Restructuring of industrial regions toward tourism development of local community

Ispitivani su stavovi lokalne zajednice u vezi sa mogućnostima razvoja turizma kao jedne od opcija u procesu restrukturiranja industrijske oblasti.We investigated the attitudes of local community related to the possiibities of the tourism development as one of the options in the process of restructuring of industrial region

Tourism entrepreneurship and industrial restructuring: GLOBE national and organisational cultural dimensions

National culture can influence entrepreneurship by creating a specific cultural framework which defines the possibilities for the recognition of opportunities for entrepreneurial activities, as well as their social desirability. Very large corporations, especially those that dominate a region, also have their own organizational cultures, which in turn influence local social culture, and which can constitute a specific subculture within society. The “Kolubara” mine is the largest in Serbia, employing more than 11,000 workers. As most of its employees are living close to its headquarters, the small town of Lazarevac (Central Serbia), the culture nurtured within this organization and among its employees is heavily intertwined with the social culture of the inhabitants of the town. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) approach was used to investigate the relation between this organizational culture and national culture, by measuring the nine GLOBE cultural dimensions of the “Kolubara” employees and of the inhabitants of Lazarevac. The results of this are discussed and analysed in the context of the ongoing economic transformation in many post-socialist economies. This study highlights the readiness of the people of small industrial towns, such as Lazarevac, to adapt to this ongoing transition and to undertake entrepreneurial activities in tourism during periods of industrial restructuring and the growth of service industries in former industrial areas

Changes in Traditional Activities of Industrial Area toward Sustainable Tourism Development

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential for restructuring industrial areas toward tourism development within local communities, with a special emphasis on the socio-cultural determinants of residents, as well as their attitudes regarding the sustainable development of tourism. The research is also oriented toward the interests of local communities with respect to entrepreneurial activities in the field of tourism within regions relying on traditional industries, in this case, one of the largest open-pit mining surfaces in Europe (near the Serbian town of Lazarevac). The survey was conducted on a sample of 273 respondents. The research results point to the residents’ attitudes regarding the acceptability of tourism development options, as well as their attitudes toward tourism development, with the aim of providing the conditions for a successful transition from a typical heavy industrial setting toward sustainable tourism development

Specificity and sensitivity of preoperative total serum prostate specific antigen in diagnosis most common histopathological change of prostate

Determination of preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value is primary procedure in diagnosis of different pathological prostate changes (prostate cancer-PC, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia-PIN and benign prostatic hyperplasia-BPH), followed by digital rectal examination and prostate biopsy as gold standard. Disadvantage of high sensitivity and low specificity of PSA testing in diagnosis of PC is a problem in clinical practice. Aim was to determine the diagnostic performance of PSA in diagnosis of PC, PIN and BPH. The study included 100 patients divided into three groups: 70 with PC, 20 with a PIN and 10 with BPH. Patients with PIN and BPH were control group. Preoperative PSA values were determined by Tandem-R, The patients were divided into subgroups by baseline PSA level as follows: 4-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and> 40. The definitive histopathological diagnosis was made on routine hematoxylineosin slides. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), sensitivity-SE and specificity-SP of each PSA level were evaluated for PC. Preoperative serum PSA levels in patients with PC (median-35.82 ng/ml, min-6 ng/ml, max-960.40 ng/ml) were significantly higher than with PIN (median-9.15 ng/ml, min-3.16 ng/ml, max-27.61 ng/ml) and BPH (median-8.68 ng/ml, min-0.80 ng/ml, max-31.20 ng/ml). The best diagnostic characteristics of the PSA are on limit value 10 ng/ml (AUC=0.781, SE=92.9%; SP=63.3%; p<0,0001). PSA is of great help in diagnosis of advanced and initial form of PC. The chance of PC diagnosis was greater than that for other pathological changes when PSA level was higher than 10 ng/ml

Influence of growth conditions on an antioxidative system in two bell pepper genotypes differing in susceptibility to phytopathogen bacteria Xanthomonas euvesicatoria

With changing environmental conditions food production is becoming increasingly challenging. The production of cultivars resistant to various abiotic and/or biotic stresses may be one of the solutions. In this study, we analyzed the response of the antioxidant system in two different bell pepper genotypes, 26 susceptible and 19 tolerant, to Xanthomonas euvesicatoria when grown in the open field, greenhouse, free and isolated. The activity of four antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, catalase, and total peroxidase was highest in susceptible genotype 26 grown in isolation in the greenhouse. Both genotypes activate ascorbate peroxidase when grown in the field, suggesting that this enzyme is first in the line of defense under these growing conditions. In addition, susceptible genotype 26 had the highest concentration of ascorbic acid as a non-enzymatic defense when grown in the field. However, the carotenoid content of 26 was the lowest in the field, and the ratio of carotenoids to total chlorophyll was lowest in the field for both genotypes. In general, the susceptible genotype 26 activated the antioxidant and other defense systems more frequently than the tolerant genotype 19. Genotype 19 responded to different growth conditions with additional physiological adaptation through chlorophyll and carotenoid concentration correlated with growth location. This suggests that crossbreeding experiments to obtain genotype 19 allow the acquisition of tolerance to some abiotic stressors in addition to tolerance to the biotic stressor

Pectin-based nanocomposite aerogels for potential insulated food packaging application

Environmental-friendly pectin-TiO2 nanocomposite aerogels were prepared via sol-gel process and subsequent drying under supercritical conditions. The first step includes dissolution of pectin in water, addition of proper amount of TiO2 colloid and crosslinking reaction induced in the presence of tert-butanol and zinc ions. Then, the gels are subjected to the solvent exchange and supercritical CO2 drying. The influence of TiO2 nanoparticles on the textural, mechanical, thermal and antibacterial properties of aerogels was investigated. Results indicate that in the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) mechanical, thermal and antimicrobial properties of pectin-based aerogels are improved in comparison to the control pectin aerogels. It should be emphasized that the thermal conductivity of pectin-based aerogels (0.022-0.025Wm(-1) K-1) is lower than the thermal conductivity of air. Generally, the results propose that the pectin-TiO2 nanocomposite aerogels, as bio-based material, might have potential application for the storage of temperature-sensitive food

Dextran coated silver nanoparticles Chemical sensor for selective cysteine detection

A simple, fast and non-costly method for selective cysteine (Cys) detection, based on optical changes of silver colloids, is developed. For that purpose, stable colloids consisting of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) coated with polysaccharide dextran (Dex), isolated from bacterium species Leuconostoc mesenteroides T3, were prepared. The synthesized samples were thoroughly characterized including absorption and FTIR spectroscopy, as well as transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The silver colloids display high sensitivity and selectivity towards Cys detection in aqueous solutions. The Ag NPs coated with Dex provide possibility to detect Cys among a dozen amino acids and its detection limit was found to be 12.0 M. The sensing mechanism - red shift of optical absorption - is discussed in terms of the agglomeration of Ag NPs due to formation of hydrogen bonds between Cys molecules attached to different Ag NPs

Immobilization of dextransucrase on functionalized TiO2 supports

The TiO2 based hybrid supports with different functional groups (amino, glutaraldehyde or epoxy) were prepared and their influence on immobilization of dextransucrase (DS) was studied. Novel synthetic route for surface modification of TiO2 with amino and glutaraldehyde groups was developed taking advantage of charge transfer complex (CTC) formation between surface Ti atoms and salicylate-type of ligand (5 aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA)). The proposed coordination of 5-ASA to the surface of TiO2 powder and optical properties of CTC was presented. The pristine TiO2 and amino functionalized TiO2 have higher sorption capacity for DS (12.6 and 12.0 mg g(-1), respectively) compared to glutaraldehyde and epoxy activated supports (9.6 and 9.8 mg g(-1) respectively). However, immobilized enzyme to either glutaraldehyde or epoxy functionalized TiO2 have almost two times higher expressed activities compared to pristine TiO2 support (258, 235 and 142 IU g(-1), respectively). Thermal stability of enzyme immobilized on glutaraldehyde and epoxy functionalized supports was studied at 40 degrees C, as well as operational stability under long-run working conditions in repeated cycles. After five cycles, DS imobilized on glutaraldehyde activated support retained almost 70% of its initial expressed activity, while, after five cycles, performance of DS immobilized on epoxy activated support was significantly lower (15%)

Antibacterial ability of immobilized silver nanoparticles in agar-agar films co-doped with magnesium ions

The antibacterial ability of in situ prepared nanometer-sized silver particles, immobilized in agar-agar films, was studied as a function of the concentration of co-dopant, magnesium ions. Content of inorganic components in hybrid films was determined using inductively coupled plasma optic emission spectroscopy, and found to be low (<2 wt.-%). Morphology of prepared hybrid films, studied by transmission electron microscopy, revealed the presence of non-agglomerated and randomly distributed 10–20 nm silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) within the agar-agar matrices. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy indicated the distinct chemical interaction between Ag NPs and polymer chains. Thermogravimetric analysis, as well as the determination of tensile strength, Young's modulus, and elongation at break showed improvement of thermal stability and mechanical properties of agar-agar matrices upon the incorporation of Ag NPs due to high compatibility between the hydrophilic organic component and inorganic components. The complete microbial reduction of Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureuswas observed for all agar-silver films, while satisfactory results were observed for Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (≥99.6%). The release of Ag+ ions is suppressed by the increase of the concentration of Mg2+ ions and it was found to be significantly smaller (≤0.24 ppm) than the harmful ecological level (1 ppm). © 2019 Elsevier Lt