Introduction: Acinetobacter species is associated with health care associated infections especially in patients on respiratory therapy equipment and indwelling catheters. They are becoming increasingly drug resistant. The knowledge of the prevalence and pattern of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Acinetobacter spp. is important. Aims The study is undertaken to estimate the prevalence rate, risk factors and antimicrobial resistance pattern of isolates. in Acinetobacter spp. from various clinical samples. Material and Methods: The isolates of Acinetobacter species obtained from various clinical specimen. Specimens were processed by standard microbiological techniques. Antimicrobial sensitivity tests of the Acinetobacter isolates were done by modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Results Out of 622 isolates, 399 isolates were from inpatients (62,18%) and 223 were from outpatients (37,82%). More than 90% of isolates displayed resistance to ampicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ceftazidime, caftriaxon and amikacin. Resistance to gentamicin, co-trimoxazole and ciprofloxacin were also common. Least resistance was seen to piperacillin-tazobactam and imipenem. A total of 125 Acinetobacter isolates were analyzed, out of which 78.4 % were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Of these MDR isolates, 17.24% were pan-resistant. A. baumannii was the most common species responsible for wound infection (84,8%), pneumonia(96,15%), abscess (72.7%), urinary tract infection (85,7%) and septicemia(89,5%). Conclusion: Multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen. Antibiotic susceptibility testing is critical in the treatment of infections caused by Acinetobacter. Continued surveillance of prevalent organisms in ICUs, combined with preventive measures remains absolutely essential in efforts to prevent or limit the spread of Acinetobacter infection.

Editorial for the Special Issue: “Advances in Statistical Modelling for Economic PolicyMaking” in Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics

A modular measurement model Extended Kalman filter (EKF) for for unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) localization is proposed. Except for using measurements from UUV’s sensors, this EKF is augmented by ultra-short baseline range and visual-data based localization from an unmanned surface vehicle, and in-sonar image estimated UUV position. It is shown that the proposed EKF significantly enhances UUV’s navigational accuracy through a collaborative fusion of sensor data from multiple heterogeneous marine vehicles. Also, an Extended Rauch-Tung-Striebel (ERTS) smoother was run aposteriori to further improve UUV’s localization, which is shown to be very useful for accurate post-processing of the data acquired by the UUV.

Abstract This paper is dedicated to connection links and data transportation methods of monitoring system in real time for measurement of direct lightning currents. There are a few different ways to record and locate lightning flashes. To confirm recorded events, different independent systems were used on Broadcasting Center of Montenegro (RDC). Four sensors are embedded and integrated in one system: current transformer, IP camera, electric field sensor and transient recorders. Software platform is developed for lightning activity monitoring system (LAMS) and it provides services for collection, transportation and processing of measured data. Additionally, lightning activity monitoring system is connected with an international lightning location system (LINET). A great number of data were collected, analyzed and compared.

BACKGROUND Gradient and coil systems, pulse sequence design, and imaging parameters, as well as different scanners, can influence apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two different field strengths on the reproducibility of mean absolute ADC measurements in various primary and secondary brain tumors. METHODS Fifty patients with histologically proven brain tumors were prospectively examined on two MR scanners from the same vendor, with different field strengths-1.5T and 3T-on the same day. Absolute ADC values were compared using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test. Inter-scanner agreement between two different fields in the same tumor was examined using correlation coefficients, and the discrepancy between the highest and the lowest mean absolute ADC values between scanners was tested using a one-way analysis of variance. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference between mean absolute ADC values obtained on 1.5T and 3T scanners for all patients and all brain tumor types. The intratumoral difference in ADC values, averaged from two scanners in the same tumor type, ranged from 1.58 to 4.5% for 1.5T, and from 1.18 to 4.37% for 3T.Inter-scanner agreement was high, and the kappa coefficient ranged from 0.88 to 0.99, with no significant difference between obtained values on different field strengths. CONCLUSION Based on the results obtained in our study, there is no significant difference between mean absolute ADC values measured in various primary and secondary brain tumors at different field strengths (1.5 and 3.0T MR systems), in the same patient, and in the same tumor, measured on the same day.

Introduction: Brugada syndrome (BS) is a dominantly inherited arrhythmogenic disease caused by a mutation in the SCN5A gene. It accounts for 20% of cases of sudden death, without structural heart abnormalities1. Diagnosing the BS is achievable by electrocardiography (ECG), ST segment elevation in V1 to V3, with the right bundle branch block pattern as a hallmark of the syndrome2. BS is divided into three types. However, only type 1 can be verified with an ECG2,3. BS manifests as a syncope that is caused by ventricular tachycardia, which, if converted to ventricular fibrillation, leads to a fatal outcome. An implantable cardioverter defibrilator (ICD) implantation is indicated, while pharmacological therapy on its own is not sufficiently effective. Aim: To present a diagnostic and therapeutic approach towards suspected BS in a younger patient. Case report: 24-years-old patient was admitted to a hospital, after a cardiac arrest and a prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation with intubation. ECG findings verified sinus rhythm, with heart rate of 94 beats per minute, normal heart axis with PQ interval of 0.16 s, and right bundle branch block (RBBB) with an ST elevation from V1 to V3. An ajmalin provocation test was performed, and ECG changes (J-wave elevation of >2 mm with ST elevation from V1 to V3 with RBBB) were recorded, but without induced ventricular arrhythmia. Patent foramen ovale was suspicious as a cause, but after transesophageal echocardiography it was excluded. According to electrocardiographic changes, the BS was diagnosed as the cause of malignant ventricular heart rhythm. Genetic testing for Brugada syndrome was not performed and in consultations with the Centre for Electrophysiology in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Zadar (Croatia), the implantation of an ICD was indicated, and subsequently performed. The patient was discharged under pharmacological therapy consisting of metoprolol 25 mg twice per day, amiodarone 100 mg per day, with magnesium, and aspirin once per day. Conclusion: In daily clinical work, in all conditions of syncope occurring in younger patients, in order to prevent sudden death, an existence of the BS should be considered. An overall clinical status of a patient, including positive ajmaline test with specific ECG changes, can verify BS, even when information on the presence of the SCN5A gene is not available.

In this note, we study the stability of the error dynamics of an observer designed to estimate only the slow states of a singularly perturbed system. The observer is designed on the basis of the reduced (slow) model. We have recently reported semi-global practical results for this problem. Our previous work can be used to state local and regional convergence of the estimation error, but we cannot conclude global results from it. We seek to prove a stronger (global) result under stronger (global) assumptions in this manuscript. Moreover, we focus on proving the robustness of an observer with respect to singular perturbations and with respect to the measurement noise.

Many industrial domains are characterized by Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems for which an explicit relationship capturing the nontrivial trade-off between the competing objectives is not available. Human experts have the ability to implicitly learn such a relationship, which in turn enables them to tune the corresponding controller to achieve the desirable closed-loop performance. However, as the complexity of the MIMO system and/or the controller increase, so does the tuning time and the associated tuning cost. To reduce the tuning cost, a framework is proposed in which a machine learning method for approximating the human-learned cost function along with an optimization algorithm for optimizing it, and consequently tuning the controller, are employed. In this work the focus is on the tuning of Model Predictive Controllers (MPCs), given both the interest in their implementations across many industrial domains and the associated high degrees of freedom present in the corresponding tuning process. To demonstrate the proposed approach, simulation results for the tuning of an air path MPC controller in a diesel engine are presented.

Microcapsules are used in various fields of application, such as in pharmacy, medicine, agriculture, chemical industry, construction industry, food industry, biotechnology, electronics. Fragranced and PCM (phase change materials) microcapsules also found their use in the printing and the textile industries, where they are applied in the combination with the appropriate ink or varnish on the desired substrate material. Microcapsules are applied either by coating or by different printing techniques, which main advantage is the ability to transfer the microcapsules onto desired areas of the substrate material without or with as little damage as possible, thus allowing the deposited microcapsules to fulfil their basic functionality. The aim of this research was to investigate the morphologic characteristics of the fragranced microcapsules and the coated prints using selected varnish and different fragranced microcapsules concentrations, as well as to determine how variable concentrations of the applied microcapsules in the varnish affect the optical characteristics of the coated prints. Performed SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and spectrodensitometric analyses of the coated prints revealed that both the coating process without microcapsules, as well as the different fragranced microcapsules’ concentration in the coated water-based varnish, significantly affected both the morphologic and the optical characteristics of the coated prints.

The human body transforms the chemical energy of the food into the work and the heat through the process of metabolism. The produced heat through the skin is transferred to the environment. In this case, in the state of thermal equilibrium, the amount of heat produced is equal to the amount of heat lost by conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation and breathing. The process of conduction of heat is transferred from the body to the environment, through layers of clothing and air, with the person standing still. Conductivity of heat in clothes depends on the thermal conductivity of the fibers from which the clothes are made, the conductivity of the air trapped in the pores of the clothes and the air on the surface of the clothing, the surface of the clothing layer through which the heat and the thickness of the clothes pass. The amount of heat transferred by conduction is usually negligible because the clothing, by its characteristics, slows down heat transfer in this way. Additionally, ink layers made in printing process significantly affect the properties of textile materials and clothes made from these materials. And today textile materials are increasingly being subjected to the process of printing due to aesthetic requirements of the people. This paper investigates the influence of digital printing parameters on the thermo-physiological features of textile materials. The essential print parameter was a different number of passes. In this research were used textile fabric materials of 100% cotton fibers. With printing process parameters, such as number of passes in the print, it is possible to influence the amount of ink that is applied on and in printed material, and thus the achievement of desired values of thermal parameters of printed materials. The influence of print parameters to thermo-physiological properties of the material is evaluated through a thermal conductivity and heat retention ability. Results of the research demonstrated that, in addition to material composition, the printing process with its parameters have a significant influence on the thermo-physiological characteristics of textile materials. The values of the thermal conductivity of the printed samples show that the increase in the number of application of ink in the printing results in a rise in the value of thermal conductivity coefficient, and decrease in heat retention ability value.