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Planning and preparing for the biggest sports competitions, such as the Olympic Games, involve controlling and monitoring a great number of factors (scope and intensity of sports training, recovery procedures, creating daily routines, athlete's personality traits, injuries, diseases, adverse external environmental factors, etc.). Even in the event of the best possible outcomes of all preparatory processes, achieving success in a competition and winning a medal will depend on details and seemingly unnoticeable procedures that are designed for a specific athlete. The primary aim of this paper was to present all the procedures applied to working with the athletes in tennis and taekwondo, which led to achieving the competition success, i.e. winning medals at the Games at the end of three Olympic cycles (2005-2008, 2009-2012, 2013-2016). The secondary objective of this paper, which is the knowledge transfer aimed at disseminating personal and professional associate experience to other professionals, experts and sports coaches in the field of sports science, was realized by presenting the importance of psychological approach, diagnostic procedures and the application of biomechanical principles during the preparations immediately before a match or a fight.

Introduction/Objective. Benign transient hyperphosphatasemia (BTH) is a pathogenetic insufficiently clear clinical entity that is mostly seen in infants and young children. The objective of this paper is to present our experience regarding the age of occurrence, the conditions of the discovery, and the length of duration of BTH in children. Methods. The study was realized on a sample of 18 children, nine boys and nine girls, aged 10–42 (21.06 ± 9.35) months with BTH. The diagnosis of BTH is based on the absence of bone and hepatobiliary diseases, and its spontaneous disappearance over the course of several months. Results. One patient was in the first year, 13 in the second, three in the third, and one in the fourth. Isolated high activity of serum alkaline phosphatase, which was 2.04–21.9 (8.05 ± 5.31) times above the upper reference value for the corresponding age, in 14 cases it was found during the acute diarrhea, and in four with acute rhinopharyngitis, of which in two complicated with otitis media. The cause of diarrhea in six cases was rotavirus, in two Campylobacter, and in one adenovirus, and otitis media in one case was caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, while in others, etiologic factors of infection were not identified. Spontaneous normalization of serum alkaline phosphatase activity was recorded between one and three months after the onset. Conclusion. BTH is a harmless biochemical disorder that spontaneously subsides within three months after initial observation. It is found randomly as a routine laboratory finding most often within the treatment of acute gastrointestinal and respiratory infections.

In this paper was presented the technical procedure implemented for the fault diagnostics of the thyristor bridge in an AS/DC converter. During the development of the new generation of digital controllers for AC/DC converters, it was required for these devices to have a possibility for a real-time detection of the thyristor converter fault. Thyristor bridge fault should be detected without the need for the state monitoring of the particular power semiconductor switches or rapid fuses. Thyristor bridge fault was identified using the measurement of the line-frequency second harmonic in the rectifier output current signal. Output voltage and current waveforms were presented, as well as the current spectra, in the cases of the thyristor bridge operation without one switch. The operation principle was described for a protection from an asymmetric operation of a thyristor bridge. A negative influence of high-order harmonics was analysed on the particular rectifier components, both in the cases of the output voltage control, as well as for operation in the current limit mode.

The insulation system of rotating machines of high importance has always been the object of thorough screening with certified test methods that are getting constantly improved. Low-power machines and 'less important' machines like high voltage motors, are rarely subjected to detailed electrical tests because of low resources allocated for their maintenance. The introduction of the EDA methodology in practice creates the conditions for reliable and complete diagnostics of stator windings of big machines, as well as the fast, easy and inexpensive screening for low-power machines (i.e. HV motors). The aim of the paper is to present the EDA methodology and its possibilities, including the solutions within the hardware and software.

According to the latest studies, Cortical visual impairment – CVI is one of the most common causes of problems and difficulties in visual functioning. It results from the impairment of the central part of visual system, i.e. visual cortex, posterior visual pathway, or both. The diagnosis is usually made in the first three years of life. The aim of this paper is to present the characteristics of children with CVI, and the strategies used for treatment. CVI has a negative impact on almost all developmental domains, visual-perceptive skills, motor skills, cognitive skills, and social skills. In children with CVI, vision ranges from the total inability to see to minimal visual perceptive difficulties, while more than 50% have multiple disabilities. Due to the progress in understanding the patterns of neuron activity and neuroplasticity, as well as the intensive studies of strengths and weaknesses of children with CVI, special treatment has been designed and performed in the last few decades, which provides optimal visual functioning in everyday life for these children.

In the paper the comparative diagnostics of medium voltage induction motors has been presented. The methods employed are the motor current signature analysis (MCSA) and the axial leakage flux spectral analysis. All presented test procedures have been conducted on partially loaded motors, one without fault and the other with fault. Rated parameters of case study motors are 6 kV and 3.15 MW, and both motors are installed in one combined steam power plant. The reliable broken rotor bars detection and existence of static eccentricity have been demonstrated. The new method for combined fault detection has also been announced. The combined fault under scope is the simultaneous existence of broken rotor bars and static eccentricity. The proposed combined fault detection method is based upon axial leakage flux spectral analysis, especially in the vicinity of the double fundamental frequency. The existence of three broken rotor bars has been confirmed after physical rotor cage examination.

Introduction. Sonography is a useful technique for the investigation of a number of musculoskeletal disorders. The most common indication for ultrasonography of muscles and tendons is the diagnosis of traumatic lesions, distinguishing them from other disorders and follow-up of healing process. Objective. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of ultrasound in the diagnosis of muscle and tendon injuries. Methods. The study included 170 patients (148 male and 22 female), mean age 29.6 years (range 14-60 years). All examinations were performed by linear transducer of 7.5-10 MHz, with longitudinal and transverse scanning. Ultrasound examination followed physical examination. Results. Traumatic lesions of muscles were diagnosed in 113 patients (66.7%) and tendon injuries in 57 cases (33.2%). The muscle changes detected by ultrasonography were the following: 70 (61.9%) partial and two (1.76%) complete ruptures, 22 (19.46%) haematoma, 9 (7.96%) strains grade I, 4 fibroses and 4 ossifying myositis 4 (3.5%, respectively). Complications of muscle injuries were diagnosed in two cases, a muscular hernia and an arteriovenous fistula. Among tendon injuries, 21 (33.8%) ruptures and 36 (66.1%) tendinitis were diagnosed. Accompanying effusion in the bursa of patients with tendon injuries was found in 9 cases. Conclusion. Ultrasonography allowed visualization and objective assessment of the type and the extent of traumatic pathomorphological changes of muscles and tendons. Such diagnostic possibilities of ultrasonography are especially important in the choice of appropriate therapy.