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Our observations target the physiological response of plants with a short vegetation period like Brassica rapa var. perviridis L. H. Bailey to saline stress. The experiment uses white alkali soil amended with zeolitic tuff and peat as a substrate. There has been noticed a better behavior of the plants grown on cultivated soil amended with 15% zeolitic tuff and neutral peat. The chlorophyll content index was higher in plants grown on cultivated soil amended with 15% zeolitic tuff both when combined with neutral peat (14.0 and 30.6) or acidic peat (18.9 and 26.2) than in plants grown in soils that were amended with 20% zeolitic tuff. Regarding uncultivated soils previously, they are less favorable to plants than soils which had been included in the agricultural circuit. This proves once again that the non-use of salty lands accentuates the salinization process.

The physiological reaction of saline stress which Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. plants undergo shows a greater growth and fresh substance gain process on previously cultivated soils that were fined with 20% zeolitic tuff and 5.09 g of neutral peat than the ones that had a substrate which hasn’t been cultivated on before that was fined with 5% zeolitic tuff and 1.39 g of perlite. The dry substance values obtained present a positive correlation with the values of fresh substance. Analysis of stomatal conductance enhances the hydric stress of plants which respond to saline stress with osmotic adjustment, accumulating high quantities of water comparing to the witness plant, which induces lower values of stomatal conductance and implicitly values are decreasing for photosynthesis, determining a low productivity. Higher values of stomatal conductance are reached at plants grown on previously cultivated soils fined with 20% zeolitic tuff and peat, and also at the ones grown on uncultivated soils fined with peat (29.45, respectively 30.05 mmol/m2/s).

Sludge is a by-product, resulting from wastewater treatment. This study research provides the sludge analysis from the Pitești Wastewater Treatment Plant and the possibility of using this sludge in agriculture in its initial state, resulting from the treatment plant or even after any remediation required or appropriate treatment so that it can be used. For these analyses, we used the services of two laboratories, namely: Iași Research Institute for Agriculture and Environment - ICAM, from the "Ion Ionescu de la Brad" Iași University of Life Sciences and WESSLING - testing and consulting laboratory for continuous improvement of quality, safety, environmental protection, and health - the Hungarian laboratory. The research focused on the presence of heavy metals, antibiotics, and hormones in the sludge and the determination of microplastics in it. The microplastics in the sludge were determined by treating them with 5% HCl sonicated at 250C and then centrifuging and analyzing the supernatant. The research results show that the sludge obtained from the Pitești Wastewater Treatment Plant cannot be used as fertilizer in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural zeolite is a honeycomb-structured aluminosilicate mineral with an open crystalline structure which makes it suitable for a variety of applications. Given the beneficial effects of zeolites on the properties of cementitious materials, the present paper aims to summarize the recent findings reported in the scientific literature on the use of zeolites in cement-based construction materials. This paper limits the analysis to natural zeolites. The influence of natural zeolites on the workability and setting time of cement-based construction materials revealed that increasing the zeolite content led to a reduction in workability compared to the control mixes. At the same time, the initial and final setting times of cement pastes showed a decreasing trend with an increase in the replacement percentage. The slow pozzolanic reaction of clinoptilolite zeolite results in lower flexural strength and compressive strength values of mortars at the age of 28 days. Blending zeolites with other supplementary cementitious materials resulted in improved values of the mechanical properties of mortar and concrete. The findings regarding the impact of zeolite on the durability of concrete suggest that zeolite shows promise as a viable alternative to cement, with positive effects on various aspects of durability. The majority of the durability factors are interconnected. The presence of conflicting findings is particularly significant in this context, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach to address these challenges in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiari malformations are congenital defects involving the cerebral structures in the posterior fossa. They range from asymptomatic cerebellar tonsil herniation beside the brainstem, to cerebellar aplasia. These conditions were first described in 1890 and are still considered a rare occurrence even though they are more likely under-diagnosed rather than rare. We report the case of a 44-year-old woman with Chiari type I malformation and associated cervical syringomyelia.

The seismic protection is, without any doubt, a worldwide priority, and that is why one of the main preoccupations of the researchers in the field is finding some innovative concepts concerning the seismic protection of the structures. The aim of the paper consists in the analytical and numerical study of the variable orifice damper implemented in a single degree of freedom (SDOF) structure in order to increase people’s safety and reduce the seismic risk. The variable orifice damper is the common semi-active hydraulic device which may be utilized as part of seismic isolation system or within the lateral bracing of a structure. The semi-active control strategy is realized using on-off clipping control algorithm. It is concluded that the variable orifice damper afforded a substantial reduction of the displacement response of a SDOF system in comparison to the response with passive control fluid device.

During the last few years, it has been paid a considerable attention to the searching and developing of some procedures and mechanisms of structural control to mitigate the effects of dynamic environmental hazards on civil engineering structures. In this paper we review some full-scale applications of semi-active control systems for the protection of the civil structures under dynamic actions.

The application of control systems to civil engineering structures has been investigated in recent years to demonstrate the efficiency of these systems during exceptional natural events such as earthquakes and severe winds. In this paper, a review of some full-scale implementations of active and hybrid control systems for the protection of the civil structures to dynamic actions is performed.

Over the past three decades, a great interest has been generated by the use of protection systems to mitigate the effects of dynamic environmental hazards on civil engineering structures, such as earthquakes and strong wind. These control systems develop controllable forces to add or dissipate energy in a structure, or both, due to specific devices integrated with sensors, controllers and real – time process to operate. The paper includes the advantages of these technologies consisting of the following sections: 1 represents an introduction, 2 deals with passive control system, 3 regards some control techniques, 4 concerns hybrid control techniques, 5 contains semi – active control techniques, and 6 is dedicated to general conclusions.

Homogeneity is a general concept often used in science and mainly engineering as a work hypothesis with essential implications in the expression of some rules. From a mechanical viewpoint, the features of a material are expressed by the characteristics that define them, the latter being determinate by the chemical and physical features of the constituent material. In this paper is used the entropy concept defined in the information theory, on which basis are defined the notions of degree of homogeneity and homogeneity factor. With means of these sizes different statistics populations can be analysed. Particularly it refers to the elasticity moduli of the steel. For example have been considered the two statistics series representing the elasticity moduli obtained by testing some steel square tubular bars.

The conventional seismic design, based on a combination of strength, ductility and energy dissipation of principal structural members, understands the strong motions, such as earthquakes, as loads at which the structure must resist and remain functional, accepting a certain level of structural degradations. While this method based on strength-ductility-energy dissipation can prevent big damages, it is difficult to rehabilitate plastic hinges developed in structural members during a strong seismic action. On the contrary, the concept of a structure with supplemental viscous fluid dampers assumes that the most dissipation energy demand is absorbed by these devices, not by the structure itself, and the damages are mainly localized and concentrated on the devices during earthquakes. The main objective of this paper is to present some of passive viscous fluid dampers and numerical results of a single degree of freedom (SDOF) system protected with such supplemental energy dissipation devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The physiological reaction of saline stress which Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. plants undergo shows a greater growth and fresh substance gain process on previously cultivated soils that were fined with 20% zeolitic tuff and 5.09 g of neutral peat than the ones that had a substrate which hasn't been cultivated on before that was fined with 5% zeolitic tuff and 1.39 g of perlite. The dry substance values obtained present a positive correlation with the values of fresh substance. Analysis of stomatal conductance enhances the hydric stress of plants which respond to saline stress with osmotic adjustment, accumulating high quantities of water comparing to the witness plant, which induces lower values of stomatal conductance and implicitly values are decreasing for photosynthesis, determining a low productivity. Higher values of stomatal conductance are reached at plants grown on previously cultivated soils fined with 20% zeolitic tuff and peat, and also at the ones grown on uncultivated soils fined with peat (29.45, respectively 30.05 mmol/m²/s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our observations target the physiological response of plants with a short vegetation period like Brassica rapa var. perviridis L. H. Bailey to saline stress. The experiment uses white alkali soil amended with zeolitic tuff and peat as a substrate. There has been noticed a better behavior of the plants grown on cultivated soil amended with 15% zeolitic tuff and neutral peat. The chlorophyll content index was higher in plants grown on cultivated soil amended with 15% zeolitic tuff both when combined with neutral peat (14.0 and 30.6) or acidic peat (18.9 and 26.2) than in plants grown in soils that were amended with 20% zeolitic tuff. Regarding uncultivated soils previously, they are less favorable to plants than soils which had been included in the agricultural circuit. This proves once again that the non-use of salty lands accentuates the salinization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiari malformations are congenital defects involving the cerebral structures in the posterior fossa. They range from asymptomatic cerebellar tonsil herniation beside the brainstem, to cerebellar aplasia. These conditions were fi rst described in 1890 and are still considered a rare occurrence even though they are more likely under-diagnosed rather than rare. We report the case of a 44 year old woman with Chiari type I malformation and associated cervical syringomyelia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saline soils are characterized by an excess amount of soluble salts and sodium, which can be changed in the soil water. This excess of salt changes the physical and chemical properties of soil, creating an environment that inhibits crops. Therefore, the accumulation of salts in the soil is one of the main reasons for a low level of agricultural production. At this point, one of the most pressing issues worldwide is overpopulation, which highlights further the issue of sustainable food production. As a result, in recent years, more emphasis has been placed on research and soils affected by salinity on finding ways to improve them. To effectively address this problem it is necessary to research in terms of the physical properties of these soils chemical and microbiologycal and the effective implementation of scientific discoveries and the sustainable management. This paper investigates some indicators of salinity and the correlation between them, to characterize the soils affected by salinity and to show that it creates problems in agriculture, and presenting some plant species tolerant to salt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]