Safety measures relating to carriage and transfer of liquid cargoes

The continuous growth in the volume of liquid cargoes, transported by sea, leads to increase of tankers’ size and to implementation of appropriate shore facilities, which have to meet the relevant environmental requirements. In order to ensure safety during loading and discharging operations in shore terminals, it is necessary to make an assessment on the level of potential risk in port and onboard the vessel and to take all necessary steps to reduce the possibility for environmental impacts and occurrence of an accident especially when performing transfer operations to/from ships. The article presents some constructive decisions for building of shore tanks and their application for storage and transfer of petroleum products. The measures for the safe performing of the cargo operations are systematized after discussing of specifics by performing of all processes connected with loading or discharge. The precautions are defined in three critical points of action - operation on vessel systems, transportation of cargo using shore facilities and storage in tanks

Assessment of the effectiveness of medical simulators in the practical training of medical students: Preliminary results in MU-Varna

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, simulators have become part of most medical universities’ educational strategy. In recent years, Medical University of Varna has been equipped with the most modern medical simulators, aiming to meet the practical training needs of all specialties taught at the university.AIM: The aim of this study is to perform an initial assessment of the effectiveness in the use of simulators, as well as simulation-based training provided at the Medical University of Varna. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a set of criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of the simulation training including: simulators accessibility, complexity and safety, as well as training environment and trainers’ preparedness. Based on these criteria, a questionnaire was developed and a survey conducted to study the students’ opinion on the training quality with two medical simulators: dental and anesthesiology. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Two groups of medical students - 73 students in dental medicine and 186 students in anesthesiology and intensive care, were enrolled in the study. The results showed a strong relationship between the students’ specialty and simulation training in all evaluation criteria except one. The results revealed that medical simulators play an essential role in the practical training of medical students, and may substantially improve their future medical performance. Medical University of Varna effectively integrates simulation medicine into its educational program

Improving the medical training and qualification of seafarers with simulation technologies

Introduction: Unlike other occupations, maritime occupations are assessed as risky with a high rate of occupational accidents, morbidity and mortality. To reduce the risk and improve the quality of medical care in case of emergencies at sea, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) develops and proposes model courses with developed programs based on current medical problems and needs of seafarers.The Academic Center for Maritime Healthcare (ACMH) at the Medical University of Varna (MU-Varna) is an innovative structure for the country, which sets in its development strategy improvement of the quality of medical education in courses for special and additional training. Nowadays, based on IMO model courses, the perspectives for development in this direction are related to the use of simulation technologies.The high efficiency in the application of the programs and the perspectives in the development of the simulation technologies in the seafarers’ training are the basis for the recognition of ACMH as a national and regional leader in the improvement of the preparation for providing medical care at sea.Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the applicability of simulation technologies to increase the competence of seafarers during IMO model medical qualification courses.Materials and Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted among course attendees in the courses "Medical Care on Board" and "Medical Care on Board—Refresher" in ACMH in September 2021.Results: The results of the study fully satisfy the set goal and give a clear idea of the applicability of simulation technologies in qualifying medical courses.Conclusion: The use of simulation technologies in the medical courses at ACMH of MU–Varna increases the level of competence and provides qualitatively new opportunities for acquiring practical medical skills of seafarers.Introduction: Unlike other occupations, maritime occupations are assessed as risky with a high rate of occupational accidents, morbidity and mortality. To reduce the risk and improve the quality of medical care in case of emergencies at sea, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) develops and proposes model courses with developed programs based on current medical problems and needs of seafarers.The Academic Center for Maritime Healthcare (ACMH) at the Medical University of Varna (MU-Varna) is an innovative structure for the country, which sets in its development strategy improvement of the quality of medical education in courses for special and additional training. Nowadays, based on IMO model courses, the perspectives for development in this direction are related to the use of simulation technologies.The high efficiency in the application of the programs and the perspectives in the development of the simulation technologies in the seafarers’ training are the basis for the recognition of ACMH as a national and regional leader in the improvement of the preparation for providing medical care at sea.Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the applicability of simulation technologies to increase the competence of seafarers during IMO model medical qualification courses.Materials and Methods: An anonymous survey was conducted among course attendees in the courses "Medical Care on Board" and "Medical Care on Board—Refresher" in ACMH in September 2021.Results: The results of the study fully satisfy the set goal and give a clear idea of the applicability of simulation technologies in qualifying medical courses.Conclusion: The use of simulation technologies in the medical courses at ACMH of MU–Varna increases the level of competence and provides qualitatively new opportunities for acquiring practical medical skills of seafarers

Magnetic Particle-Based Hybrid Platforms for Bioanalytical Sensors

Biomagnetic nano and microparticles platforms have attracted considerable interest in the field of biological sensors due to their interesting physico-chemical properties, high specific surface area, good mechanical stability and opportunities for generating magneto-switchable devices. This review discusses recent advances in the development and characterization of active biomagnetic nanoassemblies, their interaction with biological molecules and their use in bioanalytical sensors

Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Human Perception in Speech Processing

The emergence of heterogeneous networks and the rapid increase of Voice over IP (VoIP) applications provide important opportunities for the telecommunications market. These opportunities come at the price of increased complexity in the monitoring of the quality of service (QoS) and the need for adaptation of transmission systems to the changing environmental conditions. This thesis contains three papers concerned with quality assessment and enhancement of speech communication systems in adverse environments. In paper A, we introduce a low-complexity, non-intrusive algorithm for monitoring speech quality over the network. In the proposed algorithm, speech quality is predicted from a set of features that capture important structural information from the speech signal. Papers B and C describe improvements in the conventional pre- and post-processing speech enhancement techniques. In paper B, we demonstrate that the causal Kalman filter implementation is in conflict with the key properties in human perception and propose solutions to the problem. In paper C, we propose adaptation of the conventional postfilter parameters to changes in the noisy conditions. A perceptually motivated distortion measure is used in the optimization of postfilter parameters. Significant improvement over nonadaptive system is obtained

Arthroscopic simulators use: initial results

INTRODUCTION: Simulators became important due to limitations of the traditional “see one, do one technique,” especially with large number of trainees and in order to reduce risks for the patients and possible negative outcomes from unexperienced surgeons. AIM: The aim of this study is to determine advantages and disadvantages in skills training using a simulator. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The simulator used for the study was VirtaMed ArthroS™. Training cases were divided into four groups depending on the number of completions. Then performance data were analyzed for procedure time and procedure time score, safety and economy score, and special scores for different training cases. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Procedure time decreased significantly in all groups even on the second completion, economy score increased in all groups, except group 4, where it slightly decreased, and the safety score significantly increased in group 1 and 3, while in group 2 it was maximum from the beginning, and in group 4 it reached the maximum on the second completion. CONCLUSION: A simulator is a tool that can be used for acquisition of initial arthroscopic skills and its use can reduce the risk to the patients

Generación de fichero Flat File aplicando diferentes reglas de distribución para múltiples clientes

[spa] Este proyecto tiene como objetivo proporcionar una aplicación que permita a las organizaciones, que se dedican a la venta de alojamientos turísticos, tener todo su producto agrupado en un único punto. Las organizaciones, en este caso, actúan como proveedores, es decir, son entidades que (a veces a través de proveedores secundarios) ofrecen un conjunto de productos (en este caso producto hotelero) a unos determinados clientes. Los clientes son las diferentes agencias de viajes que se encargan de vender el producto obtenido de las organizaciones. La empresa encargada de desarrollar este proyecto, TravelgateX, es la encargada de realizar la conexión entre los clientes y los proveedores. En concreto, esta empresa se encarga de obtener, y agrupar, todo el producto de una determinada organización y entregarlo a cada uno de los clientes (agencias) que quieren vender dicho producto. El producto de las organizaciones se agrupa en un fichero Flat File. Un Flat File es una colección de datos, puede ser un simple fichero en formato Comma-Seperated Values (CSV), cuya información no está estructurada de forma definida y, normalmente, se obtienemediante la exportación de una tabla de base de datos. Para generar dicho Flat File, se desarrollará una aplicación que es, esencialmente, un Application Programming Interface (API) Representational State Transfer (REST). Este API, aparte de generar el fichero Flat File de una organización, realiza otras operaciones relacionadas con los requisitos del proyecto que se han establecido por los clientes. Entre estas operaciones destacan: • Generación de producto base. Generación de una tabla, en base de datos, con el producto del proveedor sin alterar. • Generación de producto específico para un cliente. Generación de una tabla, en base de datos, modificando el producto de la organización en base a las características de venta del correspondiente cliente. Entre estas destacan: – "BlackList"deMercados. – Reglas de Comisión. – Cambio de Divisas. • Exportación de producto. Generación de fichero Flat File, en formato CSV, exportado de la tabla correspondiente de la base de datos. Gracias a este proyecto, se estima que las transacciones que los clientes realizan contra los sistemas de las organizaciones para determinar si un producto tiene disponibilidad, se reducirán drásticamente, manteniendo el mismo ratio de reservas que realizan dichos clientes

Human perception in speech processing

The emergence of heterogeneous networks and the rapid increase of Voice over IP (VoIP) applications provide important opportunities for the telecommunications market. These opportunities come at the price of increased complexity in the monitoring of the quality of service (QoS) and the need for adaptation of transmission systems to the changing environmental conditions. This thesis contains three papers concerned with quality assessment and enhancement of speech communication systems in adverse environments. In paper A, we introduce a low-complexity, non-intrusive algorithm for monitoring speech quality over the network. In the proposed algorithm, speech quality is predicted from a set of features that capture important structural information from the speech signal. Papers B and C describe improvements in the conventional pre- and post-processing speech enhancement techniques. In paper B, we demonstrate that the causal Kalman filter implementation is in conflict with the key properties in human perception and propose solutions to the problem. In paper C, we propose adaptation of the conventional postfilter parameters to changes in the noisy conditions. A perceptually motivated distortion measure is used in the optimization of postfilter parameters. Significant improvement over nonadaptive system is obtained.QC 2010082

Flexible Polymer–Organic Solar Cells Based on P3HT:PCBM Bulk Heterojunction Active Layer Constructed under Environmental Conditions

In this study, some crucial parameters were determined of flexible polymer–organic solar cells prepared from an active layer blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the fullerene derivative [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) mixed in 1:1 mass ratio and deposited from chlorobenzene solution by spin-coating on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/ITO substrates. Additionally, the positive effect of an electron transport layer (ETL) prepared from zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO np) on flexible photovoltaic elements’ performance and stability was investigated. Test devices with above normal architecture and silver back electrodes deposed by magnetron sputtering were constructed under environmental conditions. They were characterized by current-voltage (I–V) measurements, quantum efficiency, impedance spectroscopy, surface morphology, and time–degradation experiments. The control over morphology of active layer thin film was achieved by post-deposition thermal treatment at temperatures of 110–120 °C, which led to optimization of device morphology and electrical parameters. The impedance spectroscopy results of flexible photovoltaic elements were fitted using two R||CPE circuits in series. Polymer–organic solar cells prepared on plastic substrates showed comparable current–voltage characteristics and structural properties but need further device stability improvement according to traditionally constructed cells on glass substrates