Development of an Open-GIS decision aid system for ecological and economical management of surface and groundwater resources in the Bistrita River Basin (Romania)

International audienceThe Bistrita River Basin (a length of 283 km, a surface of 7039 km2, a mean discharge of 65 m3/s) is one of the most important tributary of the Siret River, which is the second major affluent of the Danube River. Heavily influenced by hydraulic management and highly polluted by agricultural and urban activities in some stretches, the Bistrita river has been studied in the framework of the Diminish Project (LIFE03 ENV/ RO/000539), funded by the Life Environment Program. The project aims to support the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and to combat the nutrient pollution by developing an integrated, on-line, GIS-based support system for the management of the water quality in relation with human activities, using socio-economical analysis, at the scale of the river catchments. Based on modeling approaches the decisional system allows to predict which strategy will lead to the most effective reduction of nutrient concentrations within the Bistrita hydrological network and of nutrient loads transported by the Siret River into the Danube. The consequences of the nutrient pollution are discussed for two basin areas, from two points of view: i) the effects of point and diffuse pollution for surface and groundwater, on the basis of the basin response to the changing pressures over the river catchments (industrial, rural, urban, agricultural changes), ii) the economical valuation of environmental costs and cost-effectiveness of the measures, that can be proposed from socio-economic scenarios, for reaching the "good ecological status" of this river

Social Polarization and Economic Inequality: An Analysis of the Impact of Communist and Capitalist Policies on the Quality of Life of the Romani Community in Southern Muntenia

This paper aims to provide an analysis of the social policies implemented in Romania in order to manage the Roma minority issue before and after the 1989 Revolution. Its main goal is to investigate whether Romania had a better social integration system put in place as to enable addressing the Roma minority issue during communism or afterwards. Today, the Romani community is dealing with systemic ethnic discrimination that brings about issues like poverty, unemployment, and homelessness. The lack of financial resources needed in order to survive in capitalism makes it hard for low-income families to ensure decent living conditions for themselves and their children. Negative attitudes towards the Romani affect their access to healthcare, counsel, education, and housing as they become systematically excluded from the social life of the majority and are made into outsiders in their own country. Thus, this study means to show the perspective of the Romani on the issue and how they feel the fall of communism has impacted their community by further exploring certain dimensions of social life in Romania - education, housing, and labour dynamics

Effect of Aluminum Incorporation into Mesoporous Aluminosilicate Framework on Drug Release Kinetics

Mesoporous silica materials are promising nanocarriers for the development of drug delivery systems. In this study, the influence of pore size, volume, surface area, and doping the silica framework on the release kinetics of a model drug, metoprolol, has been studied. 20% or 50% wt. therapeutic agent was loaded into the carrier mesopores through incipient wetness impregnation. The carriers and drug-loaded samples have been characterized by small- and wide-angle X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The in vitro release profiles have been fitted using a three-parameter kinetic model and they have been explained in terms of the release rate during the burst and sustained release stages and the fraction of drug molecules released during the burst stage. The silica framework doping with aluminum was found to decrease the amount of drug released in the burst stage, without affecting the other kinetic parameters. The therapeutic agent release rates depend mainly on the pore size and volume of the mesoporous carriers and drug-loaded samples

Technological verification of the satellite module for precise determination of the position of satellites in orbit

Only AbstractToday, nanosatellite constellations are increasingly used in various missions. Given the complexity of these missions, more precise positioning and maneuvering is required for all constellation components. Recently positioning solutions are based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), the European GALILEO system, which have complied the stringent requirements of satellite constellations. This paper proposes the development of a low-cost, COTS, point-precise positioning (PPP), multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS satellite receiver module for technology verification, enabling positioning accuracy of the order of cm on low earth orbits (LEO). In addition, this satellite module will integrate orbit determination algorithms and positioning modes, which would provide low power consumption, an accurate orbit propagator and an embedded artificial neural network (ANN)

Cellulose acetate membranes functionalized with resveratrol by covalent immobilization for improved osseointegration

Covalent immobilization of resveratrol onto cellulose acetate polymeric membranes used as coating on a Mg-1Ca-0.2Mn-0.6Zr alloy is presented for potential application in the improvement of osseointegration processes. For this purpose, cellulose acetate membrane is hydrolysed in the presence of potassium hydroxide, followed by covalent immobilization of aminopropyl triethoxy silane. Resveratrol was immobilized onto membranes using glutaraldehyde as linker. The newly synthesised functional membranes were thoroughly characterized for their structural characteristics determination employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Subsequently, in vitro cellular tests were performed for evaluating the cytotoxicity biocompatibility of synthesized materials and also the osseointegration potential of obtained derivatised membrane material. It was demonstrated that both polymeric membranes support viability and proliferation of the pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells, thus providing a good protection against the potential harmful effects of the compounds released from coated alloys. Furthermore, cellulose acetate membrane functionalized with resveratrol exhibits a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase activity and extracellular matrix mineralization, suggesting its suitability to function as an implant surface coating for guided bone regeneration

Kinematic Galileo and GPS Performances in Aerial, Terrestrial, and Maritime Environments

On 15 December 2016, the European Commission (EC) declared the provision of the Galileo Initial Services (IS). This marked a historical milestone in the Galileo program, towards the reaching of its Full Operational Capability. This allows users to navigate with performance-accuracy levels either matching or exceeding those obtained with other GNSS. Under the delegation of the EC, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has assumed the role of the Galileo Service Provider. As part of this service provision, the primary mission of the Galileo Reference Centre (GRC) is to provide the EUSPA and the EC with independent means for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the Galileo services, the quality of the signals in space, and the performance of other GNSS. This mission includes significant contributions from cooperating entities in the European Union (EU) Member States (MS), Norway and Switzerland. In particular, for a detailed assessment of the Galileo performance, these contributions include (but are not limited to) periodic dynamic campaigns in three different environments (aerial, terrestrial, and maritime). These campaigns were executed in the frame of the GRC-MS Project and use multi-constellation receivers to compare the navigation performance obtained with different GNSS. The objective of this paper is to present the numerical results obtained from these campaigns, together with several considerations about the experimental setup, the methodology for the estimation of the reference («actual») trajectory, and the reasons for possible performance degradations

Metabolic modeling-based drug repurposing in Glioblastoma

The manifestation of intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity hinders the development of ubiquitous cancer treatments, thus requiring a tailored therapy for each cancer type. Specifically, the reprogramming of cellular metabolism has been identified as a source of potential drug targets. Drug discovery is a long and resource-demanding process aiming at identifying and testing compounds early in the drug development pipeline. While drug repurposing efforts (i.e., inspecting readily available approved drugs) can be supported by a mechanistic rationale, strategies to further reduce and prioritize the list of potential candidates are still needed to facilitate feasible studies. Although a variety of ‘omics’ data are widely gathered, a standard integration method with modeling approaches is lacking. For instance, flux balance analysis is a metabolic modeling technique that mainly relies on the stoichiometry of the metabolic network. However, exploring the network’s topology typically neglects biologically relevant information. Here we introduce Transcriptomics-Informed Stoichiometric Modelling And Network analysis (TISMAN) in a recombinant innovation manner, allowing identification and validation of genes as targets for drug repurposing using glioblastoma as an exemplar

CORRELATION BETWEEN THE METABOLIC SYNDROME AND DEPRESSION IN REGARD OF POLYPATHOLOGY AND SPIRITUAL VIEW

Abstract Any disease can be regarded as a result of the influence of external factors, but also as a spiritual imbalance of the human being. The link between the metabolic syndrome and depression on the basis of this presumption was studied, considering the fact that the imbalance of the so called ‚matter" may have the origin in a spiritual imbalance and vice versa. In order to study the correlation between metabolic syndrome-depression, 66 patients with metabolic syndrome were chosen, to whom there were applied questionnaires for depression. The patients were selected during January 2012 and May 2012 in the V th Internal Medicine and Geriatrics-Gerontology Clinic, from the Railway Hospital Iasi. The preliminary data showed that depression (of different degrees) was associated to the 56 out of the 66 patients with metabolic syndrome (84.84%). The obese patients were the most affected suggesting the important part of the negative feelings (of unacceptance and self-rejection) played in their case. The ways of helping patients with these associated pathologies require a very complex approach, based on a interdisciplinary thinking and acting. Different medical specialists are needed, as well as a psychologist and even a father confessor, because cultivating Christian virtues will help patients fight stress, increase faith and love. Continuous prayer will balance their inner world, recreating it in health, peace and harmony