Stone “Tenelija” is categorized as oolitic limestone. This stone was used to build a number of constructions in Herzegovina, and one of the most famous is the “Old Bridge” in Mostar. The stone is characterized by its specific physical and mechanical characteristics. Stone “Tenelija” has low uniaxial compression strength, low modulus of elasticity, large porosity, big influence of water on its uniaxial strength, and yet many objects that were built hundreds of years ago, form this rock, still stand. The paper presents the laboratory testing of physical and mechanical characteristics of the samples of various sizes, with all specificities. Also, mutual correlations of the results was analyzed and presented.

Efficient roadway management requires knowledge of the structural capacity of the roadway or the load-bearing capacity of the pavement structure. In order to determine the existing conditions of the pavement structure and define appropriate intervention measures, it is necessary to determine relevant impact on surface of the pavement structure on homogeneous road section. The aim of study is to investigate influence of distance between measurement spots of deflection to the value of relevant deflection. Based on calculation of representative deflections, error values were obtained depending on range of deflection measurements spots and subsections length considered.The key question is whether it is possible to obtain qualitative and quantitative data on the basis of which the structural state of the overall network with acceptable error can be estimated by increasing distance between measurements spots.

Excess dietary salt contributes to inflammation and hypertension via poorly understood mechanisms. Antigen presenting cells including dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in regulating intestinal immune homeostasis in part by surveying the gut epithelial surface for pathogens. Previously, we found that highly reactive γ-ketoaldehydes or isolevuglandins (IsoLGs) accumulate in DCs and act as neoantigens, promoting an autoimmune-like state and hypertension. We hypothesized that excess dietary salt alters the gut microbiome leading to hypertension and this is associated with increased immunogenic IsoLG-adduct formation in myeloid antigen presenting cells. To test this hypothesis, we performed fecal microbiome analysis and measured blood pressure of healthy human volunteers with salt intake above or below the American Heart Association recommendations. We also performed 16S rRNA analysis on cecal samples of mice fed normal or high salt diets. In humans and mice, high salt intake was associated with changes in the gut microbiome reflecting an increase in Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and genus Prevotella bacteria. These alterations were associated with higher blood pressure in humans and predisposed mice to vascular inflammation and hypertension in response to a sub-pressor dose of angiotensin II. Mice fed a high salt diet exhibited increased intestinal inflammation including the mesenteric arterial arcade and aorta, with a marked increase in the B7 ligand CD86 and formation of IsoLG-protein adducts in CD11c+ myeloid cells. Adoptive transfer of fecal material from conventionally housed high salt-fed mice to germ-free mice predisposed them to increased intestinal inflammation and hypertension. These findings provide novel insight into the mechanisms underlying inflammation and hypertension associated with excess dietary salt and may lead to interventions targeting the microbiome to prevent and treat this important disease.

There are dozens of definitions of smart furniture with meanings that vary greatly. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide an exact definition of the phrase “smart furniture” based on literature and patent analysis. Why a definition? Because by providing a good definition, we have a statement that captures the meaning, the use, the function, and the essence of a term or a concept and allows the impacts on stakeholders to be described. A literature search was undertaken between 20 July 2018 and 31 August 2018, and the databases searched included SCOPUS, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore (1998–2017), which were searched by keywords that included the phrase “smart furniture.” Patent searching was performed in the ESPACENET database, where 226 articles from scientific databases and 737 patent applications were examined. After the application of strict criteria, we obtained 23 articles and six patents containing meaningful definitions of smart furniture. Based on the results, smart furniture should be defined as designed, networked furniture that is equipped with an intelligent system or is controller operated with the user’s data and energy sources. Smart furniture needs to have the ability to communicate and anticipate a user’s needs using a plurality of sensors and actuators inside the user’s environment, resulting in user-adapted furniture. The research results and discussion presented in this paper are based on the recognition that the smart furniture research has great policymaking, technological, and economy potential while contributing to the user’s wellbeing and Quality of Life (QoL). This paper indicates that the collaboration between the ICT and social-economic research has to be initiated and consolidated in a sustainable way or in an environment that satisfies the needs expressed by the user.

While insulting opponents is not something alien to politicians and political campaigns, Donald Trump has added a new dimension to it by making it almost a part of his daily routine. Moreover, his insults are often blatant and outright, rather than subtle and disguised, which sets a new tone to political discourse. The goal of this paper is to establish whether his insults are random rants meant to vent his anger and frustration with his critics and political adversaries, or rather a part of a calculated strategy aimed at political gain. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the corpus, which consists of 915 tweets published by Trump over a four-month period, and which was done within the methodological framework of the speech act theory and, in part, cognitive linguistics, show that Trump’s insults are not based on impulsivity and randomness. The results also suggest that, based on the way the illocutionary effect of insulting is achieved, his insults are realized in three distinct patterns: derogatory nicknaming, conventional and indirect insults. The recurring framing of political opponents by means of derogatory nickname-calling, by far the most common type of insults identified in this study, reveals a higher-level agenda on the addressor’s side. His intention is to methodically discredit the targets of his insults in the eyes of the third party, whose role and reaction in this type of political discourse become even more prominent than that of the insulted party.

Copper sulfate has been used for many years as an algaecide and parasite treatment. The usage of copper has certain issues as there is a thin line that separates effective treatment levels from overdoses. Copper sulfate can be extremely toxic to fish under certain conditions. This study is focused on the effects of copper sulfate on some blood indices in Oncorhynchus mykiss during a 24 hour period. Our research used one procedure 40 Oncorhynchus mykiss with the average weight of 220 ±10 g. The experimental group had 20 fish that were treated with the blue vitriol (dose of 0,012 g/40l), during a 24 hour period. The control group had 20 fish. The presence of copper in the water leads to the significant increase of erythrocyte, hemoglobin, MCHC and leukocyte levels while the MCV levels were noted to be considerably low. Monocytes, unsegmented and segmented granylocites were significantly increased in the experimental group of fish. Lymphocyte count was considerably reduced in the same group of fish.

The set of 55 ancestry informative SNPs (AISNPs) originally developed by the Kidd Lab has been studied on a large number of populations and continues to be applied to new population samples. The existing reference database of population samples allows the relationships of new population samples to be inferred on a global level. Analyses show that these autosomal markers constitute one of the better panels of AISNPs. Continuing to build this reference database enhances its value. Because more than half of the 25 ethnic groups recently studied with these AISNPs are from Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, we present here various analyses focused on populations from these regions along with selected reference populations from nearby regions where genotype data are available. Many of these ethnic groups have not been previously studied for forensic markers. Data on populations from other world regions have also been added to the database but are not included in these focused analyses. The new population samples added to ALFRED and FROG-kb increase the total to 164 population samples that have been studied for all 55 AISNPs.

Graph signal processing deals with signals which are observed on an irregular graph domain. While many approaches have been developed in classical graph theory to cluster vertices and segment large graphs in a signal independent way, signal localization based approaches to the analysis of data on graph represent a new research direction which is also a key to big data analytics on graphs. To this end, after an overview of the basic definitions in graphs and graph signals, we present and discuss a localized form of the graph Fourier transform. To establish an analogy with classical signal processing, spectral- and vertex-domain definitions of the localization window are given next. The spectral and vertex localization kernels are then related to the wavelet transform, followed by a study of filtering and inversion of the localized graph Fourier transform. For rigour, the analysis of energy representation and frames in the localized graph Fourier transform is extended to the energy forms of vertex-frequency distributions, which operate even without the need to apply localization windows. Another link with classical signal processing is established through the concept of local smoothness, which is subsequently related to the particular paradigm of signal smoothness on graphs. This all represents a comprehensive account of the relation of general vertex-frequency analysis with classical time-frequency analysis, and important but missing link for more advanced applications of graphs signal processing. The theory is supported by illustrative and practically relevant examples.