Positive Developments and Challenges before Indigenous Software Industries: Looking at Bulgaria, Thinking about CEE

software, Bulgaria, CEE, industrial development, accumulation of capabilities, industrial policy

The Nonexistence of some Griesmer Arcs in PG(4, 5)

In this paper, we prove the nonexistence of arcs with parameters (232, 48) and (233, 48) in PG(4,5). This rules out the existence of linear codes with parameters [232,5,184] and [233,5,185] over the field with five elements and improves two instances in the recent tables by Maruta, Shinohara and Kikui of optimal codes of dimension 5 over F5

Linguistic Terms of Greek Origin in English and Bulgarian.

The Greek language has been the source of linguistic terms for centuries up to the present. Greek word-forming patterns, words and word elements were adopted and adapted into Latin (Neo-Latin) 1,500 years ago, and passed through Latin into many European and other languages, being used in the main for scholarly and technical purposes. The analytical study of language began in the second half of the first millennium BC in both Greece and India. The present day study of grammar descends from the Greek tradition and thus many Greek technical terms were converted into English (via Latin) and into Bulgarian (under more direct Greek influence — for historical and geographical reasons). The corpus of linguistic terms dealt with in this paper contains 696 English words and 248 Bulgarian words. They have been classified according to three criteria: the time they entered the language, the extent of their adaptation and the branches of linguistics they belong to

Development of low cost PM Ti alloys by thermomechanical processing of powder blends

This research focuses on the development of low cost powder metallurgy (PM) Ti alloys suitable for application in PM thermomechanical processing with mechanical properties comparable to those of wrought Ti6Al4V alloy. The alloy systems studied are Ti3Al2V, Ti5Fe and Ti3.2Fe1Cr0.6Ni0.1Mo (Ti5SS). The alloy mixtures were produced by blending Ti HDH powders with Al40V, 316SS master alloy powders or elemental Fe powder. The blended powders were further consolidated using various methods: high vacuum sintering (HVS), induction sintering (IS), powder compact forging (PCF) and powder compact extrusion (PCE). It is found that, PM Ti3Al2V and Ti5Fe alloy processed by PCE or PCF followed by recrystallization annealing (RA) achieved tensile properties comparable with wrought Ti6Al4V alloy. Tensile properties such as yield strength (YS) of 910MPa, UTS of 1010MPa and 15% elongation to fracture for Ti3Al2V alloy are reported. Ti5Fe alloy gives YS and UTS of 870MPa and 968MPa respectively, combined with 20.3% elongation to fracture. The tensile results are related to the microstructure developed during the consolidation processes. The oxygen contamination as a result of the high temperature processing is also reported

Designing sustainable soils in Earth’s critical zone

The demographic drivers of increasing human population and wealth are creating tremendous environmental pressures from growing intensity of land use, resulting in soil and land degradation worldwide. Environmental services are provided through multiple soil functions that include biomass production, water storage and transmission, nutrient transformations, contaminant attenuation, carbon and nitrogen storage, providing habitat and maintaining the genetic diversity of the land environment. One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to identify key risks to soil, and to design mitigation strategies to manage these risks and to enhance soil functions that can last into the future. The scientific study of Earth’s Critical Zone (CZ), the thin surface layer that extends vertically from the top of the tree canopy to the bottom of aquifers, provides an essential integrating scientific framework to study, protect and enhance soil functions. The research hypothesis is that soil structure, the geometric architecture of solids, pores and biomass, is a critical indicator and essential factor of productive soil functions. The experimental design selects a network of Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) as advanced field research sites along a gradient of land use intensity in order to quantify soil structure and soil processes that dictate the flows and transformations of material and energy as soil functions. The CZOs focus multidisciplinary expertise on soil processes, field observation and data interpretation, management science and ecological economics. Computational simulation of biophysical processes provides a quantitative method of integration for the range of theory and observations that are required to quantify the linkages between changes in soil structure and soil functions. Key results demonstrate that changes in soil structure can be quantified through the inputs of organic carbon and nitrogen from plant productivity and microbial activity, coupled with particle aggregation dynamics and organic matter mineralization. Simulation results show that soil structure is highly dynamic and is sensitive to organic matter production and mineralisation rates as influenced by vegetation, tillage and organic carbon amendments. These results point to a step-change in the capability to design soil management and land use through computational simulation. This approach of “sustainability by design” describes the mechanistic process linkages that exist between the above-ground inputs to the CZ and the internal processes that produce soil functions. This approach provides a rational, scientific approach to selecting points of intervention with the CZ in order to design methods to mitigate soil threats and to enhance and sustain vital soil functions. Furthermore, this approach provides a successful pilot study to the use of international networks of CZOs as a planetary-scale laboratory to test the response of CZ process rates along gradients of global environmental change – and to test adaptation strategies to manage the risks arising from the CZ impacts.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

Organic semiconductors with increased dielectric constants:properties and perspectives

Organic semiconductors are a versatile class of materials whose functionality can be tuned extensively with the use of synthetic organic chemistry techniques. Over the years, this has led to the development of organic light emitting diodes, organic solar cells, organic thermoelectric generators and organic field effect transistors, amongst other organic electronic devices. For organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, a key challenge to developing high performance solar cells has been overcoming the exciton binding energy. The exciton binding energy keeps the photogenerated electrons (negative charge) and holes (positive charge) attracted to one another and hinders the generation of electrical current from the OPV device. Previous research has suggested that one way to tune the exciton binding energy in organic materials could be to change the dielectric constant. The dielectric constant is a material property that describes the ability of a material to screen charges from one another; in theory if the dielectric constant is increased, the exciton binding energy will decrease. At the University of Groningen, various synthetic approaches have been employed to increase the dielectric constant of organic semiconductors. Of these approaches, the incorporation of polar ethylene glycol (EG) chains into the structure of known organic materials has shown particular promise. This thesis builds on this previous work with a focus on the fundamental aspects of how the EG chains affect the optoelectronic properties. In this way, the aim is to provide insight to the interplay between the dielectric constant and the functionality of organic semiconductors

Rape and Sexual Assault in Chechnya

This article sheds light on the horrors of ethnic cleansing practiced upon the women and men of Chechnya by Russian soldiers since 1994

Approach for Analysing Capabilities in Latecomer Software Companies

Software development activities have been identified as a 'window of opportunity' for latecomer companies. Notwithstanding the growth of software development activities in the latecomers, there are single exceptional cases of companies that have successfully launched their own products in global software markets. This suggests that most of the latecomer software companies possess limited technological capabilities. This point has not been explored systematically in the literature so far, as the critical literature review reveals. This paper develops an approach for analysing technological capabilities in latecomer software industries. It outlines the specifics in analysing technological capability in latecomer software companies and makes an account of the array of technical and organisational capabilities associated with development of software technological capability. The research also looks at the diverse learning paths pursued by the latecomer companies in developing software activities. The study improves our understanding about the complexity in developing software industries in latecomer context, and the challenges the latecomer companies face in entering and competing in international markets.technological capabilities, software industry, latecomers

Iconographic characteristics of the churches in Moschopolis and Vithkuqi (Albania) [RALITSA ROUSSEVA, Εικονογραφικά χαρακτηριστικά των ναών της Μοσχόπολης και του Vithkuqi]

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