ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SEISMIC RESEARCH WORKS FOR OIL AND GAS DEPOSITS IN THE BLACK SEA

Environmental impact of seismic research works for oil and gas deposits in the Black Sea. The prospecting and exploitation activity of hydrocarbon deposits in Romania has experienced a major development in the nineteenth century and has remained since a major component in achieving energy independence in our country. In 1970 the oil and gas production in Romania reached a peak of over 14.5 million tons of crude oil. Gas production reached 33 million tons of oil equivalents. After 1990 the production level fell again, because of the depletion of the existing resources and the lack of investment prevented the discovery and the development of new fields. They have led in the last few years to a decrease of the oil production level to less than 5.0 million tons of oil and of the gas production of 10,3 million oil equivalent. After 1990 the Romanian Government through THE NATIONAL AGENCY FOR MINERAL RESOURCES has decided to organize international auctions to award a series of contracts regarding exploration and participation to rates of production of specialized companies that run all the financial funds and necessary technologies for the development of hydrocarbon prospecting activities. That is why in the Black Sea, beside the oil and gas deposits leased to OMV Petrom, there were also leased 7 areas needed for research, exploration and possible exploitation of oil and gas deposits. This paper presents the effects of seismic research works on the environment, considering that these are the first that will run on the platform of the Black Sea shore

Higher response time moments for M/M/1 discriminatory processor sharing queues

© Copyright 2016 ICST.Obtaining response time moments in processor sharing (PS) queues is difficult due to serving of multiple jobs. Egaliatarian PS (EPS) queues are limited to one class of arriving jobs. Discriminatory PS (DPS) assigns weights to different job classes and offers more diverse modeling capabilities than EPS. It is known that response time is the representative metric for delay as specified in service level agreements (SLAs), which consider higher moments important. Hence, we build an automated numerical algorithm for calculating higher moments of response time in M/M/1-DPS queues for multiple job classes and test two different case studies

In search of stool donors: a multicentre study of prior knowledge, perceptions, motivators and deterrents among potential donors for fecal microbiota transplantation

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a highly effective therapy for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. Stool donors are essential, but difficult to recruit and retain. We aimed to identify factors influencing willingness to donate stool. This multi-center study with a 32-item questionnaire targeted young adults and health care workers via social media and university email lists in Edmonton and Kingston, Canada; London and Nottingham, England; and Indianapolis and Boston, USA. Items included baseline demographics and FMT knowledge and perception. Investigated motivators and deterrents included economic compensation, screening process, time commitment, and stool donation logistics. Logistic regression and linear regression models estimated associations of study variables with self-assessed willingness to donate stool. 802 respondents completed our questionnaire: 387 (48.3%) age 21-30 years, 573 (71.4%) female, 323 (40%) health care workers. Country of residence, age and occupation were not associated with willingness to donate stool. Factors increasing willingness to donate were: already a blood donor (OR 1.64), male, altruism, economic benefit, knowledge of how FMT can help patients (OR 1.32), and positive attitudes towards FMT (OR 1.39). Factors decreasing willingness to donate were: stool collection unpleasant (OR 0.92), screening process invasive (OR 0.92), higher stool donation frequency, negative social perception of stool, and logistics of collection/transporting feces. We conclude that 1) blood donors and males are more willing to consider stool donation; 2) altruism, economic compensation, and positive feedback are motivators; and 3) screening process, high donation frequency, logistics of collection/transporting feces, lack of public awareness, and negative social perception are deterrents. Considering these variables could maximize donor recruitment and retention

A Bayesian approach to quantifying the effects of mass poultry vaccination upon the spatial and temporal dynamics of H5N1 in Northern Vietnam.

Published versio

Epidemiology of giardiasis and assemblages A and B and effects on diarrhea and growth trajectories during the first 8 years of life: Analysis of a birth cohort in a rural district in tropical Ecuador.

BACKGROUND: There are limited longitudinal data on the acquisition of Giardia lamblia infections in childhood using molecular assays to detect and type assemblages, and measure effects of infections on diarrhea risk and childhood growth. METHODS: We analysed stool samples from a surveillance sample within a birth cohort in a rural district in tropical Ecuador. The cohort was followed to 8 years of age for the presence of G. lamblia in stools by quantitative PCR and A and B assemblages by Taqman assay or Sanger sequencing. We explored risk factors associated with infection using generalized estimating equations applied to longitudinal binary outcomes, and longitudinal panel data analysis to estimate effects of infection on diarrhea and growth trajectories. RESULTS: 2,812 stool samples collected between 1 month and 8 years of age from 498 children were analyzed and showed high rates of infection: 79.7% were infected at least once with peak prevalence (53.9%) at 5 years. Assemblage B was accounted for 56.8% of genotyped infections. Risk factors for infection included male sex (P = 0.001), daycare attendance (P<0.001), having a household latrine (P = 0.04), childhood (P<0.001) and maternal soil-transmitted helminth (P = 0.029) infections, and exposures to donkeys (age interaction P = 0.034). G. lamblia was associated with increased risk of diarrhea (per episode, RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.06, P = 0.011) during the first 3 years of life and a transient impairment of weight (age interaction P = 0.017) and height-for-age (age interaction P = 0.025) trajectories between 1 and 4 years of age. There was no increased risk of either assemblage being associated with outcomes. CONCLUSION: Our data show a relatively high edemicity of G. lamblia transmission during childhood in coastal Ecuador, and evidence that infection is associated with a transiently increased risk of diarrhea during the first 3 years of life and impairment of weight and height between 1 and 4 years

Graduates of different UK medical schools show substantial differences in performance on MRCP(UK) Part 1, Part 2 and PACES examinations

Background: The UK General Medical Council has emphasized the lack of evidence on whether graduates from different UK medical schools perform differently in their clinical careers. Here we assess the performance of UK graduates who have taken MRCP( UK) Part 1 and Part 2, which are multiple-choice assessments, and PACES, an assessment using real and simulated patients of clinical examination skills and communication skills, and we explore the reasons for the differences between medical schools. Method: We perform a retrospective analysis of the performance of 5827 doctors graduating in UK medical schools taking the Part 1, Part 2 or PACES for the first time between 2003/2 and 2005/3, and 22453 candidates taking Part 1 from 1989/1 to 2005/3. Results: Graduates of UK medical schools performed differently in the MRCP( UK) examination between 2003/2 and 2005/3. Part 1 and 2 performance of Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle-upon-Tyne graduates was significantly better than average, and the performance of Liverpool, Dundee, Belfast and Aberdeen graduates was significantly worse than average. In the PACES ( clinical) examination, Oxford graduates performed significantly above average, and Dundee, Liverpool and London graduates significantly below average. About 60% of medical school variance was explained by differences in pre-admission qualifications, although the remaining variance was still significant, with graduates from Leicester, Oxford, Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and London overperforming at Part 1, and graduates from Southampton, Dundee, Aberdeen, Liverpool and Belfast underperforming relative to pre-admission qualifications. The ranking of schools at Part 1 in 2003/2 to 2005/3 correlated 0.723, 0.654, 0.618 and 0.493 with performance in 1999-2001, 1996-1998, 1993-1995 and 1989-1992, respectively. Conclusion: Candidates from different UK medical schools perform differently in all three parts of the MRCP( UK) examination, with the ordering consistent across the parts of the exam and with the differences in Part 1 performance being consistent from 1989 to 2005. Although pre-admission qualifications explained some of the medical school variance, the remaining differences do not seem to result from career preference or other selection biases, and are presumed to result from unmeasured differences in ability at entry to the medical school or to differences between medical schools in teaching focus, content and approaches. Exploration of causal mechanisms would be enhanced by results from a national medical qualifying examination

The predictive role of symptoms in COVID-19 diagnostic models : A longitudinal insight

Acknowledgements 2019nCoV-302 Study Group Members: The NVX-CoV2373-2019nCoV-302 clinical trial was a collective group effort across multiple institutions and locations. Below is a list of sites and staff that significantly contributed to the implementation and conduct of the NVX-CoV2373-2019nCoV-302 clinical trial.Peer reviewe

Inference for stochastic chemical kinetics using moment equations and system size expansion

Quantitative mechanistic models are valuable tools for disentangling biochemical pathways and for achieving a comprehensive understanding of biological systems. However, to be quantitative the parameters of these models have to be estimated from experimental data. In the presence of significant stochastic fluctuations this is a challenging task as stochastic simulations are usually too time-consuming and a macroscopic description using reaction rate equations (RREs) is no longer accurate. In this manuscript, we therefore consider moment-closure approximation (MA) and the system size expansion (SSE), which approximate the statistical moments of stochastic processes and tend to be more precise than macroscopic descriptions. We introduce gradient-based parameter optimization methods and uncertainty analysis methods for MA and SSE. Efficiency and reliability of the methods are assessed using simulation examples as well as by an application to data for Epo-induced JAK/STAT signaling. The application revealed that even if merely population-average data are available, MA and SSE improve parameter identifiability in comparison to RRE. Furthermore, the simulation examples revealed that the resulting estimates are more reliable for an intermediate volume regime. In this regime the estimation error is reduced and we propose methods to determine the regime boundaries. These results illustrate that inference using MA and SSE is feasible and possesses a high sensitivity