The article discusses techniques for interpreting satellite images, which are capable of detecting and monitoring landslip zones, and presents a research plan for the study of landslips with the use of satellite interferometry. The exceptionally longlasting and heavy rainfall that occurred in 1997 initiated more than 20,000 landslips within the Polish Carpathians. These landslips continue to pose a threat. Some of them move almost imperceptibly - slowly but continually - yet long-lasting periods of heavy rainfall can lead to catastrophe. The price can be human lives, as well as losses into the millions connected with the devastation of technical infrastructures and entire housing estates. The sheer number of landslips that occur in the Polish Carpathians makes the traditional ways of researching them insufficient. Satellite remote sensing allows capturing a large area of interest on a single photo. Many various satellites photograph the surface of the Earth using different techniques, allowing for the selection of the best-suited image type for a given application. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images are utilized in landslip studies. The images may be interpreted using the InSAR and/or PSInSAR techniques. Both methods are capable of detecting landslip zones and monitoring them in order to assess the risk of a sudden landslide. Information of this type is significant to local authorities when planning the activities necessary to protect the safety of inhabitants and the local technical infrastructure., Katarzyna Mirek., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Iodine is conventionally used as a contrast agent in hydrological laboratory experiments using polychromatic X-ray computed tomography (CT) to monitor two-phase Darcy flow in porous geological media. Undesirable beam hardening artifacts, however, render the quantitative analysis of the obtained CT images difficult. CT imaging of porous sand/bead packs saturated with iodine and tungsten-bearing aqueous solutions, respectively, was performed using a medical CT scanner. We found that sodium polytungstate (Na6H2W12O40) significantly reduced the beam hardening compared with potassium iodide (KI). This result is attributable to the location of the K absorption edge of tungsten, which is nearer to the peak of the polychromatic X-ray source spectrum than that of iodine. As sodium polytungstate is chemically stable and less toxic than other heavy element bearing compounds, we recommend it as a promising contrast agent for hydrological CT experiments.
The influence of some pulmonary ventilation alterations (the normal ventilation at rest = control), the hyperventilation (HV) lasting 75 s, the hypoxic-hypercapnic ventilation (HXV) lasting 3 and 6 min) on the instantaneous QRS vectors was investigated in 42 young healthy women (19-24 years old). The magnitude and the direction of instantaneous QRS vectors in the 10th to the 70th ms and in QRS max were constructed from the Frank lead ECG. The significant alterations of the direction (angle) were found in the 30th ms and QRS max at HXV and in the 60th ms at HV. A significant decrease in the magnitude of instantaneous vectors was found in the 10th to 50th ms after 6 min of HXV, in the 30th to 50th ms at 3 min of HXV, in the 40th to 50th ms at HV. These alterations were the most marked in the horizontal plane. We suggest that the alterations of the instantaneous QRS vectors were caused by the influence of the autonomic nervous system or humoral agents, but not by heart position, Brody’s effect or lung hyperinflation.
The aim of this study was to obtain a detailed analysis of the relationship between the finger arterial compliance C [ml/mm Hg] and the arterial transmural pressure Pt [mm Hg]. We constructed a dynamic plethysmograph enabling us to set up a constant pressure Pcss [mm Hg] and a superimposed fast pressure vibration in the finger cuff (equipped with a source of infra-red light and a photoelectric sensor for the measurement of arterial volume). Pcss could be set on the required time interval in steps ranging between 30 and 170 mm Hg, and on sinusoidal pressure oscillation with an amplitude Pca (2 mm Hg) and a frequency f (20, 25, 30, 35, 40 Hz). At the same time continuous blood pressure BP was measured on the adjacent finger (Portapres). We described the volume dependence of a unitary arterial length on the time-varying transmural pressure acting on the arterial wall (externally Pcss+Pca.sin(2πf), internally BP) by a second-order differential equation for volume. This equation was linearized within a small range of selected BP. In the next step, a Fourier transform was applied to obtain the frequency characteristic in analytic form of a complex linear combination of frequency functions. While series of oscillations [Pca, f] were applied for each Pcss, the corresponding response of the plethysmogram was measured. Amplitude spectra were obtained to estimate coefficients of the frequency characteristic by regression analysis. We determined the absolute value: elastance E, and its inverse value: compliance (C=1/E). Then, C=C(Pt) was acquired by applying sequences of oscillations for different Pcss (and thus Pt) by the above-described procedure. This methodology will be used for the study of finger arterial compliance in different physiological and pathological conditions., J. Moudr, J. Svačinová, E. Závodná, N. Honzíková., and Obsahuje bibliografii
To propose a test to evaluate endothelial function, based on VO 2 on-transition kinetics in sub -anaerobic threshold (AT) constant load exercise, we tested healthy subjects and patients with ischemic -hypertensive cardiopathy by two cardiopulmonary te sts on a cycle ergometer endowed with an electric motor to overcome initial inertia: a pre-test and, after at least 24 h, one 6 min constant load exercise at 90 % AT. We measured net phase 3 VO2-on kinetics and, by phase 2 time constant (τ), valued endothe lial dysfunction. We found shorter τ in repeated tests, shorter time between first and second test, by persisting endothelium -dependent arteriolar vasodilatation and/or several other mechanisms. Reducing load to 80 % and 90 % AT did not produce significant changes in τ of healthy volunteers, while in heart patients an AT load of 70 %, compared to 80 % AT, shortened τ(∆=4.38±1.65s, p=0.013). In heart patients, no correlation was found between NYHA class, ejection fraction (EF), and the two variables derived from incremental cycle cardio - pulmonary exercise, as well as between EF and τ; while NYHA class groups were well correlated w ith τ duration (r=0.92, p=0.0001). Doxazosin and tadalafil also significantly reduced τ. In conclusion, the O2 consumption kinetics during the on transition of constant load exercise below the anaerobic threshold are highly sensitive to endothelial functi on in muscular microcirculation, and constitute a marker for the evaluation of endothelial dysfunction. and D. Maione, A. F. G. Cicero, S. Bacchelli, E. R. Cosentino, D. Degli Esposti, D. N. Manners, E. R. Rinaldi, M. Rosticci, R. Senaldi, E. Ambrosioni, C. Borghi.
The article is deals with ethnic cleansing, that is, the violent methods that constituted the central element of the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s. The article aims to show the fatal consequences of the military operations that were conducted with the aim of the ethnic homogenisation of the individual territories, and were rooted in the differences in the demographic development of the constituent peoples (the Serbs, Croatians, and Muslim Bosniaks) of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the outbreak of the confl ict and the impact of this development on the transformation of the ethnic composition of the individual regions. After defi ning the terms ''ethnic cleansing'' and ''genocide,'' the author analyses the character and extent of the violent local homogenisation that led to the greatest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of the Second World War. On the basis of a summary of the individual stages of the ethnic cleansing during the war from 1992 to 1995, the author seeks to demonstrate that the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina at fi rst erupted mainly in places that had, during the last two decades before the breakup of Yugoslavia, manifested the most striking changes in the ethnic representation of the constituent nations (chiefl y the Eastern Orthodox Serbs and the Muslims). In the second part of the text, the author focuses on analysing the strategic interests of the elites of the Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks and the forms these interests took during the violent ethnic homogenisation of the territory under their military control.
The water retention capacity of coarse rock fragments is usually considered negligible. But the presence of rock fragments in a soil can play an important role in both water holding capacity and in hydraulic conductivity as well. This paper presents results of maximum water holding capacity measured in coarse rock fragments in the soil classified as cobbly sandy loam sampled at High Tatra mountains. It is shown, that those coarse rock (granite) fragments have the maximum retention capacity up to 0.16 volumetric water content. Retention curves of the four particular granite fragments have shown water capacity available for plants expressed in units of volumetric water content of 0.005 to 0.072 in the soil water potential range (0, -0.3 MPa). Available water capacity of stone fragments can contribute to the available water capacity of soil fine earth considerably and help to plants to survive during dry spells. and Hodnoty vodnej retenčnej kapacity hrubozrnných častíc skeletu v pôdach sa zvyčajne považujú za zanedbateľné. Avšak prítomnosť častíc skeletu v pôdach môže významne ovplyvňovať hodnoty vodnej kapacity pôdy ako aj jej hydraulickej vodivosti. Tento príspevok prezentuje výsledky merania maximálnej vodnej kapacity skeletu obsiahnutého v pôde. Pôdne vzorky boli odoberané v lokalite FIRE, Vysoké Tatry. Podľa meraní, hodnoty maximálnej retenčnej kapacity skeletu dosahovali 0,16 objemovej vlhkosti. Na základe retenčných kriviek pre 4 vybrané žulové kamene môžeme povedať, že hodnoty využiteľnej vodnej kapacity, vyjadrené v jednotkách objemu vody v pôde sa pohybovali od 0,005 do 0,072 pre vodný potenciál pôdy od 0 do -0,3 MPa. Využiteľná vodná kapacita častíc skeletu takto môže významne doplňovať využiteľnú vodnú kapacitu jemnozeme a pomáha rastlinám prežiť suché obdobia.