Abstract Prospects for democracy in multi-ethnic societies are generally more promising if elections are not mere ethnic censuses, in which people vote predominantly for co-ethnic parties and candidates. But what institutions facilitate or hinder ethnic voting? Unlike past studies, this article explores ethnic voting by conducting a natural experiment (rather than surveys or laboratory experiments). It examines the case of Fribourg, a bilingual (French/German) Swiss canton where elections at different levels of government, within the same electoral district, are held under both majoritarian and proportional systems. Coupled with the high territorial homogeneity of the linguistic groups, this unique setting allows us to conduct a robust empirical analysis of voter behaviour. We find that cross-ethnic voting is significantly more frequent in multi-member majoritarian elections than in list-PR elections or in two-member majoritarian elections. Our results yield qualified support to the centripetalist approach to electoral design in multi-ethnic societies, that favours majoritarian systems, rather than to the consociational school that advocates proportional representation.

One of the most important tasks associated with theoretical prediction of performance of explosives by thermochemical calculation is accurate description of the equation of state (EOS) of detonation products. Widely used empirical equations of state, such is Becker-Kistiakowsky-Wilson (BKW EOS), have limited accuracy when it comes to energetic materials with unusual elemental composition. -Replacing empirical EOS with more sophisticated and theoretically based EOS, the accuracy of thermochemical calculations can be increase. We present an equation of state of detonation products based on the Buckingham a-exponential-6 equation (Exp-6) and an analytical representation of the excess thermodynamic functions for classical fluid mixture. The excess Helmholtz free energy, as a function of reduced density, temperature, and stiffness parameter, is calculated applying KLRR perturbation statistical mechanical theory, and so obtained data are approximated by multinomial coefficients. The interpolation domain is defined so to describe accurately the range of pressures, densities, and temperatures relevant for detonation studies. The equation is incorporated in EXPLO5 thermochemical code. Good agreement with Monte-Carlo calculations is obtained, as well as between calculated and experimental detonation parameters for a series of explosives.

Cytological analysis of urine sediment is an integral part of urine analysis and a useful, cost-effective diagnostic tool for all routine clinical examinations, which can sometimes be overlooked in veterinary practice. Proper handling and timely urine sample analysis are essential for valid microscopic analysis. Microscopic urinary sediment testing is usually carried out with stained or unstained specimen. A common urine may contain a small number of cells (erythrocytes and leukocytes, epithelial cells) of several crystals, spermatozoids (male animals). In contrast, a large number of cells or casts, the presence of unusual types of crystals, neoplastic cells, parasites, and microorganisms include abnormal findings, requiring a specialized diagnostic approach. Correct identification of organic components of the urinary sediment are crucial for accurate and timely diagnosis of kidney disorders. Laboratory experts should be trained to properly identify and classify organic components of the urinary tract.

Bites of laboratory animals are treated as the bites of any other animals since the possibility of existence of pathogenic microorganisms, unfavorable for human health, in the rooms where these animals reside, is not excluded. A rare case of a laboratory rat bite, used for scientific research and previously infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa , is presented here. The patient's wound was located on the forefinger of his hand and was 1 cm long and up to 0.2 cm deep. The antitetanus prophylaxis was administered in an ambulance, including antibiotic therapy with amoxicillin-clavulanate per os. There exists a need for checks and special guidelines for the handling and retention of laboratory animals. The patient has successfully remedied the wound, thanks to consistent antibiotic therapy and antitetanus prophylaxis, and possible inflammatory complications were prevented .

Investigative studies of white matter (WM) brain structures using diffusion MRI (dMRI) tractography frequently require manual WM bundle segmentation, often called “virtual dissection”. Human errors and personal decisions make these manual segmentations hard to reproduce, which have not yet been quantified by the dMRI community. The contribution of this study is to provide the first large-scale, international, multi-center variability assessment of the “virtual dissection” of the pyramidal tract (PyT). Eleven (11) experts and thirteen (13) non-experts in neuroanatomy and “virtual dissection” were asked to perform 30 PyT segmentation and their results were compared using various voxel-wise and streamline-wise measures. Overall the voxel representation is always more reproducible than streamlines (≈70% and ≈35% overlap respectively) and distances between segmentations are also lower for voxel-wise than streamline-wise measures (¾3mm and ¾ûmm respectively). This needs to be seriously considered before using tract-based measures (e.g. bundle volume versus streamline count) for an analysis. We show and argue that future bundle segmentation protocols need to be designed to be more robust to human subjectivity. Coordinated efforts by the diffusion MRI tractography community are needed to quantify and account for reproducibility of WM bundle extraction techniques in this era of open and collaborative science.

Cattle farming, as one of the most important branches of livestock production, has longbeen confronted with the chronic problem of the decline in reproductive performances. In 2005, thenumber of cattle around the world amounted to about 1,370,000,000 heads of cattle, while in 2012this number was just over a billion, which indicates the importance of applying differentreproductive protocols in order to increase production. Heat stress leads to disorders of thephysiological and reproductive processes, as the rise in body temperature caused by heat stress hasdirect negative consequences on numerous cell functions. The study included a total of 54 Holstein-Friesian cows, 28 experimental and 26 control cows from PD Butmir farm with 5 lactations onaverage. Hormone protocols for estrus and ovulation were used in June and July 2013. Cows in theexperimental group were subjected to a Presynch + 5dCoS2 protocol. Cows that did not conceiveafter this protocol were immediately subjected to resynchronization with Cosynch -72 protocol. Thesuccess rate of the Presynch + 5dCoS2 protocol was 19%, while in the case of Cosynch 72 it was33%, which was statistically significant (p <0,05). The first presynchronization and synchronizationprotocol (5dCoS2) did not significantly help to improve the conception rate after the firstinsemination postpartum, but it is evident that they had a positive effect on another protocol (COS72)in the form of reduction in embryonic mortality in the summer months when embryonic loss is thegreatest.The COS72 protocol provides satisfactory results in the summer, but good fitness and healthmanagement, as well as heat stress reduction in accordance with the location and farm design arethe preconditions for a successful estrus and ovulation synchronization program prior to artificialinsemination.

Utjecaj gljiva truležnica roda Heterobasidion i Armillaria na pojavu truleži na stablima obične smreke provedeno je na Šumskogospodarskom području “Gornjebosansko”, gospodarska jedinica “Gornja Stavnja”, odjeljenje 65. Utvrđivanje prisutnosti truleži vršeno je na srušenim stablima obične smreke na premjernim površinama koje su raspoređene u sistematski postavljenoj mreži 100 m x 100 m. Uzorci su prikupljeni sa tri mjesta na dijelu debla zahvaćenom procesom truleži (početak zone truleži, sredina i vršna zona truleži). Na mjestima uzorkovanja uzimani su kolutovi drva debljine 5 cm. Analize uzoraka su provedene u laboratorijima Šumarskog fakulteta Univerziteta u Sarajevu. Za izravnu izolaciju gljivične DNA su pripremljeni uzroci drva mase 10-20 mg. Za amplifikaciju ciljanog segmenta DNK korištene su tubice s pripremljenim reagensima, proizvod ReadyToGo PCR beads tvrtke Amersham, Bioscience. Za amplifikaciju ciljanog segmenta ITS regije za rod Heterobasidion su korišteni početnice MJ-F, MJ-R, KJ-F i KJ-R, pomoću kojih je utvrđena međuvrsna raznolikost (tablica 2). Za amplifikaciju ciljanog segmenta ITS regiona za rod Armillaria su korišteni početnice ITS-1 i ITS-4, pomoću kojih je utvrđena samo pripadnost rodu. Za međuvrsnu raznolikost je vršena amplifikacija ciljanog segmenta IGS regiona za rod Armillaria pomoću početnice LR12 i O-1, te razgradnja endonukleazom AluI (tablica 3). Uspješnost amplifikacije je provjerena elektroforezom na agaroznom gelu. Interpretacija profila je izvršena pomoću molekularnog markera poznate veličine (100 bp) (slika 1). Na osnovi provedenih istraživanja unutar istraživane sastojine utvrđeno je 9 stabala s gljivom H. parviporum, 2 stabla s gljivom A. ostoyae, 1 stablo s gljivom A. cepistipes, te 17 stabala čiju trulež su uzrokovale ostale gljive truležnice (tablica 4). Gljiva H. annosum je uspješno identificirana iz plodišta. Na osnovi svega navedenog, može se zaključiti da je molekularnim analizama moguće utvrđivati međuvrsnu raznolikost gljiva ova dva roda iz uzoraka drveta sa truleži i plodišta gljiva.