Innovation in frastructure in Serbia

National Innovation System in Serbia (NIS) is not functional, and it should be an actuator of transition and development. NIS is shaped by past and current social, cultural, and even political factors as well as the current economic environment in Serbia. The work is a part of a wider research of the factors shaping the national innovation system. The goal of this paper is to point out who are the actuators of innovation infrastructure in Serbia, such as the activity of the participants in the organizing the infrastructure, to check whether commercial enterprises are generators and carriers of innovation activities, and to find out whether small and medium enterprises are interested in using innovation infrastructure. One of the goals of this paper is the review of innovation infrastructure concepts in Serbia and review of strategy for development of science and technology

Management of Women — Risk or Opportunity?

A lot has been written about women. Throughout human civilization women have been the foundation of families, but also wars were waged over women, and through marriages friendships were created or expanded, agreements forged between friends, etc. Even today women are the entity, without which one can not imagine the existence of the universe. In other words, evolution is a process in which cells (male and female) are connected resulting in growth and development, but also in the ability to connect with other cells which leads to the formation of living beings, including man as the most complex living being which operates on the principles of selforganization. However, when it comes to politics, business and the general performance of complex and traditional activities that are practiced by men, women are marginalized and discriminated against on numerous issues. Stereotypes and negative attitudes toward business women or women managers have been carefully maintained over centuries. Not far from the truth is statement according to which women must be twice as good as men, to take up important positions in organizations. The aim of this paper is to point out certain indisputable facts when it comes to female management and to answer the question of whether female management is a risk or a chance

Agricultural Cooperatives in Serbia

Agricultural cooperative has a long tradition in the Republic of Serbia. In the past period, agricultural cooperative passed through various stages of development and operation, with ups and downs, both in its organization, and in material development. The goal of this study is to determine the state of cooperatives in Serbia. In this regard, following indicators and parameters were analyzed: the number, structure and main activity of agricultural cooperatives, types of services that cooperatives provide to their members, participation of agricultural cooperatives in the purchase of products, cooperative property, financial results, cooperative audits, and cooperative staff training. The sources of data were obtained using the methods of interviewing some 30 % of active cooperatives in RS, through interviews and participatory methods of participation through workshops and groups of practicing students

Salmonella Pathogenesis and Processing of Secreted Effectors by Caspase-3

The enteric pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium causes food poisoning resulting in gastroenteritis. The S. Typhimurium effector Salmonella invasion protein A (SipA) promotes gastroenteritis by functional motifs that trigger either mechanisms of inflammation or bacterial entry. During infection of intestinal epithelial cells, SipA was found to be responsible for the early activation of caspase-3, an enzyme that is required for SipA cleavage at a specific recognition motif that divided the protein into its two functional domains and activated SipA in a manner necessary for pathogenicity. Other caspase-3 cleavage sites identified in S. Typhimurium appeared to be restricted to secreted effector proteins, which indicates that this may be a general strategy used by this pathogen for processing of its secreted effectors

The Spectrin Cytoskeleton Is Crucial for Adherent and Invasive Bacterial Pathogenesis

Various enteric bacterial pathogens target the host cell cytoskeletal machinery as a crucial event in their pathogenesis. Despite thorough studies detailing strategies microbes use to exploit these components of the host cell, the role of the spectrin-based cytoskeleton has been largely overlooked. Here we show that the spectrin cytoskeleton is a host system that is hijacked by adherent (Entropathogenic Escherichia coli [EPEC]), invasive triggering (Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium [S. Typhimurium]) and invasive zippering (Listeria monocytogenes) bacteria. We demonstrate that spectrin cytoskeletal proteins are recruited to EPEC pedestals, S. Typhimurium membrane ruffles and Salmonella containing vacuoles (SCVs), as well as sites of invasion and comet tail initiation by L. monocytogenes. Spectrin was often seen co-localizing with actin filaments at the cell periphery, however a disconnect between the actin and spectrin cytoskeletons was also observed. During infections with S. Typhimurium ΔsipA, actin-rich membrane ruffles at characteristic sites of bacterial invasion often occurred in the absence of spectrin cytoskeletal proteins. Additionally, early in the formation of L. monocytogenes comet tails, spectrin cytoskeletal elements were recruited to the surface of the internalized bacteria independent of actin filaments. Further studies revealed the presence of the spectrin cytoskeleton during SCV and Listeria comet tail formation, highlighting novel cytoplasmic roles for the spectrin cytoskeleton. SiRNA targeted against spectrin and the spectrin-associated proteins severely diminished EPEC pedestal formation as well as S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes invasion. Ultimately, these findings identify the spectrin cytoskeleton as a ubiquitous target of enteric bacterial pathogens and indicate that this cytoskeletal system is critical for these infections to progress

Structural Basis of Cytotoxicity Mediated by the Type III Secretion Toxin ExoU from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a complex macromolecular machinery employed by a number of Gram-negative pathogens to inject effectors directly into the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. ExoU from the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most aggressive toxins injected by a T3SS, leading to rapid cell necrosis. Here we report the crystal structure of ExoU in complex with its chaperone, SpcU. ExoU folds into membrane-binding, bridging, and phospholipase domains. SpcU maintains the N-terminus of ExoU in an unfolded state, required for secretion. The phospholipase domain carries an embedded catalytic site whose position within ExoU does not permit direct interaction with the bilayer, which suggests that ExoU must undergo a conformational rearrangement in order to access lipids within the target membrane. The bridging domain connects catalytic domain and membrane-binding domains, the latter of which displays specificity to PI(4,5)P2. Both transfection experiments and infection of eukaryotic cells with ExoU-secreting bacteria show that ExoU ubiquitination results in its co-localization with endosomal markers. This could reflect an attempt of the infected cell to target ExoU for degradation in order to protect itself from its aggressive cytotoxic action

POSSIBILITY OF REPLACEMENT OF SODIUM CHLORIDE BY POTASSIUM CHLORIDE IN COOKED SAUSAGES- SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS AND HEALTH

**Original scientific paper, presented at 2 nd International Congress on Animal Husbandry “ Ne

Understanding catalytic performances in biomass-derived reactions from the acid/base sites strength point of view

SSCI-VIDE+ATARI+ALI:VFO:AAUInternational audienceIntroductionAn heterogeneous catalytic reaction proceeds according to the following stages: adsorption of the reactant on the surface of the catalyst, reaction on the surface, and desorption of the products. All these steps involve the surface active sites, whose acid/base properties are important factors that determine the catalytic activity and the industrial applications. Relative acid strengths of solid catalysts depend markedly on whether a solvent is present, on the nature of the solvent, and may vary as the medium in which the acidity is measured [1,2]. Moreover, when the heterogeneous catalytic reaction occurs in water, the catalyst has to maintain its acidity even in this protic and polar solvent which is known to quench the acidity of many good solid acids. Therefore novel solid acids, with water-tolerant properties are requested for catalytic processes of biomass exploitation. The key role of surface acidity in clean catalytic processes for the production of biofuel precursors such as 5-HMF has been investigated by adsorption microcalorimetry and related to the dehydration of fructose or to cellobiose conversion on a large variety of acidic, basic and amphoteric catalysts[3,4] . The oxidative coupling of methanol and ethanol for acrolein production has been also studied and related to the acid/base properties of catalysts.Materials and Methods Investigated catalysts were either acidic such as zeolites Y and MFI, resins (Amberlite, Nafion), activated carbon, niobium oxide and niobium phosphate or amphoteric (meso-structured alumino-silicate, silica-aluminas with alumina contents varying from 13 to 95wt%, hydrotalcites or mainly basic such as magnesia, hydroxyapatite and lanthanum oxide. In gas phase, the acid/base properties were measured by adsorption calorimetry of ammonia and sulfur dioxide respectively, using a heat flow calorimeter (C80 from Setaram) linked to a volumetric line allowing the introduction of small doses of probe molecule. Titration calorimetry (Titrys from Setaram), a very powerful tool to determine the strength and number of the sites (when coupling with UV-Vis spectrometry) in liquid media has been used with phenylethylamine and benzoic acid as basic and acidic probe molecules respectively.Results and discussionThe plot of adsorption heats as a function of the probe molecule uptake provides significant information about the sites strength distribution on the catalyst surface, but also on the nature and the strengths of solvate-solvent and sorbate-solvent interactions and on the degree of energetic heterogeneity of the solid surfaces. The saturation uptakes obtained from adsorption measurements give the information about the number of accessible surface sites.Special attention was given to the correlations between catalytic activity and surface acid–base properties, which are essential to the mechanism of the reaction. Figure 1 shows how the selectivity to 5-HMF is varying with increasing the density of acid sites on the surface of the catalysts tested in the fructose dehydration reaction.Concerning the impact of the acid-base properties on the selectivity towards acrolein starting from a mixture of methanol and ethanol, investigated in oxidizing conditions, it has been demonstrated that a balanced ratio of basic to acidic sites improves significantly the acrolein yield[5]. Figure 1. Selectivity in 5-HMF (after 6 h of fructose conversion reaction) as a function of the number of strong surface acid sites of various catalysts, measured in aqueous phase. On amphoteric samples the results of catalytic test performed showed that the selectivity in the reaction is largely governed by the balance between acidic and basic active sites, but also by the ratio of Lewis to Brønsted acid sites. Acknowledgments : The authors acknowledge the Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie (ADEME) for funding (Bioma+ project)References :1.Gervasini A., Auroux A., Thermochimica Acta, 8, (2013), 567 2.Kourieh R., Bennici S., Marzo M., Gervasini A., and Auroux A., Catalysis Communications, 19, (2012), 1193.Kourieh R., Rakic V., Bennici S., and Auroux A., Catalysis Communications, 1, (2013), 54.Carniti P., Gervasini A., Biella S., Auroux A., Chemistry of Materials, 17, (2005), 61285.Lilić A., Bennici S., Devaux JF., Dubois JL., Auroux A., ChemSusChem, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.20170023

Understanding catalytic performances in biomass-derived reactions from the acid/base sites strength point of view

SSCI-VIDE+ATARI+ALI:VFO:AAUInternational audienceIntroductionAn heterogeneous catalytic reaction proceeds according to the following stages: adsorption of the reactant on the surface of the catalyst, reaction on the surface, and desorption of the products. All these steps involve the surface active sites, whose acid/base properties are important factors that determine the catalytic activity and the industrial applications. Relative acid strengths of solid catalysts depend markedly on whether a solvent is present, on the nature of the solvent, and may vary as the medium in which the acidity is measured [1,2]. Moreover, when the heterogeneous catalytic reaction occurs in water, the catalyst has to maintain its acidity even in this protic and polar solvent which is known to quench the acidity of many good solid acids. Therefore novel solid acids, with water-tolerant properties are requested for catalytic processes of biomass exploitation. The key role of surface acidity in clean catalytic processes for the production of biofuel precursors such as 5-HMF has been investigated by adsorption microcalorimetry and related to the dehydration of fructose or to cellobiose conversion on a large variety of acidic, basic and amphoteric catalysts[3,4] . The oxidative coupling of methanol and ethanol for acrolein production has been also studied and related to the acid/base properties of catalysts.Materials and Methods Investigated catalysts were either acidic such as zeolites Y and MFI, resins (Amberlite, Nafion), activated carbon, niobium oxide and niobium phosphate or amphoteric (meso-structured alumino-silicate, silica-aluminas with alumina contents varying from 13 to 95wt%, hydrotalcites or mainly basic such as magnesia, hydroxyapatite and lanthanum oxide. In gas phase, the acid/base properties were measured by adsorption calorimetry of ammonia and sulfur dioxide respectively, using a heat flow calorimeter (C80 from Setaram) linked to a volumetric line allowing the introduction of small doses of probe molecule. Titration calorimetry (Titrys from Setaram), a very powerful tool to determine the strength and number of the sites (when coupling with UV-Vis spectrometry) in liquid media has been used with phenylethylamine and benzoic acid as basic and acidic probe molecules respectively.Results and discussionThe plot of adsorption heats as a function of the probe molecule uptake provides significant information about the sites strength distribution on the catalyst surface, but also on the nature and the strengths of solvate-solvent and sorbate-solvent interactions and on the degree of energetic heterogeneity of the solid surfaces. The saturation uptakes obtained from adsorption measurements give the information about the number of accessible surface sites.Special attention was given to the correlations between catalytic activity and surface acid–base properties, which are essential to the mechanism of the reaction. Figure 1 shows how the selectivity to 5-HMF is varying with increasing the density of acid sites on the surface of the catalysts tested in the fructose dehydration reaction.Concerning the impact of the acid-base properties on the selectivity towards acrolein starting from a mixture of methanol and ethanol, investigated in oxidizing conditions, it has been demonstrated that a balanced ratio of basic to acidic sites improves significantly the acrolein yield[5]. Figure 1. Selectivity in 5-HMF (after 6 h of fructose conversion reaction) as a function of the number of strong surface acid sites of various catalysts, measured in aqueous phase. On amphoteric samples the results of catalytic test performed showed that the selectivity in the reaction is largely governed by the balance between acidic and basic active sites, but also by the ratio of Lewis to Brønsted acid sites. Acknowledgments : The authors acknowledge the Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie (ADEME) for funding (Bioma+ project)References :1.Gervasini A., Auroux A., Thermochimica Acta, 8, (2013), 567 2.Kourieh R., Bennici S., Marzo M., Gervasini A., and Auroux A., Catalysis Communications, 19, (2012), 1193.Kourieh R., Rakic V., Bennici S., and Auroux A., Catalysis Communications, 1, (2013), 54.Carniti P., Gervasini A., Biella S., Auroux A., Chemistry of Materials, 17, (2005), 61285.Lilić A., Bennici S., Devaux JF., Dubois JL., Auroux A., ChemSusChem, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.20170023