The realization of inclusive education at the preschool age is an important effort within the school system of a country. It has been established that inclusive education has a stimulating effect on ...children with disabilities, as well as on typically developing children. Because of this, it is necessary to start with its realization at the preschool age. The paper presents the results of empirical research conducted on a sample of 763 parents of children attending preschool institutions in the territory of eastern and southeastern Serbia, which were collected using an assessment scale specially constructed for this research. Bearing in mind the importance of the formation of positive attitudes of parents as key actors in the upbringing of typically developing children, who should represent to their children a model of adequate behavior towards persons with developmental disabilities, the research aims to examine the attitudes of parents about inclusion in the system of state preschool institutions. It was established that the majority of parents recognize the most significant advantages of inclusion and the prerequisite for achieving inclusion in the context of institutional preschool education. When it comes to obstacles to achieving inclusive education, it was found that parents recognize them to a lesser extent. Also, it was established that there are statistically significant differences in parents' responses to certain items concerning the variables of gender, age, and level of education. The findings of this research can represent a good starting point for improving existing institutional practice in the context of inclusive education.
Cruelty to animals is a complex phenomenon that causes negative consequences
for both animals and children who are prone to such behaviour. A timely and
adequate reaction of key actors, who influence ...the upbringing of children
and those responsible for the protection of victims, is necessary to prevent
unfavourable outcomes for both victims and perpetrators. The paper aims to
point out the specifics of animal cruelty, theoretical explanations of this
phenomenon, as well as risk and related factors that are important for
understanding the phenomenon. Special attention in the paper is paid to
considering the possibility of preventive action to prevent and suppress
animal cruelty.
Cross-talk between phytohormones and sugars is intensely involved in plant metabolism, growth and regeneration. We documented alterations in cytokinin (CK) homeostasis in four developmental stages ...during de novo shoot organogenesis (DNSO) of kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes cv. Vienna Purple) seedlings induced by exogenous CKs, trans-zeatin (transZ) and thidiazuron (TDZ), added together with elevated sucrose concentration (6% and 9%). Significant impact of CK and sucrose treatment and their interaction was recorded in all investigated stages, including plantlet development before calli formation (T1 and T2), calli formation (T3) and shoot regeneration (T4). Results showed remarkable increase in total CK levels for transZ treatment, particularly with 9% sucrose. This trend was observed for all physiological and structural groups of CKs. Application of TDZ contributed to little or no increase in CK levels regardless of sucrose concentration. Analysis of expression profiles of organogenesis-related genes involved in auxin transport, CK response, shoot apical meristem formation and cell division revealed that higher sugar concentration significantly downregulated the analysed genes, particularly in T3. This continued on TDZ, but transZ induced an opposite effect with 9% sucrose in T4, increasing gene activity. Our results demonstrated that phytohormone metabolism might be triggered by sucrose signalling in kohlrabi DNSO.
•Lead sorption by the natural and Fe(III)-modified zeolite was studied.•Sorption kinetics, thermodynamics and irreversibility are described.•Lead sorption by both sorbents is primarily ...irreversible.•Sorption involves ion exchange, surface complexation and co-precipitation.•Presence of amorphous iron in Fe(III)-modified zeolite enhances sorption of lead.
The influence of contact time, temperature and particle size on lead sorption by the natural and Fe(III)-modified zeolites was investigated. Characterization of the natural and Fe(III)-modified zeolite before and after lead sorption was performed by determination of textural properties, by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy in energy-dispersive mode (SEM–EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) analysis. Lead sorption kinetics at 303–333K, best represented by the pseudo-second order model and activation energy (13.5 and 8.5kJ/mol for the natural and Fe(III)-modified zeolite respectively) confirmed an activated chemical sorption. Desorption experiments indicated that lead was irreversibly sorbed on both zeolites. XRPD, TEM and SEM results showed that modification of the natural zeolite with Fe(III) ions did not change its crystal structure and iron is mainly located at the zeolite surface, likely in form of amorphous iron oxy-hydroxides. Specific surface area significantly increases after modification of the natural zeolite with Fe(III) ions (from 30.2 for the natural to 52.5m2/g for Fe(III)-modified zeolite). Characterization of both lead saturated sorbents suggested that besides ion exchange, lead is both chemisorbed and precipitated at their surfaces, and presence of amorphous iron in Fe(III)-modified zeolite favors sorption of lead.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) is a herbaceous plant from family Astereaceae, that has a long history of use in traditional medicine. The genus name Achillea is derived from greek mythology. ...Namely, the famous military leader, Achilles, carried it with his army to treat battle wounds. The subject of this study was the research of ethnopharmacological application of yarrow in the Pirot county. The study was conducted in the form of surveys among the population in four municipalities: Pirot, Babušnica, Bela Palanka and Dimitrovgrad. It was noticed that yarrow is one of ten best known medicinal plant species in the Pirot county. It is usualy used in the form of herbal tea against stomach diseases, especially for stomach, for appetite, improving immunity, and fresh herb in the form of compress for wounds.
Plant hormones regulate numerous developmental and physiological processes. Abiotic stresses considerably affect production and distribution of phytohormones as the stress signal triggers. The ...homeostasis of plant hormones is controlled by their de novo synthesis and catabolism. The aim of this work was to analyse the contents of total and individual groups of endogenous cytokinins (CKs) as well as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in AtCKX overexpressing centaury plants grown in vitro on graded NaCl concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 mM). The levels of endogenous stress hormones including abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) were also detected. The elevated contents of total CKs were found in all analysed centaury shoots. Furthermore, increased amounts of all five CK groups, as well as enhanced total CKs were revealed on graded NaCl concentrations in non-transformed and AtCKX roots. All analysed AtCKX centaury lines exhibited decreased amounts of endogenous IAA in shoots and roots. Consequently, the IAA/bioactive CK forms ratios showed a significant variation in the shoots and roots of all AtCKX lines. In shoots and roots of both non-transformed and AtCKX transgenic centaury plants, salinity was associated with an increase of ABA and JA and a decrease of SA content.
The significance of minor constituents of essential oils (EOs) for antibacterial activity by chemometric methods principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) was ...researched. In this study, the antibacterial activity of six EOs from Achillea and Artemisia species was evaluated on nine laboratory control bacterial strains. Gas Chromatographic-Mass Spectrometric (GC/MS) data showed that these samples have similar chemical compositions, with highest content of oxygenated monoterpenes and lowest content of oxygenated sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons. The strongest clustering is observed for Achillea millefolium and Achillea crithmifolia EOs. In PCA analysis, these two EOs are located at the considerable distance away from all of the other samples of EOs, indicating that their composition and activity differs significantly from the other samples. All bacteria for assessment of antimicrobial activity are grouped to the left side of the plot, located diametrically opposite to group I. This unique location can be pointed out as a reason for the lowest activity against bacteria, suggesting that the dominant EO components may not determine antibacterial activity. These findings were suggesting that the minor compounds (oxygenated sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons) or a combination thereof were possibly responsible for the complete antibacterial activity of EOs.
•The importance of essential oil minor components for antibacterial activity was done.•In study principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis were used.•All studied essential oils contained predominantly oxygenated monoterpenes.•The minor compounds were oxygenated sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons.•The minor compounds were possibly responsible for the antibacterial activity of EOs.
The objective of the present study was to assess the difference in antimicrobial activity of Satureja kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuff. essential oil at three growth stages. In addition, using statistical ...and chemometric tools, we tried to explain why the essential oil from a certain vegetation stage shows the highest antimicrobial activity. S. kitaibelii essential oils demonstrated minimum inhibitory concentration values from 160 to 10000 μg mL−1, and minimum microbicidal concentration values from 630 to 20000 μg mL−1. Geraniol, borneol, limonene and p‐cymene are the dominant compounds of S. kitaibelii essential oil. The most abundant compound, geraniol, possesses antimicrobial activity in a range of MIC values from 40 to 5000 μg mL−1 and MMC values from 80 to 10000 μg mL−1. The highest activity of essential oil for all tested strains of microorganisms was recorded in November. Results of statistical analysis indicate that the percentage of dominant compounds of essential oils does not affect the antibacterial activity of essential oils. Chemometric analyses leads to the conclusion that borneol, spathulenol, caryophyllene oxide and limonene can be the main contributors to the antibacterial activity of essential oil from November and that their mutual ratio is important. These results may represent a new methodological approach for future research on essential oils.
The rhizosphere represents a center of complex and dynamic interactions between plants and microbes, resulting in various positive effects on plant growth and development. However, less is known ...about the effects of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) on aquatic plants. In this study, we report the characterization of four
strains isolated from the rhizosphere of the common duckweed (
) with IAA-degradation and -utilization ability. Our results confirm previous reports on the negative effect of IAA on aquatic plants, contrary to the effect on terrestrial plants.
A3-104/5 demonstrated particularly beneficial traits, as it exhibited not only IAA-degrading and -producing activity but also a positive effect on the doubling time of duckweeds in the presence of IAA, positive chemotaxis in the presence of IAA, increased tolerance to oxidative stress in the presence of IAA and increased biofilm formation related to IAA. Similarly,
C31-106/3 significantly shortened the doubling time of duckweeds in the presence of IAA, while having a neutral effect in the absence of IAA. These traits are important in the context of plant-bacteria interactions and highlight the role of IAA as a common metabolite in these interactions, especially in aquatic environments where plants are facing unique challenges compared to their terrestrial counterparts. We conclude that IAA-degrading and -producing strains presented in this study might regulate IAA effects on aquatic plants and confer evolutionary benefits under adverse conditions (e.g., under oxidative stress, excess of IAA or nutrient scarcity).
In present paper, the influence of the initial pH and concentration of Pb2+ on its adsorption by the natural (NZA) and Fe(III)-modified zeolite-alginate beads (FeA) was studied. Results showed that ...modification of the starting materials have a positive effect on their adsorption capacities (102 and 136 mg/g for the NZA and FeA, respectively). After encapsulation, the mechanism of lead adsorption by both adsorbents was changed and ion exchange dominates. The best adsorption was achieved for initial pH > 3.8. Cation exchange capacity, structural properties, and hydrophobicity of samples were also determined, and the presence of the alginate has no significant influence on investigated properties of samples. Experiments on wastewater from tailings of lead and zinc mine Grot, Serbia, showed that after treatment with both adsorbents, the content of the most abundant heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Hg, and Mn) significantly decreased.
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