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Shoot cultures of the essential oil bearing plant Artemisia alba Turra (Asteraceae) were studied with the aim to elaborate the effect of in vitro rooting on cytokinin (CK) conjugation and chloroplast architecture in vitro. For this purpose, two in vitro morphotypes were induced ? (1) the root developing morphotype on plant growth regulator-free as well as on auxin indole-3-butyric acid (IBA)-containing media and (2) the root suppressed morphotype, obtained by a combination of IBA with CK N6-benzyladenine (BA). End...

In this paper a new type of Ru-containing catalysts based hypercrosslinked polystyrene (HPS) is proposed for cellulose hydrolytic hydrogenation to increase the selectivity to sorbitol. Also, we report the development of Ru-containing magnetically recoverable catalysts for cellulose hydrogenolysis to low alcohols, EG and PG. The use of the 1.0% Ru/HPS MN-270 catalyst allows achieving the total sorbitol and mannitol yield about 50% (245 °C, 60 bar H2, 30 mL water, 600 rpm, 0.028 mmol Ru on 1 g cellulose, process dur...

At the head of all the activities of society are human resources, they are making technological breakthroughs and the development of economic growth. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the development of new technologies is carried out at the expense of organizations working to improve the economy and technological development; organizations face the difficult task of stimulating human resources for a technological breakthrough. In this article, corporate social responsibility is considered as one of the tools...

Mining-and-industrial heritage ? underground workings, open areas of former mining works, natural caves and underground cavities are, in many cases in critical condition and pose a safety threat to the tourists visiting those. On the other hand, such places, have significant historical, technological and landscape value. Moreover, these objects are also crucial for the development of tourism, attracting a lot of visitors by their uncommonness. Underground space for tourism purposes is often used by the specialists...

Traffic volumes in road traffic show growth, especially in developed countries. Where necessary and depending on space, financial possibilities and other aspects, increasingly more capacity roads (multi-lane highways, complex grade-separated interchange, etc.) are being built. The places, where the roads meet (i.e. at the intersections), are the most problematic (traffic accidents, capacity problems, etc.). Standard intersections (i.e. level intersections, roundabouts, intersections with traffic lights or grade-se...

The security of technical infrastructure in crisis situations can be divided into several areas that can affect its functions. The aim of this work was to focus on water infrastructure with regard to legal aspects set in the Czech Republic. Water is essential for economic growth, human health, and the environment. The main reason for the emergence of the crisis situation in parts of the water infrastructure is predominantly presence of a large amount of water (torrential rain, lightning flood, flood, increased wat...

Safety planning is an important part of the mechanism that helps overcome extraordinary events or crisis situations. A safety plan is a general planning document such as a crisis plan, emergency plan, flood plan, etc. that focuses on the safety of an area. The structures of individual safety plans are defined in various legal and methodological regulations in the Czech Republic. The content may include safety plans aimed at either preventing or responding to emergencies. Some safety plans have combined content and...

In the past decade significant attention has been given to the development of tools that attempt to measure the vulnerability, risk or resilience of communities to disasters. Particular attention has been given to the development of composite indices to quantify these concepts mirroring their deployment in other fields such as sustainable development. Whilst some authors have published reviews of disaster vulnerability, risk and resilience composite indicator methodologies, these have been of a limited nature. Thi...

The present paper aims to assess the microbiological water quality of the wetland La Tembladera?, Ecuador. The object of study is located in the southwestern Ecuador, canton Santa Rosa, in the province El Oro. Microbiological analyses included the determination of the sanitary-indicative microorganisms? number, such as total bacterial count, bacteria Escherichia coli, ?lostridium, actinomycetes and micromycetes. Water samples were collected two times per week during dry tropical season at three points with differe...

According to national forest statistics data of 2018, Picea abies occupies 18% of the forest area of Latvia. As a result of intensive forestry management a forest productivity and the diverse anthropogenic influences on forest ecosystems are significantly increased. During the life a growth of spruce young stands can be influenced not only by abiotic but also by various biotic and anthropogenic factors. An aim of the research was to analyze sanitary condition of the artificially regenerated young forest stands of ...

Climate change is defined as a significant difference between two mean climatic states, with substantial impact on the ecosystem. Extreme climatic events, such as higher temperatures, more intense precipitation, increased drought risk and duration as well as cyclones and flooding in coastal areas, are expected to increase in both frequency and intensity. One of the possible indicators of water stress is sap flow measurement. For this experiment were used the apple trees in Nove Zamky, Slovakia. On stem were instal...

Human losses in Europe are mostly associated with meteorological and climatological hazards such as heat waves, heavy precipitation, river floods, windstorms and landslides. Economic losses are most significant for the industry, transport and energy sectors. Highest economic losses and annual numbers of affected people are caused mainly by geophysical and hydrological disasters. Landslides are natural hazards that cause fatalities and significant economic losses in various parts of Europe. Heavy precipitation even...

The paper describes a new design of a directional coupler with four plug-in quarter-wave loops. Four loops increase the operating frequency band several times, but the area of the device also grows by two quarter-wave segments in length. It is not always possible to use such a large device area, for this reason, techniques are used to reduce the size of the device with minimal loss in its characteristics. Using miniaturization, which is the use of compact structures, it was possible to reduce the size of a quarter...

It is well known that the main purpose for all upscaling techniques related with homogenization of initial any heterogeneous property and substituting it with an effective value. Thus, the essence of upscaling is computing weighted average on the fine-grid to form coarse-grid considering representative elementary volume. The goal of this research work was experimental investigations of pore space distribution of carbonate rocks. Samples were collected from the Upper Permian ages core data. Samples bulk porosity we...

Acrylic derivative-based superabsorbents are widely used currently in agriculture as the soil conditioners, plant growth regulators, etc. Their usage has a positive effect on the growth and survival of the plants cultivated in the arid regions. However, the effects of hydrophilic acrylic polymers on the soil microbiocenosis still remain unknown. The influence of the moisture-absorbing acrylic acid-based hydrogels with different concentration of bentonite filler was studied on the soil microbiota. N,N-methylenebisa...

A supervised classification algorithm has been developed for automated sea ice retrieval in some regions of the Arctic seas. Sentinel-1 Extra Wide images were utilized as input for a Neural Network (NN)-based algorithm. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data has several features significantly affected on the microwave backscatter from sea ice. In this paper, an approach to improve data quality is proposed. Since different sea ice types can have similar backscattering coefficients, the extracted SAR texture features i...

The Cieszyn Tufa Springs is a special area of conservation located in the Western Carpathians (southern Poland). The main subjects of protection are springs that outflow from the contact zone between Cretaceous limestones and slates. Due to a high vulnerability of shallow aquifers within the area of Cieszyn Foothills as well as urbanization and highly-developed industry of the Silesia region, a wide range of contaminants is detected in the spring water. Although microcomponents present in water of the mentioned ar...

Research was performed using application of airborne laser scanning (ALS) data for the assessment of land use and land cover (LULC) changes, especially for the monitoring forest succession on abandoned farmland. ALS point clouds were used to confirm the progress of forest succession process at the analysed area, not only in terms to show the occupied area, but also to derives informations about the structure of vegetation ? growth of trees and shrubs. The part of Wieliczka district (Malopolskie Voivodship, South o...

Internet of Things (IoT) has a different meaning to different people. The term has been known for a long time. The use of interconnected devices has become more and more necessary to solve established business problems. It turns out that data acquired from IoT sensors and controllers are valuable enough to have the power to change the overall business models and behaviour of entire industries in a given economy. Therefore, the future of IoT as a cutting-edge technology depends on the security capabilities that IoT...

This work is about paleogeographic reconstructions on the basis of mineralogical and geochemical studies. Vanavar, Oskobinsk and Sobinsk formations of the Vendian age (Ilbokichskoe deposit in Eastern Siberia) were studied. The complex of research included data of XRD and ICP-MS. According to the obtained results, the mineralogical composition of the sediments was refined. Quartz, carbonate minerals, represented by magnesite, dolomite, calcite and siderite, and sulfates ? gypsum, barite, anhydrite are noted among t...

Despite the widespread use of sedimentation in the industry and numerous scientific works in this field, all factors affecting the process of sedimentation are still not sufficiently recognized. The sedimentation of fine-grained suspension must often be supported by a flocculation process or by using a multiflux filling. The particles of the solid phase of the suspension after the addition of the flocculant have the tendency to flocculate to form larger agglomerates, and thus their falling speed increases due to t...

In this paper, we present the spatial distribution of sedimentological and geochemical characteristics of the bottom sediments of Vouliagmeni lake which is located in the SW Perachora peninsula extending into the eastern Gulf of Corinth, Greece. A total of nineteen (19) samples consisting of upper 1-2cm lake bottom sediments were collected and analyzed. Standard sedimentological analyses were carried out including grain size analysis and the measurement of calcium carbonate content (CaCO3), total organic carbon (T...

Seismic studies are used to solve a wide range of different tasks, such as studying the bottom profile of water bodies and bottom sediments, detecting sunken objects, designing various structures (pipelines, port facilities, etc.), estimating the thickness of sapropel deposits, calculating their reserves, etc. In terms of paleoclimatic reconstructions the importance of such studies is increasing. Lake deposits are sensitive archives that provide continuous and high-resolution records of environmental change. In th...

The American NASA Apollo missions to the lunar surface, between 1969 and 1972 greatly increased the knowledge of the Moon as well as that of our own Earth's age and origins. Part of the scientific research used geophysical techniques to help define the structure of the Moon, both deep and also regarding the near surface. One such experimentation that was carried out, on both Apollo 14 and Apollo 16, as part of the Apollo Lunar Seismic Experiment Package (ALSEP), was the Active Seismic Experiment (ASE). The ASE com...

The paper considers the problem of velocity model reconstruction of an elastic medium in the problem of monitoring the zones of underground nuclear explosions. The inverse problem can be solved with help of finding solutions for a set of forward geophysical problems. Main problem is to find the location coordinates and treat to find the characteristic size and shape of cavernous object in entire isotropic elastic media. To realize it the problem statement and the description of basic methods to perform full seismi...

The study is based on seismicity data analysis, using seismological data available from published local, regional and global earthquakes catalogues. Seismicity data for Romania, Bulgaria and the Western Black Sea have been compiled into a unique data-base and represented within a georeferenced framework. A large number of seismicity maps at various depths and depth intervals, as well as W-E, N-S and NE-SW in-depth seismicity graphs have been built. The regional structure of interest is the Intramoesian Fault (IMF)...

The Apuseni Mountains are located in the western part of Romania and are limited to the west by the contact with Pannonian Depression and to the east by the Transylvanian Basin. Basically To the south Apuseni Mountains are bounded by the South Transylvanian Fault and in the northern part by the North Transylvanian Fault. Apuseni Mountains represents an isolated massif inside Carpathian arch, consisting of complex folds and thrust belts formed in Cretaceous period as results of interactions between multiples microp...

During the exploitation of offshore deposits, earthquakes of technogenic nature may occur. Currently working geodynamic systems on the Korchagin and Filanovsky platforms in the North Caspian Sea were created and deployed. In addition, since 2007, for several years, periodic monitoring of local seismicity at the Kravtsovskoye field in the Baltic Sea has been carried out. As a result of seismological monitoring, it was found the presence of earthquake epicenters in the oil production region on the D6 platform and th...

The efficiency of drilling and blasting works can be assessed in many ways, depending on the desired effect. The evaluation can be performed on the basis of the quality of the explosives used for rock extraction. On the other hand, the correct assessment should include the results of drilling and blasting works. One of the parameters that are commonly used in the quality evaluation of explosives is the in situ velocity of detonation measurement, which is a direct indicator of the efficiency of the utilised explosi...

The solving of the project of the Czech Republic Technology Agency TACR dedicated to microbial methane genesis in geological conditions of the Czech coal basins is under way from 2018. The target of the project is clean methodology of coal. The main attention of the 2018 research was devoted to the geological research of the brown and hard coal basins and to the selection of the optimum localities for sampling. This paper briefly summarises the geological situation of coal basins, stratigraphy of different coal se...

In recent years, research and development works have been carried out in our country to create a modification of the sprinkler machine ?Kuban-L? with a set of equipment for controlling the sprinkling height (including the surface one), which allows reducing the average rain intensity and reducing the loss of irrigation water for evaporation and demolition by the wind. There are a number of issues that need to be clarified, despite the large degree of this product?s development such as the distribution of the quali...

The results of laboratory studies concerning self-ignition in Central Europe are presented in this paper. There are known cases of self-ignition of peatlands in Indonesia and tropical regions of Africa, as well as in Southern Europe (for example in Italy and Spain). Therefore, there is a possibility that this phenomenon could also occur in Central Europe due to a climate warming. The laboratory studies, using adiabatic calorimeters, were carried out to assess the tendency of peat to self-ignition. The main aim of ...

Design, development and support of the user interface is a very important and time-consuming task in the development of the information system as a whole. User interface development is usually organized by a life cycle model describing activities from the initial idea to the final implementation and performance testing. The problem with such approach is that the model requires correct and complete understanding of the final complete user interface design project from the very beginning, because correcting a mistak...

Mathematical modelling is a powerful tool when it comes to studying and solving complex hydrological problems ? studying the hydrological regime in a changing environment, hydrological forecasting, flood risk estimation and etc. There are different types of hydrological models depending on their characteristics and an in-depth knowledge is needed to use the most appropriate one for a given purpose, e.g. evaluation, planning, forecasting. Indispensable part of building a trustworthy hydrological model is performing...

jewellery, construction materials, in the mechanical systems and energy generation). The popularity of the use of copper alloys caused an increase in the application of these materials and the increase in the demand for recovery of previously used metals that are components of these alloys. The sources of materials from which the above-mentioned metals are recovered can be: brass scrap, elements from electric furnaces, electronics, car scrap and alkaline batteries. Thus, in recent years, the demand for the recover...

In this paper we describe the synthesis and characterization of nano-sized TiO2 particles supported on sepiolite fibres with sepiolite to TiO2 weight ratios of 30:70, using sepiolite from Korinthos, Greece. Sepiolite - TiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by deposition of anatase form of TiO2 on the sepiolite surfaces using a sol?gel method with titanium isopropoxide as a precursor under hydrothermal treatment at 180 °C. The characterization includes phase composition, particle morphology, while the physical properti...

In this paper the d-posterior approach to the problem of guaranteeing the statistical inference is used to estimate the average value ?? of the normal distribution under the prior truncated normal distribution of ??. It is assumed that the experimenter has prior information about the smallness of the mean parameter ?? of truncated normal distribution. Such statistical analysis scheme is applicable for example for estimation the percentage of rare elements or impurities in manufactured food or in other products. Th...

Establishment of geoinformation centers (GIC) that integrate data produced by various sources in the field of earth sciences intensified in the past decade, driven mainly by the advances in big data technologies. We present results of our studies on several leading national and quasi-national GIC, that we made with intent to extract a basic model of system architecture. Our notion was that such model would allow easier reuse of good practices when a new GIC is planned or when an existing one is optimized, and will...

The fouling is closely related to the corrosion of materials, repeatedly increasing the speed and extent of damage to marine equipment and infrastructure. Therefore, it is very important to search for effective ways to combat corrosion and fouling, to prevent them. All this is impossible without a careful study of objects - fouling organisms. Bench testing with the application of test plates is the most available and widespread method to study the development of fouling. In the winter of 2018-2019 has been investi...

The Black Sea is the largest marine anoxic basin in the world, connected with the Mediterranean through the Bosporus Strait, Marmara Sea and Dardanelles Strait. During global ocean low-stands, the Black Sea basin was isolated from the Mediterranean evolving as a fresh-brackish giant water body. In the Late Pliocene ? Pleistocene times, the Black Sea experienced periodic influxes of water from the Caspian Sea through the Manych Corridor. These hydrological changes that occurred in the Black Sea basin had greatly in...

The test-measuring complex was created to study deformation and strength properties of rock samples with joints under direct shear conditions, under two types of boundary conditions: constant normal load (CNL) and constant normal stiffness (CNS). The updated version of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) ASTM D 5607-08 standard was taken as the basis of the laboratory method for determining the shear strength of rock joints. Tests were performed on samples with joints from artificial geomaterial ? ...

Nowadays, modern technical solutions in various spheres of human activity from the opto-electronics up to nanobiotechnology are increasingly dependent on the level of technology. Applied research on nanomaterials plays a key role in the development of nanotechnologies. The nanostructured silicon is one of the materials attracting the special attention of researchers in various applied areas. A new and widely discussed application of nanostructured silicon is a possibility of their usage in the process of efficient...

This work is related to the analysis of two complicated pipeline sections (section «A» and section «B»). Rheological properties (hydrometer MARS?II Haake) of produced and transported fluids. Hydraulic calculation of the technological process of fluid transportation from the well sites to the oil collection system was performed. Hydraulic modeling carried out with the help of PIPESIM software. The input data for process modeling were the results of investigations of rheological properties of transported fluids and ...

The aim of the work is to achieve a successful replacement of the ribbed heat exchanger (evaporator) for later simulation of the loop thermosiphon performance for cooling the electrotechnical box. The Ansys CFD program will be used for simulation, which needs the simplest network for correct and optimal calculations. Because of the complexity and the large number of cells in the ribbed exchanger, there is just a replacement model. A porous model evaporator will be used as a replacement. For this purpose, several p...

The article describes an effective simulated model of international timber transportation, which is a part of support methodology for the selection of a transportation scheme of international timber transportation. The main objective of the developed model is to increase the economic efficiency of international timber transportation. Using the simulation method is due to its availability and cost-effectiveness. The initial data used in the model are experimental data (time spent on the moving from the loading poin...

The problems of meteorological (wind) loads modeling on high-rise structures are considered. Arising oscillations lead to technical risks and uncomfortable being in residential and office rooms of these buildings. Technogenic impacts from transport and construction work can also lead to the development of negative oscillatory processes in buildings. Models describing the reactions of the structures of a building to outer impacts transmitted through geophysical media are proposed. Using spectral methods, based on d...

It has been observed that during high carbon ferromanganese using South African ores, some practices do not find an easy answer from the theory and vice-versa. It has therefore become important to study under different reducing conditions what paths does the slag go through while forming during reduction in order to better understand its formation while higher manganese oxides are being reduced. The carbon monoxide gas amount and availability in a specific zone albeit its origin is influential and explanatory towa...

Supervisory Control Theory (SCT) is a general technique to synthesize controller for Discrete Event Systems (DES) such as manufacturing systems, robot systems, communication systems, transport systems etc. The controller for DES is also called as supervisor. The SCT uses formal languages and automata concepts for supervisor synthesis. In SCT, a plant can be modeled by using automata. This automaton is an event sequence generator. Uncontrolled behavior of plant is defined by these generated sequences. The desired c...

The topicality of this study: The corporate social responsibility (CSR) became a particularly topical issue in the field of entrepreneurship since Latvia has joined the European Union in 2004, as well as for Bulgaria as the country joining the EU. All business companies are asked to undertake the strategy of social responsibility and to adopt the principles of social responsibility. In the context of this study, a sustainability strategy is adjusted to the specific economic, social, environmental and cultural fact...

In a world faced with the twin challenges of increasing urbanization and climate change, it is paramount to re-think cities so that they are able to face the pressures these changes will bring. Smart Green City goes one step beyond smart cities and is committed to caring for the environment. The Smart City, undoubtedly, has many advantages, and the implementation of all the technology associated with it is almost immediate. However, there is another emerging concept that, although it has less relevance, is also ve...