Rails are a part of track structure where corrosion process inevitably occurs, except if they are fully insulated and devoid of contact with any other part of the structure (sleepers, fastening accessories) or electrolyte like moist soil or water in track structure. Corrosion occurs much faster in the presence of stray currents, which very soon results in the loss of material at the rail foot. The paper presents an overview and description of parameters influencing stray current levels, such as electrical potential in rail and longitudinal rail conductivity, rail-to-earth electrical resistance, electrical conductivity of load-bearing concrete layers of truck structure, and electrical conductivity of soil.

Die Standsicherheit historischer Mauerwerksbauten muss nicht nur bei gewöhnlichen Einwirkungen, sondern auch während Naturkatastrophen gewährleistet sein. Die seismische Bestandsbewertung der gründerzeitlichen Bausubstanz in Wien ist ein zentrales Thema in der qualitativen sowie konstruktiven Tragwerksbeurteilung. Obwohl der Mauerwerksbau seit vielen Jahrhunderten Anwendung findet, stellt die realistische Tragwerksbewertung eine hochkomplexe Herausforderung dar. Die nach aktuellen Regelwerken zur Nachbemessung herangezogenen Berechnungsmethoden vermögen nur unzureichend das reale Tragverhalten sowie die mögliche Aktivierung der globalen Versagensmechanismen wiederzugeben. Dies führt dazu, dass vereinfachte Nachweise rechnerisch oftmals nur schwer gelingen und zur Kompensation fragwürdige Verstärkungsmaßnahmen ergriffen werden, obwohl der Altbestand bereits einige Beben erlebt und überwiegend schadfrei überstanden hat. Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit den aktuell zur Erdbebennachbemessung verwendeten Ansätzen und verfolgt den Zweck, Problempunkte aufzuzeigen und sie einem leistungsfähigen, an Versuchsreihen gestützten Materialmodell zur räumlichen Tragwerksanalyse des historischen Altbestandes gegenüberzustellen. Es wird gezeigt, dass die herkömmlichen Berechnungsmethoden für den gemauerten Altbestand ohne Berücksichtigung der Interaktions‐ und Lastumlagerungseffekte sowie der charakteristischen Konstruktionsweise das reale Tragverhalten nur teilweise abbilden. Die Arbeit soll einen Beitrag zur technischen Fachdiskussion zur Erdbebensicherheit des Altbestandes darstellen sowie die Diskussion zur Formulierung realistischer Berechnungsmodelle beleben.

Object tracking is one of the fundamental tasks in computer vision. It is used almost everywhere: human-computer interaction, video surveillance, medical treatments, robotics, smart cars, etc. Many object tracking methods have been published in recent scientific publications. However, many questions still remain unanswered, such as, which object tracking method to choose for a particular application considering some specific characteristics of video content or which method will perform the best (quality-wise) and which one will have the best performance? In this paper, we provide some insights into how to choose an object tracking method from the widespread OpenCV library. We provide benchmarking results on the OTB-100 dataset by evaluating the eight trackers from the OpenCV library. We use two evaluation methods to evaluate the robustness of each algorithm: OPE and SRE combined with Precision and Success Plot.

Introduction: Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is defined as nosocomial pneumonia in patients who have mechanical ventilation (MV) for more than 48 hours. The diagnosis of VAP is based on radiological-microbiological examinations. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Health Care Network (NHSN) have an incidence of VAP of 5.8% per 1,000 days on mechanical ventilator. Aim: In this study, we had an aim to determine the occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients with MV who were hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Method: The study was retrospective, clinical, conducted in the period from January 1, 2016 until December 31, 2016. In a one-year period, 719 patients of both sex, aged 14 to 91, were hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the Clinic for Anesthesia and Resuscitation of the University Clinical Center in Sarajevo. The study included 250 patients of both sex who had respiratory support with mechanical ventilator. No patient was excluded from the study. As a confirmation of VAP, we used microbiological reports from the patient history documentation. The results were presented statistically through tables and graphs, numerically, by a percentage, and by a mean value with standard deviation. Results: Out of the 719 hospitalized patients, 250 or 34.8% underwent controlled ventilation. In 103 or 41.2% of patients some form of pneumonia was confirmed microbiologically. An average patient age on controlled ventilation was 60.4 ± 16.8 years. The mean age of a female patients who were on controlled ventilation was 63.2 ± 16.7, higher than that of male patients, which was 57.8 ± 16.6 years. The most frequent patients were over 60 years of age (52.8%). The shortest hospitalization of patients on controlled mechanical ventilation was 1 day and the longest was 120 days. Average duration of mechanical ventilation was 6.9 ± 10.5 days. Conclusion: VAP is a relatively common complication in patients with MV that can increase morbidity and mortality, as well as treatment costs. It is more frequent in females and in the elderly. Medical staff should provide normal maintenance of respiratory functions to a patient who is on MV, which will reduce the risk of VAP.

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Educators Survey (MBI-ES). The presence of burnout syndrome, its relationship with personality traits, intention to change career and work abroad were assessed in a cross-sectional multi-center trial conducted among educators at three medical faculties in the Western Balkans during 2019. Translation and cultural adaptation were made based on internationally accepted principles. Personality traits were assessed by the Big Five Plus Two questionnaire. In total, 246 medical faculty members, predominantly females (61%), were enrolled. The three-factor structure of the MBI-ES questionnaire (exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) was validated. Analysis of internal consistency yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.785, indicating scale reliability. The majority of respondents (85.6%) reported moderate level of burnout. Aggressiveness, neuroticism, and negative valence were associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and positive valence correlated with personal accomplishment. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in a multivariate regression model were significantly associated with intentions to change career and work abroad (p < 0.05). The present study provided evidence for the appropriate metric properties of the Serbian version of MBI-ES. Presence of burnout syndrome, which was identified as a common problem in medical academia, and directly linked to personality traits, affected intention to career change and work abroad.

Aim To identify E. coli from chicken meat, establish their antibiotic resistance profiles and to confirm ESBL isolates with real time PCR, as well as to identify risk factors and farming practice associated with the antimicrobial resistance E. coli. Methods The study included 100 chicken skin samples collected randomly from retail supermarkets, butcheries and slaughterhouses. Disk susceptibility testing was performed using the Kirby-Bauer method. Detection of ESBL-producing isolates was performed with double disk synergy test. Molecular analysis of phenotypic ESBL-producing Escherichia coli strains was performed at 7500 real time PCR System. Molecular-genetic analysis included detection of CTX-M 1, 2, and 9 gene families and mutations in the TEM and SHV encoding extended spectrum β-lactamases. Results Prevalence of the phenotypic ESBL-producing E. coli isolates was 29%, and they exhibited remarkable sensitivity to carbapenems (100%) as well as to amikacin (93.10%). All ESBL-producing strains were multidrug resistant. Molecular analysis was performed as the final confirmation of the production of extended spectrum β - lactamases for 24 isolates out of 29 phenotypicaly ESBL-producing E. coli isolates. Conclusion It is important to pay attention to people's awareness of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in food chain, as well as to understand its effects on human health and the environment. Phenotypic and molecular analysis demonstrated the presence of ESBL-producing E. coli isolates from chicken skin samples.

Aim To investigate the association of ABO blood types and appearance of myocardial infarction (MI) among the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods This was a cross sectional study conducted at the Department for Cardiovascular Surgery at the Clinical Centre of the University of Sarajevo from January 1st to December 31st 2019. Patients were divided into two groups, defined by their blood type, A (N=91) and non-A (N=109). ABO blood groups were determined using standard agglutination techniques. Information regarding history of MI was taken from their medical documentation during the preparation for surgery. Results In total 200 patients were involved in this study. The study sample consisted of 151 (74.5%) males and 49 (25.5%) females. Mean age was 62.98 ± 7.73. Various risk factors associated with myocardial infarction were tobacco 92 (46.0%) and alcohol 54 (27.0%) consumption, obesity 77 (38.5%), diabetes mellitus 47 (23.5%) and hypertension 91 (45.3%). Being A blood type (OR=3.308; 95% Cl 1.317-8.311; p=0.011) and being male and having hypertension (OR=3.086; 95% Cl 1.262-7.545; p=0.013) significantly increased the risk for the development of MI among young adults. Patients with A blood type were significantly younger [median 58.0 vs. 63.0; U = 2738.5; p =0.027] when they developed MI compared to non-A blood type. Conclusion The age of myocardial infarction occurrence in the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina is lower in patients with blood group A compared to non-A blood types.

An initial study of the effects vortex generators (VGs) have on the mitigation of vortex-induced vibrations (VIVs) of hydrofoils have been performed at the Waterpower laboratory of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The VGs are placed close to the trailing edge of a blunt hydrofoil. Reasonable design parameters of the VGs were found from the literature with regard to which would induce the strongest vortices with the lowest drag. Vibration frequencies of the hydrofoil were measured using flush mounted strain gauges located close to the trailing edge. This paper presents the design of the VGs and some initial results of the experiments performed with these devices. The preliminary results indicate a possible mitigation of VIVs. This could be because of the interference between the primary vortices generated by the hydrofoil and the longitudinal vortices generated by the VGs, but further work is necessary to make a conclusion.

SUMMARY: Success in artistic gymnastics certainly depends on the morphological characteristics of the athletes, some of which are basic body height and weight. The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference in body height and weight between the male and female participants on the Olympic Games from 1996 to 2016. The following variables were chosen: body weight (kg), body height (cm). The results did show significant differences between women's artistic gymnastics in body weight and height over a 20-year period. In men's artistic gymnastics we didn't find the difference. This research is important in setting comparative parameters in the selection process and sport specialization regarding morphological characteristics according to different events of gymnasts at the elite level.

The paper presents an online system named REDBUL, which is aimed at reverse engineering of relational databases. REDBUL enables database designers to automatically extract the schema from an existing relational database, and visualize it in a web browser, whereby the extracted schema is represented by the standard UML class diagram. Currently, two relational database management systems are supported by the REDBUL system, MS SQL and MySQL, while the paper illustrates reverse schema engineering for a MySQL database.

The importance of agility in futsal is already recognized, but there is an evident lack of information about applicability of futsal specific tests. The aim of this study was to evaluate reliability, validity and correlates of tests evaluating the futsal specific pre-planned agility (PPA), and non-planned agility (NPA). The sample comprised 40 professional futsal players who were tested on newly developed tests of PPA and NPA, sprint over 10 meters, countermovement jump, body height and mass. The reliability analyses included calculation of intra-session Cronbach Alpha (CA) and Inter-Item-Correlation (IIR), as well as analysis (ANOVA) for repeated measurements. Differences between performance groups (starters [first team] vs. non-starters [substitutes]) were evidenced by t-test for independent samples and calculation of Effect Size differences (ES). Pearson’s product moment correlation was calculated to define associations between variables. The reliability of agility tests was appropriate, with somewhat better reliability of PPA (CA: 0.81 and 0.76, IIR: 0.79 and 0.72, for PPA and NPA, respectively). ANOVA did not reveal any significant differences among testing trials. Starters were had better PPA than non-starters (t-test: 1.98, p < 0.01, moderate ES). The PPA and NPA shared less than 40% of the common variance, which suggests that these capacities are independent. Jumping and sprinting were not significantly correlated to PPA and NPA. Study confirmed appropriate reliability of the newly developed tests, and applicability of the PPA in distinguishing performance-levels. Further studies in females and younger players are warranted.

Background The aim of the study was to address the working population with an occupational stress prevention program using mHealth solution and encourage them for healthy lifestyle choices. Methods Seventeen participants were randomized from the corporate setting. A 24alife app with a good compliance program was selected. Test battery has been designed to test the physical readiness, psychological evaluation and biological blood markers for stress. Participants were followed up after 30, 60 and 90 days, respectively, within the intervention period. Weight of participants was tracked three times per month. Univariate analysis compared the continuous variables by One-Way Repeated-Measures ANOVA test when the data were normally distributed, or Wilcoxon rank sum test for abnormal distribution of variables. Results Participants used the app with a compliance rate of 94.1%. The psychological evaluation revealed higher motivation for work, lower burnout scores and participants gave subjective responses of better general wellbeing. Some of the participants lost up to four kg of body mass. Physical readiness has also improved. Conclusions Results of mHealth projects on corporate could include primary health care institutions and health ministry to extend the existing system to patients’ pockets where they can monitor their disease and increase the ability of self-care.