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The circular economy concept is gaining increasing attention as a potential way to raise prosperity on the one hand and reduce the consumption of primary materials and energy and decrease waste generation on the other. One of the main principles of a circular economy is designing without waste ? the target is to ?close the loop? of the product life cycle. In particular, this concerns sectors such as the automotive industry, both because of its strategic economic importance and due to the potential and significance...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of nine biogenic amines (putrescine (PUT), cadaverine (CAD), tyramine (TYR), tryptamine (TRY), 2-phenethylamine (2-PHE), histamine (HIS), spermidine (SPD), spermine (SPM) and agmatine (AGM)) into wines and beers from the local market of Romania. Their concentration in beer is of great interest not only for their potential risk to human health but also because they could have a role as chemical indicators of unwanted microbial contamination or deficient processing con...

Agriculture, regarded as one of the oldest occupations of mankind, practiced by different techniques and differentiated means according to the general level of development, is still the main socio-economic supporter at the level of the analyzed area. If in Romania's "agricultural past" the attention was concentrated on maximum, immediate and "indifferent" production, at present, under the action of international politics, there are remarkable administrative, organizational and technical capitalist nuances, dictate...

Geographically, the studied area is located in the north-central part of Valcea county, including the piedmont and mountain area of the Capatanii Mountains and also a part of the hilly region of the Oltenia Subcarpathians, including the forests located in the upper basin of the Govora river. By phyto-climatic point of view the forests of this area belong at two categories: F.M.1 + F.D.4 ? mountain-piedmont area of beech and F.D.3 ?hilly evergreen beech area and beech-sessil oak area. The researches were made in th...

The paper proves the conditions for the transition to a new paradigm for the development of the Russian oil and gas complex. At present time, the structure of the resources base of oil and gas in Russia is fundamentally changing. This creates important conditions for the directions of innovative development. In the 21st century, the main new objects for exploration and production of oil and gas fields are: shelf in the Arctic Ocean; new undeveloped areas (Eastern Siberia and the Far East), unconventional sources o...

There is a growing need for enhancing resilience of urban systems in the face of unprecedented urbanization and climate change for they both will likely worsen the already unstable and vulnerable nature of contemporary cities: once barely a risk, environmental factors have now the potential to become disasters. Urban resilience means that components of the urban system ? be they natural, built or third environment, human capital, socio-economic activities, etc. ? are able to withstand negative impacts without losi...

Soil contamination is a component that contributes to the increase of environmental pollution, as soil is the key element that underpins food production for household consumption. The transfer of contaminants from soil to plants is one of the input mechanisms of human exposure to metals through food chain. Mathematical models are documented as effective tools, that could help observe pollutants impact on agricultural products (vegetables and fruits) as well as on environmental systems, to evaluate different scenar...

Thymus alternans is a relatively new species for Romania, being first mentioned in Romanian flora in 2002. The species is quite similar to Thymus pulegioides L., shows hairy stems on opposite sides, alternating from one node to another, leaves are oblong elliptical, ciliate on margins, 2-4 pairs of lateral veins weak prominent and hairy calyx tube. The species grows in mountain meadows at low altitudes (500-1100 m). In this paper, the chemical variability of essential oils and also, their antimicrobial activity wa...

In-situ conversion of kerogen from the production of synthetic oil is one of the possible ways to increase the profitability of the development of shale formation. To develop Bazhenov shale, such technologies as in-situ combustion and retorting, presupposing productive layers warming-up can be employed. Laboratory modeling of the thermo-catalytic effect on the kerogen samples of Bazhenov shale was carried out. Before separation kerogen from the rock sample, bitumoids were extracted by means of chloroform. Kerogen ...

The goal of given research is to identify the tendencies of development of ecotourism in the forests on protected areas in Georgia, evaluate of government tourism policy, bring out the key problems and elaborate the solutions for them. The research was inspired by problems that are related to the illegal cuts of trees and other interruptions of rational nature management caused by low involvement of local population in the economic processes related to the forests. Ecotourism could be considered, as a most effecti...

The subject of the study is architectural and space-planning structure of the buildings and residential complexes, methods for their adaptation perspective to the post-Olympic period. Sustainable and effective development requires taking into account the possible future use and the economic principles, methods and means of architectural formation for the buildings in residential part of the international sport activities centers. Formation principles of architecture, green design, accessible and energy saving plan...

Urban areas face the problem of traffic congestion. City Centers are the destination of many people traveling to work, school or business every day. The spatial structure of a city is not fixed in space, but is subject to constant transformations associated with a vast array of social, economic and environmental processes. One of the processes that we can observe in Polish cities is the increasing number of parking spaces. In the urban planning of the development of large Polish cities, the trend of reducing car t...

New Russian environmental legislation categorises oil and gas refineries as installations obliged to implement Best Available Techniques (BAT) and obtain Integrated Environmental (IEP). This new legislation is similar to the Industrial Emissions Directive setting conditions to European installations. Russian Information and Technical Reference Books on Best Available Techniques (ITRB) have been developed since 2015, and ITRB for Gas Refineries have been worked out by technologists, environmentalists and industrial...

Seals of oil deposits of Tatarstan (Volga-Ural petroleum province) are a complex geological and geochemical object. The preservation degree of hydrocarbon deposits is determined by the filtration characteristics of the seals. Migration of the identified portions of hydrocarbon compounds through the fluid lead to a violation of lithological-geochemical equilibrium in the seal. The development of pyrite in the seals is connected both with the syndiagenetic processes of sediment transformation and with biomineralogic...

This article looks at courtyard spaces in large scale housing estates as places to support social cohesion, by the same time promoting sustainable development. Being planned as multifunctional spaces, courtyards in large scale housing estates in Riga now face lack of activity, are overcrowded with cars and green areas are often described as monofunctional and in bad condition. In the city?s territory planning documents the land-use of courtyard spaces varies between green territories, residential development terri...

Having a surface of more than 17000 ha, Caransebe? Experimental Basis, of National Institute for Research and Development for Forestry, is the biggest experimental basis from Romania having in their experimental and administration areas, forests from plain to mountains, between 200 and 1600 meters altitude. Having good condition for vegetation of most important European forest species, Caransebe? Experimental Basis is an important managed area, where silver lime can found good condition of vegetation and where alt...

Air pollution represents at present the biggest threat to human health due to high levels of pollutant emissions, usually in high-traffic urban areas. Air pollution has been associated with a number of health problems, including heart disease and lung cancer. Urbanization associated with rapid industrial development has led to serious air pollution problems in many large cities across Europe with significant impact on public health and even on the global climate. Information on air quality in urban areas is an imp...

The article compares power gains from horizontal polycrystalline and vertical monocrystalline photovoltaic installations operating under identical, real-world conditions in the city of Olsztyn. The study was conducted between 1 October 2014 and 31 August 2017, excluding a monthly downtime period between 24 January 2016 and 2 March 2016 which occurred due to unexpected technical difficulties. The paper analyzes the long-term efficiency of monocrystalline and polycrystalline photovoltaic installations under the real...

Reservoir heterogeneity creates difficulties for every stage of production, the effects being more pronounced when little data is available. This is the case for many old and abandoned Romanian oil reservoirs that have very poor reservoir characterization. This paper discusses the efficiency of two prediction methods, ordinary kriging and artificial neural networks, for porosity as an routine core analysis parameter, with the hope of improving reservoir characterization by creating more accurate distribution maps....

With the decrease of production in conventional oil and gas resources, increasing attention is turning toward nonconventional oil sources to relieve the pressure caused by the lack of conventional stocks. Heavy oil and natural bitumen as two of the alternative sources are perhaps the most readily available to meet short- and long-term needs. As is well known, the physical and chemical properties of heavy oil and natural bitumen are quite different from conventional oils. Major differences include low content of th...

In this paper we have developed a set of multi-parametric data analysis programs, which can be used in hydrogeological studies. Considering that in these studies we use large sets of multi-parametric data with spatial and temporal distribution we focused on the analysis with polynomial tendencies surfaces and hypersurfaces, analysis by moving average with different dimensions of windows and analysis of the variance of the correlation factor with mobile window. The first part of the paper is dedicated to the descri...

The purpose of this study is to highlight the flavour compounds found in tonic beverages obtained from plants with bioactive potential. Identifying these compounds through GC-FID (gas-chromatographic coupled with flame ionization detector) modern methods are leading to the appreciation of these beverages and the possibility of improving the proposed recipes. Six drinks rated B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6 made from indigenous plants; the plants were dried at 65 ° C, macerated in 50% vol. ethanol for three days in a ratio ...

Communities are now working to prevent over-consumption of natural resources since the importance of protection of natural resources rising for improving environmental awareness through sustainable design solutions. Conventional issues mostly focused on to the forms and related functions of products. However, there is an urgent need to look beyond surface to develop environmentally friendly design solutions for sustainable development of cities. Environmentally aware design need to be redefined, as it converts env...

Reliable estimation of hydrocarbon feedstock reserves is based on determining the reservoir's fluid recoverability, which is done by laboratory studying the microscopic structure of the core samples. Impulse nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometery (NMR) is one of the most perspective methods for studying petrophysical properties of rocks. We developed a portable NMR relaxometer, which can be used both in the laboratory and in the field while drilling. NMR analysis of the drill mud can be done directly on the well ...

Alumina and silica are commonly used as solid matrix for characterizing the combustion behavior of crude oils by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. However, the two basic factors, heating rate and total sample mass, were paid less attention in the process of experiments. Our recent study found that they might significantly change the oxidation behavior due to the use of alumina and silica as solid matrix. In this study, the effects of heating rate and sample mass on the combustion behavior of crude...

The purpose of this paper is to determine the chemical composition of meat from two species of fish (Cyprinus carpio carpio - Linnaeus 1758 - carp and Svizostision lucioperca - Linnaeus 1758 - pike-perch), fresh and preserved in different ways at the end of the season growth, autumn and spring after the cold season. The changes in the quality of preserved fish meat through refrigeration, salting, freezing and smoking compared to the fresh, one have been analyzed so that the consumer benefits from safe food and a r...

Every year just a small part of the Italian building stock hurts a significant energy regeneration, which occur mainly on occasion of programmed wider restructuring of the building. Therefore, the dynamics of the construction sector are still too slow compared to the ?20-20-20 commitments? (The Directive 2012/27/EU Energy Efficiency entered into force December 4, 2012) and they are not enough focused on new consistent buildings and planned renovations. It should therefore promote and facilitate the process of upgr...

The management of grassland areas through the correct use of these areas is reflected in the qualitative and quantitative increase in plant production per unit area, the increase of the animal product and the better protection of the environment. The national agricultural context of Romania requires the existence of a Management Plan for each area of grassland and its concession to farmers for a period of up to 10 years. This study was conducted for an area of 945 hectares of grasslands under the protection of the...

Thermal methods, in particular steam treatment, are the most needed among the tertiary methods of increasing the extraction of Heavy crude oil. The use of catalysts in couple with the steam injection is promising method. This article is about experimenting with the modelling of steam effects on the oil-saturated sandstone, using a dimensional-based catalyst based on iron. The composition and physico-chemical characteristics of the products of the thermocatalytic effects have been studied. It has been shown that th...

Reliable estimates of water balance components are important for solving various tasks in water management, such as hydropower management, flood forecasting, etc. It is well known that the modeling of the water balance components is associated with several problems, e.g., uncertainty in inputs, model parameters and model structure. Considering various data sources in the parameter estimation process can be a good way to improve model consistency and also to reduce parameter uncertainty. The objective of this study...

In the paper the conception of the system for intelligent monitoring and control of the energy flow in LED lighting point integrated with photovoltaic solar panels and wind microturbines is described. The system implements procedures for measuring electrical and non-electrical parameters (wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, critical stresses of the structure (strain gauges), wind turbine speed) as well as control algorithms to manage the consumption and storage of energy. In the ...

In-situ combustion is an effective thermal recovery process for heavy oils and natural bitumen. It is widely accepted what the success of an in-situ combustion depends on a stable combustion front. However, field and laboratory data show that combustion front is often unstable, which severely limits the wide application of in-situ combustion technique. The goal of this work is to develop oil-soluble metal-based catalyst to improve the combustion behavior of heavy oils, and thus achieve a stable combustion front. I...

Springs are one of the essential part of water suppling system in Rostov on Don. Nearly 60 springs are known to exist in the city. Rostov region is located in the arid climate zone, where there are limited natural resources of fresh groundwater. At the same time, region due to the regional hydrogeological relation is situated at the junction of four artesian basins in their regional parts focused significant resources of fresh pressure water. Springs and wells in Rostov on Don are pumped from the Azov-Kuban aquife...

The long-term effect of economic development in post-communist Romanian urban areas brought exponential growth in motorization and uncontrolled urban expansion. As Romanian authorities still adopt conventional transport management policies, urban traffic congestion in the city of Cluj-Napoca has become a main contributor to noise pollution and air quality degradation, and has negative effects on the economy and social activities. Given the analysis of the structural and functional characteristics of the city of Cl...

The purpose of this research was to study, analyze and evaluate strategies and concepts for recycling of waste related to the rests of burning processes form fossil fuels in the energy sector in transition countries. Accordingly to the European Opinion approach the objectives in future are to reduce the fossil energy resource utilization in order to minimize the negative impacts on the environment and human health. Meanwhile in countries that largely depend in energy production based on thermo power plants the mai...

This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary literature review of issues related to Circular Economy, waste management, recycling, eco-innovation, decision-supporting and environmental management that help to identify the key expectations, opportunities and problems related to decisions supporting waste management under the Circular Economy concept. The research findings enable identification of the areas of waste management based on the Circular Economy concept and the functions of the information syste...

Cereal farming is an important sector of agriculture in Latvia, which determines the development of crop farming. In 2015, 22.5 thousand farms were engaged in cereal production in Latvia. Of the total output of cereals, 64% were produced by intensive farms with an area of more than 200 ha, which accounted for a few percent of the total cereal farms. The cereal sector has developed in Latvia after joining the European Union (EU) owing to direct support payments and export opportunities. It is important to project t...

The mining industry is often faced with great difficulty in drilling deeper and deeper holes in the search for oil and gas. This results in constantly increasing costs and the continuing need to create better materials and technologies to reduce possible losses. Drilling technology must cope with high temperatures and pressures in the hole and other unfriendly environmental conditions. Increasing demands on the properties of the slurry and cement stone force the search for unconventional solutions and materials th...

Within the eastern Siberian platform are known objects worth mentioning from the standpoint of organizing the extraction of heavy oil and bitumen. The Siberian platform is characterized by a wide spreading of the surface-bearing and shallow-lying rocks saturated with products of hypergenic oil conversion. The article describes the results of lithologic and petrographic studies of bitumen-saturated carbonate rocks of Anabar anteclise southern slope (Daldyno-Alakit region). The upper part of the section of the sedim...

Fuel shale is now one of the most popular among alternative sources of raw materials for industrial energy. The Bazhenov Shale contains large part of oil shales oil of Russia, containing both solid organic material (kerogen) and liquid light oil in low permeable clay reservoir. Pyrite is a constant component of breeds. The natural iron sulphides are pyrrhotite and pyrite, they often form in hydrothermal processes and are subjected to active transformation in exogenous conditions. Sulfur content in kerogen reaches ...

The increasing number of cars contributes to the degradation of human living space. This phenomenon affects both urban as well as residential areas. The communication system of housing estates made in the second half of the twentieth century in Poland was not designed for such a large number of cars that it has to handle today. Many factors influenced the present appearance of the prefabricated multi-family houses. First of all the obligatory standards, which assumed nearly ten times smaller parking rate than we a...

The flysch Carpathians presents geological medium that is especially difficult for deep recognizing with use of geophysical methods. Complex geological structure of folded orogeny and connected with it distribution of physical parameters generate ambiguous and frequently unreadable seismic image. In such circumstances looking for independent support for geological interpretation of seismic sections is purposeful, for example using magnetotelluric data. Magnetotelluric measurements were carried out along the select...

One of the most dangerous greenhouse gases that causes intensification of so-called global warming (also called as greenhouse effect) is carbon dioxide (CO2). Results of studies indicate that this gas impacts on the growth of air temperature at the ground and through this it causes the climate changes on our planet. Main reason of emission of this gas is combustion of fossil fuel (coal and crude oil). The biggest emitters of gas are energetics (heat and power production), transport and industry and construction se...

With the decrease of conventional oil production, the role of heavy hydrocarbons in the world energy balance will continue to increase in the near future. Heavy oil and natural bitumen as two of the alternative sources are perhaps the most readily available to meet short- and long-term needs. Intrastratal oxidation requires a formation temperature in the range of 250-350°C, at which it is possible to achieve an in-situ oil upgrading through the low-temperature oxidation reactions of petroleum hydrocarbons. Usually...

This study highlights a part of the results of a doctoral research regarding business performance improvement through contract management, conducted by authors in the Research Centre of Business Administration, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania. The goal of this paper is to identify key elements for lasting collaborative partnerships through an effective project management. The first part of the paper provides an overview of the existing literature whereas the second part includes research results ...

Air injection techniques (high pressure air injection and in-situ combustion) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) have attracted extensive attention due to its low cost. Air injection can be applied in many candidate reservoirs including carbonate reservoirs that account for a great proportion of total oil reserves all over the world. Dolomite and calcite are the main minerals of carbonate reservoirs. Therefore, it is necessary to study their effect on the oxidation of crude oil as the oxidation reaction exactly occur...

The depletion of light hydrocarbon resources and increasing the amount of heavy oil reservoirs drive petroleum companies to produce high viscous oil by unconventional methods, particularly thermal methods. Presently increasing the efficiency of thermal applications is a vital task. This paper discusses the influences of catalytic (introduction of catalytic precursors and H donor with amount of 1 wt% on oil) and non-catalytic aquathermolysis to the group composition and properties of extra-heavy oil from ?Ashalchin...

Co-operation of renewable energy sources (photovoltaic cells or micro-wind turbines) with 230V receivers, eg LED substitutions of traditional light sources, requires the conversion of low voltage direct current electricity to 230V AC. Various designs of DC/AC converters intended for island operation and synchronized with the power grid were tested. The Hioki 3196 energy quality analyzer was used for the study. The stand-alone systems are used in voltage converters of very simple solutions converting DC power to AC...

Fruit juices are consumed worldwide, not only for their flavour, taste, and freshness, but also due to their beneficial health effects when are consumed regularly. Being relevant sources of vitamins, minerals and polyphenolic compounds many people are becoming aware of the importance of consuming them in their daily diet. The citrus juices, lemon, lime and grapefruit juice is the most appreciated and used because of its flavour and high content of vitamin C. The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare som...

The aim of this paper is to thermo-analytically study the process of heat generation during flame and flameless combustion of lignocellulos pellets dust made from various types of raw materials. The heat release rate of the test samples was measured by a cone calorimeter. Different heat fluxes (30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 kW.m-2) were used to determine the behaviour of three different types of lignocellulose pellets dust under a thermal load. The mass loss and the time to ignition was continuously monitored during each ...