Environmental aspects in construction industry

The thesis presents the environmental aspects that result from construction activities, products or services provided by a construction company. The most important aspects, their origin and their effects upon the environment are described. In order to determine the perceived importance of\ud individual environmental influences for tte design engineer s point of view, a preliminary survey was carried out on a small sample of structural design engineers. The obtained results show that the design engineers are aware of the environmental influences of the structures, both during their construction as well as during their use. Further, the results show that they perceive as the most important the following environmental influences: construction and demolition waste and energy use.

Numerical methods for option pricing.

This thesis aims to introduce some fundamental concepts underlying option valuation theory including implementation of computational tools. In many cases analytical solution for option pricing does not exist, thus the following numerical methods are used: binomial trees, Monte Carlo simulations and finite difference methods. First, an algorithm based on Hull and Wilmott is written for every method. Then these algorithms are improved in different ways. For the binomial tree both speed and memory usage is significantly improved by using only one vector instead of a whole price storing matrix. Computational time in Monte Carlo simulations is reduced by implementing a parallel algorithm (in C) which is capable of improving speed by a factor which equals the number of processors used. Furthermore, MatLab code for Monte Carlo was made faster by vectorizing simulation process. Finally, obtained option values are compared to those obtained with popular finite difference methods, and it is discussed which of the algorithms is more appropriate for which purpose

Bioelectronic Noses Based on Olfactory Receptors

Non

Influence of Intensive Animal Breeding to the Appearance of Infectious Diseases (Zoonoses)

Intensive animal breeding and production is based on farm breeding of animals which represents a major source of raw material for food production. Preserving health of animals requires a good practice during breeding, appropriate feeding and watering, adequate control of pests and wild animals. Animal breeding and production of food of animal origin requires significant engagement of veterinary services within the frame of epizootiological, epidemiological, veterinary and sanitary surveillance. Farm manner of cattle breeding can represent a danger of air, water and ground contamination. In the farms situated in a small space, overcrowded with animals there are ideal conditions for the appearance and spreading of causative agent of infectious diseases (prions, viruses, rickettsiae, chlamydia, bacteria, parasites and fungi), which can be transmitted also to humans and wild animals. From the aspect of public health, special attention should be given to the farms with large number of animals and farms with intensive breeding conditions. This is especially important in pig and poultry breeding, where moderate or high prevalence of infections such as salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis are often present, regardless of the fact that the level of clinical illness caused by these infections is relatively low. Intensive production in animal husbandry leads to increased animal waste, and the richest source of infectious agents represents animal feces

International architectural workshop Patching the City 2011

The city of Rijeka is cut off from the sea by a strip of abandoned industrial zones. With the revitalisation of the degraded industrial areas, the city has an opportunity to progress and regain contact with the sea. The project proposed opening the area for public use, whereby the city would have a new urban public space, a city beach. In a few stages, the area could become a secondary city centre on the shoreline

Mindfulness with Collegiate Gymnasts: Effects on Flow, Stress and Overall Mindfulness Levels

The physical and psychological demands of sports can place an athlete under a variety of stressors. Subsequently, the way in which athletes deal with such stressors can positively or negatively affect their performance. Flow is defined as a type of experience where one is completely engaged in an activity and optimally functioning. Recently, an increase in mindfulness and acceptance based approaches have been utilized as a means to augment negative emotions in sport and many have suggested a link between mindfulness and flow. Thus, if mindfulness can positively influence flow, perhaps performance can also be positively affected. There has also been a need to determine optimal intervention lengths to successfully teach mindfulness practices within sports teams. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a mindfulness training program on mindfulness scores, dispositional flow scores, and perceived stress scores within a population of Division I female collegiate gymnasts. Results from a repeated measures ANOVA indicated that athletes who participated in the mindfulness training demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the dispositional flow dimensions of loss of self-consciousness and the autotelic experience. These results suggest that mindfulness may influence factors associated with athletic performance

MOGUĆNOSTI I OGRANIČENJA UVOĐENJA USALI STANDARDA U HOTELSKA PODUZEĆA SLOVENIJE

Currently, Slovenia does not have the bases for the introduction of a uniform system of accounts for monitoring business performance in the hotel industry, called the USALI standard ("Uniform System of Accounts for The Lodging Industry"), which allows comparison of an individual hotel to similar hotels in a closer and wider area, has been the principal finding of the research ordered by the Slovenian Tourist Board and conducted by the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. The aim of the research was to examine the possibilities of the direct use of the USALI standard in Slovenia as well as about the necessary changes of the existing situation in the area of accounting records and other records in the hotel industry, so that the performance of the Slovene companies could be compared to the average of the hotel industry in the world, Europe and individual countries.Slovenija trenutno nema temelje za uvođenje uniformiranog sistema za računovodstveno praćenje poslovnih rezultata u hotelskoj industriji, poznatog pod nazivom USALI standard ("Uniform System of Accounts for The Lodging Industry”), koji dopušta usporedbu hotela sa sličnim hotelima u užem i širem smislu. Ovo istraživanje proveo je Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta Ljubljana na zahtjev Ministarstva za turizam Slovenije. Cilj je istraživanja ispitati mogućnosti uvođenja i primjene standarda USALI i utvrditi promjene u području računovodstvenih i drugih izvješća u hotelskoj industriji Slovenije, kako bi se rezultati slovenskih hotelskih poduzeća mogli usporediti s prosječnim rezultatima svjetske hotelske industrije, Europe i pojedinih zemalja

Role of active layer in the performance of aromatic and semi-aromatic nanofiltration membranes for water purification

Nanofiltration (NF) membranes that differ in molecular weight cut off (MWCO), active layer chemistry, porosity and pore size distribution are available for different applications. These membranes are typically made of three layers: the active layer, polysulfone support layer and a fabric for mechanical strength. It has been proven that the performance of an NF membrane is almost entirely dependent on the active layer, which can be made of polyamide, polypiperazine amide, cellulose acetate or polyethersulfone. Polyamide, which is considered fully aromatic (FA) and polypiperazine, which is considered semi-aromatic (SA), are the most commonly used active layers in NF membranes for water treatment. Several studies evaluated commercially available NF membranes for ion rejection, effect of pH, temperature, pressure but very few have attempted to explain their performance based on the membrane active layer chemistry. This study is focused on understanding the difference in performance between fully aromatic (FA) and semi-aromatic (SA) membranes for the removal of typical ions of concern in water purification. Four commercially available membranes, two each of FA and SA types were selected for this study. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to substantiate that the selected membranes are truly representative of FA and SA membrane type without any coating or other surface modifications. Membrane performance was analyzed in terms of ion rejection and permeate flux. Membrane volume charge densities as a function of electrolyte concentration were analyzed by measuring their zeta potential as function of pH and electrolyte composition and concentration. The membrane mean pore size was determined using the membrane potential technique [1]. Membrane potential data were analyzed using the steric, electric and dielectric exclusion (SEDE) model [2]. Also, SEDE model was used to calculate the dielectric constants for different electrolyte composition and compare them for FA and SA membranes. The ion rejection and permeate flux for all four membranes was studied for different feed composition using a SEPA cross flow NF cell at a fixed transmembrane pressure and temperature. The feed composition was selected such that it is representative of the acid mine drainage (AMD) typically found in Pennsylvania, which is characterized by high sulfate concentration and low pH. The resulting ion rejection and permeate flux were compared for the four membranes with goal of understanding the difference in the performance of FA and SA membranes as a function of the active layer chemistry. The experimental results indicate that the rejection of sulfate was in all cases above 98% but the rejection of the counterions was significantly better for the fully aromatic membranes. Major disparity was observed in the rejection of sodium and chloride ions between FA and SA membranes even when they had the same MWCO’s. This disparity was studied in terms of the electronegativity of the four membranes and the results will be presented at the conference. 1. Escoda, A., et al., Determining the Dielectric Constant inside Pores of Nanofiltration Membranes from Membrane Potential Measurements. Langmuir, 2010. 26(18): p. 14628-14635. 2. Szymczyk, A. and P. Fievet, Investigating transport properties of nanofiltration membranes by means of a steric, electric and dielectric exclusion model. Journal of Membrane Science, 2005. 252(1–2): p. 77-88