POSSIBILITIES OF APPLYING BIOMASS FOR THE PURPOSES OF ENERGY PRODUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The aim of the paper is to raise, direct and encourage awareness of the importance of biomass in energy production, as well as to present various possibilities of its use. Increasing demands for energy and growing environmental issues impose the need for energy production from renewable resources. Fossil fuel reserves are finite and their deficit is projected for the coming period. Biogas is one of the renewable resources. The said gas consists of a large amount of methane gas produced by fermenting organic substances from biomass, manure or any other biodegradable material in anaerobic conditions. Electricity production from renewable resources on farms needs to meet numerous conditions, such as environmental protection, bio-safety and animal welfare, as well as a series of technical, organisational, construction, manufacturing and economic requirements imposed by this kind of production. The Lazar Company Ltd. from the town of Blace owns a farm with 600 dairy cows, a dairy which processes 60 000 litres of milk per day, as well as an energy production plant based on biogas, with the capacity of 1mW/hour. In addition, special attention is paid to organic farming, where biomass is said to have multiple applications in energy production in the context of a long-term development trends of certain industries

Non-Invasive Assessment of Back Surface Topography: Technologies, Techniques and Clinical Utility

(1) Background: Frequent exposure to ionising radiation is often used to determine the diagnosis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), a lateral curvature of the spine in those aged between 10 and 18 years, and a treatment plan according to Cobb angle. This narrative review outlines the clinical utility of surface topography (ST), a radiation-free imaging modality. (2) Methods: Publicly available databases were searched to yield literature related to ST. Identified articles were classified based on the equipment used and in order of how it was developed, i.e., historical, recent developments, and state-of-the-art developments. (3) Conclusions: ST is a reliable cost-effective non-invasive technique that provides an alternative to radiation-based imaging to aid with the diagnosis and potential screening of AIS. Several scanning methods are available, which allows ST to be used in several clinical environments. Limitations of inter-reliability and differences of apparatus resulting in variations of data have been noted through this narrative review

Zn concentrations in wheat grains along the gradient of native Zn soil availability in Serbia

Zinc (Zn) is an essential microelement for plants and also an important nutritional and health factor in humans. As a consequence of low Zn availability in soils, nearly half of the world's population suffers from Zn malnutrition. Zn deficiency has serious implications for human health (e.g. impairments in physical development, immune system, brain function and learning ability) and thus for the overall economy of a country; it is most severe in nations who depend on cereals as the main staple food. A critical Zn concentration in the whole grain for humans that depend on cereal based diets is 24 mg kg-1 dry matter. Research focused on increase of Zn content in cereals (biofortification), is the strategic priority in many countries. In Serbia however, the awareness of this problem is lacking, and no systematic survey of Zn availability in soi ls and concentrations in cereal grains has been undertaken so far. Our study included 156 grain samples of the two major bread wheat varieties (Simonida and NS 40S) collected at 89 localities throughout Serbia. We analyzed soil pH, available Zn and grain Zn concentration together by principle component analysis and multiple linear regression. Wheat varieties did not differ in ability to accumulate Zn in grains. Both soil pH and available Zn concentration were the nominally significant predictors for grain Zn concentration and explained about 12 and 9% of the encountered variation, respectively. Zn concentration below the critical limit (24 mg kg-1) was found in 58% of grain samples (values in the range 11-61 mg kg-1, median only 21.3 mg kg-1), while in only 14% of soil samples the available Zn was below the critical value (05 mg kg-1). The most severe lack of Zn in grains (below 18 mg kg-1) was observed in samples from the major production regions of bread wheat (e.g. Pancevo, Vrbas and Sremska Mitrovica). The alarming results of this survey indicate that Serbia urgently needs a strategy for Zn biofortification, primarily through a breeding program to enhance Zn efficiency as a sustainable alternative to application of Zn fertilizers

Expression Pattern of Long Non-Coding RNA Growth Arrest-Specific 5 in the Remission Induction Therapy in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Background: Long non-coding RNA growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5) is deregulated in many cancers because of its role in cell growth arrest and apoptosis. Additionally, GAS5 interacts with glucocorticoid receptor, making it a potential pharmacotranscription marker of glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. In this study, we aimed at analysing GAS5 expression in the remission induction therapy phase of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), in which GCs are mandatorily used, and to correlate it with therapy response. Methods: GAS5 expression was measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells taken from 29 childhood ALL patients at diagnosis, on day 15 and day 33 ofremission induction therapy using RT-qPCR methodology. Results: Our results have shown interindividual differences in GAS5 expression at all time points. For each ALL patient, GAS5 expression was higher on day 15 in comparison to its level at diagnosis (p<0.0005). On day 33, the level of GAS5 expression decreased in comparison with day 15 (p<0.0005), but it was still significantly higher than at diagnosis for the majority of patients (p=0.001). Patients whose number of blasts on day 8 was below 100 per mL of peripheral blood had a higherGAS5 expression at diagnosis (p=0.016), and lower ratio day 15/diagnosis (p=0.009). Conclusions: Our results suggest that the expression level of GAS5 could be a potential marker of therapy response in remission induction therapy of childhood ALL

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Search for anomalous production of events with three or more leptons in pp collisions at √s = 8TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.A search for physics beyond the standard model in events with at least three leptons is presented. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5fb-1 of proton-proton collisions with center-of-mass energy s=8TeV, was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC during 2012. The data are divided into exclusive categories based on the number of leptons and their flavor, the presence or absence of an opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pair (OSSF), the invariant mass of the OSSF pair, the presence or absence of a tagged bottom-quark jet, the number of identified hadronically decaying τ leptons, and the magnitude of the missing transverse energy and of the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta. The numbers of observed events are found to be consistent with the expected numbers from standard model processes, and limits are placed on new-physics scenarios that yield multilepton final states. In particular, scenarios that predict Higgs boson production in the context of supersymmetric decay chains are examined. We also place a 95% confidence level upper limit of 1.3% on the branching fraction for the decay of a top quark to a charm quark and a Higgs boson (t→cH), which translates to a bound on the left- and right-handed top-charm flavor-violating Higgs Yukawa couplings, λtcH and λctH, respectively, of |λtcH|2+|λctH|2<0.21

Measurement of associated W plus charm production in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

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