Leveraging Small-Scale Sport Events: Challenges of Organising, Delivering and Managing Sustainable Outcomes in Rural Communities, the Case of Gorski kotar, Croatia

Sports and events play an important role in local identity building and creating a sense of community that encourages participation and increases social capital. Rural communities are specific areas with special needs and can face challenges and restraints when it comes to event organisation. The purpose of this paper is to identify organisational challenges and analyse the potential to achieving long-term sustainable social and economic outcomes linked to small-scale sports events in rural communities. Organisational challenges of rural communities in terms of organising sport events are examined and discussed using the framework of event leveraging developed by O’Brien and Chalip. This methodology is applied and discussed to a case study focusing on small-scale winter sport events in rural Croatia. Semi-structured interviews with local organisers were conducted in order to collect data on the overall event organisation and management, local coordination, role of community stakeholders and challenges facing strategic planning, with the intent to identify objectives for future events. Results were discussed independently and in the context of the leverage framework, with reflection on its applicability to rural communities as the event organisers. Recommendations are provided based on critical insight from the literature and are oriented on how to streamline the process of organising, delivering and managing of events in remote rural communities. Finally, the idea of inter-community organisation is proposed to ensure long-term social and economic benefits and to address the existing issues of overlapping of stakeholder categories, mixed objectives, distrust among stakeholders and inefficiently used local resources

X-ray characterization of BUSARD chip: A HV-SOI monolithic particle detector with pixel sensors under the buried oxide

This work presents the design of BUSARD, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for the detection of ionizing particles. The ASIC is a monolithic active pixel sensor which has been fabricated in a High-Voltage Silicon-On-Insulator (HV-SOI) process that allows the fabrication of a buried N+ diffusion below the Buried OXide (BOX) as a standard processing step. The first version of the chip, BUSARD-A, takes advantage of this buried diffusion as an ionizing particle sensor. It includes a small array of 13×13 pixels, with a pitch of 80 μm, and each pixel has one buried diffusion with a charge amplifier, discriminator with offset tuning and digital processing. The detector has several operation modes including particle counting and Time-over-Threshold (ToT). An initial X-ray characterization of the detector was carried out, obtaining several pulse height and ToT spectra, which then were used to perform the energy calibration of the device. The Molybdenum $_{α}$ emission was measured with a standard deviation of 127 e$^{-}$ of ENC by using the analog pulse output, and with 276 e$^{-}$ of ENC by using the ToT digital output. The resolution in ToT mode is dominated by the pixel-to-pixel variation

Benchmarking service delivery for sports tourism and events: Lessons for Gorski Kotar, Croatia from Pokljuka, Slovenia

Benchmarking is essential for developing destinations to improve and develop their service delivery. Croatia is a well-established summer tourism destination, but more remote (inland) destinations seek to increase their competitiveness to help sustain Croatian tourism year-round—to diversify tourism offerings beyond the (more traditional) sea and sun opportunities. Expanding Croatia’s tourism offer will require additional investments, not only in coastal destinations but in rural continental areas as well. Looking at how more established rural and winter destinations are planned and managed, this paper seeks to discuss how Croatia can learn from its neighbour Slovenia which has well-established winter sports destinations (in rural areas). This is where a benchmarking approach, building on a comparative analysis conducted through fieldwork research contributes new insight. Research was conducted in both Pokljuka (Slovenia) and Gorski kotar (Croatia) between 2015 and 2017. Three different procedures were used to collect data: (1) documental research of the destinations, facilities and events, (2) on site visits involving qualitative interviews and conversations with key stakeholders and (3) direct observation of the destination while attending events. Three emergent themes best reflected the analysed insights from the data collection: Infrastructure, business operations and community involvement/stakeholder participation. To assess different points of service offering and delivery, discussions in Pokljuka were framed around sports tourism opportunities and their established business models to understand planning, management, organisation and service delivery. These same three points are then discussed as opportunities for Gorski kotar. To reiterate the benchmarking focus, first research must present a comparative analysis and then put emphasis on planning and managing service delivery to help highlight how insight from a well-established destination informs emerging destinations with tourism potential. © 2019, Varna University of Management. All rights reserved

Survey of the family Russulaceae (Agaricomycetes, Fungi) in Montenegro

The paper shows that there are 84 known species of the family Russulaceae in Montenegro, 39 of them belonging to the genus Lactarius and 45 to the genus Russula

Irradiation study of a fully monolithic HV-CMOS pixel sensor design in AMS 180 nm

High-Voltage Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (HV-MAPS) based on the 180 nm HV-CMOS process have been proposed to realize thin, fast and highly integrated pixel sensors. The MuPix7 prototype, fabricated in the commercial AMS H18 process, features a fully integrated on-chip readout, i.e. hit-digitization, zero suppression and data serialization. It is the first fully monolithic HV-CMOS pixel sensor that has been tested for the use in high irradiation environments like HL-LHC. We present results from laboratory and test beam measurements of MuPix7 prototypes irradiated with neutrons (up to $5.0\cdot10^{15}{\,\rm{n}_{\rm{eq}}/cm^2}$) and protons (up to $7.8\cdot 10^{15} \,\rm{protons}/cm^2$) and compare the performance with non-irradiated sensors. Efficiencies well above 90 % at noise rates below 200 Hz per pixel are measured. A time resolution better than 22 ns is measured for all tested settings and sensors, even at the highest irradiation fluences. The data transmission at 1.25 Gbit/s and the on-chip PLL remain fully functional

Design of Fixed Bed Column for Lead Removal on Natural Zeolite Based on Batch Studies

This paper presents the prediction of breakthrough curves for the fixed bed column based on batch studies. Batch equilibrium studies of lead removal on natural zeolite clinoptilolite have been performed. The obtained experimental data have been tested according to the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherm, and their parameters have been calculated. These parameters and the Mass Transfer Model have been used to predict theoretical breakthrough curves. Theoretical breakthrough curves have been compared with the experimental ones and good agreement has been observed. This indicates that the Mass Transfer Model is applicable for prediction of breakthrough curves from batch studies. The overall mass transfer coefficient has been calculated from column experiments. This value allows for calculation of the height of the mass transfer zone as a very important parameter necessary for column design

Extending the Role of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Screw Machines

Previous publications show that computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be readily used for the flow prediction and analysis of screw compressors. Several case studies are presented in this article to show the scope and applicability of such methods. These include solid–fluid interaction in screw compressors, prediction of flow generated noise in screw machines, cavitation modelling in gear pumps, and flow in multiphase pumps for oil and gas industry. Numerical grids for all these cases were generated by the authors using an in-house grid generator, while the CFD calculations were performed with a variety of commercially available CFD codes. In order to validate the accuracy of the CFD calculations, an extended test programme was carried out using laser Doppler velocimetry to measure the mean and fluctuating velocity distribution in screw compressor flow domains. The measurement results are then compared with the CFD simulations. The results confirm the viability of the developed techniques. It is shown in this publication that the flexibility of the developed method creates further opportunities for a broader use of CFD for analysis of twin screw machines in a range of new applications

The Effect of Liquid-Phase Exfoliated Graphene Film on Neurodifferentiation of Stem Cells from Apical Papilla

Background: Dental stem cells, which originate from the neural crest, due to their easy accessibility might be good candidates in neuro-regenerative procedures, along with graphene-based nanomaterials shown to promote neurogenesis in vitro. We aimed to explore the potential of liquid-phase exfoliated graphene (LPEG) film to stimulate the neuro-differentiation of stem cells from apical papilla (SCAP). Methods: The experimental procedure was structured as follows: (1) fabrication of graphene film; (2) isolation, cultivation and SCAP stemness characterization by flowcytometry, multilineage differentiation (osteo, chondro and adipo) and quantitative PCR (qPCR); (3) SCAP neuro-induction by cultivation on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) coated with graphene film; (4) evaluation of neural differentiation by means of several microscopy techniques (light, confocal, atomic force and scanning electron microscopy), followed by neural marker gene expression analysis using qPCR. Results: SCAP demonstrated exceptional stemness, as judged by mesenchymal markers’ expression (CD73, CD90 and CD105), and by multilineage differentiation capacity (osteo, chondro and adipo-differentiation). Neuro-induction of SCAP grown on PET coated with graphene film resulted in neuron-like cellular phenotype observed under different microscopes. This was corroborated by the high gene expression of all examined key neuronal markers (Ngn2, NF-M, Nestin, MAP2, MASH1). Conclusions: The ability of SCAPs to differentiate toward neural lineages was markedly enhanced by graphene film