Search results for: PRIMARY ENERGY
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Probiotic potential of Bacillus Isolates from Polish Bee Pollen and Bee Bread
PublicationThe main goal of this study was the evaluation of the probiotic potential of 10 Bacillus spp. strains isolated from 5 bee bread and 3 bee pollen samples. The antagonistic interaction with Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was a primary criterion for the preliminary selection of the isolates. Three out of ten strains—PY2.3 (isolated from pollen), BP20.15 and BB10.1 (both isolated from bee bread)—were found to be possible...
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Ongoing progress on novel nanocomposite membranes for the separation of heavy metals from contaminated water
PublicationMembranes, as the primary separation element of membrane-based processes, have greatly attracted the attention of researchers in several water treatment applications, including wastewater treatment, water purification, water disinfection, toxic and non-toxic chemical molecules, heavy metals, among others. Today, the removal of heavy metals from water has become challenging, in which chemical engineers are approaching new materials...
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WAYS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT OF A CARDBOARD AND PAPER MILL
PublicationThe results of research on physical and chemical methods for the preliminary treatment of wastewater of a cardboard and paper factory in Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine are presented. At the cardboard and paper factory, wastewater is treated at a sewage treatment plant, which includes sand traps, primary radial sedimentation tanks, aeration tanks with activated sludge regenerators, secondary radial sedimentation tanks, and bioponds....
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Fragility analysis of structural pounding between adjacent structures arranged in series with various alignment configurations under near‑field earthquakes
PublicationA major cause of local to total damages is related to structural pounding in a large number of past earthquakes. In general, these collisions take place as a result of differences in the dynamic characteristics of the colliding structures. To acquire a better perception of the behavior of structures, in this paper, three structures featuring different heights are modeled in series and with various configurations next to each other...
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Influence of Phosphorus Speciation on Its Chemical Removal from Reject Water from Dewatering of Municipal Sewage Sludge
PublicationThe aim of the presented research was the assessment of phosphorus speciation impact on the precipitation of phosphorus in reject water using Ca(OH)2. To achieve this, phosphorus speciation (organic and inorganic phosphorus in suspension and in dissolved form) in reject water that is produced during sludge dewatering, after methane digestion in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), was determined. This study covered the materials...
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Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Investigations of Half-Sandwich Ruthenium(II) Complexes Containing Benzimidazole Moiety
PublicationHalf-sandwich Ru(II) complexes belong to group of biologically active metallo-compounds with promising antimicrobial and anticancer activity. Herein, we report the synthesis and characteri- zation of arene ruthenium complexes containing benzimidazole moiety, namely, [(η6-p-cymene)RuC l(bimCOO)] (1) and [(η6-p-cymene)RuCl2(bim)] (2) (where bimCOO = benzimidazole-2-carboxylate and bim = 1-H-benzimidazole). The compounds were characterized...
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CERTIFICATION SYSTEM AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVING THE SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF SCHOOL-RELATED TRAVELS
PublicationDespite the well-established physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and spatial benefits of active and autonomous school commuting of children and adolescents', many are driven by car. Pilot surveys and field research held in 2019 in 10 Gdansk primary schools confirmed this trend. The article presents a certification system for schools, commissioned by the City of Gdańsk, which is an element of a systemic solution shaping patterns...
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Cost-Efficient Bi-Layer Modeling of Antenna Input Characteristics Using Gradient Kriging Surrogates
PublicationOver the recent years, surrogate modeling has been playing an increasing role in the design of antenna structures. The main incentive is to mitigate the issues related to high cost of electromagnetic (EM)-based procedures. Among the various techniques, approximation surrogates are the most popular ones due to their flexibility and easy access. Notwithstanding, data-driven modeling of antenna characteristics is associated with serious...
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Computational and experimental evaluation of view out according to European Standard EN17037.
PublicationThis paper presents an experimental evaluation of view out based on EN17037:2018 Daylight in Buildings within an educational building. The primary motivation to conduct the research was an introduction of a view out appraisal criteria by the mentioned standard. The study gives insights into the following: (i) the use of computational evaluation of an outside view according to the EN17037 criteria (ii) the use of the direct simultaneous...
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Narracje o świeżej traumie. Upamiętnianie ataków terrorystycznych w krajobrazie codziennym miast
PublicationRecent trauma Narratives: commemorating terrorist attacks in Everyday cityscape Contemporary city incidentally becomes a non-accidental target of acts violating the primary sense of security and safety. The fundamental assumptions about so- cial and interpersonal interactions that guarantee social life are severely disturbed. These events, primarily the ones related to terrorist attacks, leave in social memo- ry traces associated...
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Deep eutectic solvents – A new platform in membrane fabrication and membrane-assisted technologies
PublicationDeep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a new class of solvents that can offset some of the primary drawbacks of typical solvents and ionic liquids (ILs). Since DESs fall into the guidelines of “Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry”, their implementation in several types of applications has exponentially increased over the last years. The usage of DESs has been directed to the designing, manufacture and purification of new materials...
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Expedited Optimization of Passive Microwave Devices Using Gradient Search and Principal Directions
PublicationOver the recent years, utilization of numerical optimization techniques has become ubiquitous in the design of high-frequency systems, including microwave passive components. The primary reason is that the circuits become increasingly complex to meet ever growing performance demands concerning their electrical performance, additional functionalities, as well as miniaturization. Nonetheless, as reliable evaluation of microwave device...
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IFI16 Impacts Metabolic Reprogramming during Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
PublicationCellular lipid metabolism plays a pivotal role in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, as increased lipogenesis in HCMV-infected cells favors the envelopment of newly synthesized viral particles. As all cells are equipped with restriction factors (RFs) able to exert a protective effect against invading pathogens, we asked whether a similar defense mechanism would also be in place to preserve the metabolic compartment from HCMV...
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Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based wastewater treatment - unexpected nitration side reactions - a serious environmental issue: A review
PublicationChemical compounds containing nitro group (nitro-products) are a one of toxic by-products, that can be formed during wastewater treatment processes. In case of presence of nitrite or nitrate ions, the formation of nitro-products during advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is very common. It is caused by the reactive nitrogen species (RNs) such as nitrate radical (NO3•), nitrite radical (NO2•), nitrogen oxide radical (NO•) and peroxynirite...
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Fundamentals of Data-Driven Surrogate Modeling
PublicationThe primary topic of the book is surrogate modeling and surrogate-based design of high-frequency structures. The purpose of the first two chapters is to provide the reader with an overview of the two most important classes of modeling methods, data-driven (or approx-imation), as well as physics-based ones. These are covered in Chap-ters 1 and 2, respectively. The remaining parts of the book give an exposition of the specific aspects...
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Expedited Trust-Region-Based Design Closure of Antennas by Variable-Resolution EM Simulations
PublicationThe observed growth in the complexity of modern antenna topologies fostered a widespread employment of numerical optimization methods as the primary tools for final adjustment of the system parameters. This is mainly caused by insufficiency of traditional design closure approaches, largely based on parameter sweeping. Reliable evaluation of complex antenna structures requires full-wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis. Yet, EM-driven...
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PTD4 Peptide Increases Neural Viability in an In Vitro Model of Acute Ischemic Stroke
PublicationIschemic stroke is a disturbance in cerebral blood flow caused by brain tissue ischemia and hypoxia. We optimized a multifactorial in vitro model of acute ischemic stroke using rat primary neural cultures. This model was exploited to investigate the pro-viable activity of cell-penetrating peptides: arginine-rich Tat(49–57)-NH2 (R49KKRRQRRR57-amide) and its less basic analogue, PTD4 (Y47ARAAARQARA57-amide). Our model included glucose...
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Guided Wave Propagation in Detection of Partial Circumferential Debonding in Concrete Structures
PublicationThe following article presents results of investigating the damage detection in reinforced concrete beams with artificially introduced debonding between the rod and cover, using a non-destructive method based on elastic waves propagation. The primary aim of the research was to analyze the possible use of guided waves in partial circumferential debonding detection. Guided waves were excited and registered in reinforced concrete...
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pH-dependent composite coatings for controlled drug delivery system - Review
PublicationNowadays in case of long-term implants, the most common postoperative complications are bacterial infections, which in consequence may provoke loos- ening of the implants in the primary phase of stabilization. Bacterial infections are currently the most frequent cause of revision surgery of the implants such as hip joint endoprosthesis, knee joint endoprosthesis and dental implants. In order to provide the local and long-term antibacterial...
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Vernacular and neovernacular architecture without a user. Wooden catholic churches in the vicinity of brody in Ukraine.
PublicationOne of the basic theoretical postulates for the protection of monuments is to preserve them in the place of their creation. However, such action is not always possible to implement. The great historical processes of the 20th century led to significant national, political, religious and cultural changes in the border areas between Poland and Ukraine. As a result of those changes, a large number of wooden churches have lost their...
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Safety and efficacy of a Ventralight ST echo ps implant for a laparoscopic ventral hernia repair – a prospective cohort study with a one-year follow-up
Publicationing new products Thus, every mesh prior to introduction in clinical settings should be tested with a dedicated tacker to discover the proper fixation algorithm. The aim of the study was to assess the safety and efficacy of the Ventralight ST implant with an ECHO positioning system and a dedicated fixation device, the SorbaFix stapler, in a prospective cohort of patients. Material and methods. The study was a prospective single...
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Just Let Me Think: Designing Against Acquired Illiteracy.
PublicationThis article concerns the relatively new problem of illiteracy relating to persons previously being literate, which is caused by too intensive using of so-called digital media (TV, computers, tablets, smartphones, e-book readers, portable media players, etc.). The problem has been observed for several years mainly in countries with high economic and technological development. The widespread use of digital media and the ease of...
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Imidazoacridinone-dependent lysosomal photodestruction: a pharmacological Trojan horse approach to eradicate multidrug-resistant cancers
PublicationMultidrug resistance (MDR) remains a primary hindrance to curative cancer therapy. Thus, introduction of novel strategies to overcome MDR is of paramount therapeutic significance. Sequestration of chemotherapeutics in lysosomes is an established mechanism of drug resistance. Here, we show that MDR cells display a marked increase in lysosome number. We further demonstrate that imidazoacridinones (IAs), which are cytotoxic fluorochromes,...
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Rapid optimization of compact microwave passives using kriging surrogates and iterative correction
PublicationDesign of contemporary microwave components is—in a large part—based on full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools. The primary reasons for this include reliability and versatility of EM analysis. In fact, for many microwave structures, notably compact components, EM-driven parameter tuning is virtually imperative because traditional models (analytical or network equivalents) are unable to account for the cross-coupling effects,...
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How Integration of a Brain-Machine Interface and Obstacle Detection System Can Improve Wheelchair Control via Movement Image
PublicationThis study presents a human-computer interaction combined with a brain-machine interface (BMI) and obstacle detection system for remote control of a wheeled robot through movement imagery, providing a potential solution for individuals facing challenges with conventional vehicle operation. The primary focus of this work is the classification of surface EEG signals related to mental activity when envisioning movement and deep relaxation...
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The Physiological Effects of ASMR on Anxiety
PublicationPurpose: Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is a novel phenomenon that is very popular these days on Youtube and Reddit to its anti-anxiety effects. As the name suggests, ASMR is a relaxing warm sensation that begins on the scalp and spreads throughout the body. This technique is also known as "brain massage," and it relies on soothing sights and sounds, like whispers and slow movements. Investigating these videos is primarily motivated...
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Gesture Recognition With the Linear Optical Sensor and Recurrent Neural Networks
PublicationIn this paper, the optical linear sensor, a representative of low-resolution sensors, was investigated in the multiclass recognition of near-field hand gestures. The recurrent neural network (RNN) with a gated recurrent unit (GRU) memory cell was utilized as a gestures classifier. A set of 27 gestures was collected from a group of volunteers. The 27 000 sequences obtained were divided into training, validation, and test subsets....
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Smart skills and education in a future economy
PublicationWhether the role of education is to prepare people for employment or to have meaningful lives in general, it will identify and develop skills and competencies, as well as vocational and personal attributes. Skills, such as critical thinking, novel ideation, and complex cognitive and social skills, are areas where humans continue to outperform smart machines. The purpose of this article is to review the skills and competencies that...
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Immunophenotyping and transcriptional profiling of in vitro cultured human adipose tissue derived stem cells
PublicationAdipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have become an important research model in regenerative medicine. However, there are controversies regarding the impact of prolonged cell culture on the ASCs phenotype and their differentiation potential. Hence, we studied 10 clinical ASCs replicates from plastic and oncological surgery patients, in six-passage FBS supplemented cultures. We quantified basic mesenchymal cell surface marker transcripts...
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Surrogate-assisted EM-driven miniaturization of wideband microwave couplers by means of co-simulation low-fidelity models
PublicationThis article proposes a methodology for rapid design optimization of miniaturized wideband couplers. More specifically, a class of circuits is considered, in which conventional transmission lines are replaced by their abbreviated counterparts referred to as slow-wave compact cells. Our focus is on explicit reduction of the structure size as well as on reducing the CPU cost of the design process. For the sake of computational feasibility,...
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Air trapping problem during infiltration on the large areas
PublicationThe process of flow modeling in unsaturated porous medium is often found in many fields of sciences: geology, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, microbiology or chemistry. Problem is relatively complicated due to complexity of the system which contains three phases: water, air and soil skeleton. The flow of water in such a medium can be described using two-phase (2PH) flow formulation, which accounts the inflow of air and water phases,...
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The New 3D Printed Left Atrial Appendage Closure with a Novel Holdfast Device: A Pre-Clinical Feasibility Animal Study
PublicationMany patients undergoing cardiac surgery have risk factors for both atrial fibrillation and stroke. The left atrial appendage (LAA) is the primary site for thrombi formation. Therefore LAA occlusion devices should be tested for their ability to reduce future cerebral ischemic events in patients with high-risk of haemorrhage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of a novel left atrial appendage exclusion...
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THE ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS DISTRIBUTION ON WEAR PROFILE IN LUBRICATED SLIDING CONTACT OF UHMW-PE VS TITANIUM Ti-13Nb-13Zr ALLOY
PublicationMetal – polymer sliding contacts are a typical combination in industry and medicine. For decades such a set of materials has been the primary choice in human joints endoprosthetic technology. In this paper tribological issues of are presented from a research on the potential for practical use of Ti-13Nb-13Zr/UHMW-PE couple for orthopedic endoprosthesis. In tests on simplified models it is critically important to carefully...
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Light box for investigation of characteristics of optoelectronics detectors
PublicationIn this paper, a light box for investigation of characteristics of optoelectronic detectors is described. The light box consists of an illumination device, an optical power sensor and a mechanical enclosure. The illumination device is based on four types of high-power light emitting diodes (LED): white light, red, green and blue. The illumination level can be varied for each LED independently by the driver and is measured by optical...
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Compensation Topologies in IPT Systems: Standards, Requirements, Classification, Analysis, Comparison and Application
PublicationWireless power transfer devices are becoming more relevant and widespread. Therefore, an article is devoted to a review, analysis and comparison of compensation topologies for an inductive power transfer. A new classification of topologies is developed. A lot of attention is paid to the problems of the physical fundamentals of compensation work, standards, safety, and five main topology requirements. It is determined, that topologies...
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Driving forces of informal employment: An empirical study based on Polish enterprise data
PublicationObjective: The article aims to indicate the determinants of informal employment in registered enterprises using company-level evidence from Poland. Research Design & Methods: The survey conducted among Polish small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises in 2018 was used to find the driving forces of informal employment in Poland. The adequate sample comprised 952 representative surveys derived from the computer-assisted telephone...
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Telomerase inhibition - unfulfilled hopes in the perfect molecular target
PublicationTelomerase plays a pivotal role in cell proliferation, homeostasis, and neoplastic transformation, making it a promising molecular target for cancer chemotherapy. Of note, although hTERT has been explored thoroughly as a target, none of the promising molecules has been approved as a drug until now. The subject of research conducted as part of my doctoral dissertation is explaining the cellular and molecular mechanism of action...
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Towards a Universal Model of Engineering Change Management
PublicationThe paper deals with the issue of engineering change management (ECM). ECM has received much less attention in the literature than general change management. Moreover, due to their specifics (complexity and multifaceted nature), hitherto developed ECM models are difficult to implement in companies. The paper aims to develop a simplified, universal, and hence easily applicable model of ECM. We based our assumptions on a case study...
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CHEMOTHERAPY-MEDIATED COMPLICATIONS OF WOUND HEALING. AN UNDERSTUDIED SIDE EFFECT
PublicationSignificance: Chemotherapy is a primary method to treat cancer, but while cytotoxic drugs are designed to target rapidly dividing cancer cells, they can also affect other cell types, including dermal cells and macrophages involved in wound healing, which often leads to the development of chronic wounds. The situation becomes even more severe when chemotherapy is combined with surgical tumor excision. Recent advances: Despite its...
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Highly Integrable Planar-structured Printed Circularly Polarized Antenna for Emerging Wideband Internet of Things Applications in the Millimeter-Wave Band
PublicationThis paper proposes a numerically and experimentally validated printed wideband antenna with a planar geometry for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. This design tackles the challenges associated with deploying IoT sensors in remote areas or across extensive geographical regions. The proposed design exploits a coplanar-waveguide-fed modified microstrip line monopole for excitation of circularly polarized waves radiating in...
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Rapid Yield Optimization of Miniaturized Microwave Passives by Response Features and Variable-Fidelity EM Simulations
PublicationThe operation of high-frequency devices, including microwave passive components, can be impaired by fabrication tolerances but also incomplete knowledge concerning operating conditions (temperature, input power levels) and material parameters (e.g., substrate permittivity). Although the accuracy of manufacturing processes is always limited, the effects of parameter deviations can be accounted for in advance at the design phase...
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Bortezomib induces methylation changes in neuroblastoma cells that appear to play a significant role in resistance development to this compound
PublicationThe anticancer activity of bortezomib (BTZ) has been increasingly studied in a number of indications and promising results for the use of this treatment have been shown in neuroblastoma. As BTZ treatment is usually administered in cycles, the development of resistance and side effects in patients undergoing therapy with BTZ remains a major challenge for the clinical usage of this compound. Common resistance development also means...
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Reduced-Cost Design Optimization of High-Frequency Structures Using Adaptive Jacobian Updates
PublicationElectromagnetic (EM) analysis is the primary tool utilized in the design of high-frequency structures. In vast majority of cases, simpler models (e.g., equivalent networks or analytical ones) are either not available or lack accuracy: they can only be used to yield initial designs that need to be further tuned. Consequently, EM-driven adjustment of geometry and/or material parameters of microwave and antenna components is a necessary...
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Organisational Competence vs Transferability of Knowledge in Cluster Organisations and Technology Parks
PublicationPurpose. The main paper aims to evaluate the impact of organisational competence on knowledge and information flows within cluster organisations and technology parks, with particular emphasis on innovative content knowledge. The paper addresses the research question: “What set of competencies of cooperating companies allows access to information and knowledge in cluster and parks structures?" Methodology. The authors report their...
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Comprehensive Enhancement of Prepolymer-Based Flexible Polyurethane Foams’ Performance by Introduction of Cost-Effective Waste-Based Ground Tire Rubber Particles
PublicationMaterial innovations in polyurethane (PU) foams should ideally combine performance enhancement, environmental impact limitation, and cost reduction. These goals can be achieved by applying recycled or waste-based materials without broader industrial applications, implicating their low price. Herein, from 5 to 20 parts by weight of ground tire rubber (GTR) particles originated from the recycling of postconsumer car tires were incorporated...
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Non-Isocyanate-Based Waterborne Polyurethanes
PublicationNon-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) are a greener alternative for the conventional polyurethanes synthesized using toxic and moisture-sensitive di- or polyisocyanates. The most often described method of NIPU synthesis involves the reaction of five-membered cyclic carbonates with amines, and resulting polymers containing primary and secondary hydroxyl groups (so they are also known as polyhydroxyurethanes), which can be further...
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Importance of Bile Composition for Diagnosis of Biliary Obstructions
PublicationDetermination of the cause of a biliary obstruction is often inconclusive from serum analysis alone without further clinical tests. To this end, serum markers as well as the composition of bile of 74 patients with biliary obstructions were determined to improve the diagnoses. The samples were collected from the patients during an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The concentration of eight bile salts, specifically...
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Discrimination of hospital isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii using repeated sequences and whole genome alignment differential analysis
PublicationAn optimized method for bacterial strain differentiation, based on combination of Repeated Sequences and Whole Genome Alignment Differential Analysis (RS&WGADA), is presented in this report. In this analysis, 51 Acinetobacter baumannii multidrug-resistance strains from one hospital environment and patients from 14 hospital wards were classified on the basis of polymorphisms of repeated sequences located in CRISPR region, variation...
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Green products from herbal medicine wastes by subcritical water treatment
PublicationHerbal medicine wastes (HMWs) are byproducts of medicine factories, which are mainly landfilled for their environmental problems. Only bearing in mind the contamination and concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental emissions, the worth of herbal medicine wastes management and conversion to green products can be understood. In this work, subcritical water treatment was carried out batch-wise in a stainless tube...
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Release of selected chemical elements from shale drill cuttings to aqueous solutions of different pH
PublicationThe effect of pH changes on leachability of light and heavy metals from shale drill cuttings generated from unconventional shale gas production was investigated. Cuttings, being the primary byproduct generated from drilling operations, belong to the potentially hazardous type of wastes due to presence of heavy and radioactive elements and remains of drilling fluid. In this regard, assessment of potentially dangerous components...