The Future of the Common Agricultural Policy

Given the paramount importance of the Common Agricultural Policy, reflected both by the current and future budgetary allotments, and also, by the intense debates that take place on the European and national levels, the current work intends to present what are the main changes that the reformed Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020 is projected to bring, and how part of these modifications affect Romania. This study is based on the proposals of the European authorities and also, on the suggestions and opinions of other European officials. The analysis will show the common ground that the negotiations have reached so far and an overview of the main measures for simplification included in the official proposals. Also, part of the main changes of the Policy will be presented from Romania`s current point of view.       &nbsp

Optimal Energy Production Planning in Power Systems with Wind Energy Sources

Due to its intermittent nature, the optimal production of electricity from wind energy represents a real challenge for nowadays power systems. Whether isolated or grid-connected systems are considered, wind power sources can be profitable, but their intermittent output may lead to problems in terms of power quality and increased costs related to the operation of the grid and to the production of energy. This chapter discusses the choice of the most appropriate solutions for planning the electricity production from wind energy based on different algorithms for obtaining models based on principles used in artificial intelligence techniques such as recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks. We discuss the situation of obtaining the optimal model for estimating energy production based on a criterion or on multiple criteria: energy production history or energy production history correlated with different parameters describing the weather conditions

Integrating stream parallelism and task parallelism in a dataflow programming model

As multicore computing becomes the norm, exploiting parallelism in applications becomes a requirement for all software. Many applications exhibit different kinds of parallelism, but most parallel programming languages are biased towards a specific paradigm, of which two common ones are task and streaming parallelism. This results in a dilemma for programmers who would prefer to use the same language to exploit different paradigms for different applications. Our thesis is an integration of stream-parallel and task-parallel paradigms can be achieved in a single language with high programmability and high resource efficiency, when a general dataflow programming model is used as the foundation. The dataflow model used in this thesis is Intel's Concurrent Collections (CnC). While CnC is general enough to express both task-parallel and stream-parallel paradigms, all current implementations of CnC use task-based runtime systems that do not deliver the resource efficiency expected from stream-parallel programs. For streaming programs, this use of a task-based runtime system is wasteful of computing cycles and makes memory management more difficult than it needs to be. We propose Streaming Concurrent Collections (SCnC), a streaming system that can execute a subset of applications supported by Concurrent Collections, a general macro data-flow coordination language. Integration of streaming and task models allows application developers to benefit from the efficiency of stream parallelism as well as the generality of task parallelism, all in the context of an easy-to-use and general dataflow programming model. To achieve this integration, we formally define streaming access patterns that, if respected, allow CnC task based applications to be executed using the streaming model. We specify conditions under which an application can run safely, meaning with identical result and without deadlocks using the streaming runtime. A static analysis that verifies if an application respects these patterns is proposed and we describe algorithmic transformations to bring a larger set of CnC applications to a form that can be run using the streaming runtime. To take advantage of dynamic parallelism opportunities inside streaming applications, we propose a simple tuning annotation for streaming applications, that have traditionally been considered with fixed parallelism. Our dynamic parallelism construct, the dynamic splitter, which allows fission of stateful filters with little guidance from the programmer is based on the idea of different places where computations are distributed. Finally, performance results show that transitioning from the task parallel runtime to streaming runtime leads to a throughput increase of up to 40×. In summary, this thesis shows that stream-parallel and task-parallel paradigms can be integrated in a single language when a dataflow model is used as the foundation, and that this integration can be achieved with high programmability and high resource efficiency. Integration of these models allows application developers to benefit from the efficiency of stream parallelism as well as the generality of task parallelism, all in the context of an easy-to-use dataflow programming model

Ethical aspects in managing patients diagnosed with digestive cancers; a review of literature

Numerous bioethical recommendations are now available in the complex process of communication with cancer patients. In this review, we have focused on the complex process of managing patients with different types of oncologic digestive diseases, immediately after the diagnosis is made. We have analyzed the literature data on the topic. MEDSCAPE and PubMed databases have been studied. Issues such as telling the truth to patients with digestive cancer, the physician\u27s responsibility in the psychological management of patients and their relatives, the nurses’ duties, the consented death, the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as well as the clinical research have been the main targets of our study

SCADA System for Solar MPPT Controller Monitoring

AbstractThe present paper deals with the simulation of a solar photovoltaic MPPT controller used for the supply of a power consumer. The power system contains a photovoltaic generator, MPPT controllers, batteries, power consumers and the connection to a local grid. The solar photovoltaic MPPT controller is implemented by using the “perturb and observe” (P&O) algorithm that varies the PV generator voltage and returns the peak power that can be supply the power consumer. The solar radiation intensity, the power load curve and batteries behavior will also be studied correlated with the solar photovoltaic MPPT controller. The developed application based on the proposed algorithm provides the parameters of the power system components and the power flow. The developed application in CitectSCADA environment simulates the MPPT regulator behavior based on mathematical functions entries for the load curve and for the solar radiation on a given location. The developed application highlights the electrical parameters of all the system components, resulting in an efficient MPPT controller integrated into a solar PV system

Marketing Communications of Value Creation in Sustainable Organizations. The Practice of Integrated Reports

This paper represents an investigation of the communication practices used by the organizations included in the International Integrated Reporting Council's Pilot Programme, in order to investigate how integrated reports are used as instruments for the communication of information regarding the value creation and distribution. We analyzed the methods used by 95 organizations, experienced in sustainability reporting. We used both quantitative and qualitative data extracted from the integrated reports published in 2014. The theoretical framework of the research relies on the stakeholder theory. The perspective used in the analysis of the results was derived from the classic and modern theories in marketing, which include the use of annual reports as marketing communication tools. The main results show that the provisions of the International Integrated Reporting Framework were only partially observed by the organizations included in the sample. The analyzed reporting practices show evidence of the existence of correlations between the size of integrated reports and the disclosure of the value added distribution for the traditional stakeholders. The disclosure of information regarding the customers, environment and the society is correlated with the presentation of the value added statement

Alterations in Calcium Signaling Pathways in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women and the fifth cause contributing to death due to the cancer condition. It is essential to deeply understand the complex cellular mechanisms leading to this disease. There are multiple connections between calcium homeostasis alterations and breast cancer in the literature, but no consensus links the mechanism to the disease prognosis. Among the cells contributing to the breast cancer are the breast telocytes, which connect through gap junctions to other cells, including cancer cells and myoepithelial cells. Multiple proteins (i.e., voltage-gated calcium channels, transient receptor potential channels, STIM and Orai proteins, ether à go-go potassium channels, calcium-activated potassium channels, calcium-activated chloride channels, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, etc.) coupled with calcium signaling pathways undergo functional and/or expression changes associated with breast cancer development and progression, and might represent promising pharmacological targets. Unraveling the mechanisms of altered calcium homeostasis in various breast cells due to the cancer condition might contribute to personalized therapeutic approaches

Acute lithiasis cholecystitis; particularities of diagnosis and treatment in the elderly

Objectives. The incidence of acute cholecystitis increases with age, when patients usually associate additional comorbidities. Such comorbidities and the late presentation to the doctor make the treatment more complex, associating higher rates of complications. The present study aims to evaluate the methods of diagnosis and treatment applied to a group of older patients with acute cholecystitis. Materials and Methods. 585 patients were enrolled in the study between 2019 and 2023. The inclusion criteria in the study were represented by the presence of the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis in patients over 65 years of age, while patients who presented complex locoregional pathologies (trauma, cancer, etc.) were excluded. Results. In about 91% of cases, acute cholecystitis was determined by gallstones. 61.19% of cases benefited from laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the rest of the patients requiring additional procedures or open surgery. Morbidity and mortality were not significantly influenced, but some of the patients required complex interventions and longer hospital stay. Conclusions. The clinical manifestations of acute cholecystitis can be diminished in some of the elderly patients (neurological disorders, diabetes, immunosenescence, etc.), being initially appreciated as mild forms. Later it is found (by imaging or intraoperatively) that these are much more severe forms, which often require a customized therapeutic approach