Influence of vegetation maintenance on flow and mixing: case study comparing fully cut with high-coverage conditions

In temperate climates, agricultural ditches are generally bounded by seasonal vegetation, which affects the hydrodynamics and mixing processes within the channel and acts as a buffer strip to reduce a load of pollutants coming from the surrounding cultivated fields. However, even if the control of such vegetation represents a key strategy to support sediment and nutrient management, the studies that investigated the effect of different vegetation maintenance scenarios or vegetation coverage on the flow and mixing dynamics at the reach scale are very limited. To overcome these limitations and provide additional insights into the involved processes, tracer tests were conducted in an agricultural ditch roughly 500 m long close to Warsaw in Poland, focusing on two different vegetation scenarios: highly vegetated and fully cut. Under the highly vegetated scenario, sub-reaches differing in surficial vegetation coverage are analysed separately to better understand the influence of the vegetation conditions on the flow and mixing parameters. Special attention has been paid to the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in complex natural conditions and its dependency on vegetation coverage (V). The vegetation maintenance decreased the travel and residence times of the solute by 3–5 times, moderately increasing the peak concentrations. We found that the dispersion coefficient decreased approximately linearly with the increase of vegetation coverage at V&gt;68 %. Further research is needed at lower vegetation coverage values and different spatial plant distributions. The obtained longitudinal dispersion coefficient values complement dispersion value datasets previously published in the literature, which are barely available for small natural streams. The new process understanding supports the design of future investigations with more environmentally sound vegetation maintenance scenarios.</p

The K-X-ray intensity ratios as a tool of examination and thickness measurements of coating layers

The ED-XRF (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence) measurements and the FLUKA simulations have been made to discuss the possibility of recognition of coating layer as well as to its thickness measurement. In this work the $I_{K\alpha}$(Cu)/$I_{K\alpha}$(Ag) intensity ratios as well as $I_{K\beta}$(Ag)/$I_{K\alpha}$(Ag) and $I_{K\beta}$(Cu)/$I_{K\alpha}$(Cu) for copper samples coated with various thickness of sputtered silver have been analyzed. The results show strong dependence of these factors with coating silver layer thickness. The measurements show the performance of this method in archaeometry. Since the use of non-destructive methods during tests on ancient silver artifacts may not supply to obtain reliable bulk results and should be considered applicable for only surface analyses, the measured intensity ratios can be applied as a tool to estimation of surface silver enrichment thickness.Comment: Accepted to publication to the Measurement journa

FLUKA simulations of the target thickness dependence of Cu-Kβ\beta/Kα\alpha intensity ratios

The numerical Monte-Carlo simulations of Cu-K$\alpha$ and Cu-K$\beta$ fluorescence lines induced by monoenergetic Am-241 radiation in copper have been presented. The simulations included modeling the K$\beta$/K$\alpha$ intensity ratios for various thicknesses of copper. The results obtained using the FLUKA code were compared to available experimental and theoretical values. A clear relationship was observed between the simulated K$\beta$/K$\alpha$ intensity ratios and the sample thickness: as the thickness increased, the K$\beta$/K$\alpha$ ratio also increased until it reached saturation

Monoinfections caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia burgdorferi / Anaplasma phagocytophilum co-infections in forestry workers and farmers

Background: The presence of co-infections induced by tick-borne pathogens in humans is an important epidemiological phenomenon. This issue has attracted growing attention of doctors and people working under conditions of an increased risk of being exposed to tick bites. Material and Methods: The research group consisted of 93 individuals with current anti-immunoglobulin M/G (IgM/ IgG) Borrelia burgdorferi or IgG anti-Anaplasma phagocytophilum. The respondents were identified during the screening survey in a group of farmers and foresters occupationally exposed to tick bites. The aim of the work was to analyse the frequency of antibodies to specific antigens of B. burgdorferi and the levels of cytokines in forestry workers and farmers with B. burgdorferi monoinfections and B. burgdorferi / A. phagocytophilum co-infections. Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi2, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: There is a stronger generation of IgG antibodies to B. burgdorferi antigens in patients with B. burgdorferi / A. phagocytophilum co-infections, such as variable major protein-like sequence expressed (VlsE) (p < 0.05), p19 (p < 0.02), p17 (p < 0.05) and complement regulator-acquiring surface protein 3 (CRASP3) (p < 0.02) compared to persons with B. burgdorferi monoinfections. The discrepancies in the synthesis of cytokines interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) have not been found in persons with B. burgdorferi monoinfections and B. burgdorferi / A. phagocytophilum co-infection. Conclusions: The immune response directed against B. burgdorferi is stronger in patients co-infected with B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum than in those with monoinfection. Med Pr 2015;66(5):645–65

Design and synthesis of new quinazolin-4-one derivatives with negative mGlu7mGlu_7 receptor modulation activity and antipsychotic-like properties

Following the glutamatergic theory of schizophrenia and based on our previous study regarding the antipsychotic-like activity of mGlu7 NAMs, we synthesized a new compound library containing 103 members, which were examined for NAM mGlu7 activity in the T-REx 293 cell line expressing a recombinant human mGlu7 receptor. Out of the twenty-two scaffolds examined, active compounds were found only within the quinazolinone chemotype. 2-(2-Chlorophenyl)-6-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one (A9-7, ALX-171, mGlu7 IC50 = 6.14 &micro;M) was selective over other group III mGlu receptors (mGlu4 and mGlu8), exhibited satisfactory drug-like properties in preliminary DMPK profiling, and was further tested in animal models of antipsychotic-like activity, assessing the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. ALX-171 reversed DOI-induced head twitches and MK-801-induced disruptions of social interactions or cognition in the novel object recognition test and spatial delayed alternation test. On the other hand, the efficacy of the compound was not observed in the MK-801-induced hyperactivity test or prepulse inhibition. In summary, the observed antipsychotic activity profile of ALX-171 justifies the further development of the group of quinazolin-4-one derivatives in the search for a new drug candidate for schizophrenia treatment

Practical Precision Electrical Impedance Measurement for the 21st Century – EMPIR Project 17RPT04 VersICal

The core objective of EMPIR project 17RPT04 VersICaL is to improve the European measurement infrastructure for electrical impedance, with particular emphasis on the capabilities of developing NMIs and calibration centres. The project will seek to exploit the results of existing research on digital impedance bridges (DIBs) by designing, constructing and validating simple, affordable versions suitable to realise the impedance scale in the range 1 nF to 10 μF and 1 mH to 10 H with relative uncertainties in the range 10-5 to 10-6. The first results of the research project, including the bridge designs and details of a polyphase digitally synthesized multichannel source capable of providing voltage outputs of precise ratio and phase are presented

Zarządzanie procesami rynkowymi

Ze wstępu: "Opracowanie niniejsze przekazywane do rąk czytelników to plon działalności naukowej pracowników Wydziału Zarządzania i Marketingu Krakowskiej Szkoły Wyższej im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego oraz pracowników innych uczelni z Polski i Europy. Duże zróżnicowanie tematyczne wynika m. in. z rozwoju Uczelni, Wydziału i poszerzenia współpracy krajowej i międzynarodowej z innymi jednostkami naukowymi. Pomimo tego, iż wiele artykułów ze względu na podejmowane w nich problemy trudno jednoznacznie zakwalifikować do jednej wąskiej dziedziny, zdecydowano o podziale materiału na trzy części: zarządzanie, finanse i marketing. O zakwalifikowaniu opracowania do poszczególnych części zadecydowała nie tylko istota rozważanego tematu, ale także często bardzo interesujące i odkrywcze powiązania z innymi dziedzinami szeroko pojętego zarządzania i ekonomii. Stąd też publikacja jest recenzowana przez trzech niezależnych recenzentów."(...