A further study of the kinetics and optimization of the essential oil hydrodistillation from lavender flowers

Hydrodistillation has commonly been used to recover essential oil from various plant materials,including lavender(Lavandula officinalis) flowers.The main objectives of the present study were to model the kinetics of the lavender essential oil(LEO) hydrodistillation using a phenomenological model,to evaluate the statistical significance of the hydromodule and hydrodistillation time on LEO yield combining a 4~2 full factorial design with the response surface methodology,to model statistically LEO yield by multiple non-linear regression and to determine the optimal process conditions that provided the maximum LEO yield.The fast-essential oil distillation(washing stage) in the initial period and the slow diffusion stage until the saturation occurring simultaneously were observed,justifying the use of the phenomenological model.With increasing the hydromodule,the saturation LEO yield and the washable fraction of the LEO decreased while the washing and diffusion rate constants increased.Knowledge of the LEO oil yield and the hydrodistillation kinetics is important from the techno-economical point of view.

Interplay of SOX transcription factors and microRNAs in the brain under physiological and pathological conditions

Precise tuning of gene expression,accomplished by regulato ry networks of transcription factors,epigenetic modifiers,and microRNAs,is crucial for the proper neural development and function of the brain cells.The SOX transcription factors are involved in regulating diverse cellular processes during embryonic and adult neurogenesis,such as maintaining the cell stemness,cell prolife ration,cell fate decisions,and terminal diffe rentiation into neurons and glial cells.MicroRNAs represent a class of small non-coding RNAs that play important roles in the regulation of gene expression.Together with other gene regulatory factors,microRNAs regulate different processes during neurogenesis and orchestrate the spatial and temporal expression important for neurodevelopment.The emerging data point to a complex regulatory network between SOX transcription factors and microRNAs that govern distinct cellular activities in the developing and adult brain.Deregulated SOX/mic roRNA interplay in signaling pathways that influence the homeostasis and plasticity in the brain has been revealed in various brain pathologies,including neurodegenerative disorders,traumatic brain injury,and cancer.Therapeutic strategies that target SOX/microRNA interplay have emerged in recent years as a promising tool to target neural tissue regeneration and enhance neuro restoration.N umerous studies have confirmed complex intera ctions between microRNAs and SOX-specific mRNAs regulating key features of glioblastoma.Keeping in mind the crucial roles of SOX genes and microRNAs in neural development,we focus this review on SOX/microRNAs interplay in the brain during development and adulthood in physiological and pathological conditions.Special focus was made on their interplay in brain pathologies to summarize current knowledge and highlight potential future development of molecular therapies.

Optimization and kinetic modeling of waste lard methanolysis in a continuous reciprocating plate reactor

Continuous biodiesel production from a waste pig-roasting lard,methanol and KOH was carried out in a reciprocating plate reactor(RPR)using a factorial design containing three process factors,namely methanol/lard molar ratio,catalyst loading,and normalized height of the reactor.The main goals were to optimize the influential process factors with respect to biodiesel purity using the response surface methodology and to model the kinetics of the transesterification reaction in order to describe the change of triacylglycerols(TAG)and fatty acid methyl esters(FAME)concentrations along the RPR height.The first-order rate law was proved for both the reaction and the mass transfer.The model of the changing reaction mechanism and mass transfer of TAG was also applicable.Both kinetic models agreed with the experimental concentrations of TAG and FAME determined along the RPR height.

A Sharding Scheme Based on Graph Partitioning Algorithm for Public Blockchain

Blockchain technology,with its attributes of decentralization,immutability,and traceability,has emerged as a powerful catalyst for enhancing traditional industries in terms of optimizing business processes.However,transaction performance and scalability has become the main challenges hindering the widespread adoption of blockchain.Due to its inability to meet the demands of high-frequency trading,blockchain cannot be adopted in many scenarios.To improve the transaction capacity,researchers have proposed some on-chain scaling technologies,including lightning networks,directed acyclic graph technology,state channels,and shardingmechanisms,inwhich sharding emerges as a potential scaling technology.Nevertheless,excessive cross-shard transactions and uneven shard workloads prevent the sharding mechanism from achieving the expected aim.This paper proposes a graphbased sharding scheme for public blockchain to efficiently balance the transaction distribution.Bymitigating crossshard transactions and evening-out workloads among shards,the scheme reduces transaction confirmation latency and enhances the transaction capacity of the blockchain.Therefore,the scheme can achieve a high-frequency transaction as well as a better blockchain scalability.Experiments results show that the scheme effectively reduces the cross-shard transaction ratio to a range of 35%-56%and significantly decreases the transaction confirmation latency to 6 s in a blockchain with no more than 25 shards.

Topographic and lithologic controls behind mountain depopulation in Zlatibor District(Western Serbia)

Mountain depopulation is a worldwide phenomenon observed in all continents. It has varied socio-economic reasons;among others, the low profitability of traditional agriculture, the better job possibilities and the higher level of services in urban settlements. However, it is often recognized that depopulation is related to natural factors such as elevation, slope or lithology. It is also observed that protected areas are frequently established in depopulated mountain regions. Their primary aim is the conservation of nature, but they may help tourism development as well. Tourism, in turn, may slow down or even reverse the process of depopulation. In this study, we investigate the impact of topographic and lithologic factors, namely of karst settings, on mountain demographic processes and the relationship of protected areas and tourism through the example of the northern part of Zlatibor District(Western Serbia). The study area is characterized by mountains and hills at elevations from 200 to 1600 m a.s.l. Our aim is to find GIS-based statistical relationships between topographic, lithologic factors and demographic characteristics. In this area, mountain depopulation started after WWII, and weproved that this process was strongly controlled by topographic factors. The higher and more dissected the area, the more significant is the decrease of the population and the more advanced is the ageing. As a result, population density contrasts are much more pronounced now than 70 years ago. After WWII, depopulation and ageing became gradually more serious on karstic terrains than on non-karst. However, by using compound topographic and lithologic types, we proved that it is not the effect of karst, but the effect of topography. The flow of population from hills and mountains to valleys and basins are closely related to the restructuring of the economic sectors. At present, for the study area, the development of tourism is unequivocally naturebased and connected to protected areas, namely to Tara National Park, Zlatibor Nature Park and ?argan–Mokra Gora Nature Park. In this paper, we also demonstrate how lithology influences tourism possibilities. The leading role of Zlatibor in tourism development is largely thanks to its favourable position on a main transit route.

SOX transcription factors and glioma stem cells:Choosing between stemness and differentiation

Glioblastoma(GBM)is the most common,most aggressive and deadliest brain tumor.Recently,remarkable progress has been made towards understanding the cellular and molecular biology of gliomas.GBM tumor initiation,progression and relapse as well as resistance to treatments are associated with glioma stem cells(GSCs).GSCs exhibit a high proliferation rate and self-renewal capacity and the ability to differentiate into diverse cell types,generating a range of distinct cell types within the tumor,leading to cellular heterogeneity.GBM tumors may contain different subsets of GSCs,and some of them may adopt a quiescent state that protects them against chemotherapy and radiotherapy.GSCs enriched in recurrent gliomas acquire more aggressive and therapy-resistant properties,making them more malignant,able to rapidly spread.The impact of SOX transcription factors(TFs)on brain tumors has been extensively studied in the last decade.Almost all SOX genes are expressed in GBM,and their expression levels are associated with patient prognosis and survival.Numerous SOX TFs are involved in the maintenance of the stemness of GSCs or play a role in the initiation of GSC differentiation.The fine-tuning of SOX gene expression levels controls the balance between cell stemness and differentiation.Therefore,innovative therapies targeting SOX TFs are emerging as promising tools for combatting GBM.Combatting GBM has been a demanding and challenging goal for decades.The current therapeutic strategies have not yet provided a cure for GBM and have only resulted in a slight improvement in patient survival.Novel approaches will require the fine adjustment of multimodal therapeutic strategies that simultaneously target numerous hallmarks of cancer cells to win the battle against GBM.

Retinoic acid affects basic cellular processes and SOX2 and SOX18 expression in breast carcinoma cells

Genetic and molecular heterogeneity,together with intrinsic and acquired resistance to therapy,represent the major obstacles to the successful treatment of different types of breast carcinoma.Increasing evidence demonstrates that SOX transcription factors in breast carcinomas could act both as oncogenes and tumor suppressors and have been associated with tumor stage and grade,poor prognosis,and therapy resistance.Both SOX2 and SOX18 overexpression has been correlated with poor prognosis in breast carcinomas,and these genes are recognized as potential antitumor targets.Our aim was to evaluate the effect of retinoic acid(RA),a well-known cyto-differentiating agent,on breast carcinoma cells in vitro and to investigate the potential of RA treatment to modify the expression of SOX2 and SOX18 genes.By applying various experimental approaches,we evaluated the effect of RA on basic cellular processes in SK-BR-3 and MCF7 breast carcinoma cell lines.We have shown that RA inhibits cell growth,reduces the number of Ki-67 positive cells,and causes cell-cycle arrest.RA effect was more prominent in SK-BR-3 cell line that lacks SOX2 expression,including a higher decrease in cell viability,reduction in colony formation,and significant remodeling of cellular structure.We have shown that RA treatment led to the downregulation of SOX2 expression in MCF7 cells and to the reduction of SOX18 expression in both cell lines.By functional analysis,we showed that the anti-proliferative effect of RA in both cell lines was not based on the activity of stemness marker SOX2,pointing to a SOX2-independent mechanism of action.The ability of RA to reduce SOX2/SOX18 expression raises the possibility that these genes can be used as biomarkers to distinguish RA-responders from non-responders.Together,our study shows that the response of breast carcinoma cell lines to RA treatment may vary,highlighting that the development of RA-based therapy should consider differences in breast carcinoma subtypes.

Optimization of Quantizer’s Segment Threshold Using Spline Approximations for Optimal Compressor Function

In this paper, the optimization of quantizer’s segment threshold is done. The quantizer is designed on the basis of approximative spline functions. Coefficients on which we form approximative spline functions are calculated by minimization mean square error (MSE). For coefficients determined in this way, spline functions by which optimal compressor function is approximated are obtained. For the quantizer designed on the basis of approximative spline functions, segment threshold is numerically determined depending on maximal value of the signal to quantization noise ratio (SQNR). Thus, quantizer with optimized segment threshold is achieved. It is shown that by quantizer model designed in this way and proposed in this paper, the SQNR that is very close to SQNR of nonlinear optimal companding quantizer is achieved.

Insights into platinum-induced peripheral neuropathy–current perspective

Cancer is a global health problem that is often successfully addressed by therapy, with cancer survivors increasing in numbers and living longer world around. Although new cancer treatment options are continuously explored, platinum based chemotherapy agents remain in use due to their efficiency and availability. Unfortunately, all cancer therapies affect normal tissues as well as cancer, and more than 40 specific side effects of platinum based drugs documented so far decrease the quality of life of cancer survivors. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is a frequent side effects of platinum-based chemotherapy agents. This cluster of complications is often so debilitating that patients occasionally have to discontinue the therapy. Sensory neurons of dorsal root ganglia are at the core of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy symptoms. In these postmitotic cells, DNA damage caused by platinum chemotherapy interferes with normal functioning. Accumulation of DNA-platinum adducts correlates with neurotoxic severity and development of sensation of pain. While biochemistry of DNA-platinum adducts is the same in all cell types, molecular mechanisms affected by DNA-platinum adducts are different in cancer cells and non-dividing cells. This review aims to raise awareness about platinum associated chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy as a medical problem that has remained unexplained for decades. We emphasize the complexity of this condition both from clinical and mechanistical point of view and focus on recent findings about chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in in vitro and in vivo model systems. Finally, we summarize current perspectives about clinical approaches for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy treatment.

Torrential flood prevention in the Kolubara river basin

One of the most vulnerable parts to natural hazards in Serbia is Kolubara river basin. In the past, during the period from 1929 to 2013, 121 torrential flood events in the Kolubara river basin were recorded which show that this territory is extremely vulnerable to the torrential floods. The extreme event which occurred in May 2014 causing the catastrophic material damages and casualties was the latest and historical flood. The analysis of natural conditions in the Kolubara basin uniformly showed that this area is predisposed to a greater number of torrential floods due to its geomorphological, hydrological and land use properties. Torrential floods are closely related to the intensity and spatial distribution of erosive processes in the upper part of the Kolubara basin. The estimation of soil erosion potential is generally achieved by Erosion Potential Model(EPM). For the purposes of determining the degree of torrential properties in various water streams in the Kolubara basin, the calculation ofsusceptibility to torrential floods was assessed by Flash Flood Potential Index(FFPI). More than half of the basin area(57.2%) is located within the category of very weak and weak erosion(Z_(sr) = 0.35), but the category of medium erosion is geospatially very common. Such a distribution of medium erosion category provides conditions for generating, i.e. production of sediment which would boost torrential properties of water streams. After the classification of the obtained FFPI values it was determined that 25% of the Kolubara basin is very susceptible to torrents and this data should be seriously taken into consideration. Based on the analyses, the best and most successful manner of defence is prevention which consists of the integrated river basin management system(integrated torrent control system) so that technical works in hydrographic networks of torrents and biological and biotechnical works on the slope of the basin would be the best solution. Permanent control of erosive and torrential processes in the river basin will be not only important for flood control but it can also protect the existing and future water reservoirs and retentions fromsiltation with erosion sediment which is of great significance to the water management, agriculture, energy sector, and the entire society.

Synthesis and characterization of BaTiO_3/α-Fe_2O_3 core/shell structure

Multiferroic materials attracted a lot of attention in recent years because of their significant scientific interest and technological applications. The multiferroic core/shell powders have a better connectivity between the phases, resulting in superior dielectric and magneto electric properties. In this study, the influence of preparation condition on structure and properties of BaTiO_3/α-Fe_2 O_3 core/shell composite materials was examined. The five samples were obtained by varying synthesis conditions, such as synthesized method(co-precipitation and sonochemical method) and pH values of solution. XRD and Raman spectroscopy analyses were performed in order to determine phase composition and structural changes within samples. Morphology modifications were examined by SEM and EDS analyses. Finally, effect of structural and microstructural changes on magnetic and electrical properties was detected and explained.

利用浮质方法将硝酸盐和PDDA-Pt(IV)复合溶液合成纯净及Pt掺杂的ZnO颗粒(英文)

Pure and Pt-doped ZnO nanophase particles were synthesized using the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. Particles were obtained through decomposition of zinc nitrate and new developed Pt（IV） complex with 1,3-propylenediamine-N,N-diacetate ligand （pdda） belonging to the tetradentate class. The complex is characterized by elemental analysis, electronic absorption and infrared spectra. The crystal structure of trans-[Pt（pdda）Br2]·H2O complex has been determined implying that Pt（IV） ion has a distorted octahedral coordination due to intramolecular N-H ...Br interaction. Ultrasonically derived pure and Pt-doped ZnO particles were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS and TEM analysis. It was shown that zincite phase exhibits different growing morphologies influenced by precursor chemistry and processing parameters. The composite inner structure, primary particle size and mechanism of Pt 4+ ion introducing into ZnO cell is discussed based on structural refinement and selected area electron diffraction analysis.

Mating behavior as an indicator of quality of Drosophila subobscura males？

According to current theoretical predictions, any deleterious mutations that reduce nonsexual fitness may have a negative influence on mating success. This means that sexual selection may remove deleterious mutations from the populations. Males of good genetic quality should be more successful in mating, compared to the males of lower genetic quality. As mating success is a condition dependent trait, large fractions of the genome may be a target of sexual selection and many behavioral traits are likely to be condition dependent. We manipulated the genetic quality of Drosophila subobscura males by inducing mutations with ionizing radiation and observed the effects of the obtained heterozygous mutations on male mating behavior： courtship occurrence, courtship latency, mating occurrence, latency to mating and duration of mating. We found possible effects of mutations. Females mated more frequently with male progeny of nonirradiated males and that these males courted females faster compared to the male progeny of irradiated males. Our findings indicate a possible important role of sexual selection in purging deleterious mutations.

Decision Support for Integrated Management of Local-Level Adaptation to Climate Changes: The Case of Serbia

Projected climate changes will additionally increase the already significant risk of natural hazard-related disasters in Serbia and the west Balkan region as a whole.Serbia is about to introduce the strategy for climate change adaptation and mitigation.However,a national decision-support system for implementation of the climate change law and strategy is yet to be developed.This study contributes to the implementation of adaptation policies at subnational levels by development of a decision-support model for local-level management of the climate change adaptation process.The study explores the potential for synergetic application of multicriteria decision making analysis and probabilistic reasoning methods by focusing on Bayesian networks,analytical hierarchy processes,and geographic information systems for selection of priority adaptation measures.The study was based on the formation of causal chains,which enable linking management decisions and socioeconomic or biophysical consequences into articulated sequences of conditional relationships.A model was tested in the forestry sector,and it clearly pointed out development of an early warning system and planning of water intake basins as priority adaptation measures.Since the results are shown as a probability distribution for each alternative solutions,the model can assist decision makers with prompt evaluation of various scenarios.

Evaluation of Earthquake Emergency Plan Based on SD Model

Based on the system dynamics(SD) model, this paper puts forward a quantitative method to evaluate the earthquake emergency plan in China. Firstly, we analyze the disaster system structure and the content of plan. Using the analysis results, we establish a system dynamics(SD) model and then carry out its simulation. According to the simulation results, the rescue effect using the plan of 2012 is better than that of 2006. From the policy level, in order to reduce loss, government should maintain communication smoothly, improve the ability of self and mutual help, strengthen the management of public opinion, and pay more attention to secondary disasters.

Integer Codes Correcting Single Errors and Random Asymmetric Errors within a Byte

In optical networks without optical amplifiers(ONWOAs) photons may fade or fail to be detected, but new photons cannot be generated. Hence, under normal conditions, only 1 → 0 errors can occur. However, in some situations, the photodetector may generate a false 0 → 1 error. This mostly occurs in cases when the dark current is higher than specified. With this in mind, in this paper,the authors present a class of codes suitable for use in ONWOAs using self-synchronous scramblers.The presented codes can correct single errors and random asymmetric(1 → 0) errors within a b-bit byte. Unlike classical codes, these codes use integer and lookup table operations. As a result, their interleaved version, implemented on a dual-core 3.0 GHz processor, achieves the theoretical throughput above the operating rate of 10 G networks.