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Lucrările de implementare a proiectului BRUA au impus și realizarea evaluării arheologice a traseului magistralei pentru gaze naturale și, apoi, implicit, în funcție de situații, a cercetărilor arheologice preventive. În cele ce urmează, ne vom opri asupra unor rezultate punctuale din zona de traseu BRUA din centrul județului Giurgiu – Mirău (com. Stoenești). Stratigrafia sitului este predominant naturală. Toate intervențiile stratigrafice (un foarte probabil sondaj de diagnostic – Cx2, două gropi medievale – Cx1 și Cx3, precum și o serie de stâlpi de lemn pe care îi atribuim unor împrejmuiri din anii 70-80 ai sec. al XX-lea) afectează un nivel de sol antic și sunt, stratigrafic, acoperite de nivelul celui actual, arat. Ceramica și resturile arheozoologice sunt singurele materiale descoperite și recuperate. Provin exclusiv din cuprinsul celor două complexe medievale. Chiar dacă inventarul Cx3 este mai slab cantitativ, caracteristicile ambelor categorii sunt unitare, dovedind atât o contemporaneitate, cât și manifestări și comportamente identice. În cadrul ansamblului ceramic al Cx1 au fost identificate și definite cinci categorii de pastă; materialul este parțial întregibil. Materialul ceramic descoperit în Cx3 este foarte fragmentar și în totalitate neîntregibil. Au fost identificate numai două categorii principale de pastă (P1 și P2, prezente și în cadrul ceramicii provenite din Cx1), cu variante nesemnificative. Datăm cele două complexe undeva în sec. al XVI-lea. Datarea materialului ceramic concordă cu prima atestare documentară a Mirăului. Chiar dacă cele două gropi au fost săpate pentru utilizarea sedimentelor – ea însăși o activitate nefirească, extragerea lutului fiind mai facilă din marginea terasei –, ele au fost folosite ulterior pentru redepozitare de deșeuri (?), inclusiv de resturi a numeroase focuri domestice. În cadrul economiei animaliere de la Mirău se creșteau o serie de animale domestice, printre acestea bovinele sunt predominate, ele fiind urmate de către ovicaprine și porcine care își dispută locul doi. Bovinele erau exploatate de o manieră mixtă (carne și lapte), dar nu trebuie omisă nici contribuția acestora la tracțiune (ca forță de muncă), în timp ce ovicaprinele erau crescute pentru produsele lor secundare (lapte și lână). Remarcăm consumul alimentar al calului (hipofagia) care probabil era ocazional. Acest fenomen este întâlnit de o manieră izolată în evul mediu românesc în ciuda interdicțiilor religioase. În cazul de față, ne putem gândi fie la un moment de criză alimentară, fie la valorificarea în alimentație a animalelor bătrâne/accidentate. Rezultatele acestui studiu includ utilizarea în alimentație și a peștilor (știuca, plătica, crapul, șalăul și somnul) și a păsărilor domestice (găina și gâsca). O serie de fragmente ceramice, ținând cont de caracteristicile fabric-ului, sunt preistorice – cel mai probabil, gumelnițene. Firește, sunt elemente intruzive în complexul respectiv. Informațiile de natură stratigrafică sunt pe deplin completate de cele arheozoologice. Lăsând deoparte rațiunile pentru care au fost săpate cele două gropi – estimăm că momentul principal de umplere antropică, plasat cronologic la scurt timp după excavare, s-a petrecut în sezonul cald, pentru ca, momentul principal de umplere naturală să aparțină sezonului rece. Revenirea antropică sesizată în cazul Cx1 se va fi petrecut la sfârșitul acestui sezon rece sau la debutul sezonului cald următor, dar nu are absolut niciuna din caracteristicile anterioare. Din păcate, cunoaștem foarte puțin despre locuirile rurale medievale din Țara Românească, cu elemente decelate pentru a putea fi comparate.

This paper illustrates the impact of the rising prices of the main natural resources used in the production process, oil, and natural gas, on the eurozone economy using a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model. It also assesses the dependence of the eurozone economy on fossil fuels from Russia and the need to adopt green, renewable energy. The study compares the shocks administered pre/post the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Finally, based on the futures trajectory of the Brent oil price, a conditional forecast for macroeconomic variables in the euro area is assessed.

This study employs a bibliometric approach to analyze the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) components used in performance measurement. As organizations increasingly leverage AI for optimizing processes and decisionmaking, understanding the trends in AI components becomes imperative. The identified AI components are classified based on their roles in enhancing performance measurement, offering insights into the prevalent methodologies and emerging technologies. The bibliometric analysis encompasses a comprehensive review of scholarly articles, conference papers, and patents, systematically exploring the evolving field. In this research, the methodology involves data extraction from reputable academic databases and patent repositories, followed by applying bibliometric techniques to quantify and visualize key aspects. The findings of this study contribute to the existing knowledge by mapping the intellectual structure of AI components for performance measurement.

Pathogenic Leptospira spp. causes leptospirosis in animals and humans globally, leading to systemic infections that can impact vital organs in affected animals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate kidney injury and to perform a retrospective analysis of leptospirosis infection in follow-up dog samples. The retrospective study collected epidemiological information obtained through paraclinical exams, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and molecular biology (qPCR) of cases from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine from Timisoara between September 2016 and May 2023. No correlations were found between Leptospira infection and breed (p = 0.714), gender or castration status (p = 0.890), and anatomic pathology exam results (p = 0.608). Significant associations were found in cases with high levels of azotemia (p = 0.000) and immunological status (vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, p = 0.000), with the leptospirosis risk in unvaccinated animals calculated at OR = 85.500 (95%CI, 6.82–1071.26, p = 0.000). Retrospectively, leptospirosis was diagnosed in 27/65 cases (42%) using the IHC method, while the qPCR assay detected 29/65 cases (45%). This study demonstrates that qPCR is a robust and specific method for postmortem diagnosis of Leptospira spp. infection in dogs, offering higher specificity and reliability compared to traditional IHC methods, which showed 94.74% specificity in our study.

The study focused on the hunting practices and potentially pathogenic bacterial species among European fallow deer (Dama dama). Within a five-year period, three hunting grounds from Western Romania were examined. During this period, a total of 1881 deer were hunted, and 240 samples were collected by rectal and nasal swabbing from 120 carcasses. Bacterial strains were identified utilizing bacteriological assays and the Vitek® 2 Compact system. Notably, the Socodor hunting ground exhibited a significant difference in harvesting quotas between the bucks (Group M) and does/yearlings (Group F), favoring the latter. In the Chișineu Criș–Sălișteanca hunting ground, a likely correlation in harvesting quotas between the two groups was observed. The identified potentially pathogenic bacteria were Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Enterococcus faecium. These results highlight the importance of effectively managing the deer population and recognize the potential for Dama dama to spread zoonotic pathogens, emphasizing the necessity of adopting a One Health approach and maintaining ongoing surveillance of this game species’ population dynamics.

This paper investigates the potential of leveraging artificial intelligence to automate and optimize the verification process, particularly in generating System Verilog assertions for an Advance Peripheral Bus verification environment using Universal Verification Methodology. Generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, demonstrated its ability to produce accurate and valuable assertions by employing text-based prompts and image-fed inputs, significantly reducing the required manual effort. This research presents a way of generating System Verilog assertions using the ChatGPT prompt, presenting an image to the Large Language Models, and requesting the assertions needed for the respective protocol. This approach shows the potential for artificial intelligence to revolutionize functional verification by automating complex tasks, ultimately ensuring faster and more reliable System-on-Chip development. The assertions generated by the Large Language Models are integrated into an existing Advance Peripheral Bus verification environment. This process involves running the assertions on a free EDA Playground platform with all three simulators (Cadence Incisive, Mentor Questa, and Synopsys Verilog Compiler Simulator). The main conclusions are that using ChatGPT-4.0 for generating System Verilog assertions significantly reduces the time and effort required for functional verification, demonstrating its potential to enhance efficiency and accuracy in verifying complex System-on-Chip designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research introduces a novel approach to crisis management by implementing a multi-agent algorithm within a strategic decision system. The proposed system harnesses multiple agents' collective intelligence and adaptive capabilities to enhance decision-making processes during critical situations. The study first investigates the theoretical foundations of crisis management and multi-agent systems, emphasizing the need for an integrated approach that combines strategic decision-making with autonomous agents. Subsequently, the research presents the design and implementation of the multi-agent algorithm, outlining its ability to gather, process, and analyze diverse data sources in real time. The multi-agent algorithm is specifically tailored to adapt to dynamic crisis scenarios, ensuring a resilient decision-making framework. Experimental simulations present the implementation of a panic simulator and prediction of evacuation and intervention routes using multi-agent artificial intelligence algorithms. The results demonstrate the multi-agent algorithm-driven decision system's superiority in response time, resource allocation, and overall crisis mitigation. Furthermore, the research explores the system's scalability and adaptability to different crisis types, illustrating its potential applicability across diverse domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogenic Leptospira spp. causes leptospirosis in animals and humans globally, leading to systemic infections that can impact vital organs in affected animals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate kidney injury and to perform a retrospective analysis of leptospirosis infection in follow-up dog samples. The retrospective study collected epidemiological information obtained through paraclinical exams, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and molecular biology (qPCR) of cases from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine from Timisoara between September 2016 and May 2023. No correlations were found between Leptospira infection and breed (p = 0.714), gender or castration status (p = 0.890), and anatomic pathology exam results (p = 0.608). Significant associations were found in cases with high levels of azotemia (p = 0.000) and immunological status (vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, p = 0.000), with the leptospirosis risk in unvaccinated animals calculated at OR = 85.500 (95%CI, 6.82–1071.26, p = 0.000). Retrospectively, leptospirosis was diagnosed in 27/65 cases (42%) using the IHC method, while the qPCR assay detected 29/65 cases (45%). This study demonstrates that qPCR is a robust and specific method for postmortem diagnosis of Leptospira spp. infection in dogs, offering higher specificity and reliability compared to traditional IHC methods, which showed 94.74% specificity in our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The species from Yersinia genus are widespread in nature, they could be isolated from warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals, from foods, water and soil. Among genus species, Yersinia enterocolitica is most frequently isolated from human and animals. The resistance of Yersinia enterocolitica is similar to Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Moreover, it resists to refrigeration temperature (+4°C). It is susceptible to streptomycin, chloramphenicol, tetracyclines, polymyxin B and colistin sulfate. Also, Yersinia enterocolitica is easily inactivated by sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate added in foodstuffs. It still shows some resistance to these salts, in solution, and could tolerate a 5% NaCl concentration in culture media. Toora shows that adding a 5% NaCl in food could lead to a growing rate reduction. In our research we study the behavior of Yersinia enterocolitica strains isolated from swine feces, on different isolation and identification media, chlorine tolerance, but also the behavior against eleven anti-infectious substances (nalidixic acid, furazolidone, erythromycin, tetracycline, gentamicin, streptomycin, ampicillin, kanamycin, cefalotin, trimethoprim and enrofloxacin).

Fungi or mycetes represents the biggest group of microorganisms from the entire biologic system (nearly 250.000 species), very widespread in nature. They are inferior vegetal organisms, heterotrophic, lacking chlorophyll or other trophic pigments, which grow up on live organic substrates or on decaying substrates. The intensive researches from the last two decades had proved that only 30 – 40% from the total number of fungi species is capable to synthesize some toxic metabolites, and, among this species, only 60 species had proved to be dangerous for human or animals. Researches about mycotoxins action upon factors that interfere with the natural or acquired immunity are relatively recent and most of them refer to aflatoxins. The immune-suppression phenomena rely on morphological and histological modifications of lymphoid organs, changes of blood parameters, changes of functional capacity of humoral and some cellular factors. The presence of mycotoxins in feed causes major economic losses, either by their direct action (defined by disease state) or indirectly, by affecting the specific and nonspecific resistance of the organism. In the present study we studied the effect of aflatoxins upon the main organs involved in immune response, pathological changes induced by mycotoxins. To determine the influence of mycotoxins on food conversion, weighings were made at the beginning and the end of the experimental period.

Germs from Yersinia genus have a vast ecologic niche, being met at different domestic and wild animal species, but also in food, water and soil. The majority of yersinis live in the digestive tract of human and numerous animal species, especially rodents, but also in soil, plant debris, waters etc. Numerous species of Yersinia genus could produce characteristic infections in human, the main source of infections is represented by rodents and hematophagous insects or, more frequently, by water or contaminated food. In a 1999 study, Mead and coauthors established that the Yersinia enterocolitica prevalence in food, in USA, is around 90%. Foods of animal origin more frequently contaminated with Yersinia enterocolitica are: pork, poultry, beef and lamb meat, milk, ice-cream, sea fruits etc., among them pork meat and milk represents the sources of the most numerous toxi-infection outbreaks in human, in different world regions. Bacteria determine infections which interest the digestive tract in numerous animal species and human, with diarrhea, lymphadenitis, pneumonia and abortion are the most important symptoms. Yersinia enterocolitica enter the human body regularly by oral ingestion, and localize itself with predilection in the distal portion of the ileum and at the ileocaecal appendix and proximal colon level, were determine a terminal ileitis with lymphadenitis, acute enterocolitis, and secondary accompanied with nodosum erythema, poliartritis that could be complicated with septicemia, sometimes leading to death.

In our research four live attenuated vaccines against avian infectious bursitis (two inland produced and two imported) were tested: Biavac, Biaromvac-Pa, Gumboro Vaccine Nobilis 228e and Live Virus Vaccine Tablets Gumboro, M.B. Strain. The research was made in production conditions on 44,400 broiler chickens maintained in industrial system and raised on bedding and in batteries. The broilers were kept in four poultry houses, each of them representing an experimental group. We mention that vaccines were administered only one time. Vaccines efficiency was assessed by immunoenzymatic test. In that purpose, for each poultry house, 20 broilers were isolated and identified by a tibial ring, their immune response being followed between 5 and 42 days of age. Analyzing the results about individual antibodies titer during the experiment, the significant differences were observed both in poultries and phases. The best results were obtained using Live Virus Vaccine Tablets Gumboro, M.B. strain.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of fungi in two distinct types of broiler houses. The research compared two types of air ventilation: conventional and positive tunnel ventilation. Two different techniques were applied simultaneously for the air borne microorganisms (mesophilic bacteria and fungi) trapping: air aspiration using the air collector SAS 100TM and sedimentation method. High concentrations of fungal spores were detected in the conventional ventilated poultry house. Species of Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium crysogenum, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Scopulariopsis, prevailed in both poultry houses. The majority of the identified fungal species are characterized as allergenic and an exposure to their spores may provoke adverse health effects.

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous bacteria with a remarkable resistance in discordant condition which produce listeriosis, an infectious disease that affects multiple domestic and wild animals’ species, but also humans. Receptive to listeriosis are the majority of domestic or wild mammals and birds, in the last years being registered an increase of receptivity in humans. The concept of listeriosis in human pathology, a disease caused by eating or drinking contaminated food and water, appeared for the first time in 1981, during an outbreak in Canada with seven cases in adults and 34 cases of maternal-fetal listeriosis. The alimentary origin of human listeriosis can be easily explained if considered some general characteristics of the bacteria. Thus, resistance in various conditions, especially at lower temperatures, justifies its dissemination and food contamination, particularly when is conserved by refrigeration. Also, L. monocytogenes has a significant presence in alimentary products. Some studies showed that 4% of the milk products, 29% of the meat products, 5% of the vegetable products and 26% of the products obtained from fishes and shell fishes are positive for L. monocytogenes, which allows us to say that battle against these bacteria is a war against microbial contamination.

The importance of biofilm in disease processes in humans and animals is now widely recognized. In animal species, the risk of infection is probably greater than the risk in humans. This is due to the difference in animal housing and living environments – animals naturally live in environments with a large and much more diverse microbial community. Most oral bacteria live symbiotically in biofilm. This symbiotic association gives the bacteria different communal properties than individual planktonic bacteria. Bacteria that form biofilm live and develop in communities which are an important property for dental plaque formation that leads to dental calculus formation, periodontal diseases, dental caries and systemic diseases. The objective of this study is to reveal the role of dental plaque (oral biofilm) in pathogenesis of dental calculus, periodontal disease and dental caries in dogs and cats.

Recently, there has been an increasing emphasis on single cell profiling for high-throughput screening workflows in drug discovery and life sciences research. However, the biology underpinning these screens is often complex and is insufficiently addressed by singleplex assay screens. Traditional single cell screening technologies have created powerful sets of 'omic data that allow users to bioinformatically infer biological function, but have as of yet not empowered direct functional analysis at the level of each individual cell. Consequently, screening campaigns often require multiple secondary screens leading to laborious, time-consuming and expensive workflows in which attrition points may not be queried until late in the process. We describe a platform that harnesses droplet microfluidics and optical electrowetting-on-dielectric (oEWOD) to perform highly-controlled sequential and multiplexed single cell assays in massively parallelised workflows to enable complex cell profiling during screening. Soluble reagents or objects, such as cells or assay beads, are encapsulated into droplets of media in fluorous oil and are actively filtered based on size and optical features ensuring only desirable droplets (e.g. single cell droplets) are retained for analysis, thereby overcoming the Poisson probability distribution. Droplets are stored in an array on a temperature-controlled chip and the history of individual droplets is logged from the point of filter until completion of the workflow. On chip, droplets are subject to an automated and flexible suite of operations including the merging of sample droplets and the fluorescent acquisition of assay readouts to enable complex sequential assay workflows. To demonstrate the broad utility of the platform, we present examples of single-cell functional workflows for various applications such as antibody discovery, infectious disease, and cell and gene therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the specialized literature, valvulopathies are defined as functional or organic conditions affecting one or more heart valves, disrupting their ability to open or close properly and affecting the heart's overall function. During surgery, the diseased heart valve is replaced with a prosthesis using extracorporeal circulation. Currently, the most commonly used prostheses are biological and mechanical. Physiotherapy plays a crucial role in the rehabilitation of patients with surgically corrected valvulopathies, primarily due to its beneficial effects on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, which help ensure functional independence. In the late 1970s, Dr. Nanette Wenger proposed the first cardiac rehabilitation program. This program recommended, for the first time, early mobilization of the patient, aiming to transition the patient from a supine position to sitting and eventually to moving within 14 days. The purpose of this study is to present and implement a cardiac rehabilitation program, as well as to analyse its effects based on the results obtained from monitoring and evaluating selected patients. The conclusions of this study validate the research hypothesis that the application of a cardiac rehabilitation program leads to an increase in effort capacity (and, consequently, the quality of life), in patients with valvulopathies surgically corrected by minimally invasive techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focused on the hunting practices and potentially pathogenic bacterial species among European fallow deer (Dama dama). Within a five-year period, three hunting grounds from Western Romania were examined. During this period, a total of 1881 deer were hunted, and 240 samples were collected by rectal and nasal swabbing from 120 carcasses. Bacterial strains were identified utilizing bacteriological assays and the Vitek® 2 Compact system. Notably, the Socodor hunting ground exhibited a significant difference in harvesting quotas between the bucks (Group M) and does/yearlings (Group F), favoring the latter. In the Chișineu Criș–Sălișteanca hunting ground, a likely correlation in harvesting quotas between the two groups was observed. The identified potentially pathogenic bacteria were Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Enterococcus faecium. These results highlight the importance of effectively managing the deer population and recognize the potential for Dama dama to spread zoonotic pathogens, emphasizing the necessity of adopting a One Health approach and maintaining ongoing surveillance of this game species' population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper addresses a central problem: how coaching assists university students in launching startups and transitioning into entrepreneurs. This study aims to analyze to what extent coaching contributes to helping university students start their own projects at the level of the faculty of Economics, Commerce, and Management. The study's findings highlight several key points, the most important of which is that coaching has become a path to follow, especially since it led students to adopt an entrepreneurial orientation, which also allowed them to dissipate their fear and talk about their ideas for their project. Moreover, coaching made it possible to realize the talents enabling the student to innovate in a project/create a start-up. However, the study also identifies certain shortcomings, the most important of which is that the training did not help some students to prepare their first model, and it is, therefore, advisable to subsequently train a specialized coach for each student and that he starts with him from the beginning until his idea came to fruition on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]