The article analyzes the implementation of dialogicality in the artistic discourse referring to dialogue as a form of explication of dialogicity in text communication, as a special type of speech interaction which serves as the most relevant means of verbalizing the speaker’s communicative intentions and is represented by a question/answer complex of stimulus/reaction exchange. Based on the voluminous factual material, the explication of dialogic intentions is traced in two typological registers of communication: tolerant and a-tolerant; it is indicated that, on the one hand, the addressant/addressee continuum of speech interaction conveys a be-nevolent atmosphere and expresses the modality of interlocutors’ mutual understanding and tolerant attitude about themselves being realized through various modal-intentional utterances, primarily interrogative, and stimulating and optative constructions, the use of which contributes to the progress of the communicative process; on the other hand, there is a-tolerant register – a natural phenomenon that reflects the imbalance in relations between communicating parties, the principled incompatibility of views, a conflict in general, represented by counter-questions, echo-questions, evil wishes incentive imperatives, invectives, etc.

Heavy metal pollution of soil is a significant environmental problem and has a negative impact on human health and agriculture. Phytoremediation can be an alternative environmental treatment technology, using the natural ability of plants to take up and accumulate pollutants or transform them. Proper development of plants in contaminated areas (e.g. heavy metals) requires them to generate the appropriate protective mechanisms against the toxic effects of these pollutants. This paper presents an overview of the physiological mechanisms of stress avoidance and tolerance by plants used in phytoremediation of heavy metals.

Irrigation of cultivated plants can be a source of toxic lithium to plants. The data on the effect of lithium uptake on plants are scant, that is why a research was undertaken with the aim to determine maize ability to bioaccumulate lithium. The research was carried out under hydroponic conditions. The experimental design comprised 10 concentrations in solution differing with lithium concentrations in the aqueous solution (ranging from 0.0 to 256.0 mg Li ∙ dm-3 of the nutrient solution). The parameters based on which lithium bioretention by maize was determined were: the yield, lithium concentration in various plant parts, uptake and utilization of this element, tolerance index (TI) and translocation factor (TF), metal concentrations in the above-ground parts index (CI) and bioaccumulation factor (BAF). Depression in yielding of maize occurred only at the highest concentrations of lithium. Lithium concentration was the highest in the roots, lower in the stems and leaves, and the lowest in the inflorescences. The values of tolerance index and EC50 indicated that roots were the most resistant organs to lithium toxicity. The values of translocation factor were indicative of intensive export of lithium from the roots mostly to the stems. The higher uptake of lithium by the above-ground parts than by the roots, which primarily results from the higher yield of these parts of the plants, supports the idea of using maize for lithium phytoremediation.

Isatis cappadocica Desv. is a newly found As-hyperaccumulator showing very high remediation efficiency in polluted soils. We studied the effects of arsenic at 0-1400 μM concentrations on seed germination, relative root length, relative shoot height, and root and shoot biomass in young seedlings of I. cappadocica. The seeds were from Iranian arsenic-contaminated mine spoils and from a non-contaminated population. The control for reference was brassica (Descurenia sofia). Germination decreased significantly versus the control with increasing arsenic concentrations. The response to arsenic exposure differed between the I. cappadocica populations and D. sofia. I. cappadocica from mine spoil seeds showed strong resistance to the highest As concentration, with no adverse effects until the 1000 μM dose. Germination from non-mine seeds of I. cappadocica decreased to 89.6% at 1400 μM As. D. sofia germination was completely inhibited at 400 μM As. Relative root length (RRL) and relative shoot height (RSH) decreased with increasing As concentration. Overall, RRL correlated with RSH. Shoot height and root length were more sensitive to arsenic than other endpoints, and might be used as arsenic toxicity indicators. I. cappadocica showed more As tolerance than the reference brassica.

As a result of the development of modern vehicles, even higher accuracy standards are demanded. As known, Inertial Navigation Systems have an intrinsic increasing error which is the main reason of using integrating navigation systems, where some other sources of measurements are utilized, such as barometric altimeter due to its high accuracy in short times of interval. Using a Robust Kalman Filter (RKF), error measurements are absorbed when a Fault Tolerant Altimeter is implemented. During simulations, in order to test the Nonlinear RKF algorithm, two kind of measurement malfunction scenarios have been taken into consideration; continuous bias and measurement noise increment. Under the light of the results, some recommendations are proposed when integrated altimeters are used.

Measurement data obtained from Weigh-in-Motion systems support protection of road pavements from the adverse phenomenon of vehicle overloading. For this protection to be effective, WIM systems must be accurate and obtain a certificate of metrological legalization. Unfortunately there is no legal standard for accuracy assessment of Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) systems. Due to the international range of road transport, it is necessary to standardize methods and criteria applied for assessing such systems’ accuracy. In our paper we present two methods of determining accuracy of WIM systems. Both are based on the population of weighing errors determined experimentally during system testing. The first method is called a reliability characteristic and was developed by the authors. The second method is based on determining boundaries of the tolerance interval for weighing errors. Properties of both methods were assessed on the basis of simulation studies as well as experimental results obtained from a 16-sensor WIM system.

Constantly increasing prevalence of allergic diseases determines the attempts to elaborate the therapeutic strategies activating immune tolerance to particular allergen. Our current research focuses on the antigen-specifi c action of CD8+ suppressor T (Ts) lymphocytes induced in mice by intravenous administration of a high dose of haptenated syngeneic erythrocytes. While the regulatory activity of Ts cells mediated by exosome-delivered miRNA-150 is well defi ned, the mechanism of their induction remained unclear. Th erefore, the current studies investigated the immune eff ects induced in mice by intravenous administration of contact allergens coupled to syngeneic erythrocytes. In mouse models of hapten-induced contact hypersensitivity (CHS) and delayed-type hypersensitivity to ovalbumin, we have shown that intravenous administration of hapten-coupled erythrocytes failed to induce CHS effector cells. Moreover, hapten-induced CHS reaction occurred to be suppressed in mice intravenously administered with syngeneic erythrocytes coupled with protein allergen. Finally, we have demonstrated that intravenously administered allergen induces immune tolerance only when bound to syngeneic erythrocytes, proving that intravenously delivered allergens are deprived of their immunizing properties when coupled with membrane of self cells. Altogether, our current studies suggest that alteration of self cell membrane by allergen binding is enough to induce Ts cell-mediated immune tolerance to nonpathogenic agents, which express a great translational potential in such conditions as allergies and hypersensitivity-related autoimmune disorders.

Clients’ satisfaction with financial advice provided by professional advisors depends on how this advice has fulfilled their expectations and goals. However, once a recommendation is made, a client is unable to predict and evaluate the real financial outcome of the advisor’s proposal. In such a case, she/he can base her/his assessment on the characteristics ascribed to the financial advisor: her/his epistemic authority (competence) and level of caring. Additionally, clients expect to receive a “tailor-made” solution that takes into account her/his individual needs and characteristics. In the present study, we asked participants to evaluate financial experts who had recommended risky vs safe investments. The recommendations were congruent or incongruent with the clients’ risk tolerance (high vs low). The kind of recommendation influenced the participants’ evaluations of the advisors (and as a result, the clients’ perceived satisfaction) only for low-risk tolerance clients. For these clients, investment recommendations that were not adjusted to their levels of risk tolerance led to lower evaluations of the advisors and consequently to lower evaluation of satisfaction with their visits. These lower evaluations regarded both dimensions: the interpersonal aspect (caring) and competence in the field of finance (epistemic authority). Such incongruence between risk tolerance and the riskiness of the recommendation did not affect high-risk tolerance clients’ advisor evaluations.

Digitaria insularis (sourgrass) is a monocotyledon weed of difficult control and high invasive behavior. Atrazine is widely applied in the Americas to control weeds in maize culture, but its efficiency against D. insularis is limited. The incorporation of atrazine into poly(epsilon-caprolactone) nanocapsules increased the herbicidal activity against susceptible weeds; however, the potential of this nanoformulation to control atrazine-tolerant weeds including D. insularis has not yet been tested. Here, we evaluated the post-emergent herbicidal activity of nanoatrazine against D. insularis plants during initial developmental stages. The study was carried out in a greenhouse, using pots filled with clay soil. Plants with two or four expanded leaves were treated with conventional or nanoencapsulated atrazine at 50 or 100% of the recommended dosage (1,000 or 2,000 g ∙ ha−1), followed by the evaluation of physiological, growth, and control parameters of the plants. Compared with conventional herbicide, both dosages of nanoatrazine induced greater and faster inhibition of D. insularis photosystem II activity at both developmental stages. Atrazine nanoencapsulation also improved the control of D. insularis plants, especially in the stage with two expanded leaves. In addition, nanoatrazine led to higher decreases of dry weight of fourleaved plants than atrazine. The use of the half-dosage of nanoatrazine was equally or more efficient in affecting most of the evaluated parameters than the conventional formulation at full dosage. Overall, these results suggest that the nanoencapsulation of atrazine potentiated its post-emergent herbicidal activity against D. insularis plants at initial developmental stages, favoring the control of this atrazine-tolerant weed.

Clarifying the genetic background of the drought-tolerance trait is a crucial task that may help to improve plant performance under stress by a genetic engineering approach. Dehydration-responsive element-binding protein (DREB) is a transcription factor family which modulates many stress-responsive genes. In this study, we isolated a DREB homolog gene named ZmDREBtv from Zea mays var. Tevang-1. Using bioinformatic tools, a number of InDels and SNPs in ZmDREBtv sequence different from the reference accession were identified. In addition, based on deduced protein sequence similarity, ZmDREBtv was assigned to transcription factor DREB2 class as featured by a conserved DNA binding domain - AP2. The ZmDREBtv construct under thecontrol of the rd29A promoter was transformed into a drought-sensitive maize plant, K7 line. The transgenic plants were assessed with reference to molecular and phenotypic characteristics related to the drought-tolenrance trait. The results proved that the maize plants carrying ZmDREBtv gene showed enhanced tolerance and better performance to the water-deficit environment at different stages, compared to the wild-type plants.

The paper presents the result of an evaluation of the performance of different message broker system configurations, which lead to the construction of the specific architecture guidelines for such systems. The examples are provided for an exemplary middleware messaging server software - RabbitMQ, set in high availability - enabling and redundant configurations. Rabbit MQ is a message queuing system realizing the middleware for distributed systems that implements the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol. The scalability and high availability design issues are discussed and the possible cluster topologies and their impact is presented. Since HA and performance scalability requirements are in conflict, scenarios for using clustered RabbitMQ nodes and mirrored queues are interesting and have to be considered with specific workloads and requirements in mind. The results of performance measurements for some topologies are also reported in this article.