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Robotic pipetting with the Andrew+ robotic system
No full textV tem strokovnem članku je opisan razvoj aplikacije za avtomatizacijo postopka pipetiranja v farmacevtskih laboratorijih. Poudarek je na avtonomni prilagoditvi Onelab protokolov za programiranje robota Andrew+. Aplikacija vključuje uporabniku prijazen vmesnik za spreminjanje, izvajanje in spremljanje protokolov in poseben razdelek za izdelavo laboratorijskih poročil, združljivih z interno podatkovno zbirko. Temeljito testiranje v laboratorijskem okolju je pokazalo obetavne rezultate in sposobnost aplikacije, da razbremeni operaterje ponavljajočih se opravil, povezanih z robotom. Uspešno izvajanje te tehnologije pomeni pomemben napredek pri optimizaciji farmacevtskih laboratorijskih procesov, saj zagotavlja večjo učinkovitost in sprošča dragocene človeške vire za bolj kompleksne naloge.This technical paper details the development of an application aimed at automating the pipetting process in pharmaceutical laboratories. The focus is on autonomous adapting of Onelab protocols for programming the Andrew+ robot. The application incorporates a user-friendly interface for protocol modification, execution and monitoring, as well as a dedicated section for generating laboratory reports compatible with the internal database. Thorough testing within the laboratory setting demonstrated promising results, showcasing the application\u27s ability to alleviate operators from repetitive tasks associated with the robot. The successful implementation of this technology marks a significant advancement in streamlining pharmaceutical laboratory processes, offering enhanced efficiency and freeing up valuable human resources for more complex tasks
Znanost na razpotju – od popularizacije do manipulacije
No full textZadnji teden septembra je v Študentskem svetu BF že tradicionalno namenjen poletni šoli. Študentski svet jo organizira z namenom, da študentom ob prehodu v novo študijsko leto ponudi dodatna znanja, ki jih morda ne morejo pridobiti drugje. Prav zato so letos v poletno šolo vključili številne družboslovne tematike – od etike in znanstvenega komuniciranja do teorij zarote in problemov sodobne družbe. Sinteza pridobljenega znanja je predstavljena v tem zborniku
LLM teacher-student framework for text classification with no manually annotated data
No full textWith the ever-increasing number of news stories available online, classifying them by topic, regardless of the language they are written in, has become crucial for enhancing readers’ access to relevant content. To address this challenge, we propose a teacher-student framework based on large language models (LLMs) for developing multilingual news topic classification models of reasonable size with no need for manual data annotation. The framework employs a Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) model as the teacher model to develop a news topic training dataset through automatic annotation of 20,000 news articles in Slovenian, Croatian, Greek, and Catalan. Articles are classified into 17 main categories from the Media Topic schema, developed by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). The teacher model exhibits high zero-shot performance in all four languages. Its agreement with human annotators is comparable to that between the human annotators themselves. To mitigate the computational limitations associated with the requirement of processing millions of texts daily, smaller BERT-like student models are fine-tuned on the GPT-annotated dataset. These student models achieve high performance comparable to the teacher model. Furthermore, we explore the impact of the training data size on the performance of the student models and investigate their monolingual, multilingual, and zero-shot cross-lingual capabilities. The findings indicate that student models can achieve high performance with a relatively small number of training instances, and demonstrate strong zero-shot cross-lingual abilities. Finally, we publish the best-performing news topic classifier, enabling multilingual classification with the top-level categories of the IPTC Media Topic schema
Epidemiological insights into water and soil-mediated transmission of tomato mottle mosaic virus
No full textTomato mottle mosaic virus (ToMMV) poses a growing threat to tomato and pepper crops, yet its epidemiology remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate water- and soil-mediated transmission of ToMMV under controlled conditions. The experiment involved mechanical inoculation of tomato plants, which demonstrated that infectious ToMMV particles remained viable in water up to 27 weeks at a 10 dilution. In hydroponic systems, ToMMV present in the nutrient solution caused systemic infection in bait plants within 5–17 weeks, depending on the severity of root injury, while infection was not observed in plants with intact roots even after 38 weeks of exposure. The transmission of the pathogen via irrigation was also confirmed in an experiment where seedlings and seed-derived plants grown in substrate (roots were not deliberately injured) were irrigated with ToMMV-contaminated water, resulting in infection 6 and 10 weeks after the start of exposure, respectively. The soil-mediated transmission process was further verified by planting healthy seedlings and seeds into previously contaminated substrate, resulting in infection within a period of 3–18 weeks. These findings emphasise the need for upgrading integrated management strategies, including water quality monitoring and reliable, rapid diagnostics, to mitigate the spread of ToMMV in greenhouse production systems. To support the development of effective monitoring strategies, the study also assessed the performance of two isothermal amplification assays for potential on-site detection of ToMMV in water. A recombinase-polymerase amplification (RPA) assay exhibited sensitivity comparable to that of reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and reliably detected ToMMV in crude water samples without RNA extraction
The Treatment of School Delays in the Škofja Loka Region Between the Two World Wars
No full textV magistrskem delu je poudarek na analizi obravnave šolskih zamud v času med obema svetovnima vojnama znotraj medvojne Jugoslavije, izvedeni na primeru treh izbranih šol s škofjeloškega območja. Na podlagi raziskave ohranjenih arhivskih podatkov, povezanih z obravnavo šolskih zamud na treh šolah in dveh krajevnih šolskih svetov oziroma odborov, takratne zakonodaje in časopisnih virov, delo predstavlja proces obravnave šolskih zamud v času med obema svetovnima vojnama. Obenem pa tudi, kako se je zakonodaja glede šolskih zamud spreminjala v medvojnem času, kakšni so bili pogledi različnih deležnikov na šolske zamude, koliko je bilo posameznih vzrokov in kazni za šolske zamude na obravnavanih treh šolah ter kakšni so bili. V povezavi s slednjima temama delo vsebuje več statističnih tabel, ki prikazujejo število posameznih vzrokov in kazni v določenem šolskem letu. Za raziskovanje obravnave šolskih zamud v času med obema svetovnima vojnama so se kot ključni arhivski dokumenti izkazali razrednice in obrazci (zaznamki) za neopravičene zamude. Oboji so vsebovali različne podatke, povezane s šolskimi zamudami posameznih učencev. V obdobju med obema svetovnima vojnama so se tako razrednice kot obrazci vsebinsko in oblikovno spreminjali. Zato delo vsebuje tudi analizo spreminjanja razrednic in obrazcev za neopravičene zamude.The master\u27s thesis focuses on the analysis of the treatment of school delays during the period between the two world wars in interwar Yugoslavia, using the example of three selected schools from the Škofja Loka region. Based on the research of preserved archival records related to the treatment of school delays at three schools and two local school councils or committees, as well as relevant legislation and newspaper sources from the interwar period, the thesis presents the process of dealing with school delays during this time. At the same time, it examines how legislation concerning school delays evolved during the interwar period, the perspectives of various stakeholders on school delays, and the types and frequency of individual causes and punishments for school delays at the three schools. In relation to these two aspects, the thesis includes several statistical tables presenting the number of specific causes and the number of specific punishments in a given school year. For the research of the treatment of school delays from the interwar period, class books and forms (notes) for unexcused school delays proved to be key archival documents. Both contained various data related to the school delays of individual pupils. During the period between the two world wars, both the class books and the forms underwent changes in content and format. Therefore, the thesis also includes an analysis of these changes in the class books and the forms used for recording unexcused school delays
Dynamics of dissolution and complexation processes for a hydrophobic active pharmaceutical ingredient in cyclodextrin solution
No full textSlaba topnost zdravilnih učinkovin je eden ključnih izzivov sodobne farmacije, saj omejuje njihovo biološko uporabnost in terapevtsko učinkovitost. Te težave so še posebej izrazite pri oftalmičnih pripravkih, kjer anatomske in fiziološke značilnosti očesa močno omejujejo dostavo učinkovine do mesta delovanja. Ena izmed učinkovitih metod za premagovanje teh omejitev je uporaba ciklodekstrinov, ki zaradi svoje specifične strukture omogočajo tvorbo vključitvenih kompleksov.
V magistrski nalogi smo raziskali dinamiko procesov raztapljanja in kompleksacije izbrane zdravilne učinkovine z γ-ciklodekstrinom. Eksperimentalni del smo izvedli v podjetju Lek d. d., kjer smo pripravili različne vzorce disperzij z uporabo opreme OptiMax™ 1001. Sistem je omogočil natančen nadzor procesnih parametrov ter sprotno spremljanje motnosti tekom procesa. Za optimizacijo procesa smo uporabili metodo načrtovanja poskusov (DoE), kar je omogočilo sistematično raziskovanje vpliva posameznih parametrov (temperature in časa kompleksacije ter temperature in načina ohlajanja) na učinkovitost kompleksacije ob relativno majhnem številu eksperimentov.
Rezultati so pokazali, da ima temperatura ključno vlogo pri uspešnosti kompleksacije. Višje temperature so pospešile raztapljanje in omogočile popolnejšo kompleksacijo od nižjih, kar se je odražalo v zbistritvi raztopin. Ugotovili smo tudi, da način ohlajanja pomembno vpliva na stabilnost disperzij. Opazovanje vzorcev pod optičnim mikroskopom je pokazalo, da počasno ohlajanje vodi v nastanek večjih in heterogeno porazdeljenih delcev v mikronskem
območju velikosti. Morfologija delcev je bila torej neposredno odvisna od procesnih
parametrov, predvsem hitrosti ohlajanja. Zaradi počasnega ohlajanja analiza velikosti delcev z dinamičnim sipanjem svetlobe (Zetasizer Nano) ni bila uspešna, saj so bili delci preveliki. Meritve viskoznosti pa so potrdile, da na reološke lastnosti ne vplivata čas in temperatura kompleksacije, temveč predvsem pogoji ohlajanja. Ohlajanje disperzije na višjo končno temperaturo je povzročilo povečanje viskoznosti, medtem ko je hitrejše ohlajanje povzročilo njeno zmanjšanje.
Ti izsledki potrjujejo pomembnost spremljanja dinamike procesa raztapljanja
(kompleksacije) zdravilnih učinkovin z γ-ciklodekstrinom za namen pridobivanja ciljane velikosti delcev in želene viskoznosti končnih disperzij.Poor solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients is one of the key challenges in modern pharmaceutics, as it limits their bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy. These issues are particularly pronounced in ophthalmic formulations, where the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the eye greatly restrict drug delivery to the site of action. One of the effective approaches to overcoming these limitations is the use of cyclodextrins, which, due to their specific structure, enable the formation of inclusion complexes.
In this master’s thesis, we investigated the dynamics of dissolution and complexation processes of a selected active pharmaceutical ingredient with γ-cyclodextrin. The experimental work was carried out at Lek d. d., where various dispersion samples were prepared using OptiMax™ 1001 equipment. The system enabled precise control of process parameters and real-time monitoring of turbidity during the process. To optimize the process, we employed the Design of Experiments (DoE) method, which allowed for systematic investigation of the effects of individual parameters (temperature and complexation time, as
well as temperature and cooling method) on the efficiency of complexation with a relatively small number of experiments.
The results showed that temperature plays a crucial role in the success of the complexation process. Higher temperatures accelerated dissolution and enabled more complete complexation compared to lower ones, which was reflected in the clarification of the solutions. We also found that the cooling method significantly affects the stability of dispersions. Microscopic observation of the samples revealed that slow cooling leads to the formation of larger and heterogeneously distributed particles in the micron size range. The particle morphology was therefore directly dependent on the process parameters, particularly the cooling rate. Due to slow cooling, particle size analysis using dynamic light scattering
(Zetasizer Nano) was unsuccessful, as the particles were too large. Viscosity measurements confirmed that the rheological properties were not influenced by the time and temperature of complexation, but rather by the cooling conditions. Cooling the dispersion to a higher final temperature resulted in increased viscosity, whereas faster cooling caused a decrease in viscosity.
These findings confirm the importance of monitoring the dynamics of dissolution
(complexation) processes of active pharmaceutical ingredients with γ-cyclodextrin for achieving targeted particle size and desired viscosity of the final dispersions
Design of an adaptive building evacuation system
No full textV magistrskem delu je predstavljena zasnova in razvoj prototipa sistema za adaptivno evakuacijo iz zgradb. Namen dela je bil razviti cenovno dostopen in uporabniku prijazen sistem, ki lahko dinamično prilagaja evakuacijske poti glede na zaznane nevarnosti v realnem času. Sistem temelji na modularni arhitekturi, ki združuje senzorske module za zaznavanje nevarnosti, primarni program za izračun optimalnih evakuacijskih poti in dinamično evakuacijsko signalizacijo. Testi prototipa v kontroliranem okolju so pokazali, da sistem zanesljivo zaznava različne vrste nevarnosti in ustrezno prilagaja evakuacijske poti. Rezultati potrjujejo, da je mogoče razviti učinkovit adaptivni evakuacijski sistem brez potrebe po dragi infrastrukturi ali kompleksni namestitvi.This master\u27s thesis presents the design and development of a prototype system for adaptive building evacuation. The aim was to develop a cost-effective and user-friendly system capable of dynamically adjusting evacuation routes based on real-time hazard detection. The system is based on modular architecture that combines sensor modules for hazard detection, a primary program for calculating optimal evacuation routes, and dynamic evacuation signaling. Tests of the prototype in a controlled environment have shown that the system reliably recognises different types of hazards and adjusts evacuation routes accordingly. The results confirm that it is possible to develop an effective adaptive evacuation system without the need for expensive infrastructure or complex installation
Dry spot propagation during boiling crisis on thin metal heaters
No full textThis work presents the results of an experimental investigation aimed at elucidating the role of heater-side parameters on the growth of an irreversible dry spot during the boiling crisis of FC-72 on thin metal foils. A two-sided funnel shape of the heater is adopted to induce the occurrence of the boiling crisis in the middle of the foil and capture the expansion of the critical dry patch through high-speed infrared thermometry. In agreement with pre-existing literature, critical heat flux values achieved during this experimental campaign are shown to increase with bulk subcooling, thermal effusivity, and thickness of the heater. The transient temperature field at the boiling surface is used to capture the spatiotemporal evolution of the dry spot and investigate the effect of heater’s parameter on dry spot propagation. Results collected in this work show that the growth of an irreversible dry patch is strongly affected by the heat diffusion process occurring within the thin heater. The dry spot propagation rate is found to be proportionally correlated with the thermal diffusivity of the heater and the volumetric heat dissipation rate achieved at the boiling crisis, the latter being inversely proportional to heater’s thickness. These results provide important insights into the dryout dynamics related to the boiling crisis in thin wall heat transfer devices. Nevertheless, they open questions about the role of fluid thermophysical properties, that still deserve to be studied in detail
Hydraulic fracturing in rocks
No full textTehnologijo hidravličnega lomljenja in tehnologijo vrtanja horizontalnih vrtin uvrščamo med starejše in ustaljene tehnologije. Metoda hidravličnega lomljenja v horizontalnih in vertikalnih vrtinah je učinkovita metoda pri pridobivanju nafte in plina. Od konvencionalnih metod pridobivanja nafte in plina se razlikuje zaradi hidravličnega stimuliranja vrtin. Hidravlično stimuliranje pri pridobivanju ogljikovodikov pa imenujemo nekonvencionalna metoda pridobivanja.
Pri hidravličnem lomljenju uporabljamo hidravlični tlak, ki ga ustvarjamo z vbrizgavanjem hidravlične tekočine v vrtino. Pri visokovolumskem lomljenju se uporabljajo večje količine hidravlične tekočine kot pri nizkovolumskem lomljenju. Hidravlična tekočina je v veliki meri sestavljena iz vode, manjšega deleža propanta ter zelo majhnega deleža kemikalij. Hidravlično tekočino dodajamo direktno v vrtino in s pomočjo visokih tlakov omogočimo višjo permeabilnost (prehodnost oziroma prepustnost) rezervoarja. Tako omogočimo iztok ogljikovodikov iz rezervoarja v vrtino.
S pomočjo javno zbranih podatkov sem predstavil zaloge na območju Petišovci-globoko (severovzhodna Slovenija) ter prikazal višjo proizvodnost plina v vrtinah na območju.Technology of hydraulic fracturing as well as the practice of drilling horizontal wells underground are both well-established methods with a long history. It is no surprise that the use of hydraulic fracturing has proven to be one of the most effective methods of extracting oil and gas from both horizontal and vertical wells. This method differs from the conventional oil and gas production because hydraulic stimulation takes place in the well. When hydraulic stimulation is employed to extract carbohydrates from a reservoir, it is known as an unconventional production method.
Hydraulic fracturing is conducted by pumping hydraulic fluid directly into the wellbore. The high‑volume fracking method requires more fracking fluid compared to the low‑volume fracking method. Hydraulic fluid is largely composed of water, a small proportion of proppant and a very small proportion of chemicals. The hydraulic fluid, along with the high pressures generated, increases the permeability of the rock surrounding the borehole, creating fractures that allow the release of the carbohydrates trapped in the reservoir due to reservoir’s low or nonexistent permeability to the surface.
With the help of publicly available data, I have been able to present some of the carbohydrate resources in the Petišovci-globoko area (northeastern part of Slovenia) and the increased gas production observed after the hydraulic fracturing method was conducted in the said area
Re-nationalizing citizenship and democratic backsliding
No full textThis chapter explores the emergence, rise and effects of the anti-gender mobilizations in (Central-Eastern) Europe, arguing that anti-gender initiatives represent a significant force in society’s illiberalization and the process of re-nationalizing citizenship. These mobilizations contribute to defining the idea of “good citizens” and their claim to citizenship rights and belonging by concentrating on the promotion of “traditional family” values and rhetoric. The chapter begins by outlining the development and discursive structure of the anti-gender mobilization, followed by an analysis of interpretations explaining its emergence, persistence, and popularity. It then examines how the anti-gender initiatives contribute to the re-nationalization of citizenship by aligning itself with ethno-nationalistic interpretations. The anti-gender movement effectively mobilizes individuals by exploiting concerns about the future, particularly regarding the family and nation. The mobilization promotes a retrotopian vision in which an idealized past, characterized by strict gender roles and hierarchies, is viewed as superior to the present, through calls to return to such a past. However, it is argued that such aspirations are ultimately unattainable and fail to address contemporary challenges. The chapter concludes by advocating for a focus on building a better future rooted in democratic values, social fairness, and human rights, necessitating a transformation of existing power structures associated with gender and national identity