Temporal analysis of electroretinographic responses in fishes with rod-dominated and mixed rod-cone retina

Photoreceptor content of fish retinas could be accessed by comparative electroretinographic (ERG) studies using flickering light stimuli that could separate rod-mediated vision where critical flicker frequency (CFE, frequency when the eye loses its ability to resolve individual light pulses) is usually less than 15 Hz from cone-mediated vision. Four fish species inhabiting different photic environments (small-spotted dogfish shark - Scyliorhinus canicula, eel - Anguilla anguilla, painted comber - Serranus scriba, Prussian carp - Carassius gibelio) were investigated. Dogfish shark b-wave amplitudes significantly decreased at low frequency of stimulation and CFF was reached at 3.2 Hz. A similar effect on the b-wave amplitude was observed in the eel, but CFF occurred at around 20 Hz. Conversely, b-waves of painted comber and Prussian carp remained unaltered under intermittent low-frequency stimulation, and CFFs were around 25 and 30 Hz, respectively. Additional support in accessing the receptor content of fish retinas was given by the characterization of the OFF-response (d-wave) after light adaptation. Monotonous time course of the b-wave dark adaptation indicated a rod dominated retina of the dogfish shark. Observed results indicate that the dogfish shark possesses preponderantly rod retina, that of the eel is rod-dominated, while Prussian carp and painted comber have cone-rich retinae

Formalization of Human Categorization Process Using Interpolative Boolean Algebra

Since the ancient times, it has been assumed that categorization has the basic form of classical sets. This implies that the categorization process rests on the Boolean laws. In the second half of the twentieth century, the classical theory has been challenged in cognitive science. According to the prototype theory, objects belong to categories with intensities, while humans categorize objects by comparing them to prototypes of relevant categories. Such categorization process is governed by the principles of perceived world structure and cognitive economy. Approaching the prototype theory by using truth-functional fuzzy logic has been harshly criticized due to not satisfying the complementation laws. In this paper, the prototype theory is approached by using structure-functional fuzzy logic, the interpolative Boolean algebra. The proposed formalism is within the Boolean frame. Categories are represented as fuzzy sets of objects, while comparisons between objects and prototypes are formalized by using Boolean consistent fuzzy relations. Such relations are directly constructed from a Boolean consistent fuzzy partial order relation, which is treated by Boolean implication. The introduced formalism secures the principles of categorization showing that Boolean laws are fundamental in the categorization process. For illustration purposes, the artificial cognitive system which mimics human categorization activity is proposed

Poster 9. - Prehrambene navike učenika srednjih škola

Doba adolescencije je razdoblje intenzivnog rasta i razvoja te populacije pa im je dostatna i pravilna prehrana osobito važna. Stoga je nužno razvijanje dobrih prehrambenih navika s ciljem sprječavanja nastanka bolesti uzrokovane neadekvatnom prehranom. Cilj: Ispitati prehrambene navike učenika srednjih škola na području RH

Poster 9. - Prehrambene navike učenika srednjih škola

Doba adolescencije je razdoblje intenzivnog rasta i razvoja te populacije pa im je dostatna i pravilna prehrana osobito važna. Stoga je nužno razvijanje dobrih prehrambenih navika s ciljem sprječavanja nastanka bolesti uzrokovane neadekvatnom prehranom. Cilj: Ispitati prehrambene navike učenika srednjih škola na području RH

Importance of multidisciplinary and regional collaboration in integrated West Nile virus surveillance - the "One Health" concept

West Nile virus (WNV) danas je jedan od najrasprostranjenijih arbovirusa. U posljednja se dva desetljeća WNV infekcije kontinuirano pojavljuju na području Europe u obliku manjih ili većih epidemija i epizootija. U ovom preglednom radu prikazujemo epidemiološke značajke WNV infekcija koje su dokazane na području Hrvatske i Srbije u kontekstu “Jednog zdravlja”. Prikazani rezultati potvrđuju značaj multidisciplinarne i regionalne suradnje u dijagnostici i praćenju ove (re-)emergentne virusne zoonoze.West Nile virus (WNV) is nowadays one of the most widely distributed arboviruses. In the last two decades, small or large WNV epidemics and epizootics are continuously reported in Europe. In this review, we present the epidemiological characteristics of WNV infections detected in Croatia and Serbia within the "One Health" context. Presented results confirm the importance of multidisciplinary and regional collaboration in the diagnosis and surveillance of this (re-)emerging viral zoonosis

Gene expression profile of circulating CD34(+) cells and granulocytes in chronic myeloid leukemia

Purpose: We compared the gene expression profile of peripheral blood CD34(+) cells and granulocytes in subjects with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), with the accent on signaling pathways affected by BCR-ABL oncogene. Methods: The microarray analyses have been performed in circulating CD34(+) cells and granulocytes from peripheral blood of 7 subjects with CML and 7 healthy donors. All studied BCR-ABL positive CML patients were in chronic phase, with a mean value of 2012 +/- SD of CD34(+) cells/mu l in peripheral blood. Results: The gene expression profile was more prominent in CML CD34(+) cells (3553 genes) compared to granulocytes (2701 genes). The 41 and 39 genes were significantly upregulated in CML CD34(+) cells (HINT1, TXN, SERBP1) and granulocytes, respectively. BCR-ABL oncogene activated PI3K/AKT and MAPK signaling through significant upregulation of PTPN11, CDK4/6, and MYC and reduction of E2F1, KRAS, and NFKBIA gene expression in CD34(+) cells. Among genes linked to the inhibition of cellular proliferation by BCR-ABL inhibitor Imatinib, the FOS and STAT1 demonstrated significantly decreased expression in CML. Conclusion: The presence of BCR-ABL fusion gene doubled the expression quantity of genes involved in the regulation of cell cycle, proliferation and apoptosis of CD34(+) cells. These results determined the modified genes in PI3K/AKT and MAPK signaling of CML subjects

Decision Support System for Predicting the Number of No-Show Passengers in Airline Industry

Airline decision about how many seats to allow to be overbooked is based on the expectation of the number of passengers who will not show up on a specific flight. This paper proposes a decision support system for predicting the number of no show passengers that combines the case-based reasoning (CBR) approach with Interpolative Boolean Algebra (IBA) and considers recommendations from both expert and algorithm. More precisely, recently proposed IBA similarity measure along with suitable aggregation operator is used for comparing alternatives in CBR algorithms. The proposed system was tested on the real-life data of the Belgrade-Amsterdam route. The obtained results show the necessity to include expert knowledge in the prediction process. Furthermore, the results are indicating that IBA-based models perform significantly better comparing to traditional distance-based models. The proposed expert system should contribute to an airline utilizing its inventory, which will further result in profit increase

A Fuzzy Logic-Based System for Enhancing Scrum Method

In this paper, we propose a decision support system for enhancing scrum methodology based on fuzzy logic. Scrum is a very popular agile methodology within the software and product development. In the basic scrum, requirements that describe a certain task do not have a clear interpretation. Also, the traditional model does not take into account the experience of the developers nor the logical dependencies of input variables. Fuzzy inference is particularly useful for this purpose, because it incorporates logic in inference process and inputs are presented using linguistic quantifiers. The proposed system consists of three main components: a fuzzy inference system, an aggregation operator and a feedback function. The aggregation function is used to aggregate task predictions in a single value that uniquely represent a specific task, while a feedback is employed to adjust an input variable to improve system performance. Furthermore, the proposed system is simulated with randomly generated inputs in order to analyse its behaviour. The predictions of the system are more accurate and with smaller deviation in the final iterations. JEL Classification: C63, D81, L8