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In the present study, the mechanical properties of some iron-based sintered alloys prepared by powder metallurgy route were predicted using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are important tools used to predict the complex processes with many variables and interactions. In order to prepare the sintered compacts, the powders prepared from pre-alloyed iron base powders produced by atomization (< 45, 45-63, 63-100, 100-150, >150 ?m) were the materials analyzed in this paper. T...

The wastewater sector of buildings in the residential or industrial sector throughout the world is of particular importance, in accordance with the strict, complex environmental legislation regarding waste water treatment. However, a major fundamental problem is wastewater from hospitals, due to dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which present a high risk of even previously treated water contamination, which prove to be useless or even inadequate, with the risk of spreading resistant bacteria much faster and...

Equipment designed for use in potentially explosive atmospheres must meet the requirements of ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU (be designed so as to avoid the ignition of the surrounding explosive atmosphere in which are intended to operate). In order to meet the requirements of the ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU, electrical equipment is usually associated to one (or more) type (s) of protection, according the EN 60079 series of standards. In case of electrical equipment that produce arcs or sparks in normal operation, the us...

with increasing frequency, the study of the variation of the terrestrial geomagnetic field is a current topic for geoscience specialists. The article presents the results obtained for the variation of the geomagnetic field for a period of 5 years on the European territory using data obtained from the national ground-based geomagnetic observatories integrated in the International Real-time Magnetic Observatory Network (INTERMAGNET) and data provided by the international Enhanced Magnetic Model (EMM), a model that i...

Environmental pollution, which has extended its threat on the entire planet, reached the limit where attacks unleashed the man and his living space. Pollutants released by the global textile industry are continuously doing unimaginable harm to the environment. All actors along the supply chain have a role to play in reducing the environmental footprint of textile products. Passing over the capacity limits of nature defence, regenerative and balancing, all thenew pollutants are rapidly spreading through the air, wa...

Evaluation of explosion-proof protected electrical equipment in scope of certification is extremely important considering the risk of explosion that has to be minimized in order to ensure life safety and health of workers and to prevent damaging of property and the environment, as well as free movement of goods when they meet the essential safety requirements at European level. The standards SR EN 60079-0 (Explosive atmospheres. Part 0: Equipment. General requirements) and one or more of the standards containing t...

Nearly a third of Prague residential fund is represented by prefab houses built in the second half of 20th century. Indoor environment quality in those houses does not meet current standards in many cases. Refurbishments in the past were mainly focused on reducing thermal losses in winter with insufficient attention to air ventilation or summer overheating. The article deals with a significant problem of high indoor temperatures during summer period present in G40 prefab houses. It evaluates an influence of severa...

Damaging changes of landscape and interventions in the water cycle caused mainly in the last century in Czechia together with climate changes are the cause of more frequent occurrences of hydrological extremes. Recent years we have solved a lot of the drought related problem, but on the other hand, we cannot forget to the problem of extreme floods. For example, the recent regional floods in Czechia from 1997, 2002, 2009, 2010 and 2013 or the flash floods occurring every year. In these consequences developing metho...

The dynamic climate changes observed in the last few years contribute to a more frequent occurrences of extreme natural phenomena e.g. droughts or floods. The mentioned factors have an impact on water resources i.e. groundwater level changes, water retention. The aim of the research was to assess the potential of small water reservoirs? automated monitoring, using Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. The study area is located in the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship in the north-western part of Poland. A set of different spec...

The paper proposes an analytical and simulation model of a sensory distributed wireless traffic control system on the roads of urban and rural settlements. The results of an analytical review of neurophysiological studies of the visual behavior of drivers, depending on the boundaries of the outdoor advertising area in the roadside, are presented. The technologies for collecting and transmitting data from the wireless monitoring of the road traffic situation were analyzed. A method is proposed for determining the p...

As a world heritage site Rila monastery is continuously monitored, including seismically, ensuring proper maintenance and preservation for future generations. Th? instrumental data is acquired by the monastery?s accelerograph stations that are local units of the National Strong Ground Motion (SGM) Network run by the NIGGG-BAN. Considering the seismic history of our lands, it is indispensable to assess periodically the characteristics of significant earthquake impacts on important sites as this one. The current sei...

This study aimed to assess the levels of heavy metals (HM) in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivated on agricultural soils in the vicinity of a steel enterprise located in the western part of Galati town, Romania, and the pattern of their bioaccumulation from soil to plant compartments (leaves, seeds). The importance of the study originates from the necessity of understanding the HM pollution in soil-plant systems, especially in an agroecosystem impacted by the activity of ferrous metallurgical industry, and ...

This article is devoted to the assessment of cultural landscapes of the Cheboksary urban district. At present, with active urbanization, the problem of preserving landscapes and culture and the social space of the local community arises. In the course of writing the article, descriptive, analytical, mathematical and cartographic methods of research were used. The results in the article analyzed the existing theoretical and methodological issues in the field of cultural landscapes of their assessment. Classes of cu...

The requirements imposed by Regulation (EC) 2003/2003 on fertilizers and those set out in Annex III of the Regulation, require tests and physico-chemical analyses for high ammonium nitrate-based chemical fertilizers. The physicochemical properties of ammonium nitrate, as well as a number of factors influencing the sensitivity to detonation, underline the importance of the thermal conditioning of ammonium nitrate according to temperature in terms of detonation risk. The RENAR accredited laboratory test on nitrogen-...

Qualitative assessment of the current nature protection efficiency of SPNA as forms of the animals, plants biodiversity conservation directly in habitats and unique landscapes for optimization of territorial conservation is necessary. It is especially relevant for the Volgograd region taking into account uniqueness of natural systems, the urgent necessity of natural systems preservation, the small area of SPNA (8.8% of the area of the region) and intensive economic development of the territory. Environmental effic...

Climate extremes affect directly social and ecological systems. Therefore, extreme climatic indices based on daily precipitation as well as maximum and minimum air temperatures have been derived. A detailed analysis of extreme precipitation patterns is essential for the development of monitoring and mitigation strategies. The analysis of eight precipitation-related extreme climatic indices (annual total precipitation (PRCPTOT), heavy precipitation days (R10), very heavy precipitation days (R20), very wet days (R95...

Hazardous household waste (HHW) is a small but the most dangerous fraction of household waste. Different studies estimate their content in household waste from 0.1 to 1%. In Eastern Europe, due to the low efficiency of separate household waste collection, most of the hazardous household waste is mixed with other waste and are mainly disposed in landfills. A thorough analysis of the literature on HHW has been carried out. Statistical data on HHW generation in the Eastern Europe countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, ...

When designing a passive house, the emphasis is not only on passive measures consisting mainly of thermal protection and stability of the buildings, but also on the price demand of each of the proposed structures. At present, new construction solutions are often encountered in construction practice [1]. These solutions are not yet tested. The paper deals with energy-efficient buildings in terms of reducing building heat loss. One such solution is to use thermal insulation above wooden rafters. Using the thermal in...

The capacity of macroalgae for bioaccumulation of harmful elements is beneficial from the point of view of water treatment processes. Nevertheless, it is a threat to marine biocenoses, particularly to organisms on the individual levels of the trophic chain. Since algae have a great potential to bind trace elements, these organisms are often used as indicators of marine environment pollution. The aim of this study was to assess the content of Pb, Cd, B and Ba in water and algae collected in the region of Makarska R...

For energy-efficient houses, it is necessary to design a suitable thermal insulation of the building envelope. One of the most problematic areas of the single-layer masonry walls is the plinth. It is the first layer of masonry wall on the foundation structure. The requirements of architects and structural engineers for plinth solutions are often in contradiction. Passive houses belong to the category of buildings that have very low energy consumption for heating of buildings [1]. However, their overall energy perf...

From contaminated mining areas, contaminants can migrate to different components of the environment, being favored by physicochemical transfer mechanisms such as their transfer into water. The dispersion of metallic contaminants from closed mining sites in surface waters is favored by the topography, climate and lithology of the area. In the Brad mining area, activity has ceased for about 15 years. Properly unnamed tailings and coastal galleries are a diffuse source of surface water pollution. The paper aims to as...

This article is devoted to assessment of presurface ozone concentration (PCO) dynamics, relevant meteorological factors and their role as risk factors for increasing PCO. During all the year of 2017 PCO daily average values in atmospheric air were essentially higher than externally the permissible level; season dynamics was characterized by two maximums in spring and summer periods. To achieve this goal, the following parameters were compared: -time series of average daily, maximum, minimum PCO (?g/m3) -average da...

Plant production and planting of silver birch is gradually increasing in Latvia. It comes with the recognition on the potential to improve the growth and quality of next generation of birch stands while using the improved (selected) material (seeds for plant production mainly from seed orchard). In very fertile sites with fast over-growth of clear-cut with dense vegetation, planting also helps to ensure successful and fast forest regeneration. Planting is a significant investment, thus forest owners are interested...

The article deals with the evaluation of the extent and causes of damage of three selected buildings in Spolana Neratovice a.s. The buildings were affected by the flood in June 2013. Specifically, it is a reservoir, a base under the production line and an ammonium sulphate storage. The reservoir is used to catch any drips and chemical containers. The ground dimension of the reservoir is approx. 26 x 40 m. Due to the flood, the reinforced layer of the coating was damaged and thus the leakage was lost, which depreci...

In model laboratory studies, the effect of veterinary antibiotic tylosin (concentrations of 1, 10, 100, 1000 mg/kg of soil) on the ecological state of dark brown soil under conditions of contamination with antibiotics and the degree of change of microbiological and biochemical parameters was studied. To assess the ecological state, the following biological indicators were studied: from microbiological - the total number of bacteria, the abundances of bacteria of the genus Azotobacter, from biochemical - the activi...

The possible efficient application of Karelia?s talc-bearing rocks is assessed. Two groups of talc-bearing rocks: 1) talc ores subjected to flotation dressing for talc production and 2) soapstone containing chlorite, which, like talc, forms foliated-imbricate aggregates and is hard to separate upon dressing. High-quality reagent-free micronized concentrate (microtalc), which can be used for the production of technical rubber articles, plastics and ceramics, was produced using a flow chart developed for Svetloozers...

In order to erect an underground construction, it is necessary to drain its trench by pumping out groundwater. If information on hydrogeological data of the place and on the trench are available then it is possible to estimate, by using modelling, the necessary pumping rate and to compute lowering of groundwater head at the trench surroundings (depression cone) developed by the pumping. There ground dewatering happens that may cause subsidence of buildings and streets and to worsen life of plants. For this reason,...

This article argues that dynamic capabilities are a special type of specific resource embedded in the organizational structure of an enterprise, the purpose of which is to increase the productivity of using other resources available to the enterprise. By definition, dynamic capabilities, along with resources, can generate enterprise profits or act as a source of economic rent, due to the effective management of available potential. Therefore, this article attempts to assess the contribution of dynamic capabilities...

Drilling equipment is subjected to accidental loads with fairly high amplitudes in the process of operation. Classical methods of probabilistic calculation of machine parts do not allow estimating their elements failure probability, taking into account the real operational data obtained by means of telemetry, in the case where these data cannot be described by standard distribution laws. The proposed technique is based on the use of nonparametric statistics methods, resulting in freedom from these limitations. All...

The paper deals with the flat roof of low-energy buildings. The building sector is currently focusing on the maximum energy efficiency of buildings and related energy savings. At present, the building sector holds more than 40% of energy consumption and 36% production of greenhouse gas emissions. The whole sector of buildings uses more than 50% of the Earth's raw materials and produces approximately 50% of world waste. Roofs occupy about 20?25% of urban surfaces. The green construction practice expands and complem...

The existing methods of underground mining of ores in world practice are characterized by the maximum simplification of the preparation and cleansing schemes, the desire for high intensification of mining operations. However, the high irregularity of the bottom of the block, as well as the long period of its operation, especially with systems with collapse and areal ore production, when mining steep extensive heavy-duty deposits, impose certain restrictions on the design and parameters of delivery and cutting hori...

In addition to adverse impacts on ecosystem services, climate change will very likely result in the increased occurrence, duration and intensity of heat waves threatening human health and comfort, in cities in particular. This is especially due to the replacement of natural surfaces with high thermal capacity urban constructions leading to the so-called urban heat island (UHI) effect. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the UHI effect under current conditions and conditions affected by climate change over ...

The Ak-Sug Cu?Mo porphyry deposit is located in the northeastern region of the Tuva Republic, Russia. The deposit was explored from 1982 to 1985. Now there are intensions to use it for open pits mining. The purpose of this expertise was to predict the probable formation of acid drainage from the overburden waste rocks piles and the ores to be processed. These rocks were investigated using X-ray fluorescence with synchrotron radiation spectroscopy (XRF-SR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), microscopy, laboratory a...

The article presents the results of assessing the comfort of climatic conditions for the development of tourism in the Akmola region, including in the Shchuchinsk-Borovoye resort area. The climate is one of the resources, determining the spatial organization of recreation and tourism. Any tourism and recreational activity should be based on the results of the assessment of the tourism and recreational potential of the territory. The tourism and recreational potential of the climatic resources of the Akmola region ...

The solid waste generated in food industry was considered as a low cost raw material for the extraction of natural antioxidants. Unfortunately, some of these wastes are not dealt with properly and are causing considerable damage to the environment. Agricultural wastes in Romania amount range from 7600 thousand tons a year of which only 1400 thousand tons as animal feed and 1100 thousand tons as organic manure are being utilized. These crop waste results after harvesting in the farm of leaves stem which are charact...

The seismic hazard studies of the last 30 years have been largely carried out taking into account the needs of the construction engineers, by linking the specific quantities of soil movement with the physical parameters determined instrumentally, namely, with the maximum values of soil acceleration. At present, interest in the results of hazard studies has increased and has extended to other areas such as insurance or design companies, environmental protection, etc. A fundamental element in the estimation of seism...

Nowadays, more and more society are thinking about environmental issues, such as global climate change, environmental pollution, degraded, abandoned territories and their revitalization. Degraded areas are found in the whole world, so the importance of this issue cannot be measured only within the national level, but on a global scale. Revitalization of brownfields is a time-consuming and financially expensive. Therefore, the aim of the research is to analyse investment attraction possibilities for revitalization ...

Au mineralizations of Jales and Gralheira, located in Tras-os-Montes, near Vila Pouca de Aguiar (northern Portugal), belong to the Jales Mining District, the main historic producer of gold in Portugal. Mineralizations are hosted by syn- to late-tectonic Variscan granites and by Palaeozoic metasediments ranging in age from Ediacaran to Devonian. The studies carried out consisted of the analysis of samples from drill cores (provided by the Consortium AM- Almada Mining, S.A. and EDM, Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineir...

The most challenging question is protection the authentication process in the cybersecurity. Since a lot of companies decide to store their data in the cloud services, it is crucial to secure the authentication process here. The authentication is the most vulnerable process because of its simple identifying weaknesses. It is used by all attackers that make their attacks destroying and more accurate. The hackers use it for the identity thefts or other cybercrimes. First, I need to research all current threats to th...

Here we suggest the method of automated processing of satellite SAR imagery of marine surface aimed at oil spill detection. The method is based on the repeated application of the OSD algorithm built in the SNAP software. Due to the Graph Builder use and process paralleling, the sufficient level of functionality and performance is attained if using a desktop. At the final processing stage, the OSD algorithm results are subjected to a comprehensive analysis in the GIS environment taking into account additional infor...

A significant part of geotechnical structures such as parts of tunnels, adits, retaining walls, etc., is made of reinforced concrete. In reinforced concrete structures there are often cracks in places where they were not considered in the design. It is up to the engineer performing the fault diagnosis to determine the nature of the cracks, the cause of the occurrence and the follow-up measures to prevent their further development or eventual sanitation. The principles of conventional methods of visual diagnosis of...

The core of solution is a design of special codes inserted into the list of coordinates of the measured points. These codes have to contain information about topological concepts in such a way so that we can automatically create topologically correct drawing in an appropriate software from the above mentioned list of coordinates obtained by geodetic measurement. At present there are a lot of software applications which try to solve this problem on the basic of continual drawing. One of them is e. g. a possibility ...

Possibility of using of the spectral geomorphometric variables for automatic landform types classification was estimated. The area of our interest - European part of the Russian sector of Arctic region. There are four main types of landforms with exogenic origin on the territory: 1) glacial and 2) glaciofluvial accumulative terrains, 3) ridges and hills terrain from glacial exaration, 4) wave terrain from glacial exaration. These landforms types cover from 55% to 80% in the different parts of the area of interest....

Waste application, beneficial in terms of soil abundance in nutrients, cannot lead to soil contamination. The incubation experiment aimed at assessing the effect of applying sulfur pulp (waste material containing elemental sulfur) and ground phosphate rock on the availability of heavy metals in soils. The experiment was conducted on two soils with different soil category: medium and heavy, both of acid reaction and not contaminated with heavy metals. Doses of sulfur pulp and phosphate rock were set based on soil a...

The paper examines the environmental threats associated with the burning of household waste in open piles across rural communities with a focus on Neamt County (Romania) as a case study of uncontrolled waste disposal practice. This option derived from the lack of efficient municipal waste collection schemes, and on the other hand, it is a traditional disposal route for agricultural wastes besides open dumping on the surroundings. This study estimates the potential amounts of household waste uncollected by formal w...

Sinorhizobium meliloti species are saprophytic soil bacteria able to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with host-plants from alfalfa cross inoculated group. These biotechnologically important species of rhizobia are commonly present in various soil environments, while little is known about their phages. The main objective of the research was to isolate and characterize phages (rhizobiophages) of S. meliloti from soil samples collected at the NE Caucasian origin of alfalfa diversity (NEC). Under our particular ...

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a red-colored protein found in cell membranes of the organism Halobacterium salinarum, being considered as a light activated proton pump that transports protons across the plasma membrane. Because bacteriorhodopsin is one of the simplest ATP-producing systems known in biology, it has been the subject of intensive investigations. The bR photo-intermediates were seen in the mechanistic model considering that this protein links light energy to the translocation of protons across the bacteria...

The purpose of the research is to assess the current condition of and determine ways of solving the problem related to the improvement of management of subsoil use processes and objects from the standpoint of interests of the state, business and society. The applied methodology is based on the study of the main provisions of official laws and regulations and policy documents, the application of methods for collecting, processing and analyzing information related to this topic, the demonstration of actual performan...

Baltic sprats, being one of the primary fishing objects of the Baltic Sea, are primarily used for canned and spiced fish production. Given the ability of sprats to ripen in salt, the current study looks to obtain sprat-based products implementing the technological scheme similar to the production scheme of anchovies in oil and anchovy pastes popular on the European market. As part of the preliminary work, the technochemical composition of the Baltic sprat and that of the European anchovy (Engraulis engasicholus) w...

Clay soils are generally considered to be one of the risk groups of soils due to their specific mechanical behavior in geotechnical practice. Geomechanical clay properties have been investigated depending on the content of diatoms [1]. In the framework of the research project of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic TA 02011350 ?Investigation of properties of diatomaceous clays and methods for improving their structure", clay properties have been investigated depending on the content of diatoms. To investiga...