Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Śląskiego RE-BUŚ
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Living between land and water – structural and functional adaptations in vegetative organs of bladderworts
Get PDFAims: The carnivorous Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) has an anatomically simple and seemingly rootless vegetative body. It occupies a variety of wetlands and inland waters and shows a broad range of life forms. Here, we aimed to elucidate structural and functional traits in various hydric conditions. Furthermore, we intended to evaluate morpho-anatomical adaptations in correlation with life forms.
Methods: Morpho-anatomical characteristics typical for hydrophytes of all life forms were investigated by light microscopy on 13 Utricularia taxa, compared to one Pinguicula and two Genlisea taxa, and assessed by multivariate analyses.
Results: Vegetative structures of Utricularia and Genlisea showed reduced cortical, supporting, and vascular tissues. With increasing water table, leaves were thinner, and narrower or dissected, and submerged organs tended to contain chloroplasts in parenchymatic and epidermal cells. In some main stolons, an endodermis with Casparian strips was visible. Large gas chambers, including a novel ‘crescent’ and a special ‘hollow’ aerenchyma pattern, were found in amphibious to free-floating taxa.
Conclusions: The evolutionary transfer of carnivory from aerial to subterranean organs in Genlisea, and even more in Utricularia, coincides with a highly simplified anatomy, which is adapted to a broad variety of hydric conditions and compensates for structural innovations in the uptake of nutrients
Fungal guttation, a source of bioactive compounds and its ecological role - a review
Get PDFGuttation is a common phenomenon in the fungal kingdom. Its occurrence and intensity
depend largely on culture conditions, such as growth medium composition or incubation temperature.
As filamentous fungi are a rich source of compounds, possessing various biological activities,
guttation exudates could also contain bioactive substances. Among such molecules, researchers
have already found numerous mycotoxins, antimicrobials, insecticides, bioherbicides, antiviral, and
anticancer agents in exudate droplets. They belong to either secondary metabolites (SMs) or proteins
and are secreted with different intensities. The background of guttation, in terms of its biological
role, in vivo, and promoting factors, has been explored only partially. In this review, we describe
the metabolites present in fungal exudates, their diversity, and bioactivities. Pointing to the significance
of fungal ecology and natural products discovery, selected aspects of guttation in the fungi
are discussed
Teenage Identity in the Face of the Other in Nnedi Okorafor's Organic Fantasy
Get PDFThe present paper aims at discussing What Sunny Saw in the Flames by Nnedi Okorafor
as a fantasy novel for children and young adults focused upon the question of self-identification.
In the framework of fiction for younger audiences, the fantasy mode becomes a tool which
allows to examine the topics important to young readers, such as identity and their place within
the society, by providing a confrontation with the Other. The example of Nnedi Okorafor’s book,
known in the USA as Akata Witch, shows how the instrumentation of a fantasy novel enables
an exposition of the process in which the protagonist grows on the intellectual, emotional and
cultural levels. In other words, the fantasy mode aids in the exploration of Sunny’s American-
Nigerian origin, her albinism, coming of age and the comprehension of her identity. Simultaneously,
as additional topics emerge from the analysis, it becomes visible that the question of the
Self cannot be separated from the concept of the Other, with the lesson of empathy and respect
for what is different
Effect of temperature on electrochemically assisted deposition and bioactivity of CaP coatings on CpTi Grade 4
Get PDFCalcium phosphate (CaP) coatings are able to improve the osseointegration process due to their chemical composition similar to that of bone tissues. Among the methods of producing CaP coatings, the electrochemically assisted deposition (ECAD) is particularly important due to high repeatability and the possibility of deposition at room temperature and neutral pH, which allows for the co-deposition of inorganic and organic components. In this work, the ECAD of CaP coatings from an acetate bath with a Ca:P ratio of 1.67, was developed. The effect of the ECAD conditions on CaP coatings deposited on commercially pure titanium grade 4 (CpTi G4) subjected to sandblasting and autoclaving was presented. The physicochemical characteristics of the ECAD-derived coatings was carried out using SEM, EDS, FTIR, 2D roughness profiles, and amplitude sensitive eddy current method. It was showed that amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) coatings can be obtained at a potential -1.5 to -10 V for 10 to 60 min at 20 to 70 °C. The thickness and surface roughness of the ACP coatings were an increasing function of potential, time, and temperature. The obtained ACP coatings are a precursor in the process of apatite formation in a simulated body fluid. The optimal ACP coating for use in dentistry was deposited at a potential of -3 V for 30 min at 20 °C
From Asia to Europe? Where Could the Geographical Place of Origin of Polymerus (Pachycentrum) carpathicus (Horváth, 1882) (Hemiptera: Miridae) Be?
Get PDFThis paper presents the first record of a rare species of Miridae, Polymerus (Pachycentrum) carpathicus
(Horváth, 1882), in Poland. A broad analysis of its occurrence was conducted, which was based on
modelling its potential ecological niche using past and future models, which enabled new and valuable
information about the potentially suitable habitats and its possible range of distribution as well as its
climatic preferences to be identified. The results of the research indicate that P. (P.) carpathicus prefers
habitats in highlands and mountains. This species probably came to Europe from Asia via a postglacial
migration and the disjunctive range that characterises P. (P.) carpathicus may be due to a lack of data.
Additionally, the key to identifying the Polish species from the subgenera Pachycentrum and Polymerus
and maps of their distribution in Poland are also presented
Kolekcje i dane przyrodnicze Instytutu Biologii, Biotechnologii i Ochrony Środowiska Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach
Get PDFThe development of collections and databases in the field of animate nature at the University of Silesia is closely
related to the over 50-years history of the development of biology at this university. Along with the development
of the organizational structure, initially the Institute of Biology, and then the Faculty of Biology and Environmental
Protection (from 2020, the Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection - IBBiOŚ), botanical and
zoological research teams were formed, which as part of the conducted research, as well as individual interests of
researchers, have been collecting specimens and data that constitute research and documentation material. These
collections come mainly from research conducted in the Upper Silesia region, but over time they were enriched with
collections gathered in other regions of the country, Europe and the world. These collections are of great scientific
and didactic value. According to the idea of modern scientific collections, the purpose of their activity is not only to
collect and store collections, but to make this information available and disseminate to a wide group of interested
recipients in Poland and around the world. As part of the IMBIO project, a total of 90,500 records will be made
available from botanical and zoological collections, making it possible to use the resources of the IBBiOŚ UŚ collection
at a distance
The concept of child and its legal synonyms in Polish criminal law
Get PDFCriminal law, which uses the strictest measures at the disposal of the legislator, requires particular caution in the interpretation of the concepts appearing in the repressive law. The concept of a child in criminal law cause many problems of interpretation, as it appears in many legal acts in a different sense. The publication is devoted to presenting the concept of a child in various legal acts and reflecting on the different meanings of the descriptions of the child made by the legislator and the legitimacy of the differentiations made by him. The question arises as to whether the creation of many different concepts describing a child is justified
Russian Roma children and their language development
Get PDFThe paper presents the results of research conducted among Russian Roma children. Two groups of children, 6–8 years and 8–10 years old, were tested with a Romani Language Assessment Test. The study was conducted in a Roma settlement of a small town not far from Moscow. The children were tested on different grammatical categories in Romani as their home language. The grammatical knowledge of the children about their home language is not considered to be used by the Russian teachers in classroom. The frame of Cummins (2015) “teaching through an intercultural lens” is taken as the starting point of the research. The research results showed that the Roma children at the age between 6–8 years know the most complex grammatical categories of Romani as their mother tongue, however children’s knowledge is not used by the teachers at school environment teaching Russian. There are no lessons in Romani as the mother tongue strengthening the children’s linguistic and cognitive abilities
Borderland as a space fostering the contracting of mixed marriages - the truth and myths
Get PDFGlobalization phenomena not only enhance cultural cognition but also foster establishing close relationships, which might be also legally confirmed. Today, many borders – like the Polish-Czech one – are “dematerialized” and exist more in the memory and awareness of people than in the physical sense. For the needs of the analyses, the category of borderland in its territorial sense was applied. Living in the borderland provides chances for establishing close interpersonal relations. What enhances the establishing of such relations in the case of the Polish-Czech borderland are the similarity of languages, common history and cultural closeness. This also fosters contracting mixed marriages. However, do close neighbourhood and similar social environments really make people seek contacts with neighbours? Does this enhance shaping a positive attitude to cultural diversity. The conducted analyses were aimed at familiarizing with the declarations of the examined university students from Poland and the Czech Republic concerning the way in which mixed marriages are perceived in their environment
How relevant for you is to be a moral person? Polish validation of the Self-Importance of Moral Identity Scale
Get PDFObjective
The Self-Importance of Moral Identity Scale (SMIS) was developed by Aquino and Reeds
with the purpose of measuring how people evaluate their private (Internalization subscale)
and public (Symbolization subscale) moral identity. SMIS has become commonly and
broadly used in many studies. The aim of this paper is to validate the Polish version of SMIS
by analyzing its structure and relation to similar measures (such as The Moral Self-Concept
Scale developed by Stake and The Moral Self-Image Scale created by Jordan, Leliveld and
Tenbrunsel), declared past prosocial behaviors and readiness to donate money.
Methods
The translation-back-translation procedure was used to maintain semantic, idiomatic, and
conceptual equivalence of the original scale. Throughout four separate studies the psychometric
properties of the Polish version of the scale were assessed: Study 1 (N = 529) was
carried out to derive the factor structure using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and
cross-validate it; Study 2 (N = 602) and Study 3 (N = 899) were performed to confirm and
replicate the structure with the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); gender-balanced Study 4
(N = 862) was conducted to assess measurement invariance over gender using multigroup
CFA, and to normalize the scale. Validity of the scale was assessed based on each study.
Results
A stable two-factor structure using 10 items was replicated in four different samples. The
results showed that reliability (α) was between 0.71 and 0.81 for Internalization, and 0.76
and 0.81 for Symbolization. Validity was confirmed in terms of the expected pattern of correlations
with morality measures and factorial structure. Metric invariance across gender was
confirmed with possible exception of factor loadings on two items regarding communication
of values. Polish normalization for men and women was constructed. Conclusions
Polish validation of SMIS proved to be a structurally consistent and valid measur