Qualification of the most statistically "sensitive" diffusion tensor imaging parameters for detection of spinal cord injury

Qualification of the most statistically "sensitive" diffusion parameters using Magnetic Resonance (MR) Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) of the control and injured spinal cord of a rat in vivo and in vitro after the trauma is reported. Injury was induced in TH12/TH13 level by a controlled "weight-drop". In vitro experiments were performed in a home-built MR microscope, with a 6.4 T magnet, in vivo samples were measured in a 9.4 T/21 horizontal magnet The aim of this work was to find the most effective diffusion parameters which are useful in the statistically significant detection of spinal cord tissue damage. Apparent diffusion tensor (ADT) weighted data measured in vivo and in vitro on control and injured rat spinal cord (RSC) in the transverse planes and analysis of the diffusion anisotropy as a function of many parameters, which allows statisticall expose of the existence of the damage are reported

Impact of European Integration on the Functioning of the Insurance Market in Poland

The transformation process, that has begun 20 years ago, generated significant changes in the structure and organization of Polish economy. It stimulated development of particular market's segments, especially of the insurance sector. Poland's accession to the European Union required conformity to Its regulations, fulfillment of several conditions connected with the membership in the European Community. The purpose of this article is to present the main consequences of Poland's integration with EU in the field of insurance market. Joining the common market was an important challenge for this sector in our country.Rok 1990 stanowił początek procesu transformacji systemu społeczno - gospodarczego i ustrojowego. Ostatnie 20 lat to okres intensywnych przemian o charakterze strukturalnym i organizacyjnym, w wyniku których ukształtowały się warunki rozwoju poszczególnych segmentów systemu finansowego państwa, zwłaszcza sektora ubezpieczeń. Przystąpienie Polski do Unii Europejskiej wymagało wprowadzenia szeregu zmian, dostosowujących polski porządek prawny do uregulowań wspólnotowych regulujących funkcjonowanie rynku ubezpieczeń. Celem artykułu jest zaprezentowanie szans i zagrożeń, jakie wynikają dla tego segmentu gospodarki z przystąpienia Polski do UE. Niewątpliwie proces integracji stanowił poważne wyzwanie dla polskiego rynku ubezpieczeń

The life cycle impact for platinum group metals and lithium to 2070 via surplus cost potential

© 2017 The Author(s)Purpose: A surplus cost potential (SCP) indicator has been developed as a measure of resource scarcity in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) context. To date, quality SCP estimates for other minerals than fossils are either not yet available or suffer methodological and data limitations. This paper overcomes these limitations and demonstrate how SCP estimates for metals can be calculated without the utilisation of ore grade function and by collecting primary economic and geological data. Methods: Data were collected in line with the geographical distribution, mine type, deposit type and production volumes and total production costs in order to construct cost-cumulative availability curves for platinum group metals (PGMs) and lithium. These curves capture the total amount of known mineral resources that can be recovered profitably at various prices from different types of mineral deposits under current conditions (this is, current technology, prevailing labour and other input prices). They served as a basis for modelling the marginal cost increase, a necessary parameter for estimating the SCP indicator. Surplus costs were calculated for different scenario projections for future mineral production considering future market dynamics, recyclability rates, demand-side technological developments and economic growth and by applying declining social discount rate. Results and discussion: Surplus costs were calculated for three mineral production scenarios, ranging from (US$2014/kg) 6545–8354 for platinum, 3583–4573 for palladium, 8281–10,569 for rhodium, 513–655 for ruthenium, 3201–4086 for iridium and 1.70–5.80 for lithium. Compared with the current production costs, the results indicate that problematic price increases of lithium are unlikely if the latest technological trends in the automotive sector will continue up to 2070. Surplus costs for PGMs are approximately one-third of the current production costs in all scenarios; hence, a threat of their price increases by 2070 will largely depend on the discovery of new deposits and the ability of new technologies to push these costs down over time. This also applies to lithium if the increasing electrification of road transport will continue up to 2070. Conclusions: This study provides useful insight into the availability of PGMs and lithium up to 2070. It proves that if time and resources permit, reliable surplus cost estimates can be calculated, at least in the short-run, based on the construction of one’s own curves with the level of quality comparable to expert-driven consulting services. Modelling and incorporating unknown deposits and potential future mineral production costs into these curves is the subject of future work

Investigation and evaluation of the hybrid system of energy storage for renewable energies

The system presented in this paper can change the energy storage landscape by having the advantages of a compressed air storage system and pump storage, as well as minimizing the disadvantages of these two systems. One of the advantages of this system compared to similar systems is the lack of combustion of natural gas. Correspondingly, for construction, it does not require specific specifications for the executive site, and control of the energy and heat of the system (due to the use of water as an operational fluid) is easier than similar systems. In addition, this system is very scalable and can be designed in low capacities to high capacities, energy analysis of this research to identify the basic and effective parameters of the system and determine the limitations and relationships between them. The amount of energy saved in the current research system compared to previous research is significant, and 92% efficiency can be achieved. The energy analysis of this research determined the effect of the parameters on each other and their limitations so that the path of its feasibility design was paved.Web of Science165art. no. 233

Regioisomeric and substituent effects upon the outcome of the reaction of 1-borodienes with nitrosoarene compounds

A study of the reactivity of 1-borodienes with nitrosoarene compounds has been carried out showing an outcome that differs according to the hybridization state of the boron moiety. Using an sp2 boron substituent, a one-pot hetero-Diels–Alder/ring contraction cascade occurred to afford N-arylpyrroles with low to good yields depending on the electronic properties of the substituents on the borodiene, whereas an sp3 boron substituent led to the formation of stable boro-oxazines with high regioselectivity in most of the cases, in moderate to good yields. 1H and 11B NMR studies on two boro-oxazine regioisomers showed that selective deprotection can be performed. Formation of either the pyrrole or the furan derivative is pH- and regioisomer-structure-dependent. The results obtained, together with previous B3LYP calculations, support mechanistic proposals which suggest that pyrrole, or furan, formation proceeds via oxazine formation, followed by a boryl rearrangement and an intramolecular addition–elimination sequence

Application of neural networks in modeling wind speed as a determinant of energy consumption in buildings

Celem pracy była analiza możliwości wykorzystania narzędzia z obszaru sztucznej inteligencji, jakim są sztuczne sieci neuronowe (ANN) w zagadnieniach związanych z prognozowaniem poboru energii elektrycznej w budynkach. W wielu opracowaniach wykazano, że głównym źródłem popytu na energię są systemy klimatyzacji oraz systemy grzewcze (HVAC). Z tego też powodu jednym z podstawowych determinant zapotrzebowania na energię są czynniki atmosferyczne, w tym prędkość wiatru. W pracy oprócz badań literaturowych przeprowadzono również badania empiryczne w obszarze przewidywania prędkości wiatru przy użyciu ANN wykorzystujących dane archiwalne pochodzące ze stacji meteorologicznej usytuowanej na lotnisku Lublinek w Łodzi. Testom zostały poddane sieci pracujące w oparciu o architekturę perceptronu wielowarstwowego (MLP), sieci realizujące regresję uogólnioną (GRNN) oraz sieci o radialnych funkcjach bazowych (RBF). Modelowanie objęło prędkości wiatru w latach 2008-2016. Dane zostały podzielone na trzy zbiory: uczący, walidacyjny i testowy. Takie podejście umożliwiło minimalizację ryzyka przeuczenia ANN. Jednocześnie użycie jedynie najnowszych informacji w charakterze danych testowych umożliwiło opracowanie modelu, który może zostać wykorzystany w praktyce biznesowej. W pracy nie ograniczono się do poszukiwania optymalnego zbioru zmiennych objaśniających jedynie wśród danych pozyskanych bezpośrednio ze stacji meteorologicznej, lecz analizie poddano także zmienne wejściowe powstałe poprzez zastosowanie narzędzi analizy technicznej.The paper presents possibilities to use ANN as a model predicting both - demand for energy in buildings and meteorological parameters affecting that demand such as wind speed. Empirical studies included wind speed forecasts using weather data from a meteorological station located at Lublinek Airport in Lodz. Numerous ANN types such as MLP, RBF and GRNN were tested during simulations