South Eastern Europe after the Crisis: a new dawn or back to business as usual? / Will Bartlett and Vassilis Monastiriotis, eds. London: London School of Economics and Political Science: LSE European Institute

Prikaz knjig

Philosophy of (Media) Dystopia: the Social Life between The Handmaid’s Tale and Black Mirror

Marshall McLuhan je u okviru svog tehnološko-determinističkog pogleda na svijet afirmirao tezu da smo preko raznih medija produžili svoja čula čime smo dozvolili tehnologiji da utječe na naš psihički i društveni sklop. Ako su mediji zaista čovjekovi produžeci „bilo kože, ruke ili noge” kako ovaj autor apodiktički tvrdi, postavlja se pitanje do čega dovodi njihova amputacija? Cilj ovog rada je refleksivno zahvatiti društveni život i čovjeka kao elementarnu antropološku kategoriju, a u odnosu prema apsolutnoj prisutnosti/odsutnosti suvremenih medijskih tehnologija. Ovim se na nivou teme i ideje direktno bavi antologija Crno ogledalo i indirektno Sluškinjina priča, serija rađena po romanu Margaret Atwood. Bilo da govorimo o tehnološkoj simulaciji svijesti i psihičkim implikacijama završne faze čovjekovih produžetaka ili dehumanizaciji (ženskog) i tijela i duše u totalitarno-teokratskoj državi, svakako se oslanjamo na medije i tehnologiju, što je polazišna točka promišljanja društva koje u oba slučaja možemo okarakterizirati kao distopijsko.Marshall McLuhan, within his technological-deterministic view of the world, affirmed the thesis that through various media we extended our senses by allowing technology to influence our psychic and social personality. If the media were truly human extensions “of any skin, hand or foot”, as this author apodictically claims, the question arises as to what is their amputation? The aim of this paper is to critically reflect social life and human, as an elementary anthropological category, in relation to the absolute presence / absence of modern media technologies. Are we speaking of anthology Black Mirror which directly deals with these topics and ideas, or Handmaid’s Tale, a series based on the novel Margaret Atwood? Whether we are talking about the technological simulation of consciousness and the psychological implications of the final phase of man’s extensions or dehumanization of (feminine) body and soul in a totalitarian-theocratic state, we are certainly relying on the media and technology, which is the starting point of thinking society, which in both cases can be characterized as dystopia

Philosophy of (Media) Dystopia: the Social Life between The Handmaid’s Tale and Black Mirror

Marshall McLuhan je u okviru svog tehnološko-determinističkog pogleda na svijet afirmirao tezu da smo preko raznih medija produžili svoja čula čime smo dozvolili tehnologiji da utječe na naš psihički i društveni sklop. Ako su mediji zaista čovjekovi produžeci „bilo kože, ruke ili noge” kako ovaj autor apodiktički tvrdi, postavlja se pitanje do čega dovodi njihova amputacija? Cilj ovog rada je refleksivno zahvatiti društveni život i čovjeka kao elementarnu antropološku kategoriju, a u odnosu prema apsolutnoj prisutnosti/odsutnosti suvremenih medijskih tehnologija. Ovim se na nivou teme i ideje direktno bavi antologija Crno ogledalo i indirektno Sluškinjina priča, serija rađena po romanu Margaret Atwood. Bilo da govorimo o tehnološkoj simulaciji svijesti i psihičkim implikacijama završne faze čovjekovih produžetaka ili dehumanizaciji (ženskog) i tijela i duše u totalitarno-teokratskoj državi, svakako se oslanjamo na medije i tehnologiju, što je polazišna točka promišljanja društva koje u oba slučaja možemo okarakterizirati kao distopijsko.Marshall McLuhan, within his technological-deterministic view of the world, affirmed the thesis that through various media we extended our senses by allowing technology to influence our psychic and social personality. If the media were truly human extensions “of any skin, hand or foot”, as this author apodictically claims, the question arises as to what is their amputation? The aim of this paper is to critically reflect social life and human, as an elementary anthropological category, in relation to the absolute presence / absence of modern media technologies. Are we speaking of anthology Black Mirror which directly deals with these topics and ideas, or Handmaid’s Tale, a series based on the novel Margaret Atwood? Whether we are talking about the technological simulation of consciousness and the psychological implications of the final phase of man’s extensions or dehumanization of (feminine) body and soul in a totalitarian-theocratic state, we are certainly relying on the media and technology, which is the starting point of thinking society, which in both cases can be characterized as dystopia

South Eastern Europe after the Crisis: a new dawn or back to business as usual? / Will Bartlett and Vassilis Monastiriotis, eds. London: London School of Economics and Political Science: LSE European Institute

Prikaz knjig

Philosophy of (Media) Dystopia: the Social Life between The Handmaid’s Tale and Black Mirror

Marshall McLuhan je u okviru svog tehnološko-determinističkog pogleda na svijet afirmirao tezu da smo preko raznih medija produžili svoja čula čime smo dozvolili tehnologiji da utječe na naš psihički i društveni sklop. Ako su mediji zaista čovjekovi produžeci „bilo kože, ruke ili noge” kako ovaj autor apodiktički tvrdi, postavlja se pitanje do čega dovodi njihova amputacija? Cilj ovog rada je refleksivno zahvatiti društveni život i čovjeka kao elementarnu antropološku kategoriju, a u odnosu prema apsolutnoj prisutnosti/odsutnosti suvremenih medijskih tehnologija. Ovim se na nivou teme i ideje direktno bavi antologija Crno ogledalo i indirektno Sluškinjina priča, serija rađena po romanu Margaret Atwood. Bilo da govorimo o tehnološkoj simulaciji svijesti i psihičkim implikacijama završne faze čovjekovih produžetaka ili dehumanizaciji (ženskog) i tijela i duše u totalitarno-teokratskoj državi, svakako se oslanjamo na medije i tehnologiju, što je polazišna točka promišljanja društva koje u oba slučaja možemo okarakterizirati kao distopijsko.Marshall McLuhan, within his technological-deterministic view of the world, affirmed the thesis that through various media we extended our senses by allowing technology to influence our psychic and social personality. If the media were truly human extensions “of any skin, hand or foot”, as this author apodictically claims, the question arises as to what is their amputation? The aim of this paper is to critically reflect social life and human, as an elementary anthropological category, in relation to the absolute presence / absence of modern media technologies. Are we speaking of anthology Black Mirror which directly deals with these topics and ideas, or Handmaid’s Tale, a series based on the novel Margaret Atwood? Whether we are talking about the technological simulation of consciousness and the psychological implications of the final phase of man’s extensions or dehumanization of (feminine) body and soul in a totalitarian-theocratic state, we are certainly relying on the media and technology, which is the starting point of thinking society, which in both cases can be characterized as dystopia

Superpower and Strategy of Media: How do We Tell Fairytales Nowdays?

S ciljem razumijevanja suvremene medijske produkcije, a posljedično kinematografske i televizijske eksploatacije audiovizualnih sadržaja, rad se bavi pitanjem reinterpretacije klasičnih bajki, kao i potrebom da „natprirodno“ postane predmet interesa medijske publike. Uzimajući u obzir činjenicu da je kontakt s onostranim oduvijek dio komunikacionog konteksta čovjeka, polazimo od pretpostavke da onostrano uvijek pronalazi put do tzv. krajnjeg korisnika, bez obzira na medij koji distribuira priču. Međutim, postavlja se pitanje što je funkcija bajke ili njene reinterpretacije, te je li ona, u eri globalizacije, kapitalističkog karaktera? U tom smislu, kritička oštrica rada nije usmjerena prema medijskoj publici ni prema producentima pojedinačno, već prema industriji čiji su dio, paradoksalno, i medijska publika i producenti.In order to understand the contemporary media production, and consequently the cinema and TV exploitation of audio-visual media material, this paper addresses the issue of reinterpretation of classical fairy tales, as well as the need to “supernatural” becomes a subject of interest of the media audience. Taking into account the fact that contact with “the beyond” has always been part of human communication context, we assume that “the other worlds” always find their way to the audiences and users, regardless of the medium that distributes story. However, the main question here is what is the main function of a fairy tale (or a reinterpretation) and whether its function, in the era of globalization, has capitalist character? In this sense, the work is not critically oriented towards the media audience nor to the individual producers, but to the industry which they are, paradoxically, a part of

Improvement of Spreadsheet Quality through Reduction of End-User Overconfidence: Case Study

This paper is prompted by and based on earlier research into developers' overconfidence as one of the main causes of spreadsheet errors. Similar to related research, the aim of the paper was to ascertain the existence of overconfidence, and then examine the possibility of its reduction by means of experimental treatment designed for the needs of the research. A quasi-experiment was conducted to this end, in which 62 students of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Novi Sad participated, divided into the experimental and control group. Participants of both groups developed domain free spreadsheets in two iterations each. After the first iterations, students in the experimental group were subjected to experimental treatment: they attended lectures on spreadsheet errors taxonomies supported by real-life examples, and about spreadsheet best practices in the area of spreadsheet error prevention. Results showed that spreadsheet developers who were informed about spreadsheet error taxonomies and spreadsheet best practices create more accurate spreadsheets and are less self-confident in terms of accuracy of their spreadsheets

Correlation between the number of regulatory T lymphocites and immune response with the degree of viral replication during chronic HCV infection

Akutna HCV infekcija u većini slučajeva (>80%) protiče kao oligosimptomatska ili asimptomatska bolest. Nakon akutne faze, spontana rezolucija HCV infekcije događa se u samo 20 % obolelih, dok kod najvećeg broja inficiranih virus perzistira i bolest prelazi u hroničnu fazu. Pretpostavlja sa da oko 180 miliona ljudi širom sveta, ima hroničnu HCV infekciju. Patogeneza HCV infekcije je rezultat multiplih interakcija između imunskog sistema domaćina i virusnih faktora. Snažan HCV specifičan CD4+ i CD8+ T ćelijski odgovor usmeren na multiple HCV epitope u nekim slučajevima omogućava spontanu eliminaciju virusa u akutnoj fazi. Međutim, HCV virus poseduje različite mehanizme kojima, tokom rane faze akutne infekcije, može da izbegne odbrambene snage domaćina, što omogućava dalju progresiju bolesti u hroničnu fazu. Supresija koju izazivaju Treg indukovane HCV virusom može da snizi imunski odgovor T ćelija u ranim fazama infekcije i tako onemogući otklanjanje virusa, ali se time može smanjiti i zapaljenski infiltrat u jetri i sprečiti masivno oštećenje tkiva. Cilj ove studije je da se utvrdi prisustvo i odredi apsolutni i relativni broj CD4+, CD4+/Foxp3+ (Treg), CD8+ i CD20+ limfocita u jetri i perifernoj krvi pacijenata sa hroničnom HCV infekcijom, ispita citokinski profil imunskog odgovora u hroničnoj HCV infekciji kao i postojanje eventualne povezanosti ovih parametara, virusne replikacije i nivoa oštećenja jetrinog parenhima. Rezultati naše studije ukazuju da su pacijenti sa hroničnom HCV infekcijomom češće muškog pola, da je najčešći put infekcije IVUPAS, a najčešći genotip virusa genotip 1. Povoljan odgovor na terapiju je zabeležen kod tri četvrtine ispitanika. Metode logističke regresije su pokazale da su starost ispitanika i genotip značajni prediktivni faktori za nastanak fibroze, dok se kao najznačajniji prediktivni faktori povoljnog odgovora na terapiju izdvajaju starost ispitanika, put infekcije i stadijum fibroze. Ispitivanje citokinskog profila imunskog odgovora u hroničnoj HCV infekciji je pokazalo da su ovi pacijenti heterogena grupa, tako da kod pacijenata bez fibroze dominiraju proinflamatorni citokini, pri čemu je uočena tendencija smanjenja nivoa svih citokina ka višim stadijumima fibroze. tako da su kod pacijenata sa F3 stadijumom fibroze vrednosti svih citokina, osim IL-4, niže su od vrednosti u kontrolnoj grupi, što ukazuje na preovlađivanje Th2 odgovora u višim stadijumima fibroze. Po završetku terapije nivoi svih citokina, i proinflamatornih i antiinflamatornih, su niži u odnosu na vrednosti pre terapije. Rezultati protočne citometrije su pokazali da u odnosu na kontrolu pacijenti imaju značajno veći broj CD3+, kao i subpopulacija CD4+, CD8+ i Foxp3+ T limfocita u perifernoj krvi, ali statistički značajna razlika u indeksu CD4/CD8 nije pokazana. U perifernoj krvi pacijenata broj aktiviranih plazmocitoidnih dendritskih ćelija značajno je veći od broja aktiviranih mijeloidnih dendritskih ćelija, a iako statističku razliku nismo utvrdili, uočeno je da je broj aktiviranih mijeloidnih DC veći u nižim stadijumima fibroze, a broj aktiviranih plazmocitoidnih DC u višim stadijumima fibroze. Fenotipizacijom mononuklearnih leukocita u jetri pokazano je da pacijenti sa nepovoljnim odgovorom na terapiju imaju značajno niži broj CD4+ i Foxp3+ ćelija, ali viši broj CD8+ ćelija u odnosu na pacijente sa povoljnim odgovorom. Kao rezultat toga, CD4/CD8 indeks pacijenata sa nepovoljnim odgovorom je gotovo tri puta niži u odnosu na pacijente sa povoljnim odgovorom na terapiju. Sa druge strane, pacijenti sa višim stadijumima fibroze imaju značajno veći broj CD4+, Foxp3+, CD8+ i CD20+ ćelija, ali niži broj DC-SIGN+ ćelija u odnosu na pacijente bez fibroze. Iako je frekvencija i CD4+ i CD8+ ćelija veća kod pacijenata sa uznapredovalom fibrozom, indeks CD4/CD8 pozitivnih ćelija kod ovih pacijenata je više od dva puta niži u odnosu na pacijente bez fibroze. Uočene razlike u frekvenciji pojedinih subpopulacija limfocita u tkivu jetre pacijenata u različitim stadijumima bolesti, ukazuju da analiza imunofenotipskih parametara u jetri, u odnosu na perifernu krv, bolje odslikava fine mehanizme imunskog odgovora na HCV virus. Metodama korelacije utvrđeno je da postoji statistički visoko značajna korelacija između broja T limfocita u infiltratima jetre i serumskog nivoa AST i ALT. Interesantno je da je korelacija serumskih koncentracija AST u pozitivnoj korelaciji sa brojem CD4+ limfocita, dok je ta korelacija negativnog predznaka u slučaju Foxp3+ Treg. Sumarno, rezultati ove opsežne studije su pokazali da su pacijenti sa hroničnom HCV infekcijom heterogena grupa, te da se pravi uvid u imunopatogenetska dešavanja tokom hronične HCV infekcije može dobiti jedino uporednom analizom pacijenata u različitim stadijumima bolesti. Shodno tome, pokazano je da je imunski odgovor kod ovih pacijenata polarizovan u odnosu na stadijum bolesti. Kod pacijenata u nižim stadijumima bolesti dominira Th1 imunski odgovor koji, iako praćen umerenom intrahepatičnom ifiltracijom efektorskih T limfocita, ne dovodi do oštećenja jetrinog parenhima. Nasuprot tome, kod pacijenata sa visokim stadijumom fibroze dominira neadekvatan Th2 odgovor, koji praćen izrazito snažnom intrahepatičkom infiltracijom efektorskih limfocita uz izrazitu dominaciju CD8+ limfocita, dovodi do masivnog oštećenja jetrinog parenhima. Naši rezultati ukazuju da regulatorni mehanizmi uključeni u ovu polarizaciju mogu biti dvojaki. Sa jedne strane, pacijenti u nižim stadijumima bolesti imaju veći broj aktiviranih mDC, kako u perifernoj krvi, tako i u inflamiranom tkivu jetre, dok pacijenti sa izraženom fibrozom pokazuju dominaciju pDC. Pored toga, pacijenti sa izraženom fibrozom imaju znatno veći broj intrahepatičnih Treg, pri čemu negativna korelacija između broja Treg u jetri i serumskog nivoa AST i ALT, kao i pozitivna korelacija između broja CD4 i serumskog nivoa AST mogu biti odraz pokušaja imunskog sistema da ograniči intenzivan, ali ne i efikasan T ćelijski imunski odgovor.In up to 80% of patients acute form of hepatitis C is asymptomatic. After the acute phase, the spontaneous resolution of HCV infection occurs in only 20% of cases, while most of infected patients develop a chronic desease. It is assumed that about 180 million people worldwide, have chronic HCV infection. The pathogenesis of HCV infection is the result of multiple interactions between the host's immune system and viral factors. Strong HCV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell response directed to multiple epitopes of HCV in some cases eliminate the virus spontaneously in the acute phase. However, HCV has mechanisms to escape humoral and cellular response, which allows progression of the disease to the chronic phase. A subset of regulatory T cells contributes to failure of T cell-mediate immunity in the early stages of infection and thus prevent the removal of the virus, but also can reduce the inflammatory infiltrate in the liver and help prevent massive tissue damage. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and absolute and relative number of CD4+, CD4+/Foxp3+ (Treg), CD8+ and CD20+ cells in the liver and peripheral blood of patients with chronic HCV infection, to assess sera cytokine profile and to find possible correlations of these parameters, viral replication and liver histopathology. The results of our study showed that chronically infected patients were mostly males, IVUPAS was most frequent route of infection and genotype 1 was dominant. About 77% of patients achieved sustained virologic response. The logistic regression showed that an age of the patients and genotype are significant predictive factors for the development of fibrosis, while the most important predictors of a favorable response to therapy are age of the patient, route of infection and the stage of fibrosis. Cytokine profiling has shown predominance of inflammatory cytokines in patients without fibrosis and tendency of decrease in cytokine levels with progression of liver injury. In F3 stage patients values of all cytokines except IL- 4 were lower than in control group, indicating predominance of Th2 response in the higher stages of fibrosis. After the treatment, levels of both proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines decreased. Results of flow cytometry showed that, in comparison to control, patients had significantly higher number of peripheral blood CD3+, as well as CD4+, CD8+ and Foxp3+ T cell subpopulations, but the difference in CD4/CD8 index was not statistically significant. Furthermore, the number of activated pDCs was significantly higher than the number of activated mDCs. In addition, we have found higher number of activated mDCs in the lower stages of fibrosis, and activated pDCs in the higher stages of fibrosis, although these differences were not statistically significant. In the liver of patients with poor response to therapy we have noted significantly lower number of CD4+ and Foxp3+, but higher number of CD8+ cells, as compared to responders. As a result, the CD4/CD8 index was almost three times lower in patients with poor response to therapy. On the other hand, patients with higher stages of fibrosis, have a significantly higher number of CD4+, Foxp3+, CD8+ and CD20+ cells, but a lower number of DC-SIGN+ cells as compared to patients without fibrosis. Although the frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ cells increased in patients with advanced fibrosis, CD4/CD8 index was more than two times lower than in patients without liver fibrosis. These facts indicate that immunophenotypic analysis of liver reflects more certain the mechanisms of immune response to HCV virus. Statistically significant correlation between the number of T cell in liver infiltrates and serum levels of AST and ALT was found. Interestingly, serum concentrations of AST were positively correlated with the number of CD4+ lymphocytes, whereas negatively correlated with number of Foxp3+ Treg. In summary, the results of these extensive studies have shown that patients with chronic HCV infection represent a heterogeneous group, and that the real insight into immunopathogenetic events during chronic HCV infection may be provided only by comparative analysis of patients in different stages of the disease. Accordingly, it has been shown that the immune response is polarized in relation to the stage of fibrosis. In patients with lower stages of fibrosis Th1 response is dominant and, although accompanied by moderate intrahepatic effector T lymphocytes infiltration, does not lead to damage of liver parenchyma. In contrast, in patients with high-stage fibrosis inappropriate Th2 response dominates, in concomitance with strong intrahepatic infiltration of effector cells and distinct dominance of CD8+ lymphocytes, resulting in massive damage of liver parenchyma. Our results indicate dual regulatory mechanisms involved in this polarization. On the one hand, the patients with lower stages of fibrosis have a higher number of activated mDC, both in the peripheral blood and in inflamed liver tissue, while patients with marked fibrosis showed dominance of pDC. In addition, patients with marked fibrosis have a significantly larger number of intrahepatic Treg, wherein a negative correlation between the number of Treg in the liver and serum levels of AST and ALT, and the positive correlation between the number of CD4 and serum levels of AST may be a reflection of the immune system attempts to limit intense, but inefficient T cell immune response

Amoxicillin Biodegradation with Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Characterization of Relevant Degradation Products

The widespread use of antibiotics can result in the release of a large number of residues into the environment. In order to reduce the exposure risk, considerable research has been carried out in the field of antibiotic residues. We aim to explore the possibilities of antibiotic amoxicillin biodegradation in laboratory scale by adding microbiological cultures, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram-negative) and Bacillus subtilis (Gram-positive), which are a type of bacteria that are commonly found in the environment, such as in soil and water. Apart from the degradation itself, special attention was paid to the identification of antibiotic residues. The biodegradation process was investigated, revealing a 99.2 % degradation efficiency at amoxicillin concentration of 0.2 mg mL–1, and four degradation products were identified. For reaction monitoring and identification of degradation products, UHPLC and LC-MS analyses were performed. Furthermore, to provide additional evidence, the products were independently synthesized and then compared spectrometrically with the obtained biodegradation products. These results could provide new aspects to the behavior of amoxicillin, and pave the way for further monitoring and studies of its residues in the environment. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License