Maritime Performing Party under the Rotterdam Rules 2009

This paper explores the provisions of the Rotterdam Rules 2009 relating to the performing party in general and the maritime performing party in particular. Performing party means a person who performs or undertakes to perform any of the carrier’s obligations under a contract of carriage with respect to the receipt, loading, handling, stowage, carriage, keeping, care, unloading or delivery of the goods, to the extent that such person acts, either directly or indirectly, at the carrier’s request or under the carrier’s supervision or control. Maritime performing party means a performing party who performs or undertakes to perform any of the carrier’s obligations during the period between the arrival of goods at the port of loading and their departure from the port of discharge of a ship. The maritime performing party is a new concept introduced by the Rotterdam Rules. The central intention of this paper is to study and analyse the concept, legal standing and liability of a maritime performing party under the Rotterdam Rules. A comparative analysis of the legal standing of persons analogous to the performing party in conventions regulating the carriage of goods by sea is also provided

Stability Analysis of Steel Welded Tubes Forming Process Using Numerical Simulations

In this paper, the research results of the stability of steel welded tubes forming process are presented. The aim of this research is to determine influence of geometrical and tribological parameters on stability of the process and to determine optimal values of influential process parameters. A research plan with variation of influential parameters was made, on the basis of which experimental and numerical experiments were performed. Tube forming was performed in one operation in a two-part tool made of hard metal by a combination of widening and narrowing. The geometrical factors observed during experiments are length, outer diameter and thicknesses of steel welded tube as a billet. Friction conditions in contact between tool and tubular workpiece are considered in two cases, the first one when standard machine oil is used as a lubricant and the second one when tube billet surface is phosphated. Based on results of experiments, influencing factors on stability of tube forming process were analysed and optimal production technology was recommended, including optimal values of influencing factors. Results obtained by experimental research were confirmed through numerical experiments based on finite element method

Association of IL-1β and IL-10 Polymorphisms with Prostate Cancer Risk and Grade of Disease in Eastern Croatian Population

Single nuclear polymorphisms (SNPs) in the promotor regions of cytokine genes included in angiogenesis may influence prostate cancer (PCa) development via regulation of the pathways of tumor angiogenesis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of IL-1β+3954 (rs1143634) and IL-10-1082 (rs1800896) polymorphisms with PCa risk and aggressiveness in eastern Croatian patients. One hundred twenty PCa patients and 120 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) controls were genotyped using real-time PCR (LightCycler Instrument, Roche Diagnostics) and the melting curve analysis method. There was no significant difference in the frequency of genotypes for the two polymorphisms between PCa patients and controls (χ2=0.857, p=0.355 for IL-β1; χ2=0.026, p=0.872 for IL-10). Carriers of the IL-10-1082A>G variant were found to be associated with the Gleason score (GS)>7 (AA versus GA+GG, OR=3.47, 95% CI 1.11-10.88, p=0.033). There was no significant difference in the frequency of genotypes for the two polymorphisms and the presence of metastatic disease in PCa patients. These results suggest that tested SNPs associated with differential production of IL-1β and IL-10 are not risk factors for PCa and do not correlate with the presence of distant metastasis in eastern Croatians. We found that IL-10-1082 GA+/or GG carriers have a higher risk of developing PCa with GS>7 in eastern Croatians

Integrated product and process development in collaborative virtual engineering environment

Članak prikazaje integrativni pristup u primjeni virtualne inženjerske tehnologije u oblikovanju proizvoda i proizvodnih procesa za njihovu proizvodnju. To je rezultiralo integracijom CAD/CAM/CAE, tehnologija virtualne stvarnosti u oblikovanju proizvoda, FE/FV numeričke simulacije i optimizacije proizvodnih procesa, kao što je digitalna izrada prototipova proizvoda i procesa, s jedne strane, i tehnike brze izrade proizvoda kao izrada fizičkih prototipova, s druge strane. Reverzni inženjering i koordinatna metrologija također su primijenjeni u reinženjeringu procesa oblikovanja lima postojećih proizvoda, s ciljem generiranja inicijalnih digitalnih informacija o proizvodu i konačne kontrole kvalitete na višesenzorskom koordinatnom mjerenom stroju.The paper presents integrative approach in the application of virtual engineering technologies in design of products and production processes for their manufacture. This has resulted in the integration of CAD/CAM/CAE and Virtual Reality technologies in product design and FE/FV numerical simulations and optimization of production processes as digital prototyping of products and processes on one side, and rapid prototyping techniques as physical prototyping, on the other side. Reverse engineering and coordinate metrology have been also applied in reengineering of sheet metal forming process of existing products, with the aim of generating initial digital information about product and final quality control on multi-sensor coordinate measurement machine

Effects of bacterial seed inoculation on microbiological soil status and maize grain yield

Rhizosphere microorganisms are essential for plant growth and development. Many factors, including environmental conditions, genotype, seed inoculation with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and plant growth stages, influence rhizosphere microbiology. In this study, the dynamics of nitrogen and microbiological soil status at different growth stages of two maize hybrids, as well as their grain yield were analyzed, under the influence of seed inoculation with inoculant containing Azotobacter chroococum, Azotobacter vinelandii, Bacillus megaterium, and Bacillus licheniformis on during three experimental years. Higher nitrogen amount (NA), total number of microorganisms (TNM), number of azotobacters (NAZ), number of aminoheterotrophs (NAM), total number of sporogenic bacteria (NS), number of actinomycetes (NAC), number of oligotrophic (NO) and grain yield, as well as lower number of fungi (NF) were obtained under favorable environmental conditions. The hybrid NS 6010 had higher values of NA, TNM, NAZ, NAM, NO, and grain yield than hybrid Dijamant 6. What is more, higher NA, TNM, NAZ, NAM, NO, and grain yield were obtained under inoculation treatment, demonstrating that the microorganisms improve maize production and microbial abundance in the rhizosphere. The highest TNM, NAM, NF and NO were determined at stage 6-7 leaves, while the highest NA and NAC were at silking stage and NAZ at wax ripeness stage. Accordingly, hybrid choice and seed inoculation could serve as a good management practice for an increase in maize grain yield, and improved microbial population and nitrogen amount in the rhizosphere

Analytical bias of automated immunoassays for six serum steroid hormones assessed by LC-MS/MS

Introduction: There is a growing amount of evidence showing the significant analytical bias of steroid hormone immunoassays, but large number of available immunoassays makes conduction of a single comprehensive study of this issue hardly feasible. Aim of this study was to assess the analytical bias of six heterogeneous immunoassays for serum aldosterone, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), testosterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone (OHP) and progesterone using the liquid chromatography coupled to the tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Materials and methods: This method comparison study included 49 serum samples. Testosterone, DHEAS, progesterone and cortisol immunoassays were performed on the Abbott Architect i2000SR or Alinity i analysers (Abbott Diagnostics, Chicago, USA). DiaSorin’s Liaison (DiaSorin, Saluggia, Italy) and DIAsource’s ETI-Max 3000 analysers (DIAsource ImmunoAssays, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium) were chosen for aldosterone and OHP immunoassay testing, respectively. All immunoassays were evaluated against the LC-MS/MS assay relying on the commercial kit (Chromsystems, Gräfelfing, Germany) and LCMS-8050 analyser (Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan). Analytical biases were calculated and method comparison was conducted using weighted Deming regression analysis. Results: Depending on the analyte and specific immunoassay, mean relative biases ranged from -31 to + 137%. Except for the cortisol, immunoassays were positively biased. For none of the selected steroids slope and intercept 95% confidence intervals simultaneously contained 0 and 1, respectively. Conclusions: Evaluated immunoassays failed to satisfy requirements for methods’ comparability and produced significant analytical biases in respect to the LC-MS/MS assay, especially at low concentrations

Test results comparison and sample stability study: is the BD Barricor tube a suitable replacement for the BD RST tube?

Introduction: The aim was to evaluate the BD Barricor tubes by comparison with the BD Rapid Serum Tubes (RST) through measuring 25 analytes and monitoring sample stability after 24 hours and 7 days. Materials and methods: Samples of 52 patients from different hospital departments were examined. Blood was collected in BD RST and BD Barricor tubes (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Franklin Lakes, USA). Analytes were measured by Beckman Coulter AU 480 (Beckman Coulter, Brea, USA), Dimension EXL (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Newark, USA) and ARCHITECT i2000SR (Abbott Diagnostics, Lake Forest, USA). Between-tube comparison for each analyte was performed, along with testing analyte stability after storing samples at 4 °C. Results: BD Barricor tubes showed unacceptable bias compared to BD RST tubes for potassium (K) (- 4.5%) and total protein (4.4%). Analyte stability after 24 hours was acceptable in both tested tubes for most of analytes, except for glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LD) in BD Barricor and free triiodothyronine in BD RST sample tubes. Analyte stability after 7 days was unacceptable for sodium, K, calcium, creatine kinase isoenzyme MB, AST, LD and troponin I in both samples; additionally for glucose, alkaline phosphatase and albumin in BD Barricor. Conclusion: All analytes, except K and total protein, can be measured interchangeably in BD RST and BD Barricor tubes, applying the same reference intervals. For most of the analytes, sample re-analysis can be performed in both tubes after 24 hours and 7 days, although BD RST tubes show better 7-day analytes stability over BD Barricor tubes

Verification of the Automated ELISA Assay for Hepcidin-25 in Human Serum

Introduction: Hepcidin-25, the bioactive form of hepcidin, is the master protein in regulating iron homeostasis. Serum concentrations, measured by different methods, are often incomparable and complicate results interpretation. Materials and Methods: The aim was to verify the first fully automated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, using the DRG Hybrid XL analyzer (DRG Instruments, Marburg, Germany) standardized against the mass spectrometry method. Intra- (CVi) and inter-assay (CVg) precision and bias were performed using commercially available controls with low (C1) and high (C2) concentrations. The reference interval was verified by analyzing serum samples of 20 healthy males. Results: CVi = 9.1% (C1), 4.5% (C2); CVg = 8.9% (C1), 5.6% (C2); calculated bias was 33% for C1 and 20% for C2, respectively. Conclusion: Verification of the fully automated ELISA method for hepcidin-25 in serum on the DRG Hybrid XL analyzer met the analytical acceptance criteria

Association Study of Cytochrome P450 1A1*2A Polymorphism with Prostate Cancer Risk and Aggressiveness in Croatians

Cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) is an enzyme participating in the bioactivation of various endogenous and environmental reactive compounds that can bind to DNA and thus induce cancerogenesis. Gene encoding the enzyme is expressed in the prostate tissue and is polymorphic. CYP1A1*2A gene polymorphism is associated with elevated enzyme activity and/or inducibility which can lead to accumulation of genotoxic compounds and consequently to cancerogenesis. We examined the association of this polymorphism with prostate cancer (PCa) risk and aggressiveness. The case-control study consisted of 120 PCa patients and 120 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) controls, in Croatian population. Regarding aggressiveness, PCa patients were grouped according to the Gleason score (GS), tumor stage (T) and existence of distant metastasis (M). The polymorphism was analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We did not observe association of mutated allele with PCa risk, neither with PCa aggressiveness. Furthermore, frequency of polymorphic genotype was slightly higher in BPH group (16.6% vs. 14.2%, respectively) and also in less aggressive form of PCa (20.4% vs. 9.6% for GS<7; 15.6% vs. 9.1% for T<3; 16.7% vs. 10.0% for no distant metastasis). Comparing our findings with other published results, we can assume that the ethnicity influence the genotype distribution and thus may affect the etiology of PCa, even possibly in the way to cause an opposite effect among different ethnic groups. Given the small number of participants, results should be validated on the larger sample size