PREOCUPĂRI ACTUALE ALE MANAGEMENTULUI ENERGIEI ÎN SPAŢIUL UNIUNII EUROPENE

If in seventy the green energy was considered a utopia and treated as a dream of scientists, the situation was changed over the years and the vision of “a future of regenerable energy” has become a subject of debate. Durable development of energetic sector and capitalization at a superior level of efficiency of all sources of energy, inclusive of the regenerables one, can insure the continuity and quality of providing the energy in European economy, with keeping the protections norms of environment.durable development; green energy; energetical policy; sources of regenerables energy; management of regenerable energy

PREOCUPĂRI ACTUALE ALE MANAGEMENTULUI ENERGIEI ÎN SPAŢIUL UNIUNII EUROPENE

If in seventy the green energy was considered a utopia and treated as a dream of scientists, the situation was changed over the years and the vision of “a future of regenerable energy” has become a subject of debate. Durable development of energetic sector and capitalization at a superior level of efficiency of all sources of energy, inclusive of the regenerables one, can insure the continuity and quality of providing the energy in European economy, with keeping the protections norms of environment

Modelling of CO2 storage in geological formations with DuMux, a free-open-source numerical framework. A possible tool to assess geological storage of carbon dioxide in Romania

Geological storage of carbon dioxide represents a viable solution to reduce the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Romania has initiatives to build a large-scale integrated CO2 capture and storage demonstration project and find suitable on-shore and off-shore CO2 storage locations. Numerical simulators are essential tools helping the design process. These simulators are required to be capable to represent the complex thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical and biological phenomena accompanying the geological CO2 storage such as, multi-phase flow, compositional effects due to dissolution of CO2 into the brine, non-isothermal effects due to cold CO2 injection, geomechanical effects, mineralization at the reservoir-scale. These processes can be simulated accurately and efficiently with DuMux (www.dumux.org), a free- and open-source simulator. This article presents and reviews briefly these mathematical and numerical models

Modelling of kinetic interface sensitive tracers reactive transport in 2D two-phase flow heterogeneous porous media

Fluid-fluid interfacial area plays an important role for mass- and energy-transfer processes across the interface which is relevant in several hydrogeological and engineering applications, e.g. enhanced oil-gas recovery, CO2 storage in geological formations, unconventional geothermal systems, contaminant removal, etc. Kinetic interface sensitive tracers were designed to determine the size of the interface between two fluids by undergoing hydrolysis at the fluid-fluid interface. This study investigates by means of numerical modelling the influence of heterogeneity on the KIS tracer breakthrough curves in six idealized scenarios (S1-S6). It is an extension of the previous work conducted in “one-dimensional” column experiments by Tatomir et al. (2018) [1]. The changes in interfacial area are created by inclusion of heterogeneities at the Darcy-scale. The results show that KIS tracers can be used in two-dimensional experimental setup and can provide information about the size and dynamic evolution of interfacial area. Therefore, this is a first step for the dimensioning of an experimental flume

Diminished neural sensitivity to irregular facial expression in first-episode schizophrenia

Abstract: Introduction: Blunted, inappropriate affective-social behavior is a hallmark of early schizophrenia, possibly corresponding to reduced ability to recognize and express emotions. It is yet unknown if this affective deficiency relates to disturbed neural sensitivity to facial expressions or to overall face processing. In a previous imaging study, healthy subjects showed less suppression of the fusiform gyrus (FG) to repeated presentation of the same transfigured-bizarre face relative to regular face. We assumed that the FG in schizophrenia will show reduced repetition related sensitivity to transfigured-bizarre faces, while having overall normal response to faces. Methods: Ten first-episode patients with schizophrenia and 10 controls rated the bizarreness of upright and inverted faces. In an fMRI study, another group of 17 first-episode patients with schizophrenia and 12 controls viewed regular and transfigured-bizarre faces in blocks. Each block contained regular-or transfigured-bizarre faces of either different or same individual, presented in an upright or inverted orientation. Results: Patients in comparison with controls rated irregular faces as less bizarre. The FG, in patients and controls exhibited similar response to inverted faces, suggesting normal face processing. In contrast, the FG only in patients, showed similar suppression to repeated transfigured-bizarre and regular faces. Finally, the FG in patients compared with controls showed reduced functional connectivity with the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Conclusion: Patients with schizophrenia already at first-episode, showed reduced behavioral and neural sensitivity to bizarre facial expressions. Possibly, this deficiency is related to disturbed modulations of emotion-related face processing in the FG by the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 00:000-000, 2009. V V C 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Three year naturalistic outcome study of panic disorder patients treated with paroxetine

BACKGROUND: This naturalistic open label follow-up study had three objectives: 1) To observe the course of illness in Panic Disorder patients receiving long-term versus intermediate-term paroxetine treatment 2) To compare the relapse rates and side-effect profile after long-term paroxetine treatment between patients with Panic Disorder and Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia. 3) To observe paroxetine's tolerability over a 24 month period. METHODS: 143 patients with panic disorder (PD), with or without agoraphobia, successfully finished a short-term (ie 12 week) trial of paroxetine treatment. All patients then continued to receive paroxetine maintenance therapy for a total of 12 months. At the end of this period, 72 of the patients chose to discontinue paroxetine pharmacotherapy and agreed to be monitored throughout a one year discontinuation follow-up phase. The remaining 71 patients continued on paroxetine for an additional 12 months and then were monitored, as in the first group, for another year while medication-free. The primary limitation of our study is that the subgroups of patients receiving 12 versus 24 months of maintenance paroxetine therapy were selected according to individual patient preference and therefore were not assigned in a randomized manner. RESULTS: Only 21 of 143 patients (14%) relapsed during the one year medication discontinuation follow-up phase. There were no significant differences in relapse rates between the patients who received intermediate-term (up to 12 months) paroxetine and those who chose the long-term course (24 month paroxetine treatment). 43 patients (30.1%) reported sexual dysfunction. The patients exhibited an average weight gain of 5.06 kg. All patients who eventually relapsed demonstrated significantly greater weight increase (7.3 kg) during the treatment phase. CONCLUSIONS: The extension of paroxetine maintenance treatment from 12 to 24 months did not seem to further decrease the risk of relapse after medication discontinuation. Twenty-four month paroxetine treatment is accompanied by sexual side effects and weight gain similar to those observed in twelve month treatment

Modelling of CO

Geological storage of carbon dioxide represents a viable solution to reduce the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Romania has initiatives to build a large-scale integrated CO2 capture and storage demonstration project and find suitable on-shore and off-shore CO2 storage locations. Numerical simulators are essential tools helping the design process. These simulators are required to be capable to represent the complex thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical and biological phenomena accompanying the geological CO2 storage such as, multi-phase flow, compositional effects due to dissolution of CO2 into the brine, non-isothermal effects due to cold CO2 injection, geomechanical effects, mineralization at the reservoir-scale. These processes can be simulated accurately and efficiently with DuMux (www.dumux.org), a free- and open-source simulator. This article presents and reviews briefly these mathematical and numerical models

EPANET modeling of an urban groundwater field

The paper presents an EPANET model of a groundwater well field. The method used in the simulations to model the variation of the hydrodynamic levels in wells as a function of the pumped flow rate is discussed, and a comparison to previous simulations that used fixed hydrodynamic levels in the wells is performed. The case study points to a groundwater well field in Romania. The results show that the new method although requiring a more complex EPANET model, provides a solution that is closer to the actual variation of water levels in wells

Shyness and social phobia in Israeli Jewish vs Arab students

Abstract Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) has been repeatedly shown to be very prevalent in the Western society with prevalence rates of 10% or above. However, very few studies have been performed in the Middle East and in Arab countries. Methods: A total of 300 Israeli students participated in our study and were administered the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Cheek and Buss Shyness Questionnaire (CBSQ), and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results: A total of 153 Jewish and 147 Arab students participated in the survey. Social anxiety disorder was found in 12.33% of the sample, according to the LSAS cutoff score of more than 60. The 2 subsamples had similar LSAS and CBSQ scores and similar SAD-positive rates (LSAS N60). Females had higher scores on the LSAS, as were those without a spouse and those who had been in psychological treatment. Based on a regression analysis, the significant predictors of the LSAS score were the CBSQ score and female sex. A very high correlation was found between the LSAS and the CBSQ scores. Conclusions: Although our sample is not representative of the whole Israeli population, we conclude that SAD and shyness were similarly prevalent in Jewish and Arab students in Israel. Social anxiety disorder scores were higher among females, those without a spouse, and those who received psychological treatment. Further studies on the clinical and cultural characteristics of SAD in Israeli subcultures would add to the growing body of knowledge on SAD in various cultures