % for Geranium robertianum concentrated extract and 90.1 % for Salvia officinalis concentrated extract). These features turn the studied, concentrated extracts into a good source for further medicinal applications

Improved performance of non-thermal plasma reactor during decomposition of trichloroethylene: Optimization of the reactor geometry and introduction of catalytic electrode

The decomposition of trichloroethylene ITCE) by non-thermal plasma was investigated in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor with a copper rod inner electrode and compared with a plasma-catalytic reactor. The particularity of the plasma-catalytic reactor is the inner electrode made of sintered metal fibers (SMF) coated by transition metal oxides. In order to optimize the geometry of the plasma reactor, the efficiency of TCE removal was compared for different discharge gap lengths in the range of 1-5 mm. Shorter gap lengths (1-3 mm) appear to be more advantageous with respect to TCE conversion. In this case TCE conversion varies between 67% and 100% for input energy densities in the range of 80-480 J/l, while for the 5 turn discharge gap the conversion was lower (53-97%) for similar values of the input energy. As a result of TICE oxidation carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide were detected in the effluent gas. Their selectivity was rather low, in the range 14-24% for CO2 and 11-23% for CO, and was not influenced by the gap length. Several other chlorinated organic compounds were detected as reaction products. When using MnOx/SMF catalysts as the inner electrode of the DBD reactor, the TCE conversion was significantly enhanced, reaching similar to 95% at 150 J/l input energy. The selectivity to CO2 showed a major increase as compared to the case without catalysts, reaching 58% for input energies above 550 J/l. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Improved membranes for the extraction of heavy metals

This work presents a series of experimental tests on new practical approaches in membrane design to improve extraction capacity and rate. We chose an extraction system involving Aliquat 336 as the extractant and Cd(II) as the metal ion to be extracted to demonstrate these new approaches. The core element in the new membrane assembly was the extractant loaded sintered glass filter. This membrane assembly provided a large interface area between the extractant and the aqueous solution containing metal ions. By recycling the aqueous solution through the membrane assembly, the extraction rate was significantly improved. The membrane assembly also offered good extraction capacity

Population-level consequences of seismic surveys on fishes : an interdisciplinary challenge

Offshore activities elevate ambient sound levels at sea, which may affect marine fauna. We reviewed the literature about impact of airgun acoustic exposure on fish in terms of damage, disturbance and detection and explored the nature of impact assessment at population level. We provided a conceptual framework for how to address this interdisciplinary challenge, and we listed potential tools for investigation. We focused on limitations in data currently available, and we stressed the potential benefits from cross‐species comparisons. Well‐replicated and controlled studies do not exist for hearing thresholds and dose–response curves for airgun acoustic exposure. We especially lack insight into behavioural changes for free‐ranging fish to actual seismic surveys and on lasting effects of behavioural changes in terms of time and energy budgets, missed feeding or mating opportunities, decreased performance in predator‐prey interactions, and chronic stress effects on growth, development and reproduction. We also lack insight into whether any of these effects could have population‐level consequences. General “population consequences of acoustic disturbance” (PCAD) models have been developed for marine mammals, but there has been little progress so far in other taxa. The acoustic world of fishes is quite different from human perception and imagination as fish perceive particle motion and sound pressure. Progress is therefore also required in understanding the nature and extent to which fishes extract acoustic information from their environment. We addressed the challenges and opportunities for upscaling individual impact to the population, community and ecosystem level and provided a guide to critical gaps in our knowledge.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe