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The thickness of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) basement membrane (BM) in vivo is in the range of 20 - 200 nm. Most widely used commercially available microporous polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes are 10 to 50 ?m thick. This is a substantial obstacle for communication of cells growing on both sides of membrane, like astrocytes, pericytes and endothelial cells within in vitro BBB model. For the last several years the active development of ultrathin micro...

Modernization of the real estate cadastre is a set of technical, organizational and administrative activities aimed at gradual improvement of the quality of data collected there. In the real estate cadastre's database, the key importance to the quality is whether the accuracy of the location of objects corresponds to the assumed formal and legal purposes and the expectations of users. The accuracy of determination of coordinates of border points has a direct impact on the uncertainty of area estimation, which is a...

The purpose of this research is the treatment of Domanik shale oil (DSO) by supercritical water conditions. The experiments were carried out at 400 oC and with different residence times at 140, 300 and 480 min. The DSO is powdered and mixed with distilled water then loaded in the batch reactor and they were heated until reach the desired conditions at 400 °C and of 265.9 bars. The results reveal a great dependence of the product yield and quality at the residence time. Similarly, the obtained products were analyze...

At present, heavy oil and natural bitumen in supplying the world?s demand for fuels and petrochemical feedstock is increasing, because of the reduction of light traditional oil reserves. Heavy oil is characterized by its high viscosity, which creates difficulties in it?s productions as well as transportations to refineries. Currently there are several ways to reduce viscosity of heavy oil to facilitate the extraction process. One of the most important methods is steam injection, but with the passage of time, this ...

As a big agricultural country, China is experiencing rapid urbanization, and urban agriculture plays a very important role. In this paper, we collected the basic agricultural economic data of the Changsha-Zhuzhou- Xiangtan City Circle, one of the nine urban clusters in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in south-central China with a vital role in grain production, and constructed-16 indicators to evaluate the production-economic function, cultural leisure function and ecological function using geography model and 1KM...

The last century is characterized by rapid development of cities, agglomerations and urban areas. Urban space needs to serve a variety of human needs: housing, working, social interaction, leisure, and mobility of persons and goods. Human beings also need nature within their living areas; green spots for recreation and relaxation. Trees, parks and other greenery helps provide healthy living conditions by cleaning the air of pollutants, absorbing noise, and regulating humidity. Beyond this direct anthropocentric (h...

Very large trees are considered as key green structures in an urban green infrastructure. Due to the general focus on old and very large trees (with high aesthetic values in green urban areas), there is a significant knowledge gap related to the role of young trees in cities. This study is based on results of field mapping of cultural important trees in the urban area of the famous European historical city of Prague. We have investigated both very large and young trees ? just only trees with function of living sym...

A dangerous problem that many countries have to face is the existence of buried explosive devices, responsible for high numbers of civilian fatalities. Their detection and removal are therefore mandatory, which has led in recent years to the development of different techniques that can ensure safer and more efficient demining operations. Geophysical techniques have been employed, since allow ground search in a non-invasive, rapid and cost-effective way, with special interest being given to ground penetrating radar...

As a rule, well-log porosity is used as a reference information in the process of reservoir porosity model construction. At the same time, the regions of the model, where the porosity values are obtained by interpolating the well data, are characterized by a decrease in detail with distance from the wells, as well as by uncertainty in the interwell space. The uncertainty arising from interpolation can be significantly reduced as a result of the integrated use of well logging and 3D seismic data, and the usefulness...

The article discusses an urgent problem of designing systems for ship ballast water (BW) treatment ensuring high efficiency at low power consumption and small mass and size. Transportation of invasive organisms with ballast water presents a serious danger for the world ocean. According to the International Marine Organization (IMO), the BW global turnover reaches 12 billion tons annually. A number of species of aquatic organisms transferred daily with ballast water exceeds 7,000. Many of them not only survive in b...

In this paper, the artificial neural network (ANN) technique is used to predict the wear resistance e under dry sliding conditions of some iron-based powder metallurgy materials subjected to a thermochemical treatment. The analyzed specimens were obtained using the conventional powder metallurgy route: mixing the raw powders with 1% zinc stearate, cold compacting at a pressure of 400 MPa and sintering at a temperature of 1150°C for 60 minutes. Following the sintering step, the specimens were subjected to carburizi...

Microorganisms are ubiquitous in nature and possess unique biochemical possibilities to assimilate a vast array of available substrates and produce unique se metabolit and biotransformation pathways. Long-term exposure to elevated arsenic and antimony concentrations has led to the selection of specifically resistant autochthonous microorganisms. In the cultivable component of isolated bacterial microorganisms, Bacillus was identified as the dominant genus, which has been represented by nine species. Interesting ph...

A passive method is proposed in this research for minimization of the temperature drift of a strapdown inertial navigation system with fiber optic gyroscopes and accelerometers by means of reduction of the temperature differences between the structural components of individual gyroscopes as well as between gyroscopes and accelerometers. For this purpose, theoretically possible use of nanostructured composite materials based on carbon nanotubes and characterized by increased thermal conductivity in individual struc...

This paper aims to find the influence of the climate on the travel behavior in various geographical areas of the Czech Republic. The travel behavior is to be represented by the modal split of two main groups of travelers ? work commuters and school commuters. The basic geographic areas to be used for the analysis will be the territories of various municipalities. The climate is defined by average annual temperature and average annual precipitation, both from the period 1991 to 2010. Both climatic conditions are av...

Nowadays, when the whole world is increasingly engaged in environmental protection, it is necessary to come up with a fuel alternative for transport, which means generally abandoning the use of non-renewable resources (fossil fuels), as they are one of the many factors influencing the emergence of greenhouse gases and its associated global warming. In today's Europe, pressure is being put mainly on automotive companies, to search for sources other than conventional fuels. At present, there is a big boom in the are...

When teaching in schools, especially in vocational subjects, it is very important to attract and motivate students to work independently, not only to remember important facts, but also to develop their ability to seek new solutions independently. One of the active assistants in achieving this goal can be the active use of information technology that is close to the current young person. In addition, it is essential not only to learn new knowledge in education, but also to educate them towards an active approach to...

The core of renewable natural resources of any nation is its natural reserve fund. The issue of natural ecosystems preserving is becoming more and more actual at the present stage in terms of increasing human influence on the environment. The article presents methodical approaches to improving the system of background environmental monitoring, increasing of its objectivity and data submission visual aspects on the basis of GIS - technologies - taking into account the status, characteristics and specifics of protec...

Cultivation of high-yielding crops (winter wheat, corn, oil seed rape etc.) represents the only opportunity for Czech farmers to achieve profitable economic results. On the other hand, the above crops have significant demands on nutrients intake from soil. The withdrawn nutrients must be returned which is mainly carried out by mineral fertilizes. Nevertheless, it is not sustainable way from the long-term point of view. The most convenient source of nutrients are fertilizers of organic origin (compost, manure etc.)...

The article deals with the impact of global climate change and temperature warming up on emission production during en-route flight. Consequently, analyses the effects of carbon dioxide gases production on the environment and ecology. The main aim of this article is to do research the amount of emission (CO2) production during flight in different meteorological condition and make an evaluation of how it can affect the global climate change, ecology and greenhouse effect. The theoretical part of the article focused...

The modern state of the most water bodies and coastal zones does not comply with the standards. Water pollution indicates the need for water treatment systems. For this goal, the proposed were used of biological engineering structures with higher aquatic vegetation ? bioplato (floating plant islands). The cleaning process occurs due to the natural ability of a number of living organisms and plants to absorb, decompose and recycle pollutants. Despite the enormous advantages as by as: simplicity, cost-effectiveness ...

This research deals with the aspects of use of the heat balance method for calculation of three-dimensional non-uniform non-steady temperature fields of complex optoelectronic systems through the example of a measuring unit based on fiber optic gyroscopes and microelectromechanical accelerometers. The main principles of and approaches to development of a mathematical model of the temperature field of the unit under consideration on the basis of the heat balance method have been set forth. The adequacy of the devel...

In this article, we examine the questions of using an open-source software platform Open Simulator 0.9.0 for virtual reconstruction of historically significant industrial facilities in the form of a virtual museum. Virtual museums have extensive educational and research capacity and contribute actively to preservation of cultural heritage. The use of modern information technologies allows drawing attention to the monuments of historical and cultural importance, as well as forming their modern image, and causing a ...

Relevance of results. Mining is one of the priority directions of development of the Russian industry. In this regard in structure of waste in Russia waste of production and quantity them prevail grows. Therefore the problem of definition and economic assessment of the directions of use of waste of production is relevant now and is an important component of the organization of circular economy and rational use of resources. Research objective. To analyse a problem of intensive formation of waste of production and ...

The increasing computing power of modern hardware systems opens new possibilities for simulating complex solidification phenomena as well as the overall simulation of the casting process. Although the simulation of filling and solidification can be considered to be state of the art, the simulation of residual stresses and distortion is still the object of intensive research. Distortion is one of often found problems of castings, especially large castings with thin sections such as frame shape or those with curved ...

We present a study of the strongest historical earthquakes (Mw > 5.0) occurred in West Romania between 1900 and 1980 to review and homogenize the Romanian Earthquakes and Focal Mechanisms Catalogues on instrumental data basis. New hypocenters relocation, moment magnitudes, Mw and focal mechanisms solutions are obtained on historical instrumental data basis (seismograms, bulletins, catalogues). The vectorized seismograms were analysed to pick up the arrival times of the body and surface waves after careful identifi...

Nowadays, natural risks associated to geomorphological processes represent a widely studied topic by geoscientists due to their impact on society. In this category, landslides take an important place, representing major risks to human activities, which often lead to economic losses and numerous fatalities all over the world, especially in equatorial, tropical and sub-tropical areas. In Romania, landslides are a common and frequently encountered geomorphic phenomena in plateau regions, that need to be identified an...

MRI images contain a lot of subtle information related to various lesions which are difficult to be picked up by radiologists. Computer aided diagnosis CAD is a valuable tool to improve the ability of an average radiologist to diagnose the subtle lesions. This study uses the isolated foreground pixels in MRI images as a feature able to discern a stroke patient by a healthy one. Brain MRI image was divided into eight equal sectors. The isolated foreground pixels (i.e. pixels satisfying a neighborhood configuration ...

For the implementation of the management system and drawing for persons with special health needs using the device eye tracing is required to develop the minimal necessary set of commands. The command system is a tool for the user to interact with the system using only vision. Commands should provide the ability to control the following functions: tool selection, color selection, selection of shape (object), the choice of coordinates for drawing. The minimum set of commands that you need to control: move the mouse...

Aim of this paper is the usage of metadata satellite images to accomplish an atmospheric and topographical correction of these images. The atmospheric correction is since there are particles in the atmosphere that scatter solar radiation, so that the receiver records together with the reflected radiation from the target and the result from the scattering in the atmosphere, with the result that the target in the image is brighter than it is. There are several ways to estimate the atmospheric correction, the most im...

Digital elevation models play a crucial role in the analysis of complex spatial challenges. Given the international dimension of many environmental applications, elevation data have been integrated in the European INSPIRE directive (Annex II, Elevation theme). As a result, many types of data are offered in various formats by mapping agencies and governmental organizations within the European Union. Notwithstanding the national effort to publish these data under open and public licenses, and in compliance with inte...

Over the last decade, due to the rapid increase in energy consumption, sustainability has become an increasingly important concern among developers and software and hardware users. The digital era brings about a fast and continuous production of information, whose management becomes a challenge for both large companies and users worldwide, in their private environment. The huge amount of data needed to carry out day-to-day operations means a continuing need for increased storage space, which translates into high h...

Forest tree species monitoring is important for forest management, habitat and biodiversity assessment, as well as carbon cycle estimation. Forest ecosystems provide important services to society, and sustainable management and adapted policies are essential to maintain their ecological and socio-economic functions. For implementing a good sustainable forest management it?s important to know about tree species distribution. To characterize forest was used during the time, field inventories who can provide timely a...

The importance of computers has become very popular, the interaction between man and machine is indispensable every day. People's need and desire to communicate with machines naturally led to the evolution of natural language processing. While progress is being made in this area, it is likely that voice interaction systems will replace most portable and digital devices such as keyboards, card readers, etc. This paper presents the main paradigms for speaker recognition, being one of the most important and needed bi...

In 2018, a project called ?Monastic settlement as a socio-economic phenomenon in early Islamic Northern Mesopotamia? has been launched at the Palacky University in Olomouc in cooperation with the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, Faculty of Civil Engineering, dept. of Geomatics). The project is granted from the Czech Science Foundation for three years. The project will be carried out in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, where the Czech Archaeological Mission, the longest continuously operating for...

The purpose of this work consists in analyses of declustering catalogue and seismic sequence recorded in Vrancea crustal area . The moderate-size earthquake with local magnitude 5,7 which occurred on November 22, 2014 in Vrancea region, at 41 km depth, is the largest crustal event instrumentally recorded at the bending of the Eastern Carpathians. The crust seismicity in front of the Carpathian Arc spreads to the East, in a strip delimited by the Peceneaga-Camena fault, to the North and East, and to the South is lo...

The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions become the global effort of entire scientific community. Various environmental friendly technologies are currently developed and also applied worldwide. The concrete is the most used building material on Earth and its production is still rising. Its production is related to huge emissions of carbon dioxide due to Portland cement production and generation of waste such as concrete slurry waste (CSW). Sedimented CSW contains considerable amount of cement, calcium and fine fi...

Adequate treatment of industrial and communal wastes is one of the urgent challenges nowadays. The worsening critical situation in the sphere of waste management has turned the minor issue into a global problem. About (55?60) million tons of municipal solid wastes (MSW) are generated in Russia annually. More than 90% of them are stored in landfill sites and unauthorized landfills. The progressive growth of the municipal solid waste volumes from year to year makes the problem even more urgent. Biotechnological disp...

This paper focuses on the transmission of loads imposed by passing trains to railway aggregates utilizing a pressure paper method, which enables the quantification of contact parameters on the interface between the railway sleeper bottom and railway ballast. Modern railway ballasted tracks consist of railway sleepers which fulfil especially the functions related to holding rail strings in the gage and inclination, enable fastening system installation, transmit forces and finally spread wheel loads on the ballast m...

Every production process taking place in an industrial facility must take into account the possibility of both external and internal incidents and industrial-scale breweries are no different. Like all industrial facilities and production processes, even breweries are threatened by a number of anthropogenic or naturogenic incidents, or a mix of both. The main priority in ensuring the functionality of a whole production process and safety system is correctly identifying different elements which are critical to the o...

Air pollution is a local, Pan-European and hemisphere problem. Air pollutants emitted from an industrial site can be transported into the atmosphere, contributing to low air quality in other areas. In Europe, the industrial emissions of many atmospheric pollutants have fallen substantially in recent decades, leading to an improvement in air quality in the region, but accidental emissions due to industrial or other damage can adversely affect air quality. A less controllable aspect is the alteration of the physical...

The inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) is recognized as a robust method for the determination of different elements in liquid and solid samples. However, for metals determinations from solid samples, digestion is required in order to dissolve the analytes into liquid solution. It was the aim of this paper to validate the ICP-OES method for determination of metals from zeolite samples after acid digestion. The suitability of three digestion procedures using wet digestion with mineral...

Buildings are responsible from 25% to 30% of greenhouse gases production, contributing significantly to global warming. One approach to limiting greenhouse gas production is construction and operation of buildings according to the principles of sustainable construction. There are 113 certified buildings in the Czech Republic. 57% of the total consists of an office building. For this purpose, the LEED and BREEAM global certification programs and one local certification program, SB TOOL CZ, are used in the Czech Rep...

Vegetation takes an active part in the processes of migration and transformation of chemical compounds on the earth's surface. The intensity of biogenic migration of chemical elements is determined mainly by the chemical composition of plants. Different availability of soil chemical elements and causes their different accumulation in agricultural plants. The widespread use of fertilizers, pesticides, active development of industry in the study region - all these factors can be attributed to the Rostov region at ri...

Climate change and its impact on the environment is an urgent problem of the present time, causing hydrological changes and ecosystem change. As a result, formed ecosystem representing less valuable in economic terms, low productivity. Therefore, study of climate change is an important and urgent task. Global climate changes in the South part of Russia is reflected in the warming of the winter period and an increase in the amount of precipitation during the cold season. This paper analyzes the changes in meteorolo...

The article discusses some patterns of reflection of successive seismic events in the field of radon volumetric activity (VAR). The results of the reflection in the radon field of a sequential series of successive seasons with a small time interval of seismic events indicate that the most likely mechanism for increasing the volumetric activity of radon is its desorption from the surface of the pore space under the influence of elastic oscillations arising during the preparation of such events. The decrease in the ...

The article presents the use of the volcanic exhalations of Larderello geothermal field (Italy, southern Tuscany, Pisa province) for the construction of a large-scale heating system using geothermal heat of the Earth and make them available to visitors in the form of geotourist attractions (?Parco Geotermico Delle Biancane? with geotourist routes, e.g. ?La Fumarole?). The history of the use of inexhaustible energy resources contained in the interior of the Earth dates back to 1850, when in Larderello a heating pla...

Nowadays, the best solution of radioactive waste management seems to be its deposition in deep repositories. However, construction of these repositories brings new issue for civil engineers. The most important one is elimination or inhabitation of radionuclide release in the environment. Therefore, new kinds of building materials have to be developed. This article is focused on improvement of the most utilized and the most common material -concrete. The main idea of this study was to improved radionuclides sorptio...

A holistic approach to the design of ecological online services has been developed. The approach is based on the concept of the Internet of Things. Available online data includes local meteorological information and information on GPS coordinates of traffic flows. It allows to calculate in several seconds micro-weather characteristics, parameters of chemical and noise pollution of atmospheric air and parameters of algal processes of lakes and reservoirs. Verification of models of environmental online monitoring is...

Substances that have chemical energy are known under the generic name of explosives. The chemical energy resulting from the decomposition of explosive substances has constituted and will continue to be one of the main forms of energy used in many sectors of the economy as well as in the military field. The technical experience accumulated so far has demonstrated that it is very difficult for a simply characterization of the explosion. Thus, in order to achieve this it is necessary to know the thermo-chemical chara...

The aim of the study was to determine the Cu and Pb content in soil profiles in relation to main responsible factors in vertical distribution: type of soil, pH and mineralogical composition. Were exanimate 34 soil profiles from the industrial area of Craiova City. For each profile was collected bulk samples at different depths (40, 100, 150, 200 and 300 cm). The analytical techniques employed for the investigation of soil and rock samples were Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) for determination of heavy metals ...