GAME: Grb and All-sky Monitor Experiment

We describe the GRB and All-sky Monitor Experiment (GAME) mission submitted by a large international collaboration (Italy, Germany, Czech Repubblic, Slovenia, Brazil) in response to the 2012 ESA call for a small mission opportunity for a launch in 2017 and presently under further investigation for subsequent opportunities. The general scientific objective is to perform measurements of key importance for GRB science and to provide the wide astrophysical community of an advanced X-ray all-sky monitoring system. The proposed payload was based on silicon drift detectors (~1-50 keV), CdZnTe (CZT) detectors (~15-200 keV) and crystal scintillators in phoswich (NaI/CsI) configuration (~20 keV-20 MeV), three well established technologies, for a total weight of ~250 kg and a required power of ~240 W. Such instrumentation allows a unique, unprecedented and very powerful combination of large field of view (3-4 sr), a broad energy energy band extending from ~1 keV up to ~20 MeV, an energy resolution as good as ~300 eV in the 1-30 keV energy range, a source location accuracy of ~1 arcmin. The mission profile included a launch (e.g., by Vega) into a low Earth orbit, a baseline sky scanning mode plus pointed observations of regions of particular interest, data transmission to ground via X-band (4.8 Gb/orbit, Alcantara and Malindi ground stations), and prompt transmission of GRB / transient triggers.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, published in International Journal of Modern Physics

Should Slovenia Transform the Accounting in Public Sector?

Even before, but especially in time of financial and economic crisis, countries are facing a challenge to improve the information served by public accounting for the state budgeting purpose, most often by reforming accounting principle from cash flow into accrual. The majority of literature impose the opinion that the accrual accounting facilitates more transparent and complete review of the business activities and property of the users of public funds than cash principle does and that additionally provides more transparent budgeting. The article evaluates the pros and cons of the public sector accounting transformation in Slovenia using arguments for a simple SWOT analysis in experience of other countries, presented in the literature

Improving the HER Activity and Stability of Pt Nanoparticles by Titanium Oxynitride Support

Water electrolysis powered by renewables is regarded as the feasible route for the production of hydrogen, obtained at the cathode side through electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we present a rational strategy to improve the overall HER catalytic performance of Pt, which is known as the best monometallic catalyst for this reaction, by supporting it on a conductive titanium oxynitride (TiONx) dispersed over reduced graphene oxide nanoribbons. Characterization of the Pt/TiONx composite revealed the presence of small Pt particles with diameters between 2 and 3 nm, which are well dispersed over the TiONx support. The Pt/TiONx nanocomposite exhibited improved HER activity and stability with respect to the Pt/C benchmark in an acid electrolyte, which was ascribed to the strong metal–support interaction (SMSI) triggered between the TiONx support and grafted Pt nanoparticles. SMSI between TiONx and Pt was evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) through a shift of the binding energies of the characteristic Pt 4f photoelectron lines with respect to Pt/C. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed the strong interaction between Pt nanoparticles and the TiONx support. This strong interaction improves the stability of Pt nanoparticles and weakens the binding of chemisorbed H atoms thereon. Both of these effects may result in enhanced HER activity

Impact of land tenure on the participation in factor income in agriculture of Slovenia

The purpose of the article is to present agricultural land tenure in Slovenia and its impact on the division of the factor income into the part intended for the production factor of land and the improvement by the introduction of the rent statistics. The land, together with the labour force and capital, contributes to the income generation and it is one of the production factors that participate in the income division. The analyses so far have been based on the FADN data but the Slovenian analysis is based on data from the Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA), it uses different sources, and a different calculation approach. The calculation is based on the share of rented utilised agricultural area which amounts to about 30% of the total utilised area. Due to the availability of the data the rent value is calculated depending on the institutional sectors – for agricultural enterprises (the non-financial enterprise sector) and family farms (the household sector). In 2016 the average rent per ha of utilised agricultural area amounted to almost EUR 150 and the nominal value of rents paid in Slovenian agriculture to EUR 21 million. Slovenian share of rent in factor income for the period 2000–2016 is 3%, which is substantially lower than the European Union (EU-28) average of 8%. In 2016, the factor income per employee was around EUR 6,000; about 4% of this amount was contributed to the land in the form of rent value. The rest was contributed to the workforce and capital. The paper presents the results that could be helpful for the agricultural and land policy makers

Electrochemical Stability and Degradation of Commercial Pd/C Catalyst in Acidic Media

Palladium has attracted significant attention as a catalyst or co-catalyst for many electrochemical reactions in energy conversion devices. We have studied electrochemical stability of a commercial Pd/C sample in an acidic electrolyte by exposing it to an accelerated stress test (AST) to mimic potential spikes in fuel cells and electrolyzers during start/stop events. AST consisted of extensive rapid potential cycling (5000 cycles, 1 V/s) in two potential regions, namely AST1 was performed between 0.4 and 1.4 VRHE, while AST2 was performed between 0.05 and 1.4 VRHE. Degradation of Pd/C was monitored by the changes in Pd electrochemical surface area, while the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was used as a test reaction to observe the corresponding impact of the degradation on the activity of Pd/C. Significant Pd/C degradation and HER activity loss were observed in both potential regions. Coupling of the electrochemical flow cell with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry device showed substantial Pd dissolution during both ASTs. Identical location scanning electron microscopy revealed that Pd dissolution is followed by redeposition during both ASTs, resulting in particle size growth. Particle size growth was seen as especially dramatic in the case of AST2, when particularly large Pd nanostructures were obtained on top of the catalyst layer. According to the results presented in this work, (in)stability of Pd/C and other Pd-based nanocatalysts should be studied systematically as it may present a key factor limiting their application in energy conversion devices

Računovodstvo javnog sektora u Sloveniji i Hrvatskoj

The recent financial and economic crisis has intensified the ongoing challenge countries have been facing to improve the information served by public accounting. The crisis has revealed that accounting based on the accrual principle provides a more transparent and complete overview of business activities and assets than accounting based on the cash principle. The paper analyses and compares accounting systems in Slovenia and Croatia in order to assess the conditions for transparent and management-oriented financial information and the progress of implementation of the accrual principle in budgeting. It reveals that, regardless of the stage of accrual implementation in national accounting legislation, the planning and execution of state budgets (that is, budgetary accounting) is still based on the cash principle.Recentna financijska i gospodarska kriza intenzivirala je izazove s kojima se države suočavaju prilikom poboljšavanja informacija koje treba osigurati računovodstvo javnog sektora. Kriza je pokazala da računovodstvo temeljeno na obračunskom načelu daje transparentniji i potpuniji pregled poslovnih aktivnosti i imovine od računovodstva temeljenog na novčanom načelu. U radu se analiziraju i uspoređuju računovodstveni sustavi Slovenije i Hrvatske kako bi se ocijenili uvjeti za dobivanje transparentnih i menadžmentu korisnijih informacija te na napredak u primjeni obračunskog načela u budžetiranju. Pokazuje se da je planiranje i izvršavanje državnih proračuna (proračunsko računovodstvo), bez obzira na fazu u primjeni obračunskog načela u nacionalnim zakonodavstvima o javnom računovodstvu, i dalje zasnovano na novčanom načelu

Intraoperative transfusion practices in Europe

Background: Transfusion of allogeneic blood influences outcome after surgery. Despite widespread availability of transfusion guidelines, transfusion practices might vary among physicians, departments, hospitals and countries. Our aim was to determine the amount of packed red blood cells (pRBC) and blood products transfused intraoperatively, and to describe factors determining transfusion throughout Europe. Methods: We did a prospective observational cohort study enrolling 5803 patients in 126 European centres that received at least one pRBC unit intraoperatively, during a continuous three month period in 2013. Results: The overall intraoperative transfusion rate was 1.8%; 59% of transfusions were at least partially initiated as a result of a physiological transfusion trigger-mostly because of hypotension (55.4%) and/or tachycardia (30.7%). Haemoglobin (Hb)-based transfusion trigger alone initiated only 8.5% of transfusions. The Hb concentration [mean (SD)] just before transfusion was 8.1 (1.7) g dl(-1) and increased to 9.8 (1.8) g dl(-1) after transfusion. The mean number of intraoperatively transfused pRBC units was 2.5 (2.7) units (median 2). Conclusions: Although European Society of Anaesthesiology transfusion guidelines are moderately implemented in Europe with respect to Hb threshold for transfusion (7-9 g dl(-1)), there is still an urgent need for further educational efforts that focus on the number of pRBC units to be transfused at this threshold

Regions for Servicing Old People: Case study of Slovenia

Background: Aging is one of the most serious problems that most developed countries are facing in the 21st century. In the European Union, Member States are responsible for the planning, funding and administration of health care and social protection systems. Local authorities and state governments should undertake research toward developing an appropriate array of community-based care services for old people. Objectives: This study analyses the regions of Slovenia for servicing old people in the 2000–2010 time horizon. Methods/Approach: Sets of functional regions were modelled for each year in the analysed period using the Intramax method. Functional regions were evaluated based on the attractiveness of central places for labour commuters and the propensity to commute between regions. Results: The results show that in addition to the nominally declared regional centres of Slovenia, there are also some other local centres that should be potentially included in the functional areas for servicing old people. Conclusions: The results suggest that the regionalization into seven functional regions is the most convenient for servicing old people in the region. Furthermore, some additional functional regions at a lower level are suggested