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Perioperative acid-base disturbance could be informative regarding the possible slow graft function (SGF) or delayed graft function (DGF) development. There is a lack of data regarding the relationship between perioperative acid-base parameters and graft dysfunction in kidney transplant (KT) recipients. We aim to determine the incidence of graft dysfunction types and the association between them and acid-base parameters.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the adoption of telemedicine and digital health technologies, revealing their immense potential in managing cancer patients effectively. This article explores the impact of recent technological developments and widened consumer perspectives on personalised healthcare and patient awareness, particularly in oncology. Smartphones and wearable devices have become integral to daily life, promoting healthy lifestyles and supporting cancer patients through remote monitoring and health management. The widespread use of these devices presents an unprecedented opportunity to transform clinical trials and patient care by offering convenient and accessible means of collecting health data continuously and non-invasively. However, to fully harness their potential, it is crucial to establish standardised methods for measuring patient metrics to ensure data reliability and validity. This article also addresses the challenges of integrating these technologies into clinical practice, such as cost, patient and professional reluctance, and technological oversaturation. It emphasises the need for continuous innovation, the development of robust digital infrastructures, and the importance of fostering a supportive environment to integrate these advancements permanently. Ultimately, the convergence of technological innovation and personalised healthcare promises to enhance patient outcomes, improve quality of life, and revolutionise cancer management in the post-COVID era.

Globally, the EU energy system has gradually emerged as an educational science research agenda which is required for the unpredictable environment of energy consumption. Our research extends beyond ethical dimensions of the affordable and renewable energy systems but through balanced energy making decisions. The authors deftly explain the energy justice and energy consumption nexus by using an econometric model. The results emphasize the value of the investments in renewable energy generation systems and extended research in energy education.

We are human beings, and what distinguishes us from other beings is the anguish of finitude, the reason, the articulate language, and so on. Associating and forming groups are the characteristics specific to the human beings, because since the antiquity as it has been said that we were social beings. Communication occupies an important place nowadays. Whether written, oral, internal or external, the communication is essential nowadays. In this context, Anca Raluca Purcaru brings to the fore a new perspective in terms of communication, through her work "Elemente de comunicare simbolică" ("Elements of symbolic communication"), published by the Lumen Publishing House of Iasi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2023, the superBIT telescope was lifted to the Earth’s stratosphere by a helium-filled super-pressure balloon to acquire astronomical imaging from above (99.5% of) the Earth’s atmosphere. It was launched from New Zealand and then, for 40 days, circumnavigated the globe five times at a latitude 40 to 50 degrees south. Attached to the telescope were four “drs” (Data Recovery System) capsules containing 5 TB solid state data storage, plus a gnss receiver, Iridium transmitter, and parachute. Data from the telescope were copied to these, and two were dropped over Argentina. They drifted 61 km horizontally while they descended 32 km, but we predicted their descent vectors within 2.4 km: in this location, the discrepancy appears irreducible below ∼2 km because of high speed, gusty winds and local topography. The capsules then reported their own locations within a few metres. We recovered the capsules and successfully retrieved all of superBIT’s data despite the telescope itself being later destroyed on landing.

In this article, the authors set out to study the behaviour of book consumers in Bucharest. The decision problem is represented by the major changes in the book market, which have led to a decrease in demand for books in physical format, largely influenced by digitalization and the economic crisis. The quantitative-descriptive research was conducted online, on a sample of 224 respondents. The instrument used was a questionnaire consisting of closed, open, dichotomous and multichotomous questions. The results of the study show that although Romanians are book lovers, book purchase is ranked last on the list of consumer priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power system simulator generates the electrical signals for complex protection relay testing. This paper presents a method for generating these electrical signals and its associated hardware architecture, designed to implement a power system simulator. In this paper’s version, the method synchronously generates two sinusoidal voltages, with independent control over 1 degree resolution phase shifts. The waveform of each voltage is reconstructed to meet the accuracy of the sine wave. The hardware structure implementing the method provides a simple architecture, designed to expand the signal generation to multiple voltages. The method and hardware structure presented in this paper have proven their usefulness regarding the power system simulator, as well as for many other applications.

Power engineering device testing is based on generating specific electrical signals with controllable parameters in order to simulate operating regimes similar to electric power plant ones. This paper work is focused on a hardware architecture that generates electrical signals with settable parameters, required in testing complex function protection relays. The method used for signal generation, as well as two variants of hardware structures based on this method are presented. The generated electrical signals are sinusoidal currents and voltages. The common frequency, the root-mean-square value and the phase shift of each signal are settable parameters. The hardware architecture presented in the paper is embedded in the structure of a power system simulator, improving its performance compared to a previous version.

Inclusive education represents one of the most challenging aspects of modern education. In recent years, a major challenge in achieving inclusivity in education has been to find modern tools that might adapt the teaching process to the needs of children with disabilities. This article investigates the possibility to use virtual reality (VR) technology to improve the learning process of children with disabilities. In this regard, a qualitative study based on the Focus Group method was conducted among 31 specialists who work with children with disabilities, with the aim of identifying potential opportunities and limits of using VR technology in the education of this category of children. The research results reveal that for most of the interviewees the VR application was a new experience; they appreciated that this technology could improve the educational process for children with disabilities and it could become a useful tool to support the education of such children. These results could have a positive impact on the activities carried out by policymakers, academia, and the economic environment in their efforts to implement policies aimed at improving the inclusive education system. To this end, some VR applications could be developed in a collaborative system involving IT companies and universities in the designing and implementation of these applications.

Improving the informed consent process in clinical research is of constant concern to regulatory authorities in the field and presents a challenge for both the specialists and patients involved. Informed consent is a process that should adequately match the complexity of clinical research. In analyzing the behaviour of 68 patients during the informed consent process related to the clinical research performed at Neomed Clinical Center in Brasov, we found that many patients do not ask any questions (35.3%). From those who do, part of the questions (20,6%) referred to general aspects (addressed the form but not the gist) of the clinical trial, some (72,8%) referred to specific aspects of the clinical trial they will attend and others (6,6%) unrelated to the clinical trial. These results suggest a lack of interest, awareness, and understanding of the information presented in the informed consent form. The possible underlying causes of this attitude and its bureaucratic, ethic, and legal implications are discussed.

The association of the term ‘educational’ to the term ‘marketing’ generates a specialized domain, by applying methods, politics and marketing strategies in the area of education. Due to the cultural, social and complex role of the education, educational marketing represents a part of the services marketing, the social marketing and the non-profit organizations. By offering mandatory educational services, financed from the state budget, the school units, through their activity, respect the principles of social marketing, regardless of the financial benefits that result from the provision of these services. This article aims to place educational marketing below the conceptual level in the field of service marketing; the reference works in the field of educational marketing are not many, a consequence of the fact that this is a new field.

This study investigates, on the one hand, the mechanisms of making invisible the texts written by interwar women writers and, on the other hand, their double peripherality in the modernist canon, using elements of literary sociology as methodology. At the same time, a metacritical reflection on the representations of poets in literary criticism identifies the ways in which the voices of interwar women poets were reduced to forms of creation with a secondary degree of importance. The study focuses on the infantilization and minimalization of the poets of the Sburătorul cenacle, considering its modernist contribution and importance in the interwar literary climate in Romania and the way in which the two imperatives that are imposed in the cenacle as forms of literary sociability, group consciousness & the process of creative individualization, generate a reduction and dislocation of the position of women writers, socializing them into the category of „feminine literature”. Two „recuperations’ of interwar women poets are also questioned, that of Al. Cistelecan, Fete pierdute. Notițe pentru o istorie a poesia feminine românești [Lost Girls: Notes Towards a History on Romanian Feminine Poetry], and the anthology coordinated by Alina Purcaru & Paula Erizanu, Un secol de poezie română scrisă de femei (1918-1944) [A Century of Romanian Poetry Written By Women (1918-1944)], problematizing how the reparative revisiting of the contributions made by women poets is functionalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the inspections program by POBs represents the key reform that has improved the relationship between financial audits under ISA and financial reporting under IFRS. Psychologically, human beings pay more attention in case of supervision. Concerning the European POBs, there is very little written about the effect of POBs on audit quality. In this study we emphasize the benefits brought by POB inspections, highlighting the activity of ASPAAS at the level of Romania. In the end, we draw future research ideas based on POB annual reports and ASPAAS activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I describe the use of art works as alternative to introduction seminaries at the academic courses, namely children's illustrated books that have important teachings for both children and adults, and cinematographic art works that are relevant for illustrating the main concepts of the courses. The art works, I suggest, generate debate on important topics and represent a pertinent way of didactic communication. I therefore present my suggestions from two courses: Institutional and Personal Branding and Intercultural Communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a comparative overview regarding pupil’s perceptions about quality of the educational act. Some of the key topics that are taken into consideration are the culture of learning environment, the expectations, the confidence and the feelings about the school’s climate. The research is a specific practice within Teach for Romania organization that comes as an innovation method in the Romanian educational system and only applies to teachers of TFR.

This paper presents a modern and efficient solution for the implementation of the hydrogenerator overcurrent protection with minimum voltage blockage. The digital equipment which implements this solution is organized around an embedded system and provides facilities for on-line monitoring of hydrogenerator electrical parameters and post-failure analysis. The protection implementation supposes parameter configuration, editing the logical function of the overcurrent protection with minimum voltage blockage, assignation of relays in the monitored process and setting time delays. The used digital equipment generates one recording at each protection triggering. The analysis of experimental results confirms the advantages of the presented solution for implementing this protection.

The paper studies how Bram Stoker's Dracula and the screenings and animations it inspired affected the image of Romania overseas and permanently associated Vlad the Impaler with the fictional character of Dracula. Even the Romanians embraced this association in order to boost tourism. However, the official branding strategy places the accent on authenticity, and therefore we ask ourselves whether it is worth having a vampire myth based on a tourism strategy or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education represents one of the most challenging aspects of modern education. In recent years, a major challenge in achieving inclusivity in education has been to find modern tools that might adapt the teaching process to the needs of children with disabilities. This article investigates the possibility to use virtual reality (VR) technology to improve the learning process of children with disabilities. In this regard, a qualitative study based on the Focus Group method was conducted among 31 specialists who work with children with disabilities, with the aim of identifying potential opportunities and limits of using VR technology in the education of this category of children. The research results reveal that for most of the interviewees the VR application was a new experience; they appreciated that this technology could improve the educational process for children with disabilities and it could become a useful tool to support the education of such children. These results could have a positive impact on the activities carried out by policymakers, academia, and the economic environment in their efforts to implement policies aimed at improving the inclusive education system. To this end, some VR applications could be developed in a collaborative system involving IT companies and universities in the designing and implementation of these applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how to implement several complex protection functions for synchronous hydrogenerators using PC-05/104 digital equipment. PC-05/104 also performs the monitoring and visualization of the voltages and currents rms values and phase shifts, active and reactive powers, and the recording of many functional parameters before and after each breaking caused by one or more protections. This digital equipment contains interfaces which enable the local, respectively remote monitoring, visualization, and parameter setting. The software design for the implementation of complex protection functions implies three software applications (associated with the PC-05/104 equipment, for the user local interface, and for the remote monitoring) all detailed in this paper. An example of the parameter configuration for one protection is also shown.

Glioblastoma (GB) is highly vascularised tumour, known to exhibit enhanced infiltrative potential. One of the characteristics of glioblastoma is microvascular proliferation surrounding necrotic areas, as a response to a hypoxic environment, which in turn increases the expression of angiogenic factors and their signalling pathways (RAS/RAF/ERK/MAPK pathway, PI3K/Akt signalling pathway and WTN signalling cascade). Currently, a small number of anti-angiogenic drugs, extending glioblastoma patients survival, are available for clinical use. Most medications are ineffective in clinical therapy of glioblastoma due to acquired malignant cells or intrinsic resistance, angiogenic receptors cross-activation and redundant intracellular signalling, or the inability of the drug to cross the blood-brain barrier and to reach its target in vivo . Researchers have also observed that GB tumours are different in many aspects, even when they derive from the same tissue, which is the reason for personalised therapy. An understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating glioblastoma angiogenesis and invasion may be important in the future development of curative therapeutic approaches for the treatment of this devastating disease.

Perioperative acid-base disturbance could be informative regarding the possible slow graft function (SGF) or delayed graft function (DGF) development. There is a lack of data regarding the relationship between perioperative acid-base parameters and graft dysfunction in kidney transplant (KT) recipients. We aim to determine the incidence of graft dysfunction types and the association between them and acid-base parameters. We performed a prospective, cohort study on 54 adults, KT recipients, between 1 st of January 2019 and 31 st of December 2019. Graft function was defined and classified in three categories: immediate graft function (IGF) (serum creatinine < 3 mg/dL at day 5 after KT), SGF (serum creatinine ≥ 3mg/dL at day 5 or ≥ 2.5mg dL at day 7 after KT) and DGF (the need for at least one dialysis treatment in the first week after kidney transplantation). Among the 54 KT recipients, the incidence of SGF and DGF was 13% and 11.1%, respectively. SGF was significantly associated with lower intraoperative pH (7.26± 0.05 vs 7.35± 0.06, p= 0.004), preoperative and intraoperative base excess (BE) [-7.0 (-10.0 ߝ -6.0) vs -3.4 (-7.8 ߝ - 2.1) mmol/L, p= 0.04 and -10.3 (-11.0 ߝ -9.1) vs -4.0 (-6.3 ߝ - 3.0) mmol/L, p= 0.002, respectively] and serum bicarbonate (HCO3 - ) (16.0± 2.7 vs 19.3± 3.4 mmol/L, p= 0.01 and 14.1± 1.9 vs 18.8± 3.2 mmol/L, p= 0.002 respectively), compared to IGF. DGF was significantly associated with lower intraoperative values of pH (7.27± 0.05 vs 7.35± 0.06, p= 0.003), BE [-7.1 (-10.9 ߝ -6.1) vs -4.0 (-6.3 ߝ - 3.0) mmol/L, p= 0.02] and HCO3 - (15.9± 2.4 vs 18.8± 3.2 mmol/L, p=0.02) compared to IGF. No differences were observed between SGF and DGF patients in any of the perioperative acid-base parameters. In conclusion we found that kidney graft dysfunction types are associated with perioperative acid-base parameters and perioperative metabolic acidosis could provide important information to predict SGF or DGF occurrence., (© 2023 Teodor Căluşi et al., published by Sciendo.)

Signals acquired from an industrial environment with many sources of electromagnetic interferences may be polluted by white noise. Polluted data segments with many steady consecutive periods can be used (sometimes unsuccessful) for the estimation of a denoised period from the steady acquired data by using the mean signal method. For data segments with at least 4 periods, when only certain segments (shorter than a period) can be considered steady, hybrid algorithms can be used to automatically evaluate the power of noise and afterward to perform the noise removal by using wavelet thrashing trees. This paper deals with 2 additional denoising techniques. The 1-st one is based on the Wavelet Package Transform and allows for the separation of the noise components which pollute a data segment of at least one period. The second approached denoising technique is also addressing one period data segments and estimates firstly the power of noise by using the energies of the vectors of details from the first 2 levels of a tree used by decompositions with the Stationary Wavelet Transform. The estimated power of noise is afterward used to establish the number of levels in the wavelet thrashing trees. In this last stage, two wavelet mothers were used. Simulated and real test signals were used and performance comparisons were performed.

Globally, the EU energy system has gradually emerged as an educational science research agenda which is required for the unpredictable environment of energy consumption. Our research extends beyond ethical dimensions of the affordable and renewable energy systems but through balanced energy making decisions. The authors deftly explain the energy justice and energy consumption nexus by using an econometric model. The results emphasize the value of the investments in renewable energy generation systems and extended research in energy education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]