Autonomous Multi-Rotor Aerial Platform for Air Pollution Monitoring

During the last few years, scientists have become increasingly concerned about air quality. Particularly in large cities and industrialised areas, air quality is affected by pollution from natural and anthropogenic sources and this has a significant impact on human health. Continuous monitoring of air quality is an important step in investigating the causes and reducing pollution. In this paper, we propose a new autonomous multi-rotor aerial platform that can be used to perform real-time monitoring of air quality in large cities. The air quality monitoring system is able to cover large areas, with high spatial resolution, even above average buildings, while being relatively low cost. We evaluate the proposed system in several locations throughout a metropolitan city, during different seasons and generate fine-grained heat-maps that display the level of pollution of specific areas based on different altitudes

RESURSE INSTITUȚIONALE ȘI UMANE DISPONIBILE ÎN PREZENT PENTRU ÂVÂRSTINICII CU PROBLEME DE SĂNĂTATE ÂMINTALĂ

Population aging is one of the demographic changes expected to have an impact on the need for health services and, implicitly, on the way they are organized to meet these needs. As a result of this phenomenon, the total number of people affected by dementia will double over the next 20 years reaching 65.7 million worldwide in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050. In this context, it is advisable an analysis of human and institutional resources to better understand how the health system is currently addressing the mental health problems of the elderly and the possible adaptations of the system to better respond to future demands. The objective of this article is to describe the situation of institutional and human resources available to elderly people with mental health problems by determining the distribution of beds and physicians specialized in psychiatry, geriatrics and neurology at county level. Keywords: institutional resources, human resources, mental health problems, elderly people, old age psychiatry Îmbătrânirea populației reprezintă una din schimbările demografice preconizate sa aibă un impact asupra nevoii de servicii de sănătate și, implicit, asupra modului în care acestea sunt organizate pentru a face față acestor nevoi. Ca urmare a acestui fenomen, numărul total al celor afectați de demență se va dubla în următorii 20 de ani, ajungând la 65,7 milioane la nivel mondial, in anul 2030, și la 115,4 milioane în 2050. În acest context, este oportună o analiză a resurselor umane și a celor instituționale pentru a înțelege mai bine, atât modul în care sistemul de sănătate răspunde în prezent problemelor de sănătate mintală ale vârstnicilor, cât și posibile adaptări ale sistemului pentru a face față mai bine solicitărilor viitoare. Obiectivul acestui articol este acela de a descrie situația resurselor instituționale și umane puse la dispoziția persoanelor vârstnice cu probleme de sănătate mintală prin determinarea distribuției la nivel de județ a paturilor și medicilor din psihiatrie, geriatrie și neurologie. Cuvinte cheie: resurse instituționale, resurse umane, probleme de sănătate mintală, vârstnici

Comparative Study of Graphene Nanoplatelets and Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes-Polypropylene Composite Materials for Electromagnetic Shielding

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-polypropylene (PP) composite materials for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding applications were fabricated as 1 mm thick panels and their properties were studied. Structural and morphologic characterization indicated that the obtained composite materials are not simple physical mixtures of these components but new materials with particular properties, the filler concentration and nature affecting the nanomaterials’ structure and their conductivity. In the case of GNPs, their characteristics have a dramatic effect of their functionality, since they can lead to composites with lower conductivity and less effective EMI shielding. Regarding CNTs-PP composite panels, these were found to exhibit excellent EMI attenuation of more than 40 dB, for 10% CNTs concentration. The development of PP-based composite materials with added value and particular functionality (i.e., electrical conductivity and EMI shielding) is highly significant since PP is one of the most used polymers, the best for injection molding, and virtually infinitely recyclable

Novel Antitumor Agents Based on Fluorescent Benzofurazan Derivatives and Mesoporous Silica

Two novel fluorescent mesoporous silica-based hybrid materials were obtained through the covalent grafting of [4-hydrazinyl-7-nitrobenz-[2,1,3-d]-oxadiazole (NBDH) and N1-(7-nitrobenzo[c][1,2,5]-oxadiazol-4-yl) benzene-1,2-diamine (NBD-PD), respectively, inside the channels of mesoporous silica SBA-15. The presence of fluorescent organic compounds (nitrobenzofurazan derivatives) was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal analysis (TG), and fluorescence spectroscopy. The nitrogen physisorption analysis showed that the nitrobenzofurazan derivatives were distributed uniformly on the internal surface of SBA-15, the immobilization process having a negligible effect on the structure of the support. Their antioxidant activity was studied by measuring the ability to reduce free radicals DPPH (free radical scavenging activity), in order to formulate potential applications of the materials obtained. Cytotoxicity of the newly synthesized materials, SBA-NBDH and SBA-NBD-PD, was evaluated on human B16 melanoma cells. The morphology of these cells, internalization and localization of the investigated materials in melanoma and fibroblast cells were examined through fluorescence imaging. The viability of B16 (3D) spheroids after treatment with SBA-NBDH and SBA-NBD-PD was evaluated using MTS assay. The results showed that both materials induced a selective antiproliferative effect, reducing to various degrees the viability of melanoma cells. The observed effect was enhanced with increasing concentration. SBA-NBD-PD exhibited a higher antitumor effect compared to SBA-NBDH starting with a concentration of 125 µg/mL. In both cases, a significantly more pronounced antiproliferative effect on tumor cells compared to normal cells was observed. The viability of B16 spheroids dropped by 40% after treatment with SBA-NBDH and SBA-NBD-PD at 500 µg/mL concentration, indicating a clear cytotoxic effect of the tested compounds. These results suggest that both newly synthesized biomaterials could be promising antitumor agents for applications in cancer therapy

Novel Water-Based Paints for Composite Materials Used in Electromagnetic Shielding Applications

The development of materials offering electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding is of significant consideration, since this can help in expanding the lifetime of devices, electromagnetic compatibility, as well as the protection of biological systems. Conductive paints used widely today in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding applications are often based on organic solvents that can create safety issues due to the subsequent environment problems. This paper concerned the development of eco-friendly conductive water-based paints for use in EMI-shielding applications. Graphene nanoplatelets, polyaniline emeraldine (PANI) doped with poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS) or HCl or HBr and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) in various ratios were employed in a water base for developing the paints. The target was to develop homogeneous water-based paint-like fluid mixtures easily applied onto surfaces using a paint brush, leading in homogeneous, uniform, opaque layers, draying fast in air at room temperature, and having quite good electrical conductivity that can offer efficient EMI-shielding performance. The results of this parametric trial indicated the optimum compositions leading in paints with optimized properties that can result in uniform, homogeneous, and conductive layers up to a thickness of over 500 μm without deformation and cracking, offering attenuation of up to 60 dBs of incoming GHz electromagnetic radiation. In addition, the structural and morphological characteristics of these paints were studied in detail