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Search results for: INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPANSION
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The new concept of capillary forces aided evaporator for application in domestic organic rankine cycle
PublicationThis paper presents studies on the possibility of applying capillary forces induced in the porous structure to a modern design of evaporator. The potential application of such heat exchanger is for example an evaporator of the domestic micro combined heat and power (CHP) unit. One of the problems in the micro-CHP is excessive demand for pumping power. The proposed design helps in overcoming that issue. In the evaporator outlined...
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The impact of precipitation and external carbon source addition on biological nutrient removal in activated sludge systems - experimentalinvestigation and mathematical modeling
PublicationThe aim of this study was to determine the effects of chemical precipitation and addition of external carbonsources on the denitrification capability and enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) interactions atthe 'Wschod' WWTP (600,000 PE) in Gdansk (northern Poland). For this purpose, different kinds of batch experimentswere carried out with the settled wastewater (without pretreatment and after coagulation-flocculation)and...
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If Gravity is Geometry, is Dark Energy just Arithmetic?
PublicationArithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), as well as the calculus they imply, are non-unique. The examples of four-dimensional spaces, R^4 and (−L/2,L/2)^4, are considered where different types of arithmetic and calculus coexist simultaneously. In all the examples there exists a non-Diophantine arithmetic that makes the space globally Minkowskian, and thus the laws of physics are formulated in terms...
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Bioelectronic tongue: Current status and perspectives
PublicationIn the course of evolution, nature has endowed humans with systems for the recognition of a wide range of tastes with a sensitivity and selectivity which are indispensable for the evaluation of edibility and flavour attributes. Inspiration by a biological sense of taste has become a basis for the design of instruments, operation principles and parameters enabling to mimic the unique properties of their biological precursors. In...
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Power System Dynamics. Stability and Control. 3rd edition
PublicationComprehensive, state-of-the-art review of information on the electric power system dynamics and stability. It places the emphasis first on understanding the underlying physical principles before proceeding to more complex models and algorithms. The book explores the influence of classical sources of energy, wind farms and virtual power plants, power plants inertia and control strategy on power system stability. The book cover...
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Inverse Flood Routing Using Simplified Flow Equations
PublicationThe paper considers the problem of inverse flood routing in reservoir operation strategy. The aim of the work is to investigate the possibility of determining the hydrograph at the upstream end based on the hydrograph required at the downstream end using simplified open channel flow models. To accomplish this, the linear kinematic wave equation, the diffusive wave equation and the linear Muskingum equation are considered. To achieve...
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Spectrum Sensing Based on Hybrid Spectrum Handoff in Cognitive Radio Networks
PublicationThe rapid advancement of wireless communication combined with insufficient spectrum exploitation opens the door for the expansion of novel wireless services. Cognitive radio network (CRN) technology makes it possible to periodically access the open spectrum bands, which in turn improves the effectiveness of CRNs. Spectrum sensing (SS), which allows unauthorized users to locate open spectrum bands, plays a fundamental part in CRNs....
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Detection of Toxoplasma gondii in meat - available techniques
PublicationToxoplasma gondii, which belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, is an absolute intercellular parasite that infects a wide range of hosts, including warm-blooded animals and humans. An infection with this parasite causes toxoplasmosis, which in most cases remains latent. However, this disease is a major threat to immunocompromised people and pregnant women. In extreme cases, it can damage nervous system or case fatal abortion. Infected...
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ANTIOXIDANT POWER SERIES (APS) AS A TOOL FOR RATIONAL DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH PROMOTING PROPERTIES OF FUNCTONAL FOODS BASED ON ANTIOXIDANT PHYTOCHEMICALS
PublicationOver past decades, plantborne antioxidants dominated so called "translational research" in the area of food, nutrition, and disease prevention. Among consumers and producers, such phytochemicals are synonyms of nutriceuticals. Popularity and commercial success of antioxidants stems from mechanistic studies suggesting the involvement of reactive oxygen species in etiology of chronic diseases. However, epidemiology failed to provide...
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Insights into oral microbiome and colorectal cancer – on the way of searching new perspectives
PublicationMicrobiome is a keystone polymicrobial community that coexist with human body in a beneficial relationship. These microorganisms enable the human body to maintain homeostasis and take part in mechanisms of defense against infection and in the absorption of nutrients. Even though microbiome is involved in physiologic processes that are beneficial to host health, it may also cause serious detrimental issues. Additionally, it has been...
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Epidemiological study of Toxoplasma gondii infection among cattle in Northern Poland
PublicationToxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii, is a significant disease in livestock and humans. Because of medical and veterinary importance it is essential to study the prevalence of T. gondii infection among human and animals in various parts of the word. In this study, 4033 cattle from eight provinces of Northern Poland (belonging to 190 herds) were tested for IgG antibodies against T. gondii by an in-house ELISA technique based...
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Primary degradation of antidiabetic drugs
PublicationType 2 diabetes is a chronic disease affecting a large portion of the world population and is treated by orally administered drugs. Since these drugs are often taken in high doses and are excreted unchanged or partially metabolised many of them are nowadays detected in surface waters or wastewater treatment plants effluents. Unmetabolised antidiabetics or some of their transformation products retain their pharmacological activity,...
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A rapid-response ultrasensitive biosensor for influenza virus detection using antibody modified boron-doped diamond
PublicationAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 2 billion people each year are infected worldwide with flu-like pathogens including influenza. This is a contagious disease caused by viruses belonging to the family Orthomyxoviridae. Employee absenteeism caused by flu infection costs hundreds of millions of dollars every year. To successfully treat influenza virus infections, detection of the virus during the initial development...
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Borrelia burgdorferi BmpA-BBK32 and BmpA-BBA64: New Recombinant Chimeric Proteins with Potential Diagnostic Value
PublicationCurrently, the diagnosis of Lyme disease is based mostly on two-tiered serologic testing. In the new generation of immunoenzymatic assays, antigens comprise whole-cell lysates of members of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) species complex, with the addition of selected recombinant proteins. Due to the high diversity of members of the B. burgdorferi s.l. genospecies and the low degree of conservation among the amino acid...
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IgG Avidity Test as a Tool for Discrimination between Recent and Distant Toxoplasma gondii Infection—Current Status of Studies
PublicationToxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, is the causative agent of one of the most prevalent zoonoses worldwide. T. gondii infection is extremely important from a medical point of view, especially for pregnant women, newborns with congenital infections, and immunocompromised individuals. Thus, an accurate and proper diagnosis of this infection is essential. Among the available diagnostic tests, serology...
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Telomere uncapping by common oxidative guanine lesions: Insights from atomistic models
PublicationOxidative damage to DNA is widely known to contribute to aging and disease. This relationship has been extensively studied for telomeres – structures that cap chromosome ends – due to their role in cell proliferation and senescence, and exceptional susceptibility to oxidation. Indeed, the repetitive telomeric DNA sequence contains the 5′-GGG-3′ motif that has the lowest ionization potential of all trinucleotides. Accordingly, experiments...
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Detection of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Small Ruminants: Old Problems, and Current Solutions
PublicationToxoplasmosis is a parasitic zoonosis of veterinary importance, with implications for public health. Toxoplasma gondii infection causes abortion or congenital disease in small ruminants. Moreover, the consumption of infected meat, cured meat products, or unpasteurized milk and dairy products can facilitate zoonotic transmission. Serological studies conducted in various European countries have shown the high seroprevalence of specific...
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Forewarned Is Forearmed: Machine Learning Algorithms for the Prediction of Catheter-Induced Coronary and Aortic Injuries
PublicationCatheter-induced dissections (CID) of coronary arteries and/or the aorta are among the most dangerous complications of percutaneous coronary procedures, yet the data on their risk factors are anecdotal. Logistic regression and five more advanced machine learning techniques were applied to determine the most significant predictors of dissection. Model performance comparison and feature importance ranking were evaluated. We identified...
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Pressure effects on the superconductivity of the HfPd2Al Heusler compound: Experimental and theoretical study
PublicationPolycrystalline HfPd2Al has been synthesized using the arc-melting method and studied under ambient-pressure conditions by x-ray diffraction from room temperature up to 450 °C. High-pressure x-ray diffraction up to 23 GPa was also performed using Diacell-type membrane diamond anvil cells. The estimated linear thermal expansion coefficient was found to be α=1.40(3)×10−5K−1, and the bulk modulus derived from the fit to the third-order...
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Applications of semi-definite optimization in quantum information protocols
PublicationThis work is concerned with the issue of applications of the semi-definite programming (SDP) in the field of quantum information sci- ence. Our results of the analysis of certain quantum information protocols using this optimization technique are presented, and an implementation of a relevant numerical tool is introduced. The key method used is NPA discovered by Navascues et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 010401 (2007)]. In chapter...
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Exergy analysis of the Szewalski cycle with a waste heat recovery system
PublicationThe conversion of a waste heat energy to electricity is now becoming one of the key points to improve the energy efficiency in a process engineering. However, large losses of a low-temperature thermal energy are also present in power engineering. One of such sources of waste heat in power plants are exhaust gases at the outlet of boilers. Through usage of a waste heat regeneration system it is possible to attain a heat rate of approximately...
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Density, sound velocity, viscosity, and refractive index of new morpholinium ionic liquids with amino acid-based anions: Effect of temperature, alkyl chain length, and anion
PublicationIn this work, room temperature synthesis of twenty new ionic liquids (ILs) based on the N-alkyl-N-methylmorpholinium ([Mor1,R], R = 2, 3, 4, 6, 8) cation and N-acetyl-L-amino acid anions (L-alaninate, L-valinate, L-leucinate, L-isoleucinate) was described. The synthesized ILs were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Furthermore, density (ρ), sound velocity (v), viscosity (η)...
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Homogeneity study of candidate reference material (contaminated soil) based on determination of selected metals, PCBs and PAHs
PublicationReference materials (RMs) are an indispensable part of QA/QC system and have played a critical role in the continual expansion of analytical capabilities of the analytical laboratories. The homogeneity study of the candidate for reference material is essential for the quality of reference material (certified reference material) used in quality assurance activities. The homogeneity study of candidate for reference materials of contaminated...
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Properties of dimension witnesses and their semidefinite programming relaxations
PublicationIn this paper we develop a method for investigating semi-device-independent randomness expansion protocols that was introduced in Li et al. [H.-W. Li, P. Mironowicz, M. Pawłowski, Z.-Q. Yin, Y.-C. Wu, S. Wang, W. Chen, H.-G. Hu, G.-C. Guo, and Z.-F. Han, Phys. Rev. A 87, 020302(R) (2013)]. This method allows us to lower bound, with semi-definite programming, the randomness obtained from random number generators based on dimension...
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Experimental and predicted physicochemical properties of monopropanolamine-based deep eutectic solvents
PublicationIn this work, the novel deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on 3-amino-1-propanol (AP) as hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) or tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) or tetraethylammonium chloride (TEAC) as hydrogen bond acceptors (HBAs) were synthesized with different molar ratios of 1:4, 1:6 and 1:8 salt to AP. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy measurements were performed to provide an evidence...
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Experimental and predicted physicochemical properties of monopropanolamine-based deep eutectic solvents
PublicationIn this work, the novel deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on 3-amino-1-propanol (AP) as hydrogen bond donor (HBD) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) or tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) or tetraethylammonium chloride (TEAC) as hydrogen bond acceptors (HBAs) were synthesized with different molar ratios of 1: 4, 1: 6 and 1: 8 salt to AP. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy measurements were performed to provide an evidence...
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Innovative investment funds and stability of financial systems: Nonparametric study of exchange-traded funds in Europe
PublicationThe main aim of the paper is investigation of the potential contribution of exchange-trade funds (ETFs) to the instability of the European financial systems. The paper begins with presentation of the key theoretical concepts with regard to ETFs and financial stability. We discuss the key attributes of ETFs as the innovative category of investment funds, their hypothesized impact on the financial stability as well as briefly describe...
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The Impact of Spatiotemporal Changes in Land Development (1984–2019) on the Increase in the Runoff Coefficient in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
PublicationNowadays, geospatial techniques are a popular approach for estimating urban flash floods by considering spatiotemporal changes in urban development. In this study, we investigated the impact of Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes on the hydrological response of the Erbil basin in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). In the studied area, the LULC changes were calculated for 1984, 1994, 2004, 2014 and 2019 using the Digital Elevation...
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Zastosowanie technik dwuwymiarowych w analizie frakcji lotnej i oznaczaniu związków bioaktywynych owoców jagody kamczackiej
PublicationDotychczasowe doniesienia literaturowe wskazują, że owoce strefy borealnej, do których należy popularna w Polsce aronia, są źródłem cennych składników odżywczych i prozdrowotnych. Podobnie jagoda kamczacka, należąca do tej grupy owoców, może stanowić źródło substancji istotnych dla ludzkiej diety. Jednakże aktualny stan wiedzy o składzie chemicznym owoców jagody kamczackiej ogranicza się głównie do informacji dotyczących całkowitej...
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An additional ultrasonographic sign of Hashimoto’s lymphocytic thyroiditis in children
PublicationWe present an additional sonographic sign of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HLT), increasing the specifi city of this method in pediatric populations. Methods: A total of 98 children (mean age 12.7 years, range 7–17 years) were selected from the registry of the endocrinology outpatient department. All subjects met the diagnostic criteria for HLT. All children underwent a prospective thyroid ultrasound examination with special attention...
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Toxoplasma gondii Recombinant antigen AMA1: Diagnostic Utility of Protein Fragments for the Detection of IgG and IgM Antibodies
PublicationToxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic protozoan that infects a wide variety of vertebrates as intermediate hosts. For this reason, the diagnosis of this disease is very important and requires continuous improvement. One possibility is to use recombinant antigens in serological tests. Apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1), a protein located in specific secretory organelles (micronemes) of T. gondii, is very interesting in regard...
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Endothelial dysfunction due to eNOS uncoupling: molecular mechanisms as potential therapeutic targets
PublicationNitric oxide (NO) is one of the most important molecules released by endothelial cells, and its antiatherogenic properties support cardiovascular homeostasis. Diminished NO bioavailability is a common hallmark of endothelial dysfunction underlying the patho‑ genesis of the cardiovascular disease. Vascular NO is synthesized by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) from the substrate L‑arginine (L‑Arg), with tetrahydrobiopterin...
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A System for Heart Sounds Classification
PublicationThe future of quick and efficient disease diagnosis lays in the development of reliable non-invasive methods. As for the cardiac diseases – one of the major causes of death around the globe – a concept of an electronic stethoscope equipped with an automatic heart tone identification system appears to be the best solution. Thanks to the advancement in technology, the quality of phonocardiography signals is no longer an issue. However,...
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Application of the Electronic Nose Technique to Differentiation between Model Mixtures with COPD Markers
PublicationABSTRACT The paper presents the potential of an electronic nose technique in the field of fast diagnostics of patients suspected of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The investigations were performed using a simple electronic nose prototype equipped with a set of six semiconductor sensors manufactured by FIGARO Co. They were aimed at verification of a possibility of differentiation between model reference mixtures with...
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Antibiotic resistance in wastewater, does the context matter? Poland and Portugal as a case study
PublicationAntibiotic resistance has been considered a major human health threat that may endanger the success of medicine. Recent studies have unveiled worldwide asymmetries of antibiotic resistance occurrence, being factors as diverse as climate, socioeconomic, or antibiotic use possible drivers of such asymmetric distribution. In Europe, where clinical antibiotic resistance is surveyed for more than 20 years, the European Center for Disease...
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Mining Knowledge of Respiratory Rate Quantification and Abnormal Pattern Prediction
PublicationThe described application of granular computing is motivated because cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a major killer globally. There is increasing evidence that abnormal respiratory patterns might contribute to the development and progression of CVD. Consequently, a method that would support a physician in respiratory pattern evaluation should be developed. Group decision-making, tri-way reasoning, and rough set–based analysis...
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School psychologist’s interventions to promote successful school re-entry of chronically ill children aiming at altering peers’ attitudes towards them
PublicationThe aim of this article is to outline school psychologist’s interventions, which might be useful while supporting a chronically, somatically ill child in their re-entry to school, aiming at broadening their peers’ knowledge about the chronic disease and positively changing their attitudes towards the ill child. In the first part, the importance of peer relationships in childhood and adolescence, the relation of their quality...
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Results from a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) in Mastocytosis Reveal New Gene Polymorphisms Associated with WHO Subgroups
PublicationMastocytosis is rare disease in which genetic predisposition is not fully understood. The aim of this study was to analyze associations between mastocytosis and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach. A total of 234 patients were enrolled in our study, including 141 with cutaneous mastocytosis (CM; 78 children and 63 adults) and 93 with systemic mastocytosis (SM, all adults)....
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COVID‐19: A systematic review and update on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
PublicationSince the rapid onset of the COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the world in 2019, extensive studies have been conducted to unveil the behavior and emission pattern of the virus in order to determine the best ways to diagnosis of virus and thereof formulate effective drugs or vaccines to combat the disease. The emergence of novel diagnostic and therapeutic techniques considering the multiplicity of reports from one side and contradictions...
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Total impact of oxidative stress genes on cardiovascular events—a 7-year follow-up study
PublicationCardiovascular (CV) events are the number one cause of lifetime disability and deaths worldwide. It is well known that traditional risk factors do not fully correlate with clinical outcomes; therefore, searching for other markers that would explain CV events occurrence seems essential. Of importance, one of the main factors at the origin of CV events is oxidative stress, causing inflammation and atherosclerotic plaque instability....
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Elastic scattering of electrons from chloroform
PublicationWe present experimental and theoretical cross sections for elastic electron scattering from CHCl3. This is an important target because of its relevance to environmental chemistry and the plasma etching industry as a source of chlorine radicals. The experimental results were obtained at incident electron energies ranging from 0.5 to 800 eV in the 10deg-130deg scattering angle range. Theoretically, the scattering cross sections in...
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Polymer derived SiOC/Sn nanocomposites from a low-cost single source precursor as anode materials for lithium storage applications
PublicationMetal- based materials capable of lithium (Li) alloy formation are key to realization of the next generation of high-energy density anodes for Li-ion batteries, owing to their high storage capacity. Designing a good sup- porting matrix is essential for homogeneously nesting these metallic nanodomains, to effectively utilize their high capacity while tackling the volume expansion issues. Silicon oxycarbides (SiOC), obtained via...
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The Influence of Workpiece Hardness on Plate Temperature during One Side Lapping
PublicationLapping leads to a surface with low roughness and high precision. Because of required parts accuracy tool flatness is the key to the successful machining. To avoid its excessive thermal expansion, plate temperature research was taken. The goal was to determine the correlation between the basic lapping conditions and wheel temperature. In work Bulsara et al. authors developed model to estimate the maximum and average temperature...
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Robust Parameter Tuning of Antenna Structures by Means of Design Specification Adaptation
PublicationParameter tuning through numerical optimization has become instrumental in the design of high-performance antenna systems. Yet, practical optimization faces several major challenges, including high cost of massive evaluations of antenna characteristics, normally involving full-wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis, large numbers of adjustable variables, the shortage of reasonable initial solutions in the case of topologically complex...
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Reshaping financial systems: The role of ICT in the diffusion of financial innovations – Recent evidence from European countries
PublicationExchange-traded funds (ETFs) are among the fastest-growing types of innovative financial products. The emergence and spread of these instruments have been facilitated by the digital revolution. Information and communication technology (ICT) is profoundly reshaping the global economic landscape, laying solid foundations for unrestricted and unbounded flows of information and knowledge, eliminating information asymmetries, and furthering...
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Advanced super-hydrophobic polymer-based porous absorbents for the treatment of oil-polluted water
PublicationThe threat of environmental pollution caused by spilled oil is rapidly increasing along with the expansion of oil exploration, the development of maritime activities and industrial growth. Oil spill incidents usually affect seriously the ecosystem and human life. Therefore, the treatment and recovery of the oil spill have been considered as an ultra-important issue to protect the environment and to minimize its negative impacts...
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Fe-modified Mn2CuO4 spinel oxides: coatings based on abundant elements for solid oxide cell interconnects
PublicationThe current state of the art steel interconnect coating materials are based on critical raw material - Co-oxide spinels. Replacing Co-oxide spinels with alternative, abundant materials can reduce the dependence on the critical raw materials. Cobalt-free coatings with the general formula Mn2-xCuFexO4, where x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, were electrophoretically deposited on a ferritic stainless-steel support and evaluated. Prior to deposition,...
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Multilayer coatings based on cerium oxide and manganese cobaltite spinel for Crofer22APU SOC interconnects
PublicationThe current state of the art steel interconnect coating materials are based on critical raw material - Co-oxide spinels. Replacing Co-oxide spinels with alternative, abundant materials can reduce the dependence on the critical raw materials. Cobalt-free coatings with the general formula Mn2-xCuFexO4, where x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, were electrophoretically deposited on a ferritic stainless-steel support and evaluated. Prior to deposition,...
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The influence of small intestinal mucus structure on particle transport ex vivo
PublicationMucus provides a barrier to bacteria and toxins while allowing nutrient absorption and waste transport. Unlike colonic mucus, small intestinal mucus structure is poorly understood. This study aimed to provide evidence for a continuous, structured mucus layer and assess the diffusion of different sized particles through it. Mucus structure was assessed by histology and immunohistochemistry. Ultra-structure was assessed by scanning...
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Adipokine and cytokine levels in non-functioning adrenal incidentalomas (NFAI)
PublicationDue to the fact that overweight or obesity is accompanied by hormonally active adrenal tumors: Cushing Syndrome-(CS) and Subclinical Cushing Syndrome (SCS), it is of high interest the correlation between different adipokines and cytokines secreted by adipose tissue, with metabolic disorders and hormonal activity in this group. Even in non-functioning adrenal incidentalomas (NFAI) elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic...