Search

We present an extension of the MUFITS reservoir simulator for modelling the ground displacement and gravity changes associated with subsurface flows in geologic porous media. Two different methods are implemented for modelling the ground displacement. The first approach is simple and fast and is based on an analytical solution for the extension source in a semi-infinite elastic medium. Its application is limited to homogeneous reservoirs with a flat Earth surface. The second, more comprehensive method involves a one-way coupling of MUFITS with geomechanical code presented for the first time in this paper. We validate the accuracy of the development by considering a benchmark study of hydrothermal activity at Campi Flegrei (Italy). We investigate the limitations of the first approach by considering domains for the geomechanical problem that are larger than those for the fluid flow. Furthermore, we present the results of more complicated simulations in a heterogeneous subsurface when the assumptions of the first approach are violated. We supplement the study with the executable of the simulator for further use by the scientific community.

The concentrations of 17 drugs of abuse, including cocaine, several amphetamines, opioid drugs, and 2 metabolites-benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, and 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrolidine, a metabolite of methadone-were investigated in an urban watershed that is heavily impacted by discharges of municipal wastewater. The artificial sweetener sucralose was also monitored as a persistent tracer of contamination from municipal wastewater. Monitoring was conducted in a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and at sites upstream and downstream of the WWTP discharge, as well as in a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) located 19 km downstream of the WWTP discharge that withdraws raw water from the river. Drug concentrations were monitored with polar organic chemical integrative samplers deployed for 2 wk in the river and in the WWTP and DWTP. Several of the investigated compounds exhibited a decrease in concentration with distance downstream from the wastewater discharge into the river, but there was little attenuation of sucralose, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, morphine, acetylmorphine, acetylcodeine, and oxycodone. Heroin and methadone were not detected at any sample locations. Amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, and 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrolidine were not detected in the samples collected at the drinking water intake. Many of the drugs of abuse were not removed effectively in the DWTP, including cocaine, benzoylecgonine, methylenedioxyamphetamine, ephedrine, and several prescription opioids, most probably because the DWTP was operating at or above its rated treatment capacity. These data indicate that there can be transport of drugs of abuse from wastewater sources into drinking water in urban watersheds. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:843-849. © 2015 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the patients staying in the intensive care wards, it is often necessary to differentiate the cause of systemic inflammatory response and multiple organ failure (infectious and non-infectious cause), which is often impossible unless various biomarkers are used.The objective: to study the informativeness of presepsin versus traditional biomarkers (procalcitonin, C-reactive protein), to find benefits and drawbacks of these biomarkers when investigating the nature of the systemic inflammatory response in critical states of various etiology.Subjects and methods. The retrospective-prospective study trail was conducted. 95 patients were included into the trial, they all were admitted to intensive care wards with symptoms of systemic inflammatory response and multiple organ failure, assessed as 2 and more SOFA scores and who had their levels of procalcitonin, presepsin and C-reactive protein tested. In order to assess sensitivity and specificity of presepsin for diagnostics of infections in the patients with disorders of excretory function of the kidneys and those with neutropenia, and the patients after massive traumatic surgeries, the following categories of patients were prospectively included in the study: patients with chronic kidney disease receiving hemodialysis (n=17), those with oncohematological disorders (n=8), and patients undergoing cardiac surgery (n=20) with cardiopulmonary bypass and without it (of pump).Results. It was demonstrated that presepsin was more sensitive and specific for diagnostics of sepsis versus other investigated biomarkers. It was found out that in the patients with sepsis and disorders of excretory function of the kidneys, the level of presepsin (IU 10 876 (2 030; 15 972) was nearly 8 times higher than in the patients receiving no substitutive renal therapy with hemodialysis Patients with neutropenia (IU of white blood count ‒ 0.4 (0.3; 0.5) and infectious complications had the level of presepsin compatible with the one in the patients undergoing surgery with no neutropenia: IU of presepsin in the patients with local infection made 324 (191; 601) pg/ml, and in the patients with sepsis it made 3,176 (1,514‒4,837) pg/ml. During the peri-operative period, the changes in the biomarkers level in the patients undergoing cardiac surgery demonstrated that their level significantly increases in 12 hours after surgery versus pre-operative level, despite the absence of the systemic infection. And the fold of procalcitonin increase (22-fold rise) was much higher versus presepsin (3-fold rise). The tendency to normalization of presepsin level was observed in 24 hours, the fact of cardiopulmonary bypass provided no significant impact on the changes in presepsin level.Conclusion. As an infection biomarker, presepsin possesses high sensitivity and specificity. It can be used for diagnostics of infection in the patients with neutropenia and without it. But it should be noted that its level can be increased in case of a critical state not related to the development of infectious complications. When interpreting the obtained clinical data it is important to understand which mechanisms can cause the elevation of its level in blood in a certain situation. For the most difficult cases, the most adequate result can be obtained when the levels of different biomarkers are tested simultaneously.

Copyright of Journal for Educational Research Online / Journal für Bildungsforschung Online is the property of Waxmann Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Afana A., Pedersen D., Rønsbo H., Kirmayer L. J. (2010). Endurance is to be shown at the first blow: Social representations and reactions to traumatic experiences in the Gaza Strip. Traumatology, 16(2), 43-54. Original DOI: 10.1177/1534765610365913. This article has been retracted due to the republishing of this article in the December 2010 issue of Traumatology, 16(4). The republishing is due to the necessity of including this article as a part of a Special Issue on “Culture and Trauma” in 16(4), for which this article was originally picked by Special Issue Guest Editors Dr. Sandra Mattar and Dr. Boris Drožđek. Please find the republished article now in Traumatology, 16(4), 73-84. DOI: 10.1177/1534765610395663. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Unfaitful Diary by Bujor Nedelcovici operates a conjunction between exile and imagological reflexion on "the nature" of Romanians, based on ethical, cultural and civic data. The liminal position of the exilee permit him to solve the contradiction between stereotypes and ethno-images and between auto- and hetero-images. The quality of his observations depends on his affiliation: Nedelcovici is a Romanian Jewish writer in Paris; if his Romanian identity is assumed, the Jewish origins remains ambiguous. In search for revealing the inner forms of collective portrait, the author uses three levels of analyses: archetypal, typological and psycho-cultural. He pays a special attention to the "diseases" of Romanian society, to the ambivalence and to the dynamics of ethno-images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is devoted to the selection of innovative materials based on their life cycle of the gas pipeline. Assessment of the efficiency of laying gas pipelines is currently carried out only from the position of construction and installation works and does not take into account the interests of organizations that provide their maintenance and major repairs. Increasing the efficiency of gas supply projects is possible only if the interests of all participants in the construction of the gas pipeline, its maintenance and overhaul are observed. With such a statement of the question, the rationale for choosing innovative materials requires a new approach, which justifies the relevance of this article. The method of calculating the cost of the life cycle of a gas pipeline and periods of the object's life cycle are considered. The averaged costs over the life cycle of the object are given. A method for selecting an economically viable option for using pipes for a gas pipeline is proposed. An algorithm for calculating the cost of the life cycle of a gas pipeline is given.

In the developed uneasy economic conditions, re-structuring - one of the most effective methods who can influence positive change of a machine building complex, its organizational-technical, administrative and legal orientation. Necessity of a theoretical and methodical readiness of investigated problems and their practical importance have caused an urgency and a choice of a theme of article. The purpose / problems. Enterprise re-structuring as a practical embodiment of the purposes of managers, is a difficult, multifactorial problem. Accordingly, the decision of this problem, namely construction of the protsessno-focused re-structuring of the enterprise demands the complex, system approach. Article purpose is – the description of methodology of one of possible approaches to transformation of re-structuring of the enterprise of mechanical engineering from the point of view of practical management.Methodology. In article the methodology is resulted, allowing to solve the questions connected with re-structuring at the enterprises of mechanical engineering owing to consistency .Results. The present article is short describes the practical scientifically-methodical approach in which frameworks was construction of the protsessno-focused re-structuring of the enterprise of mechanical engineering on an example of the largest enterprise of Privolzhsky federal district of Open Society "Кamaz" is offered.Conclusions / the importance. Undoubtedly, offered approach – is not unique. However it has essential advantages before others – the consistency and application in aggregate both the conventional tools of management, and the original workings out which have proved the practical suitability in the conditions of the Russian practice. This approach – not panacea from all troubles of the real enterprise. Nevertheless, as practice shows, he allows to reach notable successes at carrying out of transformations real, instead of the theoretical enterprises working in the conditions of the Russian economy.

This work investigates the performance of opportunistic multi-user scheduling for next generation cognitive two-way relay networks, where the communication between two secondary source terminals is affected by both fast fading and shadowing. In this approach, all users send pilot signals to the secondary relay terminal and the latter selects the best users based on the shadowing information. To quantify the performance of the proposed scheme, user and system outage probabilities, overall error probability and ergodic sum rate expressions are derived. Moreover, asymptotic analysis is performed to obtain the overall diversity gain and the effects of key parameters including fading/shadowing severity and the number of users in the system. The analytical results, which are validated through the simulations, show that the proposed scheme can be a preferable user scheduling approach for next generation wireless systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]