Increasing the Productive Potential of Permanent Grasslands From the Forest Steppe Area of Romania

In Romania permanent grasslands represent 32 % of the total agricultural area, stretching over 4,872 million hectares, out of which 340,000 ha are located in the forest steppe area, on less productive soils, which explains their inadequate botanical composition and low quality and yields (Vintu, 2003). One of the main measures taken to increase the productivity of grasslands is through fertilisation (Birch, 1999). This paper presents the results obtained during 2000-2004 on the effect of organic fertiliser on degraded grasslands made up of Festuca valesiaca L

The Influence of Harvest Period and Fertilisation on the Yield of Some Mixed Grass and Leguminous Species Under the Forest Steppe Conditions of North-East Romania

In the forest steppe area of North-east Romania, temporary grasslands represent an important source of high quality fodder but they have a short period of exploitation, associated with some changes in the floristic composition (Vintu, 2003). Fertiliser application and harvest period have an important role in maintaining high productivity (Hopkins, 1991). The aim of this paper is to determine the influence of harvest period and fertilization on the yield of some grass and leguminous species in the forest steppe conditions of North-east Romania

3D Printing and Engineering Tools Relevant to Plan a Transcatheter Procedure

Advance cardiac imaging techniques such as three-dimensional (3D) printing technology and engineering tools have experienced a rapid development over the last decade in many surgical and interventional settings. In presence of complex cardiac and extra-cardiac anatomies, the creation of a physical, patient-specific model is useful to better understand the anatomical spatial relationships and formulate the best surgical or interventional plan. Although many case reports and small series have been published over this topic, at the present time, there is still a lack of strong scientific evidence of the benefit of 3D models and advance engineering tools, including virtual and augmented reality, in clinical practice and only qualitative evaluation of the models has been used to investigate their clinical use. Patient-specific 3D models can be printed in many different materials including rigid, flexible and transparent materials, depending on their application. To plan interventional procedure, transparent materials may be preferred in order to better evaluate the device or stent landing zone. 3D models can also be used as an input for augmented and virtual reality application and advance fluido-dynamic simulation, which aim to support the interventional cardiologist before entering the cath lab. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview on how 3D printing, extended reality platforms and the most common computational engineering methodologies"finite element and computational fluid dynamics"are currently used to support percutaneous procedures in congenital heart disease (CHD), with examples from the scientific literature