Evaluation of Human-impacted Soils in Szeged (SE Hungary) with Special Emphasis on Physical, Chemical and Biological Properties

The main differences between urban and natural soils result from the accumulation of anthropogenic materials, which form a cultural layer with specific properties and composition. Szeged is an ideal sampling area for researching urban soils due to intensive artificial infill following the 1879 Great Flood as well as other anthropogenic activities owing to the expansion of urban functions that define the morphology of soils here. We took samples at 25 sites in 2005 and 2006 from horizons of soil profiles located in city areas and peripheral profiles of the original genetic soil type for physical and chemical analysis. Average topsoil samples (0-10 cm depth, 2-4 m2) were taken near the profiles in order to determine the concentrations of heavy metals (Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd) in these soils so as to classify them according to the toxic properties described in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources and to identify the origins of these elements (anthropogenic vs. geogenic). Topsoil samples were also collected in October 2006 at 10 sites representing three zones (city, suburban, peripheral zone) to survey some basic biological properties of mesofaunal elements and their community structure. We claim that all the soil parameters except total salt content are excellent markers of human influence. This is well supported by a discriminant analysis of the above-mentioned parameters. In our analysis of heavy metals, we distinguished elements of anthropogenic (Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) and natural or lithogenic (Co, Cr, Cd) origin. Following a quantitative evaluation of elements, according to the proposal of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources, profiles where the concentration of any metal element exceeded the limit values in the topsoil were marked with the suffix Toxic. According to a mezofauna (oribatid mites, collembolans) investigation, it seems that the intermediate suburban zone has a more heterogeneous and stable mezofaunal community structure than the other two zones. The lowest abundance values were found in the city zone. Based on our evaluation of diagnostic properties and the results of our discriminant analysis, four main soil types can be identified in Szeged related to the degree of human influence

Examination of mechanical and medical application properties of coronary stents

The medical application properties of coronary stents describe their behaviour in the human vascular system from planting to functioning. However these properties have great importance to surgeons, not all of them have standardized examination methods. In our study we demonstrate three procedures, which can be used to examine stents, considering the referred properties, like flaring, trackability and MSA (metallic surface area). In the course of our research four stents were investigated, three made of tube and one made of wire, and the results were promising about the application of these methods described in the followings

Licensing Double Negation in NC and non-NC languages

The paper proposes a syntactic and semantic analysis of Double Negation (DN). It is shown that there are two types of DN. Strong DN is the result of a Focus construction that involves a polar reading triggered by a Verum Focus; Weak DN, on the other hand, arises when the corresponding n-word is marked as a Contrastive Topic and introduces weak (i.e. non-exclusive) alternatives. The paper discusses the occurrence of these two kinds of DN in two types of languages, which feature different negative strategies. While Hungarian is a strict NC language with non-negative n-words and an obligatory negative marker, English and German are non-NC languages, with negative n-words that can function on their own. It is shown that both strong DN and weak DN occur in each of these languages. However, the mechanisms that license n-words contributing the DN reading are different, due to the differences in the nature of the n-words and in the discourse-functional behavior of the languages in questio

Development of coronary stents using advanced results of materials science and technology

Stents are high tech endovascular implants. K&M Inc. is the single Eastern European stent producer company. The market needs more biocompatible devices as the trend of the stent development all the producers have to react. The other members of a R&D consortium is research institutions deals with diamond-like and drug-eluting coatings for decade. These biocompatible coatings can avoid the metallic stent surface to directly contact to the living tissues. This way a biologically active drug connected to the surface can be delivered directly to the diseased vessel wall. The Cardiovascular Institution has the clinical facility to test the new products. This group of applicants is obliged to develop, test and put on the market the new generation biocompatible coated stents