Statistička analiza rezultata ispitivanja fizičko-mehaničkih svojstava kontrolnih betonskih kocki

Cilj ovog istraživanja je prikupljanje, obrada i statistička analiza rezultata ispitivanja uzoraka betonskih kocki koji su ispitani u Laboratoriji za materijale Građevinskog fakulteta u Beogradu prema standardu SRPS ISO 4012:2000 u periodu od 2012. do 2017. godine. Za potrebe analize, preuzeti su podaci iz Izveštaja o ispitivanju kontrolnih betonskih kocki, prepoznate su i klasifikovane osnovne karakteristike očvrslog betona. Izvršena je statistička analiza datuma betoniranja, starosti uzoraka, sastava betona, zapreminske mase, čvrstoće pri pritisku, zahtevane marke betona itd. Statistika je pokazala da su najčešće upotrebljavani cementi sledećih oznaka: CEM II A-M (V-L), CEM II A-M (S-L), CEM II A-S, a da najveće učešće imaju marke betona MB 30 sa 66,8% i MB 40 sa 14,3% udela

Preventing versus curing: Avoiding conflicts in transactional memories

Transactional memories are typically speculative and rely on contention managers to cure conflicts. This paper explores a complementary approach that prevents conflicts by scheduling transactions according to predictions on their access sets. We first explore the theoretical boundaries of this approach and prove that (1) a TM scheduler with an accurate prediction can be 2-competitive with an optimal TM scheduler, but (2) even a slight inaccuracy in prediction makes the competitive ratio of the TM scheduler of the order of the number of transactions. We then show that, in practice, there is room for a pragmatic approach with good average case performance. We present Shrink, a scheduler that (a) bases its prediction on the access patterns of the past transactions from the same threads, and (b) uses a novel heuristic, which we call serialization affinity, to schedule transactions with a probability proportional to the current amount of contention. Shrink obtains roughly 70 % accurate predictions on STMBench7 and STAMP. For SwissTM, Shrink improves the performance by up to 55 % on STMBench7, and up to 120 % on STAMP. For TinySTM, Shrink improves the performance by up to 30 times on STMBench7 and 100 times on STAMP

Solution of fluid flow through the left heart ventricle

© 2019 Published by the Serbian Academic Center. Finite element method (FEM) has proved to be very successful in solving complex problems in engineering. In medicine, FEM found a special application in simulation of real problems and their solution while eliminating the need of learning from examples. In this paper, FEM was used with viscous fluid dynamics to simulate the function of left heart ventricle. Theoretical fundamentals of FEM and heart function were given. The paper represents illustrative example for educational purposes

An overview of antiviral strategies for coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection with special reference to antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd At present, neither specific antiviral drugs, nor vaccine is recommended for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment. In this review we discuss the drugs suggested as therapy for COVID-19 infection, with a focus on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. The list of drugs used for COVID-19 treatment includes a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, remdesivir, favipiravir, alpha-interferon, ribavirin, atazanavir, umifenovir, and tocilizumab. As their efficacy and safety are under investigation, none of the regulatory agencies approved them for the treatment of COVID-19 infection. Although chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine possess antiviral and immunomodulatory effects, in practice benefit of their use for COVID-19 treatment is controversial. Several studies investigating hydroxychloroquine were stopped and the French national medicines regulator suspended its use in clinical trials because of safety concerns. The results from the double-blind, randomised clinical trials, including large number of participants, will add better insight into the role of these two drugs as already available and affordable, antimalarial therapy. The ethical issue on emergency use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the settings of COVID-19 should be carefully managed, with adherence to the “monitored emergency use of unregistered and experimental interventions” (MEURI) framework or be ethically approved as a trial, as stated by the WHO. Potential shortage of chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine on the market can be overbridged with regular prescriptions by medical doctors and national drug agency should ensure sufficient quantities of these drugs for standard indications

Gross Domestic Product and Health Expenditure Growth in Balkan and East European Countries—Three-Decade Horizon

© Copyright © 2020 Stepovic, Rancic, Vekic, Dragojevic-Simic, Vekic, Ratkovic and Jakovljevic. Background: Dynamics of health care has changed over time along with development of the countries themselves. The aim of the study is to compare macroeconomic and health expenditure indicators of interest, such as total health expenditure (THE) as percentage of global domestic product, global domestic product per capita in US$, and private households' out-of-pocket payments of Balkan and Eastern European countries on health, as well as to assess their progress over the observed period. Methods: This research report represents a descriptive data analysis of indicators extracted from the European Health for All database. The data were analyzed using a linear trend and regression analysis to estimate the timeline changes. Results: Greece and Slovenia have the largest median values of global domestic product per capita throughout the whole period, and the largest increment trend was in Lithuania. Median value in out-of-pocket payment of THE was the highest in Albania and Ukraine, while the largest decrease in trend was noticed in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece had the largest median value of THE as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the observed period, while regression trend analysis showed that Serbia had the largest increase. Most of the countries showed a significant correlation between observed indicators. Conclusion: Trends in the economy must be constantly monitored due to the fact that the population is aging and non-communicable diseases are multiplying, which requires innovations in medical treatment and pharmaceutical development

The evaluation of antibiotic consumption at the inpatient level in Kazakhstan from 2011 to 2018

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Antimicrobial agents have a rather special position due to their importance as essential medicines for the treatment of infectious diseases. Evidence-based prescriptions are needed to optimize the use of antimicrobials in humans, as well as to decrease antimicrobial resistance. The aim of this study was to assess the inpatient consumption of antimicrobial drugs for systemic use in the period 2011–2018 in Kazakhstan. This article presents the results of an evaluation of the inpatient use of antibacterial drugs for systemic use (group J01) for the period 2011–2018 using the anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) classification)/defined daily dose (DDD) methodology recommended by the World Health Organization. Inpatient antimicrobial utilization is expressed as DDDs/1000 inhabitants/day (DID). The results of the assessment for inpatient antibiotic use (over an eight-year period) showed a decrease in the total consumption of antibiotics for systemic action in Kazakhstan (2011: 12.72 DID; 2018: 2.74 DID). Among oral formulations, levofloxacin was consumed the most, and cefazolin was consumed the most among the parenteral formulations of antimicrobials. The three drugs consumed the most included cefazolin (first-generation cephalosporin), ceftriaxone (third-generation cephalosporin), and cefuroxime (second-generation cephalosporin). The total consumption of antibacterials for systemic action in Kazakhstan decreased during the analyzed period, but there was an irrational use of certain groups of drugs

Smeared Multiscale Finite Element Models for Mass Transport and Electrophysiology Coupled to Muscle Mechanics

© Copyright © 2019 Kojic, Milosevic, Simic, Milicevic, Geroski, Nizzero, Ziemys, Filipovic and Ferrari. Mass transport represents the most fundamental process in living organisms. It includes delivery of nutrients, oxygen, drugs, and other substances from the vascular system to tissue and transport of waste and other products from cells back to vascular and lymphatic network and organs. Furthermore, movement is achieved by mechanical forces generated by muscles in coordination with the nervous system. The signals coming from the brain, which have the character of electrical waves, produce activation within muscle cells. Therefore, from a physics perspective, there exist a number of physical fields within the body, such as velocities of transport, pressures, concentrations of substances, and electrical potential, which is directly coupled to biochemical processes of transforming the chemical into mechanical energy and further internal forces for motion. The overall problems of mass transport and electrophysiology coupled to mechanics can be investigated theoretically by developing appropriate computational models. Due to the enormous complexity of the biological system, it would be almost impossible to establish a detailed computational model for the physical fields related to mass transport, electrophysiology, and coupled fields. To make computational models feasible for applications, we here summarize a concept of smeared physical fields, with coupling among them, and muscle mechanics, which includes dependence on the electrical potential. Accuracy of the smeared computational models, also with coupling to muscle mechanics, is illustrated with simple example, while their applicability is demonstrated on a liver model with tumors present. The last example shows that the introduced methodology is applicable to large biological systems