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Nowadays, deforestation process in Romania is in a growing trend considering the need for wood in industrial process, the fast rate of illegal logging and the need for lands in agriculture. Forest areas are subject of an increase pressure from socio-economic factors. Wood is used frequently as construction material and combustible. We investigated the evolution of forest areas in North-East Development Region and the incomes in economy related to forest activities (sylviculture and other forestry activities, loggi...

In this paper, we present a performance assessment of the implementation of the algorithm of wave sources location using wave field modelling on a Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The numerical algorithm of wave source location based on the acoustic wave equation was implemented using finite difference method. To achieve better wave source location, the algorithm was implemented using staggered grid meshes. The parallelization was carried out using GPU approach, established in NVIDIAпїЅs Compute Unified Developme...

In the recent decades, environmental pollution has been one of the major interesting research subjects where pollution might have a direct influence on public health and possibly cause serious and irretrievable damage to the Earth. The aim was to determine the levels of the heavy metals, Cu, Zn, Cr, Cd, Pb and Ni, in soil of urban areas in the city of Brno (Czech Republic). Soil analysis was performed on urban soil from the same layer, where the soil samples come from the depth of 20 cm. These samples were taken f...

In the present study it was evaluated the capacity of molasses for removing seven metals (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Ni) from three types of waste: galvanic sludge (pH = 7.1 пїЅ 7.8), mineral residue from a lead metallurgical plant (pH = 5.0 пїЅ 5.8) from Baia Mare (Romania), and tailing pond residue from Aurul - Baia Mare (pH = 2.1 пїЅ 3.0). Several leaching tests were conducted in the laboratory in order to investigate the influence of molasses concentrations (0 %, 1%, 5%, 10%) on heavy metal leaching. It was o...

The article concerns the problems of assessment the stability of the historical mine excavations which will be adapt to the underground tourist route. The issue is very important because of the special safety requirements for people (visitors), which do not have specialized safety training for employees of a typical underground mines. Post-mining facility, open to the public in 2013 in Krobica in Poland was characterized. Excavations from the XVI-XIX centuries are located in the rock mass characterized by a diffic...

Gas flow through porous media is a physical phenomenon commonly occurring in natural environment and in many industrial applications. This phenomenon is most often connect with filtration process and migration of gases through different porous structures, mainly rock media. In these medium there occur free spaces of different shapes, in which flow of gas is possible. These spaces create pores (for which longitudinal dimension and transverse dimensions are similar) and gaps (for which transverse dimension is consid...

Flow of gases through the porous media is a phenomenon commonly occurring in nature and in industrial processes. Very often these flows take place in rock media. Most often these media occur in a form of porous rock massifs (used in exploitation of crude oil and natural gas), broken roof rock blocks (forming the goaf with cacing in hard coal mines) and post-mining waste dumps (mining dumps). In each of these porous media there occur free, often empty spaces of different shapes and dimensions. These spaces, dependi...

One hundred and fifty-six groundwater samples were collected from the Aosta Valley region, Italy and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), major cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+ and K+), major anions (HCO3-, F-, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-) to evaluate the hydrogeochemical characterization as well as water quality of the area. A geographic information system (GIS) tool was used to study the spatial variation in the groundwater parameters of the study area. The analytical re...

The increase in the number of potentially toxic substances has led to a more complex task of determining the toxicity of water resources. This is due to an increase in the number of necessary techniques for the separation, identification and subsequent analysis of individual components. At the same time, the determination of quantitative relationships between individual components does not allow us to determine precisely whether these concentrations are sufficient to classify the water samples under study as toxic...

During operation of underground gas storage there is the possibility of a gas leak under certain circumstances. It can be caused by leakage of gas from underground gas storage due to the untightness of injection/withdrawal or observation wells. This leakage of gas can be happened in the case carrying out cementation of casing string in low quality. Presented article focuses on the control of wellпїЅs tightness using pressure measurements on annular casing. The aim of pressureпїЅs measurement on casing strings is t...

Cities have a significant contribution to the contamination of urban lakes by input with surface runoff, illegal wastewaters discharges, sewage discharges, which lead to increased eutrophication and reduce the ecological health status. Complex temporal monitoring is needed to understand the changes in water quality, including dissolved organic matter. This study presents the first temporal evaluation of dissolved organic matter from urban lakes, using fluorescence spectroscopy. Samples were collected from urban la...

Labour protection involves the safety and health of employed individuals. It has to be one of the priorities for any employer, as employees are a resource to be cared about and made satisfied. In Latvia, regardless of the requirements of law, the State Labour Inspectorate revealed 10 815 violations of the labour protection legislation in 2014. Besides, in the period 2010-2014, the number of accidents at work annually increased, reaching 1763 in 2014, of which 213 accidents led to serious health disorders, while 41...

This paper presents an assessment of power generation losses of a hydropower plant (HPP) due to an imposed reservoir management plan and comparisons in terms of monetary value with the existing management plan but with an eutrophic reservoir. The study case is represented by Gole?ti reservoir, which is a shallow reservoir in Romania, and the associated HPP. Gole?ti reservoir is an artificial lake of medium size, which has a 55пїЅ106 m3 volume and a maximum depth of 32 m. Its use is complex: it allows flood control...

Studies to determine the forms of finding copper and iron in the converter slag of the Balkhash copper production were carried out. The microprobe analyzes of converter slag show that in these samples a significant amount of copper is in a sulphide form, lead in both sulphide and oxide, and in the form of glass, and zinc in oxide. Laboratory studies on the flotation of the original converter slag, as well as after remelting and its slow cooling, were carried out according to a scheme including the basic, control f...

The Moravian Karst, situated in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, is the most extensive and most developed karst area in the Bohemian Massif. To protect its unique environment, the Moravian Karst was declared a Protected Landscape Area in 1956. Despite the protection, pollution occurs in some disappearing streams both on the earthпїЅs surface and underground, in caves formed by karst processes. The aim of the study was to assess the hydrochemical status of several selected streams and identify the sources of...

The paper considers the issue of effective scale inhibitor applied while developing an oilfield using steam assisted gravity drainage technique, and presents a case study of injecting superheated steam of 140-160?C in the Ashalchi oilfield. In such conditions, organophosphorus chelating agents conventionally used to prevent scale formation degraded and proved to be ineffective. The authors analyzed chemical composition of scales deposited on the electric submersible pump pulled from one of the wells in the Ashalch...

Regarding to the situation in Romania, the country's total agricultural surface of 14.946 million ha, an area of 6.367 million ha (42.6%), with slopes greater than 5%, is prone to water erosion and other processes associated. Of these, over 900,000 ha are affected by very strong and excessive erosion. The study aims to quantify the soil loss by erosion process and to specify the main factor affecting the erosion development in the study area using geoprocessing techniques and the erosion predictive model Revised U...

In the article provided assessment of water supply sufficiency of agricultural lands of South Kazakhstan which is the region of pasturable livestock farming and irrigated crop farming. The regional specific of irrigation of pasturable land and arable land is described, the sources of water supply are determined and their technical condition is estimated, the territories where irrigation of agricultural lands assessed as critical are detected. The solution of such tasks will allow to work out scientifically justifi...

The areas of gold mining in Kemerovo region in Russia are highly transformed by technogenic processes connected both with the ore extraction and processing (dressing). In Kemerovo region there are two former gold mining areas characterizing by strongly altered landscape and pollution by toxic chemical elements. There are two types of waste storage in these territories пїЅ waste dumps and tailings. The waste storage sites have definite impact on the surrounding environment leading to the changes in geochemical feat...

The problem of recreational use of forest areas in modern conditions has gained special relevance. This is due to the following reasons: increase in neuro-psychological stress, number of stressful situations and the desire of the people to remove these loads, i.e. to improve their psycho-physiological state in a forest; development of the road network and means of transport; a variety of landscapes and a wide range of recreational opportunities (recreation, collecting of mushrooms, berries, balneological effect of...

In all countries, many practical observation and theoretical studies are devoted on the soil and water erosion. However, there are still significant shortcoming in theoretical and experimental parts due to the underestimation of its physical causes and excessive enthusiasm of "empirical formulas", which is not often taken into account the elementary physical conditions in erosion processes, so the responses are not very accurate. There is also other useful model which is called GIS; the model is very powerful to e...

The Vrancea seismogenic zone is real menace not only for Romania but also for the neighbouring countries. Vrancea earthquakes cause casualties mainly in northern Bulgaria. Vrancea source is rather active one пїЅ more than 10 quakes with magnitude 5.1 < Mw < 7.0 (depth of hypocenters of 40 to 154 km) occurred during the last 30-ty years. In the last decade the Vrancea quakesпїЅ impact on our territory have been thoroughly recorded by the digital stations of the National Strong Ground Motion (SGM) Network of Bulgari...

Groundwater represents worldwide the main reserve of freshwater for human needs. The increasing demand, combined with the use of unsustainable systems for groundwater management, leads to a remarkable decay in its quality and quantity, especially in many cities of the Global South, where the fast urban growing frequently bring to environmental critical issues as the case of seawater intrusion for coastal aquifers. Dar es Salaam, in Sub-Saharan Africa, is one of these cities, with more than 4 million of inhabitants...

The research in dairy cows in mountain aria demonstrated that the arithmetic average of the mammary repose period is about 62 days. This value is very close to the desired value of cow breeders. Very high value of the coefficient of variation (57.28%) shows that we are dealing with an average resulting from compensation. This theory is supported by very large difference of about 13 days between arithmetic and probable average of dry period. Probable average is 49 days to 311 registered cows, preceded by a shorter ...

Petri nets is one of mathematical modeling languages for the description of all kind of parallel systems. The new class of P/T Petri multiprocess multinets (PPMM) and its ASYNC-CALL operation are introduced in this article and their base characteristic of the well-formed property is proved. PPMM then generalize the definitions of the bi-relational P/T Petri nets and the P/T Petri process nets and their operators that follows from the base ideas of Petri net processes and their property-preserving Petri net process...

This paper presents an approach of using Augmented Reality (RA) technology for operator training in quality inspection of various large sized metallic products such as pipes, weldings, metal sheets, etc. An Android software application has been developed and implemented using Unity 3D Software Development Package(TM). The proposed application simulates the use of various ultrasonic sensors/probes to train human operators without the need to use the actual expensive inspection equipment. The user manipulates a 3D p...

Improving diagnostic efficiency of pulmonary diseases is now a very urgent task. For the construction of automated systems of recognition and classification of radiographic images is necessary to perform the process of localization of pathological formations on chest fluorography. The correct choice of the method of segmentation for studying radiographic image segments provides quality and improves the accuracy of diagnostic decisions taken. The article shows a block diagram of a device that implements a method fo...

The aim of the paper is to solve design of the automatic identification system via radiofrequency technology with respect to spatial analysis data acquisition. The compact system of automatic identification at railway defined by GS1 standards enables to monitor motion and operating status at the level of whole trains, wagons or even at the level of individual container or other load. If the acquired data are supplemented by coordinates of places, where they were obtained, those can be used for the spatial analysis...

Paper deals with important aspect of organization and implementation of transport operations and transport processes between points of origin and points of consumption in order to meet requirements of GS1 standards to fulfill supply chain needs. Designed information system (hardware, software and communication features) is installed on each logistic unit (wagon, container etc.). This allows to use extended self AutoID functions for low level data preprocessing. Paper focuses on train composition of both rail and r...

There is known about 57 species of Legionella bacteria which contains at least 79 serogroups. Some of them are considered as a potential human pathogens. Legionella occurs in natural and artificial water environment, especially in technical water supplies. The main cause of infection is an inhalation of aerosol infected by the bacteria. The preliminary research was performed. The main purpose was verification of bacteria from Legionella group occurrence in hot water installations, in public buildings and assessmen...

The aim of this paper was to analyze Bancroft positioning algorithm with comparison to the use of the uncorrelated reference point indicators, and present the results of experimental studies. Comparison of the results was Carried out in MATLAB, the source code is derived and the results are presented. The most popular method for a position determination in GNSS is to use autonomous positioning. This is the basic algorithm used in GPS systems. However users can use other positioning algorithms, depending on what th...

Since the beginning of deep mining for the acquisition of minerals or driving galleries, later tunnels, man has faced the problem connected with draining used and polluted air (the so-called mine air), and transport of fresh air to the workplace. Since time immemorial, mine air has influenced and prevented the work of miners and drifters, as well as of the mechanized technology. The most significant factors of air pollution include exhaust fumes of mechanisms used in the performance of work, blasting fumes and, ob...

The research analyses the five-year results of the beach marine litter monitoring programme in Latvia and looks into its potential and applicability as a tool for environmental policy making and promotion of the sustainable coastal management at municipal level. The monitoring programme, based on UNEP methodology, has been established in the year 2012 by the NGO Foundation for Environmental Education Latvia (FEE Latvia) and operates not only as a litter survey initiative as being only one coastal monitoring in the...

Developing biocomposites materials is a part of the strategy of sustainable development in construction. This paper presents the advantages, the disadvantages and problems, still unclear, to achievement the biocomposites materials, HEMPCRETE type. The most important thing, highlighted by literature regarding the creation and use of this material type, is the extremely low impact with the CO2 pollution, which usually accompany technological manufacturing processes, putting in place and exploitation of construction ...

The goal of study was to develop the method of food biopreparations production based on corn extract and DDGS - liquid waste of starch and ethanol production for usage in food products as acidity regulators instead of very expensive organic acids. Processes of waste bioconversion using Lactobacillus Acidophilus were the basis for biopreparations production. There were developed the modes of cultivation of lactic acid bacteria on nutrient media, the stages of productions were determined, chemical and biochemical co...

The dominating feedstock for biodiesel production is still a vegetable oil and cost of the oil composes 80-85% of the production costs, therefore the development of the more efficient methods for biofuel production from vegetable oil remains crucial. The transesterification of oil proceeds with the production of side product: glycerol, which cannot be a part of the composition of fuel. Chemical interesterification of oil with alkyl acetate produce a mixture of fatty acid esters and triacetin. Triacetin is a fuel b...

Ostrava Lagoons belong among the most polluted areas in the Czech Republic. According to the available information, about 200 000 t of sludge from the industrial processing of crude oil during the whole 20th century were disposed there. The sludge contains high levels of organic pollutants (PAHs, PCBs, C10 - C40 hydrocarbons), including toxic metals of anthropogenic origin (As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni and Pb). A number of autochthonous microorganisms were isolated from the lagoon sludge. This study focuses on the biodivers...

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...

The purpose of this work was to study specific features of the accumulation and distribution of the total content and mobile forms of heavy metals (HM) in soils and plants of the estuarine ecosystems of the Don river and the Taganrog bay coast (Russian Federation). The soil cover is represented by following soils types: Fluvisols, Haplic Chernozem, Arenosol, Solonchak. The following higher plants were sampled: Phragmites australis Cav., Typha angustifolia L., Carex riparia Curtis, Cichorium intybus L., Bolboschoen...

The tomatoes are widely spread on all globe because the fruits have an important content of carbohydrate (2.9 - 7%), vitamins (A, B, B2, B6, C), salts of important mineral elements (K, P, Fe, Ca, I, Mg) and organic acids (0.5-1.5%). They are considered one of most important vegetable crops. The Romanians have classic options about the vegetable taste; they appreciate tomato with superior organoleptic qualities, the пїЅtaste of Romanian tomatoпїЅ. In Romania, the aim is the propagation and the cultivation of Romani...

The fruit represents the group of foods with vegetable origin, very precious from nutritional point of view, rich in carbohydrates, cellulose, minerals and organic acids, needed daily for the human body. A popular form often used for preserving fruit in cold periods, are fruit compotes which occupies an important place in our daily diet. Pineapples and mango fruit are consumed fresh, cooked, juiced and also can be preserved. The aim of the study was to evaluate some physicochemical characteristics (pH, total solub...

Lactoferrin (LF) is a globular glycoprotein with a molecular mass of about 80 kDa. It exists in two forms: apo- and hololactoferrin. Lactoferrin in the molecule has two domains that bind Fe3+ ions with high efficiency. The physiological properties of the protein are mainly due to binding to the iron of the active form by unsaturated iron (apolactoferrin). An iron-saturated form (hololactoferrin) is inactive. Raw milk contains mainly up to 90% apo-LF. Human milk is very rich in lactoferrin (about 1.7 g/L), and bovi...

Work purpose пїЅ study of the feasibility of using biotesting methods for screening ecologically safe components of drilling solutions, to control the technology of neutralizing drilling sludges in the case of sumpless drilling. To achieve the purpose, biotesting methods based on the survival of daphnia, infusoria, quenching of luminescence of luminous bacteria, immobilization of algae was used. For reduction in cost of technology of drilling studied a possibility of replacement of medicines of chloride sodium by ...

In order to exclude the unprofitability of heavy oil deposits development in Russia and abroad, it is necessary to search and create new more advanced technologies for heavy oil and bitumen deposits development aimed at improving and creating technologies for increasing oil recovery, which allow developing fields with the greatest economic efficiency. This is due to both the structure of "unconventional" oil reserves and the need for more complete production of hydrocarbon reserves with sufficient high production ...

The exploitation of copper ore deposits in Polish underground mines is performed primarily by the use of blasting technology which seems to be relatively well suited to the hardness of the local rocks and to local mining and geological conditions. Blasting works are also recognized as an active method of seismic events prevention, conducted as group strain-release blasting within potentially instable main roof strata and in pillars. A notable number of recorded dynamic events can be clearly explained by the blasti...

The continuous development of techniques related to agriculture information management and GIS, with a close connection to sustainable development, are factors which contribute to the dissemination of precision farming. Cape Verde and Mozambique have a strong dependence on agriculture, a lack of skilled professionals and extreme poverty rates in rural areas. There has been an increased acknowledgement of the need to develop new educational programs in developing countries focused on innovative crop and land manage...

BrewerпїЅs spent yeast is a byproduct containing high amounts of nitrogen, vitamins and immunogen compounds such as ?-glucans. Several uses of spent yeast were described, but the phytostimmulatory potential was not previously tested. In the present paper, the effects of spent brewery yeast on rye microgreen growth and composition and the potential use as an elicitor is assessed. Rye microgreens elicited with spent yeast presented improved germination, especially after 4 days of cultivation. Increased plantlet leng...

An engineering survey to determine the existing height of constructions is a frequent requirement that the land surveyors are faced with. A height survey may be needed to verify building elevation while in construction, or according to the legislation, in order to apply for a building permit a detailed topographic plan must be conducted. Such a topographic plan must be prepared by licensed surveyor and include the measurements of nearby properties, adjacent with the land parcel on which the building authorization ...

All decisions made would always rely on good, timely, and correct data. Usage of BIM models in terms of Building Information Management can support all decision through data gathering, sharing, and using across all disciplines and all Life Cycle steps. It particularly significantly improves possibilities and level of life cycle costing. Experience and knowledge stored in data models of BIM, describing user requirements, best practices derived from other projects and/or research outputs will help to understand sust...

After the adoption of the Law no. 221/2015 and the new Code of Contracts, Legislative Decree no. 50/2016, Italy has become the first European country that has imposed Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC) thus amplifying the importance of Green Public Procurement (GPP), already widespread in Europe since the late 90's in a totally voluntary way. In Italy, MEC have been approved with specific Decrees by the Ministry of the Environment and concern numerous areas of intervention (mainly as regards the supply of goods ...