The economic and social dimensions of Romania’s metallurgical industry

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of both the economic and social dimensions belonging to Romania’s metallurgical industry and how they contribute to generating business value. The approach of this subject became of utmost necessity in turbulent times such as the one Romania is facing nowadays

The relation productivity - environment in the context of sustainable development – case study on the Romanian industry

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of the relation between productivity and environment in the context of sustainable development, with a case study on the Romanian industry. The approach of this subject became of utmost necessity in turbulent times such as the one Romania is facing nowadays. Firstly, it provides a theoretical approach on sustainable development; secondly, it presents sustainable development as a key element in nations’ growth and thirdly, it emphasis the aspects concerning the relation productivity - environment in the context of sustainable development, with a case study on the Romanian industry

The economic and social dimensions of Romania’s metallurgical industry

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of both the economic and social dimensions belonging to Romania’s metallurgical industry and how they contribute to generating business value. The approach of this subject became of utmost necessity in turbulent times such as the one Romania is facing nowadays

Competitiveness and sustainability – a modern economic approach to the industrial policy

The paper focuses on competitiveness and sustainability in the context of a modern economic approach to industrial policy, presenting a case study on Romania.The paper shows the challenges of the globalized economy on its industrial sector, by focusing on the first step:deindustrialization, the second step: re-industrialization, and, in the end, the third step, the return to industry, by emphasising new approaches to industrial policy.In the context of Romania’s national development strategy in line with “Europe 2020 Strategy” Government directs its attention to shaping economic development with active and responsible measures for the society

The impact of global crisis on the dominant sectors of the economy at the Romanian industry

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the understanding of the global crisis impact on the dominant sectors of the economy: industry, technology, infrastructure, and institutions. Firstly, it shows the manner in which global crisis has affected both rich and poor countries, generating negative reactions in all economic sectors; secondly, it provides an overview on industry’s place in E.U. economies in the economic crisis context; thirdly, it presents industry’s place in Romania, with a case study on the metallurgical sector and fourthly, it provides conclusions and future perspectives

THE INFLUENCE OF HAMMERS` PERIPHERAL SPEED ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE HAMMER MILLS

Cereal milling is a complex process resulting in a wide variety of particles that differ in size, surface or composition. Ensuring a rational regime regarding the technological process of hammer mills operation, actually refers to the correlation of the indices to ensure the functioning of the mills at optimal values. The peripheral speed of hammers is one of the decisive factors in the milling process. Speed limitation is determined by fodder resistance, the construction of working parts and their durability. In the paper we study the influence of hammers` peripheral speed on the product subjected to milling, through a series of experiments under exploitation conditions

Strong enhancement of phonon scattering through nanoscale grains in lead sulfide thermoelectrics

We present nanocrystalline PbS, which was prepared using a solvothermal method followed by spark plasma sintering, as a promising thermoelectric material. The effects of grains with different length scales on phonon scattering of PbS samples, and therefore on the thermal conductivity of these samples, were studied using transmission electron microscopy and theoretical calculations. We found that a high density of nanoscale grain boundaries dramatically lowered the thermal conductivity by effectively scattering long-wavelength phonons. The thermal conductivity at room temperature was reduced from 2.5 W m1K 1 for ingot-PbS (grain size 4200 lm) to 2.3 W m1K 1 for micro-PbS (grain size 40.4 lm); remarkably, thermal conductivity was reduced to 0.85 W m1 K 1 for nano-PbS (grain size B30 nm). Considering the full phonon spectrum of the material, a theoretical model based on a combination of first-principles calculations and semiempirical phonon scattering rates was proposed to explain this effective enhancement. The results show that the high density of nanoscale grains could cause effective phonon scattering of almost 61%. These findings shed light on developing high-performance thermoelectrics via nanograins at the intermediate temperature range.This contribution was supported primarily by the startup of the South University of Science and Technology of China, supported by the Shenzhen government, and the national 1000 plan for young scientists. This work was also partially supported by a grant-in-aid of ‘985 Project’ from Xi’an Jiaotong University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21201138 and 11204228), the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB619402 and 2014CB644003) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central UniversitiesS

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Multiple effects of toxins isolated from Crotalus durissus terrificus on the hepatitis C virus life cycle

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the main causes of liver disease and transplantation worldwide. Current therapy is expensive, presents additional side effects and viral resistance has been described. Therefore, studies for developing more efficient antivirals against HCV are needed. Compounds isolated from animal venoms have shown antiviral activity against some viruses such as Dengue virus, Yellow fever virus and Measles virus. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the complex crotoxin (CX) and its subunits crotapotin (CP) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2-CB) isolated from the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus on HCV life cycle. Huh 7.5 cells were infected with HCVcc JFH-1 strain in the presence or absence of these toxins and virus was titrated by focus formation units assay or by qPCR. Toxins were added to the cells at different time points depending on the stage of virus life cycle to be evaluated. The results showed that treatment with PLA2-CB inhibited HCV entry and replication but no effect on HCV release was observed. CX reduced virus entry and release but not replication. By treating cells with CP, an antiviral effect was observed on HCV release, the only stage inhibited by this compound. Our data demonstrated the multiple antiviral effects of toxins from animal venoms on HCV life cycle