The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on the United States Tourism Industry

The goal of this paper is to present hurricane Katrina in all its stages, from the beginning to the end and to highlight the economic, environmental and social consequences that occurred in the hurricane aftermath with a focus on the tourism industry. This paper also briefly explains the basic mechanism of tropical cyclones and hurricanes and their occurrences through a detailed explanation of hurricane Katrina and its effects on the United States. Some attention is also given to the immense damage and aftermath which is the largest ever made by any hurricane

Is There a Possibility to Involve the Hormesis Effect on the Soybean with Glyphosate Sub-Lethal Amounts Used to Control Weed Species Amaranthus retroflexus L.?

Sub-lethal doses of herbicides can promote plant growth and have a positive effect on an organism this is called hormesis. The purpose of this study was to test the effects of sub-lethal doses of glyphosate on soybean (Glycine max(L.) Merr.) (1.8, 3.6, 7.2, 36, 180, and 720 g ha(-1)) and Amaranthus retroflexus L. (7.2, 36, 180, 720, 1440, and 2880 g ha(-1)). Different biological parameters, such as phytotoxicity, fresh weight, root length, content of photosynthetic pigments, and shikimate concentration, were measured. Glyphosate in doses of 1440 and 2880 g ha(-1) destroyed A. retroflexus plants. A fresh weight of A. retroflexus at a dose of 36 g ha(-1) was reduced by 76.31%, while for the soybean it was reduced by 19.26%. At the highest dose, the shikimate concentration was 145% in the soybean, while in A. retroflexus, the concentration increased by 58.80% compared to the control plants. All doses of glyphosate were statistically significantly different in terms of chlorophyll a content, while higher doses in A. retroflexus caused chlorophyll b to decrease. The change in the production of carotenoids was not statistically significant. The results showed that sub-lethal amounts of glyphosate did not lead to stimulation of measured parameters of soybean

Geosite Assessment Using Three Different Methods; a Comparative Study of the Krupaja and the Zagubica Springs - Hydrological Heritage of Serbia

Hydrological heritage is a relatively new concept in the field of geosite assessment. The principal aim of this study is to apply M-GAM (Modified geosite assessment model) for comparative analysis of the Krupaja spring and the Zagubica (Mlava) spring, located in Homolje area, in Eastern Serbia. According to the classification of geosites of Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, these sites are on the list of protected sites ("hydro(geo)logical" heritage sites) of extraordinary national importance; however, they still have not gained necessary recognition in Serbia. Thus, their assessment according to different target groups should provide a clearer picture of their current condition. As M-GAM considers that not all indicators for evaluation of geosites are of the same importance, this paper applies two methods for comparing and determining the importance of indicators and subindicators in the model (Analytical-hierarchy process (AHP) and descriptive statistics conducted by SPSS). Also, it is assumed that different target groups will give different importance to some indicators in the model, which would result in various evaluation scores for the same geosites. The paper also provides a comparative analysis of the assessment carried out by two different target groups - potential geotourists and geoexperts. The results obtained by AHP and descriptive statistics are quite similar, which confirms the reliability of respondents' answers and the results gained. The analyzed sites are differently positioned in the evaluation matrix, and implications are further discussed in the paper

Basic ISO standards related to the quality and safety/security in health care institutions

Health systems are under significant pressure in many countries. Every day, with the introduction of new methods/techniques, expensive equipment of high technological value, the latest very expensive drugs... the price of health care is growing much faster than the growth of the national product and the most developed countries, despite the fact that in many countries the percentage of health expenditures in the national product is growing. Funding constraints in health systems are evident even in wealthy countries. The cost of health care is significantly influenced by: the increase in the number of the population, changes in the age structure of the population, constant demands for increasing the level of quality of health services, as well as an increase in the demand for new services. The application of international management standards in healthcare institutions and in state institutions in charge of healthcare can significantly alleviate evident problems in healthcare

Priprema i karakterizacija poli(Uretan-siloksan)/titan-dioksid nanokompozita

This work is focused on preparation of poly(urethane-siloxane)/titanium-dioxide nanocomposites (PUSNs) with enhanced features. PUSNs were prepared by the in situ polymerization reaction using titanium-dioxide as a nano-filler in different amounts (1, 2, 3 and 5 wt.%) with respect to the poly(urethane-siloxane) (PUS) matrix. PUS copolymer was based on α,ω-dihy-droxy-ethoxypropyl-poly(dimethylsiloxane), 4,4’-methylenediphenyldiisocyanate and 1,4-bu-tanediole. In order to investigate the influence of TiO 2 content on the structure, UV resistance, thermal properties, hydrophobicity and morphology of the prepared PUSNs, FTIR spectroscopy, UV-Vis diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), contact angle measurements, surface free energy (SFE) analysis, water absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were performed. The PUSNs showed excellent UV resistance, high hydrophobicity, low surface free energy and also higher thermal stability and rougher surface and cross-section relief structure as compared to the pure PUS copolymer. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that prepared PUSNs could be potentially used as protective coatings. © 2019, Association of Chemists and Chemical Engineers of Serbia. All rights reserved

Supplementary material for the article: Bjelogrlić, S. K.; Todorović, T.; Cvijetić, I.; Rodić, M. V.; Vujčić, M.; Marković, S. B.; Araškov, J.; Janović, B.; Emhemmed, F.; Muller, C. D.; et al. A Novel Binuclear Hydrazone-Based Cd(II) Complex Is a Strong pro-Apoptotic Inducer with Significant Activity against 2D and 3D Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 2019, 190, 45–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2018.10.002

Supplementary material for: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016201341830360X?via%3Dihub]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/355]Related to accepted version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2796

Bactericidal and antioxidant bacterial cellulose hydrogels doped with chitosan as potential urinary tract infection biomedical agent

Therapy of bacterial urinary tract infections (UTIs) and catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) is still a great challenge because of the resistance of bacteria to nowadays used antibiotics and encrustation of catheters. Bacterial cellulose (BC) as a biocompatible material with a high porosity allows incorporation of different materials in its three dimensional network structure. In this work a low molecular weight chitosan (Chi) polymer is incorporated in BC with different concentrations. Different characterization techniques are used to investigate structural and optical properties of these composites. Radical scavenging activity test shows moderate antioxidant activity of these biocompatible composites whereasin vitrorelease test shows that 13.3% of chitosan is released after 72 h. Antibacterial testing of BC-Chi composites conducted on Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria causing UTIs and CAUTIs (Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Klebsiella pneumoniae) and encrustation (Proteus mirabilis) show bactericidal effect. The morphology analysis of bacteria after the application of BC-Chi shows that they are flattened with a rough surface, with a tendency to agglomerate and with decreased length and width. All obtained results show that BC-Chi composites might be considered as potential biomedical agents in treatment of UTIs and CAUTIs and as a urinary catheter coating in encrustation prevention

Supplementary material for the article: Bjelogrlić, S. K.; Todorović, T.; Cvijetić, I.; Rodić, M. V.; Vujčić, M.; Marković, S. B.; Araškov, J.; Janović, B.; Emhemmed, F.; Muller, C. D.; et al. A Novel Binuclear Hydrazone-Based Cd(II) Complex Is a Strong pro-Apoptotic Inducer with Significant Activity against 2D and 3D Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 2019, 190, 45–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2018.10.002

Supplementary material for: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016201341830360X?via%3Dihub]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/355]Related to accepted version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2796

In vitro studies of temperature and pH influence on chlorophyll degradation by horseradish peroxidase: Spectroscopic and HPLC studies

In vitro chlorophyll a degradation by horseradish peroxidase in the presence of the resorcinol was investigated in this work, and the influence of pH and temperature was particularly studied. Chlorophyll a degradation was followed by UV-VIS and HPLC. Chlorophyll a was degraded when hydrogen peroxide was added into reaction mixture containing chlorophyll fraction, horseradish peroxidase, resorcinol and phosphate buffer. HPLC analysis has identified the main degradation product of chlorophyll a as 132 -hydroxychlorophyll a. The degradation was traced at different temperatures and pH values. The increasing temperatures led to increase of chlorophyll a degradation, with a maximum at 37 °C. The degradation also increased with increasing pH values, reaching maximum at pH 6

Photoactive graphene quantum dots/bacterial cellulose hydrogels: Structural, mechanical, and pro-oxidant study

Due to their unique structural properties bacterial cellulose (BC) hydrogels find possible usage in many fields such as cosmetology, food industry, or medicine. In this study, photoactive BC hydrogels are investigated through modifications of their structural, mechanical, and pro-oxidant properties resulting from graphene quantum dots (GQDs) encapsulation. Detailed structural analysis is conducted by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction method. Dynamic mechanical analysis is performed to study the changes in storage modulus, loss modulus and tan δ. Pro-oxidative properties of new designed composites are tested by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Structural and mechanical analyses show successful encapsulation of GQDs into BC whereas EPR measurements indicate high potential of these composites for singlet oxygen production