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Stimulating creativity in technological entrepreneurial education leads to knowledge and connection to current trends in the development of innovative technological projects and the creation of innovative start-up and spin-off enterprises. Their success or failure depends on a number of factors such as the market, the team, the technological level of the product, but also on the funding methods, including crowdfunding. The paper proposes a Fuzzy tool for preliminary assessment of the opportunity of crowdfunding campaigns for innovative projects resulting from the stimulation of entrepreneurial creativity through gamification-based education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Istria Basin, part of Western Black Sea (WBS) represents a major tectonic unit of the Romanian Black Sea shelf, with prolific hydrocarbon bearing structures. A significant amount of exploration and development wells were drilled on this basin’s northern edge. Core and cuttings data from 12 boreholes provide important details on this basin and the WBS stratigraphy, especially for the two of the main hydrocarbons bearing deposits Upper Cretaceous and, respectively, Eocene, on which we have achieved an age interpretation, using calcareous nannofossil and foraminiferal assemblages. In this paper, we focus on the Upper Cretaceous comprised of Cenomanian, Turonian, Coniacian-Santonian, Campanian and Maastrichtian stages and on the Eocene ones, containing i.e., Ypresian, Lutetian and Bartonian stages. Our interpretation confirms the presence of three major unconformities. The oldest one is placed at the end of the Cretaceous, with a time gap of almost 10 My, which is estimated based on the ranges of the overlying Eocene planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils assemblages. The Paleocene series has not been not encountered in the studied wells. The second unconformity is intra-Eocene in age, referring to the upper part of the Lower Eocene (the upper part of Ypresian) is absent in several wells, especially in the southern part of our study area. The newest and most important unconformity marks a regional event at the beginning of Oligocene, well known in the literature as “Base Oligocene”, a regional marker for the WBS. In the Upper Cretaceous deposits, the presence and high diversity of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils indicates that the water column was not deeper than ~200m and implicitly, it was an open marine environment. The Eocene microfossil assemblages also indicate a shallow marine environment, which may offer an indication of occasional subaerial exposure of the shelf area; this setting was the main factor in determining the occurrence of the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene first two unconformities. The origin of the third unconformity is miscellaneous, as Oligocene deposits are deep-water type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mediterranean cyclones (MCs) affect not only the countries neighboring the Mediterranean basin, but also the weather conditions in regions that are not in direct contact with the Mediterranean basin such as Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, including Romania. They are associated, in general, with extreme weather events. This study considered data over a 30-yr. period (December 1, 1986 - November 30, 2015). For MCs identification and their track tracing, the mean sea level pressure, 500 hPa geopotential heights, 500-1000 hPa relative topography and 850 hPa pseudo-equivalent potential temperature were employed. The European spatial domain was delimited as 30°-60° N latitude and as 20° V - 45 ° E longitude. To select those cyclones influencing the weather in Romania a square-shaped area whose external limits are located about 500 km from the center of Romania was used. For tracing the trajectory, the low-pressure center position at every 6 hours was considered. Frequency of occurence and track density were analyzed considering two temporal approaches: i. for the entire period and for three 10-yr subperiods; ii. the annual and seasonal scale for the entire period. For track density, the anomalies for each 10-yr sub-period and for each season were calculated. The main findings of this study are: the most exposed area to MCs are central and eastern Mediterranean regions, 43.39% of the cyclones generated in the Mediterranean basin crossed the region of Romania; seasonally, the highest occurrence frequency is specific to winter and the lowest to summer; no significant changes in the annual or seasonal occurrence was detected; during the second 10-yr sub-period weak to moderate positive anomalies were detected, whereas during the first and the last ones, positive and negative anomalies were found depending on the season and region; seasonal average position of the MCs tracks revealed the largest shift from one sub-period to another in winter and the smallest in autumn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise measurement and indication of quantitative concentration of heavy metals in soils is materialized in increased degree of objectivity in research conducted to characterize interactions between pollutants and environmental factors in a given area or region. The present paper aims at highlighting the influence errors induced by physical and chemical characteristics of soils and the fluctuations of soil metal concentrations depending on its humidity and granulometry proposing appropriate methods and techniques for quantifying elements after quantitative analysis with the help of a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDXRF) and an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). Results obtained from the comparison of techniques used can help researchers that use these methods for quantitative soil analysis, thus, knowing the limitations of applied methods, the optimal method of application according to research niche can be objectively chosen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile organic compounds produced by industrial activities are harmful to human health and environment, playing an important role in environment quality, but especially in air quality. The main issues raised by presence of volatile organic compounds in the environment are ozone depletion, ozone photochemical formation at ground level, increased global greenhouse effect, carcinogenic effects, toxic and other health problems. The paper presents a case study conducted at an economic operator dealing with treatment and coating of metals, where the robotic painting plant releases volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere. Measurements of volatile organic compounds emissions were carried out in the painting plant ‘s flue, for a period of one year. The main objective of measurements was to perform the dispersion of these gases into the environment by means of dispersion simulation software (AUSTAL View), to establish the extent of pollutant spread and the degree of damage to population in the area under study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first option for decreasing the explosion risk is always to avoid the occurrence of an explosive atmosphere. In practice, in most cases in which are used flammable materials it is very difficult to guarantee that an explosive atmosphere is never going to occur. Also, it can be difficult to guarantee that equipment is never going to generate an ignition source. Therefore, when an explosive atmosphere is likely to occur there shall be used explosion-proof equipment which are unlikely to generate an ignition source. From the protection to explosion point of view, technical equipment intended to be used in explosive atmospheres have to be proper selected, installed and operated, this process aiming firstly to improve the occupational health and safety of workers who might be exposed to a potential explosion risk due to explosive atmospheres, the prevention of environmental and goods damages, as well as for the free movement of products within the European Union when these comply with the essential safety requirements. This paper treats aspects on the development of an informatics application which facilitates the optimal selection of technical equipment intended to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres, based on the study and analysis of parameters and factors of interest. This application is a reasoning developed for finding the best and fastest solutions for selecting and installing technical equipment depending on the safety and protection to explosion requirements [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practice of useful mineral substances preparation is imperative to establish the actual reliability of machinery and equipment of the production units, to find ways to reduce the volume and cost of maintenance and repair and therefore profit maximization. In general, it is considered that improving reliability reduces maintenance costs while the money spent on preventive maintenance can improve the reliability. The technological process for obtaining the final products from the preparations of coal of the Energy Complex Hunedoara is performed using water. The technological flux pumps of coal preparation feed the dewatering screens, hydrocyclone batteries and jig washer being subjected to excessive wear. In this paper we analyze the reliability of centrifugal type pump subassemblies Warman, in order to determine the number of spare parts to be reserved so that equipment maintenance needs, during the cumulated operation, be covered with a certain probability cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a comparison to one-phase and two-phase-on, this paper brings contributions to the analysis of an 8/6 Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM). It is a common variable-reluctance motor with and internal salient 6-pole rotor, which has no conductors or magnets, and an external 8-pole stator with concentrated coils, which allows earlier winding and shorter end turns than other types of motors. Two different commutation strategies, one-phase and two-phase-on methods are discussed. The Transient Magnetic application allows the study of the phenomena created by a time variable magnetic field. In order to improve the existing model, an electrical circuit for one phase and two phase of the SRM was implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]